No point in denying it — this one tripped me out a little bit.<\/p>\n
Over the past decade or so we\u2019ve seen plenty of examples of clever and well-executed tribute albums, multiple or occasionally single artists covering choice cuts from various stages of a well-known artist\u2019s catalog.\u00a0 Former Yesman Billy Sherwood has taken it a logical step farther by producing\/curating a couple of particularly strong Pink Floyd tribute albums in which a smorgasbord of all-star groupings have covered the entire albums The Wall<\/i> and Dark Side Of The Moon<\/i> track for track.<\/p>\n
But a single artist, covering a single, uber-iconic album in its entirety \u2013 and doing it live, without a net?\u00a0 In a word, yikes.<\/p>\n
And to choose for said album a giant among giants, the immortal Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/i> — an album the Beatles themselves never performed live?\u00a0 Who would have the cojones to tilt at a windmill that big?\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Leave it to (to paraphrase good ol\u2019 Daredevil) the Men Without Fear\u2026 leave it to Cheap Trick.<\/p>\n
In August of 2007, avowed Beatlemaniacs Robin Zander (vocals), Rick Nielsen (guitars), Tom Petersson (bass) and Bun E. Carlos (drums) were invited to perform Sgt. Pepper\u2019s live with the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra on the 40th<\/sup> anniversary of the album\u2019s 1967 release.\u00a0 The success (and, no doubt, thrill) of that gig surely helped convince the boys to repeat it at a New York charity concert on December 12th, 2007 \u2013 the performance captured on this disc and a simultaneous DVD release.\u00a0 With the NY Philharmonic backing them and guest vocalists Joan Osborne, Ian Ball and Rob Laufer in tow, the Rockford, Illinois quartet set about again recreating live one of the most remarkable pieces of studio magic in the history of rock and roll.<\/p>\n The most fascinating aspect of this album \u2013 other than the sheer bravado required to even attempt what they\u2019ve attempted here \u2013 is the way the band manages to make the performances sound natural.\u00a0 At times they sound like Cheap Trick playing Beatles songs; at other times they sound eerily like the Beatles themselves; never do they sound anything but completely comfortable and confident inhabiting every nook and cranny of this iconic and also impossibly diverse album. \u00a0(It surely didn\u2019t hurt that the band had the assistance of engineer Geoff Emerick, who worked on their 1980 disc All Shook Up<\/i> and, 13 years before that, on the original Sgt. Pepper\u2019s<\/i>.)<\/p>\n The title track has all the jaunty snap of the original, with the added turbo-boost of Nielsen\u2019s exuberant guitar playing, which similarly lights up a notably upbeat \u201cFixing A Hole.\u201d\u00a0 The three tracks in between — \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends,\u201d \u201cLucy In The Sky With Diamonds\u201d and \u201cGetting Better\u201d — are largely faithful to canon, and mind-boggling at that.\u00a0 Think about it; these three tracks were sung by three different Beatles in their original incarnations.\u00a0 Here, Zander takes on all three roles and nails them all, while the band behind him recreates the arrangements note for note.<\/p>\n As if that wasn\u2019t enough to put a smile of wonder on the listener\u2019s face, \u201cShe\u2019s Leaving Home\u201d finds the other three Tricksters playing background vocalists to Zander\u2019s luminous lead voice as the Philharmonic provides a hundred percent of the instrumental support.\u00a0 This one gets a big ovation, and deservedly so.<\/p>\n The next four tracks offer the boys a relative breather as a steady stream of guests share the spotlight.\u00a0 First, Ian Ball sits in on lead vocals for the bizarre fantasia that is \u201cBeing For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite.\u201d\u00a0 Then Rob Laufer, the Philharmonic and an Indian sitar band deliver an appropriately otherworldly \u201cWithin You Without You.\u201d\u00a0 Ball then returns for a deeply affectionate take on \u201cWhen I\u2019m Sixty-Four,\u201d and Joan Osborne steps up for an especially groovy femme\u2019d-up \u201cLovely Rita.\u201d<\/p>\n The closing set is where Cheap Trick proves once and for all that they are up to the task of interpreting Sgt. Pepper\u2019s<\/i>.\u00a0 They invest \u201cGood Morning Good Morning\u201d with all the drive (and more) suggested by the original, follow it with a rousing \u201cSgt. Pepper\u2019s\u2026 Reprise,\u201d and drop directly into their piece de resistance, a simply stunning rendition of \u201cA Day In The Life,\u201d in which Zander once again sings both Lennon\u2019s and McCartney\u2019s parts.\u00a0 <\/p>\n As a bonus, the boys finish with an encore of the Abbey Road<\/i> medley (\u201cGolden Slumbers\/Carry That Weight\/The End\u201d) that\u2019s every bit as impressive as everything that\u2019s come before, with the orchestra supporting their every move as Zander does Lennon, then McCartney, and back around again.<\/p>\n There are quibbles aplenty for the Beatles fanatic to fret over \u2013 chiefly, small changes to various arrangements and Nielsen\u2019s occasionally too-thunderous guitar.\u00a0 It would take a cold heart, though, not to get swept up in the pure joy, respect and affection demonstrated by four boys from Rockford who bow to no one in their appreciation for the music of their counterparts from Liverpool.\u00a0 <\/p>\n As for cojones, as Dizzy Dean (and later, Reggie Jackson) famously said, \u201cIt ain\u2019t bragging if you can do it.\u201d\u00a0 Cheap Trick can do it; the proof\u2019s right here.\u00a0 This album is a delight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5736],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-41802","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-cheap-trick","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41802"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41802"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}