There is a letter going to be actioned that shows that The Beatles were looking for a drummer who would have replaced Pete Best.

In 1960 a drummer placed an advert in the Liverpool Echo the advert said “Drummer-Young-Free.”

McCartney replied and the letter that going to auction is his reply; It is interesting because the letter invited the (unknown) drummer to an audition. It also said that the drummer should be prepared to drop everything and go off to Hamburg for 2 months. The letter said that the pay would be £18 per week. (Not too shabby in 1960).

So, this was not someone to replace Ringo – he replaced Pete Best a couple of years later. It was was someone to take to Hamburg instead of Pete Best. It is known that PB was in The Beatles, not so much because he was a great drummer but more that he had a drum kit!

Bruce Spicer, a well known Beatles Scholar said “This shows that Pete wasn’t the only person they were interested in,” Spizer said. “They needed a drummer and Pete was convenient. It makes sense that they would have responded to some drummer in Liverpool looking for work. My speculation is that two months in Hamburg intimidated him, maybe he didn’t want to go and never replied. If he had responded, and if he was good, it might have changed everything.”

It was in Hamburg that The Beatles grew into a tight and professional unit ready to take the world by storm. Years later Lennon said that The Beatles were the best rock band in the world at the time when they were playing in Hamburg. (He probably meant the later stints in Hamburg in ‘62 rather than the first one). He also said, “I might have been born in Liverpool – but I grew up in Hamburg”

Somewhere there is a man who was a drummer in his youth, who might have, just might have become the best known drummer in the world. Who he was we will probably never know. There are lots of unanswered questions; Did he have an audition? Was he offered the job? Did not bother to reply to Sir Paul ‘cos he did not fancy Hamburg? How did this letter turn up being used as a bookmark in a book at a car boot sale? Why do I never find things like this when I go to car booties?

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On this day in 1962 the beatles started a 2 week run at the Star Club in Hamburg.

By This time Ringo had replaced Pete Best after he left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.  It was on this trip that the Beatles found out that btheir original bass player Stuart Sutcliffe had died of an aneurysm.  He had been suffering from headaches and a sensitivity to light for some time but his condition had never been diagnosed and treated.

Sutcliffe had left the band the previous time that they had been in Hamburg to pursue a career in art and to stay with his german girlfriend  Astrid Kirchherr.  It was Surtcliffe’s departure that prompted McCartney to pick up the bass, and so become the most famous bass player in the world, though certainly not the best (my vote goes to Mike Watt I love his Ball-Hog or Tugboat album – but then what do I know?)

By the time they arrived in Hamburg their reputation was growing.  It was of this time that Lennon was commenting when he later said that The Beatles were once the best rock group in the world.  The set included “I saw Her Standing There” (which appeared on their debut album),  “Hippy Hippy Shake (written by Chan Romero in 1959 and a hit for the Swinging Blue Leans a year later) as well as Roll Over Neethoven, Sweet Little Sixteen, Red Sails in the Sunset (!) and “You Feet’s Too Big” (made famous by the great Fats Waller).

There is no doubt that The Beatle learnt their trade (like the majority of great bands) when playing live over a period of time.  These days most people just want to be famous………………………….

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On this day in 1960 The Nerk Twins played a couple of gigs at the Fox and Hounds in Caversham.  As these were the only bookings fulfilled by the Nerk Twins that in itself would merit an ‘On This Day’ mention,  the more so that the location was the world famous Fox and Hounds.

However, the reason why there is some interest in the Nerk Twins was that they later became part of a local pub band called the Beatles.  After the artistic peak of playing to 3 people in Paul’s cousin’s pub Paul and John took the almost precedented step of turning their  back on fame for the obscurity of rock band mediocracy.

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On this day in 1969 Paul McCartney said officially that he was not dead, unless the statement was issued by William Campbell after the surgery.

There had been persistent rumours that Paul had died in a car accident and that he had been replaced with a look-a-like called William Campbell.

