The Rutles-The Rutles (1978)

The Rutles were a fictional Beatles pastiche/parody band created by members from Monty Python and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, first created for a parody program from the 1970’s called Rutland Weekend Television, before moving on to become the focus of a made-for-TV mockumentary called All You Need is Cash. Neil Innes, a member of the Bonzos and the creative force of the Rutles, actually appeared with his band in the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour film, performing the song “Death Cab for Cutie”. I bought the soundtrack for the mockumentary, also the Rutles’ self-titled debut album, on vinyl at a store called Thrifty Joe’s. I remember seeing bits and pieces of the original mockumentary, and after listening to the soundtrack, I would like to say that it is a fine piece of novelty rock and parody music that pre-dates “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Here are the songs, in order (note: this was the tracklisting from the original vinyl):

“Hold My Hand”-This song is a parody of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “All My Loving”. The original vinyl pressing, which is the one I have, begins with a collage of hairdryer noises and the Rutles tuning up. However, this was not included on the CD reissue.

“Number One”-A parody of “Twist and Shout” that is in a much quicker tempo, and slightly more rocking, than the original Beatles version. In fact, the melody sounds like they were also taking inspiration from “La Bamba” by Ritchie Valens.

“With A Girl Like You”-A clever parody of “If I Fell” that begins with the line “shoot me down in flames if I should tell a lie”. This opening lyric showcases the type of humor the Rutles has.

“I Must Be in Love”-A parody of “A Hard Day’s Night” that is also a bit more different than the original.

“Ouch!”-A clever parody of “Help!”.

“Living in Hope”-A parody of “Octopus’ Garden” that has a more country tone to it.

“Love Life”-A parody of “All You Need is Love” that features an orchestra that sounds like something out of a TV variety show compared to the baroque arrangements of the original version.

“Nevertheless”-A parody of “Within You, Without You” that sounds as raga-inspired as the aforementioned.

“Good Times Roll”-This parody of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” has similar psychedelic lyrics, but are more silly. For instance, there is a pineapple pie in the sky!

“Doubleback Alley”-This parody of “Penny Lane” has lyrics that sound way more average than the Beatles version.

“Cheese and Onions”-This parody of “A Day in the Life” sounds more laid-back and depressed, with the lead vocals sounding as nasally as they could get. The orchestral crescendo parody sounds more baroque, and the crashing piano chord is replaced with a very short note.

“Another Day”-A clever parody of “Martha My Dear” with rather baroque-sounding string and brass arrangements.

“Piggy in the Middle”-This parody of “I Am the Walrus” contains a backwards message (backed by an electronic noise) which, when played backwards, says, “This little piggy went to maaaaaaaaarket!”.

“Let’s Be Natural”-The original album closes with a parody of “Dear Prudence”.

If you want to listen to a true Beatles parody, go ahead and check out the Rutles. Their music is great!

Rare Pink Floyd Reviews: The Soundtrack for the 1993 Documentary “Fractals: The Colors of Infinity”

In 1993, a documentary was released about the Mandelbrot Set and fractal geometry, called Fractals: The Colors of Infinity. I watched the first 22 minutes of the documentary, and it is rather fun to watch. However, I was also focused on hearing the unreleased background music that was done by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, but I’m going to say that the music was done by Pink Floyd because some of the tracks were recorded during the sessions of 1994’s The Division Bell album. One of them was later released on 2014’s The Endless River, which was the last official Pink Floyd album.

I’m going to go through the documentary to try and find the background music, listen to it (even though bits of dialogue and narration can be heard in the music, but it doesn’t matter), and then give a summary as I review it.

“#1”-The same music from the track “Things Left Unsaid” off of The Endless River, but this time featuring ambient bird sound effects.

“#2”-This is a heavy prog piece featuring Gilmour’s blazing guitar solo work, along with bass and 90’s crime drama-style percussion.

“#3”-An ambient piece featuring brassy synthesizer, similar to the opening of the Dire Straights song “Money for Nothing”.

“#4”-A jazzy piece driven by electric guitar and synthesizer. This reminds me of the song “Empty Night” by the South Korean group Sanullim (Mountain Echo), from their 1978 album Vol. 3.

“#5”-This has Hammond organ, atmospheric keyboards and soaring guitar work.

“#6”-Similar to the previous piece, with Hammond organ and guitar, but is more atmospheric and also featuring strange electronic sound effects.

“#7”-A track recorded during the Division Bell sessions, featuring ambient synths, tribal percussion, acoustic guitar, bass, and spacey guitar soloing. In fact, this was recorded as an exercise to the track “High Hopes”, before the final version of that particular track was recorded.

“#8”-This has a rapid synthesizer melody similar to the track “On the Run” from 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon, along with a rapid cymbal rhythm. I bet the synth used was an EMS VCS3.

“#9”-This has ambient synths, one of them is a string synth, another sounding like a flute.

“#10”-This is similar to the 7th track, but this time, it has different guitar melodies, and a more ambient string synth.

“#11”-The same music from the first track, minus the bird sound effects.

“#12”-The same as track 2, played during the documentary’s closing credits.

NOTE: Although there are 20 pieces of music that were used, I didn’t add or describe the other 8 tracks to the list because they are just very short snippets.

The complete documentary, with Pink Floyd’s soundtrack, can be found on DVD, but the soundtrack can also be found on the bootleg rarities CD box set A Tree Full of Secrets. I still don’t understand why the full soundtrack was never officially released in any form. However, it’s still a great soundtrack.