Various Artists - NME Poll Winners' Concert, Empire Pool, London, Britain, 4-26-1964

NME stands for "New Musical Express," a popular music magazine in Britain. In 2022, I posted a 1965 NME Poll Winners' Concert. Recently, I mentioned I have the 1964 and 1966 concerts as well. That led to a commenter requesting that I post them sooner rather than later. So let's start with this one from 1964.

NME began their yearly music polls, and resulting poll winner's concerts, in 1953. Apparently, the concerts continued until 1971. Since then, the polls and awards have continued, but with more conventional awards ceremonies. Usually, the concerts were broadcast on TV in Britain. However, it seems all the concerts from 1963 and earlier are either lost or otherwise unavailable to the public. (That missing material includes the Beatles performing in the 1963 concert.) Luckily, though, we have versions of the 1964 to 1966 concerts.

In 1964, the Beatles were arguably the biggest stars in the history of popular music. They sold one-fifth of all the music in the world that year, a feat that nobody else has come close to in the years since. So, naturally, they were the big stars of this concert, and were the closing act. By contrast, the Rolling Stones had had a few hits, and were already stars, but they had yet to become superstars. 

This show is basically a "who's who" of the best known British Invasion bands in 1964. Most of these acts would be left behind in a year or two, because musical trends were changing fast back then. But of course a few would thrive and grow even more popular.

I found an account of this concert at the Beatles Bible website. Here's the link:

https://www.beatlesbible.com/1964/04/26/live-nme-poll-winners-all-star-concert-2/

It quotes from a book written by Derek Taylor, who was the main press officer for the Beatles at the time. Here's the quote from Taylor:

"At the end of my first week with NEMS, on the Sunday, I went with [Beatles manager] Brian [Epstein] to Wembley Pool for the New Musical Express Poll-Winners' Award Concert, which comprised two shows. The afternoon show was the main event, with the Beatles topping a bill that included the Rolling Stones, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Searchers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Manfred Mann, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, the Dave Clark Five, the Swinging Blue Jeans, the Hollies, Freddie and the Dreamers, Joe Brown and his Bruvvers, Kathy Kirby, Jet Harris, Big Dee Irwin and the Joe Loss Orchestra. Stars of the evening show – which featured several Epstein acts including Tommy Quickly, the Fourmost, Sounds Incorporated, and (again) Billy J. Kramer – were the Stones. Everyone used Vox amps and it was quite a day out for fans, I'd say. Roger Moore presented awards and so, with a special one for Joe Brown, did Roy Orbison; and afterwards there was a short set from the Merseybeats. Disc jockeys present for the celebrations included David Jacobs, Jimmy Savile and, from WINS Radio New York City, the one and only Murray the K. During the afternoon show, Mick Jagger and Brian Jones visited the Beatle dressing room. ... A huge smile illuminated Jagger's young face and his merry eyes glittered with the delights of success. There was in that dressing-room a glow of liberated young people at large in a beckoning world, their pockets full of fivers, heads full of songs, bodies full of sexuality. Nothing could stop them now."

There are some things we can learn from this quote. One key fact is that the recording presented here isn't the complete show. Other acts who performed included Cliff Richard and the Shadows, the Dave Clark Five, Tommy Quickly, and the Fourmost. I also found mentions elsewhere of others who performed: the Applejacks, Cilla Black, Eden Kane, and Frank Ifield. I'll bet Roy Orbison performed as well, since he was there to accept an award. Elvis Presley, who won "Outstanding Male Singer," sent a recorded message which was played to the audience of about 10,000 people.

Fun fact: the lead vocalist on the second track, "Patsy Girl," is Ross MacManus, the father of Elvis Costello. 

The recording quality is a bit rough. Consider it was probably recorded off a TV in 1964, so lower your standards a little bit. But it's still quite listenable, in my opinion. The lead vocals were usually low in the mix, so I used the MVSEP program to boost them for most of the songs. 

