Vote for Britain

A crucial week here in the UK, with our election on Thursday and terror attacks escalating - lets return to the glory years of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s and all those British movies we love, part of our current Lists season, and no, I may not be able to stick to 20 each - but then, my blog - my rules. Reviews of lots of these at British label.

1940s:

• Lets start with 7 David Lean, all essential: IN WHICH WE SERVE / THIS HAPPY BREED / BLITHE SPIRIT / BRIEF ENCOUNTER / GREAT EXPECTATIONS / OLIVER TWIST / THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS
  
• 4 Michael Powell, even more essential: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH / I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING / BLACK NARCISSUS / THE RED SHOES
• 2 Carol Reed: THE FALLEN IDOL / ODD MAN OUT
• 2 Basil Dearden: SARABAND FOR DEAD LOVERS / THE BLUE LAMP
• Asquith; THE WAY TO THE STARS
• Annakin - HOLIDAY CAMP - the post war boom starts with those new holiday camps, 1947.
• Hamer – IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY - the grim side of postwar London / KIND HEARTS & CORONETS
• Crichton – WHISKEY GALORE.

Let's throw in some Gainsborough melodramas which brightened up the war years: THE WICKED LADY, MADONNA OF THE SEVEN MOONS, CARAVAN, BLANCHE FURY, and some Anna Neagle epics: I LIVE IN PARK LANE, MAYTIME IN MAYFAIR. 

1950s:

Often seen as a bland decade for English movies, but lots of pleasure for those of us growing up then:

• Dearden – POOL OF LONDON / THE GENTLE GUNMAN  / VIOLENT PLAYGROUND
• Crichton – DANCE HALL (by Godfrey Winn - the leisure time of factory girls, as much a social document as SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING would be at the end of the decade)
• Hurst – DANGEROUS EXILE (ditto Belinda Lee in this 1957 costumer about the son of Marie Antoinette..)
• Box – CAMPBELL’S KINGDOM (Dirk and very tough guy Stanley Baker in the Canadian Rockies (actually the Dolomites in Italy), we loved it in 1957.
• Fregonese - SEVEN THUNDERS (Boyd leads a terrific cast in 1957 wartime thriller set in occupied Marseilles - one I enjoyed as a kid)
• J Lee Thompson - NO TREES IN THE STREET / TIGER BAY / NORTH WEST FRONTIER (all 1959)
• NO TIME FOR TEARS - 3 Anna Neagle classics:
• MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER 
• THE LADY IS A SQUARE
• THOSE DANGEROUS YEARS
• WONDERFUL THINGS
• SIMON AND LAURA 
• AN ALLIGATOR NAMED DAISY
• NOR THE MOON BY NIGHT
• OUT OF THE CLOUDS
• JET STORM - Stanley Baker pilots the plane, Richard Attenborough has the bomb, all star cast in 1959. Love it 
• HELL DRIVERS
• ALIVE AND KICKING
• THE WEAK AND THE WICKED. Glynis Johns is sent to prison and shares a cell with Diana Dors, in this delicious 1954 meller, from J Lee Thompson.
• TURN THE KEY SOFTLY. More ex-jailbirds with Yvonne Mitchell and young Joan Collins in 1953
• PASSPORT TO SHAME 
  
• EXPRESSO BONGO
• SERIOUS CHARGE
• ROOM AT THE TOP.

1960s:

The new boys and girls and directors hit town:

• VICTIM
• A TASTE OF HONEY
  
• A KIND OF LOVING (above right)
• THE L-SHAPED ROOM (Leslie Caron joins the seedy Notting Hill bedsit set, 1962)
• WEST 11 (Di Dors also in Notting Hill bedsit land with gay Alfred Lynch, in early Winner 1963)
• TWO LEFT FEET (Young Hemmings and Michael Crawford shine)
• SOME PEOPLE, 1962 charmer about Bristol teenagers, with Hemmings again.
• THE BOYS - fascinating 1962 time capsule
• THE LEATHER BOYS - another early gay British saga, 1964, below)
  
• BILLY LIAR
• THE SERVANT
• DARLING (above right) - Julie and gay pal eye up the waiter .... both get him.
• THE GIRL WITH GREEN EYES
• I WAS HAPPY HERE
• THE KNACK
• THE SYSTEM - perfectly 1964 as England began to swing ...
• THE WORLD TEN TIMES OVER - 1963 Soho saga
  
• A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
• HELP!
• THE PLEASURE GIRLS - 1965 Kensington girls, gays too!
• SATURDAY NIGHT OUT
• NOTHING BUT THE BEST
• REPULSION
• ACCIDENT.

