#melody maker
Free on RBP for a week
SO MUCH THINGS TO SAY — Exclusive audio of Bob Marley talking to Karl Dallas in July 1975, the day after he blew the roof off London’s Lyceum… and the Melody Makerpiece that resulted from it. Plus the MM’s Vivien Goldman meets Marley “in his own backyard” in the summer of ‘79…
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Free for a week on RBP
On the RBP home page this week, we present aMelody Maker‘80s/'90s special:Simon Reynolds on UK music journalism & on his former MM colleague Bob Stanley’s Saint Etienne. Plus Saint Etienne pieces by Simon Price& Pete Paphides… and Reynolds pieces on Joy Division & Monsters of Rock!
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Melody Maker - December 25, 1965
Pop Think In
Brian Epstein
Beatles manager Brian Epstein faces up to the pop think-in, a new technique in pop journalism
JUKE BOX JURY: I love playing it because it’s a television show that I can do. I seldom watch it and I don’t think it’s a good programme. It’s quite meaningless. I probably won’t be doing it again because they won’t be asking me after that, will they?
JOHN: Lennon. Great mind, great person. One of the best people I’ve ever met. He’s an interesting character to watch develop.
RED WINE: I like to drink red wine and nothing else alchoholwise, but this doesn’t seem to work out.
SEMI-DETACHED HOUSES: If I say something nasty I’ll get little letters because I said something nasty about semi-detached houses before. But I’d rather have a hut on its own.
GEORGE:Harrison. I always think of George as a friend. Somewhat inconsistent person. Can be difficult. Never has been with me. Great personal charm, but this goes for any Beatle. Any faults the Beatles are supposed to have are never apparent individually. Any faults they have probably only come when they are together as a group. When there is too much talent in one room.
LOVE: A good word in pop songs.
POP WRITERS: Rather intelligent, as journalists go. The dearth of pop knowledge is quite incredible amongst non-musical journalists.
CLIVE EPSTEIN: I’d like him to come into the entertainment business.
RINGO: Ringo’s coming into the group was one of the Beatles’ most brilliant doings. It was something they wanted and that I carried out. It was for so many reasons a quite brilliant move.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Difficult because I went to a few. If I had a son I don’t know whether I would send him to one or not.
PAUL:Probably the most changed Beatle. He’s mellowed in character and thought. A fascinating character and a very loyal person. Doesn’t like changes very much. He, probably more than the others, finds it more difficult to accept that he is playing to a cross section of the public and not just to teenagers, or sub-teenagers, whom he feels are the Beatles’ audience.
R.A.D.A:Didn’t like it. Don’t believe in acting schools. I believe in acting experience.
SUCCESS: I’m told I’m successful but I really don’t believe it.
FAILURE:I’d much rather be conscious of my failures than successes. What good do compliments do?
LARRY PARNES: Fascinating! I often wondered if I’d go the same way, but knowing him as I do now, I know I won’t because we’re two very different people.
OLD AGE: Don’t mind. I like getting older because I know more about things.
MONEY: Still scarce.
PALAIS BANDS: Hush. Silence.
ELKAN ALLAN: He wouldn’t be the producer I would choose to direct a spectacular for me. A lucky man I think.
LIARS:Almost everyone.
GOSSIP COLUMNS: The greatest. I love them.
CHRISTMAS:I quite like Christmas. I don’t mind the trappings.
MUSIC PUBLISHERS: Very boring people. They’ve forgotten what a good song is.
BEATLES’ NEXT FILM: No comment yet. Still shrouded in secrecy. There are no announced plans. There will be a new single record in April or May.
SMOKING:I’m not frightened of it.
DRINKING: I haven’t touched spirits for three weeks. It’s a new sensation! I may keep off for a long time.
FREEMASONRY:Not for me.
THE NAME ‘EPPY’: I quite like it but I don’t like it being used to my face. I don’t mind the Beatles using it. I know they do.
BLUNT NORTHERNERS: Splendid, but they’re a bit conscious of their interesting bluntness.
ANTI-SEMITISM:I’m not so conscious of it. Jews who are conscious of it should remember if they had green hair people would stop and stare and sneer and snigger. Particularly if they were famous. I don’t think people in this country particularly dislike people with long noses.
KEN DODD: I admire him. Where does he go from here? The challenge is whether he could make it out of this country.
MILLIONAIRES: Usually disappointing.
BLACKPOOL:Quite like Blackpool, but I shouldn’t want to do a season there personally.
SEEKERS: Don’t know much about them. I met one the other night - quite pleasant.
TRADITIONAL FOLK MUSIC: On the whole I find it boring.
BEING DISLIKED: I suppose I’m conscious of it. It can’t be helped.
ANDREW OLDHAM: An incredible person. He was with us for six months. I had no idea he had creative ability. It taught me not to under-estimate people.
WEST END THEATRES: A sad business, But I’m not disillusioned with my first year’s activities. It’s not going to be of tremendous interest to me until I can bring into the theatre a broader section of the public.
RUMOURED CLOSING OF THE CAVERN: This shouldn’t be so, but it’s nonsense to make it into some sort of charity. It has had a lot of help from people like the Beatles. If it’s not successful now, nobody’s going to cry over it being closed.
LABOUR PARTY: I’m a socialist at heart.
SUMMER SEASONS: They are good for an artist. Can be depressing.
WIGS:Splendid.
BUTLINS:I’d like to go there. Better than a semi-detached house.
DOGS:Terrified of dogs. Almost put me off people.
MARRIAGE: I’d like the state of marriage five days a week.
P.J. Proby: I should have managed him.
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*RE: Brian’s comments about semi-detached houses: They probably stem from a piece published in Melody Maker’s January 23, 1965 issue - an article where Ringo Starr recalled travelling with Brian and George Harrison to Hampstead, to a party hosted by the magazine:
‘Driving from Knightsbridge to Hampstead in Brian’s new car was good fun. It’s a great car - all those electrically-unwinding windows, central heating and the roof that I prevented Brian from opening on a freezing night!
I can remember George in the back of the car muttering some funny things and saying he’d written his second song; Brian trying in vain to get Luxembourg on his car radio; and nobody quite sure which way to go for Hampstead.
Don’t ask me how, but we got there. Funny - George said something about the houses round there looking pretty good, and I distinctly remember Brian saying to him: “But how COULD you? They’re semi-detached!”’
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