"The Pete Best Band - Casbah Coffee Club 40th Anniversary Ltd. Edition CD" has Paul on the front cover. Both albums ("Casbah" and "Get Back Together" embrace, too, a go at 'Be Bop A Lula'; the Best one improving upon Gene Vincent's 1969 remake, even if that's not saying much. Moreover, the real star of Pete's latest attempt to recover scrapings of his stolen inheritance is The Merseybeats' Billy Kinsley as producer, singer and general factotum in a studio assembly that also includes other local luminaries such as saxophonist Brian Jones from The Undertakers, Beryl Marsden who should have represented Liverpool womanhood in the 60s charts rather than a lesser talent like Cilla Black - and Roag Best, the younger brother, as second drummer.
Content was chosen from items on the bar's original juke box and so are most of the arrangements, though certain idiosyncrasies creep in such as the synthesised orchestral backwash that kicks off 'Red River Rock', the fade-in to 'Sea Cruise' and an inspired rethink of 'Sleepwalk' that invokes an ocean dawn from the quarterdeck. However, the decades of technology that have passed since the Casbah opened in 1958 means that, overall, there's not as much grit as I'd have liked but perhaps that's not the point for incorrigible old rockers with no other cards left to play. If nothing else, both "Get Back Together" and "Casbah Coffee Bar" sound like they were fun to record, even if this particular brand of fun wasn't a thing that money can't buy.
All Casbah Coffee Bar enquiries to Ozit Records, P.O. Box 116, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 5UG
