Seeking past times

Shortis and Simpson often appear with offsiders and this was one and it was apt, given the theme was 1966 and all that, about that key year in popular music when The Beatles released Rubber Soul and Revolver and the offsider was a member of The Seekers, the Australian folk outfit who had kept the fab four and The Monkeys at bay with hits in the US  and Britain and Australia.  The offsider himself was band bassist and singer Keith Potger who happens to live outside Canberra and close enough to John and Moya.  These may be inspirational artists but they are also local.  And this may be the past that they were singing, but it was close for many in the audience who could singalong when called for, not least me.  But then these are key songs of a key year so widely known: big names, like Dylan, the Beach Boys.  WE hear do the Seekers performing with The Beatles and Rolling Stones at the New Musical Express Poll Winners gig that year, along with Dusty Springfield, Spencer Davis, Tom Jones, The Who, Yardbirds, perhaps more.  Big!  Cream, Hendrix, The Doors, the Monkeys and Zappa were also mentioned, although not at that gig.  So this was a big year and this was our take on this story.  I can't list the tunes, but some stuck, mostly Beatles but others including our Seekers.  The Beach Boys were a response to the Beatles and we heard God only knows what I'd do without you, which Paul McCartney apparently noted as the best pop song ever.  I knew the song, not so much as a fan, but hearing it again struck me with its truly glorious melody.  Other stuff happened that year, too, decimal currency, Menzies switching to Harold Holt, the Opera House NSW Government/Jorn Utzon split that we heard recounted as The tantrum of the opera.  Nice!  And I liked the politics of another later in the night, Dangers from the Right, to the music of Strangers in the night, obviously enough.  I also loved Keith's harmony on Homeward bound, sung by his partner Elizabeth Hawkes: probably the closest I heard to the luscious tones of the Seekers.  So a joyous and informative visit to 1966, getting on to high hippy times and the Summer of love and its downfall at Altamont.  It's all history and lovely to revisit a relatively optimistic year.

John Shortis (piano, vocals) and Moya Simpson (vocals) performed 1966 and all that at Smiths with ex-Seeker Keith Potger (banjo, guitar, vocals) and Elizabeth Hawkes (vocals).