SWINGING 60s:

• TOM JONES
• WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT?
• MODESTY BLAISE
• BLOW-UP
• SMASHING TIME
• HERE WE GO ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH
• DEEP END
• PERFORMANCE.

All covered in detail at British/London labels. 

Beatles for sale - in vinyl

Now that vinyl records are back again - and a lot pricier than they used to be, a new collection of The Beatles albums in vinyl caught my attention, now that I can play vinyl again. Its so satisfying dropping the needle on the long-playing album, the way listening to music used to be, rather than pressing 'play' on a cd or streaming music.

The Beatles on vinyl collection starts with that classic ABBEY ROAD, at a decent price of £9.99, and there is a new album every two weeks, retailing at £16.99 - cheaper than buying them at a record store. The next one is SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND - I will have to get that one too, though I have the CD, as I do of most of the fab's albums, and I may also have to get HELP, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, REVOLVER and all their main albums again on vinyl. These may have been originally released as a box set, but this new collection allows one to just get the albums one wants, There are really a dozen original Beatles albums (if one includes THE MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR,, originally a double EP), the rest of the 23 here are those compilations and anthologies. 

I will be back in 1967 with flatmate Stan and Linda, the girl upstairs, as SGT PEPPER unfolds again. All are in facsimiles of the original albums, with magazines and notes. We Beatles fanatics will be pleased (though of course back then in the late Sixties I also loved The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Yardbirds, The Moody Blues, The Pink Floyd, some Who, The Band, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, The Lovin Spoonful, and those early Joni, Neil Young, Tom Rush, Aretha Franklin albums....).

RIP, continued ...

Alan Aldridge (1943-2017), age 73.  Graphic artist whose album covers and posters saw him hailed as a 'Young Meteor' of the Sixties. I vividly remember his fantastic art work on Penguin paperbacks, I had his "Illustrated Beatles Lyrics" book, and his "Sunday Times" colour supplement covers, like that handpainted mini car in 1965. 

He also did album covers for Elton John, The Who, Cream and others. One of the original hippie artists then, who - like Klaus Voorman - got into The Beatles inner circle. He looked the part too with that hair and tache. His airbrushed, psychedelic images were part of the scene then and defined the era. A quintessential 60s figure: talented, working class, handsome with long hair and a penchant for velvet suits. He also did posters for films like Warhol's CHELSEA GIRLS, and the logo for The Hard Rock Cafe. His private life was suitably colourful too, having seven children by three different women. Rock'n'Roll ! 

Sir Gerard Kaufman (1930-2017), aged 86. He enjoyed a long career as Labour MP spanning 46 years, including being Father of The House of Commons, and held most senior posts in opposition during Labour's wilderness years. He was Harold Wilson's "media fixer". The waspish MP loved cinema, music, and was a critic, writer ("My Life in the Silver Screen"), The confirmed bachelor was a regular on television. His Jewish parents had fled Tsarist Russia but the scholarship boy was soon on the rise to Oxford, and on to working in newspapers, before becoming an MP.

Bill Paxton (1955-2017), aged 61, after complications after surgery. The amiable actor was was working to the end, having amassed 93 credits, including early roles in THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS, APOLLO 13, TOMBSTONE as well as leads in TWISTER, and in Cameron's TITANTIC and TRUE LIES, 

Another Hard Day's Night

Thats a good way of starting the new year, with the joyous A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, reminding us oldies of what 1964 was like when the world was, as it seemed to us teenagers then, fresh and young. I was a Beatle fanatic so seeing them up close like this, and then in colour in HELP! in '65 was sheer bliss. Here is my 2014 review: (now for EIGHT DAYS A WEEK).

London's British Film Institute is celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Beatles first film A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, with an extended run of 34 screenings. I have the dvd but it would be nice to pop along and see it on the big screen again. It is very special to me. Prior to then, movies with pop stars were lame efforts like those early 60s Billy Fury and Cliff Richard vehicles (see music label), even the Elvis films were starting to look tired - then Richard Lester came along with Alun Owen's witty script and turned it all upside down. It was like a French New Wave zany comedy and not just to expoit the worldwide success of the Fab Four. It is both comedy and almost documentary showing the boys as prisoners of their success, and also some of those songs are staged and filmed like the first pop promos. Lester also included some veteran British players who play perfectly with The Boys. 

