City's music scene was the real thing; New book charts Liverpool's diverse musical history: Thebeatof thecity.

AS EDITOR of the legendary Mersey Beat magazine, Bill Harry had a ringside seat as Liverpool became the focal point of the world's music scene in the '60s.

Now he has put together what will be one of the standard histories of the bands that make up the collective Mersey sound. And although The Beatles may have been the biggest things that eveS r came out of Liverpool, Liverpool itself is even bigger.Hence the title of the new book: Bigger Than The Beatles. Certainly at one level The Beatles were just one of literally hundreds of Liverpool groups in the 1960s. And in Bill Harry's survey, it's the forgotten bands, the almost-made-its that get an equal billing up with the big boys. He feels particularly strongly about the relative neglect of Liverpool's black groups. In the early 1960s the band that came closest to making the breakthrough was The Chants. "They were a group with immense talent who I desperately wanted to succeed," he write s in his book. "Unfortunately they didn't, despite the fact that they had a lot going for them; Brian Epstein was their manager at one time. The Beatles backed them at the Cavern, they received a television thumbs up from John Lennon. But to no avail." His theory is that the British record buying public wanted black American performers, but was not prepared to buy black British artistes. The Chants carried on until the mid-1970s before breaking up, with singer Eddie Amoo then starting the soul group The Real Thing with his brother Chris. This time they struck gold, with You To Me Are Everything topping the charts in June 1976, and going to number five on its re-release in 1986. Bill Harry says Toxteth in its widest sense, stretching all the way from the edge of the city centre out to the Dingle, was one of the most influential areas for the burgeoning music scene. "In the Dingle you had people like Ringo Starr, Billy Fury, Gerry And The Pacemakers and the Fourmost.

"Then if you move further, you had the Toxteth of Upper Parliament Street with the black music, which hardly got a look-in. "And then you move on just a little bit further, and you had the art college, the two cathedrals and the poetry thing." But there was so much more from the Upper Parliament Street area. There was Steve Aldo - the best black solo singer of them all, says Bill - and Bernie, Willie and Bobby Wenton, who brought in big crowds in the 1960s as the Buzz Brothers. The near-legendary Harold Phillips, "Lord Woodbine", ran the New Colony Club in Berkeley Street where many bands tried their hand, including the Silver Beatles, as they were named then. The sounds coming from the art school area were very different. Rhythm and blues often ruled the day, with bands like the Roadrunners and the Clayton Squares among the most popular.

"People say there were no blues acts to be had in Liverpool, but there were," says Bill. "I used to handle Alexis Korner's publicity, and he said Liverpool was the best place to go for blues guitarists." Bill Harry's theory is that bands like these were caught in something of a backlash from the London-based media and record companies after the runaway success of The Beatles and the first generation Liverpool groups. "They didn't like it," he says. "Liverpool could have been Siberia as far as they were concerned." The story is still told in Liverpool musical circles of how George Harrison described the Rolling Stones to Dick Rowe of Decca as "almost as good as the Roadrunners" - but it was the Stones who got the contract and not their Liverpool rivals.

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CHART TOPPERS: The Real Thing was one of many bands to come from this city of music SUPERSTARS: The Beatles with Bill Harry Bigger Than The Beatles is published by Trinity Mirror NW at pounds 8.99. Available from good bookshops or online at www.mersey shop.com LOCAL STARS: The Clayton Squares and right, The Fourmost SO CLOSE: The Chants came close to the chart success enjoyed by Billy Fury, top right, and Gerry And The Pacemakers