The Moody Blues 1964 – Go Now
The first time “Go Now!” hit me properly, it was late, the room quiet enough to hear tape hiss in…
Oldies Songs
PJ Proby 1965 – Hold Me
There’s a moment in “Hold Me” where the air seems to contract, as if the tape itself inhales. The strings…
Mark Dining 1960 – Teen Angel
There’s a particular hush that lives in the tape of late-’50s and early-’60s pop. You can hear it just before…
Bill Haley & The Comets 1954 – Shake Rattle & Roll
It begins like a door thrown open on a humid summer night. You can practically feel the air shift as…
The Tremeloes 1969 – My Little Lady
The tape hiss is the first thing I imagine when I cue up “My Little Lady,” as if the band…
Little Eva 1962 – The LocoMotion
I like to imagine the tape rolling before anyone in the room believes a worldwide dance craze is about to…
The Hollies 1969 – Sorry Suzanne
The first thing you notice is the sway. A soft swing in the drums, a bright chord bloom, and then…
The Love Affair 1968 – A Day Without Love
The first thing you notice is the air in the room. Not silence—the soft hiss that tells you tape is…
Eddie Cochran 1958 – C mon Everybody
I keep hearing the click of a tape machine before the music starts—an imaginary cue, the kind you feel in…
Sandie Shaw 1967 – Puppet On A String
Sandie Shaw didn’t just win the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967; she telegraphed a certain kind of British pop poise…