The story begins on 9th November 1966 while the Beatles were working on Sgt. Pepper’s but things were not going well. In frustration Paul left the Abbey Road studios and jumped in his car. While driving he picked up a woman hitch hiker (called Rita). She became hysterical when she realised who he was and in the fracas that ensued he crashed the car. She was able to get out of the now burning car but Paul, sadly, died.

What happened then was a massive cover up. Local papers bribed, as were the police and ambulance services. In desperation to keep the Beatles’ brand alive Brian Epstein found William Campbell who had won a Paul Look-a-like competition. He was flown from Canada where he was living, given elocution lessons, plastic surgery, and taught to be left handed rather than right. Simple!

There followed years of lies and deceit. However there were clues. The Sgt. Pepper cover is full of clues; crashed cars, Shiva the destroyer pointing towards Paul, the wreath spelling out ‘Paul’, the open palm sign. In the gatefold Paul is wearing a badge that says ‘OPD’ which stands for ‘Officially Pronounced Dead’. It is all so obvious.

Look at ‘Revolver’. Who is the only Beatle not looking straight out of the cover? You’ve guessed it, Paul. Could that mean that the others are looking towards the future and Paul isn’t (‘cos he’s dead)? The open palm death symbol is there again.

Look at ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. On the back cover, how many band members do you see? (By the woman with the red dress one third of the way down) Five. Is the fifth, who looks like Paul, really William Campbell?

There is more. Remember that Paul was left handed and often said that there was nothing he could do about it, he could not ‘cure’ himself of being a lefty, and he had tried.

So, page 4 of the Magical Mystery Tour booklet with which hand is ‘Paul’ holding his wand? The right. During MMT film, the beginning of the ‘Fool on the Hill’ bit is smoking, using his right hand. During the same film the cast are on the bus, drunk and singing. In which hand does ‘Paul’ hold his beer bottle? His right.

‘Nuff said.

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There is going to be a worldwide growth in fabness. Mop tops will be back in fashion and lovable Liverpudlian accents everywhere. At least according to the media including a simpering Sunday Times this week, the reason?

The Beatles’ albums have been remastered and reissued together with a magnificent box set. The box set contains all the albums and costs a paltry (!) £169 while the albums cost about £11 each making the box set the most cost effective choice if you want to replace all your existing CDs and vinyl.

Now, most remastered CDs are less than impressive, more of a marketing opportunity than a valuable addition to your collection. From everything that I have read these reissues are different. From the fawning Sunday Times to an anonymous commenter on Yahoo Answers the verdict is that the reissues are like new records.

The original dynamics have been retained (original from the master tapes, not the bland CDs of the past). The trend has been to make the softer bits louder and the louder bits softer to make the overall sound more even. That may sound good on radio but does lose the original attack of the recording.

Overall, these reissues are well worth the money. I will be replacing Revolver (the only Beatles album that I own currently) as well as investing in Sgt. Peppers, Rubber Soul, and Past Masters. Past masters is an interesting album. It contains all those singles that never appeared in albums – seems strange these days that anyone would not issue all their singles on albums – but that is what happened way back when. As well as She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand (so innocent) etc. there are some rarities. Well worth the money even for those of use who are Beatles completists (and I am certainly not one of those). What CDs should you avoid? Yellow Submarine has to be at the top of this list, absolutley useless more Monkees than Beatles….. Also avoid Beatles For Sale. The 4th album in 2 years, whoever thought that would be a good idea?

I was never a huge Beatles fan, (my mother liked them, hated those dirty and loutish Rolling Stones so guess which band I favoured?) but it is true that they were a good band and did change a lot of things for those that came later. I do have some quibble (quite a lot of a quibble, in fact) with John’s statement that they were the best rock band in the world, at least when they were playing in Hamburg. As virtually no one saw them in Hamburg it is hard to argue with him though.

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