(August 2024) Episode 595 is THE WEEKLINGS. I was blown away by “Little Tease,” perhaps the best facsimile of 1963 Beatles I’ve ever heard. Who did this? It was the Weeklings, a wholly intentional Beatles homage project led by songwriter, collaborator, and former Styx member Glen Burtnik. And they do homage quite well. Their recordings are a mix of enjoyable songs written in that style and (less enjoyable) covers of second-tier Beatles songs. Like the Rutles, the gold standard of Beatles-imitation, the Weeklings drop little lyrical and musical Beatles references in their songs. But they suffer from what I call the “That Thing You Do” conundrum: a song can be wonderous by perfectly mimicking the structure, harmonies and hooks of a Beatles song, but it suffers from not sounding like one due to modern recording and processing techniques (especially drums). (Of course the Weeklings covered “That Thing You Do.”)
Favorite album: The Weeklings
Favorite song: Little Tease
Compared to expectations: same
Recommendation: It’s worth checking out how well they imitate the Beatles (generally best on the first album) but there’s not much to keep you after.
Opus Project 