All You Need Is Live. (Carousel Corner).

1964 ... the Tribute, All You Need Is Live (RD Music).

Tribute bands are a bore. They usually labor through "their" group's greatest hits with thudding, numbing accuracy--they seldom imbue the proceedings with the fire and passion that inspired the originals. With that rather all-encompassing indictment out front, we won't name names ... but all you boring tribute bands out there: you know who you are. Enter 1964 ... the Tribute. Their group? Yep, the Fab Four. I've known about these guys for a while, but my aversion to tribute bands kept them at arm's length. A while ago, Mrs. Lizard and I went to see Don Dixon and Marti Jones at The Birchmere in Alexandria VA. During the required spin through the club's record shop, my eye caught this double CD set -- something I hadn't seen a tribute band do before: record one of their live sets. Okay, maybe it would be worth a listen -- or at least a couple of yuks. The sound of All You Need Is Live was mesmerizing. Sure, individual voices, notably "Paul" and "Ringo", didn't quite live up to their models, but ensemble, their harmonies and arrangements were eerily present. And the band's ability to reproduce The Beatles' instrumental sound was uncanny. As luck would have it, the Tribute was appearing at the Birchmere a couple of weeks hence. We went.

In short: what a show. Now these guys, known only as Mark/"John", Gary/"Paul", Jimmy/ "George", and Greg/"Ringo", have been at this for more than 15 years. And while they're not dead ringers for the real thing, the resemblances are striking ... although Mrs. Lizard and I agreed that "Paul" and "Ringo" may have had some prosthetic help. And "George" and "Paul" looked a bit long in the tooth, especially "Paul's" ...