Following is a Review that appeared in the Rapid City Journal on Oct

Hey Fred: The whole group listened to the CD and we enjoyed it a lot. You guys do a great job of capturing the sound. I thought the singing was really good and well, you nailed it. Thanks again for your help at Sturgis and good luck to all of you in the future...Peter Rivera, Drummer/Lead Vocalist for Rare Earth. (Now playing with The Classic Rock All Stars)

Hi Tony,
    I listened to the CD. It was great. The second time around, I listened
to it with my daughters (7 & 4). They loved it. One even said "This sounds
just like the Beatles!" I think you guys do a great job covering the
Beatles. A few songs are awesome, Tell Me Why, I'll Be back, I Should have
known Better, are just great.
    If you guys decide to do another CD, PLEASE contact me I would be
interested. I surely hope if my plans fall into place, I/we sound this
good. This also helped my case with my wife. She said hey, this is what
you want to do. She seems to be falling into my trap!!
    Talk to you soon. I will keep you posted on my end.
Thanks again,
Mike Morelli
East Hartford, CT

Hi Tony,

Cd arrived today - excellent renditions of the Beatles music! - Very enjoyable!!

Many Thanks!

Jeffrey Yerkes,
Central Square, New York 13036.

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Following is a Review that appeared in the Rapid City Journal on Oct. 15, 2004. The reviewer had never heard the band live and is reviewing only the Feb, 2004 release on CD of "Meet the Abbey Road Band".

Abbey Road can't beat Beatles
By Eric Lochridge

Abbey Road Band — "Meet the Abbey Road Band"

You can't win covering the Beatles. If you interpret the songs in your own particular idiom, people say you're not capturing the essence of the Fab Four. But if you hew too closely to the originals, they accuse you of being a ripoff artist.

One of the exceptions might be local musician Hank Harris' take on "Can't Buy Me Love." Included on his latest CD, "Living Room," the Beatles' classic is reworked into a bluesy haze that obliterates the Lennon-McCartney sangfroid.

But with "Meet the Abbey Road Band," the Black Hills' Abbey Road Band has chosen the, I think, riskier path of trying to reproduce the songs nearly note for note.

The band approaches an almost Elvis-impersonator-like level of fanaticism, from the harmonies to the CD art to the black suits and skinny ties.

Monte Madison gets to be Paul McCartney. Fred Gondzar plays the role of John Lennon. Don Lerdal is George Harrison. And Tony Johnson apparently got the short straw and had to be Ringo.

According to the notes in the CD, the band wanted to make the music sound as close to the original records as possible. The songs draw overwhelmingly from the band's pre-psychedelic days, and they are competently reproduced.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" sounds good. "A Hard Day's Night," "She Loves You" — it all sounds good. So good that, at times, you catch yourself thinking that you're listening to the Beatles.

All that's fine. But as I said, you can't win when you cover the Beatles.

Just ask anyone who did a song for the "I Am Sam" motion picture soundtrack in 2002. The disc was primarily panned as a yawner. Sheryl Crow's version of "Mother Nature's Son" is ho-hum. Husband-and-wife duo Michael Penn and Aimee Mann tried "Two of Us" and sounded less than half enthused.

Only Eddie Vedder ("You've Got to Hide Your Love Away") and Ben Harper ("Strawberry Fields") stand out — Vedder for his robust vocals and Harper for his inventive string arrangement.

The point of a cover act like the Abbey Road Band is for people to experience a live Beatles performance, even if it's not the Beatles themselves.

Eric Lochridge is a Journal copy editor who writes about music. Call him at 394-8425 or send e-mail to eric.lochridge@rapidcityjournal.com. If you have a CD for review, send it to or drop it off at the Journal newsroom, 507 Main St., Rapid City, SD 57701.