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Demo Discs.
Phillips Sound Recording Services was a busy little studio in Liverpool where local people would go to make recordings of themselves either talking, singing or playing a musical instrument.
Percy Phillips’ wife Hilda would reminisce in her later years about parents who would bring their children and record them singing and laughing; a man who came into the studio to make a recorded apology to his wife after an argument or a seaman off on a long voyage recording a message for his family. Hilda remembered how some people would even bring their pets into the studio to record the dog barking, cat purring or bird singing or a whole family who would come to make a recording saying farewell to a family member who was off to live abroad. Percy Phillips would also take his portable tape machine to various places across the City to make location recordings of weddings, christenings or concerts for customers, which he would later transfer to discs back in the studio. All these recordings had one thing in common, they were made for a limited audience of either the person themselves or their family and friends.
But from the beginning, Percy’s studio was also used by people with a different intent. Local young musicians, who wanted fame and fortune and came to Percy’s studio from all over Liverpool to make demonstration discs. From 1956, the Studio Log book shows day after day, month after month, year after year, increasing numbers of young men making demo discs to take or send to clubs, managers, record companies and radio stations in the hope of being ’discovered’.
In 1958, Ron Wycherly was one of the many young men who made their first demo disc at Phillips Sound Recording Services. It was this ten inch 78 rpm acetate disc of Ron (who became Billy Fury) singing and playing five songs on his acoustic guitar, that launched his career, after it was played to impresario and concert promoter Larry Parnes by Billy's mother Jean. You can learn more about Billy Fury and his amazing life by clicking here. Billy Fury was the biggest solo star to emerge from Liverpool during the 1950s and 60s. Born in Liverpool in April 1940, Billy became one of Britain’s best- known and most charismatic rock ’n’ roll icons, with numerous pop hits and a promising film career, until his premature death in January 1983, due to an illness which had plagued him since childhood.
Most biographies say that Billy Fury’s recording session with Percy Phillips was during May 1958 but there are no matching entries in the Studio Log book during the whole of May. The Phillips Studio Log book suggests the recording actually took place on the 18th April 1958 when Percy has written, ‘Youth with Guitar. One ten inch double sided disc’.
Percy Phillips’ wife Hilda would reminisce in her later years about parents who would bring their children and record them singing and laughing; a man who came into the studio to make a recorded apology to his wife after an argument or a seaman off on a long voyage recording a message for his family. Hilda remembered how some people would even bring their pets into the studio to record the dog barking, cat purring or bird singing or a whole family who would come to make a recording saying farewell to a family member who was off to live abroad. Percy Phillips would also take his portable tape machine to various places across the City to make location recordings of weddings, christenings or concerts for customers, which he would later transfer to discs back in the studio. All these recordings had one thing in common, they were made for a limited audience of either the person themselves or their family and friends.
But from the beginning, Percy’s studio was also used by people with a different intent. Local young musicians, who wanted fame and fortune and came to Percy’s studio from all over Liverpool to make demonstration discs. From 1956, the Studio Log book shows day after day, month after month, year after year, increasing numbers of young men making demo discs to take or send to clubs, managers, record companies and radio stations in the hope of being ’discovered’.
In 1958, Ron Wycherly was one of the many young men who made their first demo disc at Phillips Sound Recording Services. It was this ten inch 78 rpm acetate disc of Ron (who became Billy Fury) singing and playing five songs on his acoustic guitar, that launched his career, after it was played to impresario and concert promoter Larry Parnes by Billy's mother Jean. You can learn more about Billy Fury and his amazing life by clicking here. Billy Fury was the biggest solo star to emerge from Liverpool during the 1950s and 60s. Born in Liverpool in April 1940, Billy became one of Britain’s best- known and most charismatic rock ’n’ roll icons, with numerous pop hits and a promising film career, until his premature death in January 1983, due to an illness which had plagued him since childhood.
Most biographies say that Billy Fury’s recording session with Percy Phillips was during May 1958 but there are no matching entries in the Studio Log book during the whole of May. The Phillips Studio Log book suggests the recording actually took place on the 18th April 1958 when Percy has written, ‘Youth with Guitar. One ten inch double sided disc’.
A rare photo of the acetate Percy Phillips cut for Billy Fury in April 1958. Albie Wycherley lent the disc to Liverpool Museum for their 'Beat Goes On' Exhibition in 2009.
