I first attended Peter Asher’s “Musical Memoir of the Sixties and Beyond” show in January 2012. I have returned to attend it in its various incarnations so many times that Peter’s sideman Jeff Ross came up to greet me when he came out on stage to take care of a few items before last night’s show. When I mentioned that I had also chatted with bassist Bill Cinque at one of their shows several years ago, he said that Bill was there and directed him to me when he came out as well. Bill actually gave me a copy of his memoir cum self-help book when I first met him. Peter returns for a second night at the Dakota with his present version of the show. It’s as good as ever.
I told Jeff that the show was like a bedtime story for me. I wanted to hear the same thing again and again. He told me that Peter had tweaked it but was confident I would enjoy it again. It has been revamped and restructured, but the songs remain the same.
As always, the show recaps Peter’s career in a narrative illustrated in a multimedia format displayed on the club’s monitors and accompanied by the songs of Peter’s career. The presentation includes video clips of Asher’s late partner, Gordon Waller, allowing for re-creation of several of the duo’s hits with Peter and band performing live, as in the photo above from last night’s show.
The photo below captures Peter and Gordon with Del Shannon in Australia in 1964. They struck it up with Del and talked him into giving them Del’s “I Go To Pieces” to record (discussed below).
Back in the 2012 show Peter generously recalled that Gordon had the looks, the voice, and the taste for rock that helped launch them as a team. Last night he referred several times to Gordon’s powerful baritone. However, it was Paul McCartney who gave them their first hit, a worldwide number one: “World Without Love.” McCartney was rooming across the hall from Asher on the third floor of the Asher family home at 57 Wimpole Street, the Asher family putting him up while Paul was dating Asher’s sister Jane and the Beatles were in the first flush of their success in the United Kingdom. I still find the song irresistible.
When Peter and Gordon were signed to EMI, the song was incomplete. Peter asked Paul to finish the song and let them have it. John Lennon had mocked the opening line and rejected it for the Beatles. Peter says that Paul went to his room. He emerged two or three minutes later with the whole thing.
When the song became a huge hit for Peter and Gordon, Paul wrote a follow-up. Peter attributed it to Paul’s genius and professionalism. That’s what you do when you have a worldwide hit. You write a follow-up.
Paul had one more goody for Peter and Gordon in 1964. He played it last night and I don’t want to omit it here.
Peter reunited with Gordon in 2005 at the request of Paul Shaffer for a benefit concert in New York. Seeing the effect of the performance on their old fans, Asher modestly recalled in 2012, he discovered that there was “nothing wrong” with revisiting the old songs. The show is a satisfying walk down memory lane performed with style and wit. Backed by a five-piece band, Asher himself is a modestly engaging performer.
The Ashers’ house on Wimpole Street looms large in the show. Peter recalled that John Lennon came over one day to meet up with Paul. The two of them went down to the music room in the basement of the house for about an hour to work on a song. When they were done, they called Peter down to listen to it. The two of them sat on the piano bench to give Peter the first performance of “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” When they were done, he asked them to play it again. John and Paul obliged. They knew they had a winner on their hands.
In 1966 Paul also gave Peter and Gordon “Woman.” He asked that they credit “Bernard Webb” as the songwriter. He wanted the song to succeed on its own merits without the assistance of Beatlemania. However, the ruse didn’t fool anyone for long. In every version of the memory show this is a highlight. The photo at the top captures Peter performing “Woman” along with a video of Gordon.
Touring Australia with Del Shannon and the Searchers in 1964, Peter and Gordon heard Shannon pitching the band on Del’s “I Go To Pieces.” When the Searchers rejected it, they asked Del if they could have it and he gladly gave it to them. They also asked Del not to give it to anyone else. The song seems to me to stand with the songs McCartney gave to them.
Peter is now 80 years old. Gordon is long gone. The memories remain vivid. In the show Peter recalls his work as a producer and manager for James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. He produced Barbra Streisand’s forthcoming album, but Linda Ronstadt is now incapacitated from performing by Parkinson’s disease. He paid tribute to her last night in picture and song (“Blue Bayou”). The ravages of aging cast a shadow. Peter’s “Musical Memoir” may serve as a reminder to seize the day.
