Music. It's The Universal Language!!
I love music, I always have ever since those sensational sixties. It was then that I started to really listen to and started to buy records, mainly 45's or singles but sometimes L/P's (albums) mainly by groups such as The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, The Stones etc. I have a extensive music collection ranging from 45's, L/P's, Floppy Singles, Eight Track Cartridges, Music Cassettes and now CD's & MP3's. I still like to listen to those good old sounds of the sixties and seventies but also to today's music. Some of my favourite artists are pictured on this page.
An odd mixture I know but as I said I can listen to anything (Queen image courtesy of Mary Denton).
Those Were The Days, My Friend........
One of my only regrets in life is that I never ever got to see The Beatles play live, if I had a time machine I would love to step into it and go back to the sixties and watch The Beatles do a session at the famous Cavern Club or Jimi Hendrix at the Isle Of Wight. Speaking of live gigs, those were the days when bands pulled up to a gig in an old Morris or Transit van with just a set of drums, a couple of guitars, mic's and a few of those bulky Vox amplifiers...No luxury coaches, No Flash Hotels, No Laser Shows, No Backing Track Machines, No Drum Machines and best of all NO Miming!! When I was a young gig watcher me and my friends did have the privilege to see some famous and not so famous acts at local clubs, nightspots, concerts...Ah, those were the days, I wonder where some of the not so famous artistes are these days, any of the following or your fans out there??
Well Known acts I have seen live....
Venues include..The Top Hat - Spennymoor, The Variety Club - Spennymoor, Knebworth, City Hall - Newcastle, Odeon - Newcastle & Blackpool, West Cornforth WMC, Blackpool Pleasure Beach etc.etc.
Queen
This was the last concert that I attended before my illness struck, Queen at Knebworth, utterly brilliant, fantastic, awesome....what else can I say? Queen are the best live act I have had the privilege to see, featuring the late great showman himself.....Freddie Mercury.
Big Country
Big Country were a support act to Queen at Knebworth along with several other acts, at first the band received quite a bit heckling but before long they had the crowd rocking coming back to at least three encores.
Celine Dion
Wembley Stadium, this was the last concert that I attended a couple of years ago, it was very distressful and painful in getting to my seat from the coach due to my illness (and bad organisation by the tour firm that I was with) but it was worth every minute in the end to see and hear a brilliant performance by Celine.
Mike & The Mechanics
Mike & the boys were support act to Celine Dion at Wembley and a bonus to the concert because they are a favourite band of mine and I like the music they play
Bill Haley & The Comets
Going back in time now, and I can say that I had the chance to see one of the all time greats in person, who would have thought it, Bill Haley & The Comets playing my home town at at local variety spot.
Slade
What can I say, one of the legends of the seventies, I have seen Slade on three occasions belting out their top ten hits one after the other. Slade can play some really good stuff as well, their version of John Sebastian's 'Darling Be Home Soon' is brilliant.
Status Quo
Same again, legends of the seventies, in fact legends of the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties!! I wonder how many of today's manufactured bands will last as long as Quo?? I saw Francis and the boys play on three occasions and they were really good.
John Miles Set
An act I again saw in the seventies at a local club, the live version of the hit 'Music' was awesome, I remember. If I am not mistaken John Miles is now one of Tina Turner's musicians.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
I had never heard of T.S.A.A.B. until I went to see Slade at a local concert venue and Alex's band were back up artistes. During Slade's performance I remember this funny looking guy going around the top tier of the gig throwing photo's of himself into the audience, this was my first glimpse of Alex Harvey. When it came time for the band to come on stage, this same guy came onto the stage dressed in a dressing gown, thick rimmed spectacles and his hair greased back making him look like some kind of nerd, he went on to explain how he had been 'Framed' this was the cue for him to disrobe and the curtains to reveal the rest of a very weird looking band including a clown like figure (Zal Cleminson, I believe) who was a fantastic guitar player. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band turned out to be just that, sensational and they really outshone Slade on that night, their version of Tom Jones's 'Delilah' is still one of my favourite tracks to this day.
Info...Alex Harvey
was a British journeyman rocker who enjoyed a brief period of widespread
popularity in the mid-'70s after decades of struggle. Growing up in
Scotland, he turned to music in his late teens and was in a skiffle band
by 1955. By 1959, it had evolved into the Alex Harvey Big Soul Band.
