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 Tremeloes - BBC Sessions, Volume 5: 1970-1972

This is the fifth and last of five volumes of the Tremeloes performing for the BBC.

The last big hit the Tremeloes had was "Me and My Life," which reached the top five in Britain in 1970. The BBC version of that one was the last song on Volume 4 in this series. They had two minor British hits in 1971, "Right Wheel, Left Hammer, Sham," and "Hello Buddy," and then faded from the charts entirely.

Clearly, the Tremeloes were increasingly out of step with music trends, especially as "glam rock" dominated the charts by 1972. But in retrospect, this music was just as good as when they were having earlier hits. It's just that it was seen as weak tea compared to the hard rock and other sounds of the era. One plus was they went from a band that mostly did covers to one that mostly did their own material.

All the songs here are officially unreleased. The vast majority come from BBC transcription discs given to me by musical associate Marley. All of those sound excellent. The first two songs, however, aren't even BBC recordings. Instead, they were performed on the British TV show "Doing Their Thing." They did some other songs on that show (which you can see on YouTube), but I didn't include those because they were done for the BBC without crowd noise.

Even in the early 1970s, some of the songs had BBC DJs talking over the music (all the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles). As usual, I used the X-Minus audio editing program to wipe out the talking while keeping the underlying music. But as you can see from the chronological song list, that talking trend slowly died off, with only one instance of it in the second half of this album.

The Tremeloes kept going off and on after 1972, and a version of the band is still going as I write this in 2022. But there were many personnel changes and they became an "oldies" band with little to no new material, so I lose interest at the point, just as the BBC did.

This album is 47 minutes long.

01 Games People Play - Proud Mary (Tremeloes)
02 Hound Dog - Rip It Up - Johnny B. Goode - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (Tremeloes)
03 But Then I [Edit] (Tremeloes)
04 I Swear [Edit] (Tremeloes)
05 Wait on Me [Edit] (Tremeloes)
06 Hello Buddy [Edit] (Tremeloes)
07 Right Wheel, Left Hammer, Sham [Edit] (Tremeloes)
08 Too Late to Be Saved (Tremeloes)
09 If You Ever (Tremeloes)
10 How Can You Say Goodbye (Tremeloes)
11 Do I Love You (Tremeloes)
12 Gotta Get Away (Tremeloes)
13 Hands Off [Edit] (Tremeloes)
14 I Like It That Way (Tremeloes)
15 Blue Suede Tie (Tremeloes)
16 Laura Lee (Tremeloes)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15853120/TTremlos_1970-1972_BBCSessionsVol5_atse.zip.html

I'm not sure when or where the cover photo is from, but judging from their appearance, I think it's a good guess that it dates to the early 1970s.

The Tremeloes - BBC Sessions, Volume 4: 1968-1970

This is the fourth volume of out five of the Tremeloes performing for the BBC.

The first eleven songs here have officially released, from the album "BBC Sessions, 1967-1969." But as you can tell from that album title, it ended in 1969. The remaining five songs, all from 1970, are unreleased. Their sound quality is as good as the others.

Typically, British Invasion bands like this one did covers for the BBC that they never recorded in the studio and released. That's the case with the Tremeloes. I didn't check every last song, but I know for instance that "Good Times," "Proud Mary," "I Can't Turn You Loose," were only done for the BBC. Note that a different version of "Blessed" from 1966 was included on Volume 2 in this series, since it was an A-side that year.

The band really blew it with the song "Yellow River." A songwriter by the name of Jeff Christie offered it to the Tremeloes. They recorded it and planned to release it as a single in early 1970. But at the last minute they decided it was too poppy and they wanted to try for a more serious image and sound. So Christie used the Tremeloes' version, but with his lead vocals, and had a number one hit with it under the name "Christie" in Britain, as well as a Top Twenty hit in the US. Given that the Tremeloes hits dried up soon after this, I'll bet they were kicking themselves later. The band's studio version did come out on archival releases years later, but it's interesting to see they did a BBC version at the time.

However, the band did have some other big hits in this time period, including "(Call Me) Number One" and "Me and My Life," both of which reached the top five in the British charts. They were writing a lot more of their own material by this time, including both of those hits.

As you'd expect from this time period, many of the songs had BBC DJs talking over the music (all the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles). As usual, I used the X-Minus audio editing program to wipe out the talking while keeping the underlying music. 

This album is 47 minutes long.

