Film & TV Reviews 4U - The Edgar Wallace Mysteries

 

Film & TV Reviews 4U - The Edgar Wallace Mysteries

The Edgar Wallace Mysteries were made for television from 1959-65 as one hour programs. The early films were produced by Independent Artists and the later by Merton Park film studios.

The theme tune by Michael Carr started the programs and there were around four versions of it over the time of the productions. The early version is orchestral and quite 'mysterioso' in style, the later version was upbeat and modern sounding with a guitar lead, it was recorded in 1960 by the Shadows, Cliff Richard's baking group who had a No.1 hit with the track.

The No.1 Hit by the Shadows - the Sheet Music

A number of composers were brought in to provide background incidental music, one being Ron Goodwin, who would find fame later in the decade with this film scores.

The Shadows in 1960

Behind the camera the episodes were crafted by a range of names that would come to the fore later in the 'golden age' of television, writers like Gerald Glaister who wrote the Secret Army and Kessler series, Robert Tronson who would go on to direct episodes in the Bergerac TV series and the episode credits read like a foretelling of future fame and fortune.

Lobby Card from the 'Flat 2' Episode

The Edgar Wallace episodes featured many actors who would later go on to greater things, there are also some quite spooky connections to, with actors who would later appear together in the future or be directed by people they would later work with.

John Thaw, later to appear in the Sweeney worked with Brian Mc Dermott and Lee Montague in an episode 'five to 1' - Brian Mc Dermott played Ken Agar in a Sweeney episode, Lee Montague played Kibber in a Sweeney episode and also in Regan, the pilot episode that was the test film for the Sweeney as part of the 'Armchair Theatre' type films for television.

Garfield Morgan also appears in one episode, later to play Frank Haskins in the Sweeney, Michael Robbins and John Colin, appear together with John Thaw, all three would cross paths in the Sweeney in later years.

Besides the episodes filmed, a number of 'fillers' episodes were made to be used to package the films for sale outside of the UK. In the DVD Box set the fillers were also included as extras on disc 3 in each DVD case.

Besides the obvious connector actors, the casts often featured many 'B movie' actors of the time and people who would populate television for the next twenty or thirty years, John Le Mesurier who would appear in many productions, most famous in Dad's army as an example.

Many character actors would also appear in the episodes who would go onto appear in television for the next twenty years.

The acting is good, the scripts tightly written and the action is pacy. The old street scenes and backdrops of a world now long in the past are worth a look at, some of the locations lost to redevelopment, the old vehicles now only driven by enthusiasts, aeroplanes and trains lost to progress and a way of life to look back on.

Many of the locations are quite easy to spot, even later on, some like a boat yard was used in the 70's in the Professionals in one scene.

The black and white film used on these episodes makes them atmospheric and they have that old 'B movie noir' quality. With AI, it would be interested to see these in converted colour.

Great nostalgia and worth watching for the historical scenes!

Music Reviews 4U - Cool for Cats by Squeeze

 

Music Reviews 4U - Cool for Cats by Squeeze

The Iconic single Cool for Cats by Squeeze

Recorded in 1978 and launched onto the UK pop charts in March 1979, this second chart single from Squeeze hit the No.2 chart position and was certainly good enough to have been the chart topper at the No1 slot.

Chris Difford has a rare outing on lead vocals and the 'cool for cats' spelt out in musical notes sounds provides a nice little leitmotif, as Jools Holland might say.

The Cool for Cats era lineup features Harri Kakouli on Bass

The song is a bit of Pub Rocker in the sound that comes off the record and it reflects the area it was written in or about - that was Deptford, South East London. The song featured on the '45's and Under' compilation album which I've reviewed earlier and it is one of their songs which are personal favourites of mine.

The song has great musicality and even played on the radio all these years later it sounds great and takes you back to the Top of the Pops video with the 'dancing girls' as everyone remembers in the song.

The song verses seem to follow small themes or vignettes, variously centred around old cowboy films, the Flying Squad, pubs and casual sex. In a nutshell. 

The song title Cool for Cats references a music show for the young which was aired in the mid 1950's until 1961 and hosted by Kent Walton, a middle aged sports commentator who found his greatest fame perhaps in hosting the ITV World of Sport Wrestling slot on a Saturday afternoon. 

Still from Summer Holiday 1963 with Cliff Richard

singing the hit Bachelor Boy, somewhat ironically as he never married

Una Stubbs appeared in this film which provides a thread to Glenn Tilbrook

There's a connection of sorts here to the Cool for Cats show in that Glenn Tilbrook was taken to see the film Summer Holiday featuring Cliff Richard and the Shadows in 1963, when they were at the height of their fame - Tilbrook from seeing the instrumental band the Shadows play on the film, was thus inspired to learn the guitar.

