My Favourite 45s of the Year: 1966 Quiz

Answer: The Righteous Brothers

"(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" by the Righteous Brothers emulated their success with "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", reaching number one in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 15 in the UK Singles Chart. The duo had changed record labels and no longer used Phil Spector to produce their records, but Bill Medley was able to reproduce the Spector sound using lots of reverb and session players from the Wrecking Crew. Sadly, however, it was their last major chart success and in 1968 the duo split up for the next six years.

Strangely their career was revived in 1990 when Bobby Hatfield's version of their song "Unchained Melody" was featured in the movie "Ghost". This motivated Polygram Records to re-release their 1965 recording of the song, which got to number 13 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one in the UK Singles Chart. The duo then got together again and recorded a new version on Curb records, which resulted in two versions of the same song by the same artists charting in the Top 20 at the same time!

"Soul and Inspiration" is a lovely song, in my mind superior to "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" - the vocals are particularly rich.

Answer: The Who

By late 1965 the Who were well into their stride of producing excellent R'n'B-flavoured pop songs, of which "My Generation" is a prime example. Their first release of 1966, "Substitute", was no exception. Starting with a great 12-string acoustic guitar intro it went on to killer lines like "I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth", exploring themes of youth ennui and consumerism to a great instrumental background. I think it was this record that first demonstrated to me the power and complexity of Keith Moon's extraordinary drumming! It got to number five in the UK Singles Chart, but failed to chart in the US (surprisingly "My Generation", a number two hit in the UK, had only got to number 99 in the US).

The record's poor performance in the US might have been due to editorial decisions. The line "I look all white but my dad was black" was changed to "I try walking forward but my feet walk back", and the complete second verse and chorus were deleted.

There's an excellent contemporaneous video of the band performing the song on YouTube; Roger Daltrey is wearing the most amazing quartered black-and-white shirt!

Answer: The Association

The Association were a vocal harmony group rather than a rock band; their songs were wonderful examples of the singer's craft. Having had a number seven hit in the US with the bright and breezy "Along Comes Mary", they then released "Cherish" - a lovely, sensual ballad. It went on to sell over a million copies as it went to number one in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, although it didn't chart here in the UK.

An original member of the Association, Jim Yester, said in 2012 that their record label criticised the song as being "too old and archaic", but added that the song's success "just showed we can have archaic and eat it, too" (Boom Boom!).

Answer: The Byrds

With "Eight Miles High" the Byrds - and rock music in general - really took flight. Nominally about a flight to London, the musical influences of jazz saxophonist John Coltrane and sitar player Ravi Shankar permeate the song, leading rock critics to describe it as the first ever bona fide psychedelic rock song. I was astonished the first time I heard it, and I'd sit and play the intro over and over again - I'd never heard anything like it before. Many said that the song was over-complex and uncommercial, but it got to number 14 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 24 in the UK Singles Chart. At the time the band denied accusations that it was a "drugs song", but a few years later David Crosby said "Of course it was a drug song! We were stoned when we wrote it".

Having just played again a few times while writing these comments, I'm still astonished by it. There's a wonderful change of key on the second line "...and when you touch down" which just opens everything out. Sheer genius.

Answer: The Four Tops

The Four Tops reached number one in both the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart with this classic Holland-Dozier-Holland song. Featuring Levi Stubbs singing at the top of his vocal range, it has become the group's signature tune.

I remember having a prolonged conversation about this record with a girl who was a couple of years above me at the Girls' School up the road from my school as we sat on the bus home one evening. I felt really grown up!

Answer: The Isley Brothers

The Isley Brothers first appeared on my personal music horizon when they released the first hit version of "Twist and Shout" in 1962. A couple of years later they signed up with Motown Records, and their first release with them, was the Holland-Dozier-Holland composition "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)". It did really well, reaching number 12 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 47 in the UK Singles Chart. Even better, a UK re-release in 1968 got to number three. Rod Stewart released a cover version in 1975 that got to number four in the UK Singles Chart, but I couldn't recommend it.