Harvey took the group to Hamburg, West Germany in the early '60s, there
recording his first LP, Alex Harvey and His Soul Band, in the fall of
1963, which did not feature the band. He and his group made their London
debut in February 1964, and the same year he recorded The Blues, which
essentially was a solo record. In 1965, Harvey dissolved the Big Soul
Band and later returned to Glasgow. But he was back in London in 1967,
assembling Giant Moth, a psychedelic group that existed only for a short
time. He then accepted a job working in the pit band of the musical Hair
and while doing so recorded Having a Hair Rave up Live from the
Shaftsbury Theatre. In 1969, he released Roman Wall Blues, his first
solo effort in five years. Up to this point, none of his musical efforts
had attracted much attention. But in the early '70s, he recruited the
Scottish band Tear Gas — consisting of Zal Cleminson, Chris Glen, Hugh
McKenna, and Ted McKenna — christening the resulting quintet the
Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
Their first two albums, Framed (1972) and Next (1973), didn't sell, but
in the fall of 1974 The Impossible Dream became Harvey's first chart
record in the U.K. (It briefly made the American charts in March 1975.)
Tomorrow Belongs to Me followed in the spring of 1975, hitting the Top
Ten along with the Top Ten singles placing of Harvey's flamboyant cover
of the Tom Jones hit "Delilah." With that, Next belatedly made the
charts, and in September Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live came out and
reached the Top 20 (also making the Top 100 in the U.S), as "Gamblin'
Bar Room Blues" became a Top 40 single. This commercial success
continued into 1976, with Penthouse Tapes entering the LP charts in
April and becoming a Top 20 hit, "Boston Tea Party" making the singles
charts in June and making a Top 20 showing, and SAHB Stories following
in July and just missing the Top Ten.
In 1977, Harvey and the band recorded separately, SAHB without Alex (as
it was billed) issuing Fourplay, while the leader made Alex Harvey
Presents the Loch Ness Monster. A final album together, Rock Drill, was
followed by the group's breakup. Harvey was back with his New Band in
1979 and an album called The Mafia Stole My Guitar, but his moment, so
long in coming, had passed. Nevertheless, he kept on rocking and was on
tour in Belgium when he succumbed to a heart attack in 1982 just before
his 47th birthday.
Sweet
Sweet are best known for their top ten hits such as 'Blockbuster', 'Ballroom Blitz' etc. but behind the 'pop' oriented band was a very good heavy metal outfit, all of the B-Sides to their hits are very good rock tracks which could have made the charts on their own.
Info... In
some ways, the Sweet epitomized all the tacky hubris and garish
silliness of the early '70s. Fusing bubblegum melodies with crunching,
fuzzy guitars, the band looked a heavy metal band, but were as tame as
any pop group. It was a dichotomy that served them well, as they racked
up a number of hits in both the U.K. and the U.S. Most of those hits
were written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, a pair of British
songwriters that had a way with silly, simple, and catchy hooks.
Chinn/Chapman and Sweet were smart enough to latch on to the British
glam rock fad, building a safer, radio-friendly and teen-oriented
version of Queen, T. Rex, and Gary Glitter. By the end of the '70s, the
group's time at the top of the charts had expired but their hit singles
lived on not only as cultural artifacts, but also as the predecessors
for the pop-metal of the '80s.
Originally, the Sweet were called the Sweetshop and consisted of Brian
Connolly (vocals), Mick Tucker (vocals, drums), Frank Torpey (guitar),
and Steve Priest (bass). In 1970, the group truncated their name to
Sweet and signed a record contract with Fontana/EMI, releasing four
unsuccessful singles. Following the failure of the four singles, Torpey
left the group and was replaced by Andy Scott. The new lineup of Sweet
signed to RCA Records in 1971, where they were placed under the
direction of songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Chinn and Chapman
wrote a number of light bubblegum pop songs for the group, the first of
which, "Funny Funny," reached number 13 on the U.K. charts. Following
"Funny Funny," the duo wrote five more Top 40 hits for the group —
including "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam" — which were all lightweight
bubblegum numbers loaded with double entendres. During this time, Sweet
were writing their own B-sides and album tracks. All of the group's
compositions were harder than Chinn and Chapman's songs, featuring
crunching hard rock guitars. Consequently, the duo decided to write
tougher songs for the group. "Blockbuster," the first result of Chinn
and Chapman's neo-glam rock approach, was the biggest hit Sweet ever had
in the U.K., reaching number one on the charts in early 1973 and
eventually going platinum. For the next two years, Sweet continued to
chart with Chinn and Chapman compositions, including the Top Ten hits
"Hell Raiser," "Ballroom Blitz," "Teenage Rampage," and "The Six Teens."
