Jason Falkner – Bedtime With The Beatles Part Two
Arriving as a bit of a surprise in between albums of sublime original material, Jason Falkner’s original Bedtime With The Beatles had a curious mandate of its own: recasting Lennon-McCartney classics as lullabyes for little Beatle-fans-to-be. And so help me, it worked – I always thought it was an incredibly relaxing album, but I didn’t realize the true power of it until years later when my own first child came along. Bedtime With The Beatles was a godsend. The arrival of this second volume of Falkner’s lullabye arrangements came out of nowhere too; maybe it’s because I don’t keep up with very many artists via fansites or MySpace or what have you, but I didn’t know it was in the works, and eagerly picked it up, because now I knew how handy it could be. It wasn’t just a matter of my personal tastes for enjoyment – I had a kid who desperately needed some new sleepytime material.
The problem there, however, is that Falkner’s arrangements on this second volume are much more “involved.” Great from an active listening standpoint, but there’s simply too much going on for it to reach quite the same level of relaxation as the first volume. In places – I’m looking at you, “Penny Lane” – Bedtime Part Two almost ceases to by lullabye music and slides its toes adventurously over the line into downtempo lounge arrangements of the Beatles.
That’s not to say that nothing here lives up to the sleepytime potential of the first volume. “She’s Leaving Home” – which was very nearly a lullabye to begin with in its original form – is positively inspired, with “Here Comes The Sun” coming in a close second as my favorite. “Hey Jude” has low-key vocals-as-instruments that really straddle the line between relaxing and active enough that they demand attention. Some songs, such as “Norwegian Wood”, “Something” and “I Will” try very hard to reach for the sound of the original recordings, with more elaborate guitar work or production, and as such they become “active listening” material. With its back-tracked keyboards and chiming guitar chords, I can’t really imagine anyone drifting off to Falkner’s cover of “Norwegian Wood”.
And what does the little E think? Maybe it was just because it was new music to his ears, combined with his general tendency toward trying to avoid sleep at all costs, but my attempt to introduce him to Bedtime With The Beatles Part Two confirmed my suspicions: he got too involved with listening to it to really relax. But in the end, soft-pedaling my one-year-old into his indoctrination as a potential Beatles listener can’t be all bad – but it’s not all meant for bed either.
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- Norwegian Wood (3:28)
- Something (3:37)
- She’s Leaving Home (4:33)
- Penny Lane (4:27)
- Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (4:38)
- Here Comes The Sun (3:33)
- I Will (2:07)
- Hey Jude (5:08)
- Yesterday (2:36)
- Good Night (4:54)
Released by: Adrenaline
Release date: 2008
Total running time: 39:01
My feelings for this final epic selection of rare Beatles material are bound to be influenced by the fact that, aside from Abbey Road, I just didn’t care all that much for the Fab Four’s latter-day output. Something about it just never quite set well with me. Was it the meditational influence of the time they spent with Maharishi? No, I don’t think so…there were more overt Indian influences earlier on with George’s sitar dabblings. Was it the increasing rift between the Beatles? Nope…unlike a lot of scholars who spend a lot of time trying to psychoanalyze the Beatles, I really can’t tell by listening. Somehow it was a simultaneous lack of musical daring, and a propensity to occasionally go too far out (this I largely attribute to John). But there are still plenty of items to like on this double disc, including a number of Abbey Road demos, rehearsals and outtakes, so I had to spring for it. One notable song is George Harrison’s demo of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, which is almost unrecognizable without the trademark Clapton slide guitar. It seems like a lot of my favorite late-era Beatles tunes, and my favorites on the third Anthology, are Harrison numbers, including “Not Guilty” and “Something” (both again in early stages of development). But there are other buried treasures here as well, including Paul McCartney’s never-before-released demo of “Come And Get It” (which made stars of the band Badfinger), and my favorite of the 
Slightly more accessible than the first volume of the Anthology, this collection covers what is likely more familiar and beloved ground to many – the years that spanned Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper in which the Beatles abandoned the stage and ensconsed themselves in the studio. And it’s good. It’s really good. For every interesting live/early piece on Anthology 1, Anthology 2 has an unreleased or remixed studio track (and a few live ones too, from Blackpool Night Out and Shea Stadium).
of “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Your Mother Should Know”, and some very nice stripped-down takes of “Across the Universe” (another beautiful song), “Hello Goodbye”, and many others. The booklet is, again, wonderful to read whether you’re listening to the CDs or not.
It’s not every album that gets six hours of advertising on national television…and I can’t think of many artists who need less publicity! We’re talking about the Beatles. Just the mere rumors of a double CD with lots of unreleased early material would have sold millions of copies of this…but the six-hour television miniseries probably didn’t hurt sales. The first two CDs in the six-disc Anthology collection are rife with early material, including the first notes ever recorded by the Beatles and a huge number of live tracks, many of them quite good since they predate the era of the huge stadium shows where the fans were too busy screaming at the top of their lungs to allow the band to be heard. Of course, one of the main draws is a reconstructed version of an unreleased Lennon demo recording, “Free As A Bird”, co-produced by Jeff Lynne, though my favorites aside from that one include the almost silly-