EURO FAB FOUR STUFF

Artist: THE BEATLES; Title: ROCK AND ROLL  MUSIC; Label: ODEON; Format: 7";

Cat. No.: M0 20007; Year: 1966; Country: FRANCE

Focusing today on this 1966 French 45 from the Beatles - featuring two tracks from their 1964 'Beatles For Sale' LP.  It's the one where you can hear that creativity was wearing thin in places - and the reason why about half the set is cover versions.  But having said that what's on offer here - especially the A Side does deliver. Came across about 12 years ago in 2nd hand/junk shop (remember them?) in Banbury, for about £3. One thing that has always intrigued me about this is why it was issued 2 years after the parent LP? Perhaps due the anticipated wait for 'Revolver' - and this was all that the Beatles French label had left to release at the time.

The A Side gives you the excellent "Rock And Roll Music" - featuring Lennon in full rock'n'roll mode. and doing this Chuck Berry classic justice.  The piano part's done by producer George Martin - and the song was used as the title for the 1970's double LP featuring the band's more uptempo stuff.

The flip side gives you "I'm A Loser" - again features Lennon on lead vocal.  It's from his Dylan influenced period, which came to fruition with 'You've Got To Hide You Love Away on the subsequent 'Help' LP.  And with a nice bit of close harmony work on the intro.

SMOKEY'S BAD GIRL ON CHESS!

Been a bit since I posted on the blog - job-hunting if you must know.  Still looking, so anyone out the blog-shere based in and around Manchester/UK Northwest looking for someone with a semi-encylopaedic knowledge of music then I'm available - contactable via the email here, and via Facebook!

Artist: The Miracles.  Title: Bad Girl.  Label: Chess.  Cat. No. : 1734.  Year: 1966.

Today's post is hails from the embryonic days of Motown - The Miracles "Bad Girl" released in 1959 on both Motown and Chess.  The main reason being that like Barrett Strong's 'Money', Berry Gordy's fledgling label was unable to cope with the potential demand - hence the deals with other labels who could distribute over a wider area, rather than just the local areas; in the case of the Barrett Strong track via Anna records - run by the then Mrs Marvin Gaye - and in the case of this Miracles tune - via Chess.  Catalogue for those interested on the original Motown 45 only issued locally to the Detroit area was G1 (or with money to burn at a N. Soul auction/record fair/ebay auction) or on the Chess version 1734, which they reissued in 1966 - which this pressing is, and worth around the £20 mark the last time I checked.

Songwise with "Bad Girl" what you get is the that point where Doo-Wop/R'n'B is making that transition into what we'd now regard as Soul - Smokey here co-writing with Berry Gordy - and subjectwise the guy's having his heart broken, but still trying to man enough about it so that the hurt doesn't show - at least too much!

The flip side is the rollicking "I Love You Baby" - again co-written by Smokey and Berry Gordy - and a fair hint of where Lennon and The Beatles drew a fair amount of their early influences/inspiration from. Of course it goes without saying - but it's going to be said anyway, that both of these sides are well worth checking out!

Enjoy!!!!