Two things I came across recently and wanted to share. Hopefully, in the future, I will happen upon more, we’ll see. The first one up is from 1964, sent by General Artists Corporation to promoters of venues on P&Gs first US tour. GAC also sent two publicity photos, which can be seen on my Peter & Gordon Photos page. The second press release is from Capitol records, in mid 1965, and oddly, came with a picture that Capitol had been sending out since 1964! Most strange. Still it is very interesting. Notice the releases list at the end, showing that Capitol had an affinity for the title “Peter and Gordon” for an LP (a distinction it would receive twice in the UK), and almost named “I Go To Pieces” this. Also included here is the text from the back sleeve of Capitol’s “Open End Interview With Peter and Gordon” promotional record, issued in 1964.
(from GAC, on their “GAC Attraction” letterhead, 1964)
Nineteen sixty-four is, of course, the year of the Beatles. But it seems not unlikely that at least a month or two will have to be yielded to a brace of young Englishmen who bill themselves as Peter and Gordon.
In mid-April, Peter and Gordon succeeded The Beatles in the No. 1 position on the English best-seller charts with their recording of “A World Without Love.” But there was no sadness in Beatleville, for mighty John Lennon and Paul McCartney had written the tune especially for Peter and Gordon.
Peter Asher, 19, and Gordon Waller, 18, became friends five years ago at school. They began playing guitar and singing together, performing at school concerts and eventually at local coffee bars and folk-music clubs. In order to work their club dates, Peter and Gordon nightly scaled the 12-foot wall which imprisoned the young scholars every night at 9:00.
Eventually, escaping and sneaking back every night became too much of a conflict with their studies. With the offer of an engagement at London’s Pickwick Club, an in spot for show-business types, school was out for good.
During their run, the boys were spotted by Norman Newell, recording manager for EMI (the British recording home of The Beatles). At an audition, Peter and Gordon ran through their material for Newell. He felt they had good potential, but realized they needed a new and different song for their first recording. They had one, but it wasn’t completed.
However, Beatles Lennon and McCartney were called immediately, they came directly to the studio, finished writing the song, and Newell made the record. All this took just under four hours.
Peter and Gordon are the sons of prominent London physicians and Peter’s sister is actress Jane Asher, a frequent date of Beatle Paul. It was through Jane that The Beatles and Peter and Gordon got together.
Peter and Gordon’s “A World Without Love” was released in the U.S. by Capitol (the U.S. recording home of The Beatles) in April, 1964.
A few comments from your author - This press release would later be rehashed (in an extremely abbreviated form) on the back of a P&G arcade card in 1965. The front of the card can be seen on my photos page.
Transcript of the “Open Ended Interview With Peter and Gordon” - taken from the back of the sleeve to this rare Capitol promotional EP, issued to enable radio jockeys to “interview” the record of P&G, and then play “Nobody I Know”.
DJ: I’d like you to meet a couple of young fellas whose record “WORLD WITHOUT LOVE” jumped right up to the top of the charts in no time at all...And now, their follow-up “NOBODY I KNOW” is already well on its way. Naturally I’m talking about PETER and GORDON. Peter, how do you feel about coming to the United States after so many other British artists?
Peter: Well I think it certainly helped, the fact that Americans are much more prepared to listen to English artists - and think they might be good...and they were before - and you know, that’s helped us to sell...
Gordon: On the other hand, I think that there’ve been a few too many...you know, and people have just sort of been sent over here because they think they’ll be able to go down in America. I think perhaps they’re getting a bit sick of us now, you know.
Peter: At the same time, we ourselves are finding it a bit difficult to sort of distinguish ourselves from the “mersey” sound of the Liverpool groups ‘cause we’re not a group, we don’t come from Liverpool, you know.
DJ: I see
Gordon: We don’t play “mersey”
DJ: Oh, you don’t, huh? (Chuckle)
Gordon:...we just play messy! (Laugh)
DJ: (Chuckle) Do you think you like America so far?
Peter: Yeah...Everyone has been very good to us here, you know.
Gordon: You know, we get sort of picked up in the morning and sort of told where to go, and it’s great, you know.
Peter: And we like the cars with the air conditioning and everything.
DJ: How about the RADIO here?
Peter: I love the radio, but I think it would get a bit wearing after a time, you know.
DJ: Is our programming very much DIFFERENT from that of England’s?
Gordon: Oh, very different. In England, everything is so corny and...well...
Peter: Even if it’s not corny, it’s timed and precise.
Gordon: Everything is fixed and, you know...you’ve got people counting you down, and in America you just sort of go on, and if the program sort of comes on too quickly or finishes too quickly, then they just stick a bit more in.
Peter: And nobody worries...But again, I think the radio in England is possibly sort of better, really, to listen to for a long time. But American radio is much more exciting and much better to be on.
