VA - British Beat Before The Beatles Vol. 01 - 07 [1993] (7 x CD's)

BRITISH BEAT

VA - British Beat Before The Beatles Vol. 01 - 07 [1993] (7 x CD's)

British Beat Before The Beatles is seven volume series from British EMI is a much-expanded successor to Sire Records' old two LP retrospective on pre-Beatles British rock. Each volume, broken down by year, contains 20 songs recorded between 1956 and 1962, by acts such as Art Baxter & His Rock 'n Roll Sinners, the Vipers Skiffle Group (George Martin's first "rock & roll" signing on Parlophone), Adam Faith, Don Lang, Vince Eager, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde, Joe Brown, and dozens of other performers whose names were, mostly, never even mentioned on this side of the Atlantic. There's an uneven quality to this material -- Ricky James turns in a surprisingly soulful rendition of Buddy Knox's "Party Doll" on Volume Two, but that same CD contains rubbish like Laurie London's version of "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands." The sad truth is that the British, even less than the Americans, knew how to define rock & roll, anything that appealed (or seemed likely to appeal) to teenagers was lumped together, from bad pop and novelty tunes to raunchy, nearly proto-punk pieces. Mostly they muddled through with covers -- round-faced Don Lang's cover of Chuck Berry's "School Days" (and his much more comfortable-sounding original "Red Planet Rock") and future Kinks and Troggs manager Larry Page's version of "That'll Be the Day." Alma Cogan (a sort of British Teresa Brewer), Tommy Steele, Terry Dene, Colin Hicks (Tommy's brother) and the Cabin Boys ("Empty Arms Blues"), Terry Wayne ("Matchbox"), Bert Weedon (doing the original recording of "Apache"), Jody Gibson & the Muleskinners ("If You Don't Know"), the Vipers Skiffle Group ("Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O")...they're all names out of another age, and their music sounds it, but the best of it has a beat and voices to be reckoned with -- the best may be Joey Castell, a superb, moody, thoroughly Southern-sounding white blues singer. The dazzle factor on a lot of these volumes, especially the early ones, is pretty high for anyone who thinks England was oblivious to rock & roll, and there are some real ear-openers. (Amazon)