The group soon left the embrace of Motown Records to form their own record company, T-Neck Records. In one of those "Light blue touch paper and retire" moments, their career really took off in the next decade with some superlative singles such as "Harvest for the World" and "Summer Breeze".

Oh, and there was a time back in 1964 when Jimi Hendrix played for the Isley Brothers' backing band.

Answer: The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Late December 1966 saw the release of the first record by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Hey Joe" - and guitar playing was never the same again. Hendrix's career was brief but stellar, producing the most imaginative virtuoso guitar heard up until then. Hendrix's astonishing debut single reached number six in the UK Singles Chart, but failed to feature in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Everything about Hendrix was startling, even the look of the band. I remember to this day that I had a photo of the trio on the cover of my A-Level Chemistry file at school, and a couple of lads nicked it and scrawled racist and homophobic abuse all over it. But the times were a-changing.

Answer: Simon and Garfunkel

In January 1966 Simon and Garfunkel had scored a million-selling US number one hit with the song "The Sound of Silence". This had come from out of left field from the duo's flop album "Wednesday Morning, 3A.M.", remixed without their knowledge. The record company wanted new tracks fast - within three weeks - so the duo took various tracks from Paul Simon's solo album, "The Paul Simon Songbook", and re-recorded them for the new album, "Sounds of Silence". A solo-acoustic version of "I Am a Rock" had originally been released by Simon in the UK in 1965, but the product of the electric re-recording was released as a single in the late Spring of 1966. It got to number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 and to number 17 in the UK Singles Chart.

I loved this song from the off; wonderful lyrics, well sung and with a nice melody - I found it enchanting. I can remember singing it while sitting in the back of our old Ford Anglia on our way to Bournemouth with my Mum and Dad for what turned out to be our last-ever family holiday.

Now, there follows an odd story. Back in 1965 I was in the Sixth Form at my local Boys' Grammar School in Essex, and a couple of the boys organised a folk club. They had a budget to pay for artists to come and perform, and I still remember that one of these was a small American man. Sadly, the only tune I can remember him playing was the Davey Graham guitar instrumental, "Anji". Now, Simon and Garfunkel's first album "Wednesday Morning, 3A.M." was released in October 1964 and flopped, so Paul Simon moved to England and played small gigs in folk clubs and pubs until he returned to the US in mid-summer 1965 when radio interest in their album track "The Sound of Silence" started to develop. Coincidentally, I've read somewhere that during his stay in the UK Simon lived for a time in Essex, and the guitar solo "Anji" appeared on Simon and Garfunkel's 1966 album "Sounds of Silence". So I still wonder whether the small American man I saw playing to about 30 people in a school music room in Grays Thurrock was in fact Paul Simon. Any ideas, anyone?

Answer: The Lovin' Spoonful

Formed in 1965, the Lovin' Spoonful had their origin in the New York folk and jug band circuit, and were in turn influential on the bands that followed them - even the Grateful Dead! During 1965 and 1966 they had a string of hits including a US number one, "Summer in the City", but sadly "Nashville Cats" was their last top ten single - it reached number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 26 on the UK Singles Chart.

The band broke up in early 1969, but I very much liked this track, especially its instrumentation and folksy, bluegrass sound.

Answer: The Beach Boys

"Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys is an absolutely wonderful song, a work of genius by Brian Wilson. From the sound of the Electro-theremin to the use of the recording studio more-or-less as an instrument in itself, it was totally unique at the time and remains so today. Composed in six sections each with a different musical texture, it pointed the way for music in the future - certainly the Beatles could not have written "A Day in the Life" the following year without listening to this first.

It rose effortlessly to number one in both the US and the UK, and in many other countries besides. "Rolling Stone" magazine voted it into sixth place in both the 2004 and 2010 "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". For me it brings back my last year at school and a wonderful summer with a lovely girlfriend. What a soundtrack!