In case you're curious about who won the poll awards this year, there's a list at the NME website, which you can see here:

https://www.nme.com/nme-awards/awards-history/1964-606225  

This album is one hour and 58 minutes long. 

One final note. I mentioned above that I previously posted the 1965 NME concert. At the same time I'm posting this, I made some changes to that one. I didn't change the music, but I switched out the cover photo for a better one, and changed the write-up a bit. Here's the link to that one:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2022/01/various-artists-nme-poll-winners.html

01 Opening Theme [Instrumental] (Unknown)
02 Patsy Girl (Ross MacManus & & the Joe Loss Orchestra Band)
03 talk (Hollies)
04 Rockin' Robin (Hollies)
05 Just One Look (Hollies)
06 talk (Rolling Stones)
07 Not Fade Away (Rolling Stones)
08 I Just Want to Make Love to You (Rolling Stones)
09 talk (Rolling Stones)
10 I'm Alright (Rolling Stones)
11 talk (Joe Loss Orchestra Band)
12 Kayote Vender [Instrumental] (Joe Loss Orchestra Band)
13 talk (Swinging Blue Jeans)
14 Shake, Rattle and Roll (Swinging Blue Jeans)
15 talk (Swinging Blue Jeans)
16 Good Golly, Miss Molly (Swinging Blue Jeans)
17 talk (Searchers)
18 Farmer John (Searchers)
19 talk (Searchers)
20 Don't Throw Your Love Away (Searchers)
21 talk (Searchers)
22 What'd I Say (Searchers)
23 talk (Freddie & the Dreamers)
24 Kansas City - Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Freddie & the Dreamers)
25 talk (Freddie & the Dreamers)
26 Send Me Some Lovin' (Freddie & the Dreamers)
27 talk (Freddie & the Dreamers)
28 Short Shorts (Freddie & the Dreamers)
29 talk (Tremeloes)
30 Candy Man (Tremeloes)
31 talk (Tremeloes)
32 Do You Love Me (Tremeloes)
33 talk (Manfred Mann)
34 Sticks and Stones (Manfred Mann)
35 Hubble Bubble (Manfred Mann)
36 talk (Jet Harris & Tony Meechan)
37 Diamonds [Instrumental] (Jet Harris & Tony Meechan)
38 talk (Jet Harris & Tony Meechan)
39 Big Bad Bass [Instrumental] (Jet Harris & Tony Meechan)
40 talk (Kathy Kirby)
41 You're the One (Kathy Kirby)
42 Dance On (Kathy Kirby)
43 talk (Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas)
44 I'll Keep You Satisfied (Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas)
45 They Remind Me of You (Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas)
46 talk (Merseybeats)
47 I Think of You (Merseybeats)
48 talk (Merseybeats)
49 Don't Turn Around (Merseybeats)
50 I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry [Over You] (Merseybeats)
51 talk (Diamonds)
52 Happy Being Fat (Diamonds)
53 talk (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
54 I'm Henry VIII, I Am (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
55 talk (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
56 The Seculy Gas [Instrumental] (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
57 talk (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
58 What a Crazy World (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
59 talk (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
60 I Like It (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
61 talk (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
62 I'm the One (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
63 talk (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
64 Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
65 talk (Roger Moore)
66 talk (Beatles)
67 She Loves You (Beatles)
68 You Can't Do That (Beatles)
69 talk (Beatles)
70 Twist and Shout (Beatles)
71 Long Tall Sally (Beatles)
72 talk (Beatles)
73 Can't Buy Me Love (Beatles)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/RLHMHeFi

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/VIOOKmfwfsb8k2S/file

The cover photo of the Rolling Stones is from this exact concert. It shows Brian Jones on the left, and Mick Jagger on the right, hold maracas. Actually, technically, this is a composite of two photos. One of them had a good Jones but Jagger was messed up, and the other one had a good Jagger but Jones was messed up. So I used Photoshop to combine them. They were in the exact same positions in both photos; it was just a matter of using the best parts.

The original was in black and white. But I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program. As for the text, I used some promotional material for the album I made for the 1965 NME concert. For this cover, I just copied that over, and changed the dates and musical act names and so forth. 

