Ollie Halsall - ...and on guitar (1992)

Peter John "Ollie" Halsall was born on 14 March 1949, and began his musical career in 1964 playing drums with various local bands such as Pete and the Pawnees, the Gunslingers, the Music Students and Rhythm and Blues Incorporated. In 1965 he taught himself to play the vibraphone and was invited to London to join fellow Southport musicians bassist Clive Griffiths and keyboardist 'Professor' Chris Holmes in pop rock outfit Take Five, which became Timebox, and in 1967 Halsall took up guitar, while the band was augmented by adding Mike Patto on vocals and 'Admiral' John Halsey on drums. Timebox released a number of singles in 1968 and 1969 on the Deram label, but never managed to record an album, and in 1970, following the departure of Holmes, Timebox evolved into the progressive rock band Patto, featuring Halsall on both guitar and vibraphone. Patto were a well-respected band, and released three albums between 1970 and 1972, but in 1973 Halsall left to join Jon Hiseman's Tempest. Tempest were one of the very best jazz-rock fusion bands of the 1970's, and released two superb albums in 'Tempest' (1970) and 'Living In Fear' (1971), but after less than a year he quit, and became an in demand session guitarist, playing on a track for Kevin Ayers' 'The Confessions Of Dr. Dream' album in 1974 which led to a permanent position in Ayers' band the Soporifics. Halsall's UK session work included concerts and recordings with the Scaffold, GRIMMS, Neil Innes, Centipede, Andy Roberts, Mike de Albuquerque, John Otway, John Cale and Vivian Stanshall, and he was even briefly considered as a possible replacement for Mick Taylor following his departure from the Rolling Stones in December 1974. In 1975, Patto staged a brief reunion comprising just three benefit gigs, but the reuniting of Halsall and Patto sparked the formation of Boxer during 1975, and they released two albums on the Virgin label before Patto died of lymphoid leukemia in 1979. 

In 1978 he was invited to join Neil Innes and Eric Idle's spoof Beatles project The Rutles, recording their debut eponymous album in 1978, which reached the top 20 in the UK. He plays many of the instruments on the songs, and provides lead and backing vocals – most notably on the tracks 'Doubleback Alley', 'With A Girl Like You' and 'Get Up And Go'. Eric Idle was cast in his place in the accompanying film and Halsall only featured in a very minor cameo role as Leppo, the fifth Rutle who got lost in Hamburg. During 1976 Halsall had rejoined Ayers with whom he stayed for the next sixteen years, and for much of that time he frequented the town of Deià in the north of the Spanish island of Mallorca, commuting to Madrid on the mainland to produce and play for numerous Spanish artists, including El Primer Tercio, Ronni Urini, and his final work with pop rock bands Radio Futura and Hombres G. In the 1980's he was part of a Spanish synth-pop band Cinemaspop with vocalist Zanna Gregmar, and they released two studio albums, 'Cinemaspop' in 1983, which was a collection of synth-pop covers of classical movie tunes, and 'A Clockwork Orange' in 1984, which included some compositions and vocals by Halsall, as well as a bizarre electronic version of The Troggs' 'Wild Thing'. Halsall died in Madrid from a drug-induced heart attack on 29 May 1992 at the age of just 43. He has been described as an influence by a number of respected guitarists, including Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe, Allan Holdsworth, Kee Marcello of Europe and Cheap Trick's guitarist Rick Nielsen. XTC's Andy Partridge cites Halsall as one of his top three influences, saying "He made the guitar sound more like Albert Ayler or John Coltrane, more like a sort of fluid piano player". The final word has to go to his friend John Halsey, who said "Ollie may not have been the best guitarist in the world, but he was certainly among the top two." 

Track listing

Disc One
01 If Your Love Don't Swing (b-side of 'Midnight Confessions' by Pete Kelly's Solution 1968)
01 Lover's Prayer (with Duffy Power 1970)
02 Speed Well (from 'Andy Roberts And The Great Stampede' by Andy Roberts 1973)
03 Take It While You Can (from 'Rockin' Duck' by GRIMMS 1973)
04 That Girl's Alright (b-side of 'Teenage Love Song' by John Hetherington 1973)
05 Nuclear Band (from 'Fresh Liver' by Scaffold 1973) 
06 Singing A Song Is Easy (from 'How Sweet To Be An Idiot' by Neil Innes 1973)
07 Keep On (from 'Manor Live' by Steve York's Camelo Pardalis 1973)
08 Sweet Mirth (from 'We May Be Cattle But We've All Got Names' by Michael de

                                                                                                                       Albuquerque 1973)
09 Overture (from 'Jesus Christ Superstar' film soundtrack by Rice/Lloyd Webber 1970)
10 This Is The Time To Get Merry (from 'Two Faced' by Bruce Epstein & Jack Fischer 1973)
11 Didn't Feel Lonely Till I Thought Of You (from 'The Confessions Of Dr. Dream' by 