It chronicles a few days in the life of the band, on trains (Patti Boyd is one of the schoolgirls), in the studio, trying to get some space for themselves as they are pursued by hysterical fans, clueless reporters, a fretful manager and Paul's grand-dad (Steptoe's Wilfrid Brambell) the essence of a "dirty old man" though they keep saying how clean he is here! The moptops are all individuals - we all had our favourites - and are all great here. The great Victor Spinetti (see label) is a scream as the neurotic tv studio director driven to distraction by the Boys. Add in that dry Scouse humour as the four lads ooze charisma and charm, and of course those songs!. Lester too keeps it all flying - it revolutionised screen musicals at a time when Hollywood was still churning out moribund embalmed versions of stage shows like MY FAIR LADY. Jacques Demy in France though was doing something similar with his UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG - and the later LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT. 1965 saw Lester with The Beatles again and more pop promos but in colour this time, with HELP! I love that one even more ...

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT covers a very special moment for me, being 18 and new in London, and loving the Beatles and their music. That summer I had to stay out in London all night, as I went to see a late night French movie (at the old Academy in Oxford Street) and could not get home to the suburbs - no late night transport then! - so as dawn broke I was walking down Regent Street (where I would later spend over 20 years working) as the sun was rising over the old London Pavilion cinema where A HARD DAY'S NIGHT was playing, so the posters and pictures were everywhere. It suddenly felt good to be 18 and new in London as dawn was breaking .... its one of those moments that stay with one! 

A movie buff friend of mine, not a pop lover, was "disappointed" with A HARD DAY'S NIGHT when he saw it recently, but as I said, you would not judge it as an ordinary film. Lester created a perfect defining 1960s moment, capturing the youth of 1964 with the very individual Beatles seen up close and surrounded them with some perfect British players like Anna Quayle, Norman Rossington and the marvellous Brambell and Spinetti. And then there are the songs - like early pop videos with that gleaming black and white photography. 

Back to the Sixties at the V&A ....

We will have to trek up to South Kensington shortly to see this new exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum: YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION: RECORDS & REBELS 1966-1970. Thats a mouthful .... The V&A site says:

This major exhibition will explore the era-defining significance and impact of the late 1960s, expressed through some of the greatest music and performances of the 20th century alongside fashion, film, design and political activism.

I have not been to the V&A for a long time, its such a massive place - but this sounds our kind of show, it runs until February next year. 1966-1970 was a crucial era for me, being 20 to 24 then, and living the London life, going to the Roundhouse (to see The Doors, Jefferson Airplane etc), the NFT, hippie underground clubs like the UFO, seeing 2001 in Cinerama and on acid, loving BLOW-UP etc  - I even lived off the Kings Road in Chelsea for a year or so then. 

It was not only the fashions, music, movies of the time that were so relevant, but that counterculture era in full swing. Perhaps the political significance of that time is too immense for a mere exhibition to encompass, as it will have to cover quite a lot, from the Paris revolutionaries to the US civil rights protests and the dawning of gay lib.

That perceptive critic Philip Hensher says there is little space given in it to feminism and the nascent gay rights movements: "The curious effect is to make it seem as if the revolutions of the late Sixties were a matter of most concern to heterosexual white people, and only at the margins were black and other non-traditional members of society allowed grudging admission". 

It does though capture some of the excitement and the liberation of that era. Being a young gay then I lived through it all, so will be able to see for myself before too long. 

As per the attached review, it seems a massive exhibition

https://www.creativereview.co.uk/decade-disruption-vas-say-want-revolution-records-rebels-1966-70/

headphones and all - well, at £16 a ticket ....

Steve Dinneen of CITY AM says:

The V&A’s David Bowie Is follow-up isn’t concerned with challenging stereotypes so much as celebrating them. Mannequins in Austin Powers getup blink with giant eyes; quotes form and disintegrate on the walls; psychedelic posters and record sleeves clutter every available surface.

It uses the same audio guide as David Bowie Is, detecting where you’re standing and fading in the appropriate music or speech, allowing the curators to micro-manage your personal soundtrack; Martin Luther King blends into advertising muzak blends into The Doors. There are objects of historical significance – the jacket John Lennon wore in the video for Imagine, the battered high-backed chair on which Christine Keeler posed naked for Lewis Morley – but Records and Rebels isn’t aimed at cultural trainspotters. Where it impresses most is in capturing the breakneck speed at which ideology, music and fashion shifted over these years, how a perfect storm of influences created a period of change unlike any before or since.

