We dialled up the Melochronometer, the valves warmed to their friendly amber glow, and when the digital readout stopped flickering it had settled on 1965. What a place to land. Back in February the Rolling Stones had come through on their first tour of this country, two shows a night in town halls and theatres from Christchurch and Invercargill up through Dunedin to Auckland and Wellington — the future arriving in person, and the country not entirely certain what to do about it. Overseas the scale was changing just as fast. In August the Beatles walked out in front of 55,600 people at Shea Stadium in New York and effectively invented the stadium concert, while The Sound of Music opened in cinemas and simply refused to leave. Everything in 1965 was getting bigger, louder, and a good deal stranger.
The records were the strangest part of all. This ten-song trip has a Beatle trying his level best to make a Motown record and not quite getting there, three New York producers passing themselves off as Australian sheep farmers and getting clean away with it, and a guitarist who set out to imitate a sitar, failed completely, and handed the next decade one of its defining sounds instead. There’s a detour to Brazil that almost nobody takes, Bob Dylan quietly closing a door, Nina Simone opening a considerably darker one, and the title song of the last album Nat King Cole ever made. Pull on any one of these threads and you’ll find it tied to another somewhere in the set — but that’s what the show is for. Ten songs, one year, and a reminder that in 1965 the very best things tended to happen by accident.
Tracklist
- The Beatles — You Won’t See Me — The Beatles In Mono
- The Strangeloves — I Want Candy — I Want Candy: The Best Of The Strangeloves
- The Beach Boys — You're So Good To Me — Summer Days (And Summer Nights) (Remastered)
- The Yardbirds — Heart Full Of Soul — Classic Yardbirds Vol.1
- Sambrasa Trio — Samba Novo — Em Som Maior
- Bob Dylan — It's All Over Now, Baby Blue — Bringing It All Back Home
- Nat King Cole — L-O-V-E
- NINA SIMONE — Trouble In Mind — Pastel Blues
- Martha Reeves, The Vandellas — Nowhere To Run — Soul Music
- Paul Simon — Kathy's Song — The Paul Simon Songbook
