David Bailey was born in 1938 and left school in Ilford when he was 15 years old to become a copy boy at the Fleet Street offices of The Yorkshire Post. When he was called up to National Service in 1956, he wasn’t allowed to take his trumpet so he bought a camera to allow his creativity to flourish. After being demobbed in 1958, he obtained a number of “dogsbody” jobs in photographic studios until Vogue magazine commissioned him to undertake several freelance jobs in 1960. This led to him taking photos of many of the fashionable celebrities that emerged in the first half of the Sixties. In 1965, he published his first book of photos, called “Box Of Pin-ups” which contained 36 portraits of celebrities who belonged to to “Bailey’s own world of fashion, pop music” (as the cover description described it). Amongst those portrayed are Terence Stamp, The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Jean Shrimpton, P. J. Proby, Cecil Beaton, Rudolf Nureyev and the Kray twins.
Whereas, 1967 is often referred to as “The Summer Of Love” and 1966 is often regarded as the best year for music, it was the events of 1965 which made all the subsequent years possible. In 1965, London became the centre of the cultural universe. Vidal Sassoon, Mary Quant, Cathy MacGowan, Diana Rigg, Michael Caine, Rita Tushingham were amongst many cool London-based celebrities that provided the inspirational template upon which the British music scene really took off. “Help!”, “Rubber Soul“, “My Generation”, “Out Of Our Heads”, “The Kink Kontroversy”, “What’s Been Did And What’s Been Hid”, “The Angry Young Them” and “The Magnificent Moodies” were all released in 1965.
This three CD box set presents 92 tracks over four hours and takes its name from David Bailey’s book, “Box Of Pin-Ups”. David Bowie appropriated part of the name for his 1973 album of Sixties covers, “Pin-Ups”. “Box Of Pin-Ups” is a real mixture of the well known and the obscure. We all know about The Pretty Things, Small Faces, Donovan, Lulu, Manfred Mann, Rod Stewart, The Searchers, Alexis Korner, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, Jimmy Page, Marc Bolan, The Moody Blues, The Animals, The Zombies, Arthur Brown and The Kinks. but what about Four + One, The Chasers or The Shots?
Don’t Lie To Me by Four + One
Keith West started his musical career as bass player in a group called The Teenbeats and then joined Four + One as a “featured singer”. Jimmy Saville saw the band and arranged for their first single to be released on January 1st 1965. The ‘A’ side was “Time Is On My Side”, which had already been a hit for The Rolling Stones in the USA but was yet to be released in the UK. The ‘B’ side was a Chuck Berry song called “Don’t Lie To Me” which had also been recorded by The Rolling Stones but their version remained unreleased until the 1975 compilation, “Metamorphosis”. In March they changed their name to The In Crowd, which was the title of a great Dobie Gray single at the time and in 1967 they changed their name again to Tomorrow. By this time, the only remaining member of Four + One was Keith West who had a hit with “Excerpt From A Teenage Opera”.
Hey Little Girl by The Chasers
Len Tuckey formed The Chasers with schoolfriends from Chase Cross School in Romford. They released three singles in their lifetime, the first of which, “Hey Little Girl” was issued in December 1965. It’s an energetic cover of a song originally sung by Dee Clark, an American singer who later sold over one million copies of a single called “Raindrops”. Len Tuckey subsequently joined The Riot Squad and joined The Nashville Teens between 1969 and 1973. (After he left The Riot Squad, David Bowie used The Riot Squad to play on his first album). His next group was in Suzy Quatro’s backing band and he played on all of her albums. In fact, she liked him so much that they married in 1976 and had two children, before divorcing in 1992.
Keep A Hold Of What You Got by The Shots
Millionaire Alan Brush picked up on a group from Yorkshire called The Moonshots when they arrived in London in early 1965 and arranged for their only single to be recorded. Around this time, Ronnie and Reggie Kray (who had been featured in David Bailey’s book) were keen to dabble in pop management and when they realised that there was a group called The Shots, they couldn’t resist muscling in. Reggie Kray once reminisced about how emotional he felt when Ronnie Kray murdered George Cornell with a single bullet to the head while listening to “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Any More” by The Walker Brothers. Luckily, the gangsters’ interest waned when the group’s single flopped and the band changed their name, appropriately, to The Smoke.