The first room looks at possible causes for the “revolution”; the erosion of trust in the establishment (evidenced here by the Profumo affair), the rise of the civil rights movement, the increasing popularity of LSD. The exhibition then races through various cultural movements – fashion, music, protest, consumerism – relying on punchy visuals rather than display cases and captions; one room features a Vidal Sassoon salon with a real-life model getting a hair cut, another recreates Woodstock, complete with faux-grass and beanbags. London is heralded as the capital of the world, with Carnaby Street its beating heart (hard to imagine now, with its rows of bland American chains).

The protest section is a highlight, a cacophony of recorded speech and angry music, divided into sections on Women’s Lib, the Black Panthers, Mao’s Cultural Revolution (illustrated with a Little Red Book and a creepy under-lit bust), France’s May 68 protests and, of course, Vietnam.

Everything is painted in broad strokes and primary colours – those hoping for nuanced discourse will leave disappointed. But nobody does mixed-media exhibitions like the V&A. Records and Rebels seamlessly fuses fashion, music, art and history into a dazzling, chaotic experience that will leave anyone under 60 with the distinct impression they were born into the wrong generation.

The Beatles 8 days a week

OMG, I just checked out of interest and my perfect condition 1964 Beatles Calendar is on sale on ebay for £92.99 ! I have had mine since '64, when I was 18 and a total Beatle nut. I was living in Ireland till then and I was told I was the first Beatle look-alike in North Kerry! - as per below. I even got my friend Mike to send me over a pair of those Beatle Chelsea Boots.

I also have, also from 1964 - when I was 18 and new in London - a Beatles headscarf, with images and facsimile autographs of The Fabs on it. Maybe thats worth a bit now too - there is a sold out one on ebay. The calendar has those great shots by Robert Freeman, who shot their early album covers, and the images seem unique to this calendar. I am open to offers .... 

The Beatles are now back again in Ron Howard's documentary on their touring years, EIGHT DAYS A WEEK, we will have to go and see it, a lot of that footage, particularly their American tours, will be new to me, as I did not watch television back then, in my London bedsit. Sniff .... thats why much as we loved A HARD DAY'S NIGHT it was utterly fabulous to go and see them on the big screen in colour in HELP! in 1965 - I sat through it twice at the Odeon Harlesden in North London, in those days of continuous performances. 

Now for EIGHT DAYS A WEEK ...  as they said on morning television here earlier, 52 years later and we are still talking about and listening to The Beatles. Good to see Paul and Ringo on the blue carpet at last night's premiere but we know they are 74 and 76, they don't need to dye their hair and beard. We have moved beyond "When I'm 64"!

1971: Golden year for music?

A new tome on the key albums of 1971 should be worth investigating - as long as it is not as heavy as that recent book on 1966 (which I reviewed a while back). The author here, music jounalist David Hepworth, makes a good case for 1971 being a golden year, and looking at the key albums of that year I tend to agree - I was 25 then and deeply into music as vinyl record albums were entering their golden period.

Music fans of course will have their own golden period (that 1964-67 period was terrific for me too) - that time of their first immersion into pop culture, for younger people it may be the punk or disco years of the late 70s, but that singer-songwriter was at its peak in the early '70s as music by black artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack and Sly Stone evolved and caught the changing times. Led Zeppelin and The Who also released some of their best work - the Zepps were not for me, but I loved The Who's WHO'S NEXT - and of course The Doors L A WOMAN (having seen them at that all-nighter in 1968, as mentioned before) then there were The Rolling Stones ... and Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton did some great stuff too and Rod and Elton were at their early best. Joni and Carole dominated the year too with their enduring albums - Carole is even doing TAPESTRY in full at a concert in London's Hyde Park this July, 45 years after recording the album ...

How about this lot all from 1971:  A golden year indeed! I had them all at the time .... and a lot still now. One could say in 1971 rock was still inventing itself, we did not realise how lucky we were to be living through it at the ideal age - but we do now. Of course the next year 1972 brought us Stevie Wonder's TALKING BOOK and seeing and meeting Joni again - see label - and '73 ushered in Pink Floyd's DARK SIDE OF THE MOON as the long-playing vinyl album took over the world - see Music-1 label. 

