A series of compilation CDs highlighting the songs and styles that inspired the Beatles and which ultimately were responsible for shaping their sound.

Beatles Beginnings
Volume One: Quarrymen - Skiffle - Country - Western

RANDB004 £7 plus £1 postage (Europe); £2 postage (Rest of the World)

1. Bad Penny Blues Humphrey Lyttleton Band 1956 I
2. Rock Island Line Lonnie Donegan 1956 L/G
3. Lost John Lonnie Donegan 1956 L/G/S
4. Maggie May Vipers Skiffle Group 1957 G/L
5. Freight Train Chas McDevitt 1957 L/I
6. Last Train To San Fernando Johnny Duncan 1957 L/I
7. Cumberland Gap Lonnie Donegan 1957 L
8. Puttin’ On The Style Vernon Dalhart 1927 LR
9. San Francisco Bay Blues Jesse Fuller 1958 L/S/G
10. When The Saints Go Marching In Chris Barber & Sister Rosetta Tharpe 1958 B/G/L
11. Midnight Special Big Bill Broonzy 1935 L/S/G
12. Cotton Fields Leadbelly 1947 L/D
13. Match Box Blues Blind Lemon Jefferson 1928 B/L/R
14. When I’m Cleaning Windows George Formby 1936 I/B
15. You Are My Sunshine Jimmie Davis 1938 L/D/G
16. Hey, Good Lookin’ Hank Williams 1951 L/G
17. Third Man Theme Anton Karas 1949 L/G
18. World Is Waiting For The Sunrise Les Paul & Mary Ford 1951 L/D
19. Summertime Gene Vincent 1958 L/D/S
20. My Bonnie Ray Charles 1958 L/B
21. Ain’t She Sweet Gene Austin 1927 L/B/S
22. Sheik Of Araby Hot Lips Page 1945 L/D
23. Your Feet’s Too Big Fats Waller 1937 LR
24. Falling In Love Again Marlene Dietrich 1930 LR
25. True Love Bing Crosby & Grace Kelly 1956 L/I/S
26. That’s When Your Heartaches Begin The Ink Spots 1941 D/L
27. Beautiful Dreamer Slim Whitman 1954 L/R
28. Golden Slumbers Thomas Dekker 1603 B

B Beatles Studio Recording, R Radio Broadcast, S Beatles Solo Recording, 
D Demo or Studio Outtake, L Performed Live, LR Live Recording Available, 
I Influential on Beatles Recording, G Get Back Sessions

Instructions for payment:
Click the paypal button then fill in the box with the details of the item you wish to order.Then add postage charges.

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Beatles Beginnings
Volume Two: Quarrymen – Rocknroll

RANDB004 £7 plus £1 postage (Europe); £2 postage (Rest of the World)

1. Baby Let's Play House Elvis Presley
2. Come Go WIth Me The Del-Vikings
3. Ain't It A Shame Fats Domino
4. Be-Bop-A-Lula Gene Vincent
5. Twenty Flight Rock Eddie Cochran
6. Long Tall Sally Little Richard
7. Lawdy Miss Clawdy Lloyd Price
8. Bye Bye Love Everly Brothers
9. Raunchy Bill Justis
10. That'll Be The Day Buddy Holly
11. Trying to Get to You Elvis Presley
12. Mean Woman Blues Jerry Lee Lewis
13. Lucille Little Richard
14. Roll Over Beethoven Chuck Berry
15. That's All Right Elvis Presley
16. Johnny B Goode Chuck Berry
17. Lend Me Your Comb Carl Perkins
18. Searchin' The Coasters
19. Youngblood The Coasters
20. Words Of Love Buddy Holly
21. Honey Don’t Carl Perkins
22. Sweet Little Sixteen Chuck Berry
23. Ramrod Duane Eddy
24. Movin’ And Groovin’ Duane Eddy
25. Hallelujah! I Love Her So Eddie Cochran
26. Matchbox Carl Perkins
27. Wildcat Gene Vincent
28. I'll Always Be In Love With You Fats Domino

Instructions for payment:
Click the paypal button then fill in the box with the details of the item you wish to order.Then add postage charges.

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For too long the idea of covers CDs has been the province of freebie magazine cover-mounts and shoddy garage cheapies. No more. Because Rhythm And Blues Records are Doing It Right. Following on from well-received compilations covering the roots of rhythm and blues and rocknroll, we now shine a spotlight on the songs that shaped the Beatles.

Jazz, rocknroll, blues, music hall, guitar instrumentals, tin pan alley, rockabilly, dance band, soul, bolero, skiffle, trad, R&B, country, old-time, Broadway, doo-wop, folk, high school pop, Motown - the Quarrymen - Beatles early influences are so wide-ranging that this series of discs could quite easily pass for an introduction to the history of twentieth century popular music.

For the first six years of their career, the Beatles were essentially a covers band. When they were captured live on tape in two sets at the Star Club in Hamburg in 1962, they played thirty-two songs, only two of which were Beatles compositions. Between 1957 and 1963, it is estimated that they established a repertoire of over 600 tunes, enabling them to perform in many different settings – jazz clubs, strip clubs, folk clubs, working men’s clubs, church dances, rocknroll joints. Music had to be tailored to the occasion and the Beatles’ great enthusiasm for popular music of all forms enabled them to do this.

The two Quarrymen discs cover the period 1957-60 up to the point where they departed on their first tour outside Liverpool backing Johnnie Gentle as the Silver Beetles. Quarrymen One investigates skiffle and the other music that the individual members of the Quarrymen grew up listening to before rocknroll burst on to the scene. Quarrymen Two looks at the band’s rocknroll influences.Over fifty-five songs, the first two CDs feature seminal artists such as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Lonnie Donegan, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly and Gene Vincent as well as lesser known tracks by the Ink Spots, Les Paul and George Formby. All songs have been carefully remastered to optimise the sound. Extensively illustrated 32-page booklets contain detailed sleeve notes, including track-by-track commentary explaining the significance of each song to the Quarrymen - Beatles.
 
This is taken from the Introduction: ‘The popular mythology behind how the Beatles managed to hear all the great obscure records coming out of the USA relies on the fact that Liverpool was a major port and suggests that sailors were constantly bringing suitcases full of discs home with them from trips to America. In fact there is very little evidence for this to be the case. The idea that the teenage Quarrymen, soon to be Beatles would hang around the docks waiting to meet up with stray sailors clutching handfuls of shellac records sounds rather amusing but is highly implausible. Most of the songs the Beatles learned were released in the UK and from 1957 on, they were avidly following the weekly music charts, keeping up to date with everything that was coming out….’

Coming soon:
Beatles Beginnings vol3: Silver Beetles 1960 - 1961
Beatles Beginnings vol4: From Liverpool To Hamburg 1961 –1962
Beatles Beginnings vol5: From Hamburg Back To Liverpool 1962 – 1963