Beat Girl

Connoisseurs of 1960s girl-pop have been well served in the CD era, particularly those with a preference for American or British singers. Good music, of course, is not exclusive to the English-speaking world, and collections devoted to the female vocalists of France, Japan, Spain and Germany are also available, but to the best of my knowledge their Italian counterparts have not been anthologised. If “Ciao Bella!”, released as a 24-track CD and a 12-track 180g white vinyl LP in gatefold sleeve, is the first of its kind, let’s hope it’s not the last.

UK collection. This follow-up to our recent Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls and Scratch My Back! Pye Beat Girls releases comprises superior 60s she-pop from the EMI group of record labels - Parlophone, Columbia and HMV - headquartered in Marylebone in the heart of London's West End. Most of the female acts signed by EMI were teenagers completely tuned in to the current pop trends. Scottish duo the McKinleys, R&B club habituée Julie Driscoll, talent show winner Billie Davis and Midlands pub singer Beverley Jones took original material from London's Tin Pan Alley and American covers and gave them an abrasive, vigorous kick that made for fabulous 45s. They may not have had quite the Polish of their US counterparts, but the rough 'n' ready sound of the Marylebone Beat Girl was precisely her appeal. Among the many highlights are 'Dancing Yet', a Dobie Gray-style discotheque number by Liza & the Jet Set; 'Like The Big Man Said' by Toni Daly, a cover of Italian star Caterina Caselli's 'L'uomo D'oro' with edgy English lyrics by Peter Callander; and Billie Davis' groovy gender-switched update of Chuck Willis' R&B nugget 'Whatcha' Gonna Do'.

UK collection. This follow-up to our recent Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls and Scratch My Back! Pye Beat Girls releases comprises superior 60s she-pop from the EMI group of record labels - Parlophone, Columbia and HMV - headquartered in Marylebone in the heart of London's West End. Most of the female acts signed by EMI were teenagers completely tuned in to the current pop trends. Scottish duo the McKinleys, R&B club habituée Julie Driscoll, talent show winner Billie Davis and Midlands pub singer Beverley Jones took original material from London's Tin Pan Alley and American covers and gave them an abrasive, vigorous kick that made for fabulous 45s. They may not have had quite the Polish of their US counterparts, but the rough 'n' ready sound of the Marylebone Beat Girl was precisely her appeal. Among the many highlights are 'Dancing Yet', a Dobie Gray-style discotheque number by Liza & the Jet Set; 'Like The Big Man Said' by Toni Daly, a cover of Italian star Caterina Caselli's 'L'uomo D'oro' with edgy English lyrics by Peter Callander; and Billie Davis' groovy gender-switched update of Chuck Willis' R&B nugget 'Whatcha' Gonna Do'.

UK collection. This follow-up to our recent Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls and Scratch My Back! Pye Beat Girls releases comprises superior 60s she-pop from the EMI group of record labels - Parlophone, Columbia and HMV - headquartered in Marylebone in the heart of London's West End. Most of the female acts signed by EMI were teenagers completely tuned in to the current pop trends. Scottish duo the McKinleys, R&B club habituée Julie Driscoll, talent show winner Billie Davis and Midlands pub singer Beverley Jones took original material from London's Tin Pan Alley and American covers and gave them an abrasive, vigorous kick that made for fabulous 45s. They may not have had quite the Polish of their US counterparts, but the rough 'n' ready sound of the Marylebone Beat Girl was precisely her appeal. Among the many highlights are 'Dancing Yet', a Dobie Gray-style discotheque number by Liza & the Jet Set; 'Like The Big Man Said' by Toni Daly, a cover of Italian star Caterina Caselli's 'L'uomo D'oro' with edgy English lyrics by Peter Callander; and Billie Davis' groovy gender-switched update of Chuck Willis' R&B nugget 'Whatcha' Gonna Do'.

