Catching up on another early rock flick I recorded off TCM, the British movie It's Trad, Dad. Like most rock flicks, it's really just a series of performances held together by a flimsy, contrived plot. But it gets bonus points in several areas. One, it was directed by Richard Lester and he brings the same bag o' tricks he'd go on to use in A Hard Day's Night a few years later -- 4th wall breaking, tricky camera shots, gentle anti-establishment tweaking. Also, in addition to US rock stars like Del Shannon, Gary U.S. Bonds, and Chubby Checker, the movie features a bunch of British jazz guys, including Mr. Acker Bilk, the Dukes of Dixieland, and the (so awesome I can't believe I've never heard of them until now) Temperance Seven. Here's one of the songs they do in the movie:

In band equation terms I'd say Bonzo Dog Band - Monty Python = Temperance Seven. Altho their penchant for fezzes and (as I read elsewhere) ridiculous assumed names could make them precursors to 3 Mustaphas 3.

Two other things about It's Trad, Dad: I love how Dixieland jazz gets the same "stop it, you damn kids" reaction from Mr. Mayor as the Beatles would in about 2 years (right down to records being destroyed to stamp out the menace). Also, the movie has a cameo by Derek Nimmo, who did the vocals on Fortran 5's cover of "Layla" (Derek Meets Derek).