• Marvin Gaye – Whats Going On
• Sly & Family Stone – There’s A Riot Going On
• Carole King – Tapestry
• Joni Mitchell – Blue
• James Taylor - Mud Slide Slim
• David Bowie – Hunky Dory
• Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
• Doors – LA Woman
• John Lennon – Imagine
• Janis Joplin – Pearl
• Carly Simon - First album 
• Elton John – Madman Across The Water
• Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells A Story
• Cat Stevens – Teaser and the  Firecat
• Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson
• Traffic – Low Spark of High Heel Boys
• Jeff Beck – Rough and Ready
• Van Morrison – Tupelo Honey
• Led Zeppelin IV
• Who – Who’s Next
• Emerson Lake & Palmer – Pictures at an Exhibition
• The Band – Cahoots
• Barbra Streisand – Stoney End, Barbara Joan Streisand

RIP, continued

Sir George Martin (1926-2016), aged 90. After Bowie, Rickman, Wogan, Tony Warren, another British titan has departed. London's "Evening Standard" put it perfectly: "The tributes to Sir George Martin, whose death was announced today, have been rich and manifold - and rightly so. One of London's musical greats, Sir George was the man who steered The Beatles to global stardom. To them, and to many others, he was mentor, producer, friend, arranger, writer and guide. It is no exaggeration to say that popular music as we know it today would be a different beast without Sir George's influence, which truly stretched 'Here, There and Everywhere'". 

Nice. Often refereed to  "The Fifth Beatle", legendary producer Martin' career spanned six decades of work in music, film, tv and live performance. He worked for EMI, Parlophone and Apple record labels and operated from the Abbey Road studios. He played piano on The Beatles' "In My Life", added the string quartet to "Yesterday", and the violins on "Eleanor Rigby" and produced and arranged over 700 records for artists as varied as Shirley Bassey and Cilla Black as well as the 1960s new groups. He also produced a lot of comedy records including Peter Sellers' single "A Hard Day's Night" (which he does in the style of Olivier's Richard III) and that 1960 album with Sellers and Sophia Loren (above). He also contributed to a wide range of charitable causes. The list of his credits is astonishing. 

Sir Ken Adam (1921-2016), aged 95. Production designer Ken Adam remains famous for his work on DR STRANGELOVE and seven James Bond films. His sets include  triangular Pentagon War Room in Dr Strangelove and the villain's headquarters in the 1962 James Bond film DR NO and the interior of Fort Knox in GOLDFINGER.. He also designed the car in CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG,  He was born Klaus Adam in 1921 in Berlin. His Jewish family, who ran a sports store, fled Germany to England as he entered his teens. He began to study architecture, and later served in the RAF - one of the few members of the RAF with a German passport - before becoming a production designer in the film industry. He won two Oscars, one in 1976 for his work on Stanley Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON and one in 1995 for THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE.

Steven Spielberg told him his work for Stanley Kubrick's DR STRANGELOVE included the best movie-set ever built. 

Richard Davalos (1930-2016), aged 85. That interesting young actor who played the OTHER brother in EAST OF EDEN. Aron was a plum role in that Kazan film but James Dean was so magnetic and hypnotic that Davalos seemed bland by comparison and it really did nothing much for him. He and Dean roomed together during the shoot, and their screen tests are certainly interesting. He had small parts in other '50s movies like THE SEA CHASE, ALL THE YOUNG MEN, and COOL HAND LUKE in 1967. He also did lots of television, and was immortalised on the cover of The Smiths' recordings. At least he lived 60 years longer than Dean ...

The long and winding road ...

What bliss to catch one of the music shows on tv: "THE NATION'S FAVOURITE BEATLES NUMBER 1's" -  a two hour treasure trove covering the 27 Beatles Number One records here in the UK, not just snippets as usual, but almost all of the records played (including that 7-minute "Hey Jude", which was the show's number one). Lots of unseen Beatles footage too and interesting comments. I really want to go back on a Beatles binge now and play the albums again. 

My favourite Beatles moment is probably this scene from HELP! - it was just seeing them for the first time in colour on the big screen. I was 19 and in those days of continuous performances I sat through it several times. It was almost a collection of Beatles pop promos. And I still have my 1964 Beatles Calender in perfect condition ! 

The programme did not even mention all those albums tracks we love: "Another Girl", "Drive My Car", "Norwegian Wood", "You Gotta Hide Your Love Away", "You're Gonna Lose That Girl", "I've Just Seen A Face", and the one that started it all: that first track on the first album "I Saw Her Standing There" ... the whole show took me back to my teen and early 20s years. 

The fascinating thing now is how quickly it all happened: There was Elvis in 1956 and 6 years later The Beatles were taking off in 1962 - and the band was over 8 years later in 1970. All those albums and hits compressed into 8 years!  We will always have the great video clips as the songs go on and on ... Anyone who does not like The Beatles or Elvis and cannot appreciate how they changed popular music, just don't talk to me! 

