Classic Albums Live: 'The Beatles are the greatest band to ever come out'
Canadian musician Craig Martin is clear about what gave him the impetus 22 years ago to start Classic Albums Live, his 10-piece band dedicated to recreating the sound of such records as Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Queen’s News of the World and The Eagles’ Hotel California.
“I grew up with all of these records, I’m in my sixties so these albums are very dear to me, and I got fed up of going to clubs and pubs and seeing them just desecrated by these tribute bands who spend more time on the feathers and wigs and things like that. It was cosplay and I got really upset with that,” he says. “So I came up with this idea: wouldn’t it be great to just play the music properly, and then as a natural progression to perform entire albums.
“I was listening to Exile on Main Street at the time and I was thinking, man, to hear this album start to finish played properly that would be something. We were driving back from a gig, it was 2am or 3am and I got a typical response from the rest of the gang but I ended up getting my first show up and running in about 10 weeks. From that date I knew the people to go to, they got it up and running, and I’ve been hitting the ground running every day since then.”
Martin’s idea struck a powerful chord in North America, where Classic Albums Live perform 200 shows a year, and they have amassed a repertoire of more than 40 LPs – including works by Prince, Led Zeppelin, U2 and Bob Marley. For their first UK tour, however, they are focusing on The Beatles’ White Album, a sprawling 30-track record from 1968 that includes such gems as Back in the USSR, Dear Prudence, Helter Skelter and While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
Martin says he and his band will perform the double album “live onstage, note for note, cut for cut, using the best musicians”, adding: “All of our focus is on the music. We are the modern-day orchestra, our show is like a recital. You would go to see Mozart or Bach or Brahms performed by a symphony (orchestra), we’re the same thing, except we’re performing...The Beatles.”
He chose The Beatles because “for me, they’re the greatest band to ever come out”, and initially thought of doing Abbey Road but was concerned that “it might get lost in the mix (with people thinking) ‘oh, they’re a tribute band’” – a term he says he “hates”. “Our company is like an orchestra, a recital, so I thought what’s going to convey that, it’s the White Album, that’s what my partner in the UK, John Stalker came up with, he thought it would be the right album to do it with and I absolutely agree. The White Album is a real journey and it really does showcase how diversified we can play. It’s a double album and it’s just amazing song after amazing song.”
Revolution 9, the eight-minute avant-garde sound collage, is, he concedes, likely to be challenging. “A third of the audience are going to be going, ‘I can’t believe they’re doing this’, the other two thirds are going to be going ‘what are they doing?’ It’s going to be that complete mix, I’m looking forward to it.”
In West Yorkshire, they will be one of the first acts to perform at the new venue Bradford Live. Martin visited it a few weeks ago and says: “My goodness, that’s a beautiful venue, they’ve spared no expense there. I’m happy to be their guinea pig. Whatever they need, I’m happy to set the band up. You don’t need anything else in halls like that. Everything’s sparkling there.”
If the UK tour is a success, Martin would like to follow it up by doing Led Zeppelin II or IV and then Rumours. “I really want my best foot forward in the UK because I don’t see us ending, I just want to keep coming there,” he says. “Many of us have British passports, pretty much everybody in the band that’s coming has some tie to England and the UK so we’re relly making a push here to be part of the different communities that we’re going to.”
In time he hopes to start integrating British musicians into the band. “We’re based out of Toronto, but we have musicians who play out of Florida, California, Calgary, the East Coast. We augment with a network there, I’m hoping to repeat that process in England and Wales.”
Classic Albums Live play The Beatles’ White Album at Bradford Live on September 10. https://www.classicalbumslive.com/