Pop Music Review : Enjoyable Live Show by New Rutles

Ron Nasty was the “smart” Rutle--the one who scandalized the rock world when he claimed the band was bigger than God (he actually said bigger than Rod , as in Stewart).

If that sounds familiar, you get the idea of the Monty Python/”Saturday Night Live” hybrid the Rutles, the 1978 mockumentary on the four lads from Rutland that’s become a cult favorite. The man who portrayed Ron Nasty in the film and created the Rutles’ music carries some strong cult credentials himself: Neil Innes of the ‘60s madcap group the Bonzo Dog Band.

All these cults collided when Innes/Nasty brought his New Rutles to the Troubadour on Thursday--the first-ever live performance by any Rutles and an exceedingly rare appearance by the impish musician.

The genius of Innes’ Rutles songs is the way they flirt with their sources while maintaining their own identity. They sound like Beatles songs from a parallel universe. The music (the soundtrack has been reissued in CD by Rhino Records) is as playful as it is rigorous, and, while it spoofs the Beatles oeuvre, it tweaks rather than skewers.

At the Troubadour, the New Rutles (L.A. Beatles tribute group the MopTops) and Innes, singing in his eerily Lennon-like voice, essayed their whole history. The early singles were lively and buoyant, and the nine-piece Rutland Symphony Orchestra lent texture to such psychedelic experiments as “Cheese and Onions.” Keyboardist Gregg Phillinganes sat in as the Billy Prestonesque Desmond Little.

The real revelation was how much pleasure the music provided on its own terms. There were no Python/Bonzo antics, just a real band playing real, enjoyable pop music and getting a perceptible charge out of the packed crowd’s response. More than reconfiguring the technical components of Beatles songs, Innes summoned their heart and spirit.

* Ron Nasty & the New Rutles play tonight at the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, 9 p.m. $12.50. (310) 276-6168.