The Beatles - Abbey Road

Beatles fans rejoice! Classic Albums Live makes their highly anticipated stop at WAC to perform The Beatles’ immaculately produced Abbey Road album in its entirety. Note for note. Cut for cut.

These first-rate musicians are dedicated to faithfully recreating every sound on the original album exactly as you remember it. Released in 1969, Abbey Road features the classic tracks Something and Here Comes The Sun and was voted in the top 20 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

“Come Together” to celebrate the enduring, powerful and transformational music of these rock legends and hear your favorite Beatles songs performed just as they were intended!

According to Wikipedia, “Classic Albums Live is a concert series based in Toronto, Ontario, in which musicians perform a classic rock album in its entirety. The series was founded in 2003 by Craig Martin, a musician who had previously produced a series of boutique cabaret shows as well as composed music for television and film.

“The musicians go to great lengths to faithfully recreate every sound on the original album. They have performed with orchestras, sitarists, choirs and schools. The shows are treated like recitals with the album being performed in its entirety followed by a 'greatest hits' set of the featured artist.”

In a review in The Toronto Sun, Errol Nazareth writes, “The concept [of Classic Albums Live] is deceptively simple: source ace musicians and have them play classic pop and rock albums like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon, Prince's Purple Rain and Hotel California by The Eagles note-for-note, cut-for-cut.

“The response has been overwhelming.”

Nazareth continues, quoting Classic Albums Live founder Craig Martin, “’We spend a ridiculous amount of time rehearsing the album,’” Martin explains. “’For example, with Abbey Road, there are songs on the record that people have never heard performed live.’

“’We've crawled inside the album, soaked in its DNA and fused it with our own,’” he adds. “’We've dug into the minutiae and faithfully found a way to perform it live that doesn't involve running a tape machine. There are string players, horn players, wind makers, drummers-a-drumming and guitarists-a-wailing.’

“’This is the album you send into space for other planets to find and listen to,’" he raves. "(Our message is), ‘We come in peace. Just listen to this and we'll be off to a good start.’”

The Fayetteville performance is at Baum Walker Hall at the Walton Arts Center, Saturday January 30, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased online at www.WaltonArtsCenter.org, by phone at (479) 443-5600, and at the box office, 505 W. Spring Street, in Fayetteville.

The Gayly - 1/22/2016 @ 8:00 a.m. CST