The Music Of The Sixties

It was the sixties and the early seventies that produced some really fascinating music, some of which I am fortunate enough to have in my collection right now. Listening to these tracks even today brings back to mind events of yesterday, some of them associated with the period of time during which I first heard a particular song. The radio was one source of music. The other source was vinyl records. Instrumental music was more popular at that time than it is now.

The 45 rpm records known as singles contained one song on each side. When an artist releases a single, he also has to simultaneously record another song to occupy the flip side of the record. We referred to this as the B-side. Sometimes songs from movies are released as singles, and in such instances another song from the movie occupies the flip side. 45 rpm records also contained more than one song per side on some occasions. These were known as EPs, or extended play records. The grooves on EP records were closer together than that on the normal 45 rpm singles.

Then there were the 33 rpm long play albums which contained six or more tracks per side. These were known as LPs. Sometimes the entire soundtrack of a movie could be found on one single 33 rpm LP.

My brother, who was fourteen years older, owned a large collection of records. The record player we had at that time was "PYE," a brand which is not heard of these days. Although it had a built in amplifier, my brother preferred to make use of the amplifier of our radio.

Our Telefunken radio had provision to connect an external devise like a microphone or a record player. The output of the record player was linked to the radio's amplifier and the volume control of the radio was used to control the degree of loudness.

The transistor had not been invented at that time. Radios and amplifiers used something known as the grid valve to amplify electrical signals. They resembled a light bulb and emitted heat as well as light. Each of them was the size of a human finger. Our Telefunken radio contained twelve valves, whereas the amplifier of the record player had only four.

There have been some rare occasions when my brother assigns me the task of selecting some records and spinning them. This occurs when he sits at the main table with a set of HB graded pencils and drawing paper to indulge in one of his hobbies - drawing. I used to relish this. I rush to pick up the records before he withdraws his command. I had a fear that he would withdraw it on seeing my enthusiasm in executing it! However, fortunately for me, he never did!

I usually used to select the discs in this order,

• jailhouse rock - Presley
• living doll - Cliff
• dynamite - Cliff
• diana - Paul Anka
• come prima - Lanza
• raunchy - Billy Vaughn

Due to some fault in the record changer's mechanism it did not support piling up more than six records in one sitting. So the second session usually is,

• wont you wear my ring around your neck - Presley
• blue boy - Reeves
• sail along silv'ry moon - Billy Vaughn
• on an evening in roma - Dean Martin
• lonesome cowboy - presley
• islands of hawaii - marty robbins

Well, what do you think of my selection? These were some of my favourites at that time and even now!

Of course, these songs and other similar ones were "put on hold" for a period of time with the emergence of the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Chicago, Bee Gees, Bob Dylan, Three Dog Nite, Mungo Jerry, T-Rex, Deep Purple ...

These artists too, with their mastery, made a permanent impression on the music scene of the world. Especially the Rolling Stones with their unique brand of music.

With the Rolling Stones a new era, was just beginning. Of course a new chapter in music was dawning. The Rolling Stones, the greatest band ever ... was now rising like the rays of the sun ... soon it will be noon ...