                                                                                                                        Kevin Ayers 1974)

Disc Two
01 Shouting In A Bucket Blues (from 'June 1, 1974' by Kevin Ayers/John Cale/Eno/Nico 1974)
02 Itchy Feet (from 'Fatsticks' by Terry Stamp 1975)
03 The Elf Sires (from 'Some Things Never Change' by David Kubinec 1979)
04 It's A Pain (from 'Where Did I Go Right?' by John Otway 1979)
05 Bum Love (with John Halsey, from 'Miniatures' by Various Artists 1980) 
06 Don't Run Away (single by Zanna Gregmar & Ollie Halsall 1981)
07 Everyday, I Have The Blows (from 'Teddy Boys Don't Knit' by Vivian Stanshall 1981)
08 Sailship (single by Ronni Urini 1983)
09 Ely (from 'Teixido' by Teixido 1989)
10 Instrumental (from 'Veneno En La Piel' by Radio Futura 1990) 
11 Encima De Ti (from 'Historia Del Bikini' by Hombres G 1992)

Thanks to Auran for the suggestion.

For MAC users

Press command+shift+period (to show hidden files) and a grayed out folder '...and on guitar" will appear and the mp3s will be inside. Either drag those to another folder OR rename the folder without any periods at the beginning. Press command+shift+period to once again hide the hidden files.

The Rutles - Past Masters - Volume Two (1969)

For this second volume of 'Past Masters' from The Rutles, we've once again raided the back catalogues of The Flames, Neil Innes, GRIMMS, Timebox and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band for 'singles and b-sides' that didn't appear on their albums. The Flames contributed some tracks that actually were from 1965 and 1966, and Neil Innes filled in the gaps from the later years. I'd already used every contemporary song from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, but in a recent post of theirs I unearthed a recording that they'd made for a radio session which actually fitted on here quite well, and so by adding that, plus the one suitable unused song from GRIMMS and two from Timebox, we now have a second volume of rarities from the Pre-fab Four, which finally completes their discography.

Track listing

01 Blue Colour (b-side of 'Hold My Hand' 1963) 

02 Bring Back The Time (single 1963) 

03 Stop, Look And Listen (b-side of 'Ouch!' 1964) 

04 Tell It Like It Is (b-side of 'Between Us' 1965)  

05 Busy Day (b-side of 'Nevertheless' 1966)  

06 Lost (single 1966)  
07 You've Got The Chance (b-side of 'Piggy In The Middle' 1967) 
08 Stoned On Rock (single 1967) 
09 We're Gonna Bring It On Home (b-side of 'Good Times Roll' 1967)
10 Feel No Shame (b-side of 'Hey Mister!' 1968)  
11 Black Dog (b-side of 'Get Up And Go' 1969) 
12 City Of The Angels (b-side of 'Easy Listening' 1969)    
13 Oo-Chuck-A-Mao-Mao (b-side of '9-5 Pollution Blues' 1969) 
14 Rock Of Ages (single 1969) 
 
PERFORMERS
 
*The Flames - 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 
*Neil Innes - 5, 8, 10, 12, 14
*The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - 9
*Timebox - 7, 11
*GRIMMS - 13

The Rutles - Past Masters - Volume One (1969)

I thought I'd finished my series of Rutles albums, but I kept getting requests for more of them, with a 'Past Masters' set being mentioned more than once. I couldn't really see how that would be possible, as the original 'Past Masters' albums were a mopping-up exercise of all the non-album singles, b-sides and rarities from the Beatles catalogue, and we've never really considered The Rutles as a singles band, so there wouldn't be any 'non-album' songs to use. But bearing in mind that this is a fantasy project, we can ignore those rules, and so what we need to find are any songs from The Flames, Neil Innes, The World, GRIMMS, Timebox, or The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band that haven't already been used in the main discography. Obviously there can be no actual Rutles songs as we've already used every single thing they ever recorded, but after a bit of research I did manage to find just enough songs that sounded like they covered the period from 1963 to 1969, and could have been singles and b-sides for the band. The chronology is purely subjective, as I just listened to the song and tried to imagine when it could have been released in this alternative universe, so The Flames actual songs from 1965 and 1966 were easy, and the rest just slotted in as I felt fit, with Innes himself contributing four tracks, and there being just one each from Timebox and The World, as I'd already stripped their catalogue for suitable songs for the albums. So this, and you'll be pleased to know, a second volume later, will have to be the final Rutles albums that I will post.

