Rolling Stones
Album Title: The Rolling Stones - Charlie Is My Darling, ‘65 in Dublin, Ireland
Record Label: ABKO
Review by Michael Sherer
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The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones - Charlie Is My Darling, ‘65 in Dublin, Ireland
The uptown 92 Y in New York City brought back the swinging ‘60’s via a British band to their comfortable screening theater, but the setting wasn’t London. It was Dublin, Ireland, the year was 1965, and the band was the Rolling Stones, very early in their career. They were on a weekend jaunt there. The footage, all in black in white, was the first time the band was professionally filmed. The look and sound is very good, with a running time of 62 minutes.
They can thank their 21-year-old manager at the time, Andrew Loog Oldham, for ordering up and producing the footage. He had Peter Whitehead direct it. It was released by ABKO, an independent record label, music publisher, and film and video production company founded by Allen Klein in 1961. The late Klein was the Stones’ business manager and music publisher, and made a fortune from the band, as well as many other artists.
The film includes many locals talking about what they think of the then two-year-old band. It’s mostly youngsters that we hear, and they are the generation that the newly released smash hit, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, was about and for. The song had been number one on the charts just weeks before, and was a big part of the increasingly-frenzied audience adulation that is on full display. It was enough that most performances had to be halted or even ended due to the fans rushing the stage.
There’s also many behind-the-scenes and day-in-the-life snippets throughout. I was especially interested in the ones of Mick and Keith trying to compose new material together. It hadn’t been long that Oldham had insisted that they come up with their own music, as the Beatles were, to be current, original, and to receive all the publishing monies that came with it.
Oldham was in attendance, and was in conversation on the stage with Stevie Van Zandt, someone who really knows the era, music, and history here. Their discussion was engaging, candid and relaxed, like the home movie style footage contained in this treat of a film.
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