DRUMBEAT - BBC's TELEVISION SHOW PMC 1101 (-59) UK MONO

"Drumbeat" was a popular UK serie of music shows, twentytwo episodes broadcasted by BBC between spring and fall 1959. Guestlist included then known artists and upcomers using the media as a springboard to later fame. This is not a soundtrack from the actual shows, but nine of the acts recorded at Abbey Road in front of a live studio audience as an attempt to mimic the atmosphere of the shows. So it's actually a compilation with exclusive recordings of late fifties rock and pop, performed by some of the most promising British acts at the time. Among the participants were Adam Faith, who got many high charters in UK during the sixties, and Roy Young - later playing with Cliff Bennett and recording with Chuck Berry and David Bowie - together with a couple that hardly made it into the next decade - like The Kingpins, Sylvia Sands and Bob Miller & The Miller Men. Twentysix cuts - uptempo instrumentals blended with vocal ballads and fast rockers - tied together by audience noise and common atmosphere. It works for me, both as party record and a tasty sample from the UK youth scene in the late fifties. Audio is surprisingly good given they squeezed so many cuts into a single LP and playing it loud could cause rythmic movements among listeners. As far as I know only issued in UK. 2010 CD reissue (Silva Screen Records SILCD 1307) had 40 tracks, including authentic Fontana recordings from the TV soundtrack. First had label as shown here with embossed "ET" tax code and laminated flip/back cover. (SÄM*) (FÖGÄ*) (LYBÖ*) (PÖX*) (GCÖ*)