In many ways, it's instructive to consider the story of Roger Bannister. For years, the four-minute mile was a barrier competitive runners simply couldn't break, and some athletes believed it was physically impossible for a human being to manage the feat. On May 6, 1954, Bannister proved it could be done at a track meet in Oxford, England, where he finished the mile in three minutes and 59.4 seconds. A mere 46 days later, John Landy beat Bannister's record, completing the mile in three minutes and 57.9 seconds, and the record was broken again more than once before the year was out. Similarly, before the rise of
the Beatles, a remarkable amount of British rock & roll was gimmicky, formulaic, and clearly inferior to the sounds coming out of America. Once the Fab Four proved the U.K. was capable of creating fresh, bold, exciting rock & roll, worthwhile British bands began forming at a feverish pace, and two years after "From Me to You" topped the British pop charts, Old Blighty took a back seat to no one in creating great singles.
Box of Pin-Ups: The British Sounds of 1965 takes its name from David Bailey's photo collection celebrating the movers and shakers of Swinging London, as well as
David Bowie's loving tribute to the sounds of the era, the 1973 covers album Pin Ups, and it's a supremely entertaining three-disc anthology of English groups from this annus mirabilis.
Some of the songs here will be immediately familiar to anyone who had an ear to radio, then or now (
the Animals' "It's My Life,"
the Zombies' "Tell Her No,"
the Kinks' "Where Have All the Good Times Gone"), and more were the work of acts who became cult heroes ("Midnight to Six Man" by
the Pretty Things, "Evil Hearted You" by
the Yardbirds, "Land of a Thousand Dances" by
the Action, "What'cha Gonna Do About It" by
the Small Faces). A few songs are from folks who would achieve greater recognition in time ("She Just Satisfies" by
Jimmy Page, "The Wizard" by Marc Bolan, "Why Does It Go On" by
Rod Stewart), and there are some tunes from acts hardly anyone has heard of (Robb Strome & the Whispers, anyone? How about the Kirkbys? Maybe Glenn Athens & the Trojans?). But there isn't an actual dud among the 92 tracks in this set, which nimbly steps through rock, pop, blues, and proto-freakbeat, and even the covers of American hits and R&B dusties (and there are a bunch of them) are fun, exciting, and filled with a sense of discovery and possibility.
Box of Pin-Ups: The British Sounds of 1965 doesn't attempt to make the case that 1965 was the greatest year in U.K. rock and pop, but once you've listened to this, it's hard to imagine there were any that were better, and this is purely enjoyable from start to finish. ~ Mark Deming