Una Stubbs an actress in the Summer Holiday film, was one of the dancers on the Cool for Cats program, who suggested Cliff Richard for the part in the Summer Holiday film, which gives a great set of connections and coincidences linking the program to the song!

'The dancing girls' who appeared on Squeeze's  

Top of the Pops performance of the hit song

Verse one references Davy Crockett,  with 1950's Westerns, popular in cinemas at the time Difford and Tilbrook were young kids in the late 1950's and cinemas often put on cheap ticket Saturday morning screenings for children. Usually on the bill were cartoons and American 1950's Westerns, Davy Crockett was a popular Western made in the 1950's.

Dennis Waterman and John Thaw as Carter and Regan

in the iconic ITV 'The Sweeney' series running from 1974-78

Verse two references the Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad known as 'the Sweeney' rhyming slang for Sweeney Todd, Flying Squad. The Sweeney specialise in going after armed robbers or 'Blaggers' as they are known in the trade. South London was somewhat awash with Blaggers.

The lyrics of verse 2 with the line 'in and out of Wandsworth with the numbers on their names' are a reference to the frequency of the Blaggers being in and out of the South London Wandsworth prison on remand for their 'jobs', the 'numbers' being the offences they were nicked for, usually armed robbery and the like. So now you know.

(Dennis Waterman who was in the Sweeney was also in a film called 'Up the Junction' in 1966 which was also one of the song titles on the '45's and Under' Squeeze album.)

The reference to 'a couple of likely lads that swear like how's your father' is real London lingo, 'how's your Father' being a slang term for fornication, more succinctly an oblique reference to a short four letter word describing sex beginning with 'F'. So 'swearing like f---k' has perhaps been sanitised for the lyrics and the line quoted in the song actually works nicely.

Singles bars and pubs were often used to pickup 

people for casual sex - before AIDS came on the scene

Verse 3 documents the efforts of a single young man 'posing down the pub' - looking smartly dressed and available, hoping to pickup a woman for casual sex. The world then was different and the one night stand on a Saturday night was often the norm for many young people. People openly lived together then, the stigma of this was now mostly long gone.

The line 'all I get is bitter and a nasty little rash' alludes to the young man's results of his endeavours finding a few days after his Saturday night efforts that he has contracted a minor sexually transmitted disease, whether the Bitter beer was lousy or the fact he is bitter in reflection of disappointing sex is open to interpretation.

In late 1985 the AIDS virus transmitted by sex, became well known and was fatal, and a national concern which many now seem to have forgotten but claimed the lives of celebrities like Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett.

The Disco was a staple of the 1970's and 80's singles scene

after the hit film 'Saturday Night fever' brought the Disco

back into fashion again

Verse 4 finds our hero going a bit more upmarket in his 'conquest for congress' and picking up a young lady in a Disco. The lyrics 'I'm invited in for coffee and I give the dog a bone' has nothing to do with pet dogs and is a euphemism for sex ' giving her a boning , 'inviting in for coffee' was often an invitation for a bit of 'how's your Father' as we found out earlier.

'Giving the dog a bone' was a rather in poor taste by suggesting the 'dog' was a young lady who might not be very good looking but was up for a bit of uncomplicated sex, the bone was a male member and you can guess the rest.

'Seeing her later and giving her some old chat' was a throwaway 'thank you and goodnight' which the young shagger would say as a parting message and likely never see the woman again.

If you've ever seen pub rock bands in the 70's and 80's then this song is just like watching one of those bands at the time, it certainly brings back memories for me when I hear the song, having been around in the 80's as a teenager and in a band ironically with some old school friends that had since managed to escape the education system at 16 and played in a London pub in Richmond.

The song is cleverly potted and packaged nostalgia for London Boozers (Pubs), uncomplicated sex and when the Ford Capri was commonplace on the streets, often driven by a young chancer looking for a bit of easy 'how's your father.' Happy days.

Music Reviews 4U - Squeeze - 45's and under album

 

Music Reviews 4U - Squeeze - 45's and under album

An album I still listen to now on my IPod 40 + years later!

45's and Under captures Squeeze's their 'golden era' hits

An early lineup of Squeeze c.1980

Music Reviews 4U - Squeeze - 45's and under sheet music -

Still have mine, well thumbed - bought from ABC Music from about 1983

The cover image was also used on the 12" Vinyl and Cassette Tape albums covers

South London Pub Rock band Squeeze formed around the Deptford area south of the river Thames in the 1970's as a result of a music shop advertisement placed by Chris Difford in 1974, that Glen Tilbrook saw. 

