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Virgin mines vaults for new Rutles tunes

By Adam Sandler

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Virgin Records will release an album of new material from the Rutles, the band created as a parody to the Beatles that was fronted by Monty Python alum Eric Idle and Neil Innes.

Continuing the spoof that made the Rutles a comic staple in the late '70s with a documentary and a TV special, the Rutles will send up the Fab Four's latest "Anthology" offerings by dubbing its disc "Archeology." An Oct. 29 bow has been set.

The recordings are said to be drawn from the album the band was working on when it broke up. The Rutles subsequently buried the masters "to thwart bootleggers and tax authorities."

In 1978, Warner Bros. released the hits compilation "All You Need Is Cash," and Rhino revisited the music of the fictional band--which also featured well-known session musicians Rikki Fataar and John Halsey--in 1991 with the disc's CD reissue.

Creative types involved in the project said the disc will be released with the fanfare of an upcoming Beatles album, with the addition of surprise guests and the tease of whether or not the Rutles will reunite leading the label's publicity charge.

Label execs assert, "Many of today's bands--including Oasis, Pulp, Blur and Smashing Pumpkins--cite the Rutles as a major influence."

--Daily Variety, July 29, 1996, p.12

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