Box Of Pin-Ups: The British Sounds Of 1965

In many ways, its instructive to consider the story of Roger Bannister. For many years, the four-minute mile was a barrier competitive runners simply couldnt 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 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. A mere 46 days later, John Landy beat Bannisters record, completing the mile in 3 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 Baileys photo collection celebrating the movers and shakers of Swinging London, as well as David Bowies loving tribute to the sounds of the era, the 1973 covers album Pin Ups, and its a supremely entertaining three-disc anthology of English groups from this annus mirabilis. Some of the songs here will be immediately familiar to American listeners (the Animals "Its My Life," the Zombies "Tell Her No," the Kinks "Where Have All the Good Times Gone"), and more were the work of acts celebrated by Anglophiles everywhere ("Midnight to Six Man" by the Pretty Things, "Evil Hearted You" by the Yardbirds, "Land of a Thousand Dances" by the Action, "Whatcha 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 that hardly anyone has heard of (Robb Strome & the Whispers, anyone? How about the Kirkbys? Maybe Glenn Athens & the Trojans?). But there isnt an actual dud among the 92 tracks in this set, which nimbly step 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 doesnt attempt to make the case that 1965 was the greatest year in U.K. rock and pop, but once youve listened to this, its hard to imagine there were any that were better, and this is purely enjoyable from start to finish. ~ Mark Deming