Peter Mayer and Friends Goodbye Hello

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by Mike Debbage
Guest Writer

How many tribute albums are out there? And how many of those are covering the material of the Beatles? In the last year alone former Jellyfish guitarist Jason Falkner and New Age pianist David Lanz have already done their facelift on the infamous musical catalog of Lennon and McCartney. This time around Jimmy Buffett’s guitarist Peter Mayer creates his musical tapestry and twist on the Beatles. Not the most original concept but once you begin to listen to Goodbye Hello your preconceived notion of “been there heard that” will be whisked away by Peter Mayer’s imaginative interpretations.

For those of you not familiar with Peter Mayer, as previously mentioned his full time gig is the guitarist for Jimmy Buffett. However, this has not stopped Mayer from finding the time to release his own solo material which began back in 1987. But like many of us the Beatles had a profound effect on Mayer’s life and on this specialty project it was Mayer’s desire to pay his respects to the revolutionary band. And in the spirit of such, Mayer’s spin on the Beatles are innovative but in keeping with the spirit of the song and for the most part are very impressive.

The album begins in perfection with five glorious renditions in a row. Goodbye Hello jumpstarts with the optimistic poppy “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” but Mayer places a great twist on the song with the mandolin of Mac McAnally and the steel pan of Robert Greenridge giving the song an original breezy feel to it. Mayer jumps into the mid tempo rocker “Come Together” and once again does something original with the song by putting the strings in the forefront and adds some stellar organ work courtesy of Mike Utley. Nevertheless this was one of the Beatles straight forward rockers and it is here that Mayer shows us his ability to show us his restrained but moving electric guitar work. Similar impressive guitar work can be found on “Michelle” though this time with a pure laid back George Benson feel to it with Mayer being in total accord with accordion player Jeff Taylor. The results are very unique without displacing the simple beautiful melody of the song. Similar results can be found on “Fool On The Hill” with the accordion being replaced by the native flutes and recorder of Mark Holland.

At times Mayer creates some very interesting musical landscapes. The most obvious being the mystical Eastern arrangements on “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” which are breathtaking and frankly could have been extended well beyond the current 4-minute boundary. But his originality does not always succeed such as the heavy handed string leads on “I Feel Fine” and the disjointed “Fixing A Hole”. Nevertheless, the album returns to its winning streak closing out with his wonderful renditions of “Blackbird”, “Hello Goodbye” and the reflective Harrison composition “Something” that features brother Jim Mayer on his fretless bass.

Like most tribute albums, Mayer plays the tightrope balancing act of whether to feature carbon copy renditions or rearrange the songs to present something interesting without destroying the spirit of the original composition. Mayer’s liner notes apparently reflect that he was very aware of this challenge stating that “We let our imaginations run with these Beatle songs. If we don’t disappoint or thrill, offend or gratify anyone in the process I will be surprised.” With the exception of a few expected disappointments the overwhelming results are thrilling and gratifying as we are able to experience the Beatles via the voice and guitar of Peter Mayer with a little help from his friends.

Website: www.petermayer.com

Track Listing:
1. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
2. Come Together
3. Here Comes The Sun
4. Penny Lane
5. Michelle
6. I Feel Fine
7. Fixing A Hole
8. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
9. Strawberry Field Forever
10. Fool On The Hill
11. We Can Work It Out
12. Rocky Raccoon (with Jimmy Buffett)
13. Blackbird
14. Hello Goodbye
15. Something

HRH Rating: 8 out of 10