Yellow Matter Custard
One Night In New York City
(CD 2004, DVD - MP4 Productions, 2005)

Q: What if four of the most talented musicians on the planet decided to be a Beatles cover band for a night?

A: Yellow Matter Custard.

Mike Portnoy, drummer of Dream Theater, was to be the featured performer at the Modern Drummer Awards in 2003. The promoters told him he could put together whatever band he wanted for the show, so Portnoy decided he wanted to play Beatles songs. This led to the full 2 hour performance the next night at the BB King Blues Club which is captured on this double disc (and DVD). [As a side note, apparently the promoters were not thrilled at the drummer of the year showing up with a kick/snare/two tom kit and doing Beatles songs, so there were actually two sets to his performance.]

Portnoy has a long track record of putting together interesting side projects - Liquid Tension Experiment, TransAtlantic, Office of Strategic Influence, Hammer of the Gods, Cygus and the Sea Monsters - and has never been shy about his love of the Beatles, so this outing shouldn't have surprised anyone. Since the band would only have two days to prepare, Portnoy's criteria was that every member had to know the entire Beatles catalog. TransAtlantic bandmate Neal Morse was an obvious choice given the Beatles influence in his work (Spock's Beard, TransAtlantic); much of the TransAtlantic BRIDGE ACROSS FOREVER DVD's bonus material involves the two of them singing Beatles songs, not to mention the Abby Road medley that was part of that tour. Matt Bissonette (Joe Satriani, Ringo Starr, everyone else in the universe) is maybe a less obvious choice from a fan point of view but Portnoy apparently knew of his Beatle obsession. Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) rounds out the quartet - again fans that know him for his guitar hero shredding might be surprised that a Beatles fanatic resides within.

Portnoy avoided songs he'd played before in group settings and focused on songs he most wanted to play. Out of an original list of forty songs he suggested, the band narrowed it to thirty songs in their two days of rehearsal. And being that this isn't a casual fan outing, the set is full of "obscure" songs and lacks most of the Beatles' number one hits.

Contrary to what one might expect, especially with four musicians who rarely play in 4/4 time, the arrangements are very true to the originals. This isn't a show about reinventing the songs, it's every inch a cover band bordering on a tribute band. What makes it especially interesting is the song selection, which hint (for the first time in my knowledge) what a Beatle concert circa 1969 would have been like if they hadn't stopped touring in 1966. The set is made up of a lot of things the Beatles themselves never played out live, so it's really a treat to hear these songs in front of an audience.

This is a low budget, warts-and-all recording, so vocal flubs (of which there are more than a few), false starts, and random bits of chaos are all intact. The DVD is the full show uncut and the CD has been edited slightly (and rightly) to remove the between song antics that wouldn't translate to the audio only format. The DVD has additional content in the form of a bit of pre-show backstage video (including Paul Gilbert's off the cuff performance of "Spanish Fly"), some rehearsal footage and a very amusing and informative commentary done by Mike Portnoy and his dad Howard.

The band is obviously enjoying themselves tremendously. This comes through on the CD and even more on the DVD - I haven't seen so many smiles on stage at any show in my life and it's infectious even in my living room in Pittsburgh two years later. There are many high points to the show including an amazing version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Think For Yourself" with fuzz bass intact, an energetic "Everybody's Got Something To Hide" and what must be the only cover version ever of "You Know My Name, Look Up The Number" (one suspects the casual Beatles fan was completely befuddled by this part of the show). The song list is Lennon heavy with a good representation of George's under appreciated songs and again, by going with YMC favorites the show is really stronger and more interesting than if it had been a show of "the number ones".

This is definitely not for casual Beatles fans, who won't get it I fear. And it might not even be for fans of the players who aren't also Beatles fans (although Portnoy fans have never seen him play on a smaller kit). But if you are a fan of any of these musicians and a Beatles fan, you won't be disappointed in the least.

The CD and DVD are available from Mike Portnoy's website and the CD is available from Neal Morse's Radiant label.

Posted 5 December 2005.