With fully illustrated 24-page bookletLate ‘62 through to mid ‘63, the Beatles’ live set and their recordings consisted mainly of cover versions of contemporary black American pop. I Saw Her Standing There and Ask Me Why were the only two band originals played at the Star Club in December 1962, and a set list from a ten-song show in April ‘63 contained only four of their own songs. Yet by the end of the year, the Fab Four were making history with their own unmistakable sound. This CD contains a mixture of songs taken from their 1963 live set and songs they recorded same year, along with other music that influenced their own compositions at this crucial time. A must for Beatles devotees and for any fan of early sixties pop.The “Beginnings”series strikes again with another spectacular collection of original recordings that in this case inspired or influenced The Beatles… the accompanying booklet has extremely thorough and welcome annotation. I applaud whomever performed the extensive research that resulted in these fascinating choices. Their other series, “How Britain Got the Blues”, is every bit as good (if not better, as each set of this 4-part series is a 2-CD extravaganza of great cuts). Bravo to History of RnB Records for these releases and the outstanding music scholarship that accompanies them. William StoutR011
