Cheap Archaeology (Music) (The Rutles) Price

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Customer Reviews of Archaeology

This collection parodies the Beatles like the original album and allows Neil Innes, Ricky Fataar, and John Halsey to take on a life of their own as well. There's no participation by Eric Idle (who played Dirk McQuigley, who was rumoured to be deaf!). It starts out with a Sgt Pepper/With a Little Help parody "Major Happy's Up and Coming Once Upon a Good Time Band" followed by John Halsey's deadpan vocals on "Rendevous" ("Ay, oo ah yew?" he asks before the response "We're the other singers in the band!"). Ricky Fataar plays the sitar and sings "Joe Perfect". Both the Beatles Anthology and The White Album arespoofed on "We've Arrived And To Prove It, We're Here" (with the jet flying, the false starts, the giggling during takes, and the "#2, #2, #2..."). "Shangri-La" spoofs "Hey Jude" (and tops it in length!). "Lonely Phobia" spoofs "The Things We Said Today". "Eine Kleine Middle Klasse Muzik" is reminiscent of "Come Together" with its electric piano. "I Love You" and "Easy Listening" don't seem to spoof the Beatles as directly, but have the feel of the original Rutles album. "Questionaire" dares to mention the access to handguns (enough said if you didn't catch on). "The Knicker Elastic King" is feel-good tounge in cheek humour and "Hey Mister" is reminiscent of "I Me Mine" with its waltz in G/shuffle in Em melody. "Don't Know Why" and "Back In '64" try to explain the legend of the Rutles ("Say goodbye now, it's all over").

Not quite as on-target as the original "Rutles"
The name is the same, but this album is a very different animal from its predecessor. The original "Rutles" album consisted of one dead-on-target parody after another. "Archaeology" is less specific in its spoofery. A couple of songs have obvious sources of inspiration ("Maj. Happy's/Rendezvous," "We've Arrived," "Back in '64" and, most pointedly, "Unfinished Words"), but most of the album mimics the overall sound rather than mimic particular songs. Also, sometimes the album wanders off course, becoming more of a parody of John Lennon and his solo work than of the Beatles as a whole. Then again, maybe the tendency to drift John-ward (or should that be "Ron-ward"?) is fair, considering the overwhelming McCartney influence on the work of the latter-day "Threetles" (in the "Archaeology" world, of course, it's Dirk McQuickly, not Ron Nasty, who's unavailable -- having retired from music to become a comedian; the actual death of Ollie Halsall, who had provided McQuickly's singing voice, adds a sharp dash of irony).

Interestingly, many of the songs on "Archaeology" are actually Bonzo Dog Band songs rerecorded to sound more Beatlesque. As a result, if you look past the parodic aspect, you find an album with some very strong songs indeed, especially those toward the end -- "Eine Kleine," "Joe Public" and "Shangri-La" (not to be confused with the powerhouse Kinks song of the same name . . . say, you don't suppose that Oasis are to the Kinks what the Rutles are to the Beatles?).

Beyond a mere "one-joke"...
This album, as far as I'm concerned, is a masterpiece of parody and a fine tribute to the Beatles.
As good as the first Rutles album, in my opinion.
Neil Innes deserves nothing but respect and applause for such a fantastic piece of work.
Stand-out track is "Shrangri La" which, at almost eight minutes long, is a clever combination of Beatles styles ranging from "A Day In The Life" to "Yellow Submarine" via "Hey Jude".
I'm sure any Beatle hearing this album would be proud.
And while the movie required some knowledge of Beatle history to get most of the jokes, the albums can be enjoyed purely for the great music whether you get the references or not... :)