By the summer of 1974, the members of Sweet had grown tired of the
control Chinn and Chapman exerted over their career and decided to
record without the duo. The resulting album, Sweet Fanny Adams, reached
number 27 in the U.K., but it yielded no hits. In the spring of 1975,
Sweet had their first self-penned hit with "Fox on the Run," which
reached the Top Ten in both the U.K. and the U.S. "Fox on the Run"
appeared on the collection Desolation Boulevard; in America, it's
release helped "Ballroom Blitz" reach the Top Ten in the summer of 1975.
Strung Up, released in the fall of 1975, continued the group's move
toward album-oriented rock. For the rest of the decade, the group
continued to churn out albums, which were all less successful than their
predecessor. Sweet bounced back into the charts in 1978 with "Love Is
Like Oxygen," but the single proved to be their last gasp; they never
reached the Top Ten again, neither in the U.S. or the U.K.
Connolly left the band after "Love Is Like Oxygen" and the group
replaced him with keyboardist Gary Moberley. The group carried on for
three more years, releasing three more albums that all achieved little
success. After several years of little success or attention, Sweet broke
up in 1982. In the decade following their breakup, Sweet reunited on
various occasions. In 1985, a dance club medley of their hits called
"It's the Sweet Mix" became a British Top 50 hit and, following the
single's success, the group re-formed for a tour that proved to be less
anticipated than expected. Later in the decade, Scott toured as part of
the group Paddy Goes to Holyhead. In 1989, Scott and Tucker re-formed
Sweet to record a live album at London's Marquee Club.
Nazareth
Nazareth again are a seventies band who played some very good stuff, a brilliant live band.
Info...The
Scottish hard rock quartet Nazareth had a handful of hard rock hits in
the late '70s, including the proto-power ballad "Love Hurts." Formed in
1968, the band featured vocalist Dan McCafferty, guitarist Manny
Charlton, bassist Pete Agnew, and drummer Darrell Sweet. The band had
relocated to London by 1970, and they released their self-titled debut
album in 1971. Both Nazareth and 1972's Exercises received favorable
attention by British hard rockers, but it was 1973's Razamanaz that
moved them into the U.K. Top Ten (both "Broken Down Angel" and "Bad Bad
Boy" were hit singles). Loud 'n' Proud and Rampant (both 1974) followed
the same formula, yet were slightly less successful.
Released the following year, Hair of the Dog established Nazareth as an
internationally popular hard rock band. Featuring their revamped version
of the Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts," the album sold over a million
copies in the U.S. Until the end of the '70s, the band continued
successfully as a quartet, releasing a series of Top 100 albums. In
1979, they added former Sensational Alex Harvey Band guitarist Zal
Cleminson to their lineup; he left after recording two albums — 1979's
No Mean City and 1980's Malice in Wonderland — and was replaced by
former Spirit keyboardist John Locke. Following the 1981 live album 'Snaz,
guitarist Bill Rankin also joined the group; Locke left soon after his
addition and Rankin switched to keyboards.
By this time, their commercial appeal had dwindled across both the U.K.
and the U.S. By the mid-'80s, Nazareth was left without a record
contract, so the band was put on hiatus for a few years. They returned
in 1992 with No Jive, which failed to gain an audience in America and
Europe. In 1999, Nazareth resurfaced yet again with Boogaloo.
Hot Chocolate
Errol Brown and the rest of his band playing top ten hits at a local nightspot in the seventies.
