- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: SPOOF BAND THE RUTLES ARE RELEASING A NEW ALBUM
- Date: 10th October 1996
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 10, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) INNES SAYING WE'VE COME THROUGH A KIND OF QUANTUM LEAP, TIME WARP TELEVISION FASHION (ENGLISH) HALSEY SAYING WE ARE A MYTH BUT WE'D LIKE TO BE A HIT (ENGLISH)
- Embargoed: 25th October 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ FILE
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVAEL8FYUPSMA3AOODXB3ETFZZD7
- Story Text: Spoof band The Rutles are releasing a new album this month (October 28) after an eighteen year break from their tough roles parodying mega band The Beatles.
The new album entitled "Archaeology" is a non-too-thinly disguised send-up of all three double-albums which make up The Beatles' "Anthology" - rare archive material covering the band's career.
The Rutles, who insist they are the most famous band of all time, claim the new project is their legendary "lost album" which they say was buried in a time capsule in 1970 when the band broke up.
Drummer John Halsey said his dog was responsible for the tapes being rediscovered, "He was looking for a bone...he just dug 'em up." "We thought we'd try to get in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the longest period between two consecutive albums", Halsey added.
The world was first exposed to The Rutles in 1978 when United States (U.S.) television station NBC aired a spin-off project from Monty Python called "All You Need Is Cash" - a spoof documentary on a mythical 60's band called "The Rutles".
The programme's soundtrack album, also called "All You Need Is Cash" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Comedy Recordings. It reached number 12 in the U.K. album charts and sold 750,000 units worldwide.
The project was thought up by two veterans of comedy and music - Songwriter Neil Innes and Eric Idle.
Idle was one of the founding members of Monty Python,while Innes was a founding member of the cult comedy-rock group The Bonzo Dog Band - which appeared in The Beatles' 1967 film "Magical Mystery Tour". Innes eventually became the "7th python" - providing and performing amusing music for the troupe.
Together they created The Rutles to parody The Beatles story.
Innes wrote, recorded and produced all the music.
Idle now denies any involvement in the new album project.
Innes, who during interviews dodges in and out of his Rutles persona, says his music is associated with that of The Beatles. "It is honest to goodness pop music like The Beatles made. There is supreme craftsmanship in some writing (The Beatles) which is why there is never a dull moment. It is either a terrific melody or there is a good throbbing beat." "There is a connection to The Beatles," Innes conceeds, "Before 1980 it was fun to deny their existence but since then we have to say we have had an influence or two from the Fabs." The Rutles' music is not a parody in the sense of "Weird Al' Yankovic" - in that a well-known song is simply performed with new lyrics, but a pastiche of Beatles music - with original Beatles-sounding music and original Beatles-style lyrics.
In the 1978 spoof documentary Innes played Ron Nasty (the John Lennon character) and Idle played Dirk McQuickly (the Paul McCartney role). Two musicians were recruited to play the other two Rutles - Rikki Fataar played Stig o'Hara (the George Harrison character) and British drummer John Halsey became The Rutles version of Ringo Starr - Barry Wom.
All the Rutles music was sung by Innes, Fataar and Halsey. Idle did not sing or play on the album, but was seen lip-syncing in the film.
The new album's first single release is "Shangri-La". A number of guest singers joined in to record the chorus.
"It was good fun because everyone came along and sang La di doo di La di da, here we are in Shangri-La.", Innes said.
On the theme of the song, Innes said, "Shangri-La is the place every politician would believe you'd be in if you'd voted for them.
So it is riddled with social comment".
The album is all freshly recorded but engineered to sound as if it was made back in the 1960's.
The original spoof documentary is to be shown on television in a number of countries on October 27th and theRutles plan to round off their come-back with a concert in New York on November 3rd. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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