You've just awakened a horrible memory!  Back in the day when I worked 
in the bowels of a semi-major label, they marketed a series of hastily 
re-recorded hits of the day called "soundalikes" -- actually, I think 
The Soundalikes might have even been the band's name?   If memory 
serves, they were bad to the point of being comical...

Which in turn reminds me...I have this album of Beach Boys knockoffs 
done by a group called The Surfsiders.   It is hi-larious.  It's as if 
they were given a few hours to record these tracks, and only had time to 
listen to the original version once.  If you got the chords or melody 
wrong...no problem!  It is the 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' of records.

Ok, slightly illegal, I'm sure...but I couldn't resist.  Check it out:  
http://marturo.com/marty/surfsiders/

Marty



Ken Kase wrote:

>OK, this made me think back:
>
>It can be worse than mere retreads by artists tenuously connected with the
>original records. In the 70s, there was a pretty large market for the folks
>who bought albums at Woolworth's and places like that. Pickwick used to put
>out packages of current hits performed by some bar band or another. Some of
>these make for hysterical listening. Longines had a record club type of deal
>for awhile (when they weren't busy making watches). My mom used to have
>these records like "Best Hits of 1971" that were all recreations of the
>popular songs of the day. I first heard "Rocky Mountain High" for the first
>time on one of those records. (They Might Be Giants name check: "My story's
>infinite / Like a Longines symphonette") In fact, such artifacts even have
>their own record collecting niche.
>
>--Ken
>  
>