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05 01 2012

Across CANADA With The Dave Clark Five

Written by Piers A. Hemmingsen, April 2012
* dedicated to the memory of Mike Smith of the DC5 and Ricky Paterson of The Esquires

Above Left - Weekend Magazine September 19th, 1964 (image courtesy of Dennis Benzer)
Above Right - Capitol T-6103 showing a uniquely made in Canada cover !

The Tottenham Sound

Dave Clark formed his first group in 1957 but the classic line up was formed for fame in 1962 . The Dave Clark Five were quite simply the only serious contenders to The Beatles in Canada during 1964 and oddly both pop groups were on the same label ... Capitol Of Canada. In the USA their records were issued on the Epic label. Their Capitol releases are now coveted by record collectors world-wide. especially the wonky "Instrumental Album" from 1966, a very weird release for the group ! The group consisted of Dave Clark (drums), Mike Smith (lead vocals, organ), Rick Huxley (bass), Dennis Peyton (saxophone), Lenny Davidson (lead guitarist). Mike Smith sang lead vocals on most of the hits but we all thought it was Dave Clark himself …

They charted many times in Canada but they ultimately bowed out in 1968 in the wake of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper. By early 1968 the Dave Clark Five appeared dated by comparison and they lacked a genius producer and arranger like The Beatles had claimed from the outset with George Martin.

As a youngster though, I grew up with their awesome sound over the AM radio airwaves in Canada and the hammering drum beat of Bits And Pieces and Glad All Over in mid 1964 were to me one of the most essential sounds of the British Invasion in Canada. As with The Beatles, they were featured on Ed Sullivan and their hits were played EVERYWHERE !!!

The Dave Clark Five first appeared on Ed Sullivan on Sunday, March 8th, playing their first Capitol hit Glad All Over. This was of course just a couple of weeks after the Beatles smash performances on the same show on February 9th and February 16th. The DC5 then appeared on Sunday, March 15th and played three songs: Do You Love Me (The Contours hit), Bits And Pieces, and once again Glad All Over. The mania for the Dave Clark Five after these two shows was nearing the mania already established for The Beatles.

Like The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five would borrow from Motown (Do You Love Me) and Chuck Berry (Reelin And Rockin). But of course they lacked the song writing team of Lennon and McCartney. It was their THUMPING sound that grabbed you though. Capitol Records Of Canada "rush-released" Bits And Pieces after their second Ed Sullivan appearance and both Glad All Over and Bits And Pieces were on many charts at the same time. Do You Love Me was also rush-released soon after the Sullivan shows. They were a hot act and Paul White wrote in his weekly Sizzle Sheet for April 10th, 1964 that "Clark has built up such a following in the last couple of weeks that we're beginning to realize we have another 'mania' on our hands!".!

1964 was a huge year for the DC5 and they continued having hits on Capitol for another three years. Their unusually quiet-for-them song "Because" in August 1964 still sounds fresh today as does their version of You've Got What It Takes from our Centennial Year of 1967. Their records were very much party records to get people dancing ! My own favourite was always "Anyway You Want It".

By June of 1967, they were touring places like Regina in Saskatchewan, perhaps The Beatles had made the correct decision to stop touring in 1966. The Dave Clark Five had appeared on Ed Sullivan a staggering 12 times and their last appearance on the show was March 26th, 1967... and the Muppets were on that show as well !

The DC5 carried on releasing discs in England until 1970 but there was no chart action in Canada after the beginning of 1968. One of their catchiest songs "Red Balloon" did not chart in Canada when it was issued in Canada in August 1968 ... but compare that "pop" track to The Beatles magnum opus Hey Jude which was issued in Canada just a few weeks later.

One of their last Canadian discs was issued on Epic in 1972 and was credited to Dave Clark & Friends, the label that had carried them in the USA beginning in 1964.

Many years later I attended a benefit concert for Mike Smith after his terrible accident at his home in Spain. The benefit concert was held in New York City on August 2nd, 2005 and was a great success. Mike Smith could only attend via video link up but many pop stars were there to help him out and they included The Zombies, Peter And Gordon, Denny Laine, Billy J. Kramer, Paul Shaffer (the organizer) etc.

DC5 Chart History In Canada

The Dave Clark Five stormed the Canadian singles charts between 1964 and 1967. The following summary of their chart history on Toronto's CHUM AM 1050 is extracted from Ron Hall's excellent book "The CHUM Chart Book" (Stardust, 1990).



Capitol Of Canada 45 RPM Discography

NOTE - label images seen at the 72000 Series page

The group issued a staggering total of 23 singles in Canada between 1964 and 1968 !

Capitol 72138	Glad All Over / I Know You	January 1964
Capitol 72148	Bits And Pieces / All Of The Time	March 1964
Capitol 72154	Do You Love Me ? / Chaquita	May 1964
Capitol 72163	Can’t You See That She’s Mine / No Time To Lose	June 1964
Capitol 72177	Because / Theme Without A Name	August 1964
Capitol 72187	Everybody Knows (I Still Love You) / ‘Ol Sol	November 1964
Capitol 72198	Anyway You Want It / Crying Over You	February 1965
Capitol 72215	Come Home / Your Turn To Cry	March 1965
Capitol 72232	Reelin’ And Rockin’/ Little Bitty Pretty One	May 1965
Capitol 72267	I Like It Like That / Hurting Inside	August 1965
Capitol 72279	Catch Us If You Can / Move On	September 1965
Capitol 72299	Having A Wild Weekend / No Stopping	October 1965
Capitol 72317	Over And Over / I’ll Be Yours (My Love)	October 1965
Capitol 72324	At The Scene / I Miss You	January 1966
Capitol 72358	Try Too Hard / All Night Long	March 1966
Capitol 72375	Please Tell Me Why / Look Before You Leap	June 1966
Capitol 72401	Satisfied With You / Don’t Let Me Down	September 1966
Capitol 72422	Nineteen Days / I Need Love	November 1966
Capitol 72443	I’ve Got To Have A Reason / Good Time Woman	January 1967
Capitol 72458	You’ve Got What It Takes / Small Talk	April 1967
Capitol 72488	You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby /Man In A Pin-Striped Suit	June 1967
Capitol 72499	A Little Bit Now / You Don’t Play Me Around	August 1967
Capitol 72515	Red And Blue / Concentration Baby	October 1967
Capitol 72521	Everybody Knows / Concentration Baby	December 1967
Capitol 72537	Please Stay / Forget	May 1968
Capitol 72552	Red Balloon / Maze Of Love	August 1968
Epic 5-10894	Rub It In / I'm Sorry Baby	issued in Canada in 1972
Dave Clark & Friends



