Tommy Steele - "Take Me Back Baby" - "live" - 1957

[Blackfive1945]

This isn`t live ,it`s a clip from The Tommy Steele Story .Saw it when I was 11 !!!

[carllafong69]

@Blackfive1945 That's why I put "live" in QUOTES!

[myepiphone]

Tommy is actually playing a Hofner,American guitars were very hard to get in the U.K. at this time.There is a website devoted to classic Hofners which has a feature on Tommys guitar.

[myepiphone]

These pop films are short on realism,but who cares ! they are great entertainment and the quality of the film is so much better than T.V. appearances......thats if the T.V. appearances of the day survive and haven't been wiped.

[carllafong69]

@myepiphone True. Most Sixties VT was wiped because [1] the boffins told the technicians it would quickly lose its signal (WRONG - I have VTs I recorded THIRTY YEARS AGO and they're still fine) [2] VT was EXPENSIVE [3] shows were only made for two screenings - later repeats would have been a NIGHTMARE to get clearance for - and [4] no-one knew they were living in a Golden Era!

Thus, these Pop films with their skinny plots and tiny budgets are now VITAL, since they have GENIUS PRESERVED on FILM.

[consul1957]

Diggin this, man

[Stopani60]

i didn't know they had cordless electric guitars in the 50's?

[carllafong69]

@Stopani60 LOL!

[RockinRedRover]

Great song from a truly great singer, just love him, discovered him as a kid in the late 60s when given a scratchy old 10" lp that this song came off. Since then a huge rocking fan !.

fwiw I suspect you wrote it as a joke, carlla, as this clip is not off "6-5 Special", but off the Tommy Steele Story feature fim as per my lp. Think the 6-5 audiences were a little less reserved !

Thanks for posting all these gr8 pieces of Steele and in great picture quality too.

[carllafong69]

@RockinRedRover - No joke - just a plain old GOOF-UP on my part. This is one of SEVERAL clips from "The Tommy Steele Story" on this channel. On all of the others, I said just that - but for some reason, I screwed up on this one! It must have been getting late when I got to it - I've corrected it now. Thanks for bringing my attention to it - no point in doing info panels unless they're RIGHT!

[RockinRedRover]

welldone for owning up to it, but I honestly thought it might have been a joke.

Note the lack of a lead guitarist, says a lot for the marketing men who obviously thought the kids really believed their idol Tommy could play electric lead & accoustic rhythm at the same time !. On his live Stage Show lp he's only too pleased to name the band including 2 electric guitarists, one was Roy Plummer who played in Tony Crombie's band etc, a great jazz player like so many of the early Brit rockers.

[RockinRedRover]

@RockinRedRover, oops now I'm dropping the clangers !. Of course yes in the clip Tommy's "playing" an electric semi accoustic guitar, looks like the big old Gretch? played by the likes of Bert Weedon & Charlie Gracie and the British Jazzmen. Tommy was and is a decent player before any says I'm having a dig. But fact is he played rhythm and not lead. Have you read John Kennedy's book about Tommy's early days, its interesting but deserves more photos!

[carllafong69]

@RockinRedRover Poor Tommy! The perceived wisdom is that he couldn't play guitar at all. This came about when it was discovered Bert Weedon had played on his studio recordings. This was true - but Tommy COULD and DID play guitar (perhaps not as well as Bert - hence his inclusion on the records) but once again - TOMMY COULD PLAY!

[RockinRedRover]

@carllafong69

hi again !. You're right of course, but to be fair I never said he couldnt play, just said not two at once and not on the records.

Slightly offtopic but have you seen the Youtube clip from the 80s of the Polecats playing "Caveman" ?. If not please do, a very good cover with authentic jumpers too, and a MARVELLOUS surprise ending....

Personally I dream that Tommy could play a 50s rockin weekender such as Hemsby and still be great, perhaps backed with the Jive Romeros. ??

[carllafong69]

@RockinRedRover Thanks! I just it out. Cool.

[deena15379]

great british rock n roll,thank you tommy steele.