The Swinging Blue Jeans - BBC Sessions (1963-1970)

I'm prioritizing the posting of rare BBC sessions from the 1960s and 70s lately, especially the ones that are completely unreleased. Here's another case, the Swinging Blue Jeans.

The Swinging Blue Jeans were one of the many British bands that rode the wave of the British Invasion sound in the early 1960s. They started in 1957, and after some personnel changes, they found themselves honing their concert abilities at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, at the same time as the Beatles. In late 1963, a cover of the song "Hippy Hippy Shake" reached Number Two in the British singles charts, and suddenly they were stars. They had two more hits in Britain in 1964: "Good Golly, Miss Molly" and "You're No Good," and another in 1966, "Don't Make Me Over."

But all their hits were covers. Unfortunately, the band didn't have big success writing their own songs, although they did put some on their albums and B-sides. Like many bands of their time, they were unable to keep up with changing trends when psychedelic music became all the rage in 1967. So it's not surprising that their BBC sessions petered out that year. However, they never really quit. They made one last BBC appearance in 1970 under a new name, "Music Motor," but their latest single failed to make the charts and they disappeared again. The band is still touring as I write this in 2025, though they no longer have any original members.

Here's a Wikipedia link:

The Swinging Blue Jeans - Wikipedia 

The vast majority of the songs here are from the "Top of the Pops" BBC radio show. None of those have been officially released, although I found a grey market collection of them while searching the Internet. Unfortunately though, those BBC sessions don't include their two biggest hits, "Hippy Hippy Shake" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly." The problem is the Top of the Pops show only started making records of each weekly show and sending them to overseas stations in mid-1964, which is how the recordings survive, and those two songs were hits before that. I would guess it's highly likely they were performed on the BBC, but those versions were lost. 

So I dug deeper, trying to find other versions I could include. I found an unreleased live performance of "Good Golly, Miss Molly" along with "Shake, Rattle and Roll" for the 1964 N.M.E. Poll Winners concert. So I included those. I also stumbled across a 1963 BBC performance, "It's Too Late Now." It survived because it was done for the short-lived BBC radio show "Pop Go the Beatles." All of those shows survived due to the intense interest in the Beatles. But I still couldn't find a good version of "Hippy Hippy Shake" version anywhere. Finally, I discovered that one best of collection included an alternate version recorded in the studio. There was a lot of dead air before the song started, but I left in a bit of the studio chatter to show it indeed is different.

While the Swinging Blue Jeans were never going to rival better known British Invasion bands, they were better than many, and their music is full of that elusive 1960s vibe, which I really like.

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 It's Too Late Now (Swinging Blue Jeans)
02 Hippy Hippy Shake [Alternate Version] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
03 Shake, Rattle and Roll (Swinging Blue Jeans)
04 Good Golly, Miss Molly (Swinging Blue Jeans)
05 It's So Right [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
06 You're No Good (Swinging Blue Jeans)
07 Johnny B. Goode [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
08 I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry Over You (Swinging Blue Jeans)
09 It Isn't There (Swinging Blue Jeans)
10 One of These Days (Swinging Blue Jeans)
11 Ol' Man Mose (Swinging Blue Jeans)
12 So Much in Love [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
13 Good Lovin' [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
14 Crazy 'bout My Baby (Swinging Blue Jeans)
15 Lovey Dovey [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
16 You Don’t Love Me (Swinging Blue Jeans)
17 I've Got a Girl [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
18 Don't Make Me Over (Swinging Blue Jeans)
19 What Can I Do Today [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
20 Tremblin' [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
21 Bye Bye Baby [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
22 Don't Go Out into the Rain (Swinging Blue Jeans)
23 It's Alright [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans)
24 Open Up Your Heart [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans [Music Motor])
25 Happy [Edit] (Swinging Blue Jeans [Music Motor])

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UBh2ic3L

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/UDrhoNB7xu3hTVb/file

I don't know anything about the cover photo except that it's from around 1965.