Do you like yourself a bit of “Dutch Beat”, or as insiders refer to it, “Nederbeat”? Well, if so then there is no time like the present to get yourself totally wrapped up in a huge heavy dose of it, and if you’re not really sure or perhaps you’ve only maybe dipped a toe in here and there, well now’s the time for that full immersion experience to start. This brand new eight CD box set issued by premier league Dutch reissue specialists Pseudonym, and helmed by the label’s head honcho Hans Van Vuuren, is an exhausting, exhilarating labour-of-love style project … and then some! Diggin’ In The Goldmine has been categorised, broadly speaking as “Dutch Beat” but what purchasers are subject to are around two hundred tracks of exciting, multi-genre, early-days rock music which spans from the immediate post-Beatles and ‘Stones fallout of 1963-64.

Over the last few years Ace has built up a series of prime British female pop releases, with individual collections drawn from four of the country's leading record companies of the 1960s: Decca, Pye, EMI and, most recently, Philips. With this latest compilation, rather than spotlight a particular company, the focus is on a location: the music hotbed of Merseyside. While male beat groups ruled the Merseyside roost in the 60s, the area was also home to its fair share of female talent. To illustrate the point, here are 25 hand-picked girl-pop artefacts from thereabouts. Liverpool's pop queen Cilla Black is featured with her two most Merseybeat-oriented tracks, including a terrific version of A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues, the first song she ever recorded at Abbey Road. Guitar-toting cover girls the Liverbirds, who released no records in the UK but were stars in Germany where their repertoire of Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry numbers made them favourites at the Star-Club also appear twice.

Over the last few years Ace has built up a series of prime British female pop releases, with individual collections drawn from four of the country's leading record companies of the 1960s: Decca, Pye, EMI and, most recently, Philips. With this latest compilation, rather than spotlight a particular company, the focus is on a location: the music hotbed of Merseyside. While male beat groups ruled the Merseyside roost in the 60s, the area was also home to its fair share of female talent. To illustrate the point, here are 25 hand-picked girl-pop artefacts from thereabouts. Liverpool's pop queen Cilla Black is featured with her two most Merseybeat-oriented tracks, including a terrific version of A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues, the first song she ever recorded at Abbey Road. Guitar-toting cover girls the Liverbirds, who released no records in the UK but were stars in Germany where their repertoire of Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry numbers made them favourites at the Star-Club also appear twice. The Breakaways, the Vernons Girls and Beryl Marsden three other acts intrinsically associated with Liverpool are also featured. Along with a selection of proven fan favourites, the collection contains many lesser-known gems, among them new-to-CD tracks by the Three Bells, Nola York, Tiffany, Lyn Cornell, Cindy Cole and, not least, Samantha Jones, whose hitherto-unreleased-in-any-format I Don't Want To Lose Him was recorded with visiting American producer Teddy Randazzo. Read all about these and the other featured artists in the accompanying picture-packed 28-page booklet, which contains a 7,000-word note by compiler Mick Patrick and genre expert Ian Chapman.

Over the last few years Ace has built up a series of prime British female pop releases, with individual collections drawn from four of the country's leading record companies of the 1960s: Decca, Pye, EMI and, most recently, Philips. With this latest compilation, rather than spotlight a particular company, the focus is on a location: the music hotbed of Merseyside. While male beat groups ruled the Merseyside roost in the 60s, the area was also home to its fair share of female talent. To illustrate the point, here are 25 hand-picked girl-pop artefacts from thereabouts. Liverpool's pop queen Cilla Black is featured with her two most Merseybeat-oriented tracks, including a terrific version of A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues, the first song she ever recorded at Abbey Road. Guitar-toting cover girls the Liverbirds, who released no records in the UK but were stars in Germany where their repertoire of Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry numbers made them favourites at the Star-Club also appear twice.

Over the last few years Ace has built up a series of prime British female pop releases, with individual collections drawn from four of the country's leading record companies of the 1960s: Decca, Pye, EMI and, most recently, Philips. With this latest compilation, rather than spotlight a particular company, the focus is on a location: the music hotbed of Merseyside. While male beat groups ruled the Merseyside roost in the 60s, the area was also home to its fair share of female talent. To illustrate the point, here are 25 hand-picked girl-pop artefacts from thereabouts. Liverpool's pop queen Cilla Black is featured with her two most Merseybeat-oriented tracks, including a terrific version of A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues, the first song she ever recorded at Abbey Road. Guitar-toting cover girls the Liverbirds, who released no records in the UK but were stars in Germany where their repertoire of Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry numbers made them favourites at the Star-Club also appear twice.