It's a real mystery about how the Beatles got ahold of such amazing rare records to cover in their early days (they probably bought them from sailors, but that whole situation just seems surreal). Perhaps Brian Epstein had a source for imports? It just seems too strange that they got ahold of this one, shortly after its release in the US (where it flopped) and covered it for their first album. Whatever the case, this girl group gem is unspeakably hard to find (took me a LONG time to track down a copy). Thanks again to the fab four for doing their part in spreading the word. When we were re-watching the "Anthology" series recently and the Beatles were performing "Some Other Guy" at the Cavern in '62, I said to my girlfriend "You know, the Beatles really were the original northern soulies".
from 1962...
7 comments:
Good point about the Beatles being soulies. They just loved the stuff. At the same time, of course, they also loved rockabilly, blues, country, doo-wop, and even old-time things like Fats Waller and Marlene Dietrich. The original soulies and the original record collectors!
This is very cool to hear! One of the few songs covered by the Beatles I've not been able to track down. Thanks.
Love this! Thanks for the heads up D!
Port cities really are melting pots. When I went to Liverpool recently, I was surprised to see that sailors from merchant ships were still bartering in bars. So whether they got them from blokes in the docks or bar steward uncles on ships, it was the hoodoo port influence.
Thanks for sharing. Bloody fab gear.
I saw a documentary about the early days, and Epstein ran a record shop, so had access to all sorts of tunes.
Just found the blog through googling The Exciters 'Blowing Up My Mind' - looks good!
Tom
Well, there is a less than supernatural explanation: the record was released in Britain on the Oriole label (see scan) at the same time as in the United States.
Undoubtedly sailors did bring obscure records with them, but the stories about the Beatles playing songs only available to them by that route are mainly just a myth - in fact I cannot think of a single song recorded by the Beatles, either on their record releases or for the BBC, whose original version was not released on a nationally distributed label and thus available from any well-stocked record store, such as Brian Epstein's NEMS (North End Music Stores) in Liverpool.
Ultra-obscure-seeming songs like "Some Other Guy" (Richie Barrett), "Mr. Moonlight" (Dr. Feelgood & The Interns) or "Hippy Hippy Shake" (Chan Romero) were even released locally by Decca, the company that almost signed them, and EMI, the company that did sign them...
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