Track listing 

01 A Place In The Sun (b-side of 'Number One' 1963)
02 Love's Made A Fool Of You (single 1964)
03 When Something's Wrong With My Baby (b-side 'Now She's Left You' 1964)
04 Nobody (single 1965)
05 Ummm Oh Yeah (b-side of 'I Must Be In Love' 1965)
06 Not Getting Any Younger (b-side of 'It's Looking Good' 1966)
07 Don't Make Your Children Pay (single 1966)
08 Another Day Like Heaven (b-side of 'Doubleback Alley' 1967)
09 Dreams Shine Through (b-side of 'Love Life' 1967)
10 Lead Us (b-side of 'Living In Hope' 1968)
11 Here We Go Again (b-side of 'Let's Be Natural' 1968)
12 Barnabus Swain (b-side of 'Another Day' 1968)
13 9-5 Pollution Blues (single 1969)
     

PERFORMERS

*The Flames - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
*Neil Innes - 6, 9, 11, 13
*The World - 10
*Timebox - 12

Neil Innes (1944-2019)

I was shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Neil Innes on Sunday, at the age of just 75. He became an integral part of this blog once I started to post the complete Rutles discography, and I came to realise just how many great songs he'd written with The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, The World, GRIMMS, and The Rutles, and of course in his solo career, both on record and on TV. I caught The Rutles when they visited my home town in the summer, and you could tell that he was having a ball playing the songs. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening for both the fans and the band, and that is how I will remember him. 

R.I.P. Neil

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - A Dog's Breakfast (1983)

To close this comedy/rock special here's a collection of hard to find singles, b-sides, and radio sessions by various members of the Bonzos, which were issued by them after the band broke up. You might think that there's not enough Viv on here, but that's because there are actually enough rarities from him to make his own album, which I'll be posting later, but I've added my favourite single of his - 'Labio-Dental Fricative'/'Paper Round' - so that there's at least two songs of his on here. 
Here are some notes on each song that I found online, although I've re-jigged the track listing from the original album that they came from.     

Topo D. Bill - Witchi-Tai-To (A-side) - 3:29
Topo D. Bill - Jam (B-side) - 3:10
originally released in December 1969 as the first single (CB-116) on Tony Stratton Smith's newly founded 'Famous Charisma' record label. Produced by 'Legs' Larry Smith, both tracks were recorded with help from former collegue Roger Ruskin Spear and one or more (unknown) members of Yes and/or The Who. The single was released under a pseudonym as the various participants were already signed to other record companies. The word is that 'Springtime for Hitler' was 'Legs' Larry's first choice to be released but rejected by Stratton Smith as he was just finalizing a deal with a German distributor.

The World - Angelina (A-side) - 2:48
The World - 9 To 5 Pollution Blues -  4:22
Neil's first short-lived solo project 'The World', was a more conventional group than the Bonzo's and featured besides Neil on lead vocal, piano and guitar, former Bonzo Dennis Cowan on bass and guitar, Ian Wallace on drums and Roger McKew on lead guitar. They only released one album 'Lucky Planet' (LBG-83149) and one single 'Angelina' b/w 'Come Into The Open' (LBF-15402 in mono) in 1970 on Liberty Records.

Viv Stanshall & The Sean Head Showband - Labio-Dental Fricative - 3:09
Viv Stanshall & The Sean Head Showbnad - Paper Round - 2:05
Viv's first solo single was released on the Liberty Label in 1970, coupling "Labio-Dental Fricative/Paper Round", and credited to Vivian Stanshall and The Sean Head Showband (an oblique reference to Stanshall having shaved off all of his hair during his breakdown). Both sides featured Eric Clapton on guitar.

Roger Ruskin Spear - Trouser Freak (Full Version) (A-side) - 2:49
Roger Ruskin Spear - Trouser Press (A-side) - 2:58
Roger Ruskin Spear - Release Me (B-side) - 2:50
Roger Ruskin Spear - Drop Out! (B-side) - 2:02
Roger's wonderful 'Rebel Trouser EP' was released in 1971 under the monniker 'Roger Ruskin Spear And His Giant Orchestral Wardrobe' on EMI's subsidiary label United Artists (UP-35221) and recorded with help from former Bonzo bass players Dave Clague and Dennis Cowan (on guitar), Leon Williams on trumpets and Tat Meager on drums. The EP's opening track 'Trouser Freak' was re-released several times on Bonzo compilations but these versions were all edited down to 2:18 omitting the ending, whereas the version here is complete.

Roger Ruskin Spear - Mattress Man (BBC Radio Flash 10-08-1971) - 2:11
Roger Ruskin Spear - Call Of The Freaks (BBC Radio Flash 10-08-1971) - 2:47
Two live tracks by 'Roger Ruskin Spear And His Giant Orchestral Wardrobe' from the Viv Stanshall presented BBC radio show 'Radio Flash' broadcast on August 10, 1971 and produced by John Walters and engineered by Bob Conduct. Among others Roger on tenor sax, Dave Glass on piano, Tad Meager on drums, Jerry Gardner on rhythm guitar, Bob Kerr on cornet and Thunderclap Newman's Andy Newman on sax. (He also recorded a cover of the Bonzo's track 'On Her Doorstep, Last Night', but I've omitted that as it was nowhere near as good as the Bonzo's version. PJ)

Neil Innes - Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues (A-side) - 3:30
Neil Innes - Fluff On The Needle (B-side) - 5:36
From the Neil Innes solo-single 'Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues' b/w 'Fluff On The Needle' released in 1974 on United Artists (UP-35676) and featuring Monty Python member Michael Palin acting as a record shop keeper. Among the featured send-ups are standards like 'Take Good Care Of My Baby', 'White Christmas', 'In The Mood' and 'Who Wants To Be A Millionare'.

