Sausages and Beatles Songs
In one of the earliest episode of The West Wing, Chief of Staff Leo McGarry tells President Bartlett's crack team of staffers that there's two things in the world you never want to let people see how you make: laws and sausages. I thought of that line last night somewhere towards the end of the first half of The Beatles Sessions, a not quite musical, not quite tribute show, not really live gig at the 3Arena. Because, when you think of how perfect their music is and then consider the stories about tension, walk-outs and general strops that were going on behind the scenes, I'd suggest that Beatles songs are another thing you wouldn't want to let people see how you make. And yet there I was in the 3 Arena on Monday night to see a new show that claimed it was going to do just that.
The Beatles Sessions is a live (I think) presentation of about 60 Beatles songs (performed by two different Fab Fours) on a stage that's been designed to look like Studio 2 in Abbey Road where 'four lads from Liverpool' recorded almost all of their records. Unlike other Beatles tribute shows, this one claims that it'll make us feel like we were there in the room when everything from Love Me Do to The End was committed to tape. “Imagine sitting in on those iconic moments, laying down track after track, with the Fab Four", the advance word promised, "You'll experience all the sounds, energy and electricity created by the original live performances.” All of this presented to us in the comforting form of George Martin (well, an actor playing George Martin) who acts as our narrator for the evening, dropping in insightful remarks such as: "During the summer, George became more and more interested in Indian music" or "John was spending more time with Yoko". Things that everybody knows, in other words. The whole thing is performed on a stage surrounded by an audience on three sides with transparent screens projecting images, studio trivia and newspaper articles in front of the band as they play. The visuals were pretty spectacular if truth be told.
Of course, despite what it claims, The Beatles Sessions doesn't really attempt to enlighten us on what those sessions were like at all. If we're to take things at face value, every song was brought into the studio fully fleshed out and needing the barest of instructions to Ringo or George (never John or Paul, obviously) to be yet another fab smash hit. And George Martin's reputation as a legendary record producer amounts to little more than saying things like "Love Me Do, Take 2" or "Hurry up boys, we're running out of time". It couldn't have been that easy, could it?
But then, in fairness, nobody goes to these things expecting big revelations, do they? They go to be entertained and on that score you couldn't really criticise The Beatles Sessions. Over the course of 150 minutes we heard 60 or so Beatles songs in almost chronological order - sometimes snippets, sometimes the whole thing - and this, unsurprisingly, was where the show excelled. The first half, which accounted for the Pre-Pepper years, rattled along at a furious pace as a pattern quickly emerged. The Fabs would play a song and the audience would applaud politely and briefly. This was repeated several times. Now, at a live concert, that's a well-established pattern of behaviour. But this wasn't really a concert. The premise of the whole show is that we're spying on musicians in a studio - which means that they don't have to interact or engage with the audience at all. Why would they - we're not there! You see the problem? If they're recreating an environment where only a handful of people were present, then the audience didn't really need to be there at all. Very quickly it all began to feel a little redundant. It was just like listening to Beatles records. You know, the ones that people have been managing to do from the comfort of their armchairs for fifty years or so.
The second half was a slightly stronger affair, beginning with a long selection of Pepper songs. At this point the screens were lifted and Fabs were given a chance to stretch out a little. She's Leaving Home and A Day in the Life were particular standouts. But by removing the screens, the experience shifted more to one akin to seeing The Bootleg Beatles or any other tribute band. Also, while this part of the show was low on George Martin's pointless exposition, it was mystifyingly heavy on stage dancers. Were there really 4 people in English bobby's uniforms dancing around Studio 2 in 1968? People in sailors costumes? Wizards? I've heard about the time Hells Angels pitched up to Savile Row on George Harrison's say-so but sadly they didn't make the cut when the dance sequences were being choreographed. So suddenly the second half has become one part tribute band, smaller part musical theatre.
This carried on until George Martin reappeared to briefly tell us about the glum Let It Be sessions in Twickenham and the boys getting back to Studio 2 one last time for the Abbey Road record. And that was it - a big finish of the Golden Slumbers medley followed by a quick (well not that quick, obviously) encore of Hey Jude and we were done. Everyone cheered, everyone smiled and I was left wondering what was it that we'd just seen. And then I got it.
Soon enough, there'll be no more Beatles above ground and this kind of thing will become accepted as the Official Story of The Beatles. Hamburg and the Cavern Club will cease to be important and the fights, walk-outs, drug busts and lawsuits will be forgotten. It'll be like stories you read about events in the 19th century that cover the bare minimum painting a picture with the broadest of brushstrokes. It's hard to believe but the time is coming when Paul McCartney won't be around anymore to tell us "well actually, when we were in The Beatles...." Instead, we'll just have the songs to cling on to and the tiny percentage of us who are curious by the details and meanings behind songs and events will be swallowed up by the folks that just want to sing the Hey Jude refrain and clap along to Yellow Submarine and don't really care about what really happened. I suppose it's just as well the songs are so good, isn't it?
Here's a video from The Beatles Sessions' Albert Hall show. Whatever it is, it isn't rock and roll!