18th April 1958. 'Youth with guitar. One ten inch double-sided.' Billy Fury?
Sometimes it’s possible to say the exact date of a specific recording because Percy has written the name of the performer with the date in the Studio Log book. This was true for many sessions including the ‘Black Diamonds Skiffle’ or ‘The Swinging Blue Jeans’ for instance.
In the Studio Log book on the 30th March 1957, Percy has written ‘Ken Dodd’ and an acetate in the Phillips Archive matches that date exactly, a ten inch 78rpm recording by Ken Dodd of ‘It Is No Secret’. On the label Percy has written, ‘March 30/57. Ken Dodd demo disc.‘ But often Percy would just write, ’Youth with Guitar’; 'Skiffle' or ‘Singer and piano‘, so the exact date of a recording is open for debate, as is the case with John Lennon's Quarrymen recording, made just a few weeks after the Billy Fury disc.
In the Studio Log book on the 30th March 1957, Percy has written ‘Ken Dodd’ and an acetate in the Phillips Archive matches that date exactly, a ten inch 78rpm recording by Ken Dodd of ‘It Is No Secret’. On the label Percy has written, ‘March 30/57. Ken Dodd demo disc.‘ But often Percy would just write, ’Youth with Guitar’; 'Skiffle' or ‘Singer and piano‘, so the exact date of a recording is open for debate, as is the case with John Lennon's Quarrymen recording, made just a few weeks after the Billy Fury disc.
30th March 1957. One of Ken Dodd's many visits to the studio.
Ken Dodd demo disc, 30th March 1957, corresponding to the Studio Log book entry opposite.
R.I.P. Albie Wycherley 1943 - 2011
It was sad indeed to hear of the death on the 5th September 2011 of Albie Wycherley, also known as Jason Eddie, who was the brother of Ron Wycherley, also known as Billy Fury.
Albie, who was a great entertainer and singer, has been a friend to phillipsacetates.com by chatting to us about his and his brother's careers and telling us many interesting tales about Liverpool and its music and musicians.
Our condolences to Albie and Ron's Mum Jean.
Albie, who was a great entertainer and singer, has been a friend to phillipsacetates.com by chatting to us about his and his brother's careers and telling us many interesting tales about Liverpool and its music and musicians.
Our condolences to Albie and Ron's Mum Jean.
The statue of Albie's brother Ron, unveiled in Liverpool in April 2003
Beatle Week 2011 news
Phillipsacetates.com attended an exciting event at Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts (LIPA) on Saturday the 27th August during this year's Beatle Week in Liverpool.
An auction took place in the Paul McCartney Auditorium, organised by Stephen Bailey of the Liverpool Beatles Shop in Mathew Street, in which many Beatles related items were sold. Amongst the many signed books, records and other valuable memorabilia that went under the hammer was the original front door of number 38 Kensington, which was of course the site of Phillips Sound Recording Services and Record Shop between 1955 and 1974 as well as being the home of Percy Phillips and his family from 1925 until Percy's death in 1984.
The front door was purchased by the new Museum of Liverpool for a price of £2300 and will go on display there after being catalogued and conserved by experts at the Museum, a process which will include returning the door to its original burnt orange colour.
Stephen at the Beatles Shop told us that the owners of number 38, who bought the property from the Phillips family in the mid 1980s, decided to replace the front door during renovation work on the house and realised it might be worth something to Beatles enthusiasts. Stephen then arranged for the door to be included in the annual LIPA auction and after some exciting bidding, the Museum Of Liverpool managed to buy the door, through which many of Liverpool's most famous performers and many hundreds of music fans have passed, to add to its collection of Beatles related artefacts.
An auction took place in the Paul McCartney Auditorium, organised by Stephen Bailey of the Liverpool Beatles Shop in Mathew Street, in which many Beatles related items were sold. Amongst the many signed books, records and other valuable memorabilia that went under the hammer was the original front door of number 38 Kensington, which was of course the site of Phillips Sound Recording Services and Record Shop between 1955 and 1974 as well as being the home of Percy Phillips and his family from 1925 until Percy's death in 1984.
The front door was purchased by the new Museum of Liverpool for a price of £2300 and will go on display there after being catalogued and conserved by experts at the Museum, a process which will include returning the door to its original burnt orange colour.