Neil Innes - What Noise Annoys A Noisy Oyster (A-side) - 2:47
Neil Innes / Grimms - OO-Chuck-A-Mao-Mao (B-side) - 3:51
Two great Neil Innes penned tracks released under his own name in 1975 on United Artists (UP-35772). The B-side was originally released in 1973 on the second Grimms album 'Rockin' Duck'. 

Roger Ruskin Spear - I Love To Bumpity Bump - 2:35
Roger Ruskin Spear - When Yuba Plays The Rumba On The Tuba - 3:04 
Both sides of a 1974 single from Roger's second solo album 'Unusual'. The b-side, a wonderful cover version of a tune found on an old 78 RPM-single is his solo version of an early Bonzo favorite they never recorded.

Grimms - Womble Bashers Of Walthamstow (A-side) - 2:50
Grimms - The Worst Is Yet To Come (B-side) - 2:48
Grimms' (featuring Neil Innes) final release from the album 'Sleepers' and released as 7" single in 1976 on DJM Records (DJS-679). 

'Legs' Larry Smith - Springtime For Hitler (A-side) - 3:59
'Legs' Larry Smith - I Got A Braun New Girl (In God Wet Rust) (B-side) - 2:12
From the 1978 single 'Springtime For Hitler' released in 1978 on Arista Records (ARIST-194). 'I Got A Braun New Girl' was re-released in 2009 on Smug Records as part of a five track digital EP 'Call Me, Adolf!' produced by Gus Dudgeon.

'Legs' Larry Smith - Bullshot - 2:16
Title song from the 1983 Handmade Films release 'Bullshot' featuring 'Legs' Larry on vocals. Handmade was a George Harrison owned company that he established in 1979 with Denis O'Brien to finance Monty Python's second feature film 'Life Of Brian' after their movie deal with EMI fell through at the last minute.

Neil Innes - Them (B-side) - 2:52
Written and performed by Neil Innes, this song was originally released in 1982 as A-side to the single 'Them' b/w 'Rock Of Ages' (MMC I00) and re-released in 1992 as B-side to 'No Matter Who You Vote For The Government Always Gets In (Heigh Ho)'. The latter song, recorded in 1987, was Vivian Stanshall's final recording with the band as he died in 1995 when a fire broke out in his house.

That's your lot for tonight, and if nothing else this album shows that every member of the Bonzo Dog Band had much more to give after the group had disbanded. Watch out for Viv's album later on. 

Track listing

01 Topo D. Bill - Witchi-Tai-To (single 1969)
02 Topo D. Bill - Jam (b-side of 'Witchi-Tai-To')
03 The World - Angelina (single 1970)
04 The World - 9 To 5 Pollution Blues (from 'Lucky World' 1970)
05 Viv Stanshall & The Sean Head Showband - Labio-Dental Fricative (single 1970)
06 Viv Stanshall & The Sean Head Showband - Paper Round (b-side of 'Labio-Dental Fricative')
07 Roger Ruskin Spear - Trouser Freak (Full Version) (single 1971)
08 Roger Ruskin Spear - Trouser Press (b-side of 'Trouser Freak')
09 Roger Ruskin Spear - Release Me (b-side of 'Trouser Freak')
10 Roger Ruskin Spear - Drop Out! (b-side of 'Trouser Freak')
11 Roger Ruskin Spear - Mattress Man (BBC Radio Flash 1971)
12 Roger Ruskin Spear - Call Of The Freaks (BBC Radio Flash 1971)
13 Neil Innes - Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues (single 1974) 
14 Neil Innes - Fluff On The Needle (b-side of 'Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues')
15 Neil Innes - What Noise Annoys A Noisy Oyster (single 1975)
16 Neil Innes / Grimms - OO-Chuck-A-Mao-Mao (b-side of 'What Noise Annoys A Noisy Oyster')
17 Roger Ruskin Spear - I Love To Bumpity Bump (single 1974)
18 Roger Ruskin Spear - When Yuba Plays The Rumba On The Tuba (b-side of 'I Love.....')
19 Grimms - Womble Bashers Of Walthamstow (single 1976)
20 Grimms - The Worst Is Yet To Come (b-side of 'Womble Bashers Of Walthamstow')
21 'Legs' Larry Smith - Springtime For Hitler (single 1978)
22 'Legs' Larry Smith - I Got A Braun New Girl (In God Wet Rust) (b-side of 'Springtime For Hitler')
23 'Legs' Larry Smith - Bullshot (from the film 'Bullshot' 1983)
24 Neil Innes - Them (single 1982)

