The record made a few ripples but in the end Decca felt the band had no future and let them go. After changing drummers they were picked up by Parlophone/EMI. Paired with producer George Martin the group skyrocketed up the charts and went on to record 12 more classic albums and numerous singles that dominated the charts and pioneering many now standard recording techniques along the way.
Side One
01 To Know Her Is To Love Her
02 Sure To Fall
03 Like Dreamers Do
04 Besame Mucho
05 Three Cool Cats
06 Hello Little Girl
07 September In The Rain
Side Two
01 Cry For A Shadow
02 Searchin'
03 Take Good Care Of My Baby
04 Crying Waiting Hoping
05 Love Of The Loved
06 The Sheik Of Araby
07 Ain't She Sweet
Reality Notes
So what if Decca had signed The Beatles? Would they have made as many albums? Would they have had the same success and creative output they had working with George Martin? Ultimately Decca turned the band down and Epstein used the tape to shop the band around to other labels. It was common practice at that time for new artists to release a few singles before making an LP so I'm sure some of these songs would have ended up released that way.
I removed three songs from the original 15. Two, Till There Was You and Money, because they appeared on the Parlophone debut and Memphis because I put a better version on the BBC album. Now these songs can sit alongside the rest of the albums with no duplication. I had to fold down the two songs from the Tony Sheridan sessions to mono to sit nicely with the rest of the tracks.
When I was sequencing the album I kept the idea in the back of my mind that Decca was trying to make the band fit in with the balladeers and crooners of the day by putting focus on the lighter and humorous songs. Another reason for removing Money and Memphis from the running.
The cover features an early promo pic with Pete Best, the drummer that would be replaced by Ringo when they made their jump to EMI.
Funny how that promo photo is so much like the early one of the Byrds that you used on your last post.
ReplyDeleteFor a sec, I thought there wasn't a new post, even though the rest of the posts had shifted LOL
ReplyDeleteThey did come out similar
ReplyDeleteAnd considering that The Byrds were the "American Beatles" not at all inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteLet's say you were to break them into singles, a la the infamous "Grid Leek" liner notes telling the untold story of the Decca tapes (and leaving out the two Polydor tracks). Those liner notes proposed:
ReplyDeleteThree Cool Cats b/w Hello Little Girl
The Sheik of Araby b/w September in the Rain
Searchin' b/w Like Dreamers Do
Sure to Fall and Love of the Loved also formed sides of these fictional singles. This album, sans the Polydor stuff, gives us six different combos to work with. What do you think the other three would be?
Great question, I was never one to speculate on singles and the four singles you listed from the Grid Leek notes look pretty good to me (I enjoyed reading those liner notes a while back). I don't think they would have released that many singles without an album or at least an EP. Common practice was two or three singles and if they sold well enough then an album, if not they would be dropped.
DeleteIn my scenario I could see Decca trying to push the less RnR stuff with To Know Her... b/w Take Good Care or Crying. Money b/w Memphis as a non-album single would work. The originals would be album tracks only. I feel Polydor could have released Ain't She Sweet b/w Cry For A Shadow at the same time as the My Bonnie single.
Or how about the two above singles and two EPs that would expand on those with one original each? That leaves the rest to make enough of the album unique to justify buying that instead of all the singles.