There were always punters who would try to preserve their favourite band for eternity. They would show up at the gig with a cheap tape recorder and an even cheaper microphone and ask if they could record the gig for the glory of the band. Permission was granted – naturally. Unfortunately “cheap” is the keyword here… the recording quality is deficient while the band are tearing their fittings out. But maybe it was the band that tried their hand at a live recording.
If you want to know what was going on in German pubs and dance halls, well, this is the perfect example. It was amplifiers turned to eleven, and every song played at top speed. On the dance floor the boys were throwing their hair about and the girls were doing the craziest dance moves. Everybody was having a good time, and the band were heroes for a couple of hours. Elders would not understand what the teens were up to, but the kids would: get away as far as possible from the 2nd World War and their parents’ aim to be as conformist as they could. I remember my mother… “You can’t do that, what will the neighbours say!!??” or “With hair like that, we’ll be the talk of the town.” Trying to be obedient (again!) to the majority‘s attitude, to hide in the mass, all in order to conceal the Nazi guilt. The Merseybeat generation stood up for their ideals. Yet it showcased in long hair and stimulants in the long run.
The King-Beats were from Frankfurt, and before they became a proficient CBS-recording band, they went from gig to gig on the pub circuit not only in the big city but often in the countryside. No wonder these recordings were taped in Köppern, a Hessian small town.
The band preserved on tape here were the three Marz brothers, Elmar, Erhard and Rainer, organist Hans-Werner Heise and drummer Peter Walliser.
The music you are going to hear was preserved on a four-track tape, probably the copy of a copy, unfortunately tracks 3 and 4 are bleeding into tracks 1 and 2 in two tracks. I’ve put them last, because despite of all the audiophile deficiencies, they’re great fun.
01 Instro Intro - THE KING-BEATS live in Köppern
02 Misery - THE KING-BEATS live in Köppern
03 When My Little Girl Is Smiling - THE KING-BEATS live in Köppern
04 Thank You Girl - THE KING-BEATS live in Köppern
05 Roll Over Beethoven - THE KING-BEATS live in Köppern
06 Glad All Over - THE KING-BEATS live in Köppern
07 Money - THE KING-BEATS live in Köppern
08 Boys (bleed) - THE KING-BEATS live in Köppern
09 I’ll Never Get Over You (bleed) - THE KING-BEATS live in Köppern
PS: More KING-BEATS in older posts.
1 comment:
Copy the below link into the URL to listen to the music:
https://archive.org/details/the-king-beats-live-in-koppern
or try
archive.org/details/the-king-beats-live-in-koppern
if it doesn't work.
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