Concert Review: Peter Asher and Albert Lee at the Dakota Jazz Club

Peter Asher

Albert Lee

On Wednesday night, I saw Peter Asher and Albert Lee at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis. I’ve seen Peter Asher a couple of times before, and I’ve always enjoyed hearing his music and his stories. Peter was half of the 1960’s British Invasion duo Peter and Gordon, and he later became a top record producer, working with James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, among many, many others. Peter and Gordon have always been one of my favorite British Invasion groups. I was less familiar with Albert Lee. My Mom had seen Lee at the Dakota before, and she was very impressed with his guitar playing. 

Together, Peter and Albert put on a very fun show. Both of them are big fans of the Everly Brothers, and Albert played guitar with the Everlys for more than twenty years. They opened the show with two Everly Brothers songs, “Bye Bye Love” and “Crying in the Rain.” Of course, the songs provided opportunities for Peter and Albert to weave together the stories of their musical lives. Asher related how he introduced James Taylor to Carole King, and convinced King that she should perform her own songs when she opened for Taylor at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. That story led into the next song, “Handy Man,” Taylor’s cover of the Jimmy Jones hit. Asher encouraged us all to sing along on the “Come-a, come-a” backing vocals, which was fun. 

Asher and Lee then traded off songs performed by the “British Elvis,” Cliff Richard, and the actual Elvis, with Asher singing Cliff’s 1961 hit “A Girl Like You,” and Lee singing “That’s All Right,” Elvis’ first record. Lee also provided excellent guitar solos on “That’s All Right.” Lee then sang “Sweet Little Lisa,” a song he played the guitar solo on for Dave Edmunds’ 1979 LP Repeat When Necessary. (That album featured Rockpile, with the wonderful Nick Lowe on bass.)

Other highlights of the evening included Peter and Gordon’s hit single “I Go to Pieces,” written by Del Shannon, and a lovely version of Buddy Holly’s “Well All Right.” Asher remarked that the style of glasses he wore in the 1960’s was an homage to Holly’s own black framed glasses. 

Lee performed his version of the Green Day hit “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” which Lee knew originally only through Glen Campbell’s cover version! The evening ended with a performance of Peter and Gordon’s biggest hit, “A World Without Love,” which topped the charts in both the United States and the UK. Written by Paul McCartney, the song didn’t quite seem to fit with what the Beatles were doing, so Peter persuaded Paul to give the song to Peter and Gordon as their first single. Asher also had to badger McCartney to write a bridge to the song, which Asher says Paul did “in something ridiculous like seven minutes.” And just how did Peter Asher have such access to Paul McCartney? Well, Paul was dating Peter’s sister, the actress Jane Asher, and the Asher’s let Paul live in the third floor of their family home! So it’s because of that connection that Peter Asher became the first person besides John Lennon and Paul McCartney, to hear “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” which was written on the Asher’s piano! 

The encore songs were Peter and Gordon’s last Top Ten hit, the cheeky and silly “Lady Godiva,” and the eternally gorgeous “Let It Be Me,” another song made famous by the Everly Brothers. All in all, it was a fun evening of music and stories from two musicians who have crossed paths with many of rock music’s greatest figures.