Stephen at the Beatles Shop told us that the owners of number 38, who bought the property from the Phillips family in the mid 1980s, decided to replace the front door during renovation work on the house and realised it might be worth something to Beatles enthusiasts. Stephen then arranged for the door to be included in the annual LIPA auction and after some exciting bidding, the Museum Of Liverpool managed to buy the door, through which many of Liverpool's most famous performers and many hundreds of music fans have passed, to add to its collection of Beatles related artefacts.
The Doors
The original front door of 38 Kensington
in 2005 freshly painted and polished
for the Blue Plaque event
The new door
recently installed
at number 38
Changing Liverpool, Summer 2011.
Liverpool cityscape from across the river
The new Museum Of Liverpool
at the Pier Head
The Museum Of Liverpool
with the familiar Liver Building in the background
A view of Liverpool's Pier Head, the Mersey Ferry and the new canal, from the Museum
The Peace Monument dedicated to John Lennon which is now next to the Echo Arena near the River Mersey
Quarryman Remembered, Liverpool, December 2010
Mathew Street Liverpool
Phillipsacetates.com spent an extremely enjoyable and emotionally charged evening at the John Lennon Remembered 70th birthday concert at Liverpool’s Echo Arena recently, where the audience were treated to some unique performances, the highlight of which was a rocking set from John‘s original group, the Quarrymen.
Cynthia and Julian Lennon; Tony Sheridan; Mersey Beat editor Bill Harry; Tony Bramwell, (the Beatles’ press officer) and Pete Best were also in town that day for the unveiling of the new Lennon Peace Monument in Chavasse Park.
They were all there to pay their respects to John Lennon, thirty years after his tragic and untimely death in New York.
Cynthia and Julian Lennon; Tony Sheridan; Mersey Beat editor Bill Harry; Tony Bramwell, (the Beatles’ press officer) and Pete Best were also in town that day for the unveiling of the new Lennon Peace Monument in Chavasse Park.
They were all there to pay their respects to John Lennon, thirty years after his tragic and untimely death in New York.
Central Park New York
But it was also a happy celebration of John’s birthday and amongst those in attendance was Percy Phillips’ grandson Peter who we met backstage after the show and who told us an interesting tale about a newspaper article that appeared in the ‘Liverpool Echo’ in December 1977. In the article, reproduced below, Percy tells the ‘Echo’ that he recorded the Quarrymen and the Beatles several times but erased the tapes afterwards.
We asked Peter to tell us about it.
Hello Peter, did you enjoy this evening’s concert?
Peter. Yes, The Quarrymen were brilliant tonight. They’ve got that authentic sound of skiffle and Len Garry sounds just like Elvis! And me being a drummer, seeing Alan White, who played drums on my favourite Lennon track, ‘Instant Karma’ was something special too. Tony Sheridan was amazing. What a rocker, I remember seeing him at the Liverpool Empire a few years ago with a three piece band and he’s just got this ripping guitar sound like nobody else, he was on the bill with Donovan and The Quarrymen that night, fantastic. Yes, everyone involved tonight did an amazing job.
So can you tell us about the Liverpool Echo article from 1977?
Peter. Well, I remember Grandpa being interviewed by the ‘Echo’ around the end of 1977. It was because that was the year of the first Beatles Convention in Liverpool, which was held at Mr Pickwick’s nightclub on the weekend of John Lennon’s birthday that year. Alan Williams and Bob Wooler had suggested to the journalist that they went up to the Phillips Studio in Kensington to talk to Percy as the Beatles had recorded there.
Alan Williams the Beatles first manager, who took them to Hamburg in 1960? And Bob Wooler the Cavern club DJ?
Peter. Yes, the two of them were involved in organising that first Beatles Convention. Bob Wooler especially was a frequent visitor to Grandpa’s record shop as they were both big fans of American country music. Bob used to come into the shop and leave a few issues of ‘Mersey Beat’ magazine on the counter and listen to the latest records that Grandpa had got from his contacts at Burtonwood. (The American airbase on the outskirts of Liverpool.) Bob Wooler wasn’t just the Cavern DJ, he used to MC at clubs and events all over Liverpool and Grandpa used to make compilation discs for him to play at places like the Liverpool Ice Rink when he was MCing there. And Alan Williams had known Grandpa for years and used to send musicians up to the studio to make recordings.
So you were saying you remember the ‘Liverpool Echo’ coming to interview your Grandfather in 1977?
