GAVIN MARTIN
How could any band hope to add to The Beatles’ astonishing legacy? But Dutch oldies The Analogues – youngest member aged 40 – all of them obsessed with the minuscule details of the Liverpool legends’ studio years, have discovered a way.
Founded by drummer and former fashion executive Fred Gehring (66, although he waggishly claims to be “When I’m 64”) the technically perfect band specialise in performing live The Beatles’ albums they recorded in the studio but never played on stage.
“There are cover bands for The Beatles as well as for living, touring artists still, but they do what the artists did themselves. I would never be interested in that,” explains Fred. “I
think the uniqueness of what we’re trying to do is actually bring towards an audience a live version of something they’ve never heard before, and they never thought they would hear live.
“Geoff Emerick [the late great Beatles sound engineer] was with us two years ago and in Amsterdam he came to our Sgt Pepper show.
“He said, ‘I witnessed something I never thought I would witness’. I think that’s what we do.
“Audiences can’t dig into their videotapes and say ‘let’s play this one that The Beatles did’ because it doesn’t exist.”
Tomorrow night The Analogues will perform The Beatles’ White Album, this year celebrating its 50th anniversary, live on stage in London. But first they OBSESSION The Beatles
had to find acceptance in the Fabs’ hometown, of course. They did so with last year’s acclaimed Magical Mystery Tour performance at the 12,000-seater Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
“We were nervous about how the UK audience would respond to a couple of Dutch guys who have come to tell them how it should sound. It definitely paid dividends and we survived that.” Playing the White Album at London’s Palladium, where John Lennon famously offered the Queen and her late sister Princess Margaret the opportunity to “rattle their jewellery”, will be no small achievement for these Fab fanatics.
“We are scared to death of going to the venue, right?,” says Fred. “Personally, honestly, I want to make sure we don’t come close to arrogance at all.
“But we have played this album 75 times and there hasn’t been one where the audience hasn’t been crazy.”
So you say you want a revolution? The Analogues might be as close as you’ll ever get.
■ Live, London Palladium, May 4 Prowse has spent the past two years marking the 25th anniversary of his 80s outfit Pele but this solo album shows he’s no revival act. The singer, who also fronts the mighty Amsterdam, has reflected and built on core strengths. His Celtic soul runs full blooded through the acerbic All The Royal Houses. Prowse’s big-hearted, dazzlingly detailed songs often use local particulars from his home town of Liverpool to grasp big universal stuff in empowering and uplifting settings. No lie.
We bring a live version of something they’ve never heard before