Capitol Of Canada LP Discography

NOTE - cover images can be seen at 6000 Series page

Capitol of Canada issued an even dozen albums by The Dave Clark Five in Canada. All of them were issued in mono and a few were also issued in stereo.

Capitol T-6062	Session With The Dave Clark Five	April 13 1964
Capitol T-6068	Bits And Pieces	May 11 1964
Capitol T-6083	On Stage With The Dave Clark Five	September 14 1964
Capitol T-6103	Across Canada With The Dave Clark Five	January 11 1965
Capitol T-6137	Songs From The Movie Having A Wild Weekend	August 30 1965
Capitol (S)T-6153	The Hits Of The Dave Clark Five	January 3 1966
* the stereo version was re-issued in 1969 on the green target label and then in 1970/1 on the red target label
Capitol (D)T-6162	The Dave Clark Five Instrumental Album	May 2 1966
Capitol T-6167	I Like It Like That / Over And Over	March 7 1966
Capitol T-6180	At The Scene	June 6 1966
Capitol (D)T-6196	More Hits Of The Dave Clark Five	April 3 1967
Capitol (S)T-6220	You Got What It Takes	September 4 1967
Capitol (S)T-6265	Everybody Knows	February 5 1968
... and yes there are mono copies !

DC5 Cash-In Records Released In Canada During 1964 …

Capitol's first two 45 RPM releases by The Dave Clark Five were smashes in Canada ... and in their wake in mid 1964, the record companies scrambled to see what they had in their own vaults ... and out came the DC5 cash-in discs !

The other UK Pye 45 was also issued in Canada but on the Congress label as:



Another odd 45 was issued in Canada as:

  

Dave Clark Five Concerts In Canada During The 1960s

(By courtesy of web site ... http://allowell.homesite.net/dc5concerts.html )



Toronto, Ontario - June 9, 1964 - Varsity Stadium (more information on this concert is required)



Montreal, Quebec - October 29, 1964 - Montreal Forum

Opening acts - Pierre Lalonde

Les Beatlettes

The Bobsmiths

The 4 Frenchmen

Mickey Day

The Esquires

 

Above Left - Newspaper advert for the show held at the Montreal Forum on October 29th., 1964. Above Right - 1964 Capitol Of Canada publicity photo that appeared on the back of Capitol Lp T-6116. which may possibly have been taken in Montreal.





Toronto, Ontario - Monday, November 2nd., 1964 - Maple Leaf Gardens

Emcee was CKEY DJ Dave Mickie

Bobby Curtola

The Esquires



Above Left - Poster For The Toronto Show on Monday, November 2nd., 1964 Above Right - Helium-sucking CKEY DJ Dave Mickie introduces support act The Esquires (he is holding their Capitol Lp) as he stands in front of Dave Clark's' famous drums at Maple Leaf Gardens on November 2nd., 1964 !





London, Ontario - Tuesday, November 3, 1964 - Treasure Island Gardens

Jimmy Soul (from the USA)

David Clayton Thomas & The Shays (Toronto)

The Esquires (Ottawa)

Sandy Simms & The Diplomats (Brantford)

Johnny Stevens And His Sextet (London)

The Fortune Tellers (London)

The Undertakers (London)

 

Above Left - The Dave Clark Five pictured with Ottawa's very own Esquires
Above Right - The DC5 arrive in London Ontario on their very own plane (courtesy of the London Free Press, Fred Young)





Vancouver, British Columbia - November 26, 1964 - Georgia Auditorium

Fort William, Ontario - June 22, 1965 - Memorial Gardens

Sudbury, Ontario - June 23, 1965 - Sudbury Arena

Calgary, Alberta - July 6, 1965

No Canadian concert dates in 1966...

Regina, Saskatchewan - June 21, 1967 - Exhibition Park Agridome

 

Above - A very cool cardboard-backed flexi disc that appeared in some teen magazines in 1965





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04 24 2012

New imported release on Record Store Day 2012

This year, on Record Store Day, Canadian independant record shops had the chance to order the cool red box set of Beatles 45s. This set was available in the USA a few months back, in late 2011, but were made available in Canada for the event in April 2012. The box includes four reproductions of Ticket To Ride / Yes It Is, Hey Jude / Revolution, Something / Come Together and Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby, featuring the original labels and picture sleeves, a poster and a 45 adapter.





What is particularly cool about this box set is that it features remastered versions of the songs for the first time on vinyl, but mostly, this means that the Hey Jude disc features the "new" longer ending (more than the inscribed 7:11) only found on the mono remastered CD box set issued in 2009! Last year's special release also featured remastered tracks, now making a total of 10 remastered songs offered on vinyl. This year though, the record was imported to Canada from the USA instead of the UK.

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04 23 2012

THE BEATLES' VERY FIRST CANADIAN DISC
... HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY !!!

Monday, April 23rd, 2012 is exactly the 50th anniversary of the official release of the Beatles first record in Canada which was issued by Decca (Compo records) in Canada on Monday, April 23rd, 1962. In mid-April 1962, the 45 RPM record was pressed at 2377 Remembrance Street in Lachine Quebec. The building is still there in 2012 but the address is now 2496 Rue Remembrance in Lachine, Quebec. Below is a photo showing the building as it appears today near the corner of Rue Remembrance and 24th Avenue in Lachine.



