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U.S. band to perform "Beatles album" that never was
03/10/2007 9:25 AM, Reuters
A group of New York musicians is
planning to do what the Beatles never did -- perform the songs
the Fab Four might have recorded as their final album had they
stayed together just a little longer.
The Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux -- made up of some of
the New York's leading professional musicians -- will perform
the songs they think would have been on that album on Tuesday
and Wednesday.
The performance at New York's Webster Hall consists of
material from the original Fab Four's early solo careers.
All of the tracks will be performed with distinctive
Beatles-type arrangements, rather than the spartan feel of
Lennon's early recordings and McCartney's first solo effort,
recorded at his home almost as a demo tape.
"It's totally on a lark because it didn't happen. It
wouldn't have happened," keyboardist and guitarist Jack
Petruzzelli said.
The Fab Faux's set will include the John Lennon songs
"Jealous Guy," "Instant Karma," "Mother," "Remember" and "Gimme
Some Truth." From Paul McCartney comes "Maybe I'm Amazed,"
"Every Night," "Another Day," "Hot as Sun/Glasses" and "Oo
You." They'll also perform George Harrison's tunes "All Things
Must Pass" and his solo hit "My Sweet Lord" and "What is Life."
And no late Beatles album would be complete without a Ringo Starr song, in this case, "It Don't Come Easy."
Many of the songs were tried out by the Beatles while they
were together. But the Fab Faux chose December 1970 as the
cutoff date for when a song had to be started to give them the
best material to work with. The Beatles officially split in
April 1970, when McCartney said he was leaving the band.
'WE'RE NOT A WIGS AND NOSES BAND'
The Fab Faux was dreamed up a decade ago, by musician Will Lee, who has played with all four Beatles and whose regular gig
is playing bass in the house band on CBS' "Late Show with David
Letterman." He wanted to start "the greatest Beatles band that
anyone has ever seen."
Within a year, four other musicians joined the project.
There was Rich Pagano, who has toured with Rosanne Cash and
Patti Smith, and whose love of the Beatles dates back to
playing in a Beatles-tribute band as a teenager.
Petruzzelli, who has played with Joan Osborne and Rufus Wainwright, was also added to the lineup. So too was Jimmy
Vivino, Lee's neighbor and the guitarist for NBC's "Late Night
with Conan O'Brien" band. Guitarist Frank Agnello, who had
toured with Marshall Crenshaw and Phoebe Snow, rounded the Fab
Faux out as the fifth member.
"We're not a wigs and noses Beatles band," said Vivino. The
band's obsession with detail sets them apart from mere
pretenders, he said.
"We look at it totally, totally from the music side, the
way a chamber orchestra does Mozart or Beethoven."
Lee, who once telephoned Ringo Starr to check his theory of
how a certain drum sound was produced, said advances in music
technology makes their job easier.
"We know the tricks. We know how to get the sound," he
said.
The Fab Faux hopes to create the magic that the other three
Beatles would have brought to each member's solo work.
"The flavor of what we do is such that it really does
satisfy somebody who wants to groove at an event, wants to move
and stuff, and it also is just as palatable to those who just
want to sit and watch a show, just listen to music," Lee said.
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