“In Liverpool everybody wanted to be in a band.” In THE OTHER FAB FOUR, Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders --- the surviving members of The Liverbirds --- tell the funny, heart-wrenching, exciting, rambunctious and gutsy stories of their wild ride in the land of rock ‘n’ roll. Coming together in 1964, four music-loving chicks with guitars, drums and bass decided to make a splash in the boys’ musical pool, and they made history while doing it.

The story that best sums up the courage and gumption of these teen gals --- Mary and Sylvia, along with guitarists Valerie Gell and Pamela Birch --- is the one told in the Prologue. In 1964, The Liverbirds had played around Liverpool enough to land a gig in Berlin. Heading to the Deutschlandhalle, they were told that they would be opening for Chuck Berry and would not be allowed to sing any of his songs. They were scheduled to play two 20-minute sets but didn’t have enough songs without their covers to fill the allotted time.

"The book is a compelling, humorous and 'heart on their sleeves' look at a gentler version of the rock dream come to life, and it’s a necessary addition to any musicophile’s library."

The arena was huge, packed and had horrible acoustics. The girls couldn’t hear their monitors, and the sound was reverberating all over the place. They made it through the first set, but when they returned for the second, Val yelled that they should do “Roll Over Beethoven.” Their cacophony began with a roar. As Sylvia banged her drums harder and harder, the band sang as loudly as they could to be heard. Chuck Berry looked angry, and his manager ran onto the stage, screaming in their faces to stop playing. Instead, they did 20 minutes of Berry covers and, quite proud of themselves, ran offstage expecting a stern rebuke.

Surprisingly that didn't happen. Berry was so impressed with their performance that he asked them to tour with him in the US. However, they were told that they would have to play topless in Las Vegas. That ended the deal right there. “We want to go to America but don’t take up the offer. Being treated as a gimmick is just one of the challenges of being girls in the rock ‘n’ roll world and we don’t let that put us off…. We’ve come a long way from the Liverpool Cavern and we’re still only in our teens.”

Mary was a devout Catholic who wanted to become a nun. Sylvia started going to concerts with Val and, while dressed as beatniks for a party with the Girl Scouts, discovered that the clothes fit well enough to imagine themselves living in an alternate world of music and less-than-ladylike endeavors. Naturally the Beatles made an impact, but they were just one of the hundreds of bands that they could see every night in Liverpool's crazy rock scene. They even had a run-in with the disgusting, infamous Jimmy Savile and made the pilgrimage to Hamburg just like the Beatles did in order to achieve wider fame. They pulled this off when they recorded their first album in 1964. Sylvia’s boyfriend was working with the Beatles and told them how to skip over the pitfalls of being a popular band. They lived their dream for a good long while.

Few rock memoirs are as charming or as readable as THE OTHER FAB FOUR. Mary and Sylvia alternate chapters, imbuing the band’s trajectory with their personal ones. As teens, they were still very much involved in their family situations, and romantic dramas were rampant. The book is a compelling, humorous and “heart on their sleeves” look at a gentler version of the rock dream come to life, and it’s a necessary addition to any musicophile’s library. Be sure to check out their music online while you read and double your pleasure.