<p>Returning to 1961 from 2010 is not everybody's idea of a magical mystery tour. If you want to return to those teenage years, you would not do better than to get a copy of this blatant dose of nostalgia, written before The Beatling about that overtook everything in a world rapidly changing – and many say not for the better.</p><p>No hindsight here, just the way it was when the post-war teen­agers found their own brand of rock and roll music and dance. The current computer instant age leaves nothing to the imag­ination. Swear words are com­monplace: you can live with who you like and you can do it with­out worrying too much about paying the rent and rates, or for the baby born out of wedlock.</p><p>In his introduction, Roys­ton Ellis wrote, in 1961: 'This is not a fan magazine, glorifying the stars to win them new admir­ers. I have sworn no acts of se­crecy obliging me to gloss over the sordid side of the Big Beat story.'</p><p>Remember the original rather crude coffee bars, the local hops and local bands with strange names, the Gossip, the Coke and the Kup Cakes, the Teds with pointed toe shoes and vel­vet-collared long coats – the in­timidation of the National Serv­ice, teenagers far from home and ready for anything after a pint or seven.</p><p>This was the mid-1950s when rock and roll was taking its grip on the country, the world and Britain had still not come to terms with the results of a dev­astating second world war and a period of austerity and hardship that cannot be described and cannot begin to be compared with modern-day 'hardships'.</p><p>Big names included Bill Ha­ley, Elvis Presley and Tommy Steele. Some names came and went and proved to have no last­ing talent but anyone with the confidence could – and did – get up and perform as amateurs and then go on to form professional pop groups.</p><p>The book is not all doom and gloom: in fact, it is an enlighten­ing and humorous insight with plenty of names and behind-­the-scenes glimpses of what the teenagers did to get where they did. From skiffle, makeshift venues and bare necessities to amplified music, expensive instruments, stage lighting and effects, nev­er a word is wasted. The book is written as if the reader is join­ing in a conversation about, and with, the artists.</p><p><strong >David Parker, <em>The Beat</em> (July 2010)</strong></p>

<p>Returning to 1961 from 2010 is not everybody's idea of a magical mystery tour. If you want to return to those teenage years, you would not do better than to get a copy of this blatant dose of nostalgia, written before The Beatling about that overtook everything in a world rapidly changing – and many say not for the better.</p><p>No hindsight here, just the way it was when the post-war teen­agers found their own brand of rock and roll music and dance. The current computer instant age leaves nothing to the imag­ination. Swear words are com­monplace: you can live with who you like and you can do it with­out worrying too much about paying the rent and rates, or for the baby born out of wedlock.</p><p>In his introduction, Roys­ton Ellis wrote, in 1961: 'This is not a fan magazine, glorifying the stars to win them new admir­ers. I have sworn no acts of se­crecy obliging me to gloss over the sordid side of the Big Beat story.'</p><p>Remember the original rather crude coffee bars, the local hops and local bands with strange names, the Gossip, the Coke and the Kup Cakes, the Teds with pointed toe shoes and vel­vet-collared long coats – the in­timidation of the National Serv­ice, teenagers far from home and ready for anything after a pint or seven.</p><p>This was the mid-1950s when rock and roll was taking its grip on the country, the world and Britain had still not come to terms with the results of a dev­astating second world war and a period of austerity and hardship that cannot be described and cannot begin to be compared with modern-day 'hardships'.</p><p>Big names included Bill Ha­ley, Elvis Presley and Tommy Steele. Some names came and went and proved to have no last­ing talent but anyone with the confidence could – and did – get up and perform as amateurs and then go on to form professional pop groups.</p><p>The book is not all doom and gloom: in fact, it is an enlighten­ing and humorous insight with plenty of names and behind-­the-scenes glimpses of what the teenagers did to get where they did. From skiffle, makeshift venues and bare necessities to amplified music, expensive instruments, stage lighting and effects, nev­er a word is wasted. The book is written as if the reader is join­ing in a conversation about, and with, the artists.</p><p><strong >David Parker, <em>The Beat</em> (July 2010)</strong></p>

<p>Returning to 1961 from 2010 is not everybody's idea of a magical mystery tour. If you want to return to those teenage years, you would not do better than to get a copy of this blatant dose of nostalgia, written before The Beatling about that overtook everything in a world rapidly changing – and many say not for the better.</p><p>No hindsight here, just the way it was when the post-war teen­agers found their own brand of rock and roll music and dance. The current computer instant age leaves nothing to the imag­ination. Swear words are com­monplace: you can live with who you like and you can do it with­out worrying too much about paying the rent and rates, or for the baby born out of wedlock.</p><p>In his introduction, Roys­ton Ellis wrote, in 1961: 'This is not a fan magazine, glorifying the stars to win them new admir­ers. I have sworn no acts of se­crecy obliging me to gloss over the sordid side of the Big Beat story.'</p><p>Remember the original rather crude coffee bars, the local hops and local bands with strange names, the Gossip, the Coke and the Kup Cakes, the Teds with pointed toe shoes and vel­vet-collared long coats – the in­timidation of the National Serv­ice, teenagers far from home and ready for anything after a pint or seven.</p><p>This was the mid-1950s when rock and roll was taking its grip on the country, the world and Britain had still not come to terms with the results of a dev­astating second world war and a period of austerity and hardship that cannot be described and cannot begin to be compared with modern-day 'hardships'.</p><p>Big names included Bill Ha­ley, Elvis Presley and Tommy Steele. Some names came and went and proved to have no last­ing talent but anyone with the confidence could – and did – get up and perform as amateurs and then go on to form professional pop groups.</p><p>The book is not all doom and gloom: in fact, it is an enlighten­ing and humorous insight with plenty of names and behind-­the-scenes glimpses of what the teenagers did to get where they did. From skiffle, makeshift venues and bare necessities to amplified music, expensive instruments, stage lighting and effects, nev­er a word is wasted. The book is written as if the reader is join­ing in a conversation about, and with, the artists.</p><p><strong >David Parker, <em>The Beat</em> (July 2010)</strong></p>