01 I Shall Be Released (Tremeloes)
02 Good Times [Edit] (Tremeloes)
03 Hello World (Tremeloes)
04 En Tu Mondo (Tremeloes)
05 Once on a Sunday Morning (Tremeloes)
06 Proud Mary (Tremeloes)
07 I Can't Turn You Loose (Tremeloes)
08 Blessed (Tremeloes)
09 [Call Me] Number One (Tremeloes)
10 You [Edit] (Tremeloes)
11 What Can I Do [Edit] (Tremeloes)
12 Anything [Edit] (Tremeloes)
13 Yellow River [Edit] (Tremeloes)
14 It's a Long Road [Edit] (Tremeloes)
15 Before I Sleep [Edit] (Tremeloes)
16 Me and My Life [Edit] (Tremeloes)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16376843/TTREMLOS1968-1970BBSssonsVol4_atse.zip.html

The cover photo was taken in Australia in 1968.

The Tremeloes - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: 1967-1968

This is the third volume of out five of the Tremeloes performing for the BBC.

In 1967, psychedelic music was all the rage, especially in Britain. Virtually every British Invasion band started wearing outrageous clothing, taking drugs, playing the sitar, and so on. But not the Tremeloes. If you listen to the music here, you'll find little to no psychedelic influence. Instead, they kept doing their poppy style, with a soul influence. And they stayed in the charts. Three of the songs here - "Even the Bad Times Are Good," "Suddenly You Love Me," and "My Little Lady" were Top Ten hits in Britain.

Everything here has been officially released, from the album "BBC Sessions, 1967-1969."

Typically, British Invasion bands like this one did covers for the BBC that they never recorded in the studio and released. That's the case with the Tremeloes. I didn't check every last song, but I know for instance that "Walk Away Renee," "Gimme Little Sign," "Angel of the Morning," "(If You Think You're) Groovy," and "My Baby Left Me" were only done for the BBC. Note that a different version of "My Baby Left Me" from 1965 was included on Volume 1 in this series.

As you'd expect from this time period, many of the songs had BBC DJs talking over the music (all the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles). As usual, I used the X-Minus audio editing program to wipe out the talking while keeping the underlying music. 

This album is 47 minutes long.

01 Even the Bad Times Are Good (Tremeloes)
02 Running Out [Edit] (Tremeloes)
03 Be Mine (Tremeloes)
04 Come On Home [Edit] (Tremeloes)
05 Reach Out I'll Be There - Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever [Edit] (Tremeloes)
06 Norman Stanley James St. Clare (Tremeloes)
07 Suddenly You Love Me (Tremeloes)
08 Walk Away Renee [Edit] (Tremeloes)
09 Ain't Nothin' but a House Party [Edit] (Tremeloes)
10 Gimme Little Sign [Edit] (Tremeloes)
11 Helule Helule (Tremeloes)
12 My Baby Left Me [Edit] (Tremeloes)
13 Sing Something Swingle [Edit] (Tremeloes)
14 I Will See You There (Tremeloes)
15 Angel of the Morning [Edit] (Tremeloes)
16 [If You Think You're] Groovy [Edit] (Tremeloes)
17 My Little Lady (Tremeloes)
18 I Miss My Baby [Edit] (Tremeloes)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16376836/TTREMLOS1967-1968BBSssonsVol3_atse.zip.html

The cover photo was taken in London in February 1967.

The Tremeloes - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: 1965-1967

Here's the second of five volumes of the Tremeloes at the BBC.

This volume is a bit strange in that some of the songs are billed as "Brian Poole & the Tremeloes" and others are just billed as the "Tremeloes." In mid-1966, lead singer Brian Poole left the band for a solo career. But to pretty much everyone's surprise, his solo career flopped and he was soon forgotten, while the four members of the back-up band went on to have even more success without him.

What's particularly strange is that it seems the band slowly transitioned away from him, instead of the usual pattern of it happening suddenly and permanently. (For instance, Wayne Fontana of Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders quit the group in the middle of concert!) So there are two BBC studio sessions here where the Tremeloes played some songs with Poole and some without him. That's why tracks 9 and 10 don't credit him, but tracks 11 and 12 do. Then the remainder are without him again.

After a couple of flop singles, the Tremeloes sans Poole had two big British hits with "Here Comes My Baby" by Cat Stevens and "Silence Is Golden" by the Four Seasons. "Silence Is Golden" went all the way to number one. Both of those hits are here.

Everything here has been officially released. Most of the songs come from the album "Live at the BBC, 1964-1967." The rest come from "BBC Sessions, 1967-1969."

Typically, British Invasion bands like this one did covers for the BBC that they never recorded and released otherwise. That's the case with the Tremeloes. I didn't check every last song, but I know for instance that "Baby It's You," "Like a Rolling Stone," and "It Takes Two" were only done for the BBC.

