Christchurch To Hear Liverpool Sound

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30405, 2 April 1964, Page 10

Christchurch To Hear Liverpool Sound

Can a Liverpudlian accent be detected in the way the Beatles or Gerry and the Pacemakers sing the immortal teen-age words “yeah yeah yeah”? The Auckland bandleader, Max Merritt, believes this could be the explanation for the distinctive “Liverpool sound” which has taken over the pop music field. Mr Merritt says the singers from Liverpool achieve their own sound partly through their accents—so different from the exaggerated Southern accent used by American rock ’n’ roll singers. He believes too that the Liverpool pop singers have returned to the old style rock ’n’ roll with their own flavour, presenting rock *n* roll for the first time to a whole group of teen-agers who have emerged since the twist and other fads deposed early rock ’n’ roll.

Gerry and the Pacemakers are being brought to Christchurch by the promoter,

Harry Miller, as are Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, the blonde singer, Dusty Springfield, and the American singer of “Twenty-four Hours to Tulsa," Gene Pitney. Gerry and the Pacemakers are credited with helping the Beatles invent the Liverpool sound. One theory about it is that its gay, vigorous character is the Liverpool teenagers* reaction against their grey surroundings in the drab port on the Mersey estuary in north-west England. Another theory is that Liverpool’s teen-agers are the first to hear the latest American discs before they are released on the British market, because the port is visited by so many United States ships. Harry Miller says it will cost him nearly £7O,(XX) to bring the Liverpool sound to New Zealand—£l2,ooo for the air fares alone. There will be two shows in the Theatre Royal, both on Wednesday, April 8.