Squeeze came to public attention around 1979 with a swathe of commercially attractive & catchy singles in the musical era now known as Post Punk / New Wave. Alongside other artists like Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello in a rapidly evolving music scene which was exciting to behold.

Rubbing shoulders with Dire Straits another locally Deptford based pub rock band that would later become world famous, Squeeze were frequent guests on the BBC TV Top of the Pops show and appearing on the BBC2 music magazine show the Old Grey Whistle, their new singles were always eagerly awaited.

 Pulling Mussels from the Shell a great 45rpm single 

The Jools Holland piano solo on this song is just superb 

and Glen Tilbrook gives us another guitar masterpiece solo too

By 1980 the band lineup comprised Glen Tilbrook - Guitar and Vocals, Chris Diffird - Guitar and Vocals, Harri Kakoulli - Bass Guitar, Jools Holland - Keyboards and Gilson Lavis - Drums.

The Squeeze lineup has been quite fluid since its inception, with John Bentley later on Bass in the early 1980s and Paul Carrack and Chris Holland on Keyboards variously became band members.

Jools Holland came back in and went out of Squeeze to pursue other other projects such as co-hosting the Tube on Channel 4 with Paula Yates and Muriel Grey and his BBC2 'Later' programs and to tour and record with his Jools Holland Big Band project. And not to forget his large model railway project!

The Squeeze compilation album '45's and Under' was issued in October 1982 and showcased the major hits of the band in what was their most commercially chart active era.

The album title '45's and Under' reflects the 'singles bars' culture of the era, which like the wine bars were more upmarket than most Pubs (known as 'Boozers' in London). The bars would have theme nights and sometimes '45's and under' promotions to attract a target clientele.

This was in the pre AIDS era and causal sex was rampant in Britain, a bit like the people involved! AIDS changed all that and affected both men and women was identified around 1986 in the public domain through stark television adverts with banner headlines like 'don't die of ignorance' were broadcast as AIDS was not curable then.

By this time in society, marriage although popular was now seen as optional, people living together was no longer the stigma it had once been. The themes in the song lyrics from this compilation reflect the life as lived when the songs were written, of casual sex, broken love affairs and relationships, domestic situations et al. 

Side 1 Tracks

Take me I'm yours - Starting with a chugging synth intro, the song is a musical odyssey in the lyrical journey style. It was really different from anything else on the charts then, keeping the song to an almost continuous synth line throughout the verses. You just have to hear it to appreciate it. Synths with arpeggiation and programming were just breaking out into Pop music at the time.

Goodbye Girl - A song of regret with the great line 'the sunlight on the Lino', brings to the fore Chris Difford's lyrical genius of portraying ordinary people's life in song form and the minutiae of suburban working class life. The minutiae people often disregard is brought into play with his vignette of a relationship gone sour and ended.

Cool for Cats - A stormer right from the off, a track melding Davy Crockett's wild west with the Sweeney's operational policing of armed robbery in London and more! Brilliant lyrics, which I'll probably dive into in another review, one of the best tracks on the album. The line 'The Sweeney's doing 90 'cos they've got the word to go' from the song is just so good.

Jools uses the leitmotif of the phrase 'cool for cats' in musical note form which is worth listening out for. 'Cool for Cats' was a saying of the 50's and also used as the name of a music show on Independent Television from 1956-61 aimed at a teenage audience and hosted by the very un-teenage almost 50 year old sports commentator Kent Walton! (as was the fashion then in television!) 

Una Stubbs was one of the 'Cool for Cats' show's dancers, who would in 1962 recommend Cliff Richard for the film Summer Holiday, more of which later is referenced in the 'Pulling Mussels from the Shell' track in respect of Glen Tilbrook.

Up the junction - A film from around 1966 featuring a young Dennis Waterman of Sweeney fame, now that's a coincidence as he appeared in the ITV series The Sweeney from 1974 -1978 - see the 'Cool for Cats' track above!. 

'Junction' is another 'Kitchen Sink lyrical drama', which no doubt led to Difford and Tilbrook being labelled at the time as 'the Lennon and McCartney of Deptford' - the lyrics start well then the fortunes of the mainstay character goes downhill, backed up with great Hammond organ by Jools and Gilson's drum patterns. The Deptford area of this era was undergoing redevelopment work with much of the old dockland area being redeveloped and it was quite a poor area of London. 

Slap and Tickle - In a similar vein to the 1st track in style and quite musically similar in pattern, it is a tale of at first unrequited love and how it was then, you pass a driving test, get a car and take your girlfriend out for a drive and hopefully use the car as a venue for uninterrupted sex. The song changes from the rythmic staccatto beat of the verse to a rock style middle 8. 

