The Rutles (album)

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The Rutles
Warner Bros. Records
The Rutles chronology
The Rutles
(1978)
The Rutles Archaeology

(1996)
Neil Innes chronology
Taking Off
(1977) 		The Rutles
(1978) 		The Innes Book of Records
(1979)
Alternative cover
CD reissue of The Rutles. From left to right: Eric Idle, John Halsey, Ricky Fataar, and Neil Innes
.
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideC[3]

The Rutles (alternately titled Meet The Rutles) is a

Beatles
songs that were featured in the film.

The primary creative force of

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, who had been featured in the real Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour film performing "Death Cab for Cutie
".

Innes credits the three musicians he recruited to assist him on the project as having been important in helping him capture the feel of the Beatles. Guitarist/singer Ollie Halsall and drummer John Halsey had played together in the groups Timebox and Patto. Multi-instrumentalist Ricky Fataar had played with the Flames before joining the Beach Boys in the early 1970s.

Warner Bros. Records, Mo Ostin.[6]

The pastiches mimic the Beatles' sound to the degree that a 1978 Beatles bootleg, Indian Rope Trick, included the Rutles' "Cheese and Onions", attributing it to John Lennon. In the early 1980s, Innes was accused by one American Beatle fan of stealing unreleased Beatles tracks to use in the film; this was based on a recording of "Cheese and Onions" obtained by the fan which he believed to be by John Lennon. When the recording was played to Innes, he was amused to discover that it was actually his own demo of the song.

Innes was taken to court by the owners of the Beatles' catalogue, alleging copyright infringement of their songs. Innes had to testify under oath that he had not listened to the songs at all while composing the Rutles' songs, but had created them completely originally based on what he remembered various Beatles songs sounding like at different times.

Songs

The album contains parodies of

Piggy in the Middle" ("I Am the Walrus") and "Doubleback Alley" ("Penny Lane"). The CD reissue includes "Blue Suede Schubert" ("Roll Over Beethoven"), "It's Looking Good" ("I'm Looking Through You") and "Between Us" ("Devil in His Heart"). "Get Up and Go" was not on the original LP – allegedly after Lennon warned Innes that it resembled "Get Back" much too closely and might prompt the music publisher, ATV Music, to sue[7][8]
– but was included on the CD reissue.

All songs were written by Neil Innes. Despite having received Lennon's and Harrison's blessing for the project, however, he was forced by ATV Music to credit some of the songs to Lennon–McCartney–Innes.[9] In 1996, Innes said of this stipulation: "George occasionally attempts to get the rights back for me, but it's not high up on anyone's agenda. I've stopped sulking about it".[9] The liner notes of the album give the names of the "Warner Brothers" as "Stan & Reg".

The only song from the film not on the soundtrack is "You Need Feet", which is not a Rutles song. Originally released in 1958, it was written and performed by comedian Bernard Bresslaw and was a parody of the 1958 Max Bygraves hit "You Need Hands".

Track listing

1978 vinyl album

The original 1978 vinyl release of the soundtrack omitted some of the material. The design of the record's inner sleeve reflected the Apple/EMI 1962–1966 ("Red") and 1967–1970 ("Blue") compilation Beatles albums released in 1973, with printed lyrics, red, blue and white layouts, and the track listing for the two album sides using similar periods (side one: 1962–67, side two: 1967–70). A humorous sticker on the shrinkwrap of the original LP release touted a “FREE RECORD WITH THIS 20-PAGE BOOK”.

Side 1

  1. "Hold My Hand" - 2:31
  2. "Number One" - 2:50
  3. "With a Girl Like You" - 1:50
  4. "I Must Be in Love" - 2:04
  5. "Ouch!" - 1:49
  6. "Living in Hope" - 2:37
  7. "Love Life" - 2:50
  8. "Nevertheless" - 1:29

Side 2

  1. "Good Times Roll" - 3:03
  2. "Doubleback Alley" - 2:54
  3. "Cheese and Onions" - 2:37
  4. "Another Day" - 2:09
  5. "Piggy in the Middle" - 4:07
  6. "Let's Be Natural" - 3:23

The remaining songs floated about as bootlegs until the 1990 re-release on

CD
.

