Friday, October 06, 2023

Various Artists - Some Other Guys - 32 Merseybeat Nuggets 1963-1966 (1990)


This 77-minute compilation, which originally appeared on the Sequel label in England, is a decent if limited (by its restriction to the library of a single label) crash course in what the Liverpool sound was like, beyond the ranks of the Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers, etc. Of the dozen acts featured here, only one -- the Searchers -- ever saw success that lasted more than one or two chart entries, if that; the CD is a bit of a cheat, since the Searchers are represented by six songs (although only two hits). The rest is genuinely obscure, and all material drawn from the Pye Records vaults. There's a lot of high-quality playing on this collection, especially from the Undertakers and the Trends. The Undertakers' early sound never really got too close to what was thought of as Merseybeat, being dominated by the saxophone, an instrument seldom heard in Liverpool; the Trends, on the other hand, had good guitar attack, and lead vocalist Tony Priestly sang extremely well. Their tactical error may have been to record "All My Lovin'" (which they couldn't improve over the Beatles version) as their second single, which that shows off one of the problems that most of these bands had -- a lack of repertory of their own. Most of these groups were forced to cover others' songs, and sometimes each other's, or else to write their own material, even if they weren't good enough to do it. Tommy Quickly was at the bottom of the Brian Epstein management totem-pole, though not in his personal life -- he comes off as a decent enough singer, but nothing special; his backing band, the Remo Four, play well enough but were rather predictable on these records. The notes are thorough and the sound is more than acceptable.

 01. The Searchers - Farmer John 
 02. Johnny Sandon - Yes 
 03. The Undertakers  - Do The Mashed Potatoes 
 04. The Chants  - Come Go With Me 
 05. Jeannie & The Big Guys - Boys 
 06. The Wackers  - The Girl Who Wanted Fame 
 07. The Searchers - Some Other Guy 
 08. The Trends  - You're A Wonderful One 
 09. The Undertakers - Stupidity 
 10. Tommy Quickly - The Wildside Of Life 
 11. The Wackers  - Love Or Money 
 12. The Searchers - Stand By Me 
 13. Johnny Sandon - Lies 
 14. The Remo Four - Peter Gunn 
 15. Tommy Quickly - I'll Go Crazy 
 16. The Undertakers  - Everybody Loves A Lover 
 17. The Searchers - Needles & Pins 
 18. The Undertakers  - Just A Little Bit 
 19. Paddy, Klaus & Gibson - I Wanna Know 
 20. The Searchers - I Pretend I'm With You 
 21. The Trends  - The Way You Do The Things You Do 
 22. Tony Jackson  - Stage Door 
 23. The Remo Four - I Know A Girl 
 24. The Chants  - I Could Write A Book 
 25. The Undertakers  - If You Don't Come Back 
 26. The Chants  - She's Mine 
 27. Paddy, Klaus & Gibson - Hey Teresa 
 28. Jeannie & The Big Guys - Sticks & Stones 
 29. The Trends  - All My Loving 
 30. The Searchers - I Don't Want To Go On 
 31. Chris Curtis - Aggravation 
 32. Tony Jackson  - Bye Bye Baby 


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