MUSINGS FROM THE BOWER 42

When I was a teen – many moons ago – the pop music of the time was mainly the beat groups, such as The Beatles. However, immediately before that, there was a time when solo artists dominated the charts. This was the music that I loved when I was at primary school and in the first couple of years of secondary school, when artists such as Elvis, Bobby Vee, Cliff Richard, Mark Wynter, Marty Wilde, Roy Orbison, Eden Kane and many others were producing songs with catchy tunes and lyrics. Nowadays, this music is the backbone of all those sixties compilations that you hear played in the shops.

It’s easy to make fun of that kind of music today, and many people do but at least all those artists could sing without resorting to voice enhancers, and the musicians would perform on stage with just basic equipment, playing live, not miming.  When the groups came along, it was a different kind of music.  The Beatles changed the whole scenario – here was a group, not just one solo singer, and the music scene altered dramatically. Within months, the solo singers were finding the going tough. Many changed track, moving into acting, song writing or record production, while a few managed to stay the course by altering their style.

Over the last few years there has been a huge nostalgia revival, with ‘retro’ being the in-word, and people of all ages seeking out 1960s’ fabrics, furniture, clothing, pop art – and rediscovering the music. A series of cds appeared, called ‘Dreamboats and Petticoats’, containing music from the era, sung by the original artists, and these proved so popular that a musical was written, based on the early sixties. Set ‘in a youth club somewhere in Essex’ the musical Dreamboats and Petticoats is a story of young love, told in a clever way using the music of the time. Laura, a gawky schoolgirl, is a talented musician and she loves Bobby, but he thinks of her just as his friend’s kid sister. The youth club form a group and need a lead singer. Bobby wants the job, but then along comes Norman with his quiff and curled lip, and many of the girls fall for him. One of the girls, Sue, ultra glam in low cut frocks and a seductive wriggle, tries to make Norman interested but he ignores her so she flirts with Bobby to make Norman jealous. Naturally, this also upsets Laura, who has been attempting to write a song with Bobby for a talent contest. The show is funny, laced with sixties references from Wagon Wheel biscuits to ‘O’il Give it Five’, and the songs are woven, often humorously, around the events, including an anguished Bobby who mistakenly pushes Sue out of his bedroom window and promptly sings in horror, ‘There goes my Baby’! (Part of a Roy Orbison song).

Mark Wynter in the 1960s

One of the best things about the show, apart from the feel-good factor, is that all the singing and all the music is played live at every performance – which takes some doing when the performers are also dancing frantically. In fact a couple of girls somehow manage to play the saxophones while dancing, rocking and twisting! I’ve seen the show twice so far – I saw it just before Christmas in the West End, and it is now touring, so I caught up with it in Cambridge. The youth club leader is played by Mark Wynter, who was a huge star in the early 1960s with songs such as Venus in Blue Jeans, Go Away Little Girl, It’s Almost Tomorrow and many others.  Cannily, when he saw how the groups were taking over the music scene, he switched to acting, over the years getting to play roles in musicals such as Cats, Barnum and Phantom as well as serious dramas.  I’ve known Mark since the early sixties, and was so pleased when, at the end of the show, they announced that they had a real pop singer in their midst, and he came on – as himself – to sing some of his hits. I was rushed back through time!  After the show we chatted for a long time.

Mark and I after the show

A couple of weeks previously, I had been at another concert. This one was by someone who continued his singing career, bouncing back time and again after people said he was ‘finished’. Today, he’s a national treasure, an icon with thousands upon thousands of fans across the globe – through strangely, still hasn’t managed to crack America.  Of course, I’m talking about Cliff Richard – or Sir Cliff as he is often referred to nowadays – and he was holding a concert at an open air venue at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire.  The concert was entitled ‘Still Reelin` and A-Rockin`’.

The Military Wives Choir

The show began with the Military Wives choir who performed several songs, including a wartime medley. This choir is formed by wives, partners and service women of British Military personnel, located around Britain. They were excellent, and they ended with the Jubilee song, ‘Sing’ written by Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Weber.

A short break – you could feel the tension and the  rising anticipation. Suddenly – there he was. Cliff bounded on stage resplendent in a scarlet jacket and denim jeans. For the next hour and a half he worked his way through his hits – Move It, Livin’ Doll, Devil Woman, In the Country, The Young Ones, Miss You Night, We Don’t Talk Anymore, Please Don’t Tease, and my personal favourite, Wired For Sound. The hits just kept on coming.

He danced, spun, jumped – I was exhausted watching him! At the end – standing ovations –of course, he came back again, and again, and again. It was as though he didn’t want to go, and naturally, we didn’t want him to go either. It was a magical evening, quite warm and amazingly not raining, and sitting there amidst thousands of happy people, all thrilled to have seen Cliff in action, was better than any tonic a doctor could have prescribed. Anyone who thinks that Cliff is ‘past it’ would have changed their mind had they been there that night!