1970: Fire and rain

Many thanks to Colin for sending me this treat: the very readable FIRE AND RAIN, or to give it its full title: FIRE AND RAIN, THE BEATLES, SIMON & GARFUNKEL, JAMES TAYLOR, C S N Y AND THE LOST STORY OF 1970. Its a fascinating 2011 tome by David Browne chronicling that fascinating year in music (and movies and popular culture) 1970 as he focuses on the inter-twined fortunes of these musicians and their latest opuses. Other characters like Joni Mitchell flit in and out too ... 

These iconic acts of the '60s are at last wrapping up major new releases. The Beatles assemble one more time to put the final touches to LET IT BE. Crosy Stills Nash and Young finish their highly anticipated DEJA VU. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel finally complete their masterpiece BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER. (Paul referred to the title track as his "Yesterday"). Meanwhile on the sidelines, a shy upstart singer-songwriter named James Taylor is trying to write one more song to finalize an album called SWEET BABY JAMES. Over the course of the next twelve months, the lives of these remarkable musicians  - and the world around them - will change irrevocably. 

Acclaimed journalist David Browne sets the stories of those rock legends - and legends-to-be - against an increasingly chaotic backdrop of end-of-the-'60s events that sent the world spinning throughout that tumultuous year. The first book on the musical, political and cultural changes of 1970 FIRE AND RAIN tells the story of four landmark albums, the intertwining personal ties ties between the legendary artists who made them, and the ways in which their songs and journeys mirrored the end of one era and the start of another. Browne avoids sentimentality and nostalgia, aiming instead at a fresh look at the bands and their milieu. Some of the period details are almost astonishingly apt. says the blurb.  Below: Joni's album art for the CSNY album:

I was 24 then and in the thick of it all. 1970 was quite a year for me too - all that music, those movies still around like FELLINI SATYRICON and ZABRISKIE POINT. There were lots of Trash movies too, like Helmut's DORIAN GRAY. I was sharing a large flat with two friends in South London - here I am on the balcony leading down to the garden, plus some other shots from that year ..... My best friend Stan and I left the flat that summer to travel in Europe - my first trip to Paris, we walked all over the city and yes, slept under the bridges, then the train south and into Spain .... on return to London I rejoined my hippie friends (whom I saw The Doors & Jefferson Airplane with in 1968) in their rambling apartment until I left and found my own place for 1971. 

So it goes. 1970 was also the year I was at the British Film Institute cinema, the NFT, a lot, meeting and seeing and talking to Lee Remick and Dirk Bogarde among others, and standing next to Leonard Whiting in the gents urinal! plus seeing The Burtons and Joseph Losey on stage at the "Sunday Times" Cinema City Exhibition. I had also discovered Joni Mitchell by then, we liked her first two albums, and then saw her at her Royal Festival Hall concert later that year, from where I was sitting I could see the hippie princess waiting in the wings to go on - that was a fantastic evening too of course, little did I know I would be talking to her two years later when I met her purely by chance in the Kings Road (as per Joni label).

This book though captures it all - I loved the James Taylor album, and its follow-up MUD SLIDE SLIM, I was not really into CYNY but loved Young's voice and solo albums. We also had the Simon & Garfunkel and Beatles albums of course - this was the time When Albums Ruled The World! This of course was before the internet and social media, when the music spoke for itself. This is a fascinating rock book as Browne unearths a wealth of new material on performers one thought one knew more than enough about, for instance fascinating reading again on the mutual antagonism between Simon and Garfunkel. The Rolling Stones though do not get a look-in here. Left: Joni and James recording backup vocals on Carole King's TAPESTRY. 

1954: Rock'n'Roll America = my childhood

Thanks to BBC4, that enterprising music channel, for the three-part series ROCK'N'ROLL AMERICA focusing on that period in the early and mid-'50s when that degenerate new music took hold of America's teenagers and quickly became upstoppable, to the consternation of the older generation. Focusing on the Deep South and Tennessee it showed how the fusion of blues, bluegress, and all that guitar music formed the new music for teenagers bored with their parents' heroes. This was still segregated America as the series shows, with seperate venues for Coloured folk, and the Ku Klux Klan were still operating, and everyone was afraid of flying saucers. The series focuses on the early black stars like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, and then it all came together in the shape of Elvis, out of Tupelo and working as a driver in Memphis. We don't need to re-hash all that, but the footage is fascinating. Sun Records were looking for a white boy who could sing black and did Elvis deliver. I love that 1956 footage of him ....

