Search - Various Artists :: Beat Beat Beat 1: Mersey Sound 1962-63

What the music scene was like in Liverpool circa the Beatles

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 08/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
Merseybeat was the original sound of the British Invasion, the hybrid of American rock 'n' roll, R&B, and British skiffle that produced a driving, melodic sound that was what we heard on the earliest records by the Beatles and songs like "Please Please Me" and "Love Me Do." The name came from the Mersey River in Liverpool and the Merseybeat represented a time when Liverpool had over 300 bands and various venues where these bands could play. The highpoint of Merseybeat was really 1963 through the first half of 1964, so "Beat Beat Beat 1: Mersey Sound 1962-63" really focuses on the music being made before the Beatles exploded and the British Invasion followed on their heels. When the Beatles went off in new musical directions and other British groups sent off more in the direction of R&B (e.g., the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds) or Pop (e.g., the Hollies), Merseybeat pretty much disappeared.



You are not going to recognize many of the groups on these 2-CD set. The most famous band, the Dave Clark Five, who had seventeen Top 40 hits during 1964-67, have the first two tracks, although neither "That's What I Said" or "I Knew It All the Time" made the charts in the U.S. The only other real group of note here are The Searchers, and you do have two of their hits, "Sugar & Spice" and "Needles and Pins," so if there is a featured group on this album it would be The Searchers and their six tracks. What you will find more of are songs that you recognize done by groups you have probably never heard about unless you were living in Liverpool at the time: "La Bamba" by The Roulettes, "There's A Place" by The Kestrels, "Poison Ivy" by the Puppets, "Money (That's What I Want" by the Undertakers, "The House of the Rising Sun" by the Sundowners, and "Hippy, Hippy Shake" by Pat Harris & The Blackjacks.



I have a CD that I put together of the best known Merseybeat songs by the big name groups like the Beatles, Freddie & the Dreamers, Herman's Hermits, and the like, but I actually like "Beat Beat Beat 1: Mersey Sound 1962-63" a whole lot better. Part of the attraction is that the sound of this music is so pure and there is a sense of fun to the recordings. Check out "I Can't Get Enough of You" by the mysterious group Erkey Grant & The Eerwigs to hear how much fun there was to have in this type of music. You will find plenty of catchy songs here, from "Hully Gully Slip & Slide" by The Roulettes and "Lies" by Johnny Sandon & The Remo Four. "It's You" makes it clear The Viscounts are trying to be Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons, so there is a sense of groups trying to imitate better known groups. But the more tracks you listen to the more you get a sense of the Mersey sound. I thought this album would end up with a 5 rating more because of the historical value than the actual music, but this is an extremely enjoyable album of essentially unknown oldies.



But if you like this type of music you are going to find some new songs and groups to like. My favorite is "Call of the Wild" by the Overlanders, and I lucked out that the group gets four tracks on this album. The group is only remembered, if at all, for their lone UK #1 hit, a cover of the Beatles' "Michelle." That is why the people most interested in this CD collection are not going to be those who actually remember Buddy Britten & The Regents, Danny Storm & The Strollers, or The Mugil 4 but rather by those who really like the sound of very early Beatles and who will enjoy hearing the musical milieu out of which the Fab Four emerged.

"

Fascinating stuff---the marriage of doo-wop and rock

Greg Decker | NYC, NY United States | 10/07/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"this is fascinating stuff--any rock'n'roll afficiando will find it
pretty wild to explore these earnest, innocent, joyful--and often
quite melodic--songs by these mostly forgotten Mersey bands. This compilation explores the territory staked out not only by more famous bands like The Searchers (one of the most guitar-driven of these bands), but obscure and forgotten bands with their noses to
the new sounds of Liverpool (ala Beatles) but feet firmly rooted in doo-wop---with its fast-paced interwoven harmonies--as well
as the early Everly Brothers. Hints of folksiness ("Sally Ann"
by Joe Brown and the Bruvvers, or "Call of the Wild" by The Overlanders), occasional shades of Bo Diddley, downtown doo-wop,
a touch of Four Seasons....these now-forgotten bands did their best to put their own spin on all of this, and you can sometimes the dizzying feel of the early days of British invasion. Other compilations will include more famous bands like Gerry and the Pacemakers,etc., but if you want a fascinating ---and lengthy---
(there are exactly 60 songs on these two discs!) check this out.
Earnest, poingnat, star-struck, melodic---and probably all recorded on a shoe-string budget---this is a fascinating compilation.Greg Decker"