Concert Review: Peter Asher-"A Musical Memoir of the 60's and Beyond" at the Dakota Jazz Club

Peter Asher and Gordon Waller in the 1960's.

Me with Peter Asher at the Dakota, December 12, 2017.

In December, I saw Peter Asher perform at the Dakota Jazz Club. Asher’s show is titled “A Musical Memoir of the 60’s and Beyond,” and it tells the story of his life and career. I saw the show with my wife and my Mom, and even though we saw Asher perform the show back in 2012, we all really enjoyed it again.

To give a brief recap of Peter Asher’s remarkable career, he was half of the British Invasion duo Peter & Gordon, comprised of him and his schoolmate Gordon Waller. When Peter & Gordon were signed to a record deal, a family connection of Asher’s proved fortuitous in his musical career. Peter’s sister is Jane Asher, an actress who also happened to date Paul McCartney from 1963 to 1968. Paul also lived at the Asher family home during part of this time, which meant that Peter had access to songs Paul had written that weren’t quite right for the Beatles. Peter & Gordon’s first three singles, “A World Without Love,” “Nobody I Know,” and “I Don’t Want to See You Again,” were all Lennon-McCartney songs, and provided Peter & Gordon with worldwide hits. 

After Peter & Gordon went their separate ways in 1968, Asher was asked by McCartney to become the A&R man for the Beatles’ new record label, Apple. Asher accepted the job, and one of the demo tapes he discovered was by a young American singer-songwriter named James Taylor. Apple issued Taylor’s debut album in December 1968 in the UK and February 1969 in the US, but it didn’t make much of a dent in the charts. Asher then quit Apple Records and became Taylor’s manager and producer, embarking on a highly successful career as a record producer. 

Asher’s show is packed with a lot more talking than singing, which was fine with me, as I soaked up stories about the Beatles. In addition to his pop stardom during the Swinging Sixties, Asher was also involved with Paul McCartney in running the Indica Bookshop and Gallery, where John Lennon first met Yoko Ono in 1966. 

Asher is full of good-natured charm, and he even riffed about how Austin Powers’ glasses and haircut may have been based on Asher’s appearance during the 1960’s. (I’ve long thought the same thing.)

After the show, Asher stuck around to sign autographs for fans, although he warned us that he was losing his voice and couldn’t really talk. I told him that I was a big Peter & Gordon fan, especially their later albums like In London for Tea and Hot, Cold & Custard. Asher said “Wow!” Like I did the first time I met him, I also told him how much I enjoyed Peter & Gordon’s version of “The Flower Lady,” written by the great Phil Ochs. For any fan of the Beatles or the British Invasion, Asher’s show is a superb trip down memory lane.