Then along came Jerry Lee Lewis, the film THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT capturing Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, as Jayne sashays to and from the powder room in that red dress; and there were the Everly Brothers fusing their Appalachian tunes and harmonies to the new sounds .... The music biz though needed another white boy to sanitize that rather sleazy R'n'B, so Pat Boone was invented - a clean living (married with 3 little girls) and clean looking white boy eager to bowlerise those lyrics and appeal to the television audience. It worked for Pat - though not many would want to see APRIL LOVE or BERNARDINE or MARDI GRAS now. Boone, famously Christian and right-wing, now 80, is here along with Fabian and lots of other talking heads. The big re-discovery for me is Buddy Holly, with some great footage here - how I love those timeless tracks like "That'll Be The Day", "Not Fade Away", "Peggy Sue Got Married" etc. What a shame he died so young ...

Elvis had his imitators too - pretty Rick Nelson (a major talent too) struck out with Hawks' RIO BRAVO, always on somewhere and frequenly on here; Fabian had a run at Fox - I still like HOUND DOG MAN and that entertaining comedy western NORTH TO ALASKA (Fabian label), he also appeared with James Stewart (twice) and Bing Crosby, and the fantasy FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON, he was the first victim in TEN LITTLE INDIANS (1965) as well as appearing in surfing and hot rod movies, he also tastefully posed for "Playgirl" and is still going. Then there were Tommy Sands, Bobby Rydell and those other Philadelphia boys like Frankie Avalon.

Across the Atlantic, on the West of Ireland I was following all this from that distance, being about 12 at the time, we may not have had AMERICAN BANDSTAND but were able to read about it in the fan magazines, and hear the records and the artists like Connie Francis and Brenda Lee, I remember loving all those circa 1959, when I was 'wild in the country' on holidays. Ireland was really colonised by America then - we did not have their TV, but had the movies and the music and all those magazines and comics, from "Dick Tracy" to National Geographic spreads on Idado and Colorado, as well as LIFE and "Movieland and TV Time" and Dell's "Screen Album". The first record I actually saw and held in my hand was a 78rpm of "Jailhouse Rock" belonging to an older cousin home from London. Soon we were loving Elvis on screen in LOVING YOU and JAILHOUSE ROCK. Then there were those early cheap rock'n'roll movies and Bill Haley ,,,

But by the late-'50s it was all changing ... Elvis was a G.I in Germany and his music was changing, Buddy Holly dead in '59, Jerry Lee was in disgrace after marrying his 13-year old cousin, and wild Little Richard has found God. The music was sanitised for the television audiences, and just around the corner was The Twist and those new dances, the California surfing sound of The Beach Boys, Motown taking off in Detroit, and the British Invasion spearheaded by The Beatles not too far off. 
So, fun to enjoy again that innocent era of the late'50s and all that rock'n'roll.

It pinpoints too what a pivotal year 1954 was - one of my favourite years, I was 8 and had just discovered cinema (as per label 1954-1 - I have written lots on it): Elvis was recording those early ground-breaking records, James Dean was filming EAST OF EDEN for Kazan for 1955 release, while over in Italy teenage Sophia Loren (20 that September) was filming non-stop, plus my favourite film magazine "Films and Filming" began that October .... It would take me a few more years to catch up with those. But I remember the fuss about James Dean and the special magazines that came out after his death, as we all began to go mad over Elvis .... 

As

Mary J. Blige wowed Glastonbury festival - with the rain pouring down - last evening, doing terrific versions of her "No More Drama" and "Family Affair" which I used to bop to, a decade or more ago ... Here is that delicious video of her and George Michael tackling Stevie Wonder's sublime "As" - it very clever, George and Mary J are everyone in the club.

And I had never seen this before: George joins Paul McCartney for a lively version of a favourite Beatles classic "Drive My Car" at the London Live 8 concert .... take it away, boys.

George's "Outside" is a fun video too, and we love his OLDER album . timeless stuff, and those duets with Aretha, Elton, Astrud Gilberto etc.

Paul McCartney: "the finest back catalogue in music"?

A surprisingly rave review on a new Paul McCartney concert at London's 02, by James Hall in the "Daily Telegraph". Let me just quote the first paragraph or two:

"Rarely these days, given high ticket prices and soulless venues, does it feel like an unalloyed privilege to go to a rock show. Too often one feels short-changed by something, but watching Paul McCartney play for almost three hours at the O2 was a complete honour. 

