Pop Memories

I have a simple confession to make. There is no pop single that I loved as much as "Telstar" by The Tornados on its release in August 1962. Though this love has diminished somewhat with time, I consider it a truly great pop single that still stirs something of that initial excitement I originally felt when I heard it all those years ago. At the time I would have considered myself well informed on the pop scene. So I was already aware of the Tornados from a previous unsuccessful single "Love and Fury". Once however I heard Telstar I decided "this was it" and that I had never heard a better pop instrumental. So like a religious missionary I quickly spread the "good news" to my school pals predicting that it would be a massive hit. On this at least I was proven correct in a manner that then exceeded all my expectations. Indeed its success filled me with such a sense of pleasure that it might as well have been my own creation. It quickly wen...

I saw the Beatles second film “Help” recently which proved a nostalgic experience (having seen it originally at the time of its release in 1965). The plot seemed even more ridiculous than it did the 1st time around. However what rescued the whole thing for me were the superb songs like “Help”, “You’re Going to Lose that Girl”, “Ticket to Ride” and George’s “I Need You”. They sounded better than ever which possibly is due to the fact that the film has since been remastered. Indeed their entire catalogue has just been remastered with simultaneous releases of the Box Set and all the individual albums (including other single, B side and EP tracks). Now in the first week of release no less than 11 of these are included in the UK Top 40 (40 years or more after the original recordings). For me, no other band even came close to the Beatles both in the quality and range of the output. Though occasional single tracks by other groups such as The Rolling Stones, Procul Harum, The Moody Blues and...

I had just installed my new record player when Barry a neighbour from down the road arrived in to proudly play his most recent purchase. It was Del Shannon's "Runaway" which Barry really loved. It was not difficult to see why as it is a truly great pop record. And Del Shannon was destined to figure large in my early pop memories. No sooner had "Runaway" started to fade from the charts that Barry arrived in with the follow-up "Hats off to Larry" (which we renamed in his honour "Hats off to Barry") and then "So Long Baby". After all this time I can even recall the B sides. One in particular (on the flip side of "Hats off to Larry") stuck in my memory due to its strange title "Don't Gild the Lily, Lily". Another (on the flip side of "So Long Baby") was "The Answer to Everything" which became a huge hit subsequently in Ireland for Joe Dolan . Del Shannon was very versatile with a truly di...

I watched a fascinating programme on Les Paul last night on BBC 4. I was in two minds beforehand as to whether to bother but it turned out to the best 90 minutes of TV that I have seen in a long time. I have of course heard of Les Paul and his successful association with Mary Ford , especially "How High the Moon". But I did not realise how great a guitarist and creator he actually was. Most of all, though in his 90's when footage for the programme was shot, he turned out to be a wonderfully engaging personality. Why was he so successful? Obviously he had a considerable inherent talent (indeed many great talents). Not alone did he develop a unique playing style (combining both country and jazz influences) he was a true innovator of sound and the first to develop overdubbing and multi track techniques which he exploited brilliantly in his own recordings (especially with Mary Ford ). However the real secret that came across was a tremendous self confidence in his abili...