Angel Air Records (label)
07 July 2014 (released)
04 August 2014
Neil Innes has, of course, been around for some considerable time. Innes has always laughed adversity in the face, and is as much a ‘tonic’ now as he was then, as this Live Tour album demonstrates.
Best known for playing in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, followed by the Rutles, and his collaborations with Monty Python, Neil Innes continues to satirise and pastiche in his own inimitable way!
This live double album comprises a great and fun selection of Innes best known comedy rock parodies, including such ‘evergreens’ as ‘I Must Be In Love’, ‘Ouch’, ‘Elvis And The Disagreeable’, ‘Ego Warriors’, ‘Bold Sir Robin’, ‘Charlie Big Potatoes’, ‘Rutalot’, and of course his most commercial hit ‘Urban Spaceman’. Having said that, the album also contains one straight-forward and enjoyable cover version of ‘Reet Petite’ – a song first made popular by Jackie Wilson in 1958.
‘I Must Be In Love’ is the song which kicked off the Rutles hurly-burly giddy career. As for ‘Ouch’, that’s a parody of the Beatles’ ‘Help’ – and it accompanied the Rutles ‘expensive’ second film. Oh, and the song’s title was suggested by none other than Eric Idle!
‘Elvis And The Disagreeable’ evokes fond memories in Innes and Co. since they first mucked about with the composition 35 years ago. As Roger Rettig used to say: “As you’ve enjoyed yourself half as much as we have, then we enjoyed ourselves twice as much as you.”
Neil Innes isn’t sure whether ‘Eco Warriors’ should be on the album, feeling that live recordings belong to a live environment, particularly this song… as delivery and performance are very visual and thus obviously lost on the CD. Ladies and gentlemen, you decide!
Innes’ hilarious ‘Bold Sir Robin’ of course featured in Monty Python and The Holy Grail, where Sir Neil Innes appeared as a head bashing monk and the leader of Sir Robin’s minstrels.
If you ever wanted to listen to a song that has it all, look no further then ‘Charlie Big Potatoes’… a son based on a true story, and featuring powerful drama and award-winning comedy, not to mention strong language and scenes of a sexual nature. You have been warned! Decadence in the shape of lawyers and dildos is continued in ‘Rutalot’, a medley of four Rutles songs from the first Rutles album and a collaboration with two beetles. Now sue me!
Not for the fainthearted and easily insulted, this double CD not only contains highly entertaining tracks but also highly entertaining sleeve notes… which is no less than what you can expect from a talented musical wordsmith like Neil Innes!
The original band on this album:
Neil Innes – vox, piano, guitar, banjo, assorted toys
Billy Bremner – guitar, vox
Brian Hodgson – bass and vox
Roger Rettig – guitar, pedal steel guitar, vox
John Halsey – drums, vox
