Every time J. Willoughby tackles a new album with the Black Jacket Symphony, the deck is stacked against him.
The Birmingham, Ala.-based rock replicators perform classic records with a degree of accuracy that would make other tribute bands – if not the original recording artist themselves – quake in their boots. Every note, both intentional and mistaken, is played exactly as it was recorded.
If you go
* What: Black Jacket Symphony presents “Abbey Road” and “Who’s Next.” * When: 8 p.m. Friday, May 1 * Where: Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St. * Admission: $25-$30, plus convenience fees * Phone: 423-642-8497 * Venue website: www.chattanoogaonstage.com * Artist website: www.blackjacketsymphony.com
To achieve such an exacting degree of accuracy, each member of the ever-changing ensemble dissects the album by listening to it ad nauseum in order to catch every perfect harmony and missed high hat.
Friday, May 1, at the Tivoli, BJS is doing something it’s never done before by playing two classic albums in one night: The Beatles’ seminal “Abbey Road” and The Who’s magnum opus “Who’s Next.”
“We just wanted to do something special. We love playing in Chattanooga,” says Willoughby, who will cover vocal duties for both albums. “This is kind of a thank-you to the Tivoli.”
In 2012, the BJS performed The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, but when the band kicks into “Abbey Road” for its first set on Friday, it will be the first time they’re playing it for a Scenic City audience.
Willoughby describes “Who’s Next,” which will comprise the evening’s second set, as the British hard rockers’ best. The band’s fifth studio album, released in 1971, yielded a string of singles that are now considered classics, including its opener and closer, “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
“Besides possibly ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ it is the perfect album for us,” Willoughby says. “It starts strong and ends stronger. It’s just one of the greatest rock albums of all time, without a doubt.”
Willoughby is a self-professed “Beatle Head.” It was the 40th anniversary of “Abbey Road’s” release that inspired him to found Black Jacket Symphony in 2008, and that album was the first the group tackled in a 2009 performance.
But The Who are equally dear to him. During his teens, he went through a phase when the band was all he listened to. For an eight-year stretch while playing with a touring band, he would celebrate the tolling of midnight during their New Year’s Eve performances by smashing his guitar in homage to Who guitarist Pete Townsend.
Friday’s concert, he says, is a chance to pay homage to two of rock’s greatest bands and greatest albums. No matter how hard it is to pull off, what’s not to like, he asks.
“It’ll be an undertaking, but I think they pair well together. It’ll be a lot of fun to do The Beatles’ last record and The Who’s biggest record.”
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205.