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Track lists

Vol. 01

01 Suzi Miller Tweedle Dee 2:27

02 Southlanders Earth Angel 2:25

03 Suzi Miller Dance With Me Henry 2:18

04 Deep River Boys (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock 2:38

05 Southlanders Ain't That A Shame 2:47

06 Lonnie Donegan Rock Island Line 2:30

07 Frankie Vaughan My Boy Flat Top 2:33

08 Dickie Bennet Dungaree Doll 2:23

09 Four Jones Boys Tutti Frutti 2:00

10 Alma Cogan Why Do Fools Fall In Love 2:18

11 Humphrey Lyttelton Bad Penny Blues 2:43

12 Don Lang Rock 'n' Roll 2:35

13 Ray Ellington Left Hand Boogie 3:11

14 Alma Cogan I'm In Love Again 2:03

15 Tony Crombie Teach You To Rock 2:02

16 Tommy Steele Rock With The Caveman 1:55

17 Ray Ellington Gidd Up A Ding-Dong 2:12

18 Lee Lawrence Don't Nobody Move 2:46

19 Tony Crombie Let's You And I Rock 1:59

20 Tommy Steele Singing The Blues 2:22

Vol. 02

01 Art Baxter And His Rock 'n' Roll Sinners Don't Knock The Rock 2:20

02 King Brothers A White Sports Coat (And A Pink Carnation) 2:20

03 Vipers Skiffle Group Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O 2:18

04 Ricky Bongo James Party Doll 2:06

05 Don Lang And His Frantic Five School Days 2:43

06 Rory Blackwell Bye Bye Love 2:17

07 Larry Page Start Movin' 2:09

08 Alma Cogan Fabulous 2:07

09 Tommy Steele Butterfly 1:21

10 Terry Wayne Matchbox 1:50

11 Frankie Vaughan Wanderin' Eyes 2:08

12 Jim Dale Be My Girl 2:02

13 Terry Wayne Your True Love 1:56

14 Larry Page That'll Be The Day 1:55

15 Laurie London He's Got The Whole In His Hands 2:21

16 Don Land And His Frantic Five Red Planet Rock 2:45

17 Joey Castell Trying To Get To You 2:31

18 Terry Dene Baby She's Gone 2:50

19 Colin Hicks & The Cabin Boys Empty Arms Blues 1:55

20 Joey Castell I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone 2:32

Vol. 03

01 Terry Wayne Slim Jim Tie 2:00

02 Ken Mackintosh Raunchy 2:19

03 Larry Page Under Control 2:24

04 Wee Willie Harris Riot In Cell Block #9 3:18

05 Most Brothers Whole Lotta Woman 2:29

06 Vince Eager Yea Yea 2:26

07 Ken Jones Jive Group & The Mudlarks Book Of Love 2:09

08 Marty Wilde Endless Sleep 2:20

09 Neville Taylor & The Cutters Mercy, Mercy, Percy 2:26

10 The Five Chesternuts Teenage Love 2:20

11 Craig Douglas Nothin' Shakin' (But The Leaves On The Trees) 2:29

12 Cliff Richard & The Drifters Move It 2:22

13 Lord Rockingham's Xi Hoots Mon 2:15

14 Tommy Steele Come On Let's Go 1:58

15 Neville Taylor & The Cutters Tears On My Pillow 2:07

16 Terry Dene Pretty Little Pearly 1:48

17 Vince Eager No More 2:09

18 Frank Barber Band & Janice Peters This Little Girl's Gone Rockin' 1:46

19 Don Lang Queen Of The Hop 2:27

20 Adam Faith High School Confidental 2:21

Vol. 04

01 Billy Fury Maybe Tomorrow 2:14

02 Vince Taylor Brand New Cadillac 2:37

03 Bill Forbes Once More 2:15

04 Janice Peters A Girl Likes 1:58

05 Dickie Pride Slippin 'n' Slidin' 2:19

06 Dean Webb Hey Miss Fannie 2:10

07 Vince Eager This Should Go On Forever 2:49

08 Johnny Kidd & The Pirates Please Don't Touch 1:50

09 Marty Wilde Teenager In Love 2:21

10 Duffy Power Dream Lover 2:23

11 Adam Faith Ah Poor Little Baby 2:06

12 Terry Wayne She's Mine 2:01

13 Cliff Richard & The Drifters Apron Strings 2:49

14 Craig Douglas Only Sixteen 2:14

15 Tommy Steele Tallahassie Lassie 2:03

16 The Drifters Jet Black 2:28

17 Dickie Pride Frantic 1:56

18 Lorne Lesley I Don't Know 2:41

19 Sally Kelly Little Cutie 2:16

20 Emile Ford & The Checkmates What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For 2:05

Vol. 05

01 Shadows Saturday Dance 1:45

02 Dickie Pride Betty Betty (Go Steady With Me) 2:11

03 Vince Eager Lonely Blue Boy 2:55

04 Davy Jones Amapola 2:11

05 Jody Gibson & The Muleskinners If You Don't Know 2:20

06 Keith Kelly (Must You Always) Tease Me 2:27

07 Dave Sampson & The Hunters Sweet Dreams 2:37

08 Marion Ryan Sixteen Reasons 2:35

09 Tommy Bruce & The Bruisers Ain't Misbehavin' 2:12

10 Emil Ford & The Checkmates You'll Never Know What You're Missing 2:28

11 Billy Fury With The 4 Jays That's Love 1:47

12 Johnny Kidd & The Pirates Shakin' All Over 2:22

13 Adam Faith Made You 1:45

14 Bert Weedon Apache 2:41

15 Marty Wilde Angry 2:01

16 Ricky Valance Tell Laura I Love Her 2:39

17 John Barry Seven Walk Don't Run 2:15

18 Cliff Richard & The Shadows Nine Times Out Of Ten 2:09

19 Johnny Kidd & The Pirates Restless 2:12

20 Hunters Teen Scene 2:03

Vol. 06

01 Rob Storme & The Whispers Music 1:52

02 Michael Cox Teenage Love 2:19

03 Josh Macrae High Class Feeling 2:00

04 Allisons Are You Sure 2:06

05 Helen Shapiro Don't Treat Me Like A Child 2:34

06 Cliff Richard Gee Whizz It's You 2:07

07 Billy Fury Halfway To Paradise 2:26

08 Krew Kats Trambone 1:41

09 Lee Diamond & The Cherokees I'll Step Down 2:15

10 Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers You've Got What I Like 1:36

11 Michael Cox Sweet Little Sixteen 2:18

12 Bobby Angelo & The Tuxedos Baby Sittin' 2:03

13 Paul Raven All Grown Up 1:51

14 Shane Fenton & The Fentones I'm A Moody Guy 2:38

15 Johnny Kidd & The Pirates Please Don't Bring Me Down 2:14

16 Cliff Bennett When I Get Paid 2:40

17 Marty Wilde Tomorrow's Clown 2:16

18 Shadows The Savage 2:22

19 Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages 'till The Following Night 3:43

20 Doug Sheldon Your Mama Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night 2:08

Vol. 07

01 Brad Newman Someone To Love 2:20

02 Howie Casey And The Seniors True Fine Mama 2:00

03 Allisons Lessons In Love 2:18

04 Michael Cox Honey 'Cause I Love You 2:03

05 Shadows Wonderful Land 2:03

06 Jimmy Powell Sugar Babe (Part 1) 2:23

07 Fentones The Mexican 2:31

08 Joe Brown A Picture Of You 2:20

09 Lyn Cornell I Sold My Heart To The Junkman 2:24

10 Jimmy Crawford I Shoulda Listened To Mama 1:54

11 Carol Deene Johnny Get Angry 2:07

12 Cliff Richard It'll Be Me 1:55

13 Shane Fenton And The Fentones Why Little Girl 2:10

14 Michael Cox Stand Up 2:18

15 Marty Wilde Ever Since You Said Goodbye 1:45

16 Jackie Lynton All Of Me 3:21

17 Shadows Dance On 2:24

18 Dean Shannon Ubangi Stomp 1:52

19 Johnny Kidd And The Pirates I Can Tell 2:31

20 Johnny Kidd And The Pirates A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues 1:58

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