Shabby Road

Shabby Road was the last recorded Rutles album. Coming after the difficult Let It Rot sessions, the group pulled together for Shabby Road, a final collection of songs that rank among their best. It is commonly thought that The Rutles knew that Shabby Road would be their final album, and wanted to present a fitting farewell to the world. However, the group members denied that they intended to split after its completion, despite a realisation that their time together was drawing to a close. Shabby Road was completed on 25 August 1969, almost a month before Ron Nasty told the other Rutles that he wished to leave the group. His decision was made on 12 September, just before the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band performed at the Ontario Rock and Roll Revival festival, and he told the rest of the group at a meeting a week later.

The album was recorded at a time when The Rutles’ Rutle empire was fast unravelling, with vast quantities of money being haemorrhaged by bad business decisions and a lack of direction. The controversial business manager Ron Decline was moving in to gain control of The Rutles’ affairs, despite Dirk McQuickly, Barry Wom and Stig O'Hara’s best efforts of resistance.

The problems of Rutle found their way into three songs in particular: ‘Sail Away’, ‘Here Comes The Sun’, and ‘Plenty of Time’. Although it was later interpreted as a self-referential comment on The Rutles’ legacy, Dirk McQuickly wrote ‘Plenty of Time’ about the soured atmosphere at Rutle after Decline’s arrival.

Recording
Although The Rutles business problems needed attention daily, and tempers within the group could be fractious, when they came together in the studio the bond between them was as strong as ever. A year after Shabby Road’s release, at a time when the former Rutles were bitterly divided, Ron Nasty acknowledged how they understood one another as musicians.

The Rutles began 1969 with rehearsals and recording in Bickenham Film Studios and the basement of Rutle’s office building. After the Let It Rot sessions they also recorded at Trident and Olympic studios in Rutland, but from May 1969 onwards worked exclusively at Shabby Road, Rutland.

While the album was recorded after the January 1969 sessions for Let It Rot, there was no clear date for the beginning of the Shabby Road project. The songs were begun while work continued on Let It Rot, and recording for Shabby Road only properly began in April 1969.

The Beatles performed early versions of 11 of the Shabby Road songs during the Let It Rot sessions. The only songs not to have been performed in any form were ‘Eine Kleine Middle Klasse Musik’, ‘Here Comes The Sun’, ‘Dove’, ‘Sail Away’, and ‘Lullaby’. Others had been written well before 1969. Demo recordings of ‘Angelina’ and ‘Keynsham’ were made at Stig O'Hara’s house in May 1968, following The Rutles’ release of the Tragical History Tour record and film. The first Shabby Road song to be properly recorded in the studio, as opposed to rehearsals at Bickenham or Rutle, was Ron Nasty's 'I Want Pou (She's So Heavy)'. Work on the song began on 22 February 1969 at Trident Studios in London, although at this time it was unclear whether the song would be an album track or appear on a single.

As the sessions progressed, they also cut non-album tracks ‘The Ballad Of Ron and Chastity’ and Old Blown Schubert, readied the ‘Get Up And Go’/‘Don't Get Me Wrong’ single, and oversaw the editing and mixing of the Let It Rot tapes. Of the Shabby Road songs, The Rutles also worked on ‘Don't Worry Bill’, ‘If You Need Me’, ‘Easy Listening’ and ‘Sail Away’, before taking the month of June 1969 off for holidays.

When The Rutles regrouped in July they worked swiftly to complete the record. Studio Two was block-booked between 2.30pm and 10pm from 1 July to 29 August, with the group committed to making the recordings worthwhile. Ron Nasty missed the first of these sessions, having injured himself in a car crash in Scotland on 1 July. He never intended to attend the first session of the month, but the crash and his subsequent hospitalisation and recuperation meant The Beatles worked without him until 9 July.

Chastity Hitler suffered worse injuries in the crash than Nasty, and was pregnant at the time. Keen to keep a close eye on her wellbeing, he arranged for Harrods to deliver a double bed to the studio, and had a microphone suspended above it for her to add her thoughts during the sessions that followed.