The First Class - Beach Baby; The Complete Recordings. Box Set 3 CD's [@320]

 

Repost

• First-ever complete 3CD anthology of ‘Beach Baby’ harmony pop hitmakers.

• Featuring both First Class LPs, all singles, pseudonymous releases and numerous previously unreleased tracks including advertising jingles and songs from an aborted 1974 musical.

There weren’t too many classic British pop singles issued in 1974, but harmony pop epic ‘Beach Baby’ bucked the trend, reaching the UK Top 20 and becoming an even bigger hit in America, peaking at the No. 4 spot.

Arguably the ultimate Beach Boys tribute, ‘Beach Baby’ introduced a new name, The First Class – actually veteran pop hitmaker and songwriter John Carter with the aid of Chas Mills and lead singer Tony Burrows.

While other singers and musicians adopted the name to front their music in public, the Carter/Burrows/Mills combination continued to record new First Class material, including a self-titled LP that is quite possibly the finest, most ambitious British harmony pop album of the 70s.

The First Class had a couple of follow-up minor hit singles in America that failed to attract the same attention at home, where second album ‘SST’ (not even released in the US) sank without trace. By the end of the 70s, Carter had effectively laid the name to rest.

A 3CD set in a lavish digipak package featuring a new 5000 word essay, ‘Beach Baby: The Complete Recordings’ is the definitive document of both The First Class and John Carter’s myriad overlapping activities during the second half of the 70s.

It contains an embarrassment of riches: both albums, all singles, out-takes, pseudonymous releases, a huge number of previously unissued TV/radio advertising jingles and, most fascinatingly of all, seven previously-unheard 1974 demos for the musical Bobby Dazzler, abandoned when the single of the same name unfathomably failed to chart.

 

Tracklist:

 

DISC 1:

 

1 BEACH BABY

2 WON’T SOMEBODY HELP ME

3 WHAT BECAME OF ME

4 SURFER QUEEN

5 THE FIRST DAY OF YOUR LIFE

6 LONG TIME GONE

7 FUNNY HOW LOVE CAN BE

8 DREAMS ARE TEN A PENNY

9 BOBBY DAZZLER

10 THE DISCO KID

11 I WAS ALWAYS A JOKER

12 BEACH BABY (single version, full-length)

13 BOTH SIDES OF THE STORY

14 LAVENDER MAN

15 ONE GOOD TIME*

16 BORN TO BE A REBEL*

17 BABY DOLL LOVE*

18 CHINESE CHRISTMAS*

19 GOING ON*

20 A QUIET LIFE*

21 LOVING*

22 BEACH BABY (single version, edit)

*PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

DISC 2:

 

1 I WAS A STAR

2 AIN’T NO LOVE

3 CHILD’S PLAY

4 OLD TIME LOVE

5 BABY BLUE

6 LIFE IS WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE

7 CARRY ON SINGING MY SONG

8 SMILES ON A SUMMER NIGHT

9 SEVEN TEN TO NOWHERE

10 AUTUMN LOVE

11 AND SHE CRIED

12 BROOK STREET* (jingle)

13 TOO MANY GOLDEN OLDIES (single version)

14 MAKE IT ON MY OWN

15 BROKEN TOY

16 LISA (I ALWAYS LOVED YOU)

17 BIRDS DREAM TOPPING* (jingle)

18 SONG ON THE WIND

19 THE SADDEST WORD

20 OCEAN OF GLASS

21 BIENVENIDO

22 SUNLIGHT DETERGENT* (jingle)

23 GIMME LITTLE SIGN

24 AVERAGE RAINFALL

25 PLEASE YOURSELF (Rowntrees Tots)* (jingle)

 

DISC 3:

 

1 WE LIKE TO DANCE (Milk Is Our Way)* (jingle)

2 DISCO KID

3 MIDNITE MUSIC

4 SINGER SEWING MACHINES* (jingle)

5 OH CALIFORNIA

6 I’M IN LOVE AGAIN

7 KIT-E-KAT MUNCHIES* (jingle)

8 THE SOUND OF SUMMER

9 LET’S GO BRITISH CALEDONIAN* (jingle)

10 SIDEWALK JOHNNY

11 MIDNITE MUSIC

12 VAUXHALL CHEVETTE (Whatever You Want It To Be ) #1* (jingle)

13 CRAWFORDS CHEDDARS* (jingle)

14 IF I DON’T HAVE YOU

15 BIRDS EYE COD* (jingle)

16 SUNDAY CHILD

17 GREASY DOLLAR BILL

18 EVER READY BATTERIES* (jingle)

19 TOP FORTY ANGEL

20 TYPHOO 1* (jingle)

21 TYPHOO 2* (jingle)

22 SILVER SURFER

23 SILVIKRIN* (jingle)

24 CONEY ISLAND

25 MALIBU* (jingle)

26 I CAN’T BELIEVE MY EYES

27 WAKE UP AMERICA

28 RIGHT GUARD DEODORANT* (jingle)

29 THE SONG WAS WRONG

30 WOMAN MAGAZINE* (jingle)

31 SHINE ON ME WOMAN

32 ONE MORE MILE TO FREEDOM

33 CRACKER JACK POPCORN* (jingle)

34 VAUXHALL CHEVETTE (Whatever You Want It To Be) #2* (jingle)

35 TOO MANY GOLDEN OLDIES (full-length version)

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