The Fab Faux
When was it that Rock 'n Roll died? If I had to guess, I would say it was somewhere around late September 1983. That was when Culture Club's KARMA CHAMELEON began it's 20 week run on the U.S. charts, including 6 weeks at number 1. We were only four years removed from THE WALL, LONDON CALLING and RUST NEVER SLEEEPS, but you knew it was over. And even if it wasn't completely dead, it was really sick, and it had that old person smell. And surely, sometime not long after that, it dropped into a coma, briefly popped its eyes open when NEVERMIND was released, then completely flatlined.
So Rock is dead (long live Rock), at least as the dominant musical art form in our culture. What does that mean for the music? Will it slowly fade into oblivion? Will it remain, but only as dusty old discs archived away in a basement in the Smithsonian? My thought was the latter. Unlike previous eras in modern music, Rock was unique in that it inextricably linked the writer, the performer and the recording, at least in the classic rock era. How can you separate "A Day In A Life" from John Lennon and The Beatles' recording of it. It is the definitive incarnation of that song. Anything else is imitation. The song remains, but it remains locked in a time capsule on that disc.
Or so I thought.
The Fab Faux are a New York-based Beatles "tribute" band, but that term doesn't do them justice. This isn't Beatlemania. Hell, there aren't even four of them. This is five professional musicians, most notably Will Lee from The Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Vivino from Late Night with Conan O'Brien, performing note-for-note, perfect, live reproductions of the most complex Beatles recordings. They rip The Beatles from their time capsule and the give the music energy, urgency and a beating pulse they way only a live performance can. The Fab Faux play The Beatles the way the New York Philharmonic plays Beethoven.
I saw the band perform this past Saturday at the magnificent Beaux Arts-style State Theatre for the Performing Arts in Easton, Pennsylvania. We attended the 8 PM show dubbed "Beyond 1: Fab Faux Fan Favorites" (they had performed The Beatles "1" album in its entirety earlier). Appropriately, at least for me, the evening was dominated by Lennon and Harrison songs. Yes, Harrison songs. These guys are George-heads big-time, covering a joyous "Here Comes The Sun", a rollicking "Old Brown Shoe", the always fun "Savoy Truffle" and a beautiful "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".
But if these guys love George, they bleed Lennon. "Rain", "Nowhere Man", and "Hey Bulldog" all showed off the power of these songs in a live setting, and the incredible vocal skills of the group (they take turns singing lead).
The highlight, though with one exception, were the the Sgt. Pepper/Mystery Tour era Lennon songs "I Am The Walrus" and "A Day In A Life", complete with live strings, horns and sound effects. Sonic masterpieces, heard as even The Beatles never heard them, full compositions played note-for-note, as single, end-to-end performances.
The one exception? A searing, bluesy "Oh, Darling" that had singer/keyboardist (and apparent Fab Faux heart-throb) Jack Petruzzelli leaping up from behind his piano and dropping to his knees Little Richard-style to belt out the scorching McCartney ABBEY ROAD classic. They tore the place to the ground with that one, and left more than one post-menopausal fan with a wet spot on her seat.
With The Fab Faux out there keeping The Beatles alive, is Rock dead? Nah, its not dead, but it just may need a set of Depends.
Catch The Fab Faux around the New York area next at Queens College - Colden Center for the Performing Arts, October 22.
So Rock is dead (long live Rock), at least as the dominant musical art form in our culture. What does that mean for the music? Will it slowly fade into oblivion? Will it remain, but only as dusty old discs archived away in a basement in the Smithsonian? My thought was the latter. Unlike previous eras in modern music, Rock was unique in that it inextricably linked the writer, the performer and the recording, at least in the classic rock era. How can you separate "A Day In A Life" from John Lennon and The Beatles' recording of it. It is the definitive incarnation of that song. Anything else is imitation. The song remains, but it remains locked in a time capsule on that disc.
Or so I thought.
The Fab Faux are a New York-based Beatles "tribute" band, but that term doesn't do them justice. This isn't Beatlemania. Hell, there aren't even four of them. This is five professional musicians, most notably Will Lee from The Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Vivino from Late Night with Conan O'Brien, performing note-for-note, perfect, live reproductions of the most complex Beatles recordings. They rip The Beatles from their time capsule and the give the music energy, urgency and a beating pulse they way only a live performance can. The Fab Faux play The Beatles the way the New York Philharmonic plays Beethoven.
I saw the band perform this past Saturday at the magnificent Beaux Arts-style State Theatre for the Performing Arts in Easton, Pennsylvania. We attended the 8 PM show dubbed "Beyond 1: Fab Faux Fan Favorites" (they had performed The Beatles "1" album in its entirety earlier). Appropriately, at least for me, the evening was dominated by Lennon and Harrison songs. Yes, Harrison songs. These guys are George-heads big-time, covering a joyous "Here Comes The Sun", a rollicking "Old Brown Shoe", the always fun "Savoy Truffle" and a beautiful "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".
