HEY JUDE
(John Lennon/ Paul McCartney)
Ventures: October 1970 2LP 10th Anniversary Album (US No.91)
Shadows: May 1986 LP/CD Moonlight Shadows (UK No.6)
Such was the power and weight of The Beatles-cum-orchestra original that a scaled-down version needs something pretty out of the ordinary in terms of performance or arrangement to lift it. In the hands of The Shadows, sad to say, ‘Hey Jude’ strikes one as little more than a (fairly) nice tune, having more in common with the versions of Bing Crosby and The New Christy Minstrels than of Wilson Pickett or Junior Walker. The Ventures make a rather better job of it: they inject a bit more pizzazz, the brass section provides some effective ornamentation and extra clout, and an effort is made to reflect something of the inordinately extended outro with some background chanting that is not allowed to go to the immoderate lengths of the hallowed original.