Gordon: (Laugh)
DJ: (Chuckle) Now, WORLD WITHOUT LOVE was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon of the Beatles...Gordon, how did you come to record this particular song?
Gordon: Well, we’d known them for a long time and we were playing in this club in London, and they used to come in quite a bit...and we used to talk to them a lot when they came in. And we got this recording contract, and we were talking to them about songs to record and also about the fact that our recording manager didn’t think any of the songs we did were very good, or not good enough for an “A” side.
Peter: He had sort of given us the contract, but was still thinking about what would be the best “A” side, you know...and then they offered us this song.
DJ: Uh huh.
Peter: ...and we said, “great,” and we did it!
DJ: And how about NOBODY I KNOW, your SECOND single.
Peter: Well, again we were looking for a follow-up, and we’d written one ourselves.
Gordon: So we went back to this club again. (Laugh)
Peter: (Laugh) We were listening to some other stuff and they wrote this one for us and said, you know...”How about this one?” And this was the best song we’d been offered, so we recorded it.
DJ: And here it is now, “NOBODY I KNOW,” done for you by our special guests, PETER AND GORDON.
A few comments from your author - Perhaps Capitols most successful propaganda technique in early 1964 were these “Open End Interview” discs (there were also two with the Beatles), which were a record which had P&G answering the questions, and the local DJ (following the script on the sleeve) talking over the blank spots left on the record. Thus, radio stations all over the US got to air a so-called “exclusive” interview with the artists. This idea worked so well for “Meet The Beatles” that stories are legendary of DJs and radio stations being besieged by fans after “interviewing” the fab four. If you seem to remember hearing your local jockey interview P&G and get these answers, chances are you’ve been had by Capitol’s publicity department! Also interesting is the number of times P&G say “you know” and “sort of”. I always thought that was a generational thing with today’s youth, but I guess it has it’s origins in the 1960s!
A Capitol Records Press Release, 1965. On their “Biography” letterhead.
You never know what will happen to a disc by an unknown singer or group. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of such records are launched hopefully on the sea of sales each year only to sink to zero fathoms without so much as a ripple.
Even one or two hits doesn’t make a successful voyage. But here is one pair of minstrels who parlayed one hit into a position as the #1 British vocal duo in both America and England.
You know them as Peter and Gordon. In one year they have had three albums and four singles riding the crest of the hit waves. World Without Love, I Go To Pieces, Nobody I Know, I Don’t Want To See You Again” and True Love Ways were super-smashes and more are coming up as soon as the boys can settle down to a recording session.
London-born Peter Asher, on the brink of 22, owns and operates a shock of wild bright red hair, a pair of round light blue eyes equipped with square-shaped shades, a brain brimming miscellaneous information, a five-foot-ten wiry-lean frame and a personality designed to charm birds from trees. For Reasons best known to himself, he loves to gorge on snails and steak.
Scotland-born Gordon Waller, now pushing 21, is the out-going extrovert. He wears his nut-brown hair in a long loose flop; if it were bleached blonde he’d be the perfect surfer type. He’s nearly six feet high, grey eyes speckled with yellow and has a crazy crooked smile that laughs or leers with equal ease.
Both boys are dedicated non-conformists. Their music and songs imitate no other songsters. They ape no man, beast, foul, fish or insect.
“In fact we’re not sure what label to pin on our music. It’s a strange cocktail of sound. We’re in with the rhythm-and-blues addicts, the middle-of-the-road pop buffs and the Rock fans.”
It doesn’t really matter what you tag the P&G sound, what matters is what happens when they perform and record.
“When we came to America last summer,” they remembered, “we’d had only one hit record, World Without Love, and we thought: so what, one hit, big deal! We didn’t know what to expect, if anything.
“We found out during our first show at the New York World’s Fair. In front of the stage was a moat or pool and soon about 200 kids were thrashing about in the water with their clothes on trying to reach us. About 50 dripping dollies swam or waded across the pool and climbed on stage with us.
“That was wild but San Diego was something else. The police tried to stop the show three times. We refused to quit. Finally they pulled the mikes out so we couldn’t go on. It took us nearly an hour to get away in two police cars. We lost clothes, shoes, hair and everything. The cops arrested about 50 gals. It was a fabulous night!”
Gordon took up the talk: “We love excitement at our concerts but not the riots that shut down our shows before we are half finished or the mobs that tear us to tatters on the streets. The Beatles were over-protected, other groups are under-protected. We’ve often had to wade through hundreds of clawing girls with only one or two bobbies to help. In Amarillo I nearly had my ear torn off.
“Some audiences are ridiculous. They scream so load we could be Laurel and Hardy for all they hear. We prefer them to listen when we sing and scream when the number is over.
“We love to work in the United States. It’s not worth touring in England for the kind of money you get and besides, all the tours are bombing as you Americans put it. We’d like to stay here all the time if we could.”
