Monday 25 September 2023
Bridgewater Hall Manchester
*****
Magical recreation of The Beatles’ studio years
The Beatles retired from touring and playing live in August 1966, only coming out to play for the odd live TV event or the occasional rooftop gig. They spent the rest of their creative lives together in the studio, the mixing desk becoming a Fifth Instrument and their producer George Martin becoming the Fifth Beatle. In four years they created a run of albums and singles that are arguably one of the finest bodies of work in Western Art Music in the latter part of the 20th century, although some might argue that ‘it’s only rock’n’roll (but I like it)’ as the Stones said.
The Analogues, a band of musicians from Holland, can’t really be called a tribute band in the conventional sense. They make no attempt to look like The Beatles onstage or to adopt their personalities. Instead, perhaps adopting a strategy from the Early Music movement, they use an approach that is known in the world of classical music as Historically Informed Performance. This means that when playing Bach, authenticity is achieved by using authentic instruments and performance styles rather than wearing a long curly wig, a frock coat and breeches. The Analogues make no attempt to look like The Beatles or dress like them, nor do they try to get the audience to sing along to their favourite hits. Instead, they create a near-perfect analogue of the original songs, using authentic instruments including a Hammond organ with an original Leslie speaker rather than an electronic re-creation, and several vintage guitars.
The Beatles with George Martin and their engineers were pioneers of multi-tracking in the studio, often overdubbing extra parts and also bringing in orchestral musicians. So to recreate their sound faithfully on stage The Analogues were sometimes more like the Fab Forty-four rather than The Fab Four as the ‘act you’ve known for all these years’ from recordings only was magically brought to life. There were multiple guitarists, singers, keyboard players, strings and brass. And if most of the performances were very straight, concentrating on the virtuosity and accuracy of the re-creation of the music in the way that a classical ensemble would do, there were some lovely comic moments such as two recorder players coming on to play four notes on Glass Onion and a splendid brass section (including a sousaphone) marching on stage to play a few brief notes during Yellow Submarine which also included all the bells and whistles from the original song.
As Prince once said, when playing live at the 02 Arena in London, ‘so many hits, so little time’, and fans may have missed some of their favourites from the later catalogue, such as ‘Let It Be’ and ‘Hey Jude’. Otherwise, the performances were so magnificent it would be difficult to name favourites, like expressing a preference for one of your children. What we were reminded of is the sheer variety of The Beatles’ musical styles, from the blistering rock’n’roll of Back in the USSR and Day Tripper, via the transcendent poetry of Dear Prudence the proto-trance of Tomorrow Never Knows, the avant-garde playfulness of Glass Onion and I am the Walrus to the jolly music hall of Yellow Submarine, and the sublime melodies of Something and Here Comes The Sun.
This is the first time The Analogues have performed in Manchester. Their return soon would be most welcome; ‘a splendid time is guaranteed for all.’