The Rutles - The Shite Album (2017)

Now that we've worked our way all the way back to the start of the band's career, I just need to mop up with a couple of albums from later on that should have appeared as the start of the series. At the time I didn't realise it was going to take off quite as well as it did, and so I was posting random albums in no particular order, so this is the classic 'The Shite Album' and being a double, it contains a wealth of great songs. I've had to make a few substitutions as usual, and so the track listing posted on the Rutles Wiki page is now missing 'Under My Skin', 'Protest Song', 'Monkey On My Back', 'The Blackest Of Blues', and 'Tubas In The Moonlight', as they've all appeared on previous posts, and I just didn't think 'Hard Times' was up to the quality of the other stuff on here, so I dropped that as well. I hope I've picked some suitable replacements, and I'm particularly pleased that I remembered Vivian Stansall's brilliant 'Labio Dental Fricative' / 'Paper-Round' single, arranged by Neil Innes, as it features guitar from Eric Clapton on both tracks, and so mirrors his contribution to 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' on the original album. 'Sugar Cube 1967' was suggested by TheLazenby, and I hadn't heard it before but it acts nicely as the 'Savoy Truffle' of this set. 'Evolution Number Ten' comes from the band's new 'The Wheat Album', but fits on here perfectly. There is a cover for this on the net, but I've made my own as I wanted to try to get the title to look as though it was embossed onto the sleeve.    

Track listing

Disc One

SIDE ONE
01 We've Arrived! (And To Prove It We're Here) 
02 Let's Be Natural 
03 Unfinished Words 
04 Mr. Eurovision Song Contest Man 
05 My Little Ukelele
06 Hey Mister!
07 Jollity Farm
08 Dream On
09 I Give Myself To You

SIDE TWO
10 Another Day
11 Bad Blood
12 Rutleution 2
13 Living In Hope
14 How's Your Father    
15 Labio Dental Fricative
16 Mother  


Disc Two

SIDE ONE
01 Sausages  
02 Short Blues  
03 Quiet Talks & Summer Walks 
04 Don't Know Why 
05 We Are Normal  
06 Highs And Lows 

SIDE TWO
07 Paper-Round
08 Tent
09 Sugar Cube 1967
10 11 Mustachioed Daughters
11 Godfrey Daniel
12 Evolution Number Ten
13 Scarlet Ribbons


PERFORMERS

Disc One

* The Rutles - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13
* Nel Innes - 4, 8, 9, 16
* Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 7, 11
* Patto - 14
* Vivian Stanshall/Neil Innes - 15

Disc Two

* The Rutles - 4, 12 
* The Flames - 6
* Neil Innes - 11
* Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 3, 5, 8, 10, 13 
* Patto - 1, 9
* Vivian Stanshall/Neil Innes - 7
* GRIMMS - 2

The Rutles - Please Rut Me (2017)

We've reached the beginning of the band's career now, with 'Please Rut Me'. A couple of substitutions of this one, as 'Recycled Vinyl Blues' and 'Now She's Left You' have both already appeared on 'Rutles For Sale'. I've also made a slight change to the cover to be more relevant to the track listing than the one to be found on the Rutles Wiki page.

Track listing

SIDE ONE
01 Goose-Step Mama 
02 Stay There
03 You Better Move On 
04 Is It You? 
05 Boys 
06 Another Lonely Man 
07 Please Rut Me

SIDE TWO
08 Monkey On My Back
09 Like Strangers 
10 Don't Play That Song  
11 Modern Casanova 
12 Gone  
13 Under My Skin 
14 Number One  

PERFORMERS

* The Rutles - 01, 07, 13, 14
* The Flame(s) - 03, 04, 05, 09, 10, 11, 12
* Neil Innes - 06
* Ollie Halsall - 08
* Timebox - 02

The Rutles - Rut Sounds (2017)

Not much to say about this one, other than the official press release from the band's press office. Glad to finally post this, as it includes some great songs like 'Immortal Invisible', 'Useless Illusion', and 'Down That Road'.
'Rut Sounds' is a 1966 album recorded by The Rutles. It was originally going to be an album by Les Garçons de la Plage (under the name "Pot Sounds"), but after their sudden breakup, Leggy Mountbatten decided to let the Rutles record it instead. This album has gone on to be considered one of the greatest albums of all time, second only to 'Sgt. Rutter's Only Darts Club Band'. Originally, the album was part of the US discography, but it was later added to the UK discography when The Rutles albums were first released on CD. 
There is an alternative cover around, but the picture of the band on donkeys was quite low-res, so I grabbed this screenshot from the 'All You Need Is Cash' film as I felt it fitted better with the vibe of the album, and I changed the font to resemble it's parent album.

Original cover

Track Listing

SIDE ONE

01 See The Light
02 Love Has Got Me 
03 Useless Illusions
04 Lie Down And Be Counted
05 Let's Go Away For Some Wine 
06 Etcetera

SIDE TWO 
07 Early Morning Train 
08 Immortal Invisible
09 Sometimes It Happens 
10 God Is Love 
11 Rut Sounds
12 Down That Road 

PERFORMERS

*The Flames - 01, 03, 08
*Neil Innes - 04, 06, 10, 12
*Timebox - 02
*Ollie Halsall - 05, 11
*Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 07
*Brian Patten - 09

The Rutles - Yellow Submarine Sandwich (2018)

Thanks are due to The_Lifehouse for coming up with the idea for this one. There's been a video on Youtube for a while now of songs from side one of this album, but no-one has ever bothered to complete it with a side two, until he suggested using orchestral pieces like the original album, and he had the great idea of utlising music from the Ren & Stimpy Show. They have a three CD collection of public domain tunes from the 40's and 50's that are used in their shows, and while his choices were mostly perfectly fine, I did trawl through two volumes of the set to see if there were any pieces which I felt matched his track titles a little better, and so I hope he doesn't mind that I've used the ones that I found instead, and by choosing slightly longer pieces I've stretched side two to around 21 minutes. I've also substituted a couple of tracks from the 'song' side as they'd already been used on other albums, but I decided to leave 'Ging Gang Goolie (Yellow Submarine) and 'Love Life' (All You Need Is Love') as the original Beatles songs had already appeared on 'Revolver' and 'Magical Mystery Tour' by the time the film came out, so duplications are allowed in those two cases. Finally, thanks to Rutle's Vinyls for suggesting 'I Like Chinese' as the 'All Together Now' of this set.

Track listing

SIDE ONE
01 Ging Gang Goolie
02 Hush
03 I Like Chinese
04 Hey Bulldog
05 All In The Name Of Love
06 Love Life

SIDE TWO
07 Rutterland
08 Sea Of Space
09 Sea Of Plot Holes
10 Sea Of Creatures
11 Attack Of The Meanies And Sharks
12 Rutterland Laid Waste
13 Yellow Submarine Sandwich In Rutterland

PERFORMERS
* Dirk & Stig (Idle/Fataar) - 01
* Neil Innes - 02, 05
* Eric Idle/Monty Python - 03
* Boxer - 04
* The Rutles - 06
* Ren & Stimpy Production Music - 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13

The Rutles - Tragical History Tour (2017)

It's time for your mid-week Rutles treat, and this time it's the 'Tragical History Tour' album, containing another great batch of psychedelic-style Beatles pastiches. This one has some of my favourite Rutles songs in 'Doubleback Alley', 'Piggy In The Middle' and 'Love Life'.

Track listing

SIDE ONE
01 Shangri La
02 Questionnaire
03 Lying
04 Purple Haze
05 Piggy Bank Love

SIDE TWO
06 Piggy In The Middle
07 Raggy Dolls
08 Montana Cafe
09 Doubleback Alley
10 What Do You Do
11 Love Life

PERFORMERS
* The Rutles - 01, 02, 03, 06, 09, 11
* The Flame(s) - 04
* Neil Innes - 07, 08
* The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 05, 10

And no, I don't know what 'Purple Haze' is doing on there!

The Rutles - Let It Rot (2017)

It's Wednesday - it's Rutles day. This week's post is 'Let It Rot', which is still in their psychedelic pop phase and so the opportunity is here for some great pastiches from the Rutles and their connected bands and artists.

Track listing

SIDE ONE
01 Bandwagon (Live)
02 Don't Get Me Wrong 
03 All Alone 
04 Hey Mister! 
05 Stig It 
06 Imitation Song 

SIDE TWO
07 Slaves Of Freedom 
08 Concrete Jungle Boy 
09 Momma Bee 
10 How Sweet To Be An Idiot 
11 Blackest of Blues 
12 Get Up And Go 

PERFORMERS
* The Rutles - 04, 12
* Neil Innes - 01, 03, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10
* The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 02
* GRIMMS - 11
* Rutles Song Performed By Neil Innes On The BBC - 05

The Rutles - Semi-Automatic (2017)

We stick with late 60's pop/psyche for the next Rutles album, with it's strange title (who on earth would name their album after a gun?!), and including the fab 'Nevertheless' - always a favourite.