1990 CD re-release

The 1990 CD re-release not only restored the full

Beatles
albums where the ending of a Rutles song closely resembled the ending of a Beatles song, and the same for the beginning of the next song.

Additionally, "Hold My Hand" had originally featured a fake "airplane" intro sound (a nod to "

Imagine"2:4219."Get Up and Go" (not on LP)"Get Back"3:1920."Let's Be Natural""Dear Prudence", "Mother Nature's Son", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Julia"3:22

All lead vocals by Neil Innes except: Ollie Halsall on tracks 3 (co-lead with Innes), 7, 12, 17 and 19; Ricky Fataar on tracks 5, 8, and 14; and John Halsey

on track 9.

Produced by Neil Innes. Engineered by Steve James. Neil Innes and Ollie Halsall.

The Rutles (Soundtrack) - Alternate Versions, Reissues

Cassette
Version)

  • Side 1: "Good Times Roll", "Doubleback Alley", "Cheese and Onions", "Another Day", "Piggy in the Middle", "Let's Be Natural"
  • Side 2: "Hold My Hand", "Number One", "With a Girl Like You", "I Must Be in Love", "Ouch!", "Living in Hope", "Love Life", "Nevertheless"

The

cassette
, is the only version of this release to actually be titled "Meet The Rutles", and features the album sides in the proper order, unlike the American version listed above

Warner Bros. Records/S142137/M83151/1978/

8-Track
Tape Version

  • Track 1: "Hold My Hand", "With a Girl Like You", "I Must Be in Love", "Love Life"
  • Track 2: "Number One", "Ouch!", "Nevertheless", "Doubleback Alley"
  • Track 3: "Living in Hope", "Good Times Roll", "Let's Be Natural"
  • Track 4: "Cheese and Onions", "Another Day", "Piggy in the Middle"

Rhino Records
/1990/R275760/U.S. only release/1st CD issue

Rhino Records
/2007/8122-79968-9/U.K. only release/1st U.K. CD issue

  • Same material as U.S. CD (including edited "Hold My Hand" as noted above.)
  • Digi-pack designed to open as a gatefold album with alternate front cover.
  • Booklet contains most of the original Rutles booklet (Paul Simon interview is missing.)
  • CD in Mini-Sleeve that duplicates the "other artistes on the Rutle label" album sleeve.
  • CD label designed to look like Parlophone yellow and black label.
  • Does not include song lyrics.

Rhino-Parlophone/2018/PCS 7018/Rocktober Vinyl series/7'' Bonus disc

  • Side 1: "Goose Step Mama", "Baby Let Me Be", "Blue Suede Schubert"
  • Side 2: "Between Us", "It's Looking Good" and "Get Up and Go"

This reissue features the original LP cover and Warner Bros. Records copyright bylines, with Parlophone logos and labels.

Credits

  • Neil Innes – vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, songwriting, producer
  • Ricky Fataar – vocals, rhythm and lead guitars, bass guitar, sitar, tabla, percussion
  • Ollie Halsall – vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards
  • John Halsey – vocals, drums, percussion
  • Andy Brown – bass guitar
  • John Altman – orchestral arrangements.
  • Cliff Haines – piccolo trumpet.
  • Dave Spence, Martin Drover, Pat Kyle, Steve Gregory, Malcolm Griffiths – horns.
  • Strings led by Christopher Warren-Green.


See also

References

  1. ^ ("...released on album by Warner Bros (#HS 3151) in March 1978".). "The Rutles Tragical History Tour". rutles.org. Retrieved 12 June 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ AllMusic review
  3. ISBN 089919026X
    . Retrieved 12 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  4. ISBN 978-0-06-177418-8
    .
  5. ISBN 978-1-55071-197-4
    .
  6. ISBN 978-0-7119-8307-6
    .
  7. ^ Harris, Will (24 March 2008). "Hooks 'N' You: The Rutles, "The Rutles"/"Archaeology"".
  8. ^ "Fake Beatles that never were are back". Washington Post. 1 April 1996.
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-0-06-177418-8
    .
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