Merseybeat Appreciation Thread - The 1960's Liverpool Mersey Beat Sound

The Eddie Clayton Skiffle with Ritchie Starkey.

 

Thanks. Would love to hear more.

 

We've had some Scouse country, blues, and doo wop, so how about some folk..........

The Spinners 'In My Liverpool Home' (1965)

 

Nice find Glenn!


The Kubas (later changed to The Koobas)

Roy Morris - Lead Guitar
Stu Leithwood - Rhythm Guitar
Keith Ellis - Bass Guitar
Tony O’Reilly - Drums

 

Mersey Beat Popularity Poll, January 1962.


1. The Beatles
2. Gerry and the Pacemakers
3. The Remo Four
4. Rory Storm and the Hurricanes
5. Johnny Sandon and The Searchers
6. Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes
7. The Big Three
8. The Strangers
9. Faron & The Flamingos
10. The Four Jays
11. Ian and the Zodiacs
12. The Undertakers
13. Earl Preston & The TTs
14. Mark Peters and the Cyclones
15. Karl Terry and the Cruisers
16. Derry and the Seniors
17. Steve and the Syndicate
18. Dee Fenton and the Silhouettes
19. Billy Kramer and the Coasters
20. Dale Roberts and the Jaywalkers

 

It was the Mersey Beat poll that got me interested in merseybeat, I wanted to know who all these people were.

 

I was consumed by just about any English group that I was able to see on American TV during the Merseybeat invasion. I was 10 years old.
My Dad was 35 years old. After a long day at work I would persuade my Dad to take me to certain movies. Movies he had no interest in.
One was The T.A.M.I. Show andone of the others was Ferry Across The Mersey.
My Dad really stayed on top of current topics. When The Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show he was the one who gathered us around the TV to watch.
After the show his opinion was that it's just a fad. "Those guys will be forgotten in a year!"

Later I talked him into taking me to Ferry Across The Mersey.
For some reason he was very impressed by the movie.
His opinion on that movie was, " Boy that Gerry kid is really a talent, he'll be around for a long time!".

 

Great story and thanks for sharing. Your father sounds like a great dad. He was right about Gerry Marsden as he’s been around a while, but he was a bit off on The Beatles longevity. LOL.

Gerry really shines in the T.A.M.I. show and in Ferry Cross The Mersey. Speaking of Merseybeat on US TV, here’s a clip that is full of fun energy and really puts a smile on your face. It’s Gerry and The Pacemakers with The Everly Bothers, probably from 1964 or ‘65. Poor Don takes a bash on the nose, but like a pro, he keeps going. Great stuff.

 

That is exactly how I first discovered Merseybeat! Wow, how cool. I first got into The Beatles and started reading anything I could find. This was in the ‘70’s when there were few Beatle books around and three books really ignited my passion for Merseybeat.

First was ‘The Beatles Mersey Beat: The Beginnings Of The Beatles’ by Mersey Beat founder Bill Harry and published in 1977. It essentially reprints whole pages from the Mersey Beat paper during the early years of the Liverpool beat boom and captures the beginning of the Beatles (and Merseybeat) as it happened. As a kid, I devoured every page, every article, every advert showing the names of groups I’d never heard of, but were contemporaries of the Beatles and playing the same clubs and music. I knew about Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, but what did they sound like? My life long quest to find out and collect these rare recordings started and has not abated.

The next book was The Man Who Gave The Beatles Away by Allan Williams (1975). Dismissed by McCartney and by today’s historians, then it was a revelation to a young boy. The tales it told of the Liverpool and Hamburg music scene captivated me. It’s been decades since I’ve read it, but I should read it again and see if it still seems as exciting as it did way back when.

Then a few years later in 1984 I found a copy of Spencer Leigh’s ‘Let’s Go Down To The Cavern: The Story of Liverpool’s Merseybeat’. This became my Merseybeat bible and the biographies of the groups and discography of Merseybeat records was indispensable.

Today, books are still being written about Merseybeat and new recordings being unearthed. Exciting times, but sadly many of the people who made this great music are passing, but we still have their fantastic records. Merseybeat rules!

 

The Beatles Mersey Beat: The Beginnings Of The Beatles’ by Bill Harry

 

The Man Who Gave The Beatles Away by Allan Williams

 

Spencer Leigh’s ‘Let’s Go Down To The Cavern: The Story of Liverpool’s Merseybeat’

 

Yesterday in Merseybeat: January 30, 1957
The Coney Island Skiffle Group (who played on the January 18 opening of the Cavern Club) make a return appearance.
THE CONEY ISLAND SKIFFLE GROUP – People's History of Pop
The day Lonnie Donegan played a Liverpool living room after playing the Empire

 

Today in Merseybeat: January 31, 1961
Rory Storm & the Hurricanes play at the Merseyside Civil Service Club, but more intriguing is this listing: at the Crane Theatre, a night of jazz and poetry with Mike Horovitz and Pete "Sunshine Of Your Love" Brown reading "Blues For The Hitch-Hiking Dead"

 

The Original All Stars

Pete Best, Tommy McGurk, Tony Waddington and Wayne Bickerton

 

Yesterday in Merseybeat: February 1, 1962

Also on this day, Faron and his Twistin' Flamingos at Deysbrook Hall, and a Twist Contest at Litherland Town Hall.

This day in Merseybeat: February 2, 1962
"New Faces Night" at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton. The bill includes Gerry & The Pacemakers, Robin & the Morockans, Billy Kramer & the Coasters, Duke Wade & the Ambassadors, Satan & the Hell-Cats, Gus & the Thunderclaps and the Climbers. Pete Maclaine & the Dakotas (all the way from Manchester) play the Cavern while the Temperance Seven drives them crazy at Philharmonic Hall.

 

........and The Temperance Seven’s #1 single, ‘You're Driving Me Crazy’, was produced by none other than Sir George Martin, who was very important to many Merseybeat groups. Obviously George recorded many #1 singles by Liverpool groups, but The Temperance Seven‘s ‘You're Driving Me Crazy’ was Martin’s first ever #1 record.

 

Don't think it's been mentioned here yet but there's an outstanding feature length documentary on the Big Three that's worth seeing - titled Some Other Guys. Sadly, the free Vimeo link doesn't seem to work here but I recommend it wholeheartedly!!

 

Thank you @Malc for the heads-up on the Big Three documentary. I can't get the video to embed here, but here is the direct link to the Facebook posting.
Some Other Guys Documentary

 

Great thread David!

Not much vinyl to share.. most is wrapped in those particular four lads.. but I have a few examples of ephemera from the early-mid 60's Cavern Club era.

 

Original A Pangware Product ''The Cavern Club'' unused promo sticker/decal.
c., early-mid 1960's.

 

"The Cavern Club of Liverpool" ~ Official Pennant
U.K. Original 'A Pangware Product' promo two sided pennant.
c., early-mid 1960's.

 

Yesterday in Merseybeat:
February 3, 1963
At the Cavern Club: The Beatles, The Swinging Blue Genes, The Fourmost, The Dominoes, Earl Preston & The TTs, The Merseybeats, The Roadrunners and The Hollies. Phew!
February 3, 1964
The start of recording for Decca's At The Cavern LP. At the lunchtime session it's The Big Three and Dave Berry & The Cruisers. In the evening it's The Dennisons, Lee Curtis & The All Stars and The Fortunes.