Go Go Mania!

October 28, 2007 1:03 PM

The year 1964 was a watershed period in British music. Before that year, British popular music was barely heard outside of the U.K. But when the Beatles achieved American success, a seemingly endless number of British bands and singers were suddenly able to crack the American market.

By the end of 1964, some enterprising filmmakers decided to create a cinematic year-in-review to highlight this new wave of British music talent. The result was “Pop Gear,” a strange but jolly little production that serves as a celluloid time capsule for that remarkable musical year.

The features opens with footage from a November, 1963 Beatles concert in Manchester - She Loves You

...and continues with
Little Children - Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas
Make Him Mine - Susan Maughan
Juliet - The Four Pennies
The House of the Rising Sun - The Animals
A Little Loving - The Fourmost
He's in Town - The Rockin’ Berries
Have I the Right - The Honeycombs
Rinky Dink - Sounds Incorporated
World Without Love - Peter and Gordon
Walk Away - Matt Monroe
I'm Into Something Good - Herman’s Hermits
Humpty Dumpty - Tommy Quickly and the Reno Four
Watcha Gonna Do - Billie Davis
My Babe - The Spencer Davis Group
Tobacco Road - The Nashville Teens
What In The World's Come Over You - The Rockin’ Berries
For Mama - Matt Monroe
Black Girl - The Four Pennies
William Tell - Sounds Incorporated
Google Eyes - The Nashville Teens
Eyes! - The Honeycombs
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - The Animals

Closing credits courtesy of the same Manchester show:
Twist And Shout – The Beatles

These are only the bands' performances. The review was hosted by Jimmy Savile and punctuated with some truly glorious dance sequences.

Via Glyph Jockey, who also provides today's bonus link in honor of Rock and The World Series: Punk Baseball Stars!

posted by carsonb (24 comments total)

There are so many things right with the "truly glorious" link, as well as the Animals' understated suits - thanks for this.
posted by sudasana at 1:17 PM on October 28, 2007

great songs and truly painful lip syncing except for the Beatles.
posted by cogneuro at 1:24 PM on October 28, 2007

The crowd in the first link is actually kind of frightening.
posted by dobie at 1:32 PM on October 28, 2007

Hey, the Honeycombs link promises something called "Eyes," but all we get is the same old (great old) "Have I the Right?" I was looking forward to expanding my horizons on this Joe Meek-produced group. Ah, but the girl drummer... where is she now? (Actually, she could be a boy. You wouldn't put it past Meek.)
posted by Faze at 1:36 PM on October 28, 2007

Annus Mirabilis:

Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP...

posted by pracowity at 1:39 PM on October 28, 2007

Faze, Eyes! starts at the 3-minute mark of the linked video.
posted by carsonb at 1:48 PM on October 28, 2007

Oh my gosh.

I saw this show when I was living in Poland 6 years ago. My television was a random selection of European channels, and the only two English ones were BBC World and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Finding something decent to watch was completely pot luck, and when you had found something, trying to catch the next episode was hopeless. I think some networks just showed whatever the controller felt like watching that evening.

One of my favourite moments was stumbling across Tales of the Riverbank in Slovakian. And one day I stumbled across this, I think possibly it was shown at 3pm on a Tuesday in Hungarian. I just dropped everything, basked in a small slice of pop history, and digged the groovey dancers.
posted by Helga-woo at 2:08 PM on October 28, 2007

OK, I simply must have some of those fancy gold pants.

This roster really shows how the Beatles stood head & shoulders over most contemporaries.

Although Spencer Davis Group - Mean Woman Blues does more justice to them, but it is probably not from PopGear.
posted by madamjujujive at 3:02 PM on October 28, 2007

This roster really shows how the Beatles stood head & shoulders over most contemporaries.

From the Film Threat article:

The Beatles open the film singing “She Loves You” and close the film singing “Twist and Shout.” However, this concert footage came with a large string attached to it: Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, gave permission for its usage provided that several of his lesser-known clients were among the stars in “Pop Gear.”

