My Re-Print of Her Benny by the Reverend Silas K Hocking
The one and only Hank ' Luke the Drifter ' Williams Hank Williams
The Beatles
Seeing as I am from Liverpool, and seeing as I am a big Beatles fan, it was always inevitable that there would be several pages dedicated to them on here. See if you agree with me on my choices for their best tracks; on who is / was the 5th Beatle, and then click on the links to hear very rare rehearsal tracks from 1960, when they were still ( just about ) the Quarry Men.
Here is the first of 2 Liverpool musicians who have kindly allowed me to promote and sell their wares on my online store at Lulu.com. Gerry Jones is a musician, singer and folk historian of many years' standing. As well as teaming up with other musicians in and around Merseyside to provide the music for dances and other celebrations, Gerry has also released an album of Liverpool folk songs, firstly as a prompter to provide the full lyrics to songs people could not quite remember, but then, after realising people were beginning to enquire about the CD more than he had envisaged, Gerry released it commercially, and is now sold all over Merseyside. Also, for the last 3 years or so, it has also sold steadily worldwide, as Gerry now has a POD outlet via my store on Lulu.com.
Please click on the various links to find out more: Please do take on board that the CD available from Lulu is manufactured in the USA and so international postage / shipping rates will apply. If that is beyond your budget, then try the download, it is cheaper, and you get it straight away.
Liverpool Lyrics - CD $15.00 US Dollars Plus P and P
Link to Gerry's Own site Gerry Jones Liverpool Lyrics Site and More
Another thing of interest about 'Uncle Gerry' - he is the inspiration behind the Liverpool Tart - the top selling cake in all of the branches of North Merseyside bakers and confectioners - Satterthwaites. Gerry unearthed an old Liverpool recipe, came up with the idea of adding a Liver Bird / Byrd icing design to the top of the tart, which then morphed ( due to cost implications ) into a heart; this was Satty's own take on the matter, rather cheekily but fondly celebrating Liverpool's very own Tarts with Hearts. More importantly, they are a nice snack, so do indulge next time you pass one of their shops. Tell 'em Uncle Gerry sent you - for the good stuff.
Liverpool's Freddie Baker - 'Closing of the Day USA' and more
Freddie is another great son of Liverpool; his musical heritage has been more mainstream than Gerry Jones', firmly steeped in the Liverpool Pop / Country / Easy Listening community - a veritable Scouse Balladeer. As Freddie's wares come in differing formats, it has worked best to give him his own separate page here, so just click on the link, and then peruse what he has to offer and then click on the links for more information.
Another great son of Liverpool now, John the Mersey Mouth Williams. Click on the link to go to John's great site where he waxes lyrical on life - his own and many others - and more, in Liverpool this last half century or so. I am sure that once you have scoured his site you will want to buy his book Liverpool Tales from the Mersey Mouth which has sold steadily in liverpool and around the world for some years now. You may well find you do not agree with at least some of John's opinions / takes on life, I don't myself; but - you know he is being honest and has to be very well respected for that.
In 2005, Angel Editing opened for business, after the Director's Mark and Angela spotted a gap, a need really, in the market for quality assistance for the self publisher. Millions want to publish their works, whether fiction or academic, or even if it's a simple photo book to show Granny. But, many are hampered by the need to get help with anything from formatting the files to what is needed, or even the very basics, such as ' how do you spell ...?' or ' Should there be a comma or an ellipse there do you think?' This is where Angel Editing come in, they can help you do all this and more. Their natural territory is Lulu.com where they are an official service provider for members, but, the expansion across the 'net now see them geared up to helping anyone with a vent for seeing their work in print, whether members of Lulu.com or not. If you feel that novel is about to burst out of you but has nowhere to go, then, just click on the link below; you can make an initial enquiry, see what they can offer you, then if you are not sure, no problem, walk away, but I suspect this will not be the case once you have made that initial enquiry. Go on, give 'em a go, you won't regret it.
Basically, Gerry and the Minesweepers, aka Gerry Connor, John Haines and Tommy Carter, and later, Gerry Jones, was just a laugh, with beers, guitars, and a half decent tape recorder present ( for some of the tracks ), at many gatherings at each other's houses between 1979 and 1982 But, after doing a Spectre style salvaging about 2 years ago of the tapes, even using an editing programme to improve some of the sound and even replace bum notes, the final 10 tracks are quite listenable;- rough and ready, yes; - but, still a pleasant diversion for 30 minutes or so. Our retrospective artistic maxim is 'Less is more, so we went one better and did nothing at all'. One thing to note, track and album names differed over time, the link here goes to'Anthology Parts 1 and 2' on Lulu TV, but we finally decided on 'Why?', but, all the same music.
Please do have a listen to the tracks 'Manic Sweetshop', and 'Manic Nightmare'; they are a bit crackly, but, I humbly suggest, a good, nice warm sound after Gerry Jones worked his magic.
Gerry and the Minesweepers - The 2006 Reunion Album - 'Why?' Side A
Firstly, one thing I forgot to mention above, Gerry and the Minesweepers would never have existed at all if it were not for the folk choir based at St. William of York's Church, the Speakeasy, we were all in it, well, not Gerry Jones, although legend has it he drove past once. To cut a long story short, we were extant, Helen Extant even, as it were, from 1976 to 1989, and around our Swan Song era, we seemed to be asked to do a lot of folky shows in and around Merseyside. These 2 tracks opened and closed a show in Mawdeseley Village Hall in 1988. And no, they were not the first 2 songs of the evening!