Peter. Yes, a couple of days before the bloke from the ‘Echo’ came round my Dad (Percy’s eldest son Frank) and me went over to 38 Kensington to help Grandpa look through all the studio stuff. The studio had been closed for over eight years by then and all the old tapes, discs, files and equipment were gathering dust in a corner of the room. The three of us spent the day looking through it all and listening to tapes and acetates. We discovered lots of interesting recordings and the studio log books which brought lots of memories back to Grandpa, so the next day when the journalist and photographer from the ‘Echo’ came round, Grandpa was ready with his recollections.
When you look at the article now, it makes very interesting reading. Especially when your Grandfather says that the Quarrymen and the Beatles visited the studio several times, starting in 1957.
Peter. Well, firstly, as he says in the interview, it is true that Grandpa used to re use tape reels, as tape was quite expensive and you could use it and record over it a lot of times before it lost any quality. And most of the time, a recording would be taped then cut onto disc then the customer would take the disc and the tape would be re used. Unless the customer wanted further copies of the recording there would be no point in keeping the tape, or they could buy the tape as well if they wanted. But as for Grandpa’s memories of the Quarrymen, I’m not sure if he wasn’t thinking of some other group or groups. The Swinging Blue Jeans; The Fourmost; the Remo Four; Gerry And The Pacemakers; the Searchers; Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas; Denny Seyton and the Sabres; Mike and the Thunderbirds and many other four and five piece groups came into the studio over the nearly fifteen years that it was open, so it would be easy for Grandpa to be mistaken about a particular recording session.
Because in the interview, Percy says the Quarrymen were a four piece and had skiffle instruments, like a T- chest bass and a washboard. Whereas we know that they were a five piece when they made the famous acetate in 1958, recording ’That’ll Be The Day’ and ’In Spite Of All The Danger’ and they were playing three acoustic guitars, piano and drums.
Peter. That’s right, even though the Quarrymen were a skiffle group earlier on, with the instruments you mentioned, they were continually evolving in terms of personnel, instrumentation and repertoire. Nevertheless, it’s easy to understand how Grandpa could remember it wrongly, even though he knew who the boys were, especially George, who was a family friend.
There’s also the issue of the price that Percy charged the Quarrymen that day.
Peter. Paul McCartney, John Lowe and Colin Hanton all say they remember it costing 17/6. And in the interview with the Echo that’s what Grandpa says too. But as he also says, 17/6 was the cost of recording onto tape and then having that transferred onto disc once everyone thought the recording was ok. All the remaining Quarrymen assert that they recorded directly onto disc because they didn’t have enough money to tape first and then took the disc home with them that same day and this is backed up by the fact that, as good as they are, there are a couple of mistakes on the recordings including a dodgy ending on ‘That’ll Be The Day’ and a late entry into a verse from John on ‘In Spite Of All The Danger’. Whereas Grandpa remembers John Lennon coming back later to pay the balance and collect the record. But if they had just recorded straight onto disc then it should have cost them 11/3. And there are anomalies in the recollections about the date and the weather. Obviously it was just another day to Grandpa but to the members of the Quarrymen it was a special day indeed, to be making a record in a studio, so they even remember the weather. Mind you, they all remember it differently! John Lowe remembers it being cold and having to wear a scarf, which they used to muffle the snare drum, Paul McCartney remembers it being a Summer’s day and Colin Hanton can’t remember what the weather was like or if his drum was muffled or not. But they’re all getting on a bit now. John Lennon would have been seventy last month. Mind you, Grandpa would have been one hundred and fourteen! But I suppose we have to believe the Studio Log book, which asserts it was the 12th July 1958, which was a Saturday. But we’ll never know for sure.
Mysterious indeed. How old was your Grandfather at this time, in 1977?
Peter. Eighty one. It was nearly twenty years since the Quarrymen recording session. But he still had all his marbles and was still a sprightly fellow.
So we’ll never know if Percy did or didn’t make recordings of the Beatles and wipe them off.
Peter. He definitely made other recordings for Brian Epstein and the Beatles. One of which we found in a box that day in the studio in 1977. But he may well have made more and wiped them off too.
Really?
Peter. Yes. Brian Epstein was a regular visitor to the record shop and knew Grandpa well. Brian had a record shop too of course, NEMS, in the City centre. He sold all the top tunes of the day, LPs and sheet music but he would come to Grandpa’s record shop to hear some of the one off records that Grandpa had from the States and the two of them would sit in the shop chatting and listening to R&B and country tunes. Brian would also ask Grandpa to record many of the Beatles’ early radio appearances and put them onto disc, which he did. And it was one of those that we found that day in 1977.