Another nail in my Heart - Another meaty rythm here with bass and drums pounding out some sort of musical urgency of the track as the music bursts out from behind the intro into another relationship gone sour. "And in the bar the Piano man's found another nail for my heart" the lyric goes - and this can be true enough, then there were Pianos frequently found in Pubs, often in London. 

The video of the track was great with Jools pushing a piano through the local streets just getting to the studio in time to play the last crashing chord. A quality track that stands out.

Pulling Mussels from the Shell - A great song and musically one of the best on the album. It is a rose tinted view of long gone summer holidays and as usual brilliantly observed by the writers. An outstanding pair of solos from Glen and Jools seal the deal. 

Glen Tilbrook was taken as a 5 year old to see the film Summer Holiday film in 1963 from where he was influenced by seeing Cliff Richard's backing group the Shadows playing on the film, to learn the guitar. Funny old world ain't it?

Jools Holland and Glen Tilbrook - on the video

for Pulling Mussels from the Shell

Side 2 Tracks

Labelled with Love - one of their last tracks commercially in the 80's for a while is an almost country and western feel tale, could easily be at home in Nashville as in Deptford. Regales the story of a wartime romance with a US Serviceman and a GI Bride going to America for a new life, that was not uncommon in WW2. A rather sad Coda to their run of hits but a good song.

Is that Love - A real rocker and one of the best tracks on the album, mines the Kitchen Sink / love affair / rocky relationship vein but so what? Isn't most music really 'folk music' about 'folk' and their lives, about real people? 

A personal favourite track of mine. "She's left my ring by the soap, now is that love?" is such a great line. I believe that the lyrics resonated with people's lives which is why the group had success, along with great musicianship. Life imitates art, art imitates life.

Tempted - Paul Carrack makes an appearance on this track on Keys and Vocals and on the video, a song that starts in the unusual key of B Major and resolves to G Major. A great song lyrically and musically, about ends and beginnings thanks to the old Adam and Eve conundrum.

Black Coffee in Bed - Almost a Blues song in structure and feel, it features a great lyrical Glen Tilbrook guitar solo in the musicality of the whole venture. Again underpinned by the old Hammond organ, another pub rock band gem!

Annie get your Gun - The finale track of the album and one of the best saved for last - full of energy and with great lyrics - even though Chris Difford apparently didn't rate it at the time the song is about a good time gal living it large - as a live track it comes across really well and on the record it sounds great too. There was a London stage musical of the same name so that is likely a contributing factor in the mix. It features on my Ipod playlists for sure.

The instruments

The musical technology of that 70's / 80's era was undergoing something of a new wave in itself, with Synthesizer and Keyboards technology making great advances mainly from Japanese companies like Korg, Roland and Yamaha as examples.

Arpeggiation facilities and programming on Synths was becoming widely used and also musical sequencing on computers was coming in with home computers and desk top computing now a reality. In a few years time the home recording studio on a desk top computer would be commonplace with studio programs like Cubase.

Keyboards and Synths were expanding music beyond mere notes with different voices, they were bringing new sonic possibilities with synthetic strings that almost negated the need for string orchestras.

Guitars were undergoing a new era with new designs breaking away from the often either / or Fender or Gibson offerings that largely dominated the market. Synth guitars were coming in and then went nowhere strangely, effects pedal modules and amplifier modelling would soon become part of the sound.

Bass guitars developed away from the often stock Rickenbacker, Fender or Gibson choices and companies like WAL and Hamer made Bass Guitars now seen frequently on pop videos of the time. Active sound on both guitars and bass guitars was now sometimes used to create new sounds.

Musical memories and the era

Music often resonates for people in different ways. For instance if we get into 'Another nail in my Heart' territory where a song can have great impact personally good or bad, I remember at the time that 'Careless Whisper' by George Michael hit the charts, a great song, someone I was into was stolen by someone else at work and I couldn't listen to that track for some years after because of that connection. 

So I really get what 'Another nail' is about and I suppose we have all been there. Times change and that relationship I mentioned went sour so I can listen to that again and smile. 

When Squeeze hit the charts in 1979 I was at Secondary school and playing the guitar as a hobby. Instantly on hearing Cool for Cats and the singles that followed I loved this band and their music. 

Memories of their tracks which we then had on a cassette which we still have now, include going across South London and down the A2 to Kent to see a car for sale and Annie Get Your Gun being on the tape deck of the E Type Jaguar I was in going down places like the Old Kent Road or Shooters Hill. 

Listening to these old songs and realising the years they were released brings back memories of the time, where I lived, the people then, what we we doing. It is perhaps a nostalgia trip. 