Above - The Compo Pressing Plant In Lachine, Quebec as it appears today.(Source: Google Street Maps 2012)

Compo probably moved their pressing plant to 2377 Remembrance Street at the beginning of the 1940s and records were pressed here until the early 1970s even though Compo had opened a much more modern pressing plant in Cornwall Ontario in 1964.

Source: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone/028011-3011-e.html

The article on the Canadian Decca My Bonnie 45 appears at the following link:
http://www.capitol6000.com/mybonnie50th.html

And the article on the Canadian recorded sales for the Decca My Bonnie 45 appears at the following link: http://www.capitol6000.com/decca.html

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04 01 2012

Beatles Cover Versions

On the album BEATLES 65

Written by Piers Hemmingsen, March 2012

For Canadian Beatles record collectors and complete-ists, it is worth noting here that all four of the songs "covered" by The Beatles on Beatles '65 (issued December 1964) had in fact already been issued on vinyl in Canada by their original artists spanning the years 1956 through 1962.

Chuck Berry - Rock And Roll Music (September 1957)

Quality Records pressed both a 78 RPM version (1663) and a 45 RPM version (with the K prefix) of the coupling Blue Feeling / Rock And Roll Music in September 1957. Oddly the Rock And Roll Music side was assigned "-S2" status on the label which indicated that the track was the B side of Blue Feeling. In the USA, the single was issued as Chess 1671 and Blue Feeling was the B-side. Needless to say, Chuck Berry wrote the song and this was one of his very best songs of all. The Beatles would play the song in their 1966 concert tour set list… including Toronto!

 

CHUM Toronto charted the Quality K1663 disc for 6 weeks in 1957 and it peaked at number 6 in December 1957 (Source: Ron Hall, "Music World" December 1957).



Above - Music World, December 1957, Page 36 (Chuck Berry's 45 is at number 7 on the CHUM chart, probably compiled at the end of November 1957)

Mr. Moonlight - Dr. Feelgood And The Interns (June 1962)

The track "Mister Moonlight" was originally issued in the USA by Dr. Feelgood And The Interns as :

OKeh 4-7144 Dr. Feelgood And The Interns "Doctor Feel-Good / Mister Moonlight"
(original issues are on the yellow label, later purple label issues do not correctly list Roy Lee Johnson as the composer)

 

The 45 was issued in the USA in 1962 and became a well known cover song for many Liverpool bands including The Merseybeats (UK Fontana TF 431), as well as for the Manchester-based Hollies.

The composer of "Mister Moonlight" was songwriter, singer and guitarist Roy Lee Johnson who was also a member of the Interns backing group. Johnson apparently wrote the song while he was in high school. Doctor Feelgood was a pseudonym for pianist-singer Piano Red.

The 45 was also issued in England in 1962 as (EMI) Columbia 45-DB 4838.

In the USA, the Okeh label was distributed by CBS. So in Canada, the Dr. Feelgood discs were pressed and distributed by CBS but they were assigned to the Epic subsidiary label.

(Source: David Whatmough)

An album was issued in Canada on the Epic label in 1962 (mono only):

OKM-12101 - Doctor Feelgood and the Interns - Dr. Feelgood & Interns [1962] Issued with two different covers. One showed a large smile on the cover while the other had a doctor's bag. Doctor Feel-Good (S)/I'll Give Anything (S)/The Swabble (S)/I'll Be Home One Day (S)/I Ain't Gonna Be A Lowdown Dog No More (S)/Bald-Headed Lena (S)//What's Up Doc (S)/Mister Moonlight (S)/Sea Breeze (S)/Right String But The Wrong Yo-Yo (S)/Love Is Amazing (S)/Don't Let Me Catch You Wrong (S)

(Source: David Edwards and Mike Callahan, Both Sides Now Publishing)

 

In Canada, the album was issued with the "smile" cover using the same USA Okeh catalogue number OKM-12101. Note that the album includes Mister Moonlight (side 2, track 2).

At the same time, the following 45 was issued in Canada:

Epic 5-7156 What's Up Doc / Right String Baby, Wrong Yo-Yo (USA number Okeh 4-7156)



According to eminent Canadian musicologist David Whatmough, "only ten percent of the USA Okeh releases were given a Canadian Epic release" so it is possible that the earlier Okeh 45 "Doctor Feel-Good / Mister Moonlight" was not issued on Epic in Canada. A Canadian Epic catalogue number would have been 5-7144 assuming it was indeed issued by CBS/Epic. In any event, both sides of 5-7144 were included on the mono Lp which was issued on Epic in Canada. There are no chart entries for the 5-7144 45 RPM record in Canada which supports the theory that it was not issued on Epic.

 

Above Left - later CBS/Okeh issue of 4-7144 which does not credit Roy Lee Johnson.
Above Right - British EMI/Columbia issue of 45-DB 4838 from 1962 with the proper songwriter credit.

Honey Don't ! - Carl Perkins (April 1956)

In Canada, Quality issued the brilliant Carl Perkins coupling "Blue Suede Shoes / Honey Don't" in April 1956 on both 78 RPM and 45 RPM formats (Quality 1473 and Quality K1473). The Sun 45 version had been issued in December 1955 (Sun 234). The exclamation mark following the title exists on both the Sun and the Quality releases from 1955 and 1956 respectively.



Above L-R photos courtesy of Popsike



The rock and roll charts did not exist in Canada in 1956 so there are no chart entries for Quality K1473. Note that both sides of this single also appear on Carl Perkin's "Dance Album" (Quality) as discussed below.

Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby - Carl Perkins (very late 1957 / early 1958)

Carl Perkins is best remembered for being a rockabilly pioneer and for writing "Blue Suede Shoes". His very first album for Sun records is one of the very best of the early rock and roll albums of all time and can be classed as "essential" in any rock and roll collection. The Beatles performed at least five of the songs from the album at various times and George in particular was a huge fan of Carl Perkins early on. The Sun album includes Blue Suede Shoes, Matchbox, Honey Don't, Sure To Fall, and Everybody's Trying To be My Baby). The album was issued in the USA on the Sun label as SLP 225 in early 1958. In Canada, the album was issued by Quality records as:

Quality V-1611 - Carl Perkins - Dance Album of... Carl Perkins (mono only)



Photo courtesy of www.popsike.com

The song " Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby" is the third track on the second side. As it was not issued as a single in Canada, it did not chart.

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03 21 2012

My Bonnie / The Saints - Decca 31382

It Was Fifty Years Ago Today ... That Anthony McGinnity Taught The Beatles To Play ...
And The Era Of Village Music Was Over !

Piers Hemmingsen lives in Toronto and has written the 3 volume set titled
"The Beatles Canadian Discography 1962-1970" (450 pages, Hemmingsen Publishing 2004-2011).

Special thanks and acknowledgements to:
Paul White, Mark Lewisohn, Bruce Spizer, Gareth L. Pawlowski, Hans-Olof Gottfridsson, Serge Pelletier, Frank Daniels and Record Collector Magazine.
March 11, 2012

The Very First Beatles Record Was Issued In Canada In April 1962

The very first vinyl record to be issued by The Beatles in Canada was released on or close to Monday, April 23rd, 1962 ... that was fifty years and a half a century ago this month. A real time of celebration for all Beatles fans in Canada and elsewhere !

The story of The Beatles from their earliest beginnings has been well documented and today we cannot separate the original artifacts from The Beatles Story, as both are now intertwined. Their very first record and its story are now fifty years old and this is the story of the first Beatles record to be issued in Canada. The record did not sell AT ALL upon it's release in Canada in April 1962 and it has now become a holy grail for Beatles collectors.

The Story Of That Record …

Cast your mind back to a cool early spring evening in the middle of the week after Easter Monday April 16th, 1962. A worker at the Compo record pressing plant in Lachine, Québec was listening to the shift supervisor go over the list of items for that evening's production shift. The metal masters sat ready waiting to be used with the warm liquid vinyl to create new batches of 45 RPM records for that week's new releases for the Decca label. The metal masters for the week's new Canadian Decca label pressings had arrived from the Decca USA parent company earlier that week. The round black Decca paper labels with silver print had also been printed and were in a separate bundle with each master.

Some of the new Decca 45 RPM releases that month included:



The labels to be used had been prepared with the following information printed on them:



That same evening, approximately 200 copies of Decca 31382 were duly pressed up with the black and silver paper labels. Once the batch was completed, each disc was then inserted inside a brown paper stock Decca/Compo 45 RPM record sleeve. These stock sleeves had been stamped with blue ink with the block text " SAMPLE COPY NOT FOR SALE".



These 200 records would then have been sent out on Monday, April 23rd, 1962 for distribution to the various radio stations across Canada as a new release. Usually such promotional records would be accompanied by a small sheet of paper from the issuing company such as Compo/Decca that would mention something notable about the artist and perhaps a line or two about the record itself. Each radio station from coast to coast that received the sample disc would determine the category the new disc would fall under... examples being Pop, Country & Western, Personality, Comedy, Orchestra, Male Vocal, Female Vocal. The record librarian would note that it was a new release and determine where it could or could not fit on the station's roster of programming. The record librarian would normally have attached a catalogue sticker to the record's label to allow the record to be filed and re-filed.

By all accounts, no radio station in Canada at the time of release determined that the record was worthy of broadcast which would have resulted in a new listing on the station's weekly chart. Without this push from any of the radio stations, and without any other form of print or television advertising, the record sank without trace without even one chart listing or newspaper mention in Canada. There are also indications that most of the sample copies of the Tony Sheridan 45 were in fact disposed of and these copies may have been recycled into newer vinyl records by different artists.

The irony of having this 45 released on the Decca label in Canada was that The Beatles had failed the Decca (UK) recording audition test just a few months earlier on New Year's Day January 1st, 1962.

Of course, Canadian (and US) Decca had not been associated with British Decca since World War Two. In October, 1962, Decca would become basically a name; that was when they were purchased by MCA. Since US Decca had owned Compo since 1951, Compo became part of MCA, eventually (1970) changing their name. (Source: Frank Daniels)

Another interesting fact is that the Decca 45 was issued in Canada just a few weeks before Brian Epstein had his initial meeting with EMI producer George Martin in London on Wednesday, May 9th, 1962. George Martin would take The Beatles into the charts.

Lastly, original Beatle Stu Sutcliffe had died tragically on April 10, 1962, less than two weeks before the Decca record was released in Canada.

So you can see that the record was issued at a very interesting time in the Beatles development.

The Story Behind The Historic Recordings Of My Bonnie And The Saints In Early 1961

The title song My Bonnie was written circa 1881 by Charles E. Pratt and “was first recorded as a rock ‘n’ roll song by Ray Charles in 1958,” and “This New Orleans parade song probably dates from the late 19th century… Bill Haley And His Comets recorded it, and it was later recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino, among others.” as stated in "The Beatles with Tony Sheridan - Beatles Bop—Hamburg Days" by Hans-Olof Gottfridsson.

Tony Sheridan hailed from Norwich, Norfolk and found his way to the famous "Two I's" coffee bar on Old Compton Street in London's Soho district in the late 1950s. He had the moody good looks of the time and was by all accounts was a brilliant guitarist. But in performance, Sheridan quickly developed a reputation for being unreliable and inconsistent. By June 1960, Sheridan was 21 and with his backing group The Jets had accepted an offer to play rock and roll in the roughest part of Hamburg... the Reeperbahn area was a police-patrolled home for sailors and prostitutes. Now here was a true rock and roll pioneer. When The Beatles found themselves playing in Hamburg just a few months later, they saw Sheridan as somewhat of a role model as he was so popular. In fact, George Harrison has stated that he learned much of his own craft by carefully watching Tony Sheridan's playing in their early days in Hamburg.