What was on the disc?
Peter. It was a 7 inch 45 rpm acetate of ‘Some Other Guy‘; ‘Beautiful Dreamer’ and ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Baby’, recorded from an appearance on BBC Saturday Club in 1963.
Really? And what happened to that disc?
Peter. It continued to sit in a box in the house until 1990, when we sold it at Sotheby’s in London. It was in the same sale as the rest of the Studio equipment.
Why did you sell the Studio equipment?
Peter. There were two reasons. Firstly, Grandma was getting on a bit by then and the money came in handy in her old age and secondly, having the equipment in such a prestigious sale raised awareness of Grandpa’s role in Beatles history. Up until that time there was no mention of Phillips Sound Recording Services in any books about the group’s beginnings and history. A Japanese collector bought the studio and took it to Tokyo in Japan. Of course, when the Beatles Anthology was released, people became even more interested in Grandpa and the studio story.
Yes, after the Beatles Anthology 1 was released in 1995, with the two tracks the Quarrymen recorded in the Phillips Studio on it and a brief biography of your Grandfather in the sleeve notes, Percy Phillips’ role in the story became more generally known.
Peter. That’s right. I’d met Paul McCartney backstage at Madison Square Garden in 1990 when he was touring and I was in New York meeting a collector who wanted to buy the studio equipment, prior to the Sotheby’s sale and then I bumped into him unexpectedly in 1992 when I was working at LWT television studios in London and Paul was there to do an interview about his Liverpool Oratorio, which had just been released. We ended up sitting down for ages talking about all sorts of things, including Grandpa and the studio. At the time Paul was working with Neil Aspinall, George Harrison and Ringo on the Anthology project, so he was very interested in remembering the 1958 session at Grandpa’s studio and the various other jobs Grandpa had done for Brian Epstein. And of course he’s got the Quarrymen acetate in his collection.
Very interesting. The Beatles Conventions have now being going on in Liverpool since 1977. Have you attended any?
Peter. I’ve been to a few. Interest in Grandpa’s studio increased after the Anthology release and various media approached my Aunty Carol (Percy’s daughter) to do interviews. She did a couple on the radio but Carol is quite shy and modest and it irked her slightly that the media only wanted to talk about the Beatles, when Grandpa had made hundreds of other recordings, some for artists who became famous too, like Ken Dodd, Marty Wilde, Willy Russell and Billy Fury, so she asked me to take over. I’m a session musician for a living and love Beatles music and our family connection to it, so I was happier to talk about Grandpa and the studio history. Then in 2001, after George Harrison had died, I was at the Matthew Street Gallery in Liverpool at a special exhibition of photographs of George. It was a very sad time in Liverpool, as George was loved dearly in the City. At the exhibition I got chatting to a guy called Dave Ravenscroft, who was working with Beatlesdays.com at that time. He’s got a wide knowledge of all things Beatles. It was Dave who invited me to the Beatles Convention in Liverpool that year and introduced me to John Lowe and Colin Hanton, which was very exciting. I went to a few Conventions and things after that and did a few interviews. The Beatles Conventions are really good. And nowadays there‘s Liverpool Beatles Week every year. Lots of excellent bands from around the World playing the music and collectors with really interesting and rare memorabilia. A good vibe all round in fact.
And what about the CD of material from the Phillips Studio. Is it likely to be released soon?
Peter. Well that’s a good question. It’s taking longer than I’d hoped. There’s quite an archive of recorded material going back to the first acetate Grandpa ever cut in 1955 and I’m working with a record company to release a CD and it should be available later this year. Lots of previously unheard recordings will be on it.
Well I hope you’ll let us know first.
Peter. O yes.
Well Peter, thanks for talking to us this evening here in Liverpool. Finally, have you seen the film ‘Nowhere Boy’, about the teenage years of John Lennon, in which there is a recreation of the Quarrymen’s visit to your Grandfather’s studio?
