By Tatiana Craine

For the second year in a row, VEGA Productions has turned the magic of the Beatles into a monumental benefit for Minnesota schools and communities. The Minnesota Beatle Project Vol. 2 brings back the same passion and for the Beatles that the first album did. The newest album, a collaboration between the Minnesota music and art communities and Vega Productions, showcases 16 different Beatles songs covered by different Minnesota born-or-based musicians. The Beatles, one of the greatest musical groups of all time, have burst back onto the scene not as the mop-topped boys of the 1960s, but digitally. Recently the subject of a Rock Band musical video game, the group has come back into the limelight with the addition of their 13 studio albums to the iTunes Store. But with the release of the newest labor of love from The Minnesota Beatle Project, the band’s tunes are reimagined, reinvented and reappreciated by artists with myriad musical styles.

The Minnesota Beatle Project Vol. 2 features artists like Mason Jennings, Soul Asylum, Polara, The New Standards and Meat Puppet feat. Alison Scott. A Night in the Box gives the most traditionally Beatles-esque performance with “Happiness is a Warm Gun,” but other acts like Lookbook and Communist Daughter give more indie-folk inspired renditions of “Real Love” and “Golden Slumbers.” The Edison High School Concert Band also makes an appearance on the album with their stirring version of “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” In 2010, the Northeast Minneapolis band received more than 50 instruments.

All the proceeds from The Minnesota Beatle Project benefit music and arts programs in Minnesota public schools. The Minnesota Beatle Project Vol. 2 will be sold at independent record stores, Electric Fetus, iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, Rhapsody, Target.com and Minnesota Target stores. The album will be available in both CD and digital formats with a new, limited edition LP vinyl record as well-like the original Beatles albums. There will be a CD release party at First Ave Dec. 8 sponsored by 89.3 The Current and VEGA Productions. Curtiss A’s 31 Annual John Lennon tribute will also take place that evening, with local bands showcased on the album Communist Daughter and Total Babe performing as well.