Search - Various Artists :: Liverpool (1963-68)

Accurate Recollection Of The Mersey Beat Era

Peter Ciraolo | Hanover, MA United States | 07/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"See For Miles,along with Liverpool's Mersey Beat Historian and Expert Spencer Leigh,put together this excellent and versatile selection of rare and obscure EMI Labels recordings of 1960's Mersey Beat tracks CD.This collection has top notch liner notes from Spencer himself,that along with this CD,covers all of the areas of Mersey Beat. From the time Mersey Beat became a national music genre in the U.K. in 1963,then to take over the music World by 1964,its in between changes of the mid 1960's and ending into the Psychedelic era of the late 1960's,it's all in this complete package.
This collection starts off with "Ferry Cross The Mersey" from Gerry and The Pacemakers,which Gerry wrote especially for the film that he stars in along with a few of the other artists on this compilation. This is considered the very first pop song written about the City of Liverpool and became a Worldwide hit for Gerry and The Pacemakers and (along with The Beatles) put the City of Liverpool on the tourists maps.
The Songstress side of Liverpool Beat Music are represented by 2 of the most talented Women Singers to come out of Merseyside,Cilla Black and Beryl Marsden. Cilla would go on to show her talents on the Caberet circuit and on variety television shows as Beryl would remain in the music field,teaming up Rod Stewart and Peter Bardens to form Shotgun Express in 1966,then after this,to become one of the most in demand session singers in the music business.
All of your Beat Groups are here as well. You have famous Mersey Beat Groups such as Gerry and The Pacemakers,The Swinging Blue Jeans,and Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas.
On the little more obscure side of Mersey Beat Groups are the groups called The Black Knights,Earl Royce and The Olympics,The Blackwells,The Fourmost and The Kubas,performing a mix of self penned material and well as familiar standards in their very own original Mersey Beat style.
For even more obscurity comes a track each from Rory Storm and The Hurricanes (Ringo's old group,in which Ringo sings back up vocals on this version of "America") and The Star Club Hamburg favorites Casey Jones and The Engineers (In which Eric Clapton was their guitar player for as short time,although he doesn't appear on this recording.)
Although Mersey Beat was considered over by early 1966,this CD includes the 1968 release from The Koobas (Formerly The Kubas,which were mentioned earlier) with their rendition of "The First Cut Is The Deepest". This Freak Beat/Psychedelic version of the very well covered Cat Stevens song is a very sought after collectable today.
This great collection of Mersey Beat favorites is a must for the long time music fan and for new listeners wishing to discover the origins and progress of the Mersey Sound."