Although it’s hard to believe given the endless scrutiny the Beatles have been under since they first set foot in the US, back in their heyday as songwriting partners John Lennon and Paul McCartney penned a number of tunes for friends and associates that rarely if ever see the light of day. It’s this material that’s the focus of the new, locally produced CD From a Window: Lost Songs of Lennon & McCartney (Gallery Six), an album that brings together the somewhat unlikely threesome of Brit pub-rock legend Graham Parker, B-52’s singer Kate Pierson, and Buffalo Tom singer/guitarist Bill Janovitz. The three kicked off a national tour to support the CD at the House of Blues last Thursday, and with the help of a crackerjack touring band, they evoked a sincere love of the material and conveyed a contagious sense of enthusiasm. Moreover, they interacted with an ease that belied their relative inexperience with one another (Janovitz joked that it was their "third rehearsal").
The interpretations incorporated everything from rootsy Americana to Stonesy blues (particularly on "I’ll Keep You Satisfied") to the expected British Invasion pop. "Hello Little Girl," with its keen power-pop hooks, was a natural for Parker; the scaled-back "Woman" sounded as though it could have been torn from a page of the Buffalo Tom songbook, with guitarist Mark Copley’s acoustic fretwork matching the fiery electric solos he provided throughout the night. And in Pierson’s hands, the percolating beat of the chorus of "Step Inside Love" brought the B-52’s to mind. When the night concluded, with each singer taking a verse on an Elvis Presley–style stomp through "I’ll Be on My Way," the smiles that had prevailed all evening on stage had spread through the capacity crowd.