by stephen » Sat Oct 18, 2014 2:29 pm
Bill, thank you so much for this post, although the reason for it greatly saddens me. I've stated before on this site that my personal favourite Liverpool bands were The Big Three, The Undertakers and the Merseybeats, in that order. I tended to like the 'heavier' bands with the exception of The Merseybeats who's ballads & skilful harmonies also appealed.
I'm sure that I was at The Cavern on the occasion that EP was recorded and the atmosphere whenever The Big Three appeared was fantastic as always. I think that I must have worn out my copy of that record as I played it (much to my parents annoyance!) so often and at the maximum volume that my dad's prized Bush record player could put out! Seeing that EP sleeve again certainly brought back memories for me. I was a keen 'guitar-spotter' even in those days and hankered after a Fender bass just like Johnny's. Their amps were the business as well, an AC30 & a Fender piggy-back model. The stuff of dreams for us teenagers then. It's funny how back in those days, quite a few Liverpool players hoisted their guitars quite high. Gerry Marsden, John Lennon, Tony Jackson (The Searchers) etc. Not many adopt that style nowadays....
It's somewhat coincidental that another, albeit later, power trio, Cream also suffered similar internal strife during their own relatively brief existence. Maybe it's just the dynamics of a trio that causes it. Who knows.....?
By the way, reverting to the core, original topic of this thread, did anyone watch the screening of, "The John Lennon Story" shown on the True Entertainment channel on Thursday? It was the first time I'd seen it and found it quite nostalgic & enjoyable, despite the actor playing John reminding me of Eric, the hapless assistant in the "Lovejoy" series! The guitars & amps shown seemed in the main to be more period/artist-correct than in the recent "Cilla". Although I'm sure that some will beg to differ.........
John's (pale coloured) Rickenbacker, George's Futurama from that first Hamburg sojourn were in evidence, but I can't place the double-cutaway guitar that 'Paul' was using in one sequence. Once John had acquired his first Ricky and when Paul wasn't playing piano, he would often play John's blonde Hofner Club model......upside down of course, in the days preceding Stu's exit and Paul's eventual adoption of the role of bass player and the consequent trademark Hofner Violin bass.
Stephen.