As you'd expect from this time period, many of the songs had BBC DJs talking over the music (all the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles). As usual, I used the X-Minus audio editing program to wipe out the talking while keeping the underlying music. 

This album is 47 minutes long.

01 I Want Candy [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
02 Baby It's You (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
03 Good Lovin' (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
04 Like a Rolling Stone [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
05 Hey Girl (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
06 Walkin' My Cat Named Dog [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
07 Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
08 That Reminds Me Baby [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
09 Good Day Sunshine (Tremeloes)
10 What a State I'm In [Edit] (Tremeloes)
11 Everything I Touch Turns to Tears (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
12 Everything's Wrong [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
13 Here Comes My Baby (Tremeloes)
14 Run Baby Run [Edit] (Tremeloes)
15 Too Many Fish in the Sea (Tremeloes)
16 Silence Is Golden (Tremeloes)
17 I'll Take You Where the Music's Playing [Edit] (Tremeloes)
18 It Takes Two [Edit] (Tremeloes)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16376830/TTREMLOS1965-1967BBSssonsVol2_atse.zip.html

I don't know when and where the cover photo is from exactly, but I assume from the looks of it that it dates to around 1965.

The Tremeloes - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1964-1965

Next up for my BBC project is the British band the Tremeloes. They don't seem to be that well known or respected today, but they had a long run with many hits, from 1963 to 1971. Being on the pop end of the British Invasion, the musically conservative BBC loved them, so I found enough material for five albums of their BBC studio sessions. Here's the first one.

In the beginning, they were known as "Brian Poole and the Tremeloes." Poole would leave in 1966 and the band would keep going just fine without him. For this album, all the songs are still with Poole.

I think the Tremeloes tend to get dismissed as musical lightweights for three reasons. First, the vast majority of their hits were not written by them. And second, as mentioned above, they were poppy and singles oriented, like the Hollies. That said, if you enjoy the British Invasion sound, they're right up your alley. Personally, I think there's something special about all the music of that genre and time, so I enjoy this stuff even though I don't think they're a top tier band. The third reason is that they were mainly a British success. They had lots of hits there, but only two Top Ten hits in the US.

Their early BBC recordings are included on an official album called "Live at the BBC, 1964-1967." All but two of the songs here are from that, so the sound quality is excellent. The exceptions are the first two songs. In putting together lots of BBC albums for various musical acts, I've gathered that the "Top of the Pops" radio show transcription discs that allowed lots of great music to survive with excellent sound quality began in mid-1964. Prior to that, it seems most BBC recordings have been lost. 

The Tremeloes hit it big in 1963 with a number one British hit, "Do You Love Me," as well as a number four hit "Twist and Shout." So I'm almost certain they would have had BBC sessions that are now lost. I couldn't find much to make up for that, except for a concert appearance at the NME Poll Winners Concert in 1964. (I've posted the entire 1965 concert here.) They only played two songs, but luckily that included "Do You Love Me," and they did "Twist and Shout" for the BBC later. Those two songs are unreleased, but they sound as good as you could hope for considering the time period, since they were broadcast on TV.

As you'd expect from this time period, many of the songs had BBC DJs talking over the music (all the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles). As usual, I used the X-Minus audio editing program to wipe out the talking while keeping the underlying music. 

Typically, British Invasion bands like this one did covers for the BBC that they never recorded and released otherwise. That's the case with the Tremeloes. In fact there are a whole bunch of those on this volume. "Walk Right In," "Baby Blue," "Who's That Knocking," "Twelve Steps to Heaven," "Sho' Miss You Baby," "My Baby Left Me," "Well... Alright," "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," and "She Said Yeah" were only done for the BBC.

This album is 47 minutes long.

01 Candy Man (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
02 Do You Love Me (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
03 Walk Right In (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
04 Baby Blue (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
05 Someone Someone (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
06 Who's That Knocking [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
07 Three Bells (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
08 Twelve Steps to Heaven [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
09 Time Is on My Side [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
10 Uncle Willie [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
11 Sho' Miss You Baby (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
12 Hands Off [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
13 After a While (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
14 My Baby Left Me [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
15 Well... Alright [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
16 Twist and Shout [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
17 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
18 She Said Yeah (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
19 Love Me Baby [Edit] (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)
20 I Go Crazy (Brian Poole & the Tremeloes)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16376833/TTREMLOS1964-1965BBSssonsVol1_atse.zip.html

It looks likely the cover photo is from 1964 or 1965, but I don't know the details.