I was a bit young for Monty Python and only really came to that with ‘Life Of Brian’, I was though exactly the right age for The Rutles. I had watched Rutland Weekend Television found some of it a bit baffling, but I remember the musical bits, from a band called Fatso as the best parts of the show.
I’m not sure when I saw the Rutles “biopic” ‘All You Need Is Cash’, but in my view it is far superior to Spinal Tap as a pop parody film. I did buy the album some time later but didn’t really play it until some years later when I started to get interested in The Beatles. I hadn’t appreciated that it was the quality of the songs that made the parody so believable. ‘I Must be in Love’ and ‘Ouch!’ have sat on mixtapes and playlists alongside Badfinger, Oasis and other less funny Beatles parodies for years.
The whole “Scousness” of this is just fab, or perhaps prefab…
By now I was a proper Neil Innes fan, I discovered the Bonzo Dog Band, going to school in Keynsham helped there, and when Innes Book Of Records started in 1979 I watched religiously. Again great songs, the standout “City of the Angels” stayed with me until getting the cd reissue of the resulting albums years later.
I have followed his solo albums, seen him at Edinburgh and elsewhere several times. I was one of the seven people who bought The Rutles ‘Archaeology’ and if you want to catch up, a bit late, then try Recollections – Le Duck’s Box Set which has a dvd of selected bits of Innes Book of Records.
Another Innes highlight. In 1997 I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue had him substitute for pianist Colin Sell, and he took part in the Pick Up Song round with I’m The Urban Spaceman. It must be online somewhere seek it out, sublime.
So, sad today, but thankful that I found Neil Innes and for the privilege of watching and listening to him. This is ‘City of The Angels’, my personal favourite of all his songs.