The five Beatles started out at the bottom-rung clubs in Hamburg but quickly became good friends with the charismatic Englishman Sheridan whose real name was Anthony McGinnity ! Singer Sheridan would later joke that his father was from West Derby and that made him an "automatic Scouser" and that is perhaps why he got on so well with The Beatles in their early days. All five Beatles were backing Sheridan at The Top Ten Club during their second stint in Hamburg in the spring of 1961 when Polydor producer Bert Kaempfert dropped by with his friend Alrfed Schacht to check out Tony Sheridan and his backing group. One version of events holds that German pop singer Tommy Kent had recommended Sheridan and The Beatles to Kaempfert. Either way, producer Bert Kaempfert had final say on The Beatles as the backing group for Tony Sheridan and he recorded all of them at Friedrich Ebert Halle in Harburg ( a Hamburg suburb) beginning on the morning of Thursday, June 22nd, 1961 and continuing again on Friday, June 23rd, 1961. The recording engineer for these sessions was Karl Hinze.

Why Were The Beatles Called The Beat Brothers ?

One good reason for the switch of the group name "The Beatles" to "The Beat Brothers" was that the German pronunciation of "Beatles" sounded too much like "Peedles" which was then popular German slang for "penis". Nuff said. For the recording session, the newly named Beat Brothers consisted of Pete Best (drums), George Harrison (lead guitar), Paul McCartney (bass), and John Lennon (rhythm guitar). Stu Sutcliffe was the bass player for The Beatles at this time (although he left the group in early July 1961) but he did not play at the Polydor recording session and was instead replaced by Paul McCartney on bass. The movie "Back Beat' from 1994 is a good film recreation of the period in which Pete Best and Stu Sutcliffe were themselves Beatles.

The My Bonnie single was quite popular in Germany at the time it was issued by German Polydor in 1961. Original German copies featured a picture cover showing singer Tony Sheridan... but alas no picture of the backing Beat Brothers.

The Beatles Later... Fast Forward From July 1961 To April 1962

At the very same time that this record was being pressed and issued by Compo in Canada, The Beatles were back in Hamburg.

According to Mark Lewisohn's magnum opus book "The Beatles Chronicles", The Beatles were playing a residency at The Star Club in Hamburg, Germany from Friday, April 13th, 1962 through Thursday, May 31st, 1962. Upon arrival in Hamburg for this residency, The Beatles were told of Stu Sutcliffe's death... he had died just a few days earlier on April 10th, 1962. At this time, The Beatles were being managed by Brian Epstein who had negotiated the opening Star Club dates with Star Club owner Manfred Weissleder. Epstein had taken on the role of Beatles manager in December 1961.

The Star Club opened on Friday, April 13th, 1962 and many bright red posters were plastered around the streets of Hamburg for the launch of this new club highlighted the artists that would be performing there over the next few weeks under the banner of ROCK N' TWIST-PARADE 1962. The artists included The Beatles, Tex Roberg, Roy Young, The Graduates, The Bachelors, Tony Sheridan Quartet, and Gerry And The Pacemakers. The posters boldly declared in German "Die Not hat ein Ende ! Die Zeit Der Dorfmusik ist vorbei !" ... in English this meant "The misery is ending! The era of village music is over!



In his Chronicles book, Mark Lewisohn also states that The Beatles may have completed a second recording session for Polydor producer Bert Kaempfert during the week of Monday, April 23rd, 1962 through Friday, April 27th, 1962 but there are no official records of these recording dates to go by. If the Beatles did not record for Polydor in April 1962, they did enter the studio on May 24, 1962 to play the backing track for "Sweet Georgia Brown." Sheridan recorded the first set of vocals by himself on June 7th, 1962. (Source: Frank Daniels). There can be little doubt that The Beatles themselves did not know that the Tony Sheridan And The Beat Brothers 45 they had recorded almost one year before would see a release in the USA and Canada on the Decca label.

What Makes The Original My Bonnie 45 So Rare And Collectible ?

Quite simply, the collector's value of the original April 1962 disc is based on the fact that so few copies have survived to this day. There are only 5 or 6 copies of this record known to exist.

Original copies can be identified by the stamping marks in the run-out areas on either side of the vinyl disc. As stated above, the original 1962 Canadian Decca 45 was pressed from metal masters sent up from the U.S. Matrix numbers are machine-stamped into the vinyl (using the same matrix numbers that are printed on the Decca label). Machine-stamped matrix numbers on run-out area of A-side is “DGG-66833 A4” and machine-stamped matrix number on run-out area of the B-side is “DGG-24673 (backwards B)4”.

Counterfeits do exist so it is best to consult an expert if you are thinking of buying one of these original pressings and want to be sure that it is indeed an April 1962 Canadian copy.<1p>

My Bonnie 45 Re-Issue From January 1964

As The Beatles began to crack the American market in early 1964, and even before their appearances on Ed Sullivan in February 1964, MGM Records entered into a 5-year leasing agreement with Deutsche Grammophon, the German company that owned the rights to the 1962 Polydor recordings with Tony Sheridan. The ink was not even dry on this agreement when both sides of the 1962 Decca single were re-issued by MGM in both the USA and Canada. This time the My Bonnie single was pressed in the thousands. The MGM single was pressed by Quality Records of Canada in Toronto and this time the record was credited to "The Beatles With Tony Sheridan". This new MGM single was issued in Canada on, or within a few days of, Wednesday, January 27th, 1964. The MGM recording lacks the slow introduction in English that is found on the original Decca release.



Above - The January 27th, 1964 re-issue by Quality Records of Canada.
This time the name Tony Sheridan was listed below The Beatles.
This copy was signed by original My Bonnie drummer Pete Best.

