![\"pop_goes_the_easel\"](\"http:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/pop_goes_the_easel.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Start Of The Swinging Sixties\u00a0<\/i><\/strong>EL In association with Cherry Red Records (ACMEMD264CD)<\/em><\/p>\n Pop Goes the Easel: The Start of the Swinging Sixties\u00a0<\/i>is a 2 CD set that comprises a mammoth 65 tracks that are drawn from a series of British films and television programmes that marked the beginning of the so called \u2018Swinging Sixties\u2019. The title of this particular compilation is taken from Ken Russel\u2019s \u2018Pop Art\u2019 documentary from 1962, and this album can boast a wide range of music including, jazz, rock n roll, pop balladry, theme tunes and film scores, taken from a diverse range of visual genres, including, musicals, documentaries, sci-fi, melodrama and kitchen sink dramas.<\/p>\n According to the compilers of\u00a0Pop Goes the Easel\u00a0<\/i>the big screen and television was influential in providing a platform for pop music. Television and Pop music was beginning to have a powerful impact both socially and cutlturally in this period, and was arguably the two most common activities that people participated in. Television was an important point of contact between the performer and the audience, and an it can be argued that television broadly speaking was important in bringing a new visually exciting world of popular culture in the form of performance art to the masses.<\/p>\n However, British pop music in this period was in something of a lull, and it would be fair to say that Britain did not produce the most distinguished canon of music, apart from a few Elvis Presley wannabes (and we all know who they were). Nonetheless\u00a0\u00a0what was happening in Britain was that the seeds of an embryonic pop music culture was starting to infiltrate cinema and television to such an extent, that pop music had to be taken seriously as an art form in its own right. The pop song as this compilation demonstrates was being used as a form of narrative that could be used to speak for the characters, and commentate on a particular scene in a tv show or film.<\/p>\n It is fitting that this compilation starts with Ken Russell\u2018s 44 minute documentary\u00a0Pop Goes the Easel<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0Television viewers were introduced to the playful world of \u2018Pop Art\u2019\u00a0\u00a0and four pop artists in particular, who were irreverently commenting on the age of American led mass media, mass production and mass consumerism. This portrait of Sir Peter Blake, Pauline Boty, Derek Boshier and Peter Phillips had only snippets of dialogue and is far more visual and musical. It is a documentary that comments on the infiltration of American culture into Britain and sadly for this particular viewer the vibrancy of \u2018Pop Art\u2019 was slightly hampered by the fact that this documentary is in black and white.<\/p>\n The theme tune to\u00a0The Avengers<\/i>\u00a0is also featured and this partiucular score accompanied the early episodes when Patrick McNee was playing second fiddle to Ian Hendry. Hendry left\u00a0The Avengers\u00a0<\/i>after the first series, which left McNee to take the lead role with a succession of beautiful assistants. The thought provoking, baffling and stupendous cult tv show\u00a0The Prisoner<\/i>\u00a0is also represented on this compilation, and for those of you who have watched the series it will be impossible to forget Carmen Miranda\u2019s \u2018YI YI YI YI (I Like You Very Much)\u2019 and The Four Lads \u2018Dry Bones\u2019, which were both used to stunning effect in the brilliantly surreal \u2018Fall Out\u2019. Even today the final instalment of\u00a0The Prisoner\u00a0<\/i>still has audiences scratching their heads in bewilderment, and frustratingly left us with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n However, it is films in the shape of musicals that make up the bulk of the tracks on\u00a0Pop Goes the<\/i>\u00a0Easel,<\/i>\u00a0and it is the influence of Richard Lester who can be felt most of all on this album.\u00a0\u00a0His directorial debut\u00a0It\u2019s<\/i>\u00a0Trad Dad<\/i>\u00a0features a myriad of artists who not only perform the songs but also appear in the film. There are star turns from Helen Shapiro, Craig Douglas, Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck, Del Shannon, Chubby Checker, Gene McDaniels and Gene Vincent. This particular film anticipates the enormous success of Lester\u2019s subsequent films\u00a0A Hard Days Night<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Help\u00a0<\/i>starring (in case you didn\u2019t know) The Beatles. Richard Lester would prove to be arguably one of the most influential film direcors of the decade.\u00a0\u00a0His lasting legacy was his work in the 1960s, and today he is mostly (and unfairly) remembered for his work with The Beatles. BUY HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n The Huge World of Emily Small<\/strong>\u00a0(CRSEG006)<\/em><\/p>\n The Picadilly Line released The Huge World of Emily Small in 1967 and then as is now this album has remained an obscurity. This rare \u2018Baroque Pop\u2019 nugget has received the full reissue treatment from Grapefruit Records a Division of Cherry Red Records, and this set comprises a re-mastered version of the original album plus ten bonus tracks with previously unseen photos and liner notes, which shed some light on this rather mysterious band.<\/p>\n The Picadilly Line were a 2 piece formed by Rod Edwards (keyboards and vocals) and Roger Hand (acoustic guitar and vocals). They signed to CBS as a 2 piece in 1966 and by the time recording of The Huge World of Emily Small commenced in the summer of 1967 they were augmented by a myriad of session men, and could boast of a studio band of orchestra sized proportions that included luminaries such as Danny Thompson and Herbie Flowers.<\/p>\n The music on this album is so sweet, light and fluffy that it could just be the musical equivalent of candy floss. This is \u2018Baroque Pop\u2019 of a particularly twee nature and will appeal directly to fans of late 1960s pop that is less on the lysergic side. The album has a distinctly English hue with evocative imagery, and pretty layered harmonies and delicate instrumentation. The songs are virtually all original compositions and despite the English whimsical nature of this album Edwards and Hand manage to throw a spanner in the works (which is no bad thing) by adding cover versions of The Everly Brothers \u2018Gone, Gone, Gone\u2019, and a shortened version of Bob Dylan\u2019s epic masterpiece \u2018Visions of Johanna.