'Sweet Home Quarantine' online show on StageIt.com.
Playing The Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' in full.
No Emma Swift at this show as she was in Australia on tour.

Review by Adrienne Meddock from Zub Records
Oh boy! I was lucky to double dip on SHQ this week with the anniversary celebration for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Emma is still in Australia, so Robyn is solo with the support of Andy and the Folds in Studio C, London.

We begin at the start: 'Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ gently picked to enhance the dreamlike vocals. It is a real contrast to the bombast of the album’s opening. The tempo picks up and the strums become insistent as Billy Shears is introduced and with a little effort, we launch into ‘With A Little Help From My Friends.’

The Telecaster comes out for 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’ but the connection seems loose at the cord, so he sings acapella while switching to acoustic and harmonica for the remainder of the song. “The Freewheeling Sgt. Pepper,” he jokes.

The harp’s out so we get an upbeat start to ‘Getting Better.’ Not a trace of dismalia is to be found on this slice of Paul glad break of optimism. “Paul was always on the right side of his drugs,” explains Robyn. Perfect.

‘Fixing a Hole’ is well-suited to Robyn’s range and we get delicate verses, martinet bridges, and buoyant choruses. It is salve for the soul.

We take a tech break to call -- Morris Windsor! Robyn explains “Morris and I met a few years ago through TINDR.” LOL. Morris explains “it’s an experiment in sound” as he will attempt to sing back ups via the phone while Robyn sings to a recorded CD track. The sound is not great but the spirit is perfect. A true collaboration with Andy Washington adding the sound reinforcement in Studio C. Morris will be in-studio next week, which makes me giddy.

I noted that ‘Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite’ had Robyn “eating it up with a fork! Nice picking too!” So I was pleased. Robyn notes that he heard Paul “play it in concert recently and surprisingly, it sounded nothing like that. On to side 2 and George Harrison.”

And is it ever. ‘Within You Without You,’ or the song that confused the kiddies back in '67, sounds surprisingly good without what feels like the album's army of sitars. Somehow RH gets a great tone and I never missed Ravi-sounds even once.

“That was raga time! Here comes Paul with the antidote to everything,” leads RH into ‘When I’m 64.’ “Paul obviously didn’t know anything about me or Emma when he wrote this,” he concludes. He adds “the flavors were changing drastically from one Beatle to another,” during this period.

‘Lovely Rita’ and ‘Good Morning Good Morning’ are both upbeat and joyful. RH even plays a “drum break” of his guitar body. Playing a complete Beatles album among like-minded souls has got to be wish-fulfillment.

‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)’ and ‘A Day in the Life’ are well-suited to Robyn’s voice, despite his regret that it is “sadly without the vocal delay.”

“This track was supposed to be the beginning but they kept it back as a single,” is his introduction to dreamy, slow, and contemplative “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

This special SHQ winds down with a George song recorded during the Pepper sessions, ‘Only A Northern Song.’ Time flew and it was great to have an intimate tour of a landmark album with a circumspect acolyte.

--Adrienne Meddock, Stop My Mind From Wandering Where it Will Go