But if these guys love George, they bleed Lennon. "Rain", "Nowhere Man", and "Hey Bulldog" all showed off the power of these songs in a live setting, and the incredible vocal skills of the group (they take turns singing lead).
The highlight, though with one exception, were the the Sgt. Pepper/Mystery Tour era Lennon songs "I Am The Walrus" and "A Day In A Life", complete with live strings, horns and sound effects. Sonic masterpieces, heard as even The Beatles never heard them, full compositions played note-for-note, as single, end-to-end performances.
The one exception? A searing, bluesy "Oh, Darling" that had singer/keyboardist (and apparent Fab Faux heart-throb) Jack Petruzzelli leaping up from behind his piano and dropping to his knees Little Richard-style to belt out the scorching McCartney ABBEY ROAD classic. They tore the place to the ground with that one, and left more than one post-menopausal fan with a wet spot on her seat.
With The Fab Faux out there keeping The Beatles alive, is Rock dead? Nah, its not dead, but it just may need a set of Depends.
Catch The Fab Faux around the New York area next at Queens College - Colden Center for the Performing Arts, October 22.
posted by Slag at 11:19 PM
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4 Comments:
Rock on, great review. I only live 40 miles away and missed a great show.
Who was the 5th beatle supposed to be Pete Best?
oh great more beatle crap, let it go, they are done. Seems the only Beatle that truly rocked was Ringo and you still can catch him and his band of musical journeymen playing some pretty cool stuff. Or just watch the gossip shows and catch Bea Arthur(oops) I mean sir Paul divorcing hit trophy wife. Shame the trophy case was damaged and he had to put phonebooks under it so she stood up straight. pity really.
It is not that I dislike the Beatles. It is just 40+ years of this worshipping is getting OLD, just like them.
My comment turned into a ramble:
Nice review. The Fab Faux have been around for at least a few years, though I don't know if the lineup changes. They play the Bowery Ballroom quite often. I've been meaning to see them for a while because I've heard other glowing reviews. Maybe Smelly'll go with me one night.
As far as the Beatles worshipping getting old, it's a fair point. In fact, I really had no interest in seeing the Faux at first. And to get back to a main point of the review, rock did suffer a considerable burnout a quarter century ago. Ironically, it was the Beatles (and Bob Dylan) who were responsible for this by being too astoundingly great too soon. They were not great like other known greats in the field before them like Elvis or Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly, or known great contemporaries like the Beach Boys or Neil Young or the Stones or even the f*#ink Who, or other greats who came later like Springsteen or The Clash or REM or the Replacements. The Beatles and Dylan were so ahead of their time that it (at first) pushed others to be better and more innovative, which pushed others to be better and more innovative. This resulted in the Golden era of Rock (1964-1980). At some point it became difficult (though still possible)to try to innovate without producing mediocre music.
Also, going back to the roots had become equally difficult. Anything Beatlesque better sound modern and be innovative too (or show other influences). There has actually been more and more of this since the early 90's and some of it is excellent pop and/or rock and/or experimental music. But other than a handful of Oasis songs not much of it has ever been played on the radio in the states. "Folk rock" with great "meaning"ful poetic lyrics? There hasn't been a new Dylan. Who the hell wants to paint a really good cubist work of art only to hear "dude, ya' know you're not Picasso"?
The point above about radio and the way the pop music industry has been run for years now brings me to my second main point. Yes, rock had its golden era (that was the first main point - I am a rambler, not a student or journalist or even an organized human) but rock is still much better than many thirtysomethings-and-beyond (and many younger people) make it out to be. Rock is just mostly underground due to a moronic industry. Many people, by their mid 30's are understandably busy/tired/serious/set in their ways/set in their tastes/waste their money on mortgages, college funds instead of cds, etc. to search, find, buy cds and listen to them completely at least 5 to 10 times with an enthusiastic open mind. Many people don't even have time to listen to the stuff they DO have and love. Or they have limited time so they understandably want to play what they know they like. Very few new rock bands get radio airplay unless they have what the industry expects of a money-making performer: youth, looks, image, payola, songs that THE RECORD COMPANY THINKS can and will sell a ton. It can get frustrating at times hearing people tout bands only to check them out and feel lukewarm about them yourself. But there are performers, bands, individual albums, individual songs that are as good as, better, even much better than the few good songs we've heard on radio over the past few years.
It's probably not worth it for someone who doesn't have the time or someone with a fairly narrow range of tastes (happy with the same 15 - 20 bands) to make much of an effort to find music in their taste range. I'm somewhat picky myself and also sort of a novice at this digging for the brown nuggets. But for someone who already likes dozens upon dozens of bands in the expanded genre of rock it'd be silly to think that there isn't some cool music out there waiting for you to love. Don't wait for radio or tv to validate it - not even satellite radio, which rocks.
Amen stalwart
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