Go Go Mania

This is a difficult film to rate. Most viewers will find it an annoying bore, but devotees of the bands who appeared over the first year of the British Invasion will be mesmerized. The movie is a series of lip-synched "performances" by the also-rans that flourished in the wake of The Beatles during 1964, including The Honeycombs, The Spencer Davis Group, The Animals, Tommy Quickly, Peter And Gordon, Herman's Hermits, Nashville Teens and several others. The standout is probably The Animals featuring a young and deadly looking Eric Burdon. The film is decorated with tons of 1960's set design and art direction and a team of pretty dancers in gold-lame hip-huggers shaking same in Hullabaloo style choreography.

I had wondered what had happened to a little film I saw in the early 70s called Go-Go Mania and now I know - its original English title is Pop Gear.

Nice viewing for pop music historians. There are good performances by obscure groups here that never made it to the US. Too bad the performers didn't always think to write the name of their group in bigger letters on their drum kits, sort of as a way of preserving their work for posterity. Nor does the film pop up the name of the group and the song the group performs (the benefits of pop-up video!)

I caught this film on a cable channel over the July 4 holiday and sat frantically flipping through a book on British pop music trying to identify some of these groups!

Anyway, for those of you not familiar with British pop music of the 60s, here's what I caught:

The Nashville Teens perform "Tobacco Road" and "Google Eyes", both written by John D. Loudermilk. Do not be fooled by the name - it is a British group.

The Honeycombs are identifiable by their female drummer, Honey Langtree.

I thought the performance by the Four Pennies was particularly good - they sang with a passion. This was a group that unfortunately never even surfaced in the US - Lionel Morton, Fritz Fryer, Mike Walsh, and Alan Buck. Too bad we missed out!

Another good performance by a 5?-man group whose lead singer has red hair - sadly I couldn't identify these fellows. Anybody out there who can help me out?

Eric Burdon and the Animals are always a treat. A little guy with a huge voice.

The description of the film says Spencer Davis is in here too, though I turned it on too late to catch them.

And the grand finale looked like footage of the Beatles from "A Hard Day's Night". 'Nuff said about the Beatles.

The music holds up extremely well - the dance numbers were something else. They positively date the thing in the 60s. The tight gold pants worn by one group of women look awful. And the dresses worn by another group look like sacks - they called this fashion?

I just caught this this morning. Pop Gear is a British film recapping some pop hits of 1964 with staged performances by bands such as The Spencer Davis Group, Peter and Gordon, The Animals, and many others. Concert footage of the Beatles (singing She Loves You and Twist and Shout) opens and closes the film. The producer assumes familiarity, an intimacy between performers and audience, to the extent that the Master of Ceremonies (whose hair resembles a worn-out blond mop) never bothers to introduce himself, nor does he bother to introduce many of the pop groups by name. This is irksome for a lay cultural historian like myself, but that's the way it was, baby. There's a lot of good music and the songs are generally rather brief - 2 minutes on average. A cinematic, widescreen variety show, with more hits than misses. Recommended for fans of 60s radio pop.

This is a fun film showcasing a number of hits from 1964, many of the performances stages specifically for the film. I had not seen it in years, but it has re-emerged on AMC, so if that year's music holds any interest to you, watch and have a ball.

I saw this movie on cable the other day. I was very surprised at how many great British pop artists appeared. Some obscure (at least to me) bands like The Rocking Berries, Fourmost, Tommy Quickly & The Remo 4 and Susan Maughan. I should have known more about these artists as I am no spring chicken and I loved this music.

The best surprise was a very pretty singer named Billie Davis. She was also unknown to me but not to British fans of pop as she still performs in shows with her friend Jet Harris. I got an immediate crush on this girl and she was just 18 years old in this film. She is now 61 but still quite pretty as I discovered from her fan site. Try and get her CD of her best stuff from her Decca years.

Many great performances make this a snapshot in time of the British invasion pop scene and well worth your time.