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| Peter Asher |
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| 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.
