VA - Downtown Does The Beatles: Live at the Knitting Factory 1992 (1992)

AllMusic Review by Ted Mills
One of the better Beatles cover compilations out there, this outing takes an experimental look at the Fab Four as covered by 12 acts that have graced the Knitting Factory stage in New York. There's some straight-ahead takes, such as Defunkt's version of "Come Together," a lovely take on "Dear Prudence" by Samm Bennett and Chunk, and the Arto Lindsay/Mark Ribot/Syd Straw/Joey Baron/Greg Cohen jam on "Don't Let Me Down." And one would have a hard time finding a small brass band arrangement of "Revolution #9" (by Kurt Hoffman's Band of Weeds), Eugene Chadbourne improvising on "A Day in the Life" and skittering off into "For No One" and "On the Road Again," or Buddha Pest's thrashcore "Blue Jay Way" anywhere else. Unlike a lot of Beatles tribute albums, the artists don't stand in thrall to the Beatles' legacy, but play around with the shared cultural knowledge of their audience. A fun album.