Alerting all Beatles fans! In fact, alerting anyone with even just a passing interest in music of Twentieth century popular music, for here’s a terrific series of albums they may well want to check out... superbly researched booklets, each volume will delve into the music that inspired, influenced and shaped the Beatles individually and collectively. While Quarrymen One explored the band’s very early highly eclectic musical influences from skiffle, C&W, jazz, blues, music hall through George Formby, and pop, Quarrymen Two narrows the focus onto the emergent rock’n’roll of the 1950s and is an absolute gas.

Twenty-eight rocking classics and some long-lost gems, here’s the very stuff that changed the world and forged the greatest band of all time. As the music rings out ... you can almost hear the Beatles metamorphosing inside your ears as they listened, learned and immersed themselves, letting these songs open doors and fire their imagination: there was to be no looking back. - Colin Hall R2

Every baby-boomer whose life has been soundtracked by pop will be more than merely familiar with most of the items here, whether ‘Long Tall Sally', 'Roll Over Beethoven', 'Matchbox', 'Honey Don't' and 'Words Of Love', all revived on disc by The Beatles after they'd left the runway. Almost as potent a selling point is Nick Duckett's entertaining and informative thirty-page essay within a package that is as likely to engross the general cultural historian as much as fans of this particular act.
Alan Clayson - The Beat     

This is an excellent compilation of songs...if you have volumes one and two and enjoyed them, this one is even better.
Ernie Sutton British Beatles Fan Club Magazine

These commence what promises to be a fascinating series that will explore the disparate elements that made sense when they were embraced by the two most influential groups from the era bracketed by the decline of classic rock and the first stirrings of punk. Duckett’s essays provide comprehensive information on individual tracks. The Dartford and Cheltenham contingents of what was then mutating into the Stones, were then focusing on the blues and almost nothing but. These retrospectives are likely to reach out to more than just fans of the particular acts concerned.
Alan Clayson R2

Beatles Beginnings RANDB004
Volume One: Quarrymen - Skiffle - Country - Western

Original year
of recording

Artist

UK release date Record label 
(chart position)  (*= B-side)

Beatles 
performed live

Glossary

*Release dates of other records not relevant as they would  have been learned as songs
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.
Price £7 per disc plus postage - UK £1.25, Europe £1.75, Rest of World £2.75
(for 2 discs postage charges are UK £2, Europe £3, Rest of World £4)

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Beatles Beginnings RANDB004
Volume Two: Quarrymen – Rocknroll

Quarrymen Two	Artist	Original year of recording	UK release date Record label (chart position)  (*= B-side)	Glossary
1. Baby Let's Play House (Gunter)	Elvis Presley	1955	Mar 1957 HMV POP 305 (27)*	L
2. Come Go With Me (Quick)	The Del-Vikings	1957	Mar 1957 London HLD 8405	L
3. Ain't It A Shame (Bartholomew/Domino)	Fats Domino	1955	Jan 1957 London HLU 8173 (23)	L/S
4. Be-Bop-A-Lula (Vincent/Davis)	Gene Vincent	1956	Jul 1956 Capitol CL14599 (16)	LR/S/G
5. Twenty Flight Rock (Fairchild/Cochran)	Eddie Cochran	1957	Apr 1957 London HLU 8386	L/G
6.Long Tall Sally (Johnson/Blackwell/Penniman)	Little Richard	1956	Feb 1957 London HLO 8366 (3)	LR/G/B/R
7. Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Price)	Lloyd Price	1952	Nov 1957 [Elvis version (15)]	L/G
8. Bye Bye Love (Bryant/Bryant)	Everly Brothers	1957	Jul 1957 London HLA 8440 (6)	L/G
9. Raunchy (Justis/Manker)	Bill Justis	1957	Jan 1958 London HLS 8517 (11)	L
10. That'll Be The Day (Allison/Holly)	BuddyHolly	1957	Sep 1957 Vogue Q 72279 (1)	L/G/D
11. Trying to Get to You (McCoy/Singleton)	Elvis Presley	1955	Nov 1957 HMV POP 408 (15) *	I
12. Mean Woman Blues (DeMetrius)	Jerry Lee Lewis	1957	Dec 1957 London HLS 8457 (1)*	L
13. Lucille (Penniman/Collins)	Little Richard	1957	Jun 1957 London HLO 8446 (10)*	L/G/R
14. Roll Over Beethoven (Berry)	Chuck Berry	1956	May 1957 London HLU 8428	LR/B/R
15. That's All Right (Crudup)	Elvis Presley	1954	Nov 1956 HMV CLP 1093 (LP)	L/R
16. Johnny B Goode (Berry)	Chuck Berry	1958	May 1958 London HLU 8629	L/G/R
17. Lend Me Your Comb (Twomey/Wise/Weisman)	Carl Perkins	1957	Apr 1958 London HLS 8608	LR/R
18. Searchin' (Leiber/Stoller)	The Coasters	1957	Sep 1957 London HLE 8450 (30)	L/D
19. Youngblood (Leiber/Stoller/Pomus)	The Coasters	1957	Sep 1957 London HLE 8450* (30)	L/R
20. Words Of Love (Holly)	Buddy Holly	1958	Jul 1958 Coral LVA 9085 (LP)	L/B/R
21. Honey Don’t (Perkins)	Carl Perkins	1955	May 1956 London HLU 8271 (10)*	L/R/B
22. Sweet Little Sixteen (Berry)	Chuck Berry	1958	Apr 1958 London HLM 8585 (16)	LR/G/R
23. Ramrod (Eddy/Casey)	Duane Eddy	1958	Nov 1958 London HL 8723	L/D
24. Movin’ And Groovin’ (Eddy/Hazelwood)	Duane Eddy	1959	Dec 1959 London HLW 9050 (12)*	L/D
25. Hallelujah! I Love Her So (Charles)	Eddie Cochran	1959	Dec 1959 London HLU 9022 (28)	LR/G/D
26. Matchbox (Jefferson)	Carl Perkins	1957	Apr 1957 London HLS 8408	LR/D/B/R
27. Wildcat (Schroeder/Gold)	Gene Vincent	1959	Dec 1959 Capitol CL15099 (21)	L/D
28. I'll Always Be In Love With You (Ruby/Green/Stept)	Fats Domino	1958	US Imperial LP 9138	L/D