Photos Of Tony Sheridan And The Beat Brothers Circa Mid 1961

There were no known pictures taken of the vocalist and his backup band at the Polydor recording session in June of 1961, however, the three black and white photos below were taken shortly after.

 

Above left - Publicity photo of Tony Sheridan used for the picture sleeve of the German Polydor issue of My Bonnie in 1961
Above right - The Beatles (L-R, George, Pete, John and Paul) aka The Beat Bothers take a break from a lunch-time session outside The Cavern Club, Liverpool circa July 1961...
around the same time that the My Bonnie Polydor single was being released in Germany.



Above - A photo of Bert Kaempfert working in the recording studio in Germany in 1962.

The week of Monday, April 23, 1962 in Canada…

In the world before The Beatles and of course the Internet, radio was "king" for new music. Television was still a new medium with few shows dedicated purely to pop music. In Canada in 1962, the CBC operated 39 affiliate radio stations and 14 affiliate TV stations. At the same time, there were 242 privately owned and run radio stations and 39 privately owned and run TV stations. CHUM in Toronto was one of Canada's largest "pop" radio stations serving the predominantly English market of Toronto. CHUM had moved to a "rock and roll" format in 1957 and began to publish weekly pop charts.

The CHUM Toronto Chart for the week of April 23, 1963 featured American singer Ernie Maresca at number 1 with "Shout, Shout, Knock Yourself Out". The top 10 for that week included singles by two British acts .. Cliff Richard and Acker Bilk. The chart for this particular week was a good example of the period between the first wave of rock and roll pioneers of the 1950s and the arrival of The Beatles at the end of 1963. There were songs by Elvis, Ricky Nelson, Brenda Lee, Bobby Vee, Paul Anka etc. Tory John Diefenbaker was the Prime Minister of Canada and North America was under a constant threat of nuclear war with Russia as Kennedy and Kruschev faced off.

The clarinet instrumental Stranger On The Shore was a huge seller worldwide while Cliff's subsequent hits Bachelor Boy and Summer Holiday were released as singles by Capitol Records Of Canada in early 1963 just around the same time that Capitol's British-born A&R (Artists and Repertoire) Manager was issuing the first two or three Capitol 45 RPM singles by The Beatles.



In fact, Paul White would be the first record executive in North America to release a record under the proper name of The Beatles in early 1963... Love Me Do on the Canadian Capitol label (catalogue number 72076). According to Paul "It sold about 140 copies after 6 months". USA Capitol's Dave Dexter refused to issue that 45 in the USA. Canada led the way for Capitol's Beatles output in the 1960s. Nuff said. The honour of being the first person to play a Beatles record on a radio station in North America falls to the late Ray Sonin of radio station CFRB in Toronto. Ray played a British Parlophone copy of Love Me Do on his weekly Saturday afternoon show "Calling All Britons" in late 1962.

A Record Buying Recollection From April 1962

John King (Toronto Star) recalls his weekly routine as a newspaper carrier for the Ottawa Citizen daily newspaper in the early nineteen sixties. “Every Saturday morning I would ride my bike from my home in Alta Vista to Billings Bridge Plaza to drop off the Citizen collection money at the “shack”. I would continue on my bike down Bank Street to spend some time and carrier earnings downtown. The Zellers department store at the corner of O’Connor Street and Queen Street had a “record bar” and this was a favourite place to purchase a 45. I vividly recall purchasing an orange swirl Capitol copy of “My Boomerang Won’t Come Back” at Zellers in April 1962.” Now that Charlie Drake 45 was issued on the same orange and yellow Capitol swirl label that would be used for the Love Me Do 45 in Canada almost a year later.

And The Story Of My Bonnie Afterwards …

Bert Kaempfert would go on to arrange Strangers In The Night for Frank Sinatra and Spanish Eyes for Al Martino. Pete Best carried on after being expelled from The Beatles on August 16th, 1962. Although Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr, Pete's drumming on My Bonnie is still pretty damn great and typifies the real Mersey Beat of 1961 and 1962.

Paul White of Capitol Records Of Canada would decide to release all of the Beatles 1963 Parlophone singles on the Capitol label in Canada during 1963. As such he was a true pioneer for The Beatles in North America.

Postscript April 2012

Tony Sheridan... continues to reside in a village just north of Hamburg in Germany and performed My Bonnie at an outdoor concert last year (2011) in Liverpool. He has maintained a scholarly interest in coats of arms.

Sir Paul McCartney... has just released a new album called "Kisses On The Bottom"... and will headline the Diamond Jubilee concert for Queen Elizabeth.

Pete Best... The Pete Best Band is one of the few true Mersey Beat bands performing today and will perform in Liverpool on August 25th, 2012 along with the Roy Young Band. He is still a great drummer and will always be able to proudly say that he was the "Best of The Beatles" !

The Canadian Decca record... an original April 1962 Canadian Decca My Bonnie vinyl 45 sold on Saturday, February 25th, 2012 to one lucky Beatles collector for $2,999.99 US.

And the beat will go on...

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03 18 2012

Beatles Canadian Cover Versions

On the album SOMETHING NEW

Written by Piers Hemmingsen, March 2012

The album consisted of eight songs from the British Parlophone Lp release of the soundtrack to the film "A Hard Day's Night" (PMC 1230, July 1964). In addition there were two songs from the British Parlophone Ep "Long Tall Sally" (GEP 8913, June 1964) and one odd track which was the German version of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" called "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand". As with the previous three Capitol Of Canada "6000 Series" Beatles albums issued between November 1963 and May 1964, the Something New album was only issued in Canada in mono in the summer of 1964.

The track listing below (taken from the back of the 1964 Canadian mono Lp) shows that only two songs of the eleven included on the album were not written by The Beatles and these were the two tracks from the UK Long Tall Sally Ep ... Slow Down and Matchbox.



