The First Class: Beach Baby - The Complete Recordings, 3CD Set

• First-ever complete 3CD anthology of ‘Beach Baby’ harmony pop hitmakers.

• Featuring both First Class LPs, all singles, pseudonymous releases and numerous previously unreleased tracks including advertising jingles and songs from an aborted 1974 musical.

There weren't too many classic British pop singles issued in 1974, but harmony pop epic 'Beach Baby' bucked the trend, reaching the UK Top 20 and becoming an even bigger hit in America, peaking at the No. 4 spot.

Arguably the ultimate Beach Boys tribute, ‘Beach Baby’ introduced a new name, The First Class – actually veteran pop hitmaker and songwriter John Carter with the aid of Chas Mills and lead singer Tony Burrows.

While other singers and musicians adopted the name to front their music in public, the Carter/Burrows/Mills combination continued to record new First Class material, including a self-titled LP that is quite possibly the finest, most ambitious British harmony pop album of the 70s.

The First Class had a couple of follow-up minor hit singles in America that failed to attract the same attention at home, where second album ‘SST’ (not even released in the US) sank without trace. By the end of the 70s, Carter had effectively laid the name to rest.

A 3CD set in a lavish digipak package featuring a new 5000 word essay, ‘Beach Baby: The Complete Recordings’ is the definitive document of both The First Class and John Carter's myriad overlapping activities during the second half of the 70s.

It contains an embarrassment of riches: both albums, all singles, out-takes, pseudonymous releases, a huge number of previously unissued TV/radio advertising jingles and, most fascinatingly of all, seven previously-unheard 1974 demos for the musical Bobby Dazzler, abandoned when the single of the same name unfathomably failed to chart.

Track Listing:

DISC ONE
1 BEACH BABY
2 WON'T SOMEBODY HELP ME
3 WHAT BECAME OF ME
4 SURFER QUEEN
5 THE FIRST DAY OF YOUR LIFE
6 LONG TIME GONE
7 FUNNY HOW LOVE CAN BE
8 DREAMS ARE TEN A PENNY
9 BOBBY DAZZLER
10 THE DISCO KID
11 I WAS ALWAYS A JOKER
12 BEACH BABY (single version, full-length)
13 BOTH SIDES OF THE STORY
14 LAVENDER MAN
15 ONE GOOD TIME*
16 BORN TO BE A REBEL*
17 BABY DOLL LOVE*
18 CHINESE CHRISTMAS*
19 GOING ON*
20 A QUIET LIFE*
21 LOVING*
22 BEACH BABY (single version, edit)
*PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

DISC TWO
1 I WAS A STAR
2 AIN'T NO LOVE
3 CHILD'S PLAY
4 OLD TIME LOVE
5 BABY BLUE
6 LIFE IS WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE
7 CARRY ON SINGING MY SONG
8 SMILES ON A SUMMER NIGHT
9 SEVEN TEN TO NOWHERE
10 AUTUMN LOVE
11 AND SHE CRIED
12 BROOK STREET* (jingle)
13 TOO MANY GOLDEN OLDIES (single version)
14 MAKE IT ON MY OWN
15 BROKEN TOY
16 LISA (I ALWAYS LOVED YOU)
17 BIRDS DREAM TOPPING* (jingle)
18 SONG ON THE WIND
19 THE SADDEST WORD
20 OCEAN OF GLASS
21 BIENVENIDO
22 SUNLIGHT DETERGENT* (jingle)
23 GIMME LITTLE SIGN
24 AVERAGE RAINFALL
25 PLEASE YOURSELF (Rowntrees Tots)* (jingle)

DISC THREE
1 WE LIKE TO DANCE (Milk Is Our Way)* (jingle)
2 DISCO KID
3 MIDNITE MUSIC
4 SINGER SEWING MACHINES* (jingle)
5 OH CALIFORNIA
6 I'M IN LOVE AGAIN
7 KIT-E-KAT MUNCHIES* (jingle)
8 THE SOUND OF SUMMER
9 LET'S GO BRITISH CALEDONIAN* (jingle)
10 SIDEWALK JOHNNY
11 MIDNITE MUSIC
12 VAUXHALL CHEVETTE (Whatever You Want It To Be ) #1* (jingle)
13 CRAWFORDS CHEDDARS* (jingle)
14 IF I DON'T HAVE YOU
15 BIRDS EYE COD* (jingle)
16 SUNDAY CHILD
17 GREASY DOLLAR BILL
18 EVER READY BATTERIES* (jingle)
19 TOP FORTY ANGEL
20 TYPHOO 1* (jingle)
21 TYPHOO 2* (jingle)
22 SILVER SURFER
23 SILVIKRIN* (jingle)
24 CONEY ISLAND
25 MALIBU* (jingle)
26 I CAN'T BELIEVE MY EYES
27 WAKE UP AMERICA
28 RIGHT GUARD DEODORANT* (jingle)
29 THE SONG WAS WRONG
30 WOMAN MAGAZINE* (jingle)
31 SHINE ON ME WOMAN
32 ONE MORE MILE TO FREEDOM
33 CRACKER JACK POPCORN* (jingle)
34 VAUXHALL CHEVETTE (Whatever You Want It To Be) #2* (jingle)
35 TOO MANY GOLDEN OLDIES (full-length version)