THE FIRST CLASS Beach Baby - The Complete Recordings (3-CD)

(Grapefruit Records) 82 tracks, digipack.

The first complete 3CD anthology from the Harmony Pop hitmakers of "Beach Baby".

- Includes both First Class LPs, all singles, pseudonymous releases and numerous previously unreleased tracks, including commercial jingles and songs from an aborted 1974 musical.

Not many classic British pop singles were released in 1974, but the Harmony pop epic "Beach Baby" bucked the trend and reached the Top 20 in the UK and became an even bigger hit in America, reaching #4.

Arguably, "Beach Baby" was the ultimate tribute to the Beach Boys and introduced a new name: The First Class - actually veteran pop hitmaker and songwriter John Carter with the help of Chas Mills and lead singer Tony Burrows.

While other singers and musicians adopted the name to go public with their music, the Carter/Burrows/Mills combination continued to record new First Class material, including a self-titled LP that may be the best and most ambitious British harmony pop album of the 1970s.

First Class had a few minor hit singles in America, but they didn't garner the same attention in their homeland, and the second album, "SST" (which wasn't even released in the U.S.), sank without a trace. By the end of the '70s, Carter had finally laid the name to rest.

The 3-CD set in a lavish digipak with a new 5000-word essay, 'Beach Baby: The Complete Recordings" is the definitive document of both The First Class and John Carter's myriad overlapping activities in the second half of the '70s.

It contains a veritable treasure trove: both albums, all singles, out-takes, pseudonymous releases, a large number of previously unreleased TV/radio commercial jingles and, most intriguingly, seven previously unheard 1974 demos for the musical Bobby Dazzler, abandoned when the single of the same name failed to chart.

1974 von dem englischen Songschreiber John Carter ins Leben gerufene Gruppe. 1965 war er Mitglied der Gruppe Ivy League gewesen und hatte mit „Funny how Love can be' seinen ersten Hit. Ein halbes Jahr später kam „Tossing and Turning', der erste Millionenhit, an dem er mitwirkte. Als die Ivy League auseinandergingen, war er einer der Drahtzieher bei den Flowerpot Men, die 1967 einen Welthit mit „Let's go to San Francisco' hatten. John Carter trat auch gelegentlich mit der Gruppe auf, aber als es um Tourneen ging, stieg Jon Lord (heute Organist von Deep Purple) ein. Für John Kincade komponierte Carter den Hit „Dreams are ten a Penny', dann nahm er mit einer Studiogruppel974 den Song „Beach Baby' auf. Wieder verfuhr er nach bewährtem Rezept. Zur Gruppe gehören die beiden Sänger Chas Mills und Del John, Bassist Robin Shaw, Schlagzeuger Eddie Richards, Gitarrist Spencer James und Pianist Clive Barrett. Die' Gruppe tritt selten auf, eigentlich nur im Fernsehen, da sie lieber als Studiomusiker arbeiten. Neueste Platte: „Surfer Queen' Original Presse-Info: Bellaphon Record