Slow Down - Larry Williams

This 45 was issued in the USA on the Specialty label as Specialty 626. The A side was Slow Down and the B-side was Dizzy Miss Lizzy ( a song that was covered the following year on the Beatles VI album). In Canada the 45 was issued in February / March 1958 on the Regency label (Regency 720X) , the same label that had issued Little Richard's opus Long Tall Sally. CHUM 1050 Toronto charted the disc for 2 weeks in March 1958 and it peaked at number 40 (Source: Ron Hall).

 

Matchbox - Carl Perkins

Matchbox was the A-side of a 45 issued in the USA as Sun 261 on February 11th., 1957. The B-side was a track called "Your True Love". In Canada the same 45 was issued by Quality Records using catalogue number K1599. The Quality 45 would lag the USA release by a few weeks.

  

Above Left - Sun 261, Above Right - Carl Perkins performing "Glad All Over" with (left-right) Clayton Perkins, W.S. "Fluke" Holland, and Jay Perkins in the 1957 film Jamboree.

Note that there were no chart entries in Canada for this record in early 1957. Toronto's CHUM charts did not start until May 27th., 1957 (Source: Ron Hall).

1969 Beatles Connection To Carl Perkins …

At the Toronto Rock And Roll Revival Concert held at Varsity Stadium on Saturday, September 13th., 1969, John and Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band opened their Toronto set list with "Blue Suede Shoes", a real tribute to Carl Perkins (who had issued that 45 in Canada in April 1956 as Quality K1473).

Of course, John was still a Beatles at the time he played the song live ... and Blue Suede Shoes opens the Live Peace In Toronto LP.

Note - I was lucky enough to see Carl Perkins play guitar as back up to Johnny Cash when they played together at the Ottawa Exhibition in 1970. They played two nights (Monday, August 24th., 1970 and Tuesday, August 25th., 1970) at the Grandstand at Lansdowne Park under the bill "Johnny Cash with June Carter, the Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, The Tennessee Three and Carl Perkins". Phew .. Carl Perkins was listed last on that bill ... Rock On Carl !

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03 14 2012

And Now We Have A Winner!

Beatlemanic Sticker Mystery

Félicitations et / and Congratulations to Gilles Pépin of Québec City who has solved the mystery of the Beatlemanic Sticker ! Gilles emailed the solution to the mystery on March 12th, 2012 by stating that he found the page with the "Beatlemanic" Sticker in (the) Beatle Fun Kit magazine at page 29." Well done Gilles and "merci bien" for solving this mystery !

Believe it or not, just a few hours later on March 13th. I received an email from Andrew Croft of Toronto who provided the same scans of page 28 and 29 of the "Beatle Fun Kit" magazine from 1964.

Gilles has already claimed his prize and there will be a second prize awarded to Andrew as well.

So the mystery has been solved. The "Beatlemanic Stickers" were indeed paper cut-outs and here are pages 28 and 29 along with the front cover of the issue. Way back in 1964, this book er magazine cost the princely sum of $1.00 and was published in the USA by DIG.

  

Above L-R - Front cover, page 28 and page 29 of the Beatle Fun Kit

And here below is the all important text from page 28 of that cool Beatles fan magazine from way back in 1964:

"BEATLE PLATTER STICKERS ! RECORD-BREAKING WAY TO BRIGHTEN UP YOUR COLLECTION !
Now you can stop Beatle-platter prowlers dead in their tracks ! Label your records with your own special Beatle-platter stickers. These stickers are designed to fit right over the label in the center of the record. Just clip them out, tape them right on. Guaranteed protection for your Beatle collection."

And many thanks once again to Gilles Pepin and Andrew Croft !



Above - USA Capitol 5498 45 with Beatlemanic Sticker (Andrew Croft)



Above - Meet The Beatles Star Special magazine - UK 1963

AND NOW HERE IS AN UPDATE ON THE COOL LP STICKERS FROM THAT SAME ARTICLE…

Michael S. Fishberg of London, England writes the following:

"I purchased the album stickers at a Hallmark Card shop in downtown San Francisco in the summer of 1966 when I was travelling around the USA with my friend Graham. The stickers were sold in a sealed package and each sticker inside was pre-gummed on the back. So basically, you licked the back of the sticker and pasted it onto the back of your album cover."

So for that mystery solved ... many thanks Michael. A special prize will also be awarded to Michael.

SUMMARY

So we have identified two sets of record stickers from the 1960s and both of these were intended to protect the owner of the record from unwanted "platter-prowlers". Very cool !

The Beatlemanic 45 stickers issued in 1964 had to be taped on but in some of the examples I have come across over the years they were glued on. The Lp stickers from 1966 were gummed so they could simply be licked and then stick on. Thanks again to all who helped solve these mysteries from 1964 and 1966 !

Cheers,
Piers Hemmingsen
March 15, 2012

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03 04 2012

"Beatlemanic" Sticker

Applied To A 45 At The Height Of Beatlemania In 1964!

Over the years, I have come across records in my travels that have some strange labels attached to them. These stickers were used to name and identify the owner of the record. These stand out for me because in 99% of cases the owner usually wrote their name on the back or front cover of the album jacket in the case of an LP or on the actual record label in the case of a 45. The stickers discussed here are fairly rare and I have been meaning to write a short article in praise of them for some time.

Like many Beatles fans of my age, I started collecting Beatles records in 1965 or so. I did not buy too many singles as I could hear those on the radio, but I started collecting their albums as they came out... as soon as I could. Really this period covered the Capitol albums Something New, Beatles VI, Help, Rubber Soul, Yesterday And Today, Revolver, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine and Very Together (oops… Polydor !). I never thought that I needed to write my name on each album or album cover and those original 1960s albums are still with me. Perhaps it was that I chose not to lend my albums or that I had no younger siblings... in any event I was not even aware that you could buy special stickers to stick on your records to signify ownership. This was a phenomena I discovered much later.

To date I have come across two types of cool stickers used on records in the 1960s; album stickers and Beatles single stickers.