\u2019<\/p>\n The Huge World of Emily Small disappeared without as much as a whisper when it was released in 1967. This was not at all unusual in the late 1960s as The Zombies, The Kinks and a whole host of other bands will testify. The lack of commercial success did not lead to their demise, and the bonus tracks on this album reveal the Picadilly Line\u2019s more psychedelic moments, including the Graham Nash penned \u2018Yellow Rainbow\u2019, which had Jan Barber on vocals and \u2018I Know, She Believes\u2019.<\/p>\n By their own admission both Edwards and Hand were finished with the Picadilly Line by 1968, and their demise was hastened by the lack of interest in the fortunes of the band from their record company CBS. Edwards and Hand duly began a new musical adventure with the bizarrely named \u2018Edwards Hand\u2019, and they subsequently recorded 2 albums, which were both produced by George Martin. The Huge World of Emily Small may not make an indelible imprint on the listeners consciousness, however, it\u2019s rarity and mystery will intrigue listeners and its long over due appraisal is finally over thanks to the efforts of Grapefruit Records. BUY HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n Cut Me Deep:<\/strong> The Anthology 1984 \u2013 2014 \u2018The Jasmine Minks\u2019 may not be the first band that springs to mind when thinking about Alan McGee\u2019s \u2018Creation Records\u2019. However, signing to McGee\u2019s fledgling Indie label proved a pivotal moment for both \u2018The Jasmine Minks\u2019 and the fledgling \u2018Creation Records\u2019. McGee\u2019s signed \u2018The Jasmine Minks\u2019 in 1983 after reading a Melody Maker review of a demo the recorded. McGee went to see the band rehearse and he was impressed enough to offer them a record deal, and a bond was formed over their mutual admiration for \u2018The Velvet Underground\u2019. The \u2018Minks\u2019 played their first gig at McGee\u2019s legendary \u2018The Living Room,\u2019 and would be regulars alongside label mates \u2018The Loft\u2019 \u2018Primal Scream\u2019 and \u2018The Pastels\u2019, and by 1984 they had recorded their debut single Think! at Alaska Studios for the princely sum of $50.<\/p>\n \u2018The Jasmine Minks\u2019 have been with Alan McGee throughout their entire recording career, and with an impressive canon of work that comprises 6 albums, 8 singles, EPs, and a slew of compilations, comes the definitive \u2018Minks\u2019 collection. Cut Me Deep The Anthology 1984 \u2013 2014 brings together on 2 CDs pretty much everything they recorded with \u2018Creation Records\u2019, including, all four albums One Two Three Four Five Six Seven\u2026 All Good Preachers Go To Heaven, The Jasmine Minks, Another Age and Scratch The Surface. Some of the \u2018Minks\u2019 later output is also covered including tracks from their final album on McGee\u2019s \u2018Poptones\u2019 label and a new single Christine.<\/p>\n The first CD kicks off with the debut single Think! and this song along with the rest of their early singles seriously kicks up a storm. With their jangly Rickenbacker sound and prominent bass and kick ass drumming from Tom Reid, the \u2018Minks\u2019 had one foot in the melodic pop of the 1960s and the other foot squarely in post punk. This music sounds as fresh as a daisy today, but must have seemed out of kilter with all the slickly smooth synth pop and other such guff that was taking the charts by storm in this period.<\/p>\n This anthology is a tale of two halves and both CDs highlight the evolution of the band from a somewhat ramshackle scratchy post punk outfit (What\u2019s Happening & Black and Blue are brilliant examples of this) to a more soulful and reflective direction, which can be heard on their last \u2018Creation Records\u2019 album Scratch the Surface. Also included are a number of tracks taken from their final studio album Popartglory, and the \u2018Minks\u2019 nail their anti-capitalist credentials well and truly to the mast with Daddy Dog. This song features the Scottish Socialist political firebrand and \u2018Solidarity\u2019 party member Tommy Sheridan, who provides the rant\/rap to this overtly political song just before he was jailed for his part in an anti-nuclear demonstration.<\/p>\n The roots of C86 and \u2018Indie Pop\u2019 can be found on this anthology, and it is fitting that \u2018The Jasmine Minks\u2019 should see their music given the full reissue treatment by \u2018Cherry Red Records\u2019 whose excellent work in bringing the \u2018Minks\u2019 and other such criminally underrated 1980s Indie bands to a new audience deserves to be applauded. BUY HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pop Goes the Easel: The Start of the Swinging Sixties is a 2 CD set that comprises a mammoth 65 tracks that are drawn from a series of British films and television programmes that marked the beginning of the so called \u2018Swinging Sixties\u2019. The title of this particular compilation is taken from Ken Russel\u2019s \u2018Pop Art\u2019 documentary from 1962, and this album can boast a wide range of music including, jazz, rock n roll, pop balladry, theme tunes and film scores, taken from a diverse range of visual genres, including, musicals, documentaries, sci-fi, melodrama and kitchen sink dramas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":9281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,74],"tags":[750,751,861,792,973,974],"series":[],"class_list":["post-6191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-reviews","tag-cherry-red-records","tag-el-records","tag-grapefruit-records","tag-longjohn","tag-picadilly-line","tag-the-jasmine-minks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6191"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6329,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6191\/revisions\/6329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6191"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=6191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Picadilly Line<\/h1>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Jasmine Minks<\/h1>\n
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\n(CDBRED608)<\/em><\/p>\n