Thin Lizzy
From what I remember I saw 'Lizzy' just after they had hit the top of the charts with 'Whisky In The Jar', Eric Bell had left the band to be replaced by Gary Moore. Me and my friends had front row seats to this gig after getting in really early at a local nightspot, during the performance of 'Whisky In The Jar' while Gary Moore was doing the guitar riff his guitar 'lead' came out of the amp yet the riff went on!! All we did was to try and alert Mr. Moore to his predicament but it was taken as trying to cause trouble by the nightspot's bouncers who proceeded to eject me and my friends from the gig!! We were then surprised by the intervention of the late Phil Lynott who stopped the bouncer's from throwing us out, after their performance he invited us backstage to explain just why Gary Moore was using what we called a 'Copycat' machine to keep the original guitar playing of the hit as it was when played over the airwaves and as he had just recently joined 'Lizzy' he was still new to their music . I myself had a 'slight' disagreement in the dressing room with Gary Moore as to who was the best guitarist between him and Hendrix (No competition Gary, Jimi wins easy!!) but it was autographs all round and an end to a really good concert, Phil Lynott was a great guy he treated us as equals that night with none of the 'big-headiness' that these stars usually end up with after success
7th Feb. 2011...I have just heard that Gary Moore died yesterday aged 58, I will never forget the time I had words with him about who was the best guitarist between him and Hendrix. It is sad that yet another one of the greats of the music world has gone, there must be one hell of a jamming session going on somewhere. R.I.P - Gary Moore.
Cozy Powell's Hammer
While on a vacation with my wife at a resort in the U/K (Good old Blackpool!!), we saw a poster promoting a concert by the band that week, we just had to see this guy, it's not often that a drummer takes centre stage in a group but this guy and his band were fantastic.
Info...Considered
to be one of England's best drummers, and very much in demand for rock
and pop records, Cozy Powell was almost legendary for a heavy-hitting
style that could be made to work with many kinds of rock music, whether
for the thundering pop productions helmed by Mickie Most, Black Sabbath,
Emerson, Lake & Powell, or even his own solo work (notably "Dance with
the Devil," which was a major English hit in 1973.)
Powell began his professional music career in 1965 with the Sorcerers,
eventually winding up working with Jeff Beck after Beck left the
Yardbirds. In 1971, Powell formed Bedlam, but eventually abandoned this
project to produce singles such as "Dance with the Devil." He later
formed Cozy Powell's Hammer, which broke up in 1975. After a brief
sabbatical, he joined Rainbow, helping to give the band a thundering
rhythm section before quitting after four years and four albums in 1980.
Always in demand for the drum seat, he alternated between session work
and working in a variety of bands, including the Michael Schenker Group,
Whitesnake and Black Sabbath, never staying in any one band for very
long.
In 1996, he worked with former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green on
his long-awaited comeback tour. At the time of his death on April 5,
1998, he was recuperating from a foot injury that had sidelined him from
touring work with guitarist Yngvie Malmsteen. He was driving on the M4
Motorway towards Bristol when he apparently lost control of his car (due
to bad weather), slamming into the center divider of the motorway. He
died a few hours later in the hospital.
Deep Purple
Ian Gillan had left the band and David Coverdale fronted 'Purple' when I saw them, I had always preferred the original line up of the band but with Coverdale at the helm this was still a fantastic performance by a great band.
Medicine Head
Whenever a group or singer hit the top ten in the charts in the seventies our local nightspot always tried to get them to appear and they usually succeeded. Medicine Head had been in the charts with 'One And One Is One' when I saw them, from what I remember they were a really decent act.
McGuinness Flint
Made up of the remains of Manfred Mann if I am not mistaken, yet another seventies band who played some good stuff.
Heavy Metal Kids
This band was brilliant, one of the best acts that appeared at our local nightspot, they never ever got the recognition they deserved. The late Gary Holton (Auf Wiedersehen Pet) was in this band, and from what I remember they really rocked the place. I have recently been contacted by Danny from the HMK who let me know that the 'Kids' are still going strong and have recently released a new album which I am promised sticks with the gutsy original sound of the HMK.
(http://www.heavymetalkids.com)
(http://www.dannypeyronel.com)
Eric Delaney Band
Usually associated with Big Band stuff but this act was great, Eric Delaney must rate as one of the best percussionists of all time. They were that good I went to see them on two more occasions, he may have lost his hair but he has never lost his talent!!
Christie
Another top ten group appearing at our local nightspot. These Monday nights were great for seeing the chart acts of the seventies at our home town.
