One and one and one is three. The Analogues live. Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Saturday 28 December 2024

All good things come to an end. The Beatles in April 1970 and The Analogues in December 2024. The former created everything the latter recreated in about the same time period of ten years. The four Beatles went on to have solo careers of which two last until this very day.

In The Analogues' final show we got to hear the final two albums. First, 'Let It Be', the album that was recorded in January 1969 but discarded by the band and given to Phil Spector to finish, leading to some final overdubs lasting into early January 1970. It contained the band's final number 1 hit 'Let It Be'.

Second, 'Abbey Road', the album the Fab Four recorded later that year with George Martin, named after the street where the EMI studio is located in London. The album was released in November 1969, so about six months before 'Let It Be'. As far as I'm concerned, 'Abbey Road' is the absolute masterpiece by The Beatles and one of the best albums ever made. With side B topping that once again.

The Analogues played the albums integrally in the order of released album and in the Phil Spector version, not the 'Let It Be ... Naked', The Beatles released decades later. The contrast between the two albums of the evening is stark. 'Let It Be' is far more direct and raw. (And has these funny little ditties in between, showing musical banter from the studio.)

For me it took decades to appreciate the album. Aside from having a very low quality pressing of the album on LP, I never took to it. Partly because of the rawness of several songs. Another part was that this was the break up album and I held it against it. That I learned years and years later that in fact this wasn't the break up album at all, just released later, did not help.

What changed my opinion, is that I had to learn and appreciate first where my favourite sixties bands were coming from. I did not like the originals until way into the 00s, when I had to start listening seriously because of the band I was playing in at the time. Only then the quarter dropped, so to say. With that the musicianship in many of the songs came out and the songs themselves started to bloom. Today I can even listen to the two big Paul ballads, 'Let It Be' and 'The Long And Winding Road'. The two songs by George Harrison I've always liked. 'I Me Mine' and 'For You Blue' are just very nice songs. What I've come to appreciate truly were 'Dig A Pony' and 'I've Got A Feeling' and especially the latter, with the great electrical piano playing by Billy Preston. He was truly a fifth Beatle for a short while, playing on the roof as well. 'Get Back' was already a number 1 hit single at the time, so doesn't count.

The Analogues made all the strong elements of 'Let It Be' come out. How many people it takes to play some of The Beatles' songs! For one track only ("Winding Raod") a harpist is rolled unto the stage! Violins, cello, horns, flutes, two or three keyboards or guitars, percussion. The vintage instruments are all there and played by the band and the orchestra.

As an encore to 'Let It Be' we received the song that was played on the roof that was not on the record, but had already been released as the B-side of 'Get Back', 'Don't Let Me Down'. Another showcase of how good the band was in 1969. Again that Fender Rhodes piano played by Preston.

After the break we went straight into 'Abbey Road'. Both albums were introduced by Mark Lewisohn, the Beatle professor, one of the only persons who has heard everything that is on tape, catalogued it and writes tombs about it. He said something I did not know, that the band was not aware 'Abbey Road' was to be its final recoding album. They had discussed a next album and other plans. It just didn't happen. The band managed to do what is not given to most, he said, to stop at the top and be remembered because of that, I might add. We do not have a decline to remember.

The Analogues was a great band. What they managed to do, is point out to me how ingenious the songs on 'Abbey Road' are. How intricate the harmonies are. All through the album, they just go on and on and on, highlighting how good the three could sing (together) and how inventive they were to find all the extra melodies in their respective songs. The counter melodies that are in there, making it truly modern style classical music, if there is such a thing. Music for eternity, as is being proven slowly but surely. New generations are catching on, coming to listen to The Analogues, as that is as close one can get to hearing what happened in the studio. Not even Paul, let alone Ringo, comes close here.

We are getting fast to that point in time when all four original Beatles will no longer be alive and even many original fans are not among us any more, as they are all in their sixties and seventies by now. And now The Analogues call it quits as well. After ten years the band has completed its mission. Everything was recreated on a superb level, played several times. It's time to move on. "We will find something else to do", as musical director Bart van Poppel said. New The Beatles fans will have to find new cover bands.

In the encore we got the stand alone single 'The Ballad Of John And Yoko' that only John and Paul recorded on an April 1969 evening. Of course the single went to number 1. To my surprise, we did not get 'Old Brown Shoe', the superb B-side penned by George. With The Analogues it is hard to complain, but instead of 'Yesterday', as an encore, I had hoped to hear 'Now And Then' as the super encore to everything. 'All You Need Is Love' is a worthy ending, in these "times of trouble". The six Analogues took their final bows and left the stage. They are no more.

The more surprising was the fact that the show opened with The Young Analogues, four young guys who played early Beatles hits, to great enthusiasm of the audience. With all the studio albums in mind, I almost forgot about all those great hits that made the band in the first place. That success allowed the band to do whatever it wanted to do in its final years. No one questioned their musical wisdom for a second. Besides that, the suit and tie guys in the industry had no clue, with one exception, George Martin. He deserves this credit for posterity as well.

I want to thank The Analogues in my parting message on their years. Ever since 2017, I have reported on the shows I visited with great enthusiasm. On the one hand, I thank them for the experience but on the other and more importantly, your shows have brought me back to my first musical experience and being a fan before I knew what being a fan was. I had started to take The Beatles for granted, as something from the past, eclipsed by The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd and all that came after. No longer. The Beatles are the best band ever, period. Thank you, The Analogues, for reminding me! A big chapeau from,

Wout de Natris - van der Borght