Today I still play along to those tracks on guitar and I am still enjoying the songs through that interest as well as listening to them on my Ipod at work. 

As a writer in my spare time I may often draw on songs of the era in the works to take me back to an era seen through my own eyes, which I am doing on a project I have set in the early 1990's but with roots in the 1980s'.

Coda

In closing, 45's and Under is a great compilation of Squeeze at their best commercially. Music moves on and pop music does not stand still with fashions changing quickly and often drastically.

People I know who weren't even born when this album was released like the songs, proving that good music will always be popular. 

Glen and Chris were very good at their craft of songwriting and their musical legacy is of great quality as is the standard of musicianship on these recordings. 

The pub rock scene is now greatly diminished sadly, I was lucky to have played in Richmond in a pub in 1985 with a band of people I was formerly at school with only a couple of years before, I have now been playing live for 45 years at the time of writing.

We are also lucky that Squeeze came along when the pop video was an emerging adjunct to the music. When you find these old videos on youtube, it is great to see how creative they were and how life was so different then.

They also bing back memories of the era, leaving us visual time capsules.

I'd recommend this album without a doubt.

Sadly, a few days after writing this review, we have news that Gilson Lavis has passed away.

 

Music Reviews 4U - Spandau Ballet - To cut a long story short - Review

 

Music Reviews 4U - Spandau Ballet - To cut a long story short - Review

Spandau Ballet - To cut a long story short 7" Vinyl single

To cut a long story short is quite apt as a reference point to start this in a series of music reviews. This review will cut the story of the music down into sections. Not only do you get an overview of the music, we'll include a few facts about the people and the equipment and my own memories of the time (if I was around then when the music was released, I was )! 

So, lets go back to 1980 to a band now named Spandau Ballet and as the last strains of punk rock were fading out, the 'new wave' music came into the British pop scene. 

The post punk scene was an exciting time as new musical technology having recently emerged, now forged ahead, changing popular music forever.

Spandau Ballet - To Cut a Long Story Short video -

filmed in the London Dungeon Tourist attraction

Spandau Ballet - the group

Formed in Islington in the mid 1970's, after a few lineup and name changes including the Gentry, they took the name Spandau Ballet that was apparently from a piece of Berlin Graffiti about Rudolf Hess, the last WW2 prisoner in Spandau Prison in Berlin. 

By now fronted by Tony Hadley (Vocals), Gary Kemp (Guitar, Synths), Steve Norman (Guitar, later Sax), Martin Kemp (Bass) and John Keeble (Drums) this was the group that has endured over the last 45 years with hiatus, breakups and reunions allowing.

Their breakthrough came playing at the Blitz Club in Covent Garden and Billy's in Soho in 1979-80, the Covent Garden area had been slated for redevelopment but likely due to the financial situation of Britain in 1979 after the collapse of the labour Government in 1979, this fiscal vacuum left the venue available until the nation became more financially viable and redevelopment could take place.

Spandau Ballet - Before the discord

The Blitz became one of the places for the new, young avant garde often students or fashion trend setters to be seen. The 'New Romantic' movement created by the Blitz and Billy's clientele for example were a diametric opposite to the nihilistic punk rockers of the Sex Pistols ilk. Punk imploded with the legacy of the late Sid Vicious. 

The 'Blitzers' of the New Wave were in effect the 'new Dandies' (Dandies had been the New Wave of their time in 1700's and 1800's London), the New Wave dressed in retro chic fashion, created their own take on the past and with many fashion students among the crowd, a new 'look' emerged in London, spreading out across the country.

Spandau Ballet became the house band at the Blitz, playing dance music inspired by soul and by American stars such as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

 The Yamaha CS10 - key to the sound of the single

The key to the song was the repetitive riff running through the song that songwriter Gary Kemp came up with as the hook. Steve Norman, Guitar and later Sax player said that essentially once Gary had the Riff, the song was established.

The legacy of the track was that it launched over 30 dance music bands in the following year alone onto the charts. It created a new genre of music that rubbed along with performers like Eric Clapton, Elton John and Dire Straits - whose more traditional music structure co-existed with this new craft.

The Equipment - Enter Synth-Pop - the Sequenver and the Arpeggiator

Music technology in the 1970's had moved on from the Keyboards of the 1960's Mellotron (a proto synth) and the early Moog Synths of the late 1960's. 

Keyboards such as the 60's Fender Rhodes and the Vox Conqueror were ironically by this era having a resurgence as the Ska genre was being revisited by groups such as the Selector, The Specials, Madness and Bad Manners, who were putting their own mark on this music.