Disc 1
1 MIDNIGHT TO SIX MAN – The Pretty Things
2 WHAT’CHA GONNA DO ABOUT IT (alternative version) – Small Faces
3 I’M ROWED OUT – The Eyes
4 HEART OF STONE – The Hi-Numbers
5 HEY GYP (DIG THE SLOWNESS) – Donovan
6 SURPRISE SURPRISE – Lulu & The Luvers
7 THE FACTS OF LIFE – The Spectres
8 GLORIA – The Wheels
9 I WANT CANDY – Brian Poole & The Tremeloes
10 THAT’S THE WAY IT’S GOT TO BE – The Poets
11 UNTO US – The New Breed 12 NEXT IN LINE – The Birds
13 TIRED OF TRYING, BORED WITH LYING, SCARED OF DYING – Manfred Mann
14 THIS STRANGE EFFECT – Dave Berry
15 COME BACK BABY – Bluesology
16 WHY DOES IT GO ON – Rod Stewart
17 FOOL KILLER – The Brian Auger Trinity
18 EV’RYBODY’S TALKING ‘BOUT MY BABY – The Beatstalkers
19 GOTTA KEEP ON MOVING BABY – The Game
20 KEEP A HOLD OF WHAT YOU GOT – The Shots
21 SOME THINGS JUST STICK IN YOUR MIND – Vashti
22 I’LL BE DOGGONE – The Searchers
23 ‘COS MY BABY’S GONE – The Kirkbys
24 DAY TRIPPER (live) – The Baskervilles
25 DONE ME WRONG – The Couriers
26 KEEP ME COVERED – The Frays
27 LONG BLACK TRAIN – Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated (featuring Duffy Power)
28 LET ME SHOW YOU HOW – Glenn Athens & The Trojans
29 I’M LEAVING – The Mark Four
30 CRAWDADDY SIMONE – The Syndicats
DISC 2
1 EVIL HEARTED YOU – The Yardbirds
2 NO, NO, NO, NO – The Sorrows
3 SHE AIN’T NO GOOD – The Clique
4 LAND OF ONE THOUSAND DANCES – The Action
5 I CAN’T GET ANY JOY – The End
6 BAD TOUGH LUCK GIRL (live) – The Iveys
7 PUT YOURSELF IN MY PLACE – The Hollies
8 I STAND ACCUSED – The Merseybeats
9 LOVE POTION NO. 9 – Tony Jackson & The Vibrations
10 TOO MANY THINGS – The Afex
11 YOU GOT WHAT I WANT – Boys Blue
12 SHE JUST SATISFIES – Jimmy Page
13 SHE KNOWS WHAT TO DO – The Artwoods
14 NEIGHBOUR NEIGHBOUR – The Graham Bond Organisation
15 MERCY MERCY – The Athenians
16 LEADER OF THE SECT – Downliners Sect
17 ZING! WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART – Rev. Black & The Rocking Vickers
18 HEY LITTLE GIRL – The Chasers
19 THE ‘IN’ CROWD – First Gear
20 LONG LIVE LOVE – Phillip Goodhand- Tait & The Stormsville Shakers
21 I’LL GO CRAZY – Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band
22 THE SPORTING LIFE – Mickey Finn
23 GET OUT OF MY WAY – Bo Street Runners
24 THE WIZARD – Marc Bolan
25 IT’S JUST YOU – The Uprooted
26 DIAMOND GIRL – The Kingpins
27 MY LITTLE GIRL – The Lemmings
28 IT’S ALRIGHT – The Ugly’s
29 THAT’S MY STORY – The Nightshift
30 DON’T LIE TO ME – Four + One
31 AND MY BABY’S GONE – The Moody Blues
32 REELIN’ AND ROCKIN’ – The In-Sect
33 THERE YOU GO! – Thee
DISC 3
1 IT’S MY LIFE – The Animals
2 JUMP AND DANCE – The Carnaby
3 BRING IT TO JEROME – David John & The Mood
4 GET A BUZZ – The Pretty Things
5 YOU SAID – The Primitives
6 THE LONG CIGARETTE – The Roulettes
7 WHY MUST THEY CRITICISE – George Bean
8 TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE – John Bryant
9 WHERE IS MY GIRL? – Robb Storme & The Whispers
10 TELL HER NO – The Zombies
11 BABY MINE – Five Steps Beyond
12 I’VE GOT A WAY OF MY OWN – The Hollies
13 SHE’S ABOUT A MOVER – James Royal & The Hawks
14 WHAT YOU GOT – The Eccentrics
15 YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN – The In Crowd
16 I FOUND OUT – The Cops ‘N Robbers
17 I WISH YOU WOULD (live) – The Yardbirds
18 COPS AND ROBBERS – The Richmond Group
19 FORGIVE ME IF I’M WRONG – The Silence
20 YOU DON’T KNOW – Arthur Brown with The Diamonds
21 WAIT FOR ME – Les Fleur De Lys
22 I’LL GIVE YOU LOVE – Miki Dallon
23 FANNIE MAE – The Wild Oats
24 PLENTY OF LOVE – The Sheffields
25 HONEY WHAT’S WRONG – The Betterdays
26 STUPIDITY – Guy Darrell
27 AND TEARS FELL – The Clayton Squares
28 GET OFF OF MY CLOUD – The Tomcats
29 WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD TIMES GONE – The Kinks
Add Some Music To Your Day 