THE GREATS
There’s never been a decade like it, and it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see the likes of it again.
Elvis paved the way in the fifties, creating a generation gap that would never close again. And when those ‘white mans blues’ records started arriving at Liverpool docks and a young John Lennon took them home for his skiffle band to learn, pop music changed forever. British showbands, busy playing fifties standards at holiday camps and grimy working men’s clubs across the land sought record deals, Carnaby Street clothes, fame and fortune in a brand new world.
CLASSIC TRACK
Continuing a series charting classic beat and psychedelic pop from the sixties.
THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL
Summer in the City
The Lovin’ Spoonful had enjoyed a string of top ten singles in the US during 1965-66, but a number one had eluded them. However, in the summer of 1966, that changed with the release of their masterpiece, “Summer In The City”.
It was originally a poem written by Mark Sebastian, whose older brother John was the leader of the Lovin’ Spoonful. John liked the chorus - which told of oppressive summer heat, scorching pavements, picking up girls in sweaty discos and romantic liaisons at fire escapes - but felt the beginning lacked bite, so he wrote some new lyrics, including the sublime: “Hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck getting dirty and gritty”.
When the song was finished, John thought “it sounded like traffic”, and hired an old sound man from the radio era, who had hours of recordings of traffic jams and car horns. The group selected the ones they wanted to use and also included the sound of a drill to finish the section off.
As it turned out, it proved to be their last top five hit, and within just ten months the group was in disarray.
In London, The Rolling Stones led the way, followed by another riotous act, The Who. The Small Faces brought a quaint Englishness to the U.S. influenced R & B, inspiring The Kinks to bring tales of whimsy; fashion and romance into the heady mix. Back in the north of England, The Animals fused the new sound onto traditional U.S. folk music (made popular by a young Bob Dylan, more on him later). From colleges and universities came the likes of The Zombies and Manfred Mann to create musical credibility and the popular sound of the Sixties was born.
U.S. folk artists who had until this time had been following a similar path to their English cousins, playing traditional folk clubs and small bars, heard the new sound and joined to form new bands and establish their own. Initially inspired by The Byrds version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’, the jangly West Coast sound emerged from San Francisco. Although very different from the British sound, the music is still immediately sixties. Bands like The Mamas and Papas, The Turtles and The Beach Boys sing of warmer climes, The Monkees and The Lovin’ Spoonful made it all great fun.
Their hair was too long, their clothes were wild and with their loose morality, revolutionary ideals, an underground press and a total disregard for any kind of authority, the first counter culture was born, all led by a totally new kind of music. And your mum hated it.
Sadly, the sixties sound ended as suddenly and unexpectedly as it had begun. The war in Vietnam escalated, students rioted, The Doors heralded ‘The End’ and the Summer of Love and Peace ended in the winter of suspicion and betrayal.
Those pioneering bands and their brilliant songs are still with us though, as popular now as they were then. Across airwaves, on the World Wide Web, on CD players and in pubs, bars and clubs all over the world, people are still in love with the timeless sounds of the Sixties.
Upcoming gigs
Friday 29th Aug
Private booking
Saturday 13th Sep
The Dragon
Saturday 11th Oct
Private booking
Saturday 18th Oct
Goodbarns Yard
Saturday 1st Nov
The Brewery Tap
Saturday 15th Nov
The Bluebell (Dogsthorpe)
Saturday 22nd Nov
Fletton Club (free entry)
Saturday 20th Dec
The 5 Bells, Morton
Weds 31st Dec
The Dragon (Ticket!)
Sat 10th Jan 2009
Private booking