Montrose
If I am not mistaken, Montrose were a back up band to one of Quo's performances and it was yet another case of the back up band being better than the lead act on the night!!
Atomic Rooster
'Tomorrow Night' had hit the charts and the band arrived at my local fave Monday night venue, the band were a very good live act.
Horslips
Whatever happened to Horslips, this was an Irish band that I thought would have went on to reach the heights of fellow Irish rockers , U2. They played a mixture of Irish folk music and rock, I just wish I'd hung on to the albums I had of them.
Info...At one
point in the mid-1970s, Horslips bidded to be Ireland's answer to
Steeleye Span. But they also had a shot at being the next Jethro Tull
(only a better hard rock outfit), or maybe Genesis, or even Yes in its
folkier moments. Those events never quite happened, but Horslips
released a half dozen superb albums along the way, becoming Ireland's
most acclaimed folk-rock and progressive band.
Horslips was founded in Dublin during 1970 as a quintet playing a brand
of folk-based rock music whose only parallel could be found in the early
work of Fairport Convention, who themselves had only been together for
two or three years. Where Fairport freely mixed British and American
folk and folk-rock traditions, however, Horslips drew on their
distinctly Irish roots, and were capable of playing straight folk
material when the moment called for it, but weren't afraid to turn up
loud and hard, in the best art-rock style, on the right songs.
Barry Devlin (bass, vocals), Sean Fean (lead guitar, vocals) Eamonn Carr
(drums, vocals), Charles O'Connor (violin, mandolin, vocals), and Jim
Lockhart (flute, tin whistle, keyboards, vocals) sounded a bit at
different moments like either Genesis or Jethro Tull, depending on the
moment, and actually had stronger original material to draw from than
Tull did. Fean, in particular, was equally good at playing soft
folk-like passages and loud, ringing electric runs on his instrument,
and could easily have held his own in a guitar duel with Martin Barre or
Steve Howe, among others. But where Tull (after their first album)
became exclusively a vehicle for Ian Anderson's wild-man flute antics
and his complex, pretentious, satiric and scatological lyrical conceits,
Horslips, until their final years, had ample room for each player to
show what he did best, and no single member dominated the group. They
spent three years gigging constantly in Dublin, tightening and honing
their sound to a fine point, and formed their own record company, OATS,
to produce and release their debut album, Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part,
in 1973.
That first album, with its mixture of traditional Irish folk instruments
and a hard art-rock sound recalling the sounds of Genesis from Nursery
Cryme and Foxtrot, outsold the work of many established acts in Ireland,
and led to a distribution deal with RCA and tours of England and
continental Europe. With the release of their second album, The Tain — a
concept album built on Irish mythological sources — in 1973, Horslips
began finding an audience on the other side of the Atlantic as well.
Their third album, Dancehall Sweethearts (1974), brought them to the
United States and Canada on tour, and they followed this up with The
Unfortunate Cup of Tea (1975). Neither of these albums was quite as
strong as the first two, and both revealed more of a modern rock sound
in their music and songwriting. The group returned to Ireland to take
stock of who and what they were and what kind of music they would do.
Horslips returned to their roots with a Christmas album entitled To
Drive the Cold Winter Away, released in 1976, which was recorded
entirely on acoustic instruments. This record put them back in the
center of the folk-rock boom of the 1970s, compared favorably with such
English electric folk acts as Steeleye Span (with whom they toured) and
Fairport Convention. Additionally, as an Irish electric folk-rock band,
even though they weren't overtly political, Horslips hooked into the
audience of younger Irish-Americans during a period of wide new ethnic
consciousness-raising brought about by the renewed strife in Northern
Ireland. They were no more than a cult phenomenon in the U.S.A., never
remotely as popular as the Chieftains (who had a decade's head start and
a ton of soundtrack appearances to promote their work), even with
Atlantic Records releasing their mid-1970s albums, but it was a bigger
cult than they would have had in the late 1960s.
In England and Ireland, however, Horslips was a highly successful act,
sufficiently popular to justify cutting a double live album that
perfectly captured their repertory of this period, if not their sound.
