Although so many people suggest (without closer definition) that The Beatles have a trans-Atlantic style, their only real influence has been from the unique brand of Rhythm and Blues folk music which abounds on Merseyside and which The Beatles themselves have helped pioneer since their formation in 1960. The do-it-yourself angle ensures complete originality at all stages of the process. Their music is wild, pungent, hard-hitting, uninhibited … and personal. They write their own lyrics, design and eventually build their own instrumental backdrops and work out their own vocal arrangements. Their own built-in tunesmith team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney has already tucked away enough self-penned numbers to sustain a steady output of all-original singles from now until 1975! Between them The Beatles adopt a do-it-yourself approach from the very beginning. Producer George Martin has never had any headaches over choice of songs for The Beatles. Just over four months after the release of their very first record The Beatles had become triumphant chart-toppers! This brisk-selling disk went on to overtake all rivals when it bounced into the coveted Number One slot towards the end of February. Shortly afterwards The Beatles proved their pop power when the by-passed the lower segments of the hit parade to scuttle straight into the nation’s Top Ten with their second single, PLEASE PLEASE ME. To me, this was the ultimate proof that The Beatles (and not just one or two of their hit records) had arrived at the uncommon peak-popularity point reserved for discdom’s privileged few. I cannot think of more than one other group – British or American – which would be so readily identified and welcomed by the announcement of two Christian names. She got as far as John … Paul … and the rest of her introduction was buried in a mighty barrage of very genuine applause. The teen-audience didn’t know the evening’s line-up of artists and groups in advance, and before Muriel Young brought on The Beatles she began to read out their Christian names. #Beatles and the mighty vikings album seriesIt was during the recording of a Radio Luxembourg programme in the EMI Friday Spectacular series that I was finally convinced that The Beatles were about to enjoy the type of top-flight national fame which I had always believed that they deserved. The hit parade isn’t always dominated by the most worthy performances of the day so it is no good assuming that versatility counts for everything. Brian Matthew (who has since brought The Beatles to many millions of viewers and listeners in his “Thank Your Lucky Stars”, “Saturday Club” and “Easy Beat” programmes) describes the quartet as visually and musically the most exciting and accomplished group to emerge since The Shadows.ĭisc reviewing, like disc producing, teaches one to be wary about making long-term predictions. People inside and outside the record industry expressed tremendous interest in the new vocal and instrumental sounds with The Beatles had introduced. Pictures of the group spread themselves across the front pages of three national music papers. Readers of the New Musical Express voted the boys into a surprising high place via the 1962/63 popularity poll … on the strength of just one record release. Within the six months which followed the Top Twenty appearance of LOVE ME DO, almost every leading deejay and musical journalist in the country began to shout the praises of The Beatles. In all the busy years since pop singles first shrank from ten to seven inches I have never seen such a British group leap to the forefront of the scene with such speed and energy. But the Beatles were history-makers from the start and LOVE ME DO sold enough copies during its first 48 hours in the shops to send it soaring into the national charts. No other team had joined the best-sellers via a debut disk. The group’s chances of national chart entry seemed much more remote. Eighteen months before their first visit to the EMI studios in London, The Beatles had been voted Merseyside’s favourite outfit and it was inevitable that their first Parlophone record, LOVE ME DO, would go straight to the top of Liverpool’s local hit parade. My natural hometown interest in the group prevented me from taking a totally unbiased view of their early success. So far as Britain’s record collecting public is concerned, The Beatles broke into earshot in October, 1962. As a record reviewer I find myself installed halfway in-between with an ear cocked in either direction. Pop picking is a fast ‘n’ furious business these days whether you are on the recording studio side listening out, or on the disc-counter side listening in.
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