Duran Duran and Depeche Mode were two of the contemporary groups who were using the emerging new synth technologies in their music. Gary Kemp had bought a synth which no doubt contributed to the new music he was writing.

Synths like the Roland Juno, Yamaha DX7, Odyssey, Prophet and Emulator brands made their presence in the UK music charts felt. You can identify the signature sounds on many of the hits of the time. Emulator was one of the first Synths to have a sampling function.

The Yamaha CS-10 was as they say 'instrumental' in the sound of To Cut a Long Story Short. What some might say was that the riff of the song was a programmed arpeggiation, some Synths of this time did have arpeggiation functions - a single note when played could then create a set of played notes around that core note.

(Some Synths of the era could be programmed to play sequences of notes and arpeggiated notes in 'sequences' hence these Keyboards later became known as 'Sequencers').

The Yamaha CS-10 had no arpeggiator, but by using the LO-FI Oscillator, an arpeggiated style could be created. Certainly in the Studio, with the use of multi tracking, the arpeggiated phrases could be 'cut and pasted' electronically by re-recording the phrasings and adding them in sequences to a track. 

This was before the days of computerised 'cut and paste music' production was around, although Digital recording consoles were coming in by 1980, if you had the money!

To the video

The song having achieved air play on Radio 1 by DJ Peter Powell and others, that got this as then unsigned band out into the public domain and led to Chrysalis Records signing the band.

The subsequent video for the song was filmed in a venue called the London Dungeon, a tourist themed attraction in Tooley Street, London. The group were brilliantly styled in their fashion, it made anything of the punk era decidedly old hat. 

The band adopted a Scottish military Tartan inspired look for the video and with friends in the new wave movement who were often art school and fashion students as group followers, they were at the epicentre of a new look for avant garde youth of the time, life imitating art in these great times where pop and life co-existed in real time.

The music sounded exciting and the limited space of the video filming venue concentrated the action onto the group and a few of the Blitz club entourage appearing as extras in the video. 

Shot for a by now modest budget of £5000, there is no doubt that this video really launched the band visually. It shows that simple works well, when you compare it to some of the modern productions of today costing in real terms so much more to achieve.

The first time I saw the group was on a Saturday morning television show, I thought on seeing their performance this was Band unique - in terms of the look and the sound, this was very different and I liked it. The riff was catchy and the electronic style of the music was refreshing.

As the front man, Tony Hadley really stood out, his style was almost operatic, we hadn't seen anything like this in this form before. 

The only reference point to this musical style was from singers like Mario Lanza, Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra from the 50's and 60's - Tony Hadley by chance had coincidentally met Frank Sinatra at a concert in London.

The Legacy

The legacy of the song cannot be just written off as a piece of throwaway pop music, when it existed ironically in precisely that sort of arena - in the charts for a few weeks and gone, as was the fashion.Good music never goes away and this hasn't. 

That said, we now still hear on the radio many of the pop music hits of the last 60  plus years rubbing shoulders with music from the stars of today. 

Could this song be improved? I doubt it, it did what was required, the band had the visual image to carry it off on stage or on Top of the Pops and the other music shows of the time. The lyrics are quality, meaningful and are delivered over the insistent and urgent arpeggiated riff.

Even now 45 years on this song does not rally sound dated, music technology may have moved on, but even today songs from that 80's era and before are still sampled in modern music. The test is that it still sounds great today.

The longevity as I frequently say is down to the legacy of this group having done the musical apprenticeship as a group in the pubs and clubs. With the talent of the players and the song writers, great music endures. 

It was fortunate in this era that Gary Kemp could write his songs as he envisaged them. Today, song writing is more like a unionised restrictive practices exercise with every man and his dog on the credits for their one or two lines of contribution, it seems.

The legacy of this song is that one man wrote it, the contributions of the players in the studio brought it to life and it still sounds great. 

It didn't need Uncle Tom Cobbley and his mates putting their Ten Shillings worth into the song to make it work as would be commonplace today.

The memories of the era

The early 1980's were an interesting time if you were young and in London or the London area like I was at the time.

The Cold War was at its height and we lived in the shadow of that and the fact we might be literally gone in a flash from Soviet missiles. 

I worked in London over the first few years of the 80's and briefly in the Kings Road in 1983 near the World's End part of Chelsea, it was a great time to be around the capital.

Not only that, but I was at that time making music with a band made up of people I had been at school with, we had left school in 1982 and by 1983 were writing our own music which we slotted in between covers of mostly 50's and 60's classics when we played live.

It was a great time to see the fashions of the time, even then young people of our age wore the fashions as 'normal' attire, this didn't sit well with many of the starchy office environments of the time, but you'd often see women who worked in shops or offices creatively using make up and hair styling that made them stand out. They looked great, different, stylish. It was an exciting time to be there - like the 60's was for the previous generation.

