The Beatles Tribute Album Press Coverage
“This album is incredible – An Indian music-salute to The Beatles”– Archer from 99.5 The Mountain’s ‘Breakfast With The Beatles’, CO, USA
99.5 The Mountain’s “Breakfast With The Beatles” brings you three hours of Beatles & solo-Beatle music and audio clips each Sunday morning at 9. The show includes special features, previews, of new releases, and theme sets suggested by listeners. Your host is the Mountain’s morning guide, Archer, who has interviewed all four Beatles over the course of his radio career and brings an extensive audio archive to this unique, locally-produced weekly “fab fest.”
ARCHER was the first to feature MADOOO on American Radio in his show as EXTRAORDINARY COVERS — Cover versions of Beatles songs that take the songs to different levels. On July 18, 2004, Archer played “If I needed someone” alongside cuts by Elton John and Al Green. Click here to listen to Archer’s Comments.
Madooo’s “Tribute to John Lennon” was chosen to open John’s Birthday Special morning program by 99.5 The Mountain’s “Breakfast With The Beatles”, on Oct 10, 2004. Songs were played in this order… * John Lennon Tribute/Madooo * Jealous Guy/Collective Soul * Working Class Hero/Alarm * Instant Karma/Toad The Wet Sprocket * Gimme Some Truth/Sam Phillips * Oh My Love/Wackers * I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier/Mad Season * Grow Old With Me/Mary Chapin-Carpenter * Give Peace A Chance/Amnistie Internationale In their signal coverage area — Denver, Boulder, Littleton, Aurora, CO, they have 600,000 listeners.
Click here to listen to Archer’s introduction on his John Lennon’s Birthday Special Show, 2004
Johnlennon Dreamsite is showcasing Madooo’s Demo-video of “Gotta Get You Into My Life”. At the time the video was made, (in 1989) Madooo was toying with the idea of portraying himself as a singing Maharajah from India… hence the weird outfit. Credits for the DEMO/VIDEO are: Concept, storyboard, and production by MADOOO (Madhukar Dhas), 1989. Videotaped and executed by KARL BAUER, 1989
John Lennon Dreamsite, http://www.johnlennon.it , is a cool site dedicated to John Lennon, the Beatles, and Dreamers of every age, gender, and time. Photos and writings from the book http://www.johnlennon.it/libri_imagine_eng.htm and the exhibition “Imagine Your Dream: a Tribute to John Lennon” (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome) by Fiorella Dorotea Gentile, the radio and tv photojournalist, who is editor of the site. This exhibition is available to rent. http://www.johnlennon.it/info_2_eng.htm The site contains beautiful photos of John Lennon, Yoko ono, Beatles, Bowie, Dylan, Eno, MacLaughlin; lyrics, biographies, quotes, essays, useful links, discography, forum, and an interesting showcase of selected guests with essays, music, and videos. Emotional!
“I really like the CD. My favorites are ‘You can’t do that’, and ‘Across the universe’ (which has a very Roger Waters kind of vocal arrangement). All of the album is very interesting…the songs are very different…finally something different for the Beatles’ cover world.” – Simone from
Hello Madhu, You will be pleased to know I have included your version of “Norwegian Wood” as the Odd Track Out feature on my show. It will air on June 11 or 12 on my FM affiliates, and it will be available to hear on-demand for a week beginning June 12 at www.beatlesradioshow.com. Thanks again for your contribution! – Dennis Mitchell, “Dennis Mitchell’s Breakfast With The Beatles”
“You have done a great job of your interpretations… It looks like you are a very good part of the global scene in a very big way to me… Congratulations… It is a great contribution to the fab four’s legacy…” – Richie Havens
“We DID play it a couple of weeks back – great job!” I will stay in touch. Thanks, Madooo! Love – – Kenneth Dashow, Q-104.3 (New York’s Classic Rock Station.)
“Got To Get You Into My Life” is nice to listen to all the time – Yasuhiko Suga
“SELTAEB” is a Japanese site named after “Beatles” written backward. It is owned by Yasuhiko Suga who has devoted himself to writing different melodies to the chords of popular Beatle songs with a “ring-tone” kind of feel.
“Greetings Madooo, my friend: Interviewing you and playing tracks from ‘To the Fab Four from Liverpool…A Tribute from India’ on KMSU FM was a real pleasure, for both Gully and me. It’s definitely one of the highlights of my fifteen years, as host of the World Beat.” – Mark R. Thomas, World Beat host/producer: KMSU/KMSK FM, The Maverick Radio Network
“Hey Madooo, I’m glad you found out that the “Tribute” was doing well here. New releases have 2 months during which we chart & report and your record placed into the Top 20 on at least one of our reports to CMJ! The “Tribute” is now in our regular library — for now it’s filing in the International section, but I may create a section specifically for covers & tributes which will make it easier for DJs to locate it in the years to come. Thanks so much for thinking of us … & congratulations.” – Matthew Finch, KUNM Music Department
“Dear Madooo – Congratulations! You’re being featured on the UBL Featured Artist – World section. I really enjoyed your version of “Norwegian Wood”. I’m certain you’re going to have a great experience. You can find your feature at the URL below: http://www.ubl.com/genres/world Good Luck!”
