Beatles Beginnings
Three: The Silver Beatles
From Liverpool To Hamburg
1960-61
Various Artists
RANDB007
©Rhythm And Blues Records 2010
Following on from their well-received compilations covering the roots of rhythm & blues, the R&B team shine a spotlight on the songs and styles that inspired the Beatles and which ultimately were responsible for shaping their sound.
Jazz, rock’n’roll, blues, music hall, guitar instrumentals, tin pan alley, rockabilly, dance band, soul, bolero, skiffle, trad, R&B, country, old-time, Broadway, doo-wop, folk, high school pop, Motown - the Beatles early influences are so wide-ranging that this series of discs could quite easily pass for an introduction to the history of twentieth century popular music.
For the first six years of their career, the Beatles were essentially a covers band. When they were captured live on tape in two sets at the Star Club in Hamburg in December 1962, they played thirty-two songs, only two of which were their own compositions. They established a repertoire of over 600 tunes, allowing them to tailor their set to the occasion for jazz clubs, strip clubs, church dances, folk clubs and working men’s clubs.
Covering the period 1957-60, the first disc in the series Quarrymen One investigates skiffle and the other music that the individual members of the group grew up listening to before rock’n’roll burst on to the scene. Quarrymen Two looks at the band’s rock’n’roll influences. Going into 1961 as they become a semi-professional gigging band, Silver Beatles sees them broadening out to include some of the Latin-influenced ‘uptown R&B’ numbers in vogue at the time, along with more rock’n’roll, rockabilly and the inclusion of some gospel-influenced songs.
All tracks have been carefully remastered to optimise the sound. An illustrated 32-page booklet includes detailed sleeve notes with a track-by-track commentary and an essay explaining the significance of each song to the band.
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