To The "Fab Four" From Liverpool ... A Tribute From India

Album Review

Indian-born, New York-based singer Madooo (aka Madhukar Chandra Dhas) has pursued a part-time career as a performer of Western pop/rock with an Indian flavor both in his native country and his adopted one, while paying the bills working in advertising agencies. In 2002, he self-released his debut album, This Day Is Forever, which contained his interpretations of the Beatles songs "With a Little Help From My Friends," "Love Me Do," and "Got to Get You Into My Life" beside his originals. For his second album, he has recorded an all-Beatles program, and it is an entertaining collection. The Beatles music has been interpreted in many different ways, of course, but an Indian take has a certain validity given the group's (and particularly George Harrison's) professed attraction to the country's art and culture. Madooo has steered clear of Beatles songs already presented in an overtly Indian style, such as "Within You, Without You," though he begins with a version of "Norwegian Wood," an early example of a Western pop song that employed an Indian sitar. But then, the singer is not interested in simply translating Beatles songs into traditional Indian arrangements. Rather, he is a contemporary musician with a combination of Indian and Western rock influences, and his versions are hybrids. They tend to work best when he is trying lesser-known Beatles songs such as "You Can't Do That" and "Things We Said Today," although he demonstrates that Harrison already had a certain Indian leaning in "If I Needed Someone" even before he went public with his interests. The best of the remakes is "I Saw Her Standing There," probably because Madooo seriously alters it, creating a dance-rock version reminiscent of the Power Station, even down to his Robert Palmer-like vocal. The world may not need another Beatles tribute album, but Madooo demonstrates his affection for the music and gives it some surprising twists.