Album Notes

Review by Tom Weel, Beatles Unlimited Magazine Issue #183: "Mark Easley also distributed and co-produced the instrumental Beatles tribute album by Japanese acoustic guitarist Sketch (Hiroshi Masuda) The CD starts with the Sgt Pepper opening medley, via four White Album tunes (including Harrison's Piggies) to All You Need Is Love and Michelle as the only pre-Pepper song: at least a song selection that looks very promising! All arrangements are his own, except for Blackbird - which is from John Knowles, which features some alternate melodies. For the remaining tunes, he doesn’t take any extravagant improvisational excursions but follows all the melody lines (lead and backing) of the original compositions - right up to the inclusion of She Loves You at the end of All You Need Is Love. But then again, these acoustic solo performances are highly skilled, varied and beautiful - as such, vocals are hardly missed. A perfect example of how renditions of the later period catalogue can be b