Album Cover Stickers

Some album stickers are fairly generic in that they only state the album owner's name. The two colour stickers seen on the back covers of the albums below clearly indicate that "THIS ALBUM PROPERTY OF:" and interestingly they have been found on Lps in both England and Canada.

1. The Yardbirds UK mono LP - Columbia SX 6063 (UK, 1966)
Affixed by a record buyer in London, England (Michael Fishberg, 1966).



2. Crispian St. Peters "The Pied Piper" LP - Canadian mono LL.3488 (1966)
Affixed by a record buyer in Willowdale (suburb of Toronto), Ontario, Canada (Gaye Wadham, 1966).

  

The above stickers were large colourful rectangular affairs featuring a mod 1960s musician design and were very similar in purpose to the "Ex Libris" stickers used by book collectors that were affixed to the inside page of a book.

Way Cool Beatlemanic 45 Stickers!

The more interesting stickers I have come across are Beatles specific and identify the fact that the original owner of the record was indeed a "Beatlemanic"… and not to be confused with a "Beatlemaniac"



Where did these Beatlemanic stickers come from?

These cool coloured semi-circular paper stickers were most probably included in a Beatles fan magazine that appeared in a March 1964 or slightly late issue. I am guessing right now that the magazine was from Britain or the USA, but more information would be very much appreciated. Beatles fans in 1964 carefully cut these stickers out of the magazine using scissors (hopefully !) and then glued them to the label of one of their Beatles 45 RPM records. I have yet to see one of these stickers applied to a Beatles album ! Possible sources of the Beatlemanic stickers would include the fan magazines that were being published in early to mid 1964. These would include:

UK - RAVE (monthly) - RAVE number 1 was published in February 1964 (one issue is possibly number 4 from May 1964)

UK - FABULOUS (weekly)

USA - "16" (monthly) (Note - The Beatles first appeared on the cover of 16 in the May 1964 issue)

   

At the height of Beatlemania (February through August 1964), a number of one-off fan magazines appeared on magazine racks across North America. These usually included pin-up photos that fans could put up in their bedrooms.

Now which one of these magazines might have the special cut-out Beatlemanic stickers inside ? I also remember that Beatles fans cut up many of these magazines to use the cool pictures in their very own Beatles scrapbooks (that is another great aspect of Beatlemania).

When were these stickers issued?

Most of the records I have come across with these labels attached were for records issued in the early months of 1964 when Beatlemania was at its zenith.

In what countries were these stickers issued ?

The following records have been located with these stickers attached to them:

England - Parlophone GEP 8891 - All My Loving Ep WPS (see the purple / pink sticker in the image above right)

Canada - Capitol 72144 - All My Loving / This Boy (see the yellow sticker in the image above left)

USA - Vee Jay VJ 587 - Do You Want To Know A Secret ? / Thank You Girl (see image below)



What was their purpose?

The stickers were a great way for Beatles fans to affix their names to their own Beatles records. They also were meant to indicate to anyone going near the record that the owner of the record was a completely besotted Beatles fan. I am not sure that I would have applied these stickers to my own Beatles records during the mid 1960s… perhaps then I was NOT a true Beatlemanic???

What colour were these stickers?

To date I have only come across two colours: purple / pink and yellow.

Does the sticker reduce the value of the record to serious record collectors?

Well the answer to that question is "probably yes". In most cases I have see, the record sells for less than un-labelled copies.

Can these Beatlemanic stickers be removed easily?

No and I would not bother... as removing them will result in some sort of attempt at revisionist history.
And besides, they are very cool.

Conclusion

The stickers are very interesting from a sociolgical and anthropological perpsective as they often help to identify who originally bought the record and where they lived at the time the record was originally purchased. The album stickers appear to have originated sometime during 1966 while the Beatlemanic 45 stickers are most certainly from the heady days of Beatlemania in early 1964. I would also want to assume that these stickers were used by the more affluent record buyers of the day !

Can you solve the mystery?

If you know which 1964 magazine the stickers originated from and can send a scan of same, you will receive a special BEATLEMANIC prize! Just email piers@capitol6000.com to claim it ! My own very best guess would be one of the special Beatles Fan magazines produced at the height of Beatlemania in 1964... but which one ? This may take a year or so to solve but the prize will be held for the winner for as long as it takes ! But maybe the answer is indeed very simple and we will hear the answer "any time at all".

So perhaps dig out your old magzines and solve this mystery for us ? The answer is out there !

The contest winner will have a choice of:

1. An original hardcover copy of the EMI 50 Years book from 1999 (with original dust jacket).
2. LP A Hard Day's Night - rare blue United Artists (Compo) label 1964 LP.
3. Capitol 72101 - From Me To You - original swirl 45.

NOTE - special thanks to unknown contributors Michael Fishberg, Gaye Wadham, Marion Palmer, Carolyn (initials CJC) and Roman (?) Reid. Thanks also to The Beatles Virtual Museum for some of the cool magazine images (http://beatlesite.blogspot.com/).

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02 26 2012

Recent Sales

Once again we are here, brigning you the most recent sales of the past few weeks. First, The rare Decca My Bonnie that we saw up for sale once again earlier this year finally sold yesterday at 2h34 pm for the reasonable price of 3000$! With this sale added to our list of other recorded sales, we see an average of 3814$ US for this record! Not bad…

The classic Canadian Love Me Do sold again, this time for 48$, while the Canadian green swirl starline pressing of Please Please Me sold for 61$. The Let It Be box set is always popular and this VG- copy sold for 83$. A no brackets pressing of Beatlemania! with the inner sleeve and still in the lose shrink wrap sold for 100$. Finally, last but not least, a very difficult to find promo Capitol pressing CC PRO 1 of Russ Conway sold for 49$. This one sided record is similar to the CC PRO 2 record featuring Helen Shapiro as it features the same sleeve design and also plays an interview with the artist. Definitely a great find!

stay tuned for more!