– Adam, Product Manager for ARTISTdirect_UBL
“It’s quite an engaging meld of “East Meets West”. It’s got just enough Indian influence to be interesting, but not overpowering. There are 14 Beatles songs covered as well as two versions of Madooo’s John Lennon Tribute. I really like the John tribute. Actual newscasts of Dec 8, 1980, are woven into an “Imagine/Watchin’ the Wheels/Give Peace a Chance” medley. This is the second time I’ve listened to it and both times I choked up.”
– Mara from beatles-collectors@yahoogroups.com
“Madooo 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 ‘I Needed Someone’ even before he went public with his interests. The best of his 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.” – William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide, Sept. 21, 2005
“Madooo’s latest album, ‘To The ‘Fab Four’ From Liverpool…A Tribute From India’ is a heady concoction of the East and West, featuring hypnotic strains of the sitar and rhythmic pulsations of the tabla married to vintage melodies.” – By Archana Jayakumar, Asian Age, Sept 5, 2004
“His artistic and creative input has made the album an absolute delight to listen to. My favourites are ‘Norwegian Wood’, ‘With a little help’ and ‘The John Lennon tribute’, which I think is very moving and very cleverly put together.” – Jeevan Soorya Dhas, Australia
“Even before he became famous in 1974 for playing the role of Jesus in Alyque Padamsee’s Jesus Christ Superstar, Madhukar Chandra Dhas (Madooo) used to sing Beatles numbers for a Chennai-based band named Voodoos.”
Read the rest of the article “Ode to the Beatles” by NARENDRA KUSNUR – September 24, 2004, MIDDAY, Bombay, INDIA
“Straddling two worlds, these songs have been deliberately chosen for their `Indianness,’ which has been further enhanced by Madooo using Indian instruments as a measure of his tribute to John, Paul, George, and Ringo.” Read the rest of the article by CHITRA KRISHNAN, Wednesday, September 29, 2004 – THE HINDU (MADRAS EDITION)
“The Fab Four album is available only in the USA so far. Madooo is trying to market it here (INDIA)…” – SM City Express, With The New Indian Express (Chennai) Saturday, October 2, 2004.
His album brings Indian sounds into popular Beatles’ numbers (Norwegian Wood, anyone?)
Read the rest of the article by HEMANGINI GUPTA, Monday, September 27, 2004 – THE HINDU (BANGALORE EDITION)
“I found it enjoyable on many levels – shades of Pop, Trance, Lambada, Bhangra, Psychedelic Rock, etc.- all the hallmarks of the current ‘masala’ bands that I come across on the college radio stations.” – FRED MILLER, TX, USA Like Lemon Curry? – June 12, 2005 “Another album which defies easy description or classification. Imagine an alternate universe in which the Beatles started out as an Indian raga band instead of a British skiffle band, and then years later somebody decided to update and modernize those old raga songs. That’s not really the whole picture here – Madooo grew up in India, toured the Midwest with a Vietnamese band, and is known for his Elvis and Jim Morrison impersonations – this CD is a mix of Western rock and Indian percussion. Beatles music helped introduce sitar music and some of Hindu culture to America, it’s clear from this CD that Beatles music was influential in introducing Western rock to India as well. – John Holderried (Queens, NY United States) “He left India when he became part of the CBC band and spent a good time of his initial years in the United States touring various parts of the country. But he is no longer part of the troupe. He now works with Deutsch Advertising, owns a recording studio ‘Madooo Records’ and has released his second album, “To the Fab Four…A Tribute from India” Read the rest of the article by By INDIRA RODERICKS, Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004 – Afternoon Despatch & Courier, Mumbai, INDIA
The 9/11 Memorial Album Press Coverage
Time Out New York Review
“Thanks for sharing the video. It is a good reminder of the day which has changed so many of our lives. Unfortunately, it has changed our relationships with other people and nations as well. We may never again see the time when people from other parts of the world will be accepted without fear and/or reservations and that is sad. To think that everyone must be viewed with suspicion and mistrust is certainly a far cry from the world as God would have it to be.” – Richard Vreeland
“Thank you again — I watched the video with the audio for the first time — It’s is a beautiful tribute. I am at work so I had to suppress my tears — I will watch it again when I get home. That day seems like it unfolded just yesterday — and I try and still have hope for the underlying current of goodness and peace in this world.” – Victoria Luz
“I am shaking from the video. The song is even more powerful with the images. I am so overwhelmed by what I have just seen. This was a very hard day for America and the time I spent watching your video made me feel as though I was able to be in prayer for all those we have lost and be hopeful that this will never take place again. It is a naive hope, but the power of prayer is strong. I believe in miracles. I thank you for your excellent work.” – Nick Petrone, Recording Artist