Museum hosts an exhibition of real note

Jul 8 2008 by Nia Gibbons, Liverpool Daily Post

To mark the opening of a new exhibition, Nia Gibbons takes a Magical Musical Tour through the city’s history

IT’S The Beatles who usually grab the limelight when it comes to the Liverpool music scene, but from the forties to the noughties the city has had more than its fair share of talent.

Although music fans in Massachusetts, Minorca or Mauritius are more likely to recall the lyrics to Love Me Do than be able to whistle Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again, we have had more number one UK singles that any other city, many of them recorded long after the Fab Four had ditched their mop-tops.

Now a new exhibition at World Museum Liverpool will pay tribute to the city’s worldwide contribution to popular music.

A collaboration between National Museums Liverpool and the University of Liverpool, The Beat Goes On will include items owned by the stars featured, as well as interactive exhibits.

“The exhibition is very rich visually,” explains Dr Marion Leonard, from Liverpool University’s Institute of Popular Music (IPM), who has been seconded to NML for two years as the exhibition’s lead curator.

“We show the history of Merseyside music of different artists and bands through a series of themes, rather than through a more linear narrative.

“The approach we took was to choose the stories we wanted to tell first, and from that we decided which objects we would use and try to find them.”

These items had to be sourced from across the world, from Canada, America and all over Europe.

They were borrowed both from public and private collections, including those of record companies, musicians and fans, as well as national institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Library.

The exhibition will include the first public display of the stage on which John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met in 1957 when Lennon was playing with The Quarrymen in Woolton. It has been in St Peter’s Church Hall ever since, and was bought with the help of Liverpool City Council.

“The conservator Graham Usher had to restore it to the way it would have looked in 1957. He did research on the paint and we looked at photographs and spoke to people who had been there on the day,” explains Paul Gallagher, NML’s curator of contemporary collecting.

Another unusual piece is the recording of an interview made by Jerry Levitan, who as a 14-year-old boy sneaked into John Lennon’s Toronto hotel bedroom in 1969. His ensuing conversation with the musician formed the basis for an animation, I Met the Walrus.

Other memorabilia include album covers and props used in music videos, such as the metal car that was designed by former La’s member Mike Badger for Space’s Avenging Angel video.

Record sleeve art from current local bands, including The Zutons and The Wombats, are exhibited among relics from eras gone – a Vivienne Westwood suit worn by Deaf School keyboard player the Rev Max Ripple, Billy Fury’s first guitar, and a dress owned by How Much is that Doggy in the Window singer Lita Roza who donated it to NML in 2007.

There is also a collection of original handwritten lyrics, including Strawberry Fields and The Coral’s 2008 album.

Music venues also play a part in the exhibition – and not just the most obvious one.

“The exhibition focuses on music from post World War II to today,” explains Paul. “For instance, jazz and country were particularly popular in Liverpool in the 40s and 50s, and people saw that as the pop music of its day. The Cavern, Iron Door and Mardi Gras were all jazz venues first. The Merseysippi Jazz Band, the longest running band in Merseyside, were the first to play in The Cavern, in 1957.”