Track listing

SIDE ONE

01 Promises

02 Time To Kill

03 My New School

04 Nevertheless

05 Now You're Asleep

06 Ging Gang Goolie

07 Get Your Mind Made Up

SIDE TWO

08 Gone Is The Sad Man

09 Make It Easy

10 Readymades

11 Poor Little Heartbreaker
12 Tree House
13 Knock On Wood
14 Joe Public

PERFORMERS
* The Rutles - 04, 14
* The Flame(s) - 07, 09, 13
* Neil Innes - 02, 03
* Timebox - 01, 08, 11, 12
* Dirk & Stig (Fataar/Idle) - 06
* The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 05, 10

The Rutles - Ouch! (2017)

This week's post was going to be the last one in the series, as I'd exhausted the ones that I'd found on Youtube, and had used the couple that I'd made up myself based on track listings by TheLazenby and Rutles' Vinyls, and so I thought that was enough. However, after seeing how well-received the series has been I decided to see it through to the end, and so have now completed the whole discography. Working backwards, the next album released by the Pre-Fab Four was 'Ouch!', and now that we are getting towards the end of the series I've noticed that a few duplications of songs were starting to creep in, so where the same song is on two albums quite close together I've made a substitution, and I hope the compilers don't mind. Just a couple on here, as 'Now She's Left You' is also on 'Rutles For Sale' (next week's post), and 'Time To Kill' was on 'Semi-Automatic'. As 'I Must Be In Love' will appear on 'A Hard Day's Rut' in a few weeks I've used a 'live' version for this album.
After I posted this, TheLazenby made a good point, that when he compiled 'Rutle Sole' he included 'I'm Looking Good' as the equivalent of 'I'm Looking Through You' from the actual 'Rubber Soul', and bearing in mind that by substituting all the duplicated songs on 'Rutle Sole' we actually ended up with a Rutles album without a single song from the band themselves, I'm more than happy to reinstate it into its rightful place. I've just moved 'Summertime Kids' from 'Rutle Sole' to 'Ouch!', and this is what the new track listing looks like for that one.

Track listing

SIDE ONE
01 Ouch!  
02 Summertime Kids 
03 I Want To Be With You 
04 If You Need Me 
05 Baby Let Me Be 
06 Things You Don't Forget
07 I Can't Help Myself

SIDE TWO  
08 Act Naturally 
09 Tubas In The Moonlight 
10 That's Enough 
11 I Must Be In Love (live)
12 Mr. Sheene  
13 L'amour Perdu  

PERFORMERS
* The Rutles - 01, 05, 08, 11
* The Flame(s) - 04, 06, 07, 10
* Neil Innes - 13
* The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 03, 09
* Dirk & Stig (Fataar/Idle) - 12
* Ollie Halsall 02

'Act Naturally' is a rehearsal take featuring Neil Innes and John Halsey.

The Rutles - Rutles For Sale (2017)

More great 60's-style pop from the inimitable Rutles. Just a couple of changes on this album, as I've replaced 'I'm Talking About You' as it's already on 'A Hard Day's Rut' (next week's post), as is 'Between Us'. I've actually run out of suitable songs to substitute, so as this album was already well over 40 minutes long then the best option was to just remove 'Between Us'.

Track listing

SIDE ONE
01 No Reply  
02 Protest Song  
03 For Your Precious Love  
04 Pretty Woman 
05 Steppin' Out   
06 Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues  

SIDE TWO
07 Eight Days A Week 
08 Glory Of Love  
09 Don't Ask Me What I Say  
10 White Cliffs Of Dover 
11 Now She's Left You 
12 Travelling Show
13 Hey Hey, Little Girl 

PERFORMERS

* The Rutles - 11
* The Flame(s) - 01, 03, 04, 07, 08, 09, 10
* Neil Innes - 02, 06
* Ollie Halsall - 05, 12, 13

The Rutles - Rutle Sole (2017)

TheLazenby recently asked me if I was going to re-post some of the earlier albums and substitute songs which have already appeared on other albums, as I have done on recent posts, and I originally said that I wouldn't be doing that, as there weren't that many and I'd run out of suitable songs to use, so I'd just leave them as they were. But as I was finalising one last album I discovered that in fact all of the duplications were on just one post, so if I added a few substitutions to 'Rutle Sole' then every album would have a unique track listing, so that was definitely worth doing. It helped that I'd also discovered a new batch of Neil Innes and Ollie Halsall songs that I could use, and so here is 'Rutle Sole' with four substitutions, meaning that there should no longer be any albums with the same song on them. If there are then I've missed it, so please let me know.  