The smashing success of Peter and Gordon has grabbed the attention of the entire industry. Commented Music Business, top trade mag: “These boys made it big without enormous press-agentry hype. They came with no publicity staff, only an enterprising and enthusiastic record company in Capitol, and they owe their success to their own efforts plus fine recordings. In spite of British acts flopping all over the place, and with the thought that the days of the Anglo-Saxon sound might be numbered, Peter and Gordon need not worry about their future.”
“We don’t feel all that sure of our future,” sighed Peter. If our records flop, God knows what we’ll do. Of course we’ll go on singing one way or another, possibly in night clubs and coffee houses. We know hundreds and hundreds of songs for all types of audiences. But we feel quite confident for at least a few more years. We’ll keep faith with Capitol Records, who are behind us with all they’ve got.”
Both boys are footloose and fancy free, neither is married, engaged or glued to any steady in London or elsewhere. How do British and American girls differ? “American birds are more hip,” piped Peter. “Yeah, they are crazier over here,” chirped Gordon, sighing contentedly. “We live a different life on the road. In England most of our friends are in show business and we rather retreat into our own world. I live about 15 miles outside of London and Peter lives with his family in London.
“When we travel we mix and mingle with loads of people. Like last night there were 15 people in this small room until three o’clock in the morning. When Peter and I went for a walk along Sunset Boulevard, a bunch of girls came along in a car and picked us up. It would never happen in England.”
AMBITIONS. Peter: “I was studying philosophy in university which is another way of saying I didn’t know what to do with my life. I certainly didn’t want to be a doctor like my pater. I intended to get a uni degree and then start drifting. I did quite a bit of acting as a kid and I thought perhaps that would be a swinging scene. Then we had that hot record World Without Love even before we turned professional. We began getting offers for concerts, tours and other hi-fee deals so I decided to quit school and go for broke with Gordon.”
Gordon: “As a kid I wanted to be a truck driver, train engineer, aviator or cowboy but by the mid-teens I decided to do nothing and be a layabout (bum to you Americans) until something happened. Something did and we got it good now. I’d like to save some money, invest it and retire early. My secret ambition is to act but every pop star has the itch to act.”
CLOTHES. Peter: “American men’s clothes are a drag. We’ve bought only a few sports things like denims and cowboy rigs. We design all our performance wardrobe which is distinctive but not odd.”
Gordon: “Young English people are better dressed than you. English boys especially appear smarter. California girls are most beautiful in their brightly-colored sports clothes but are uncool in cocktail dresses or semi-formal wear.”
The early youth and rise to fame of the two school-mates is an oft-told tale which needs no encore here. A synopsis will do.
The fathers of both boys are doctors. Peter’s oldest sister, Jane Asher, is a budding actress and the envy of every Beatlemaniac for her romance with Paul McCartney.
Peter and Gord met at Westminster School for Boys in London where they began fooling around with guitars and voice harmonies until they were good enough for school concerts. Lock-up at the school dorm being 9 p.m., they slunk through the bushes and scaled a 12-foot spike-topped wall to work side-jobs in the local after-dark coffee houses and clubs. Paul McCartney, wooing Jane, began writing a song for Peter to get on her good side.
Later when the boys had a chance to needle a disc for E.M.I. and Capitol Records, John helped Paul complete the musical masterpiece. The rest is well-known history. World Without Love rocketed to No. 1 on the English charts. Two months later it did ditto on the American tallies. That blew school and the boys turned pro pronto.
“On the day we cut our first record,” Gordon recalls, “our horoscopes foretold for Peter ‘You have a chance to turn a hobby into a career’ and for me, ‘A long-standing wish will come true and past achievements will be excelled in more ways than one.’”
Peter and Gordon’s success was written in the stars.
CAPITOL LP’s and SINGLES
A WORLD WITHOUT LOVE
I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN
PETER AND GORDON
I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN/I WOULD BUY YOU PRESENTS
I GO TO PIECES/LOVE ME, BABY
TRUE LOVE WAYS/IF YOU WISH
TO KNOW YOU IS TO LOVE YOU/I TOLD YOU SO
A few comments from your author - This press release is both excellent and useless, as much of the text of it would later appear on LP liner notes, particularly the notes for 1966’s “Best Of” LP, which is taken almost verbatim. Some of the more fashion oriented things are interesting, though. Oh, and, as a Beatles fan and, dare I say, scholar, the notion that Paul wrote “A World Without Love” specifically for Peter to get on Jane’s good side is patently absurd. Paul was constantly writing during this period (late 1963, early 1964), and anything that John did not consider up-to-snuff was given away later. Into this category falls “A World Without Love”, Cilla Black’s “It’s Just For You”, “One And One Is Two”, (though I forget who recorded that one) and many more. Some say that the only way Peter even knew the song existed was because Paul had written it in Peter’s parents kitchen in the middle of the night. Later Peter asked Paul to finish it, but it was not written for P&G.