Peter. I have seen it yes. Sam Taylor Wood (the Director) has made a beautiful, very moving and romantic film. Aaron Johnson was convincing as John Lennon and seeing all those stories we’ve heard about, such as the Woolton Church Hall Fete gig; the day when John met Paul and the portrayal of the Quarrymen recording session at Grandpa’s studio, realised on film was, I thought, superb. Yeah, it was great. Great acting; great production values; great music. And really well observed period detail, things like the sound of car tyres on cobbled streets and everybody smoking like it was good for them. Totally absorbing too, especially when you consider that other notable biopics of recent years, such as ‘Ray’, in which Jamie Foxx was Ray Charles and ‘Walk The Line’, with Joachim Phoenix playing Johnny Cash, have covered more or less the entire life and career of the subjects whereas the Lennon film focussed on just the four or five years before most people had even heard of him. I think ‘Nowhere Boy’ really stands up as a seriously good film.
Peter Phillips was talking to phillipsacetates.com at the John Lennon Remembered Concert at the Liverpool Echo Arena, 9th October 2010.
We asked Peter to tell us about it.
Hello Peter, did you enjoy this evening’s concert?
Peter. Yes, The Quarrymen were brilliant tonight. They’ve got that authentic sound of skiffle and Len Garry sounds just like Elvis! And me being a drummer, seeing Alan White, who played drums on my favourite Lennon track, ‘Instant Karma’ was something special too. Tony Sheridan was amazing. What a rocker, I remember seeing him at the Liverpool Empire a few years ago with a three piece band and he’s just got this ripping guitar sound like nobody else, he was on the bill with Donovan and The Quarrymen that night, fantastic. Yes, everyone involved tonight did an amazing job.
So can you tell us about the Liverpool Echo article from 1977?
Peter. Well, I remember Grandpa being interviewed by the ‘Echo’ around the end of 1977. It was because that was the year of the first Beatles Convention in Liverpool, which was held at Mr Pickwick’s nightclub on the weekend of John Lennon’s birthday that year. Alan Williams and Bob Wooler had suggested to the journalist that they went up to the Phillips Studio in Kensington to talk to Percy as the Beatles had recorded there.
Alan Williams the Beatles first manager, who took them to Hamburg in 1960? And Bob Wooler the Cavern club DJ?
Peter. Yes, the two of them were involved in organising that first Beatles Convention. Bob Wooler especially was a frequent visitor to Grandpa’s record shop as they were both big fans of American country music. Bob used to come into the shop and leave a few issues of ‘Mersey Beat’ magazine on the counter and listen to the latest records that Grandpa had got from his contacts at Burtonwood. (The American airbase on the outskirts of Liverpool.) Bob Wooler wasn’t just the Cavern DJ, he used to MC at clubs and events all over Liverpool and Grandpa used to make compilation discs for him to play at places like the Liverpool Ice Rink when he was MCing there. And Alan Williams had known Grandpa for years and used to send musicians up to the studio to make recordings.
So you were saying you remember the ‘Liverpool Echo’ coming to interview your Grandfather in 1977?
Peter. Yes, a couple of days before the bloke from the ‘Echo’ came round my Dad (Percy’s eldest son Frank) and me went over to 38 Kensington to help Grandpa look through all the studio stuff. The studio had been closed for over eight years by then and all the old tapes, discs, files and equipment were gathering dust in a corner of the room. The three of us spent the day looking through it all and listening to tapes and acetates. We discovered lots of interesting recordings and the studio log books which brought lots of memories back to Grandpa, so the next day when the journalist and photographer from the ‘Echo’ came round, Grandpa was ready with his recollections.
When you look at the article now, it makes very interesting reading. Especially when your Grandfather says that the Quarrymen and the Beatles visited the studio several times, starting in 1957.
Peter. Well, firstly, as he says in the interview, it is true that Grandpa used to re use tape reels, as tape was quite expensive and you could use it and record over it a lot of times before it lost any quality. And most of the time, a recording would be taped then cut onto disc then the customer would take the disc and the tape would be re used. Unless the customer wanted further copies of the recording there would be no point in keeping the tape, or they could buy the tape as well if they wanted. But as for Grandpa’s memories of the Quarrymen, I’m not sure if he wasn’t thinking of some other group or groups. The Swinging Blue Jeans; The Fourmost; the Remo Four; Gerry And The Pacemakers; the Searchers; Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas; Denny Seyton and the Sabres; Mike and the Thunderbirds and many other four and five piece groups came into the studio over the nearly fifteen years that it was open, so it would be easy for Grandpa to be mistaken about a particular recording session.
Because in the interview, Percy says the Quarrymen were a four piece and had skiffle instruments, like a T- chest bass and a washboard. Whereas we know that they were a five piece when they made the famous acetate in 1958, recording ’That’ll Be The Day’ and ’In Spite Of All The Danger’ and they were playing three acoustic guitars, piano and drums.
