Spencer Davis Group (1966)
A gig presented by London Borough of Southwark under their ‘Southwark Pop Scene’ entertainment programme. A council promoting Pop gigs seems alien to modern audiences. Particularly when you had to purchase tickets from the Council’s Entertainment Department situated on 29 Peckham Road on Mondays to Friday’s between 9am and 5pm.
But at that time, and particularly in a society in which the reach of both Council and official authority had seen significant expansion caused by the exigencies of the Second World War, such Council activity would not have seemed uncommon.
Beat Group royalty at the time, Spencer Davis Group were a well-established outfit which had secured two number ones in 1965 with ‘Keep on Running’ and ‘Somebody Help me.’ Coming at the tail end of 1966, this performance would have been just before the band began to work with producer Jimmy Miller and take an experimental direction somewhat at odds with what a typical pop group should do. They recorded seminal tracks such as ‘I’m a Man’ with Miller, tracks which are quite rightly recognised as ground-breaking works of music production.
Taking place at The Manor, Newington Town Hall, Newington is an area of South East London which it is now difficult to recognise as a distinct entity. It now be considered as an adjunct of Elephant and Castle. But this gig was pre-housing development, development which saw the building of High-Rise housing such as the Heygate Estate, and the widespread demolition of the Victorian Housing stock which would have characterized the Newington Area.
Printed on Reclaimed Textured Card
67cm X 48cm
Sound Map Collection
Charting the story of music in both Peckham and South London, Peckham Soul continues to excavate the deep mine of Social and Cultural History which music unearths. It is London’s unique story of migration, diversity and innovations. It is also a history which places not Rich elites at its centre, but instead tells the extraordinary tales of extra-ordinary Londoners.
A gig presented by London Borough of Southwark under their ‘Southwark Pop Scene’ entertainment programme. A council promoting Pop gigs seems alien to modern audiences. Particularly when you had to purchase tickets from the Council’s Entertainment Department situated on 29 Peckham Road on Mondays to Friday’s between 9am and 5pm.
But at that time, and particularly in a society in which the reach of both Council and official authority had seen significant expansion caused by the exigencies of the Second World War, such Council activity would not have seemed uncommon.
Beat Group royalty at the time, Spencer Davis Group were a well-established outfit which had secured two number ones in 1965 with ‘Keep on Running’ and ‘Somebody Help me.’ Coming at the tail end of 1966, this performance would have been just before the band began to work with producer Jimmy Miller and take an experimental direction somewhat at odds with what a typical pop group should do. They recorded seminal tracks such as ‘I’m a Man’ with Miller, tracks which are quite rightly recognised as ground-breaking works of music production.
Taking place at The Manor, Newington Town Hall, Newington is an area of South East London which it is now difficult to recognise as a distinct entity. It now be considered as an adjunct of Elephant and Castle. But this gig was pre-housing development, development which saw the building of High-Rise housing such as the Heygate Estate, and the widespread demolition of the Victorian Housing stock which would have characterized the Newington Area.
Printed on Reclaimed Textured Card
67cm X 48cm
Sound Map Collection
Charting the story of music in both Peckham and South London, Peckham Soul continues to excavate the deep mine of Social and Cultural History which music unearths. It is London’s unique story of migration, diversity and innovations. It is also a history which places not Rich elites at its centre, but instead tells the extraordinary tales of extra-ordinary Londoners.
