Do you think there are any more groups on Merseyside who can make an impact nationally?
John Lennon: “The Big Three, the Pacemakers and Billy Kramer and the Dakotas.”

Paul McCartney: “Yes – the Big Three, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy Kramer & the Dakotas, the Mersey Beats, Johnny Sandon and the Remo Four – most of the leading Merseyside groups are capable – they just need someone to handle them. They also need the right material – if we had recorded something that wasn’t right we wouldn’t have made it.”

George Harrison: “I predict Gerry & the Pacemakers record will reach the Top Twenty. The Big Three and, indeed, any top Liverpool group if they recorded the right stuff, could make it – especially Johnny Sandon and the Remo Four with their sound. It’s out of this world. By the end of the year Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Big Three and Gerry & the Pacemakers will have established themselves nationally.”

Bob Wooler: “Yes – but not with the same explosiveness. Because, as I have said before when Mersey Beat accorded me the privilege of writing about the Beatles before anyone else, I cannot imagine anything like the Beatles happening ever again. They are a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. If there’s any group I would wish to succeed it would be Johnny Sandon and the Remo Four. They deserve a break and I consider they would make a first class recording group.”

Brian Kelly: “Yes, several. The Beatles are by no means unique – on record they are little different from the many other recording groups. I’ll make a forecast – we will see Lee Castle go far higher in the entertainment world that he is at the moment. Lee is an untiring worker and had he not gone to France I have every confidence that he would be at the top of the Merseyside scene.”

Ted Knibbs: “No. I don’t think so. Not groups, because no other group has tried to attain anything different than what we already have nationally. The Four Mosts could attain success, but not on the rock scene – they could be a first class cabaret act.”

Why do you think the Beatles are so successful?
Ted Knibbs: “They have got the appeal of youth – and drive and impact; and, as I have said, their vocal abilities are improving all the time.”

Pat Delaney: “Because the youngsters who watch them see themselves up there – The Beatles have the ability to set off the spark in them. They are the symbol of their own desires.”

Brian Epstein: “As in the case of any success, there are a number of factors – their looks, their sound, their musical ability. One of the things that will make this country go head-over-heels over the Beatles is their fantastic presence both on and off stage. They have very, very real star quality. In my estimation the Beatles are the biggest thing to hit the music-pop industry since Elvis Presley.”

Return to main section