The 80's was a great era to be around in, the 90's with its grungy laziness seemed to be a backwards step I thought. 

You just had to be there in the 1980's to see the young peacocks. The 80's had the advantage over the 60's in that it also had the great music of its own time and also the legacy of the 60's to draw on which it did.

There was a buzz and a vibe to the time. To cut a long story short, I was there....

Guitar Reviews 4U - the Gretsch 6120TG Nashville in Azure Metallic

  

Guitar Reviews 4U - the Gretsch 6120TG Nashville in Azure Metallic

Still shown on the Gretsch site as of October 2025

This special Players edition 6120 Nashville in Azure Metallic Blue - 

a great colour against the Gold plated hardware on this Terada Japan Gretsch

Now available also in Midnight Sapphire a darker shade of Blue

A few years back Grestch introduced the Player series of guitars, at the same time as it had the Professional series guitars in the line. 

The Player series level of Gretsch guitars appears now to be a new 'standard' Japan level guitar range, with the Professional series now in the Custom Shop level. The Player is more player friendly and the Professional, more vintage specification.

Or so it appears.... Here's how this seems to be balancing out. Before we dive into the review, I'll give you a brief outline of how the Japan guitars and the model names and appointments have recently evolved.

Here the Blue really vibes as it catches the light - a classic Terada

guitar with the legendary easy playing neck does not disappoint

The Player series now seems to encompass the classic models made in Japan, but with new twists. In short, if we take the above 6120 guitar, we have a 1 selector switch and 2 Volume, 1 Tone and 1 Master Volume controls on what is a basic 6120 1959 style guitar. Previously in this level, a 6120 would have a Tone Switch configuration with 2 Toggle Switches.

(In the 90's the Japan guitars often featured 'odd' hardware features like Block fretboard markers on a 6120 with a 'V' Bigsby B6C.These had more 'arched' headstock top profiel shapes, some even featured De Armond pickups - basically there were some guitars and Fender did similar things, where they combined a 'vintage' looking Maple neck Stratocaaster with narrow 12th fret dots. With the Gretsch buyout, the guitars became more as they were.)

This 6120 offers you 'Player' functionality and playability without the hard work of 'original' pattern neck profiles, or the more complex (if you don't know how it works) switching for example. 

Also, the Tuners on this 6120 are locking type which means you get nice ratio geared greased and sealed from the dust Tuner units, not higher ratio open back units with a rather agricultural industrial gear ratio as on the old 50's guitars, so what Gretsch is doing now in this level of guitar is giving you functionality, looks and playability but without total 'as they were made' appointments. 

As an aide, my 6120 AM & TM guitars have sealed Grover Machines, my 6120DC from 2003 has the open backs. The Japan guitars had sealed Grovers, my 6120 Duane Eddy from 99 has these, the modern version has the open backs.

This azure blue is hard to photograph - it has 'trick' properties -

Like a custom car paint, the metallic in it as you can see

plays the light reflection back to the eye from light to dark

This 6120TG (Tremolo, Gold Plated Hardware) Nashville is a modern take on the now 70 year old Chet Atkins 6120 guitar from 1955. There have been Blue paint Gretsch 6120's over the years, the Brian Setzer Hot Rods and 6120's in Blue from Japan, but they have been often limited in number, with most people opting for Orange stain guitars. Or Hot Rod 6120's if you want more adventurous colours!

This Azure blue pops in the light - depending on the light source -

Daylight can appear dark, sunlight can show off the tint and candy metal effect,

Artificial light can really make the paint look almost Kingfisher Blue -

A darker Midnight Sapphire colour is now offered.

In 2021 these 6120 Nashvilles with Gold Hardware started appearing, those of you following Gretsch will note that the 6118 -60 Anniversary guitars of this time had also gone over to using locking machine heads, as does this one. The 6118 was long famous for its adherence to the Grover open back 'cog' style gearing, had now gone modern with sealed greased machines. 

(In context and I cannot figure out why, Gretsch keeps on putting those budget open back Tuners on the 5420T, rather than sealed units as on the cheaper 2420 Streamliner?)

The recent Player series guitars also gained a variation of the 59 Trestle bracing but with only the 'feet' at the rear end by the Bridge.

This variation of the feet provides Trestle support from top to back boards on both sides under the Bridge, this gives you stability, feedback reduction but a degree of 'feedback control' as you can if you get near to the amplifier utilise the 'edgy' feedback this gives that makes the guitar feel alive. The boards have more movement and are less 'contained' than is the braces had 4 contact points making the bracing more rigid in effect.

