So how do U2 match up to the 60s’ test? Rather well, actually. Reheated live performances and superfluous and emotionally sterile remixes aren’t the stuff of legend. Instead any extra tracks added to the package usually only interest the Greater Trainspotted Collector. Now perhaps only a writer as prolific as Elvis Costello maintains those standards.Īnd once CD replaced vinyl as the dominant carrier and albums became 60 not 40 minutes, there was even less chance of surplus surprises finishing up on the flipside.
Or by-pass the Who’s ‘Substitute’ in favour of ‘The Ox’, a shuddering instrumental that may be the best example of how Pete Townshend and Keith Moon dynamised each other. Flip the Stones’ ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ and you’d discover ‘No Expectations’, arguably their best country-blues lament.
‘Penny Lane’/ ‘Strawberry Fields’ was the Beatles’ sublime bridge between Revolver and Sgt. Otherwise, 60s buyers knew it was often worth flipping the disc. Phil Spector might cunningly place bland and featureless instrumentals on his flipsides to guarantee airplay for the A-side but that was just another early sign of that control-freak’s maverick paranoia. The downfall of the single has also meant the death of the double-sided 45, for the Sixties generation, often the best guide to an act’s creative stamina.
Apart from the dance 12-inch, the 45 is a declining form, saved only by indie conservationists and its continuing convenience for the lazier radio stations. Rock fogies are always complaining that singles aren’t what they used to be.
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