Anarchy on Abbey Road

“No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones,” sang The Clash in 1977 – but that was a long, long time ago. Today, at least two of those names are even bigger than they were back then, and the punks have thoroughly changed their tune.

Last year brought Punk Me Up, a star-studded punk tribute to the Rolling Stones (and the successor to perhaps an even more audacious offering, a punk tribute to Pink Floyd that utterly brutalized the sentiments behind Johnny Rotten’s most famous T-shirt).

Now comes Anarchy on Abbey Road, a 15 track collection that sees another spiky-haired army of punkoid heroes and veterans fold their fists around the Fab Four’s favorite ditties, and breathe a whole new wave of energy into songs we’ve spent our entire lives hearing.

“Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” demand Peter & The Test Tube Babies, one of the most entertaining of all the bands that flourished in the fury of punk rock’s Oi! diversion. “I’m Down,” lament Eddie and the Hot Rods – a band that is celebrating its 50th anniversary around now, but still blazes as brilliantly as they did in ’75, when a lot of their set was made up of 60s classics, from the Who and Them, to the Stones and Bob Seger.

The legendary 999 tell what happened when “I Saw Her Standing There”; The Members recall their favorite “Daytripper”; and stepping back into the realms of what history refers to as the proto punk years, the Flamin’ Groovies (“Revolution”) and the Pink Fairies (“Get Back”) reflect back upon their own infancy – these aren’t their first Beatles covers, after all. But they’re as good as those they did way back when.

And just as Eater’s take on “Something” rewires a softy ballad as a hard-edged rampage, so Skids’ “Eleanor Rigby” leaves tire tracks across the cemetery, and Father McKenzie must be hopping mad. “Eleanor Rigby” is the latest single from this remarkable album – click the link and hear him howl. And check out the guitar that cuts through the song. Breath-taking.

“Eleanor Rigby is a song that has been with me since childhood,” says Skids founder and frontman Richard Jobson. “My Mother sang it in the house and me and my brothers sang with her. It was only later that I realized how tragic the words were. It’s a wonderful example of how the Beatles could mix the serious with the commercial. We’ve tried to give the song a different energy but keep true to the emotion.”

SINGLE: https://orcd.co/skids_eleanorrigby

Because that’s the trick here. Back in the day, a lot of punk bands chose classic rock covers because they knew it would annoy the Boring Old Farts who loathed this latest twist in rock delivery. And there might still be some of that going on. But this is no novelty disemboweling of Those We Once Loved. Rather, if anything, it’s a chance to relive what the Fabs themselves might once have sounded like, if they’d been playing these songs in Hamburg while they were on their way up.

And that’s something we all need to hear.