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

Timebox - Moose On The Loose (1969)

When I was posting my series of Rutles albums, a number of the songs included on them came from Timebox, which was because drummer John Hasley played Barry Wom in the original film, and guitarist Ollie Halsall was part of the band which Neil Innes put together to play the songs. Timebox themselves had something of a chquered career, starting out as The Take 5 in 1965, and including vibraphone player/guitarist Peter 'Ollie' Halsall, Chris Holmes on keyboards, lead guitarist and vocalist Kevan Fogarty,  Clive Griffths on bass, and drummer Geoff Dean. The band turned professional in 1966, and after moving to London soon found work on package tours with The Kinks, The Small Faces, Tommy Quickly, and Lou Christie. In 1967 they added US singer Richard Henry, changed their name to Timebox (an American term for a prison cell), and after signing to Piccadilly Records they released their debut single 'I'll Always Love You'/'Save Your Love'. Following this, Henry returned to the United States, and when Geoff Dean contracted tuberculosis he was replaced by Andy Petre on drums. This line-up released the instrumental single 'Soul Sauce'/'I Wish I Could Jerk Like My Uncle Cyril', before they recruited Mike 'Patto' McCarthy as vocalist and songwriter, and when Petre quit, the drum stool was filled by John Halsey. This is the line-up that recorded their best music, which has since built them a reputation as being one of the best, but also the most unappreciated, bands of the late 60's.
They recorded five singles for Piccadilly and Deram between 1967 and 1969, but their only UK Singles chart entry was with their cover version of The Four Seasons' track 'Beggin'', which peaked at number 38 in July 1968. After their last single failed in 1970, Chris Holmes left and the remaining members continued under the name Patto, releasing a string of acclaimed albums throughout the early 70's. In 1976 a compilation album entitled 'The Original Moose On The Loose' appeared on an obscure label, which collected all of their later singles with Patto as lead vocalist, but it didn't include other songs recorded at the same time which might have been destined for an album that could have been released in 1969. In 2018 the Ollie Halsall website posted news that an album was to be released using songs recorded in 1968/1969, entitled 'Moose On The Loose', and a proposed track listing was published, with downloadable links to the songs. However, nothing has since turned up, so using that track listing and adding a couple of contemporary songs to make it nearer the 40-minute mark, this is what Timebox could have released in 1969 as their debut album. Thanks to the Ollie Halsall archive for the info and the great cover.

Track listing 

01 Yellow Van
02 Tree House
03 Poor Little Heartbreaker
04 Baked Jam Roll In Your Eye
05 Black Dog
06 Country Dan & City Lil
07 Eddie McHenry
08 Barnabus Swain
09 Promises
10 Stay There
11 You've Got The Chance
12 Timebox
13 Love The Girl
14 Gone Is The Sad Man  

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 - 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 - 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 - 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