The Pete Best Combo. Beyond The Beatles 1964-66

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Compact Disc • Cherry Red Records • CDMRED 124.

1996 • U.K.

Back cover.

Disc.

Booklet.

Booklet.

Booklet.

Liner notes:

THE PETE BEST COMBO

BEYOND THE BEATLES 1964-66

1. ALL ABOARD
2. WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME BABY?
3. SHIMMY LIKE MY SISTER KATE
4. I NEED YOUR LOVIN’
5. I CAN’T DO WITHOUT YOU NOW
6. CASTIN’ MY SPELL
7. I’M BLUE
8. SHE’S ALRIGHT
9. I KEYS TO MY HEART
10. I'M CHECKIN’ OUT NOW BABY
11. I'LL TRY ANYWAY
12. I DON’T KNOW WHY I DO
13. HOW DO YOU GET TO KNOW HER NAME?
14. SHE’S NOT THE ONLY GIRL IN TOWN
15. IF YOU CAN’T GET HER
16. MORE THAN I NEED MYSELF
17. I'LL HAVE EVERYTHING TOO
18. THE WAY I FEEL ABOUT YOU
19. DON’T PLAY WITH ME
20. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MUSIC
21. I WANNA BE THERE
22. EVERYBODY
23. PETE’S THEME
24. OFF THE HOOK

Writers:

1,Lamont 2,4,5,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,21,23. Bickerton/

Waddington 3.Piron/Sutton 6.Johnson/Johnson

7.Ike Turner 20.C.Berry 22.Unknown 24.Jagger/Richardson

Publishers:

1,22 Copyright Control 2,4,5,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,

21,23 Chelsea Music Pub. Co. 3.Paul Rodriguez Music Ltd 6.Campbell

Connelly & Co. Ltd 7.Carlin Music Corp. 20.Jewel Music Pub. Co.

24.Westminster Music Ltd

All tracks licensed from PEBE-SPLASH Records

All photographs copyright PEBE-SPLASH Records © 1996

When Pete Best was sacked from the Beatles in 1962, he became a footnote in rock history. Officially speaking, his card was marked as The Beatle That Time Forgot. Having usurped Pete’s place on the eve of the group’s success, Ringo Starr went on to ‘endure’ the indignity of being dubbed the Luckiest Man In The World, while Pete, much to his eternal chagrin, undoubtedly became the unluckiest.

The accepted story goes that following his dismissal, Pete bravely relaunched himself in Liverpool with a new group, Lee Curtis and the Allstars. By 1968, however, as his former Beatle buddies were famously throwing good money after bad at their Apple empire, Pete had long since jacked it in and had found himself regular work, labouring in a 24-hour Liverpool bakery - sweating it out for a measly £12 a week. The following year, he found his feet, but it must be the supreme of all ironies that, having lost the best job in the world, he began to build a career as a civil servant - in Liverpool’s employment agency.

But what the world at large didn’t realise - except for the locals in a few select rock‘n’roll hotspots in Germany and North America - was that during the Beatlemania years and beyond, Pete and his band were dedicated to the same rock‘n’roll lifestyle lived by hundreds of aspiring British groups including the Beatles. After playing clubs and halls up and down the country, The Pete Best Combo, as they were called, skipped over the Channel to Hamburg, and then, at the request of an American record label, to the States. It’s there that the recordings on this CD were made.

The offer came from an executive called Bob Harvey. Inspired by (who else?) the Beatles, Harvey was on the look-out for “Merseyside talent” to record an album which he hoped would capitalise on the biggest music phenomenon since Elvis. ‘lt was uncharted waters for us,” recalls Pete’s guitarist Toay Waddington. “It was like, wow, America!”’

In early 1964, The Pete Best Combo flew to New York to begin work. The group comprised Pete on drums, Tony, Wayne Bickerton on bass, and two saxophonists remembered only as Trevor and Bill, Tony and Wayne also handled the vocals. They were placed on a small retainer, and given somewhere to stay. “We were put up in a hotel with moving wallpaper,” remembers Wayne. “Bugs and cockroaches used to crawl behind it. It was within walking distance from 42nd Street: a dive, full of hookers. It was tough times. We once resorted to selling our blood to get enough money to eat.”

True to their word, however, the New York producers found work for the Combo. Swept along by the British Invasion, Pete and the group found themselves playing in clubs across the States, even opening for Roy Orbison on a stadium tour of Canada. Back in the Big Apple, they set about recording their LP, dashing off as many as 40 titles in open-ended sessions, which saw local luminaries such as Luther Dixon (the man behind the Shirelles) and Inez and Charlie Foxx dropping by unannounced.

The majority of the songs recorded were Bickerton-Waddington originals. Many remained unreleased until their inclusion on this CD, while none was issued outside the U.S. at the time. Several did find their way onto American singles, however - “I'll Try Anyway,” "If | Can’t Get Her", “Castin’ My Spell” and “Don’t Play With Me” - while others appeared on that promised album, which was indefensibly launched as a deliberate cash-in, credited to “Best Of The Beatles”. Even worse for the struggling Best, the LP featured a sleeve depicting Pete’s former, rather than his current, group. “I realised at that point that we weren’t there for our particular musical style”, admitted Tony.

That particular style was an unusual amalgam of polished Merseybeat influences and a tougher American sound, making the occasional incursion into territories covered by the U.S. Chocolate Watch Band. For clarification, just listen to “She’s Alright”, “Keys To My Heart,” “The Way | Feel About You” or “Il Wanna Be There” - and check out that guitar distortion! Bickerton and Waddington had an obvious flair for catchy pop tunes, and while not every one of the 24 tracks here could be considered a classic, there are plenty enough belters on offer to keep the toes tapping and the interest from flagging.

The American experience ended in 1968 for The Pete Best Combo. It proved invaluable for Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington, who returned to Britain slightly older and undoubtedly wiser. They quickly landed jobs on the other side of the microphone as in-house writers for Decca, before hitting the big time in the early ’70s as the masterminds behind rock’n’roll revivalists, the Rubettes. For Pete however, the lack of lasting success in the States prompted him to give up his career in music. He withdrew from the public’s gaze for the next fifteen years, not reappearing until 1985,when he made a long over-due claim for his place in history with his decisively titled

autobiography, ‘Beatle!’.

                Andy Davis Record Collector.

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