The group's next studio record, The Book of Invasions (1977), subtitled
"A Celtic Symphony," was, like The Tain, inspired by Irish mythology,
this time the story of Tuatha De Danann's conquest of ancient
pre-Christian Ireland. Released by Dick James's DJM label (which also
picked up their earlier albums in England, as Atlantic had in America),
this album marked their only entry on the British charts, at number 39,
and also found a dedicated audience in progressive and folk-rock circles
in America.
It was an enviable string of releases, but one that the group couldn't
sustain. Their next album, Aliens, dealing with the lot of the Irish
immigrants to America, was less inventive and exciting, and elicited far
less enthusiasm from fans and critics. The odds-and-sods collection
Tracks from the Vaults, released in Ireland, was a matter of marking
time.
The Man Who Built America marked a major change in Horslips, which was
now pretty much in the control of Barry Devlin and Jim Lockhart — Carr
and Fean, with their more folk-oriented approach to music, took a back
seat to a more mainstream rock sound. Two additional guitarists, Gus
Guest and Declan Sinnott, turned up on the album, which sounded more
American and less like Irish folk-based material than any of their prior
works — the title track sounds more like John Cougar Mellencamp, or
perhaps even Bruce Springsteen (with Lockhart's flute replacing
Clarence's sax, and some gratuitous swirling keyboards) than the work of
the group responsible for "The High Reel."
By this time, they were trying to compete in a wholly different idiom
and arena, and there wasn't much left of the original Horslips. Short
Stories — Tall Tales (1980) was the last of Horslips' original albums,
and was followed by one more concert record culled from their final
days, the hard-rocking Belfast Gigs.
Carr and Fean later worked together in an R&B-based band called Zen
Alligator before reuniting with Charles O'Connor in a folk outfit called
Host, and Fean has recorded with Nikki Sudden and Simon Carmody.
Meanwhile, Horslips was the object of two retrospective collections
released in Ireland and England. Fortunately for the group, they
retained ownership of their music through the OATS label, and this
helped facilitate their reissue on compact disc.
Paper Lace
Same venue, a Monday night and the only act the club can come up with is Paper Lace, still with plenty of booze inside of you even Paper Lace can sound decent!!
Showwaddywaddy
My wife wanted to see these 'rockers' so I was dragged along to our local leisure centre with my cousin and his wife, me and my cousin watched the first song then disappeared into the bar. The band are still going strong to this day, to my surprise they appeared on television just last week (March 2002).
Elf
Another back up band, a great rock outfit playing some brilliant stuff. I am sure that Dio was the singer with Elf when I saw them.
Info...The early-'70s rock outfit Elf is best-known as the group that gave singer Ronnie James Dio his start and he would eventually set his sights on a tougher, metallic sound, fronting the likes of Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own solo band, Dio. The group went through several name changes in the late '60s (the Electric Elves, the Elves), before settling simply on Elf and issuing a self-titled debut recording for Epic in 1972, produced by Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover. The group's best-known lineup consisted of Dio (who was at this time going by his real name, Ronald Padavona, and also doubling on bass), guitarist David Feinstein, guitarist/keyboardist Micky Lee Soule, and drummer Gary Driscoll. The album went largely unnoticed, as did the group's subsequent two other releases, L.A./59 (issued under the title Carolina Country Ball outside of the U.S.) and Trying to Burn the Sun, as the group guested on Roger Glover's 1974 album The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast. Through their affiliation with Glover, Elf was brought to the attention of former Purple leader/guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who invited the entire group (sans their guitarist) to join forces as the prog metal outfit Rainbow, resulting in the release of a self-titled effort in 1975. Slowly but surely, however, Rainbow turned out to be nothing more than a solo vehicle for Blackmore rather than a true band and the former Elf members left the group one by one before Dio was the last one remaining until eventually leaving the group himself in 1978.
Stray
These rockers were a surprise addition to the Cozy Powell gig, yet another great rock band.
