Ticket to Ride

Graham Sclater, the author of this book, spent much of the sixties living and working as a musician in Hamburg. "Ticket to Ride" is an account of some of the events that many English groups experienced and wished to forget. It is dedicated to the many musicians who failed to survive the trauma and returned to England. During the mid-sixties, at the peak of the English group scene in Germany, dozens of groups made the short trip across the English Channel to northern Europe in search of fame and fortune. This novel follows the exploits of a naive under-age five-piece group from the South West of England as they make the futile search for success in Germany. Although they set out to follow the path of the Beatles, they soon fall deep into the world that their contemporaries were fortunate enough to escape. Based predominantly on the Reeperbahn, the Red Light district of Hamburg, the group is soon dragged down, their lives affected forever by the everyday world of prostitution, sex, drugs and violence, resulting in a total breakdown of the values that they once believed in. Realising too late that they have no way out, the story charts their desperation and untimely failure.

Table of Contents:
1 Hello Goodbye 2 The Times They Are A Changing 3 Let It Be Me 4 Shaking All Over 5 Shapes Of Things 6 Promised Land 7 Rescue Me 8 Rock Around The Clock 9 She's AWoman 10 Anyone Who Had A Heart 11 Let's Spend The Night Together 12 It's All In The Game 13 I Think I'm Going Back 14 Keep On Running 15 Wishing And Hoping 16 I Should Have Known Better 17 What Kind Of Fool Am I? 18 Whatcha Gonna Do About It? 19 The Price Of Love 20 Just One Look 21 Candy Man 22 Somebody Help Me 23 Help Me Make It Through The Night 24 Strangers In The Night 25 Heroes And Villains 26 It's Too Late Now 27 Cryin' In The Rain 28 Town Without Pity 29 What A Difference A Day Makes

About the Author :
Graham Sclater studied at the Phoenix Arts Centre in Exeter, where he concentrated on creative writing for the screen and television. As well as writing books, of which Ticket to Ride is his first published work, other key interests include writing teleplays and screenplays as well as developing and writing original drama series' for television. Those recently completed include "Street Life", "Buskers", "Love Shack", and a pilot "The Other Side of the Tracks". David Penn, Adam Faith, John Altman and a number of actors, directors and producers have favourably reviewed his work and several television companies including Central Television have taken options on other television series. Born in Exeter in 1947, he spent several years living and playing Hammond organ in various groups in Germany and Scandinavia during the sixties.He returned to England full time in the early seventies where he worked as a session musician in many of the London studios. An accomplished songwriter and musician, Graham has been featured in a number of arts and musical programmes and has performed and recorded with artists including Jimi Hendrix, Fats Domino, Ritchie Blackmore, James Taylor, Elton John and numerous 'name' musicians. Many of his songs have won international competitions and have been recorded by wellknown artists. In 1975 Graham formed Tabitha Music Limited, an independent music publishing company with a catalogue of more than five hundred songs, with hit records published across Europe and the Far East, including Japan. The Company's songs have been featured in films, television programmes, documentaries and have been released on major record labels including EMI, CBS and Phonogram. Keen on artist management he successfully signed groups to CBS, EMI and other worldwide labels. He has spent many years combining his production and publishing work with the management of his artists. A recent signing to the company are songwriters Toni Leo and Andy Littlewood from Doncaster, fourpiece girl group Eye Spy, The Meteors from Manchester, Fedia Lavrov from St Petersburg in Russia, and Red i, a fourpiece band from Exeter. Graham has produced records in varying styles as diverse as punk, folk, country, heavy rock and MOR in studios as far afield as Trinidad and Jamaica. Many of these productions were released on the Tabitha Record label in the Benelux and Spain and major or independent labels around the World. Graham's production credits have resulted in a number of hit records by many artists.Active in developing a number of projects at any one time, Graham is a prolific writer who carefully researches his subject before reaching for the PC. Many of his projects involve music and his background enables him to combine a mix of original music and script.Graham's first novel "Ticket to Ride" reveals the actuality of living and playing in Hamburg during the 1960's. He is now working on his second novel, and also a screenplay and a children's novel.