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The CD "Big Jim Sullivan - Early Groups And Sessions" arrived today.

I had about half the thirty-three tracks already, on various discs and CDs, but one of them that I had never heard before really stands out...

The Nashville Five, with their version of Stand Up And Say That! - astoundingly similar to The Shadows' version and released March 1962.

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ly1fNZMlA

Line-up (apparently):

Reg Guest (piano)
Big Jim Sullivan (guitar)
Eric Ford and Alan Weighill (basses) and
Andy White (drums).

The record was produced by Mike Smith and Andy White played on the original album version of Love Me Do, so there's two Beatles connections as well...

Fascinating. Andy White provided one of the Beatles connections but who was the other? After a bit of googling I discovered that Mike Smith was the infamous Decca chap who turned the Beatles down. (I’d been thrown by the name which I associate with the Dave Clark Five. Not the same person!)

While trying to research this myself, I turned up a website about Big Jim. Every Shadows player gets a mention somewhere and a load of other big names in the music business. Fascinating to see how their paths crossed and re-crossed.

http://musiciansolympus.blogspot.com/2012/10/bigjimsullivan-guitar.html

Iain Purdon wrote:Fascinating. Andy White provided one of the Beatles connections but who was the other?

Mike Smith. of Decca Records.

I thought it was Dick Rowe that turned them down with the infamous comment 'groups with guitars are on the way out'.

Fenderman wrote:I thought it was Dick Rowe that turned them down with the infamous comment 'groups with guitars are on the way out'.

Both he and Mike Smith worked on the Beatles audition and the decision as to whether to give them a recording contract.

Some people say that Tony Meehan was involved, but he wasn't.

Tony was only deputed to meet Brian Epstein after the Beatles had been turned down in order to offer his services as producer of a private recording session (at Decca's studios), paid for by Brian Epstein. Brian decided not to take up that offer. It's all explained in Epstein's 1965 autobiography, "A Cellarful Of Noise".

JimN wrote:

Fenderman wrote:I thought it was Dick Rowe that turned them down with the infamous comment 'groups with guitars are on the way out'.

Both he and Mike Smith worked on the Beatles audition and the decision as to whether to give them a recording contract.

It's possible that Mike Smith may have been keen to sign both the Beatles and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes (auditioned on the same day), but was overruled by Dick Rowe in favour of the latter.

Bill

That Nashville Five version of Stand Up and Say That! was included in the See For Miles Deccade of Instrumentals LP in 1987 which - as the name suggests - was a compilation of some Decca label instrumentals from the 1960s. It included 21 other tracks. A CD version - Deccade of Instrumentals...Plus - featured four additional tracks (26 altogether). This post has prompted me to buy the CD version on eBay for £3.18...but there's several others on there for sale
NB Copious sleeve notes for the above LP by Trev Faull.

GoldenStreet wrote:It's possible that Mike Smith may have been keen to sign both the Beatles and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes (auditioned on the same day), but was overruled by Dick Rowe in favour of the latter

Is there an account of this discussion anywhere?

Iain Purdon wrote:

GoldenStreet wrote:It's possible that Mike Smith may have been keen to sign both the Beatles and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes (auditioned on the same day), but was overruled by Dick Rowe in favour of the latter

Is there an account of this discussion anywhere?

We are straying off topic somewhat, but here goes!

Possibly a question of interpretation, this account from the About The Beatles site examines the background of events relating to the time of the Decca audition...

https://aboutthebeatles.com/the-decca-audition

Another item of interest, courtesy of the Omega Auctions site...

https://bid.omegaauctions.co.uk/auction ... 16562&sd=1

Bill