Here is an amusing way to waste a day. Listen to 1965 in the order (roughly) that the records came out. Spot the fantastic periods, those when three or four classics were released.

For instance July 65 which starts with Dusty In the Middle of Nowhere and finishes with the Four Tops Same Old Song. (Help would be in there as well if Spotify included Beatles). Has there been a better month for enduring classics?

Ok some explanation and mea culpas.. The playlist is organised according to the date of entry into either the UK or US charts (earliest winning). Obviously there were records in the chart at the beginning of 1965 not included here, some were huge hits (eg Loving Feeling by the Righteous Brothers) but I need some sort of rule. I have also ignored some artists through personal taste and added in some others whose importance wouldn't be apparent for a couple of years.

Then there is Spotify. Obviously, as mentioned above,it doesn't include the Beatles or much of Dylan but had anyone noticed it doesn't include the Dave Clark 5 and original Twinkle either, what's that about? Cant think they sell much these days.

The other Spotify problem is the dreaded re-recorded/re-mixed versions. Some I have excluded because they are obviously re-records. Others I am suspicious of but have left in. I have tried to track down the originals. One of my problems is that I originally heard all this stuff over rubbish equipment and whilst Spotify through external speakers is not top hi fi it is better than a Woollies tranny. It may be some of the songs I am suspicious of are original, I've just never heard them this way before.

Anything obvious missing?

Playlist link links here -

spotify:user:nacko:playlist:038puIw1VjTS8yyZnk0Ann

http://open.spotify.com/user/nacko/playlist/038puIw1VjTS8yyZnk0Ann

Hey, is anybody else having weird moments as The Wire actors turn up elsewhere.

In the current Heroes we have Marlo playing a bad guy. At least I assume he is a bad guy, difficult to be sure in Series 3. Now Bubs appears playing a misunderstood man who can create black holes.

In the new US Life on Mars Lester turns up as a cop, no change there then.

Cedric has already been on Lost and is in the new thing, Fringes.

Any others?

Paul McCartney's Hofner bass guitars are frequently described as "interesting" or "unusual". Certainly the violin shape was not common. As we know the symmetrical shape enabled Paul to play left handed.

What surprised me and my Californian buddy Rob was to see a Hofner violin bass, albeit played right handed, in the party scene of Fellini's La Dolce Vita. This must be the first appearance of this bass in movie/tv history.

Could Paul have seen this during the time the Beatles were in Hamburg in 1960? The movie was released in Germany in June of that year.

What is also interesting is stage craft of the band in the film. When encouraged to play rock and roll they launch into Reddy Teddy and in the Hamburg vernacular they certainly, "mach schau"

Is La Dolce Vita a little known influence on the fab four?