Peter. That’s right, even though the Quarrymen were a skiffle group earlier on, with the instruments you mentioned, they were continually evolving in terms of personnel, instrumentation and repertoire. Nevertheless, it’s easy to understand how Grandpa could remember it wrongly, even though he knew who the boys were, especially George, who was a family friend.
There’s also the issue of the price that Percy charged the Quarrymen that day.
Peter. Paul McCartney, John Lowe and Colin Hanton all say they remember it costing 17/6. And in the interview with the Echo that’s what Grandpa says too. But as he also says, 17/6 was the cost of recording onto tape and then having that transferred onto disc once everyone thought the recording was ok. All the remaining Quarrymen assert that they recorded directly onto disc because they didn’t have enough money to tape first and then took the disc home with them that same day and this is backed up by the fact that, as good as they are, there are a couple of mistakes on the recordings including a dodgy ending on ‘That’ll Be The Day’ and a late entry into a verse from John on ‘In Spite Of All The Danger’. Whereas Grandpa remembers John Lennon coming back later to pay the balance and collect the record. But if they had just recorded straight onto disc then it should have cost them 11/3. And there are anomalies in the recollections about the date and the weather. Obviously it was just another day to Grandpa but to the members of the Quarrymen it was a special day indeed, to be making a record in a studio, so they even remember the weather. Mind you, they all remember it differently! John Lowe remembers it being cold and having to wear a scarf, which they used to muffle the snare drum, Paul McCartney remembers it being a Summer’s day and Colin Hanton can’t remember what the weather was like or if his drum was muffled or not. But they’re all getting on a bit now. John Lennon would have been seventy last month. Mind you, Grandpa would have been one hundred and fourteen! But I suppose we have to believe the Studio Log book, which asserts it was the 12th July 1958, which was a Saturday. But we’ll never know for sure.
Mysterious indeed. How old was your Grandfather at this time, in 1977?
Peter. Eighty one. It was nearly twenty years since the Quarrymen recording session. But he still had all his marbles and was still a sprightly fellow.
So we’ll never know if Percy did or didn’t make recordings of the Beatles and wipe them off.
Peter. He definitely made other recordings for Brian Epstein and the Beatles. One of which we found in a box that day in the studio in 1977. But he may well have made more and wiped them off too.
Really?
Peter. Yes. Brian Epstein was a regular visitor to the record shop and knew Grandpa well. Brian had a record shop too of course, NEMS, in the City centre. He sold all the top tunes of the day, LPs and sheet music but he would come to Grandpa’s record shop to hear some of the one off records that Grandpa had from the States and the two of them would sit in the shop chatting and listening to R&B and country tunes. Brian would also ask Grandpa to record many of the Beatles’ early radio appearances and put them onto disc, which he did. And it was one of those that we found that day in 1977.
What was on the disc?
Peter. It was a 7 inch 45 rpm acetate of ‘Some Other Guy‘; ‘Beautiful Dreamer’ and ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Baby’, recorded from an appearance on BBC Saturday Club in 1963.
Really? And what happened to that disc?
Peter. It continued to sit in a box in the house until 1990, when we sold it at Sotheby’s in London. It was in the same sale as the rest of the Studio equipment.
Why did you sell the Studio equipment?
Peter. There were two reasons. Firstly, Grandma was getting on a bit by then and the money came in handy in her old age and secondly, having the equipment in such a prestigious sale raised awareness of Grandpa’s role in Beatles history. Up until that time there was no mention of Phillips Sound Recording Services in any books about the group’s beginnings and history. A Japanese collector bought the studio and took it to Tokyo in Japan. Of course, when the Beatles Anthology was released, people became even more interested in Grandpa and the studio story.
Yes, after the Beatles Anthology 1 was released in 1995, with the two tracks the Quarrymen recorded in the Phillips Studio on it and a brief biography of your Grandfather in the sleeve notes, Percy Phillips’ role in the story became more generally known.
