From Britain with Beat; That English Sound--More bad fakes from Modern Sound (Hit Records)!!

When are British Invasion comps not British Invasion comps?  When they're fake, of course.  And I have two fake-hit British Invasion comps today, the first--From Britain with Beat--blessed with one of the most hilarious covers in the history of long-playing records.  The wig maker obviously took "mop top" far too literally--I think these guys would have been sent home on Halloween.  Or maybe the label was making fun of the British groups.  There's no way to be sure.

At any rate, from the liner notes: "In this album we have tried to recapture the original sounds of some of the hit songs that have made this very exciting new trend {"The English Sound" or "The British Beat"} possible."  That accounts for seven of the ten tracks--the remaining three are filler numbers written by label personnel.  The rest are well-known Invasion numbers--three originally from the Beatles, one from the Rolling Stones, one from Herman's Hermits, one from Manfred Mann, and the other from the Nashville Teens (of Nashville, England?  Yuk, yuk).  Tobacco Road was written by John D. Loudermilk, whose own 1960 version was slower and quieter but not all that different from either the Teens' rendition or this cover of a cover.  I love covers of covers.  Or, to be more precise, fakes of covers.  Only my analyst knows why.

The filler numbers are: 1) Broken Hearted, Sad and Blue, by producer William Beasley's wife Dorothy, under the pseudonym "J. Norris;" 2) Come on On, written by Bobby Wilson (Bobby Russell, perhaps?);  and I'm So Lonely, which appears not to have come out in single form, which leaves me without access to composer credits.  But it's clearly a product of this outfit.  Of the three extra tracks, the last two possess a halfway British-Invasion sound, which may have merely been an accident.  Broken Hearted is making its second appearance at this blog, since this label, like all cheapo operations, re-reused tracks like crazy.

Keeping with the norm, the LP gives no performer credits, though of course all tracks (but one) came out as Hit Records 45s.  I saw no point in tracking those down on line (be my guest--45cat and Discogs should have them all), except where I needed songwriter credits.  I will say that Sha La La was credited to "The Beasts" on 45, because I find that credit hilarious.  And Ed Hardin received the blame for performing Broken Hearted....

It's possible that, after observing people fall to the drugstore carpet laughing at the From Britain... jacket, someone at MS/Hit Records decided, "No more photo covers."  Except they did do some more, with most of them pretty tacky, though none as hilarious as From Britain....  But in the case of our second LP, That English Sound, (a thrift gift from Diane--thanks, Diane!), the label wisely opted for a drawn cover that isn't all that bad--unless it was an attempt to caricature the Beatles, in which case... dear God.

The English Sound promises "the best of the hit songs that have been responsible for the continued popularity of 'The English Sound.'"  From the fill-space-with-words school of jacket notes.  Yes, hit titles, plus (you'll never guess) four filler tracks by Hit Records employees Bergen White (You Make the Decisions, Just Give Me Time, Bless You Little Girl) and Bobby (Little Green Apples) Russell (Where Were You).  The blah You Make the Decisions showed up earlier at this blog on another Modern Sound LP (Modern Sound 1012),  so you're not hearing double.  The filler efforts sound out of place here, though Just Give Me Time (not to be confused with the garage band number by The "In") is a nice song with nice harmonies--too bad about the sub-Brian Wilson falsetto.  The remaining six tracks are genuine Invasion numbers, all but one of which I remember first-hand, with four originally by the Beatles--Day Tripper being this (or maybe any) label's all-time worst Beatles fake.  Listen to the singers hit every note but the right ones during the vocal harmony break.  Classic!  As Tears Go By was never my favorite Rolling Stones song, and it's pretty badly done here (the singer is the weak link), and Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter is one of a handful of Invasion hits that I can't stand--I absolutely can't see the appeal of the thing.  Based on what I've read, Herman's Hermits were amazed to see the single hit No. 1 in the U.S., so maybe they weren't the biggest fans, either.  To me at least, the low quality of this cover is beside the point--it's kind of fitting, though the bad attempt at a British accent is pretty entertaining.  By contrast, Help! is a pleasant surprise--it's not all that bad a forgery, and it can't be an easy number to cover.  Plus, Hit Records generally did a terrible job covering the Fab Four, so I have to give it a B+, or even an A- (in context).  We Can Work It Out could have been worse, as could have Yesterday (a song I love), though by how much, I'm not sure.  By fake-hits standards (whatever those are), these two efforts are merely moderately bad.  Which makes them pretty good.  Not sure what my logic is there, or if I used any, but... to the fun fakes!  Even when this outfit's material sucked, it sucked with enthusiasm.  Buyers always got their (lack of) money's worth.

I have easy access to the Hit Records 45 rpm artist credits, so need to relay them, unless you want to.

Rendered in two zip files....





DOWNLOAD: From Britain With Beat--That English Sound

FROM BRITAIN WITH BEAT

I Want to Hold Your Hand
Tobacco Road
Can't Buy Me Love
I'm Henry the VIII, I Am
Eight Days a Week
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Sha La La
Broken Hearted, Sad and Blue (J. Norris, aka Dorothy J. Beasley)
Come on On (Bobby Wilson)
I'm So Lonely (Unknown)

THAT ENGLISH SOUND

We Can Work It Out
As Tears Go By
Yesterday
Where Were You (Bobby Russell)
You Make the Decision (Bergen White)
Help!
Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter
Day Tripper
Just Give Me Time (Bergen White)
Bless You Little Girl (Bergen White)

Modern Sound 544; Modern Sound 552--No artists credited


Lee