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

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!