The Merseybeats Finale: "I Stand Accused"

 

THE MERSEYBEATS-I Stand Accused/All My Life U.K. Fontana TF 645 1965

The Merseybeats were one of those British 60's bands who were always on the fringes of stardom but for whatever reason none of their British seven singles, three E.P.'s or one LP moved into the top ten. The band eventually fell under the management of The Who's handlers Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert in the Summer of 1965 that saw their musical career continue on with the Fontana label. The band requested that their eighth British single for the label be a Ben E. King track called " I Stand Accused", unfortunately their managers secured them the rights to ANOTHER "I Stand Accused", this one penned by Tony Colton and Ray Smith! Of course thankfully Lambert and Stamp cocked it up.....which leads us to:

Truth be told one wonders how mundane a cover of the Ben E. King ballad would have been! INSTEAD the Colton/Smith number (released earlier in July by Tony Colton on Pye 7N 15886) is in my estimation rates as one of their finest moments!  Driven by a a catchy fuzz guitar lick and frenzied double tracked vocals "I Stand Accused" is a powerful piece of music. The production (by Kit Lambert) is honestly a mess but it still works. There's an interesting bit of harpsichord running in the background which sounds out of place but somehow works. The gong at the end is care of Keith Moon who was present at the session and wanted to "contribute". 

The B-side, "All Of My Life", a band original that sounds half baked. Again the production is positively atrocious with the lead vocals in the front while the instrumentation is buried in absolute mush! The guitar solo sounds like it was made up on the spot with tapes rolling.  Next!

Both tracks are available on the thoroughly comprehensive 2021 Grapefruit two CD collection "I Stand Accused" which collected everything the band and it's members recorded in the 60's. Sadly it is NOT available on streaming!

Hear "I Stand Accused":

https://youtu.be/Zg20VFzYKt4?si=3PQLeBOEYJOiEz1Q

Hear "All Of My Life":

https://youtu.be/c2jKzY23_HQ?si=Eox2aFxYWmCBbnpJ