Info...London, England's Stray yielded a prolific career yet managed to elude the fame enjoyed by contemporaries like Cream, Thin Lizzy, or even Mountain. Formed in 1966, the hard rock, prog, and R&B outfit comprised of vocalist/guitarist Del Bromham, vocalist/guitarist Steve Gadd, bass player Gary Giles, and drummer Ritchie Cole signed to Transatlantic Records and released its debut, self-titled album in 1970. The group flirted with success throughout the '70s, releasing nine more records and even recruiting Charlie Kray — the brother of the notorious Kray twins — as their manager. In 1975, just prior to the release of Houdini, Gadd was replaced by Peter Dyer, who injected some much-needed life into the band, though the end was near for the financially strapped rockers. They released their last record, the ambitious Hearts of Fire, in 1976 on the Pye label, and proceeded to splinter off into various solo projects. Bromham re-formed the group in 1997 as a three-piece with newcomers Dusty Miller and Phil McKee, renaming the band Del Bromham's Stray, and released a live record called Alive and Giggin' on Mystic Records. In 2003, Castle put out the sprawling 35-track Anthology: 1970-1977. The majority of Stray's back catalogue remains out of print.
Geordie
I have seen Geordie three or four times, they were a local band always doing the club circuit in the North East and probably the rest of England, another chart band that could play some decent rock stuff. Little did I know then when on one occasion while talking to the band backstage at a local club that Brian (Johnson) would go on to front one of the best heavy metal bands around - AC/DC replacing the late Bonn Scott.
And Some Not So Well Known acts seen live....
Blackfoot Sue
A Monday night at our local nightclub and the only thing the local people knew about Blackfoot Sue was due to their hit single, 'Standing In The Road'. However after watching the band here was yet another band who could play some decent rock stuff, a great live act. If I am not mistaken the group was headed by two brothers, Dave and Tom Farmer.
Info...Blackfoot Sue was a British pop/rock group of the 1970s whose members were Tom Farmer (b.1952 03 02, Birmingham, England) (bass, keyboards, vocals), his twin brother Dave Farmer (b.1952 03 02, Birmingham, England) (drums), Eddie Galga (b.1951 09 04, Birmingham, England) (guitar, keyboards), and Alan Jones (b.1950 01 05, Birmingham, England) (guitar, vocals). Their "Standing in the Road" was a U.K. Top Ten hit in 1972, but they were written off as a teen sensation and broke up in 1977.
Vanity Fare
Back at Blackpool and this time a cabaret bar to be entertained by Vanity Fair.
The Downbeats
This band hailed from my home town, I remember seeing them play at the local annual gala, whatever happened to these guys??
The Steve Brown Band
This band were great, I saw them on several occasions, usually rock nights at local clubs. I may be wrong but I think that Michael Hutton played lead guitar he was brilliant, other members were Steve Brown, Alan Hartley, Charlie Gordon & Trevor (Brennan, I think)
Rednick Smith's Rock & Roll Circus
The local variety club turns up a trump card in this band, talented, funny and entertaining group, I saw these guys perform on three occasions, really good.
Hurricane
All I can recall of this act, was a singer / pianist who did an amazing act with his glass eye!!
Peppermint Circus
Local variety club again and a great evenings entertainment from a great band.
Sonny Terry & Browny Magee
Cannot recall much of this band but I think they played the blues.
The Symbols
Local variety club again and an evenings entertainment with The Symbols..
Gypsy
From what I recall these were a good old rock band.
Sam Apple Pie
Ditto.......
Byzantium
Another back up band and another rock outfit.
Warbeck
A local band who deserved more fame, a really good rock band.
White Spirit
A local rock band who deserved more fame, the band had a brilliant lead guitar player whose name I cannot recall.
Info...One of the
many bands associated with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, White
Spirit is now mostly remembered as the first appearance of guitarist
Janick Gers, who later went on to greater fame with the Ian Gillan band
and Iron Maiden.
Formed in 1975 by Gers and drummer Graeme Crallan, White Spirit bided
their time as the punk revolution unfolded, eventually completing their
lineup with vocalist Bruce Ruff, keyboard player Malcolm Pearson, and
bassist Phil Brady. Latching onto the fast-rising movement known as the
New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the quintet issued their first single,
"Back to the Grind," in May 1980 through Neat Records. While many of
their peers were looking to Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, or Motörhead
for inspiration, White Spirit's organ-heavy sound was heavily influenced
by Deep Purple — a rare choice at the time, believe it or not. Picked up
by MCA, they released an eponymous album in September; but when it
failed to chart, the label lost interest, pulled what small promotional
resources they'd committed to begin with, and the band quickly fell to
pieces, disbanding in early 1981. A half-baked resurrection took place a
year later, with future Bad Company singer Brian Howe stepping in for
Ruff and Mick Tucker (later of Tank) replacing Gers for a one-off single
called "Watch Out." In the meantime, Gers had joined his idol Ian
Gillan's band, with whom he recorded a couple of albums before being
forced into reluctant, early retirement. In fact, he had given up music
entirely and even sold his guitar by the time singer Bruce Dickinson
sought him out to co-write his first solo album, and, later brought him
to Iron Maiden.
