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When reviewers gave me the moniker “Master of Merseybeat,” they were referring to my first solo CD entitled Merseybeat in 2004. There were references to the music as well, of course, but these were all by writers who had received a promo of the CD and had read the liner notes in the accompanying booklet, which were kindly written by Fred Burwell. Lately, with digital downloads on iTunes, emusic, and many other services, there have been several people who have obtained the album without the liner notes.

I have received many e-mails from fans who haven’t been exposed to the idea behind the album. They all like the music, which I appreciate, but some of the people out there have mistaken my intent as being a tribute to the Beatles and other Mersey bands, so I would like to take this opportunity to set things straight.  Since the release of my Merseybeat album and subsequent CDs in the Beat style, there have been countless “revival” bands popping up, and now some of the Garage music festivals have switched to “Beat” festivals. The term revival, and thus “revivalists,” has also raised its ugly head.

I have always hated the terms retro and roots, since retro points backwards and rock ’n’ roll points to the future. Roots means that a certain music was the base that paved the way for more serious stuff. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. Was Buddy Holly’s futuristic “Listen to Me” the roots for rap? (I always say that the best rap song ever was “Monster Mash.”) Is the unsurpassed guitar solo by Scotty Moore on Elvis’ “So Glad You’re Mine” retro?  Examples abound as to which music is really futuristic, groundbreaking and the final word, not the root.

I have never played, written or recorded retro music, much less revival music. Rock ’n’ roll has never been caught up to, so how could it be “revived”? No one has ever surpassed anything the Beatles ever did. Imitative, derivative music is weak and I would call it an “echo”. An echo is a weaker repeat of an original sound.  Echo music blows.

I always look at the motive behind the music and it is easy for me to spot insincere crud. So anyway, when Buddy Holly appeared on UK television, he influenced not only the future members of the Beatles (the first song they recorded was “That’ll Be the Day”) but several other future Merseybeat artists. What Buddy was doing was not only exciting but futuristic. I feel that he would have recorded songs very much like the Beatles and other British groups did in the ’60s.

I have never sat down and contrived a Merseybeat song or a country song or a classical piece, etc. I never know what style the music will be when I get the inspiration to start writing a piece. So when I decided it was time to record my first non-Sprague Bros. album, I went through my huge catalog of songs already written through the years and picked out a collection for an album of music that already fit in the Merseybeat style. These were songs written from the heart. None of them were imitative. I could have just as easily made a country album, a jazz album, or a hard rock album from other songs I had. I have enough songs to fill a bossa nova album, for instance, or plenty of other styles/genres. But since I have always loved the music of the Beatles, Swinging Blue Jeans, Hollies, etc., I decided to make an all-Merseybeat album, thus the title Merseybeat.

I have so many of this type of song and continue to write songs that fit this style (and others that fit many other styles) that I have since recorded and released several other albums in this style. In the liner notes of the original CD you would learn that my music, and the Merseybeat LP, are a West Texas style of music! Yep…I’m a West Texan.  I’m not imitating British music. I named the album Merseybeat because these are songs that fit into that style, but they are my songs and my music. No echoed, imitative, derivative, revivalist stuff there.

The album doesn’t try to compete with any ’60’s UK bands or artists. It’s just a representation of the many songs I have in this style, and all in my West Texas persona. 

This leads us back to Buddy Holly, who was exposing the young British audiences to West Texas rock ’n’ roll. My style is not Buddy Holly’s style, but it is West Texas rock ’n’ roll. To say how dare I record a song that sounds Beatlesque, is the same thing as saying how dare the Beatles record “Words of Love.”

So take some advice from the Master of Merseybeat (that lil’ ol’ Sprague Brother—me). In the words of Bill Haley, “Don’t knock the Rock!”

And…

Party on, ya’ll.

Go to: Frank Lee Sprague