(click on cover image for larger version)

The N.M.E. Poll Winners' Concert 1965
(bootleg CD)

Vigotone Industries (VG 166/167)
(Released 1998)

CD 1

The Moody Blues
1. Bo Didley
2. Go Now
   Freddie And The Dreamers
3. Little Bitty Pretty One
4. A Little You
   Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames
5. Yeh Yeh
6. Walking The Dog
   The Seekers
7. I'll Never Find Another You
8. A World Of Our Own
   Herman's Hermits
9. Wonderful World
10. Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter
    The Ivy League And Division Two
11. Funny How Love Can Be
12. Sweet And Tender Romance
13. That's Why I'm Crying
    Sounds Incorporated
14. Time For You
15. In The Hall Of The Mountain King
    Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders
16. Game Of Love
17. Just A Little Bit Too Late
    The Rolling Stones
18. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
19. Pain In My Heart
20. Around And Around
21. Pain In My Heart
    Cilla Black With Sounds Incorporated
22. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
23. Going Out Of My Head
    Total time: (73:49)

CD 2

Donovan
1. You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Band
2. Catch The Wind
   Them
3. Here Comes The Night
4. Turn On Your Love Light
   The Searchers
5. Bumble Bee
6. Let The Good Times Roll
   Dusty Springfield with The Echoes
7. Dancing In The Street
8. Mockingbird
9. I Can't Hear You
   The Animals
10. Boom Boom
11. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
12. Talkin' bout You
    The Kinks
13. You Really Got Me
14. Tired Of Waiting For You
    The Beatles
15. I Feel Fine
16. She's A Woman
17. Baby's In Black
18. Ticket To Ride
19. Lomg Tall Sally
    Total time: (73:44)

Liner notes:
The New Musical Express, the British music weekly with the largest circulation, staged a series of concerts in the sixties featuring artists who topped their popularity polls. The concerts, known as 'The Poll Winners' Concerts', were all held in Wembley. This two CD set documents the second to last Poll Winner Concert held on April 11, 1965 at Wembley Stadium. An edited version of this concert was screened on ABC TV and networked throughout the UK on April 18 of that year. This set was compiled from the soundtrack of the unedited master.

Notes from David Chance:
The back of the package says "The cream of British music as chosen by the readers of The New Musical Express presented in concert on April 11, 1965 at Wembley Stadium."

The cover has a small photograph of The Beatles performing at this concert. The liner has stock photos of The Rolling Stones, Donovan, The Animals, The Kinks, and Them. This is the first appearance of a live recording by Them (their first BBC radio studio session was in March 1965 -- see Bluesology, which would technically be the first "live" recordings, albeit from the studio...this is in front of a concert audience). As per the liner notes, this is a soundboard-quality recording.

Them are introduced by Jimmy Savile, who says (jokingly) that they have "just finished a tour with the Lutten (sp?) Girls Choir and will have to leave the country very, very shortly." The band takes a moment to soundcheck and then launches into "Here Comes The Night". The freshness of the song to the band may, perhaps, be heard when, after the first chorus, Van begins the first verse a moment too soon, quickly catches himself, begins again and carries the song to it's finish wonderfully.

There are the immediate strains of "Turn On Your Love Light", with Van making some "noises" and tearing into the song. As the tempo speeds up, Alan Henderson (?) begins stirring the audience by urging them to join along. The song then meanders in a psychedlic blues groove for a moment before it picks up tempo again and works out to a close. Jimmy Savile exits Them with a humorous comment on the brevity of the band's name ("pretty soon we'll have bands like 'A', and 'The'").

Part of the van-the-man.info unofficial website