Brass Alley
Yet another local band who deserved more fame, whenever a act failed to turn up for a local venue nine times out of ten these guys would be their replacements. They were local favourites so they were guaranteed not to disappoint, a very good rock outfit who played under several names including 'Long Vehicle'.
Son Of A Bitch
A brilliant rock band who if I am not mistaken went on to claim fame as 'Saxon' with several chart hits.
Abba Kadabbara
My first 'tribute' band. While recently (Sept 02) on break to Blackpool my wife and I decided to go and see this Abba tribute band at the Globe theatre. I did not know what to expect because it is my wife who is the real Abba fan but I must admit I really enjoyed the show, it was not just a band singing a couple of Abba songs it was a two hour show of just about every Abba song and all in Abba costumes as well. The foursome plus a drummer put on a really good performance even with their 'dodgy' Swedish accents!!
The Barron Knights
It's September 2002, the Grand theatre, Blackpool and I cannot believe this band is still going after all these years, they are still quite good too. I remember buying a couple of their records way back in the 60's, remember 'Call Up The Groups'?
QEII
Blackpool Pleasure Beach, September 2004 or is it Knebworth Park August 1986 ?? QEII a Queen tribute band and a very good one at that. If you cannot have the real thing then QEII is really worth going to see, they stuck to the 1986 Magic Tour set and they did a very good job. We all know that Freddie was the master but Paul Taylor does a very good job of keeping his memory alive. I had the privilege of seeing the real thing a memory that will stay with me forever but I really enjoyed this two hour tribute.
Arrival
September 2004 and another tribute band, this time an Abba tribute show. Arrival were better than the Abba Kadabbara band that I saw a couple of years ago, they were more 'professional' and had no dodgy accents in their show just good old Abba music and costumes, very good.
And Some Near Misses of acts seen live....
Led Zeppelin
This was one of my greatest disappointments in life where too much booze contributed to me missing one of the greatest rock acts ever. Me and a couple of pals got tickets to and see Zeppelin at Knebworth one weekend, before we boarded the Intercity 125 to Knebworth we hit the local bar, then again on the train we hit the bar, when we finally hit the campsite at Knebworth a booze fuelled quarrel broke out between my two companions and the outcome was that one of them stormed off into the night with the tickets!! He made his way back home and we were left ticketless and practically penniless outside of a packed Knebworth Park.
Gary Glitter & The Glitter Band
A Monday Night, local nightclub and believe it or not there are no seats left by the time we get there to see Mr. Glam Rock strut his stuff..
Mott The Hoople / Queen
Me and my friends were booked on a coach tour to see Mott The Hoople and a little known rock group called Queen backing them. Believe it or not but the coach trip was cancelled because not enough places were booked on the coach to go and see the 'Hoople' and a band that was to become possibly the greatest live rock band ever!!
The Edgar Broughton Band
The band were due to play at our local nightspot, they turned up took one look at the minute stage area and refused to play, send for 'Brass Alley'!!!.
Well I hope you have enjoyed my journey back in time to remember some great acts & great nights, anybody with any info on the not so famous acts mentioned let me know what happened to them!!.
Anybody out there got any MP3's of any of the above bands?, especially.....
I used to have a music collection that included albums and singles by nearly all of the acts above but times got hard and this unfortunately meant me selling most of my beloved collection, I have since scoured many a boot sale and record fair in the search for replacements without a lot of success, these are some of the albums, tracks that I have searched for.....Anybody got any MP3's of them??.....
Horslips - 'Happy To Meet Sorry To Part', 'An Unfortunate Cup Of Tea', Dancehall Sweethearts' & 'The Tain' albums.
Geordie - 'Don't Be Fooled By The Name' album
Montrose - 'Montrose' album
Last Updated: 24th June 2011