Fake Beatles No. 3: Battle of the Bogus Beatle Bands' Second Album

In a previous Fake Beatles post in this series, this writer pitted two Beatles exploitation records on the same budget label against each other in a battle for Mocktop supremacy. At this point you may ask, "Who won that contest: the Fake Beatles, or the Fake Chipmunks doing the same Fake Beatles songs that those Fake Beatles did?" The answer is obvious and evident — the winner was you, esteemed reader!

We have a second skirmish prepared, in which, once again, you can listen and choose between two related Fab Four deception records tooled to cash in on that whole British Invasion "fad," this time released on the cheapjack Diplomat label. (You may be familiar with what these rip-off albums look like: The cover either sports four — or sometimes three or five [!] — disenscalped wigs, or else a similar number of guys imitating the iconic Robert Freeman Meet the Beatles! half-shadow cover pic.)

This second Fake Fabs Fight, unlike the preceding one, draws its combatants exclusively from the human species, yet with a Battle of the Sexes twist: The featured clash is between the Manchesters and the Beatle Buddies; in other words, Fake Beatles vs. Fake Lady Beatles! (Note: "Fake Lady Beatles" is meant to convey the questionable veracity of the Beatle Buddies' Beatle-ness, not of their perceived gender — but if you've clicked on the album cover and taken a gander at the mugs on a couple of those Buddies, the confusion is understood.)

Just as last time, as both these albums were recorded on the quick and dirty by the same label, they have several "original" Fake Beatles songs in common as well as the same backing tracks from each, naturally. That serves to make this a fair contest without the need to resort to patronizing handicapping. May the better bogus Beatle (or Beatle-ette) win!

Round 1: Listen and decide who's more truly fake — the boys or the girls:
Manchesters: Wearying, Worrying Blues (MP3)
Beatle Buddies: Wearying, Worrying Blues (MP3)

Round 2: Suss which lot you fancy, luv — the copy chaps or the mocking birds:
Manchesters: I Waited (MP3)
Beatle Buddies: I Waited (MP3)

Round 3: Here's what happens when each side dips into the same public-domain bag as the real Beatles:
Manchesters: My Bonnie (MP3)
Beatle Buddies: My (Bonnie) Buddy (MP3)

Comments

[Listener Kliph]

Great to see the fruition of a long overdue genre that needed exploring. If you need some contributions lemmee know.

[Jonny]

I purchased the Beatle Buddies at a garage sale about a decade ago. Much like somebody with Alzheimer's, I put the platter on about once a year (like right now) thinking that the schlock value alone will make it rock. Every time it's the same disappointment. It reminds me of a drug store commercial jingle. No matter how much I will it to sound like the Shaggs, it's just not quite bad enough to come back to the state of goodness.

[Jonny]

Okay, okay... The instrumental track "Little Miss Margie" is pretty boss. The Beatle Buddies have been redeemed (slightly).

[Mike I]

Look into Todd Rungren's Utopia. They did a knock-off album of the Beatles called Face the Music.

And then there's XTC as the Dukes of Stratosphere...

[KevPod]

"Look into Todd Rungren's Utopia. They did a knock-off album of the Beatles called Face the Music."

It was Deface the Music. Yes, they were intentionally ersatz Beatlesploitation tunes.

I so agree with Jonny about this:

"No matter how much I will it to sound like the Shaggs, it's just not quite bad enough to come back to the state of goodness."

Very well stated.