The Rutles (album)


The Rutles is a soundtrack album to the 1978 telemovie All You Need Is Cash. The album contains 14 of the tongue-in-cheek pastiches of Beatles songs that were featured in the film.
The primary creative force of the Rutles' music was Neil Innes, the sole composer and arranger of the songs. Innes had been the "seventh" member of Monty Python, as well as one of the main artists behind the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band in the late 1960s, who had been featured in the real Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour film performing "Death Cab for Cutie".
Innes credits the three musicians he recruited to assist him on the project as having been important in helping him capture the feel of the Beatles. Guitarist/singer Ollie Halsall and drummer John Halsey had played together in the groups Timebox and Patto. Multi-instrumentalist Rikki Fataar had played with the Flames before joining the Beach Boys in the early 1970s.
Eric Idle, who devised the Rutles concept and co-wrote the film, did not play or sing on any of the recordings. He lip-synced "Dirk" vocals that were in fact sung by Halsall. Innes says that Idle, who had recently had an appendectomy, offered to help but was encouraged to recuperate. Having encouraged Idle and Innes to make a film that satirised the Beatles' history, and lent them archival footage for inclusion in the film, George Harrison facilitated the album's release by introducing them to the chairman of Warner Bros. Records, Mo Ostin.
The pastiches mimic the Beatles' sound to the degree that a 1978 Beatles bootleg, Indian Rope Trick, included the Rutles' "Cheese and Onions", attributing it to John Lennon. In the early 1980s, Innes was accused by one American Beatle fan of stealing unreleased Beatles tracks to use in the film; this was based on a recording of "Cheese and Onions" obtained by the fan which he believed to be by John Lennon. When the recording was played to Innes, he was amused to discover that it was actually his own demo of the song.
Innes was taken to court by the owners of the Beatles' catalogue, alleging copyright infringement of their songs. Innes had to testify under oath that he had not listened to the songs at all while composing the Rutles' songs, but had created them completely originally based on what he remembered various Beatles songs sounding like at different times.

Songs

The album contains parodies of Beatles numbers such as "Ouch!", "Hold My Hand", "With a Girl Like You", "Living in Hope", "Love Life", "Good Times Roll", "Nevertheless", "Let’s Be Natural", "Another Day", "Piggy in the Middle" and "Doubleback Alley". The CD reissue includes "Blue Suede Schubert", "It's Looking Good" and "Between Us". "Get Up and Go" was not on the original LP – allegedly after Lennon warned Innes that it resembled "Get Back" much too closely and might prompt the music publisher, ATV Music, to sue – but was included on the CD reissue.
All songs were written by Neil Innes. Despite having received Lennon's and Harrison's blessing for the project, however, he was forced by ATV Music to credit some of the songs to Lennon–McCartney–Innes. In 1996, Innes said of this stipulation: "George occasionally attempts to get the rights back for me, but it's not high up on anyone's agenda. I've stopped sulking about it." The liner notes of the album give the names of the "Warner Brothers" as "Stan & Reg".
The only song from the film not on the soundtrack is "You Need Feet", which is not a Rutles song. Originally released in 1958, it was written and performed by comedian Bernard Bresslaw and was a parody of the 1958 Max Bygraves hit "You Need Hands".

Track listing

1978 vinyl album

The original 1978 vinyl release of the soundtrack omitted some of the material. The design of the record's inner sleeve reflected the Apple/EMI 1962–1966 and 1967–1970 compilation Beatles albums released in 1973, with printed lyrics, red, blue and white layouts, and the track listing for the two album sides using similar periods.

Side 1

  1. "Hold My Hand" - 2:31
  2. "Number One" - 2:50
  3. "With a Girl Like You" - 1:50
  4. "I Must Be in Love" - 2:04
  5. "Ouch!" - 1:49
  6. "Living in Hope" - 2:37
  7. "Love Life" - 2:50
  8. "Nevertheless" - 1:29

    Side 2

  9. "Good Times Roll" - 3:03
  10. "Doubleback Alley" - 2:54
  11. "Cheese and Onions" - 2:37
  12. "Another Day" - 2:09
  13. "Piggy in the Middle" - 4:07
  14. "Let's Be Natural" - 3:23
The remaining songs floated about as bootlegs until the 1990 re-release on CD.

1990 CD re-release

The 1990 CD re-release not only restored the full Rutles canon, but also altered the running order of the tracks. This broke some resemblance to track orders on original Beatles albums where the ending of a Rutles song closely resembled the ending of a Beatles song, and the same for the beginning of the next song.
Additionally, "Hold My Hand" had originally featured a fake "airplane" intro sound which actually was a hairdryer, along with a count-in to the song. Due to the fact it was not the first song on the CD re-release as it had been on the original LP, this intro was removed.All lead vocals by Neil Innes except: Ollie Halsall on tracks 3, 7, 12, 17 and 19; Rikki Fataar on tracks 5, 8, and 14; and John Halsey on track 9.
Instrumentation: Ollie Halsall: guitar, keyboards, vocals. Rikki Fataar: guitar, bass, sitar, tabla, vocals. John Halsey: percussion, vocals. Andy Brown: bass. John Altman: orchestral arrangements. Cliff Haines: piccolo trumpet. Dave Spence, Martin Drover, Pat Kyle, Steve Gregory, Malcolm Griffiths: horns. Strings led by Christopher Warren-Green.
Produced by Neil Innes. Engineered by Steve James. Neil Innes and Ollie Halsall.

The Rutles (Soundtrack) - Alternate Versions, Reissues

Warner Bros. Records/WB-W53151
The Canadian version, on cassette, is the only version of this release to actually be titled "Meet The Rutles", and features the album sides in the proper order, unlike the American version listed above
Warner Bros. Records/S142137/M83151/1978/8-Track Tape Version
Rhino Records/1990/R275760/U.S. only release/1st CD issue
Rhino Records/2007/8122-79968-9/U.K. only release/1st U.K. CD issue
Rhino-Parlophone/2018/PCS 7018/Rocktober Vinyl series/7 Bonus disc
  • Side 1: "Goose Step Mama", "Baby Let Me Be", "Blue Suede Schubert"
  • Side 2: "Between Us", "It's Looking Good" and "Get Up and Go"
This reissue features the original LP cover and Warner Bros. Records copyright bylines, with Parlophone logos and labels.''