The Quotations — “Alright Baby”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 12, 2024

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,142) The Quotations — “Alright Baby”

Exquisite Beatlesque kiss off song is a ’64 A-side by a band out of, yes, Liverpool. (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)

Cleef tells us that:

This 1964 record is by a Quotations group led by John Goodison, who previously also released a single Acapulco 1922 on Decca as ‘Johnny B. Great’. There’s confusion about the involvement of John Gustafson (ex Big Three, Merseybeats) in the 1964 Quotations, who in fact had two 1968-69 singles on CBS also using the name The Quotations. Most likely Gustafson was not involved in the Quotations record on CBS as he was very busy with The Merseybeats in 1964. Goodison did a restart on The Quotations in 1968-69, with two singles, Cool It and Hello Memories, this time definitely involving Gustafson. Judging by the CBS singles credits, Goodison and Gustafson wrote the material, Goodison produced & arranged, and the actual band Quotations consisted of Gustafson, ex Merseybeat drummer John Banks and amongst others Billy Bremner (later in Rockpile). Author Bruce Welsh acknowledged that he . . . incorrectly linked Gustafson to the Alright Baby 45 in his documentary book on UK beat bands 1962-66 ‘What About Us’.

https://www.discogs.com/release/8362293-The-Quotations-Alright-Baby

The Quotations “backed Carl Perkins on his 1964 live tour [in the UK] and regularly supported the Walker Brothers during 1965 and 1966. They also supported Cat Stevens . . . .” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) Discogs adds:

[W]hen Gary Leeds aka Gary Walker released his single “You Don’t Love Me’ in 1966 it was The Quotations who were the backing band. Two members of this line-up went on to much bigger things; John Goodison and Johnny Gustafson. Members: Johnny Goodison on keyboards, Pete ‘Greg’ McGregor and Barry Martin on sax, Graham Alexander on bass guitar, Tony Mabbett on trumpet, Graham Dee on guitar and Jimmy Buchard on drums.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/3057121-The-Quotations-3

Here is Dave Berry’s nice version (’66):

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