You are almost getting old Ford Mustang Blue vibes here! 

Seeing this with your own eyes you'll appreciate how good this colour is!

This is actually a truer colour shade that you will see when you 

look at the guitar in natural light indoors - deep blue!

Body depth at 2.5" is the same as the Hot Rod and the 6120 AM & TM guitars, it features a 16" width body, the fretboard is Ebony and has that great feel, as does the fairly slim neck with vintage height frets, the Terada guitars as the main producer of Japan guitars for some years have settled on a neck profile that is very easy to play even if you are a Stratocaster player used to smaller neck guitars. The necks on these guitars are amazing to play.

The new FT-67P Pickups are really clear sounding, finished in Gold 

as is the String thru B6GP Gold plated Bigsby unit

Whether you are country or jazz player, you'll find the new FT-67P pickups which are also on the Double Platinum 6118 and Falcon guitars sound really clear and precise.

I normally play straight sounds with just soem chorus and reverb to enhance the sound, these FT67's really sound clear, on the neck pickup, played close to the bridge you can almost get a Dynasonic sound for a bit of Duane Eddy with tremolo on the amplifier.

The Bridge base is Ebony and is topped with a Tunamatic with blade saddles, I swap the blade type Bridge unit straight out for a Roller Saddle Tunamatic version on my guitars mostly and this allows the Bigsby to work easily and to keep the strings in tune better. 

Supplied strings are 11's and were the originals on the guitar, I changed them for 10's when I swapped the Bridge for the Roller Saddle Tunamatic. The action of the guitar was very good and after the new strings and the Tunamatic swap, a small amount of adjustment was required as the replacement was a higher section bridge. A quick intonation adjustment and it was playing really nicely.

I did take the string height at the Bridge measurement before I did this work and it is now right back in place as was. New strings and the new bridge make this sound amazing. I fitted a set of D'Addario EXL 10's 10-46 on it which I use on all the Gretsches I have. 

The paint shade is Azure Metallic blue - darker than Fairlane Blue, the newer version of this 6120 guitar from 2024 now has Midnight Sapphire Metallic blue which is really darker in shade than Azure. The Azure really works nicely with the Gold hardware.

The Blue Metallic colours really sing!

6120TG Azure, 5420T Fairlane, 6120 Hot Rod Blueburst

The rest of the guitar is really as you expect on a modern 6120 from Japan in that it is high quality all the way down the line, with white binding on neck, headstock and body with white black white sandwich binding on the body edges. Oversize F Holes are bound too, the white against the blue really looks good here.

Electronics are simple and feature a single pickup selector switch as on a 1958 6120 (or modern 5420T Electromatic), a nice Metal Jack Socket Plate is now fitted which helps to protect the paint from jack plugs and damage. The Pots are Master Volume, two pickup volumes and Tone pot with oil and paper capacity, featuring treble bleed circuitry.

A Tunamatic Roller Bridge was installed -

Makes the Bigsby stay in tune better

At the tail end is the reliable Bigsby in Gold Plate and this now has no string ball end pins on, the string ball ends sitting in recesses inside the round bar to allow for easier string changes. I found that you have to bend the plain end slightly at an angle to get the string to feed into the hole. the Top E string runs close to the side of the frame and it is trickier to get this string through. 

The Bigsby is smooth and has good tone transfer, I have installed a Roller Saddle Bridge which makes the string path travel smoother when using the Bigsby. I restrung the guitar with 10's as it had the original 11's on which has improved it no end.

Schaller Strap locks are the final touch and this is good to have as stock fitment, the Gretsch turn barrel strap buttons can be easily dropped! Strap lock buttons snap into place easily and give a secure strap situation. 

A Gretsch branded TKL Hardshell case is included too.

L-R - A study in Blue Gretsches!

6120 in Azure Blue, 5420T in Fairlane Blue and

6120 Hot Rod in Blueburst

Having owned a number of 6120's over the years, these new Nashville 6120's are some of the best I have played for sound and ease of playability. The finish and build quality is really great, compared to solid body guitars costing two plus times as much, these offer great value for money. When you consider a Custom Shop Stratocaster is likely twice the price of this guitar, you can see the value for money.

I was actually looking at buying a used 6120 Hot Rod but this appealed to me greatly, so I purchased it unplayed from a retailer I have used before, but I was not disappointed, a great guitar, easy to play with a great sound and colour! It was set up well which they are good at, some retailers do not even touch the guitar and ship it as is.

Check out the Player series, if you want something in the same area but without laying out too much money, try the new Synchromatic guitars available in Nashville and Falcon versions for a more wallet friendly price.