DESCRIPTION ITEM: VINYL LP 12" 33 1/3RPM
ARTIST: MERV BENTON
TITLE: The Fabulous MERV BENTON
COUNTRY PRINTED: OZ
CAT No: RAVEN, RVLP-16
COVER: (Grade at NEAR MINT+ to MINT-)
LABELS: (Grade at MINT)
VINYL: (Grade at MINT-)
TRACKS:
A1-Yield Not to Temptation 2:20
A2-It's Love Baby 2:25
A3-Put the Blame On Me
A4-Can I Believe It's True? 2:40
A5-Be Sweet 2:16
A6-King of Love 2:12
A7-Come On and Get Me 2:55
A8-Lonely Weekends
A9-The Worrying Kind 2:44
A10-You Got What It Takes (To Take What I Got) 2:06
A11-Don't Destroy Me 2:53
B1-Baby, Let's Play House 2:29
B2-Nervous Breakdown 2:29
B3-Cincinnati Fireball 2:51
B4-Rocky Road Blues
B5-My Girl Josephine
B6-Honey Don't
B7-Twenty Flight Rock 1:56
B8-(I Do The) Shimmy Shimmy '65 2:52
B9-I'll Go Crazy 1:47
B10-I Got Burned 2:20
B11-Sell My Soul 2:30
COMMENT: Milesago
The Merv Benton story is a fascinating chapter of the Beat Boom in Australia. From his base on the Melbourne dance circuit, Merv gained national attention and quickly became one of the most popular male singers in the country. In early 1964 he signed with Melbourne's W&G Records and became one of their most prolific artists, releasing seventeen singles, six EPs, and three LPs between 1964 and 1967, and scoring an impressive run of fifteen Top 40 singles in his hometown (several of which also charted in other cities). But in 1967, at the height of his popularity, Merv was struck down by throat problems that ended his singing career.

Merv (real name Mervyn Bonson. b. 12 August 1942) grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir and went to school at Preston High, where he was an enthusiastic tennis player. After he left shool he joined a major Victorian bank as a trainee but as a teenager he listened avidly to rock'n'roll on Melbourne radio and was captivated by the music of Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis. Merv saw his first Lee Gordon 'Big Show' in 1957, which featured Bill Haley & The Comets, The Platters and Freddie Bell and it was Bell especially who fired Merv's desire to become a singer.

His entry into showbiz was a classic tale, not dissimilar to that of American comedy star Adam Sandler. He started to attend dances at which pioneering Melbourne rock'n'roll band The Planets were the headliners, and he became friends with several of the group, especially the pianist Graeme Howie. Unbeknownst to Merv, Graeme entered him in a talent contest at the local Canterbury Ballroom in October 1960. By the time his name was called it was too late to back out, but as it turned out his very first public performance -- singing "Don't Leave Me This Way" -- won him first place. The same night he met young promoter Brian de Courcy.

A week later Merv met with De Courcy and decided to tfollow his dream of becoming a singer. Brian installed Merv as the vocalist with The Ramrods, a group led by Ian B. Allen and he was soon performing with them at venues like Whittlesea Hall and the Preston Migrant Centre. He quickly built up a strong local following -- creating what historian Noel McGrath charmingly describes as "mild hysteria" -- and even before his first record release he had his own fan club, with over 250 members -- a remarkable feat considering his only exposure at this stage was at local dances in Melbourne.

Early in 1964 Merv was invited to make some demo recordings for the W&G label. The session was produced by Johnny Chester and the backing was provided by Les Stacpool (guitar), Albert Stacpool (keyboards), Frank McMahhon (bass) and Mick Lynch (drums); also in the studio was the renowned Stan Rofe, who helped advised and encouraged many Australian acts including Merv.

W&G were happy enough with the demo to select two tracks from it for Merv's debut single -- a version of Elvis Presley's "Baby, Let's Play House", backed by "Endless Sleep", which was the first in a string of Top 40 singles, reaching # 17 on the Melbourne charts, which in turn led to TV appearances on Graham Kennedy's In Melbourne Tonight.

VINYL GRADING SYSTEM

MINT:
RECORD: New condition with no surface marks or loss of sound quality.
COVER: New condition with no surface marks, creases or wear.
NEAR MINT:
RECORD: Barely noticeable surface mark with no loss of sound quality.
COVER: Barely noticeable surface mark/ wear.
EXCELLENT:
RECORD: Some signs of being played with extremely little if no loss of sound quality.
COVER: Slight wear or creasing.
VERY GOOD:
RECORD: Obviously been played with noticeable surface marks & the occasional light scratches but exhibits no major loss of sound quality.
COVER: Noticeable wear on cover, seam or spine.
GOOD:
RECORD: Very obviously been played with very noticeable surface marks & exhibits major loss of sound quality.
COVER: Noticeable folding, scuffing of spine or edges, splits in seams or spine or fading of colour.
FAIR:
RECORD: Still just playable & exhibits considerable surface noise.
COVER: Major tears, wearing, splits & stains.
POOR:
RECORD: Will not play properly due to scratches etc.
COVER: Very badly damaged.
+(PLUS)/-(MINUS):
Slightly up or down in condition as appears in the comments above.
NOTE:
Gradings are done visually unless there appears to be a questionable surface mark on the vinyl, it is then put on the turntable to check. A comment describing the outcome will appear if this is the case.

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On 28-Jul-14 at 00:08:00 AEST, seller added the following information: