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The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
'Masterpiece' - Scot blew the door of psychedelic revolution wide open
The Glasgow-born troubadour, whose mission was, in his own words, 'to bring poetic vision to popular music', began to make his name when, as yet unsigned, he appeared on the television show Ready Steady Go! in January 1965. On March 12 he sang his debut single, Catch the Wind, on TV, impressing a certain Little Steve Wonder, who was in the audience. The song zipped into the charts at number four, and continuing exposure on television and radio helped ensure that 'my name, my face and my music were in every home in Britain'. America beckoned, and he found himself on the Ed Sullivan Show – the same show that had broken the Beatles in the USA, less than a year earlier. His refusal not to join the rest of the performers for a final bow at the end brought him to the attention of industry heavyweight Allen Klein, who rang the renowned record producer, Mickie Most, and recommended Donovan to him. Donovan also toured Britain, where he was linked in the public mind with Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, the rising stars of folk music. A second single, Colours, reached the same chart position as Catch the Wind. His debut album, What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid, was released in May, a few days after his 19th birthday; it peaked at number three in the charts. Such sudden fame did not come without its critics, however. Some in the music press had sniped that Donovan was but a pale imitation of Dylan, but after Donovan had met Dylan in his room at London's Savoy Hotel, the American told Melody Maker: 'He played some songs to me. I like him. He's a nice guy'. So ended, the magazine reported, 'one of the biggest controversies that has ever split the British music scene'. One Savoy encounter, incidentally, was immortalised by D.A. Pennebaker for Dont Look Back, his documentary about Dylan's 1965 British tour; Donovan borrowed Dylan's guitar to play a song, To Sing for You; Dylan responded with It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. Little could impede Donovan's rise. He played the 1965 Newport Folk Festival (the one in which Dylan famously 'went electric') and was feted in the States. He was friends with the Beatles (below), the Byrds and PJ Proby, was introduced to Paul Simon, had chart success with an EP featuring Buffy Saint-Marie's Universal Soldier, and took his first LSD trip. He had fallen in love, too, with a woman, Linda Lawrence, the former girlfriend of the Rolling Stones' guitarist Brian Jones, and mother to his son Julian. The Beatles appeared on the same showA second Donovan album, Fairytale, was released in October 1965. It contained some of his finest songs: Colours, Sunny Goodge Street and Ballad of a Crystal Man, and a cover of Oh Deed I Do, the work of his fellow Scot, the brilliant pioneering guitarist, Bert Jansch. In his memoir Donovan refers to the 'new way of seeing' that he was industriously developing at that time. He cites the lyrics to the jazz-fusion track, Sunny Goodge Street: 'I was describing the sub-culture emerging from the underground and the elusive search for the self. Two years before the beginning of 'Flower Power' and before the Beatles used the same refrain' he was singing … 'I tell you his name is/ Love, love, love''. He also records that he 'felt the need to introduce key spiritual ideas' . [The album] set the scene for my performance as a 'Bard' who would present a way of seeing the wonder of the natural world. I was mocked as a simpleton, when I sang of birds and bees and flowers like a child. Indeed, I was keeping the 'wonder eye' open - just like a child'. Among the many budding musicians who bought and loved Fairytale, here or in the States, was a young man in Indiana named John Mellencamp. The year 1965 had not quite finished with Donovan: in December, at Abbey Road studios, he began work on his 'experimental' third album, Sunshine Superman, with producer Mickie Most and the noted arranger John Cameron. Most, Donovan writes, 'realised I was hearing sounds which came from many sources: classical, jazz, ethnic, medieval minstrelsy, and he saw the potential for a veritable new fusion of music, a 'world music' sound, before this term was thought of'. Read more The album itself was a clever blend of folk music and some of the first psychedelia to ever be committed to vinyl. Musicians such as the double bass player Danny Thompson guested on the album. Shawn Phillips, a Texan musician, contributed sitar. By this time, Donovan's relationship with Linda, who was living thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, was looking uncertain. The title track (on which Jimmy Page, then a session guitarist, played) was the first song to emerge from his oppressive fog of sorrow. When Most heard it in the studio, he instinctively knew that it would be a hit single. He was right: it went to number two in the charts towards the end of 1966. The second track, Legend of a Girl Child Linda, saw Donovan finger-picking his acoustic guitar in front of an orchestra. 'We certainly broke the mould of pop music – and folk music, for that matter', he recalls in Hurdy Gurdy Man. '…There were no songs like mine to compare with. It was all new directions, uncharted seas'. Donovan continued to write songs for the new album in the new year of 1966. Linda appeared in most of the songs on one guise or another, including the gorgeous track, Celeste. Its aching lyric, Donovan notes, said he was disillusioned with everything. One striking line – 'I intend to come right through them all with you' – was in one respect about the changes his generation was encountering but at a deeper level was a song to Linda. In February he enjoyed another turning-point in his career when he headlined at New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall, accompanied by Phillips on sitar and 12-string guitar. It was the first time that a Western pop audience had witnessed the former instrument on a stage. Donovan writes entertainingly of his adventures in the States that year as he finished work on the new album in LA. 'This much I knew then: I was making the music and writing the songs which reflected the emerging consciousness of my generation. I was here to do this … I felt the spirit move within me. I knew that this album would be my masterpiece'. When the album was released in the States in September, the LA Times's Pete Johnson said: 'Donovan, a very talented, if unearthly, writer and singer of folk songs, croons 10 songs to form an album follow-up to his very popular single record, 'Sunshine Superman'. The LP does not fulfill the promise of his single, but it supplies a good measure of his soft understated singing of the medieval-modern, dream-reality mystical imagery. 'The best tracks', Johnson added, 'are 'Sunshine Superman', 'The Trip', 'Season of the Witch', 'Legend of a Girl Child Linda' and 'The Fat Angel'. Like many other singers, Donovan has fallen under the spell of Indian music, which provides structure for most of his non-rock songs'. For business-related reasons the album did not go on sale in the UK until June 1967. It reached 25 in the album charts, someway short of the exalted number-one status it enjoyed in many countries across the world. Melody Maker wrote that "every number has a mood, an atmosphere, a current along which the perceptive listener can float. Donovan glides playing beautiful guitar and singing his songs like they should be sung - with love'. Much lay ahead of Donovan, including a sold-out January 1967 headline appearance at at the Royal Albert Hall, his continuing involvement with the Beatles, his lasting popularity in the States and elsewhere, his 1968 masterwork – the double album box-set, Gift From a Flower to a Garden – and bestselling singles such as Mellow Yellow, Jennifer Juniper and Hurdy Gurdy Man. In a recent interview with Mojo magazine, John Cameron, Donovan's arranger and collaborator, reflected: 'The amount of work we did between '66 and '70 was phenomenal, we had a string section that rode motorbikes. They'd be on Yamahas with their Strads [violins] strapped to their backs, going from studio to studio. It was the only way they'd get from one to the other on time'. Donovan himself reconnected with Linda, and they were married in October 1970. Having done everything he had wanted to do, he then took a decisive step back from the industry. New records followed, but his time in the cultural spotlight was over. Read more On the Record Interviewed by Mojo magazine's Sylvie Simmons in 1996, to promote his 'comeback' album, Sutras, which was produced by Rick Rubin, Donovan explained: "If I can do a thumbnail sketch of 20 years, around about 1970 I had achieved everything I could have possibly dreamed of and much more. "Having been at the top of the ladder, there was nowhere else to go. So I walked onto a British Airways jet in Tokyo and out of a tax plan called a drop-out year where I was going to earn more millions of dollars than any young solo artist of his time. It had ended. I didn't burn out, I wasn't a drug addict, but I was wounded in some way, and I came home to my cottage in England.... I married Linda, my great love and teenage muse — four years of '60s madness had kept us apart — and I walked away from fame, the Rolls Royce, the yacht, the mansion. "We went to Joshua Tree in the California desert for much of the '70s and brought up the children up as an alternative family... But something was happening while I wasn't watching. In the '80s, things were getting very dark, the earth was wounded, and I felt dispirited. In '83 I stopped making records completely, I had a personal crisis, musical crisis, and Linda saw me through it. I came out around 1990. "A new impulse got me... I'd gone into the studio and started recording these song ideas... Rick Rubin had been in the studio with Tom Petty, who was playing one of my songs. Rick says, 'I love Donovan, I've always wanted to record him'. Tom says, 'Why don't you phone him up?'. So he did. We met and we found similarities extraordinarily alike." Speaking to Record Collector magazine in January 2024, he said: 'When I started singing, the message was in the song. The revolution was on. The important part was giving young people a shock in that there were different things to talk about in songs, other than, 'I love you, why'd you make me blue?' This was important' In the same interview he noted: 'I think my songwriting was very influential. Breaking all the rules and experimenting in the studio was encouraging to others'. Things came full circle in a way in 2102, when Donovan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by none other than John Mellencamp. Donovan was introduced as the man who "blew the door of the psychedelic revolution wide open". Recalling the first time he had bought a Donovan album, in 1965, Mellencamp told the audience: 'I was in the seventh grade, and back then we waited for every record and I waited for every album to come out so that I could learn to play those songs. I wasn't just listening to Donovan, I was living Donovan. I was stealing all the s— from Donovan'. A few moments later, to applause and cheers, he held up his original, much-played copy of Donovan's second album, Fairytale. The word 'Mellencamp' was etched in ink along the top of the cover. 'See how it says Mellencamp?' he said. 'In Indiana, we used to use these things like money. If you didn't have any money, you would sell this for a dollar and a half or trade it for two Led Zeppelin records and then they'd trade it back. You always wanted to keep track of your stuff. That's why I have my name all over it'. * Donovan is marking his 60th year as a recording artist with a week of events in Paris between June 1 and 7. Website:
Indian Express
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
The Beatles and their disruptive trip to India: The ‘Transcendental Meditation' that changed the Abbey Road musicians forever
By any standard, The Beatles will remain one of the biggest, most prolific, controversial, and iconic bands of all time. Remember the pretentious guy from 10th grade who always carried around a small leather diary with him, the old widower uncle on your block growing up, or the inspiring English professor from your American Literature class in college who made you feel like opening up a dead poet's society of your own. They all listened to the Beatles because the band, like a few other phenomena in the world, wasn't just famous or sought after because of their product; it was because of what they represented and how they made you feel when you associated with their identity, for better or for worse. For example, the Cali Cartel exported and controlled just as much cocaine in their heyday, if not more, as the Medellin Cartel did. But you ask a layman who Rodriguez Orejuela was. It's likely they won't be able to give you the right answer. But ask them about Pablo Escobar, and they will recite for you their favourite dialogues from the Narcos series on Netflix (by the way, they made a season about the Cali guys too; no one cared). Yes, a drug lord who killed thousands of people during his reign is somewhat of an unsuitable person to be compared with the Abbey Road quartet, but Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon, together, had a drug-like hold on their listeners. A drug that would make them keep coming back, a drug that made you cool just by association, and let's be honest, The Beatles weren't pumping out album after album, surviving on Earl Grey tea and English muffins. The boys got together in 1962, after the trio of McCartney, Harrison and Lennon finally found the right drummer in Starr. Soon after their first hit, 'Love Me Do', manager Brian Epstein played all the right moves, and through his grooming and moulding process, out came the biggest rock group in the world. They would go on to make 12 studio albums in the short span of 8 years, due to the power of Earl Grey tea and Scouse, of course. ALSO READ: 'P Diddy would rather die than let go of rights to Biggie Smalls' music': How Diddy was at the epicentre of both Tupac and Biggie's death The amount of music they were putting out was almost too much, and say what you will, the guys knew their stuff. Apart from being amazing musicians, Lennon and McCartney were incredible writers, artists who were more susceptible to inspiration and ideas for a bridge than Joseph B. Strauss (he wasn't a musician, just the guy who built the Golden Gate Bridge). Harrison and Starr were expert executioners of their writers' vision, and together they worked hard day and night to earn their place in the Mount Rushmore of music, if not at the peak of Everest. But that kind of schedule, along with the 'calm and sober' lifestyle of a rock star, can be taxing on the body, and soon the street outside Abbey Road Studios became too long a course to chart, and they were exhausted. It was getting difficult keeping up appearances while trying to manage your career, wives, extramarital affairs and dentists serving you coffee laced with LSD, which, considering the 60s, was probably part of the dental plan for musicians. The Beatles needed a break, and Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd, the woman who was described as the modern-day Helen of Troy by LA magazine, suggested 'Transcendental Meditation' to the group. This was a revelation, and without any delay, the Beatles travelled to Rishikesh to meet the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Liverpool to Rishikesh The Beatles had previously met the Maharishi during a lecture in London and a 10-day workshop in Wales (with Mick Jagger by the way), a trip they had to cut short because Epstein suddenly passed away. They were then invited to join him at his main ashram, where the Beatles would end up writing close to 50 songs, with many of them ending up on their next project, 'The White Album'. Even though the Beatles had sold millions of records all over the world and had probably witnessed every comfort known to man, they were taken aback when they reached the Ashram. 14 acres of land consisting of six long bungalows, each containing five or six double rooms, and the rooms were equipped with four-poster beds and an electric fire system. Along with all that, there was a post office, a lecture theatre and a swimming pool. All four of them were now determined to make the most of this trip, and Harrison and Lennon were the most affected by the teachings. After the band met the Maharishi in Wales, they had decided to give up drugs, just like Jimi Hendrix switched to the tambourine after playing the 'Star-Spangled Banner'. Even after this supposed break from drugs, Lennon admitted that he was hallucinating during his time at the Ashram, and his claims were backed by his wife, Cynthia Lennon, who said in Bob Spitz's book The Beatles that Harrison and Lennon had completely accepted the teachings of the Maharishi. However, Starr and McCartney weren't having that much of a jolly time and left soon after a couple of weeks. The band tripped for days, just on meditation apparently, and wrote an entire album while denying a Lord of The Rings movie (story for another time). But as half of the group departed, the other two maybe went too deep. ALSO READ: Frank Sinatra 'facilitated' John F Kennedy's other life, but couldn't outrun his mafia connections: The rise and ruin of their unlikely friendship Boyd, who introduced Harrison to the entire scheme, admitted later on that the teachings had gotten a hold of him, and so had alcohol and drugs. Lennon who was apparently already thinking about bringing his then muse Yoko Ono on the trip along with his wife, asked for separate rooms for him and his wife after just a few days in Rishikesh. Their relationship would never get back to normal, ultimately leading to a divorce. Through the Ashram and his muse, Lennon had shed the skin of the young and innocent Scouser, and the man that emerged wanted to change the world, and his own life with it. He had already been drifting towards politics and activism before Rishikesh, many fans and members of the band accused his relationship with Ono to be one of the reason, they broke up. Lennon admitted later on that the moment he saw Ono was the moment he knew his days with the old gang were over. Soon Lennon and Harrison also left upon discovering the Maharishi's involvement in sexual assault cases, even though it was never proved. But even though the boys were all back in good old England, the distance had already been created. During this very week in 1968, the Beatles started recording 'The White Album' at the Abbey Road Studios, and to the average Joe, it was just another great project. Songs filled to the brim with mystique of the East, songs that brought out a different side of the Beatles, a broken side of the Beatles. The strum of the guitar still blended perfectly with the thrum of the drums, the tempo still intact, and the different voices and harmonies still so seamlessly brought together that they sounded one. But the trip, like perceived by many, wasn't a breather; it was a moment of realisation for all four men that they didn't need to be the greatest band in the world anymore. It was enough, all that they had done, and if the sun had set on the Beatles on the day they released the White Album, it would be alright. They did end up working on another album, but personal turmoils, failing relationships and four broken minds were enough to stop this madness. Seeds of discontent had been sown long before the trip and maybe whatever they experienced in India, just exacerbated the whole situation. All four of the Beatles left their wives following that trip, with McCartney's marriage lasting the longest. The group went their separate ways, and the band was legally disbanded in 1974. Even though they were gone in such a short time, everyone listened to the Beatles. They were probably the first band to be famous enough to be recognised by all, even if many never listened to a single thing they put out. It wasn't about what they sang; it was always about who they were and what they represented, and maybe the pretentious guy from your school whom we talked about earlier isn't all too bad, because no matter who they were and what they did, the Beatles were cool; it's that simple.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Lesser-known Oasis album still splits fans' opinions 20 years on from release
Oasis released their sixth studio album on this day 20 years ago - and it still splits fans on whether it is a quality release, with some fans calling it an underrated gem Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, a lesser-known Oasis album still divides fan opinion. Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher are gearing up for a series of sold-out gigs around the globe later this year. The brothers' first joint gig in 16 years will see them hitting stages at London's Wembley Arena, Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium, and Manchester's Heaton Park. Although the Gallagher's are reuniting onstage after such a long hiatus, debates continue among fans regarding the merits of their less celebrated album. Whether tracks from this album will feature on the upcoming tour remains to be seen. Fans remain split on the quality of the album, though. Don't Believe the Truth, released on this day, 30 May, in 2005, still stirs up divided opinions amongst fans over its excellence. The album raced to become one of the UK's fastest-selling records and was met with critical approval when it dropped. Oasis enthusiasts have been voicing their thoughts on the r/Oasis subreddit, debating whether the album holds up, with some critiquing its "filler" tracks as "boring and bland." A subreddit user posed the question: "Opinions on Don't Believe the Truth? What are everyone's thoughts and opinions on Don't Believe the Truth? I've only listened to the album start to finish once and it really bored me. It's an album I really want to like and I'm considering giving it another chance, should I?" The album remains contentious amongst listeners, with some arguing that it doesn't quite live up to the praise it received from critics back in the day. One fan was unimpressed by the album's lesser-known tracks, remarking: "Singles are very good but fillers are boring and bland, Heathen Chemistry is a better album overall despite having some weak moments. I still prefer Don't Believe the Truth singles to those on Dig Out Your Soul though." Another Oasis enthusiast chimed in with their concerns over the production quality: "I love the album, but I just think it suffers from poor production. The songs are good, but they all sound muffled and don't have that wall of sound the first two albums did." A third devotee saw things a bit more positively, applauding the album among the band's later efforts: "It's the best one of the last three albums. "It did feel like a 'return to form'. Importance of Being Idle was massive, and had a spark of clever and original songwriting again." Criticism emerged over the production choices for one particular track: "A Bell Will Ring had that Beatles 'up in the sky' vibe. "The retro production, stripped back to just support the songs, was a revelation after the dreary, distortion dad rock-by-numbers approach of HC imo. However, it has aged extremely badly. "The production sounds like muffled sh** now, the backing elements added to each tune are laughable and sound terrible (like the backing vox on Love Like a Bomb) and Liam is doing a Liam caricature throughout. In retrospect it feels like it was all a bit of a con job, the title quite apposite." Echoing the sentiment regarding the album's lack of timelessness, another user professed: "I think this album is the most dated of any Oasis album tbh, it's just totally unremarkable for the most part. "The songs are fine but not spectacular and Dave Sardy's production style of this album is just dreary (much like Noel's first solo album). Any life the songs had is sucked out by Sardy's chosen approach."
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Parade atrocity hit hard in Ireland thanks to our unique links to Liverpool
News of the atrocity which befell the city of Liverpool on Monday quickly reverberated around the globe. Shortly after 6 pm, a 53-year-old man drove into multiple fans who were attending the Reds' bus parade. What started as a truly joyous occasion quickly turned into utter devastation. Nearly 80 people were injured, some of whom remain in a serious condition in hospital. Here, in Ireland, our strong ties with Liverpool meant it hit hard. The decades-long deep-rooted connections between Ireland and the English port city meant the pain and devastation were felt even more deeply here. Figures show there are nearly 500,000 Irish Liverpool fans and it's estimated around 75 per cent of Liverpudlians have Irish ancestry. The link is deeper, though - from music to accents to our vernacular and emigration, there's a lot that connects Ireland with Liverpool. Here, we take a deeper look at the unique Liverpool-Irish links. Everybody knows the Beatles hail from Liverpool. But some might be surprised to learn that the four members of what is arguably the most famous band in the world had Irish roots. John Lennon's grandfather James was born in Down while his great-grandmother, Elizabeth Gildea, hailed from Omagh in Tyrone. Paul McCartney's clan had connections with Monaghan. His maternal grandfather, named Owen Mohan, came from Tullynamallow. Ringo Starr is considered the most English member of the band, but his roots go back to Mayo. George Harrison's family, meanwhile, originally hailed from Wexford as it emerged that they were landowners before being stripped of their land by Oliver Cromwell during the plantations. All the families eventually found their way to Liverpool. During the Beatles' infamous visit to the Irish capital in 1963, Lennon declared: 'We're all Irish!' A more recent musical connection would be Nathan Carter. The 35-year-old Wagon Wheel singer was born in Liverpool to Northern Irish parents. He moved across at 18 and is now based in Fermanagh. Liverpool was also featured in songs by The Dubliners, including The Leavin' of Liverpool and Liverpool Lou. Trade Unionist leader James Larkin, who, along with James Connolly and William O'Brien, founded the Labour Party, was born in Toxteth in Liverpool in January 1874 to Irish emigrants. Big Jim gained national and international acclaim for his part in organising the 1913 strike that sparked the Dublin lockout. The lock-out was an industrial dispute that began over pay and conditions and the right to unionise. It involved around 20,000 workers and 300 employers and lasted from August 1913 to 18 January 1914. It is widely considered the most severe and significant industrial dispute in Irish history. Another well-known Irish figure with connections to Liverpool was William Butler Yeats. A New York Times article recalls how, as a youngster, he would frequently travel across the Irish Sea to Liverpool on board his grandad's boat. Many Liverpudlians have Irish heritage. Most of this can be traced back to the famine, but some stretches even further back. The Irish Famine began in 1845, at which point around 50,000 Irish settlers were already living in Liverpool. The numbers grew exponentially in the subsequent years as conditions in Ireland continued to deteriorate. A staggering 120,000 Irish arrived in Liverpool during the first three months of 1847. Eight months later, around 300,000 had landed. Most had plans to continue on their journey to the USA, but a large portion, who were considered the poorest and weakest, remained in Liverpool. It's been estimated that over the course of 63 years, between 1850 and 1913, more than 4.5 million Irish men and women left Ireland for Liverpool. The famine had a lasting impact on the demographics of Liverpool. It is believed that an estimated 75 per cent of the city's residents have some Irish ancestry. The company that built the Titanic, known as the White Star Line, had its headquarters on James Street in Liverpool. The infamous ship was constructed in Belfast and set sail from Southampton to the US, stopping in Cork. She was registered in Liverpool and, as a result, bore the city's name on her stern. The ship left for New York on April 10, 1912. In total, 2,208 people were onboard when the ship struck an iceberg. More than 1,500 lost their lives. Many of those onboard the ship, including passengers and staff, had ties to Liverpool. The Scouse accent and particular words and phrases are heavily influenced by the Irish who emigrated there. One example of this is the 'Ta-ra' which is regularly used by Liverpudlians. It is a shortened version of 'take care' and is often used as a way to say goodbye. The exact origins of the phrase are disputed, but one theory is that it emerged from the Irish phrase 'tabhair aire' which means take care. Another example of this is calling someone 'a wool' when they are from outside of Liverpool. It is thought to come from Irish slang when referring to people from the countryside, 'a woolyback'. Other common slang phrases which are heard in both Ireland and Liverpool include words and phrases like 'grand', 'melter', 'gaff', 'baltic' and 'swelterin'' and 'craic'. The roots of the late Cilla Black go back to Ireland. The British singer's great-grandparents were all Irish while her maternal grandfather was born to Irish emigrants in Wales. Her Irishness also shaped her upbringing. She was raised as a Roman Catholic and lived in the Irish-Catholic stronghold of Scotland Road in Liverpool. TV presenter Paul O'Grady, who passed away in 2023, also had strong Irish roots. During his life, he often said he'd love to move to Ireland - particularly to Roscommon. Manchester United ace Wayne Rooney also has links to Ireland and it's been reported he even considered playing for the Boys in Green.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
The original picture discs that could get you thrown in a Soviet jail
Take out your earpods for a sec – really – so I can tell you a crazy story. (Or smack you – you should be more aware of your surroundings.) Music today is, of course, a commodity almost as readily available as water on tap – click a button or two and pretty much anything you can think of is yours to listen to. In the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 60s, authorities allowed only state-approved music, banning genres they considered decadent. Now imagine another place and time, the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 60s, where no music was allowed. (OK, I exaggerate: state-approved music was allowed but not even parents wanted to listen to that dreck – anything actually good was forbidden. Western radio stations were jammed, rock music was banned, records were confiscated at the border.) The authorities tried to seal off all of that Western decadence outside the Iron Curtain. But the pressure of rock 'n' roll was hard to contain, and inevitably the wall leaked. A lot. Especially in Leningrad (now St Petersburg), a Soviet port town dripping with incoming Western indulgence. Ships arrived with smuggled records (and worth-their-weight-in-gold Levi's jeans, as well as just about anything else cool from the West) in sailors' duffel bags and diplomatic pouches. Beatles records, along with those of other Western artists, had to be smuggled into the Soviet Union. Photo: AP Sooner or later you could find somebody who had smuggled in the latest Elvis or Beatles 45 record, and if you had enough roubles, and were willing to risk getting busted, that vinyl could be yours.
