Inside The Songs Of The Sixties

Review by Jason Barnard

Being a contemporary of the sixties scene, Canadian Brian L Forsythe set himself a goal of uncovering and amassing a wealth of facts associated with the songs that helped shape his teens. The five years he spent dissecting all the major artists from both sides of the Atlantic was certainly well spent as his new book “Inside The Songs Of The Sixties” is an informative witty coffee table read.

For example, we hear about Doug Sandom – The Who/Detour’s original drummer, George Sherlock the Stones’ “Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man” and the effect a bottle of Blue Nun wine had on The Beatles ‘Long, Long, Long’. There’s a few themes across all these vignettes: artist deaths, strange quotes, inspiration for classic tracks and the jobs artists undertook after they left the charts. I have one very minor bone to pick! Ray Davies and The Kinks did release rock opera Arthur – one of my favourite albums – albeit the TV play was never made.

Nonetheless, if you want to be forever a mine of facts on sixties music do check out “Inside The Songs Of The Sixties”.