The Buggs "The Beetle Beat" (Coronet, CX-212, 1964)
Another Beatles rip-off record, but this one honestly isn't that bad. Yes, I'll say it: The Buggs might even be pretty good. Sure we get the obligatory "She Loves You" & "I Want To Hold Your Hand" covers (as well as stray covers of other contemporary songs retitled so that, like almost every song on here, they include British locations in the name -- "Just One Look" becomes "Soho Mash", for example), but my faves are what I take to be originals. "Mersey Mercy", "Liverpool Drag" & "London Town Swing" are truly pretty charming if you like that peppy early "Beat" sound, and on the whole LP only "East End" really sucks (well, and I guess "Swingin' Thames" isn't going on any mix tapes of mine in the foreseeable future either).
This one is pretty common in both Stereo and Mono editions, so it must've sold a lot at the time. Tracks by the Buggs also showed up on the Coronet compilation "At The Hop" (with the Four Seasons, Charlie Francis & Barbara Brown), and I've read somewhere that there was a followup album, but I've never seen it.
To wit: "In this album you will hear the original Liverpool sound recorded on location in England by the Buggs, a fast moving, well paced group that we are sure you will like."
Links Removed
posted by Jason at 2/10/2006 09:30:00 AM
19 Comments:
Another one I had!
And this one stings me when I think I gave it away to my sister (a Beatles fan) as a gag gift.
Faux-Beatles stuff is great, especially when poorly executed, like in a sixties cartoon or those stupid vultures in Jungle Book.
Too funny.
I'll bet some of these bands weren't half bad, but were forced into it by evil record execs (is there any other kind?).
2/10/2006 9:45 AM
yeah, YHANK YOU for these 2 jewels!! if you have others don't hesitate, it's genial!!!!
Bravo for your website!
schoub from France
2/12/2006 7:49 PM
I have this record. I think all of those "other" songs were retitled so royalties wouldn't have to be paid...but they do sound really good. They could have called the album "The Early Rutles"!
5/02/2006 3:55 AM
Hey, has anybody heard of the group King's Road? They did a double album of Beatles' songs entitled "The Beatles 1962-1970." It's fairly good and includes a couple solo Beatle songs. It's on the Pickwick label, PTP-2062 and it's in Stereo! Does anybody know anything about this record, maybe the release date?
9/17/2006 10:14 PM
Hah, King's Road! Yeah there's a nice Pickwick discography page that Robert Plante put together which lists it as 1973.
Also interesting: a mention here sheds some more light on the group & their relationship to Pickwick in general:
"TRIBE- Tribe Sing The Creative Genius Of George Harrison, John Lennon & Paul McCartney- (w/ several George songs, plus their version of "Why" by Yoko Ono. King's Road related group via Pickwick big shots Jerry Vance & Terry Philips aka Jerry Pellegrino & Philip Teitelbaum, both from the 60s band The Hobbits) Pickwick EX $12 Scarce!"
9/18/2006 2:06 AM
How disappointed I was when my Mom brought home this album thinking it was the real Beatles. I didn't listen to it very much when I was a kid and teenager but really decided I liked it as I got older.
Now, at age 54, I love this album and it's one of the favorites I have on my MP3 player. I wish I could find more by this group.
10/31/2007 1:58 PM
I love rip-off Beatles albums. My favs are BILLY PEPPER & the pepperpots, AMAZING! But i have THE BUGGS too, they sings and plays pretty good, yeah! yea! yeah! in th b-side is my fav. The best are THE SPONGETONES from North Carolina, they cut his first album in 80's, is like to listen The Beatles lost album, try.
11/10/2007 11:00 PM
oh my God- when I read the comment by "anonymous"I flipped- my mom also bought this for me thinking it was the real Beatles and I was also very disappointed- I'm 54 too and it took me all this time to relocate this piece of my early childhood. I don't know what happened to my album, but I am beyond thrilled to listen to it again- Thanks sooo much
11/15/2007 12:16 PM
THE BUGGS(Omaha-Nebraska). Somebody has any info about that fascinating band please? THE MANCHESTERS(A.K.A. The Chartbusters???) THE KNICKERBOCKERS (LIES! SMASH HIT) GREAT BAND FROM NEW JERSEY. THE BEARCUTS(Swing in The Beatle Mania) any info about that one? THE LIVERPOOLS(Beatle mania in USA).THE SPONGETONES(Charlotte-NC)Excellent band, has website. THE TEDDY BOYS(CD for sale on CD BABY). somebody else more???
12/12/2007 11:53 AM
I've been researching these guys, because I live in Omaha, Nebraska, where they hailed from. (I was a musician in Omaha during the early 70s).
Do you happen to know the musicians' names? Are they on the back of the LP cover?
6/19/2009 6:17 PM
What about a group called the In-Sect? They had some pretty good songs but the studio album may have been in mono. I traded it in (with a lot of other music) to help live off of when we bought our house in 1980. Ha! the house went up to $270,000 in value before it fell to what I paid for it, $50,000.
8/08/2009 2:29 AM
My friend Steve asked his dad to buy him a Beatles album in early 1964..his dad bought this one by mistake thinking it was the real Fab 4...we had so few records in those days, forming our first band at age 12, we played it anyway and wondered if this was something we imagined or if it really existed. Here it is...it did exist. We used to play the song "Mersey Mercy" but knew it as "You Got Me Bugged" without the phony Liverpool title they put on the LP. Actually a great song that was well performed circa 1964 for a low budget exploitation record. "Now little ladybug, you belong to me"! The Buggs live!
1/09/2010 8:36 AM
SWEET! I have this album buried amid the 2500 LPs I have packed up in these heavy almost impossible to move boxes. I can't believe someone actually has this in a CD-friendly format. I'm sure it's not as great as I remember it, being that it's been YEARS since I bought my copy. Thanks so much for making this available!
1/12/2010 11:54 AM
Excellent!! Thank you. Flashback: 1964,65 or even 66....I had been bitten by the Beatle bug. Folks were going to Polk Bros. for something. "Please buy me a Beatle record! I don't care which one!" They came home with this album. Needless to say I was very disappointed (at the time). G-d only knows what happened to that LP. But "Liverpool Drag" had always stuck with me. Thanks again for sharing this priceless stuff!
Steve from Skokie, Illinois
1/25/2010 11:18 AM
I'll have to admit that memories can drive one to remember music in a positive light. However, I just discovered this album today (from a yard sale) and... well, it's pretty bad! Harmonies are off and the musicianship is sorely lacking.
Not to mention that it is a clear and pointed rip-off aimed at selling records under false pretenses. (Why the back cover has Gerry & the Pacemakers spelled wrong). Then again, Beetles "was" a correct spelling, lol.
Don't get me wrong, I have my "stinkers" that I hold near and dear and thanks for the quick download (the LP I have is scratched a bit).
2/01/2010 12:44 PM
So funny that I found this album among a bunch of LP's cleaning out my late in-law's closet. I was fooled, too, and I wasn't even born when this came out. I was a fan of the Beatles nevertheless. But, is it with anything today- or should I give it to my brother in law?
6/16/2011 9:24 PM
There's a great blog article about this and a bunch of other rip-off Beatle LPs here:
http://thearchivest.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/meet-the-beetles-pt-1/
8/26/2011 6:32 PM
I had this when I was 10...1964...don't remember who bought it for me...I knew the difference...I had the real deal...and top of being a rip-off, it was terrible
10/29/2013 2:22 PM
Just picked up a rare NM cxs212 stereo copy! Had the mono for years! Gary wright is the only reason I care in the first place. Rock on Buggs!
12/22/2018 1:16 PM
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