Classic Albums Live musicians take the stage to pay homage to the Beatles

Imagine being a 50-something rock and roller and being able to hear all the great albums you grew up with performed exactly the way they were originally recorded. Now, picture your parents sitting in the hall with you because they, too, loved a lot of the same great bands of the '60s and '70s rock era. Then there are your kids, to whom you taught a deep respect for the genius of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who.

There they are -- the typical audience demographics -- one great throng of the pre, post and Woodstock generation gathered together whenever and wherever the musicians of Classic Albums Live perform. This Friday evening the masses come together at Strathmore to experience the Beatles' Abbey Road.

"I have 60 musicians working for me and [I] marry the right musicians with the right job," said Craig Martin, the founder and master coordinator of Classic Albums Live. "We take the world's greatest albums and we create them live, cut for cut and note for note."

Martin has been at it since 2003 when he put his company together. Today, his repertoire consists of 42 albums, the "no-brainers," he says, "all of the great albums we grew up with -- the Beatles, the Stones, the Led Zeppelin catalog; The ones that sold the most." He adamantly maintains his musicians are void of flash and gimmicks. In fact, he doesn't much care what they look like as long as they play the music exactly, and precisely, in perfect recital.

"It's kind of boring and very un-rock and roll," Martin continued. "Yet at the same time, there's a sublime connection with the audience seeing these musicians perform faithfully, note for note. It's like death-defying feats. It's amazing, and that's all you need for a good show."

His musicians, the absolute best he can find, are an orchestral ensemble he draws from to create, at any given time up to five shows running simultaneously. His gallery of players, for the most part, remains nameless during the shows. He does, however, give them due recognition online. Additionally the groups interact with audiences before and after the performance.

Guitars, strings, bass drums, keyboards and horns, as well as vocals figure into the Abbey Road performance and its legendary songs such as "Come Together," "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun." The first part of the program features the album recreated in its entirety; the second part will consist of a selection of Beatles greats.

Martin believes the success of Classic Albums Live is almost solely because of people's thirst to hear great rock and roll albums created in their entirety. He views himself and his cherry-picked musicians as filling that need.

"My goal is that one day the original artists will get in touch with us and hand us the torch, saying, 'Thank you for taking care of this music,'" he said.