Aged 72 and with the finest back catalogue in music, McCartney could be forgiven for coasting with a prefunctory review-style show. But the pensioner drilled deep into his musical vault .... and he handed out gem after gem to the audience over an astonishing 38-song set that left no part of his Beatles, Wings or solo repertoire untouched."

"Another Girl" - HELP!

So, has Paul got the finest back catalogue in music? Who else is there ? - Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan have their devotees, as do Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and David Bowie, The Rolling Stones of course and, er - thats about it, plus maybe The Eurythmics, Pet Shop Boys, Talking Heads, Blondie, Elton John, George Michael .... so maybe, yes, he has, going back after all to those early '60s with The Beatles.

Nice to see that he included an early favourite of mine: "Another Girl" from the HELP! album, and of course BAND ON THE RUN and VENUS AND MARS are essential Seventies albums. Merseybeat was served with "Eight Days A Week", "Listen to what the man said", and for the first time live he played "Temporary Secretary" from his 1980 solo album. Its "wonky electronics" puzzled at the time, but now seem part of the synth-pop that gave us Hot Chip. The hits continued: "Blackbird" and "Lady Madonna", "Eleanor Rigby" along with moving tributes to Lennon, Linda and George Harrison. Maybe I'm Amazed at all the Silly Love Songs ... 

McCartney has often been criticised for running away with The Beatles' glory, and was always trundled out at all those benefits and galas to lead the guests and audience into yet another "Long and Winding Road", "All You Need Is Love" or "Let It Be" or "Hey Jude" .... and the dyed hair did not help either. But here he is, better than ever ...

The hits continued with "Band on The Run", "Back in the USSR", "Let it Be", "Live and Let Die" and "Hey Jude". 

My 1964 Beatle look

THEN, he was joined by Dave Grohl for a raucous "I Saw Her Standing There" - I loved that track, the first one on the first album, a cracking young man's song: "Well, she was just 17, you know what I mean" - I was 17 myself then, but singing it in one's 70s with dyed hair, seems a bit "off" somehow.

They finished with "Yesterday" and "Helter Skelter" before closing with the "Golden Slumbers" medley from ABBEY ROAD. An exhilerating masterclass then from one of music's great innovators, as a 17 year old Beatles fan, I wish I had been there - its almost like my glory days of seeing The Doors The Who, The Band, Joni, Aretha etc  ... good to see the old guys still have it, like Paul Simon's and Sting's recent-double act at the O2 as well. Of course touring is where the big money is these days, not that Paul needs to earn of course!

Very 1964

Here's a fascinating group photograph from that wonderful month, April 1964 - when 18 year old me arrived in London. I do not know who took this shot (or is it a compilation of several pictures?) but it was at The Empire Pool, Wembley in North London. It seems all the pop stars of the time are here, apart from The Beatles who were off conquering America.

You can though see The Rolling Stones (including Brian Jones),The Searchers, Billy J Kramer, Freddie and his Dreamers, Paul Jones and Manfred Mann, Kenny Lynch, The Merseybeats and The Fourmost, plus Cilla Black (black leather coats were all the rage then for guys and gals) and Kathy Kirby and Cathy McGowan of READY STEADY GO where the weekends began!

Other 60s groups like The Yardbirds or The Moody Blues or The Kinks or Herman's Hermits, and The Who are not included, nor The Animals or Gerry and the Pacemakers or even The Dave Clark Five! but hey, not every group was there that day,  nor young Marianne Faithfull or Sandie Shaw! or Dusty ...

But this was the 1964 look, most groups wore jackets and ties - it was not until 1967 or so that the hippie look took off and lots more hair and moustaches and psychedelic clothes.

One sad note - quite a few of these here are no longer with us - but at that moment they were part of a golden age of British pop stars, mainly from the (Stones excepted) squaresville end of pop. The big music movie hit that year was of course The Beatles in Richard Lester's A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (The Beatles label).

One has to think back to what life was like in 1964 - no wonder young people were joining groups and making music. There were just two television channels, the BBC and commercial ITV, in black and white, geared to the family audience (READY STEADY GO on Fridays was about the only pop programme then catering for the teen crowd) and they closed down at night early, movies could not be shown on TV until they were 5 years old, if you wanted big screens and colour you went to the cinema. (The Third channel BBC2 and colour came in later in the Sixties, which were Swinging by then...) and in that pre-computer world typing on manual typewriters in the typing pool was normal and factory jobs were still plentiful.