by Bruce Eder & Richie Unterberger\r The Merseybeats were one of the better quartets to come out of the British Invasion without ever making a dent on the charts in the United States — along with the Roulettes, the Chants, and the Undertakers, they represent an undeservedly lost chapter in early-60s British rock & roll. Although they enjoyed a little less than a year of serious chart success, the Merseybeats were unable to pull together the various facets of their sound into a cohesive, coherent whole in the manner of the Beatles or the Hollies, and into something lasting, in part because of a lack of original songwriting ability in their ranks. The groups roots go back to the early 60s in Liverpool, and a band originally known as the Mavericks, comprised of Tony Crane (lead guitar, vocals), Billy Kinsley (bass, vocals), David Elias (rhythm guitar, vocals), and Frank Sloane (drums). They were doing well but soon found the name to be a drag on their success, making people think that they were a country & western band. They briefly used the name the Pacifics, and then became the Merseybeats — evidently their timing was such that they grabbed the name, previously a local music reference, ahead of anyone else in a city boiling over with musical activity.