And that’s probably why “Pop Gear” is not very famous: the major breakthrough stars of 1964 share screen time with Epstein-backed performers who were unknown outside of the UK (and, I assume, also within the UK).

posted by carsonb at 3:04 PM on October 28, 2007

Hello. Is this The Hives? Yeah, you better watch out, 'cause The Four Pennies want their outfits back.
posted by jonp72 at 3:06 PM on October 28, 2007

If -- like me -- you love the Four Seasons (not "Jersey Boys") you'll want to check out the Rockin' Berries link. They had two singles that, if the Four Seasons had covered them, would have been two of the greatest Four Seasons songs of all time. I'm not kidding. Listen to "What in the World's Got Over You," and "He's in Town" (seems to link to "What in the World" -- but it's available on Merseybeat compilations) and tell me those wouldn't have been sensational Four Seasons songs, especially with one of those great Bob Crewe productions. (Of course, the organized crime figures who ran the Four Seasons probably wanted to keep the songwriting bucks among themselves.)
posted by Faze at 4:29 PM on October 28, 2007

Great post!

Eric Burdon looks about 15 years old in those Animals videos, then when he opens his mouth and the deep, boozy, bass voice comes out it gets even weirder. Kind of like The Exorcist or something.
posted by marxchivist at 5:21 PM on October 28, 2007

Ashamed to say I had never heard of it. But it explains the title of Top Gear, which I have heard of (and consider to be a whole lot funnier than that Tappet brothers)
posted by IndigoJones at 5:25 PM on October 28, 2007

And let us not forget Big Beat 64, (I'm astonished to find it's now available on DVD)
posted by Joeforking at 5:47 PM on October 28, 2007

Wow, nice find, carsonb. Much obliged!

“Pop Gear” was shot by ace cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth (best known for “2001: A Space Odyssey”), and the production handsomely fills the elongated Techniscope screen with uncommonly sharp Technicolor hues.

Oh yeah! I think I might've guessed at a Kubrick connection if I hadn't read that first. Very stylish framing. It's a drag, though, that the Twist and Shout Beatles clip isn't also presented here in the Techniscope format. Drat! BTW, I linked to that same clip as part of a Twist and Shout FPP I made just recently, but until now I had no idea where that clip had come from... now I know! BUT PLEASE NOTE: That clip from my FPP has already been pulled from YouTube! The one carsonb has linked to is a new one, which I reckon might also be pulled any minute now. Anyone wishing repeated viewings might be advised to download...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:49 PM on October 28, 2007

And, damn little Stevie Winwood was singing his ass off waaaaay back when with the Spencer Davis group. What was he, like, 14? Scary.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:52 PM on October 28, 2007

It's a drag, though, that the Twist and Shout Beatles clip isn't also presented here in the Techniscope format. Drat!

Here they are together, flapjax. We loves ya. Yah yah yah.
posted by carsonb at 6:19 PM on October 28, 2007

Thanks, carsonb!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:26 PM on October 28, 2007

It's amazing how much The Beatles of 1964 look like a second-rate Beatles-cover-band of 2007. I dig the music, but actually watching these blokes perform on a brightly-lit stage, with huge microphones and antiquated guitars makes me cringe a little.
posted by blindcarboncopy at 6:35 PM on October 28, 2007

IndigoJones, here's another Top Gear connection for you from Sounds Incorporated. "Their greatest success was actually in Australia where their 'William Tell' went all the way to the #1 spot" - we loves us some novelty song downunder.
posted by tellurian at 7:06 PM on October 28, 2007

we loves us some novelty song downunder.

Tie me kangaroo down, sport!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:21 PM on October 28, 2007

Did you ever have that experience where you had a favorite song and kept a certain picture of the band in your head all these decades (this is pre MTV music) until you finally actually saw the band in their bizarre green suits among the "mod art" decor and a little part of your mind changed forever?
posted by telstar at 12:02 AM on October 29, 2007

I saw the tour mentioned here by Sounds Incorporated, and owned the Hall of the Mountain Kings single.

My best single is probably a copy of the Dave Clark Five's Everybody Knows. This band would have fitted nicely here.
posted by emf at 5:09 AM on October 29, 2007

My best single is probably a copy of the Dave Clark Five's Everybody Knows. This band would have fitted nicely here.

From the linked Film Threat article, Of course, this was hardly a comprehensive overview of 1964 in British music. The Rolling Stones, the Dave Clark Five, Petula Clark and Shirley Bassey were among the conspicuous absentees. So, yeah, I agree with you too—DC5 would have done this show right well.

Did you ever have that experience..?

Yes. To which band are you referring? (I'm not at a video-friendly terminal right now or I'd go back and watch them all again.)
posted by carsonb at 1:21 PM on October 29, 2007