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The Rutles got their start as a sketch on Rutland Weekend Television (the Monty Python spin-off masterminded by Eric Idle), which featured a song by the series' resident composer, Neil Innes, 'I Must Be In Love' went down a treat with viewers, whose response was, in effect, 'If this is Rutles you gotta give more, give me more, hey hey hey, etc.' Eric Idle and Neil Innes, neatly augmented with a cast of not quite thousands, obliged. A year and a bit on from their Rutland TV debut, the Prefab Four-Dirk, Barry, Stig and Nasty--are back with a full-length television special, All You Need Is Cash, chronicling their meteoric rise to excess, and a 14-track album which is being given away free with the magnificent 20-page Rutles book. The sleeve note on the back of the album is lifted from the TV script, and gives the unwary some idea of the new heights in irreverence contained within: 'The Rutles story is a legend. A living legend. A legend that will live a lifetime, long after lots of other living legends have died.'
You may wonder how, with their tongues that deeply embedded in their cheeks, the Rutles manage to talk or sing. You may wonder why, when there are already shows like Beatlemania and John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert and the new Stigwood film Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, yet another mop-top saga is in order. The answer, of course, is that you're getting immensely more than just another sentimental or cynical retelling of the tale. Here is, to coin a phrase, something completely different. You're getting the best of brained-out British humour--the combined influences of Monty Python, the Bonzo Dog Band, Grimms and so on, with Idle and Innes-having a bash at the media in general, and the Tony Palmer-style pop music documentary in particular, PLUS an LP-full of delightful original songs paraphrasing the entire Beatles oeuvre (or Hoover, as the case may be). It's a high-class wheeze, alright, or you wouldn't have got George Harrison and Mick and Bianca Jagger and Paul Simon sticking their auras in. These guest stars' appearances on the All You Need Is Cash show may be found, souvenirishly preserved among other inspired feats of graphic design, inside the spectacularly lavish Rutles album sleeve, which also contains tongue-lashings of Eric Idle's outrageous narrative.
Neil Innes has outdone himself in supplying all the lyrics and music for the album, miraculously evoking the individual styles of all four Beatles, not only in terms of composition, but in instantly indentifiable vocals. He has not relied on the TV visuals to carry the songs, but has approached the album as one which must stand on its own merits, appealing exclusively to the ear. His material is at once facile, faithful and funny. The songs are intrinsically pleasing on a first hearing.
To a sober ear, their meticulous detail is a joy (and a laugh); to an intoxicated one, there is the momentary rapture (much as what Carter felt first glimpsing the glories of Tut's tomb) of having stumbled upon an entire, hitherto undiscovered Beatles album. Either way, the music lends the warmth, resilience, continuity and sheer good will necessary to balance a project brittle with wisecracks.
Curiously, when setting about writing the Rutles songs, Neil did not dig out his Beatle records and play the grooves off them. He worked strictly from memory, starting with his own favourites, then filling in earlier and later styles, so as to end up with a proper, retrospective repertoire. Side 1 represents 1962-67. Neil admits he had to psych himself up with teenage feelings to come up with such goodies as 'Hold My Hand', 'With A Girl Like You' and 'Ouch!' Side 2 takes in 1967-70, and you'll find all the mandatory psychedelia in 'Good Times Roll', 'Cheese and Onions' and 'Piggy In The Middle'. The album, which Neil also produced, was rehearsed and recorded in two weeks, and mixed in 10 days. Haste does not appear to have harmed it. Neil says, 'Everyone just knew what to play.' Naturally.
Neil's previous recording includes all six of the immortal Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band albums, a Grimms album and singles, a Jubilee single commissioned by the BBC World Service and a solo album for Arista called Taking Off. As a Bonzo he appeared regularly on Do Not Adjust Your Set (1968-69), and in the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour film. Prior to his stint with Rutland Weekend Television he appeared in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
All You Need Is Cash airs on NBC-TV in America in March. A UK air date is being negotiated for late March.
Lou Seal
