McFilter

The Beatles - Roll Over Beethoven

My parents' record collection was both a source of great interest and of great frustration when I was growing up. As my knowledge of, and therefore interest in, artists from "before my time" grew, my prime source for listening to any of this music were the LPs arranged on the bookshelf, and a couple of boxes of 45s. As a result, I've possibly got a better idea of what's in their record collection than my parents have.

There's some great music to be had in there, some curiousities, and some forgotten gems. Gerry And The Pacemakers, Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Rolf Harris, Groovin' With Mr. Bloe, Disco Duck (I'll let you decide which category they each fall into). But for some of the headline, obvious choices there were slim pickings. The Beach Boys? Nope. The Monkees? Nothing doing. Surely some Rolling Stones? None. Well, they both grew up in Liverpool in the 60s, so surely the Beatles are covered? Erm, not really, a couple of singles - I Feel Fine / She's A Woman being a personal favourite - and one album, With The Beatles, and nearly half of that is cover versions.

This has meant that my music collection has profited as a result. I've had to buy the back catalogue stuff myself, so it's on CD rather than vinyl, and I've discovered a lot more Beatles stuff that shows how amazing they were. I still had to get myself a copy of With The Beatles though, mainly for two tracks. Till There Was You is a glorious, light ballad, that one day I'll have memorized all the words to, and Roll Over Beethoven is my favourite rocking-out Beatles tune, raw and full of energy, and the first Beatles song I fell in love with.