THE WCPAEB: "It's gone all pop art"

As is well-attested, in September 1965 the Oklahoma-raised and LA-based playboy Bob Markley hosted an end-of-tour party for the Yardbirds, at which he noticed that the kids providing music were getting more female attention than him. He therefore offered to buy them new equipment if they let him join them. Thus was born The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. I was amazed to stumble upon this account, phoned in to Record Mirror from the bash itself.

JIMI HENDRIX: "I want to turn people on"

To promote his forthcoming European tour, Jimi Hendrix gave his last ever interviews to well-known journalists such as Keith Altham, Rob Partridge and Norman Jopling at London's Cumberland Hotel on September 11th 1970. Less than a week later, Jimi was dead. Jopling's piece appeared in Music Now on September 12th. I'd never seen it before, so thought I'd post it here.

Mick Jagger: 'as he really is'

I doubt Mick was too thrilled when his spotty adolescent brother penned this for NME in June 1965:

Beatles For Sale: 'a usually reliable source'

According to Record Mirror of October 10th 1964, the cover of Beatles For Sale was originally going to show the boys lighting their ever-present 'ciggies' under the Arc de Triomphe...

David Bowie: 'stoney broke'

Issued in June 1964, Liza Jane by Davy Jones & The King Bees is one of the most valuable 45s of the 1960s. Rarity aside, there are two reasons for this: firstly, it's a terrific dose of dirty R&B, and secondly, Davie Jones was of course David Bowie. Here's the only press about it I've ever seen.

Record Mirror, June 20th 1964

Record Mirror, June 6th 1964

Record Mirror, June 6th 1964

Slightly oddly, by the way, Vocalion was still plugging the 45 on October 31st, when the listing below appeared in Record Mirror, now crediting Bowie as 'Daved Jones':

The Who: 'four hip young men'

Here's the earliest article about The Who I've ever seen - so early, in fact, that it's about The High Numbers and calls John Entwistle by his early stage name (John Allison) as well as misnaming Pete Townshend as Peter Townsed. It's from Peter Jones's New Faces column in Record Mirror of July 11th 1964 (also trumpeted on the same page is Marianne Faithfull, who apparently 'has blue blood coursing through her veins' and 'has a very big future when she passes her examinations').

And a couple of weeks later Record Mirror followed it up with this:

The Rolling Stones: 'wild, exciting white boys'

I'm pretty sure that this was the earliest national coverage the Stones ever received, in Record Mirror of May 11th 1963. It was written by Norman Jopling, who also gave the Beatles some of their most important early publicity, and is unusual for being about a band that had not yet released a record (their first 45, Come On, appeared in June). Amongst its interesting aspects are the credit for Ian Stewart as a full member of the band, the description of Brian Jones as 'spokesman and leader of the group', and the acknowledgment of the Beatles' respect for them. It also makes a tantalising reference to a 20-minute film of the sextet in action, produced by their then-manager Giorgio Gomelsky. Andrew Oldham, of course, was not yet in the picture...