Peter. That’s right. I’d met Paul McCartney backstage at Madison Square Garden in 1990 when he was touring and I was in New York meeting a collector who wanted to buy the studio equipment, prior to the Sotheby’s sale and then I bumped into him unexpectedly in 1992 when I was working at LWT television studios in London and Paul was there to do an interview about his Liverpool Oratorio, which had just been released. We ended up sitting down for ages talking about all sorts of things, including Grandpa and the studio. At the time Paul was working with Neil Aspinall, George Harrison and Ringo on the Anthology project, so he was very interested in remembering the 1958 session at Grandpa’s studio and the various other jobs Grandpa had done for Brian Epstein. And of course he’s got the Quarrymen acetate in his collection.
Very interesting. The Beatles Conventions have now being going on in Liverpool since 1977. Have you attended any?
Peter. I’ve been to a few. Interest in Grandpa’s studio increased after the Anthology release and various media approached my Aunty Carol (Percy’s daughter) to do interviews. She did a couple on the radio but Carol is quite shy and modest and it irked her slightly that the media only wanted to talk about the Beatles, when Grandpa had made hundreds of other recordings, some for artists who became famous too, like Ken Dodd, Marty Wilde, Willy Russell and Billy Fury, so she asked me to take over. I’m a session musician for a living and love Beatles music and our family connection to it, so I was happier to talk about Grandpa and the studio history. Then in 2001, after George Harrison had died, I was at the Matthew Street Gallery in Liverpool at a special exhibition of photographs of George. It was a very sad time in Liverpool, as George was loved dearly in the City. At the exhibition I got chatting to a guy called Dave Ravenscroft, who was working with Beatlesdays.com at that time. He’s got a wide knowledge of all things Beatles. It was Dave who invited me to the Beatles Convention in Liverpool that year and introduced me to John Lowe and Colin Hanton, which was very exciting. I went to a few Conventions and things after that and did a few interviews. The Beatles Conventions are really good. And nowadays there‘s Liverpool Beatles Week every year. Lots of excellent bands from around the World playing the music and collectors with really interesting and rare memorabilia. A good vibe all round in fact.
And what about the CD of material from the Phillips Studio. Is it likely to be released soon?
Peter. Well that’s a good question. It’s taking longer than I’d hoped. There’s quite an archive of recorded material going back to the first acetate Grandpa ever cut in 1955 and I’m working with a record company to release a CD and it should be available later this year. Lots of previously unheard recordings will be on it.
Well I hope you’ll let us know first.
Peter. O yes.
Well Peter, thanks for talking to us this evening here in Liverpool. Finally, have you seen the film ‘Nowhere Boy’, about the teenage years of John Lennon, in which there is a recreation of the Quarrymen’s visit to your Grandfather’s studio?
Peter. I have seen it yes. Sam Taylor Wood (the Director) has made a beautiful, very moving and romantic film. Aaron Johnson was convincing as John Lennon and seeing all those stories we’ve heard about, such as the Woolton Church Hall Fete gig; the day when John met Paul and the portrayal of the Quarrymen recording session at Grandpa’s studio, realised on film was, I thought, superb. Yeah, it was great. Great acting; great production values; great music. And really well observed period detail, things like the sound of car tyres on cobbled streets and everybody smoking like it was good for them. Totally absorbing too, especially when you consider that other notable biopics of recent years, such as ‘Ray’, in which Jamie Foxx was Ray Charles and ‘Walk The Line’, with Joachim Phoenix playing Johnny Cash, have covered more or less the entire life and career of the subjects whereas the Lennon film focussed on just the four or five years before most people had even heard of him. I think ‘Nowhere Boy’ really stands up as a seriously good film.
Peter Phillips was talking to phillipsacetates.com at the John Lennon Remembered Concert at the Liverpool Echo Arena, 9th October 2010.
Photographs
1. The article from the Liverpool Echo 24th December 1977 in which Percy Phillips recalls the Quarrymen session.
2. Percy Phillips' wife Hilda pictured with the Studio equipment in 1990.
3. The Quarrymen backstage at the Half Moon in Putney London in 2005. John Lowe; Peter Phillips;
Rod Davies; Colin Hanton and Len Garry.
4. Acetate disc recorded by Percy Phillips in 1963 for Brian Epstein and the Beatles.
5. Percy Phillips at work in his studio in 1956.
2. Percy Phillips' wife Hilda pictured with the Studio equipment in 1990.
3. The Quarrymen backstage at the Half Moon in Putney London in 2005. John Lowe; Peter Phillips;
Rod Davies; Colin Hanton and Len Garry.
4. Acetate disc recorded by Percy Phillips in 1963 for Brian Epstein and the Beatles.
5. Percy Phillips at work in his studio in 1956.
