Beatles Beginnings Volume Three: Silver Beatles

This is the first release under a new joint venture with R&B Records, a label which has already established a reputation for comprehensive and excellently packaged r&b and rock n? roll compilations. This continues a series of CDs analysing the songs and styles that inspired The Beatles. Following ?Quarrymen 1 & 2? which looked at their skiffle and early r&r roots, this collection sees them broadening out to include some latin-influenced ?uptown R&B? numbers then in vogue, along with rockabilly and some gospel-influenced material. When the Beatles went to Hamburg, they were playing up to six, even 8 hours a day, and to keep themselves sane, they tried never to repeat songs in their several nightly sets. They had the biggest repertoire of all the bands in Hamburg, maybe as many as 600 songs. Their wide repertoire also enabled them to play many different kinds of UK gigs ? jazz clubs, folk clubs, working men?s clubs church dances etc.. They were avid collectors of the latest American releases ? Brian Epstein?s NEMS record shop in Liverpool prided themselves on stocking every record released in the UK, as well as some imports ? and so heard songs that the average bands were unaware of. This collection, complete with a comprehensive and beautifully illustrated 32-page booklet, is a fascinating selection of the original versions of the kind of material The Beatles drew on for their sets, some of which they also later recorded.