The History of Rock 1965

I noticed last week that newsagents had a new magazine on display. From the makers of UNCUT, the History of Rock is a new monthly which uses archive material from Melody Maker and New Musical Express (NME) to document the story of the evolution of rock music. At one penny under £10 the magazine may be expensive but it runs to 144 pages of smallish font type, so I guess there is as much reading inside as in a paperback book of similar price.

Temptation overcame me and I handed over my cash. Since then I have been regularly delving into the pages which for this first issue cover the year 1965. Consequently we get a heavy dose of Beatles related material but as expected there are many features about the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Byrds, the Who and the Kinks. What came as a pleasant surprise is that the articles also cover other genres such as folk (Donovan, Bert Jansch), blues (the Yardbirds) and most surprisingly, jazz, with good pieces on Bill Evans and John Coltrane. There are of course many photographs and a few contemporary adverts to give the reader a flavour of those times.

I am particularly struck by the rather quaint style of some of the reporting in those far off days. One can almost hear the plummy BBC-like tones of some of the reporters. Where nowadays would one read the following about the Rolling Stones "They've done mighty well though, for a group upon whom so much controversy always seems to be centred"?

So far, other bits and pieces that have amused me have included a quip from John Lennon while reviewing the Joan Baez single 'Farewell Angelina'. "It's Granny Baez. If you meet her, she sings you everything she knows anyway."

Also in an article on the pirate radio stations, I read that people in Newcastle were rarely able to pick up Radio Caroline broadcasts (true) but that some youngsters attached their radios to water or gas pipes to improve reception. Apparently it worked!

Finally and regrettably I must bring shame upon the late Melody Maker writer, Bob Dawbarn. In a review of Dylan's single 'Like a Rolling Stone' he describes the "horrific backing dominated by syrupy strings (?), amplified guitar and organ." He goes on to describe the "monotonous melody line and Dylan's expressionless dirge". Best of all perhaps is the the following:
"My copy of the disc bears the legend 'Prod. by Tom Wilson'. Somebody should have prodded Mr.Wilson until he agreed to lock the backing group in the cellar until the session was over".

Priceless!

To be fair to Bob Dawbarn however it should be pointed out that he was much more into jazz than pop or rock (he was in fact also a jazz trombonist). Nevertheless some of his reporting has caused me a few wry chuckles while browsing through this magazine.

So far so good and I'm already looking forward to the second issue which you may be surprised to learn covers the year 1966.