{"id":2014,"date":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hippy.com\/hip\/other\/the-big-three\/"},"modified":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","slug":"the-big-three-by-shiloh-noone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/reviews\/the-big-three-by-shiloh-noone\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big Three tighter than Fab Four
\n<\/strong>
\nTighter than a clam in labour the Big Three<\/strong> plundered Liverpool while the ‘Fab Four’ were bopping the chopsticks at the ‘Cavern’. The first rumblings of the Big Three<\/strong> charged out of Cass & the Casanovas<\/strong> as early as 1959 as a foursome headed by Brian Casser<\/strong> who started out in a skiffle group with future Rolling Stone Bill Wyman<\/strong>. Beheaded to a threesome the tri -part harmonies came from an ambidextrous drummer Johnny Hutchinson<\/strong> (who replaced the jazzier Brian J Hudson<\/strong>) hit his drums with the but end of the sticks for a heavier sound like Vanilla Fudge\u2019s Carmine Appice<\/strong>. Hutch was first choice for the Beatles <\/strong>when Pete Best<\/strong> was sacked but his reputation for belligerency had Lennon<\/strong> giving him the \u2018no no\u2019.The first guitarist was Adrian Barber<\/strong> a electronics fundi who built the band giant amps, standing over five feet high, nicknamed “coffins”.<\/p>\n

The fundamental platform of the Big Three<\/strong> was a man who brought thunder and lightning together, bassist Johnny Gustafson<\/strong>. These were the cats that power bolted through the \u2018Cavern\u2019 with guitar overdrive into Ray Charles\u2019<\/strong> \u201cWhat\u2019 I Say\u2019, the best version ever, their own \u201cDon\u2019t Start Running Away\u201d and Chuck Berry\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cReeling And Rocking\u201d. (Also a roaring version of Bob B Sox & the Blue Jeans\u2019<\/strong> \u201cZip- A -Dee- Doo- Dah\u201d airlifted the Krauts back to Berlin) The following year Barber <\/strong>settled in Germany during their Hamburg training camp, adequately replaced by Brian Griffiths<\/strong> an old soldier from the \u2018Star Club\u2019. The Big Three<\/strong> were literally cleaning up in the same backyard as Johnny Kid & the Pirates,<\/strong> notwithstanding Hutchinson <\/strong>often standing in for the Beatles.<\/strong> Their aggressive reverb did not reflect out of their two regional hits Ritchie Barrett\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cSome Other Guy\u201d (Leiber & Stoller<\/strong>) and Mitch Murray\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cBy The Way\u201d, the latter backed by the sensational \u201cCavern Stomp\u201d or \u201cYou Got To Keep Her Under Hand\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Big Three<\/strong> were guitar driven, no pretty boy Mersey black tunics, vomit stained nicotine coloured overalls while their closest rival possibly Mickey Finn & the Blue Men<\/strong> or Jimmy Page All Stars<\/strong>. The rest laboured like the bluesey Pete Lancaster & The Upsetters<\/strong> or brassy The Big Six.<\/strong> A more thorough window was suitably smashed on their EP Live at the Cavern<\/em> with Griffith\u2019s<\/strong> on guitar, yet \u2018Decca\u2019 were looking for smooth singles. The predictable result was Gustafson<\/strong> and Griffiths<\/strong> joining drummer Ian Broad<\/strong> from Rory Storm & the Hurricanes<\/strong> as the Seniors<\/strong> who returned to Germany. Hutchinson <\/strong>replaced them with Faron <\/strong>and Paddy Chambers<\/strong> from Faron’s Flamingo’s.<\/strong> By the middle of 1964. Paddy left and was replaced by ex All Stars Paul Pilnick<\/strong> who quickly defected to Tony Jackson & the Vibrations<\/strong>. Hutchinson <\/strong>was then offered a position in Kingsize Taylor & the Dominoes<\/strong>, a group that evolved from the Skiffle- JamesBoys<\/strong>. Hutchinson <\/strong>declined and retired. Gustafson<\/strong> joined the Merseybeats<\/strong> and more efficiently Quartermass.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Added:<\/b> January 25th 2011
\nReviewer:<\/b> shiloh noone<\/a> | See all reviews<\/a> by shiloh noone
\nCategory:<\/b> Music<\/a>
\nScore:<\/b> \"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"
\nRelated Link:<\/b> Seekers Guide To The Rhythm Of Yesteryear<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big Three tighter than Fab Four Tighter than a clam in labour the Big Three plundered Liverpool while the ‘Fab Four’ were bopping the chopsticks at the ‘Cavern’. The first rumblings of the Big Three charged out of Cass & the Casanovas as early as 1959 as a foursome headed by Brian Casser who started […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}