Instructions for payment:
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Price £7 per disc plus postage - UK £1.25, Europe £1.75, Rest of World £2.75
(for 2 discs postage charges are UK £2, Europe £3, Rest of World £4)

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Beatles Beginnings RANDB007
Volume Three: Silver Beatles (Available at the end of the year)

Artist

Original year
of recording

Beatles performed
song live

UK Release Date Record  Label
(chart position) * = B-side

Glossary

B = Beatles Studio Recording.  R = Radio/TV broadcast. S = Beatles Solo recording.  D = Demo or studio outtake.  L = Performed Live. LR = Live Recording. 
I = Influential on a particular 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.
Price £7 plus postage - UK £1.25, Europe £1.75, Rest of World £2.75
(for 2 discs postage charges are UK £2, Europe £3, Rest of World £4)

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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. Silver Beatles details the songs added to the band’s live set in the period 1960-1961. 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 to the first booklet:
‘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 Vol 4: Mr Epstein Calling1961 –1962

Rockin' Tunes Done Right
Rolling Stones Beginnings

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

Rolling Stones Beginnings
Volume One: From Blue Boys To Playing Chess 

RANDB005 £7 plus postage - UK £1.25, Europe £1.75, Rest of World £2.75
(for 2 discs postage charges are UK £2, Europe £3, Rest of World £4)

1. Blues Before Sunrise Leroy Carr
2. Wee Baby Blues Big Joe Turner
3. Confessin’ The Blues Walter Brown
4. I Can’t Be Satisfied Muddy Waters
5. Honest I Do Jimmy Reed
6. I Want To Be Loved Muddy Waters
7. Ain’t That Loving You Baby Jimmy Reed
8. I Just Make Love To You Muddy Waters
9. Diddley Daddy Bo Diddley
10. Roll Over Beethoven Chuck Berry
11. Cops and Robbers Boogaloo & His Gallant Crew
12. Pretty Thing Bo Diddley
13. Not Fade Away The Crickets
14. I’m Moving On Hank Snow
15. Route 66 Nat King Cole
16. Down The Road Apiece Will Bradley
17. Don’t Lie To Me Tampa Red
18. Tell Me Baby Big Bill Broonzy
19. Key To The Highway Jazz Gillum
20. I’m A King Bee Slim Harpo
21. Around and Around Chuck Berry
22. Mona Bo Diddley
23. Susie Q Dale Hawkins
24. Carol Chuck Berry
25. You Can Make It If You Try Gene Allison

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.

....................................................................................................................

For too long the Stones covers CD 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 their well-received compilations covering the roots of rock’n’roll the R And B team shine a spotlight on the songs that shaped the Rolling Stones. Volume One covers 1962-1964, documenting how Little Blue Boy and the Blue Boys became first the Rollin’ Stones and then the Rolling Stones we know and love today. The journey takes us from reel-to-reel recordings in suburban front rooms via primitive London studios with egg-box soundproofing to the legendary Chess studios in Chicago. This compilation highlights the cover versions responsible for shaping the Stones sound, then and now.
Over twenty-five songs this CD features seminal artists such as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley, Slim Harpo and Big Bill Broonzy as well as the lesser known Tampa Red, Will Bradley and Jazz Gillum. All tracks have been carefully remastered to optimise the sound. An extensively illustrated 28 page booklet features detailed sleevenotes from compilers Nick Duckett and Simon Wright, including a track-by-track commentary and an essay explaining the significance of each song to the Rolling Stones.
 
This is taken from the Introduction:
 
“The Stones started off as skinny white boys playing music written mostly by old black men. Forty-seven years later, covers are still essential to the Stones, both live and on record - even on the last few tours covers have been played respectfully, partly as public recognition of the bands roots but also because the Stones still enjoy playing the songs they grew up with. The Stones play classic R’n’B with an authority and rhythmic drive no other band has ever consistently matched - in Keith Richard's words they have both the rock and the roll. In recent years the Stones have even featured guests such as John Lee Hooker and Buddy Guy on high profile live dates. Here is a band that pays its dues.”

Volume Two Available in 2012