Covering the Beatles

[sadie65]

http://www.nj.com/music/ledger/index.ss ... xml&coll=1

Covering the White Album is no easy task
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
BY JAY LUSTIG
Star-Ledger Staff

NEW JERSEY STAGE

It's the Mount Everest of challenges for musicians playing Beatles music: "Revolution 9," the bizarre sound collage on the band's 1968 "White Album."

In honor of the 40th anniversary of "The White Album" -- a common nickname for the double album whose official title is "The Beatles" -- Glen Burtnik decided to mount a concert featuring the album, in its entirety. And so he knew he would have to tackle "Revolution 9."

"That really was the prevalent thing in the back of my mind, when I committed to it: 'How the hell am I going to do that song?'," says Burtnik, who will perform "The White Album" with about 40 other musicians -- including Marshall Crenshaw and members of the Beatles cover band Liverpool -- at the State Theatre in New Brunswick on Friday.

Burtnik, 55, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from North Brunswick, decided to present the 8 1/2-minute "Revolution 9" as a combination of pre-recorded tapes and "some of the stuff that you can do live, like the speaking parts."

He didn't borrow any of the sounds from the original recording, but re-created them. For instance, one of the sounds is a piano, as heard on a tape being played backwards. Burtnik isolated this portion of the recording and played it backwards, to find out what the unaltered piano part sounded like. Then he played it on a piano, taped it, and reversed it in order to get something like what's on "Revolution 9."

"It sounds pretty close to the Beatles," he says. "And I did it over and over with all these different sounds."

Friday's show is billed as Burtnik's "Summer Beatles Bash #2." The first one, last year, was devoted to two other Beatles landmarks: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Meet the Beatles" (as played by the Smithereens).

This show will feature just the 30-track "White Album." Even without "Revolution 9," "The White Album" is the Beatles' most far-ranging album. Reflecting the fact that the Beatles themselves were growing apart, personally and artistically, it's a disjointed mixture of hard-rock ("Back In the U.S.S.R.," "Helter Skelter," "Birthday") and delicate ballads ("Blackbird," "I Will," "Julia"), with many whimsical detours ("Rocky Raccoon," "Honey Pie," "Piggies"). Few other rock albums move so easily from the ridiculous ("The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill") to the sublime ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps").

"(Beatles producer) George Martin strongly feels to this day that 'The White Album' should have been edited down to a single album, packed with hits," says Burtnik. "But one of the things I love about the album is it's so diverse."

Burtnik's credits include a stint in the band Styx, and a co-writing credit on "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" (Patty Smyth's 1992 Top Ten hit). He also puts together an annual all-star charity rock concert, the Xmas Xtravaganza (this year's edition is scheduled for Dec. 20 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank).

Burtnik's first major job in music was as a cast member of the Beatles tribute show, "Beatlemania." In the late '70s, he played Paul McCartney in productions of "Beatlemania" in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities. Marshall Crenshaw, who had not yet released his first album, was his John Lennon.

Since then, the two have remained friends and occasional collaborators. Burtnik did the interview for this article via cell phone, on his way to a Long Island Crenshaw gig where he was going to play bass.

Burtnik and Crenshaw ended up as McCartney and Lennon because "that's who we tried out for," Burtnik says. "It's a combination of looking a bit like them, and being musically adept enough to approximate their singing and playing. Also, I'm left-handed -- that came in handy." McCartney is a southpaw, too.

Of course, as a "Beatlemania" cast member, Burtnik learned the music, inside and out.

"I spent six months in rehearsals," he says. "I've always said, 'I didn't go to college. I went to Beatlemania.'"

Jay Lustig may be reached at jlustig@starledger.com or (973) 392-5850.

[LordofDaRing]

Cool post, thanks Sadie.
I always wondered what John was thinking with #9. If you ever listen to it, some of the spoken parts in it are very weird. There is a segment about a guy going to see the dentist who gave him some teeth that "weren't any good, so instead he went to join the bloody navy and went to sea". You can pick out some of the distincitve voices in the background, most notably Ringo and George and Yoko has a weird bit where she and John are droning on about something. Cudos to GB for even attempting it. Can you imagine a band with marshal and Glen in it, even a cover band? I think I might have caught that version of Beatlemania in the early 80s.

[stmonkeys]

***Burtnik did the interview for this article via cell phone, on his way to a Long Island Crenshaw gig where he was going to play bass. ***


WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



thanks for the article. aside from aging glen 2 years, it was very informative.

[elmotano]

***Burtnik did the interview for this article via cell phone, on his way to a Long Island Crenshaw gig where he was going to play bass. ***


WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



thanks for the article. aside from aging glen 2 years, it was very informative.

wish I would have known, would've loved to check that out.