aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser
#072: Pete Best Beatles – ‘Alamein Train’ (Strine Music ’84)
Hello friends,
I often thought that if there’s one chap who once a week drives a nail through his foot to remind himself of the stupidity of not performing better when he had the chance to do, it must be Pete Best. ‘Who?!’, the younger readers of this blog may be asking … well, let me explain:
The Beatles (now, this is a name you should have heard before, at least I hope you did) invited Best to join the band in August 1960, but unfortunately, in August 1962, in circumstances still clouded in mystery, he was dismissed from the group by the other members he had played with for two years – just to be replaced by Ringo Starr. The real reason was never given to Pete, but I mean, come on: he either was a total bore or he didn’t shower often enough … or his drumming wasn’t good enough for the others. Perhaps all of this is true, who possibly knows? Either way, as so often, it goes to show: always give your best – or you may lose eventually, and sometimes you even lose big time!!
On the plus side: over 30 years later, Best received some monetary payout for his work with the Beatles after the release of their 1995 compilation of their early recordings on ‘Anthology 1’, Best played the drums on ten of the album’s tracks.
And because of this tragic story, I always thought the “Pete Best Beatles” was just a grand name for a band – and apparently some Melbourne youngsters had the same feeling some 40 years ago. Which brings us to a genre which, shamefully enough, has been heavily underrated so far on The Vinyl Villain: Australian Cabaret!
I must admit I’ve never heard anything else about Australian Cabaret, I only ever did in conjunction with the Pete Best Beatles – and I can’t quite see the context, to be frank. Yes, today’s song is on a 7” EP called “Sounds For The Sophisticated Cabaret Music Lover” – but that’s about it, as far as I’m concerned. The tune below is just brilliant, to me it has nothing to do with cabaret whatsoever (not that I’m an expert on cabaret by any means). Occasionally the Pete Best Beatles were referred to as an “eccentric Melbourne pub rock comedy act”, which might be a bit more closer to the truth, they certainly managed to creatively blend humour and satire.
In the UK there was The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, the U.S had Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention and Melbourne had the Pete Best Beatles, “the purple princes of Cabaret”. Leading the pack of musical humour surrealists, they specialized in riotous live shows in the mid-Eighties, and apparently an album which captures those show exists as well – something I should try to get my hands on, that’s for sure!
But until this has been achieved, I only know the four songs from the 7”, this one, by quite some distance, is the best of the lot:
mp3: Pete Best Beatles – Alamein Train
There’s a version of this on youtube, which gives you a glimpse of how great the Pete Best Beatles were live – and I only wish I had been there to witness one of those shows back then … marvellous!
Enjoy – and, as always, let me know what you think, please!
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Marvellous indeed Dirk!
Another great choice Dirk. Never heard of them before and as you said, it would be a great pleasure to see them live in their early days.
Well, that was fun.