Back in the good old 1960s, it became the practice to produce low-budget films which were primarily intended to promote the work of pop stars; 'Live It Up' is one such film. Often derided at the time and subsequently, they do provide, however, a chance to watch performers doing their stuff and if you weren't able to attend concerts, these films were a good substitute. Sometimes storylines were weak, sometimes acting was not brilliant (the stars were primarily musicians, not actors) but they provided, firstly, some harmless fun, secondly an hour or so's very pleasant entertainment, and thirdly sometimes the chance to see people who might not otherwise be easily seen performing "live", perhaps because they did not do much touring.
This film is one of the better examples. Perhaps inevitably, the plot centres on an amateur pop group, workers at Royal Mail through the day, who aspire to great things and hope to become overnight sensations. What happens next you really should buy the DVD to find out. Musical contributions come from Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen (trad jazz was extremely popular in the early 1960s),Heinz, Gene Vincent, The Outlaws, Andy Cavell and the Saints, the delicious Patsy Ann Noble (who later became Trisha Noble and developed a career in films, mainly in her native Australia) and Jenny Moss. The interesting thing about all this is that many of the performers were recorded by the famous Joe Meek (RGM Sound) at his home/studio in Holloway Road in North London. There is increased interest in Joe's work these days and this DVD gives us a chance to see some of his artists, now largely forgotten, and hear their work.
It's cheap enough not to break the bank, provides a little glimpse of life in the early 1960s and will introduce you to some music you may have forgotten. It's not great film a la Barry Norman, but so what? I enjoyed it enormously and I am sure many others will too. It has probably not been seen for 40 years or more and I was delighted to catch up with it at last. Well worth the money.