Track listing

SIDE ONE
01 Yellow Van
02 If You Think You're Groovy 
03 You Done My Brain In 
04 Singing A Song Is Easy
05 Restless
06 Love The Girl 
07 Randy Raquel

SIDE TWO
08 Boring 
09 Lady 
10 Song For Yvonne 
11 See Me Back
12 This Love Of Ours
13 Fresh Wound 
14 It's Looking Good

PERFORMERS

* The Rutles 14
* Timebox - 01
* The Flame(s) - 02, 05, 06, 09, 11
* Neil Innes - 04, 07, 08, 10, 12
* The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 03, 13

The Rutles - A Hard Day's Rut (2017)

This is the soundtrack album to The Rutles first foray onto the big screen in 'A Hard Day's Rut'. The original track listing included 'High School Hermit' by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, but this was never properly recorded by the group, and is only available on a live TV broadcast, with the quality somewhat letting it down compared to the other tracks on the album, and so I was reluctant to include it. However, I have downloaded it and carried out a couple of (I hope) subtle edits to remove the comedy sketch in the middle, and it's included as a bonus if you want to add it back into your own copy. 'Fresh Wound' and 'I Want To Be With You', both by the Bonzos, are already on 'Rutle Sole' and 'Ouch!', so have been substituted. 

Track listing

SIDE ONE
01 I Must Be In Love  
02 Lovers Leaping
03 With A Girl Like You  
04 Between Us  
05 I Love You 
06 I'm So Happy

SIDE TWO
07 I'm Talking About You 
08 Boring 
09 Lonely-Phobia 
10 See Me Back 
11 One Of These Days 
12 Nobody

Bonus track
13 High School Hermit

PERFORMERS
* The Rutles - 01, 03, 04, 05, 09,
* The Flame(s) - 06, 07, 10, 11, 12
* Neil Innes - 08
* Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 13
* Ollie Halsall - 02 

The Rutles - Meet The Rutles (2018)

There wasn't a track listing for this album on the Rutles fansite, so I decided to follow the lead of the other fans and make one up myself. We were getting towards the end of available songs from The Flames and The Rutles themselves, so I trawled the Neil Innes songbook for some ideas, and also added in  some tracks from Neil Innes & The World, Halsall/Hasley's Timebox, and GRIMMS to make up a reasonable running time.

Track listing

SIDE ONE
01 Hold My Hand
02 Things I Could Have Said
03 Feel No Shame
04 Kenny And Lisa
05 Baby S'il Vous Plait
06 Come Out Into The Open

SIDE TWO
07 Blue Suede Schubert
08 Rockin' Duck
09 A Woman That's Waiting
10 Take It While You Can
11 Love The Girl
12 Come Out Into The Open II

PERFORMERS
* The Rutles - 01, 05, 07
* Neil Innes - 03, 04
* The World - 02, 06, 12
* Timebox - 09, 11
* GRIMMS - 08, 10 

The Rutles - Shabby Road (2017)

I was in two minds whether to post this one, but I thought I would anyway and see what sort of reaction I got to it.
A couple of weeks ago I stumbled on some Youtube videos where fans of the Pre-Fab Four - Ron Nasty, Dirk McQuickly, Stig O'Hara, and Barry Wom - had pieced together actual 'records' of the ones mentioned in the classic 'All You Need Is Cash' film, such as 'Ouch', 'Sgt. Rutters Only Darts Club Band', 'Let It Rot', and 'Semi-Automatic' (work it out). I grabbed them to see what they were like, and they were all surprisingly good, so I managed to piece together the ones which weren't posted using track listings that I found on the Rutles Wiki page  http://rutlesriki.wikia.com/wiki/The_Rutles_ discography, and I can post them all if this one proves popular. As The Rutles didn't record that many songs themselves, these fans have taken music from any band in which the individual members were involved in real life, so there are contributions from Neil Innes solo, as well as with The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, GRIMMS, The World, and Brian Patten, Ricky Fataar with The Flames and The Beach Boys, John Halsey and Ollie Halsall with Timebox, Boxer, and Patto, and also one small piece from Eric Idle. They then looked for songs which resembled those from the actual Beatles albums and put them together, resulting in some intriguing combinations. I'm posting 'Shabby Road' first as it think it works really well, with the superb 'No Reply (She's Too Heavy)' on "side one" and the lovely medley of shorter songs on "side two", just like the album that it's parodying. 

Track listing

SIDE ONE
01 Eine Kleine Middle Klasse Musik
02 Don't Worry, BIll
03 Say Sorry Again
04 If You Need Me
05 Easy Listening
06 No Reply (She's Too Heavy)

SIDE TWO
07 Here Comes The Sun (Live)
08 Dove
09 Sail Away
10 Postcard
11 Angelina
12 Hexachlorophene Sham
13 Not The First Time
14 Now You're Asleep
15 Plenty Of Time
16 Lullaby

PERFORMERS
* The Rutles - 01, 05, 16
* The Flame(s) - 02, 04, 08
* Neil Innes - 03
* Boxer - 06
* The Beatles [Moog hiss sample] - 06
* Eric Idle - 07
* The World - 09, 11, 13
* The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 10, 12, 14
* GRIMMS - 15

The Man In The Magenta Wig, a.k.a. TheLazenby has put a lot of work into these, and inspired other to follow in his steps, and so thanks to them all. If this one proves popular then I can post more, although I think I'm going to anyway whether you like it or not!