On This Day 06/10/1982 Dexys Midnight Runners

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On this day, 6 October 1982, Midlands band Dexys Midnight Runners played Cardiff St David’s Hall on "The Bridge" tour. The band were accompanied by new-recruits, Spike Edney on trombone and saxophonist Kevin Gilson.

Earlier in the month the band released "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)" following on from the tremendous success of "Come On Eileen" earlier in the Summer.

The band had recently recorded their second studio album Too-Rye-Ay .

Shortly before recording this album, Dexys' bandleader Kevin Rowland had decided to add a violin section to the band's existing horn section, which had contributed strings (viola and cello) to the band's previous single, "Liars A to E".

However, after violinists Helen O'Hara and Steve Brennan joined the band, the three members of the horn section, including Dexys' co-leader and album co-composer "Big" Jim Paterson, decided to leave Dexys and become an independent horn band (ultimately known as The TKO Horns).

Rowland convinced them to stay with the band long enough to record the album and to perform in a kick-off concert debuting the album on BBC Radio One in June 1982.

All the songs on the album were rearranged to add strings, which caused Dexys to re-record the 1981 singles "Plan B", "Liars A to E", and "Soon". During the rearrangement process,

"Soon" was revised into the opening section of "Plan B"; since both songs were written by Rowland and Paterson, the merged songs are credited on the album simply as "Plan B".

Setlist

Old

Geno

The Celtic Soul Brothers

Let's Get This Straight From the Start

All in All (This One Last Wild Waltz)

Tell Me When My Light Turns Green

Plan B

Let's Make This Precious

I Couldn't Help If I Tried

Until I Believe in My Soul

Kevin Rowland's 13th Time

Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)

(Van Morrison cover)

Respect

(Otis Redding cover)

There, There, My Dear

Come on Eileen

Show Me

I'll Show You

On This Day 30/09/1983 Depeche Mode

On this day, 30 September 1983, electro-rock band Depeche Mode played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on the band’s Construction Time Again Tour.

Construction Time Again was the group’s third studio album and the first to feature Alan Wilder as a member, who wrote the songs "Two Minute Warning" and "The Landscape Is Changing". The album's title comes from the second line of the first verse of the track "Pipeline".

It was recorded at John Foxx's Garden Studios in London, and was supported by the Construction Time Again Tour.

Review - South Wales Echo

In January 1983, shortly before the release of the "Get the Balance Right!" single, songwriter Martin Gore attended an Einstürzende Neubauten concert, giving him the idea to experiment with the sounds of industrial music in the context of pop.

This album introduced a transition in lyrical content for the group. Construction Time Again would include a bevy of political themes, sparked by the poverty Gore had seen on a then-recent trip he had taken to Thailand.

The album also saw a dramatic shift in the group's sound, due in part to Wilder's introduction of the Synclavier and E-mu Emulator samplers. By sampling the noises of everyday objects, the band created an eclectic, industrial-influenced sound, with similarities to groups such as the Art of Noise and Einstürzende Neubauten (the latter becoming Mute labelmates in 1983)

Review - South Wales Argus

Setlist

Everything Counts

Now, This Is Fun

Two Minute Warning

Shame

See You

Get the Balance Right

Love, in Itself

Pipeline

The Landscape Is Changing

And Then...

Photographic

Told You So

New Life

More Than a Party

Encore:

The Meaning of Love

Just Can't Get Enough

Encore 2:

Boys Say Go!

On This Day 20/09/1983 Gloria Gaynor

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On This Day, 20 September 1983, American singer and disco diva Gloria Gaynor played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

In 1980 and again in 1981, Gaynor released two disco albums that were virtually ignored in the United States due to the backlash against disco, which began late in 1979. The album's singles barely registered on urban contemporary radio, where disco music remained popular. In 1982, having looked into a wide variety of faiths and religious movements, she became a Christian and began to distance herself from a past she considered to be sinful. That same year, she released an album of mid-tempo R&B and pop-style songs entitled Gloria Gaynor.

Gaynor would achieve her final success in the 1980s with the release of her album I Am Gloria Gaynor in 1984. This was mainly due to the song "I Am What I Am", which became a hit at dance clubs, and then on the Club Play chart in late 1983/early 1984. "I Am What I Am" became a gay anthem and made Gaynor a gay icon.

On This Day 07/09/1980 Rory Gallagher

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On this day, 7 September 1980, Irish musician, singer, and songwriter Rory Gallagher played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

He was about to release his eleventh album Stage Stuck later in the month. It documents his world tour in support of his 1979 album Top Priority. Accordingly, it features many songs from that album, but it also includes songs from his previous albums.

The album sees Gallagher taking a faster-paced, more hard rock sound than on his previous blues-dominated live albums. Originally released with eight tracks, Stage Struck was augmented with two bonus tracks ("Bad Penny" and "Keychain") when reissued in 1999, four years after Gallagher's death, by his younger brother and manager, Dónal Gallagher.

On This Day 15/08/1980 Q-Tips

On this day, 15 August 1980 new wave soul band Q-Tips played Cardiff’s Casablanca Club.

First formed in 1979 from the remnants of the rock group Streetband, apart from the novelty song "Toast", a B-side made successful from heavy airplay by Capital Radio’s Kenny Everett, Streetband had failed to find any commercial success with their two albums London and Dilemma (both released in 1979).

Drummer Chalky and guitarist Roger Kelly departed, leaving the remaining trio of Paul Young on vocals, Mick Pearl on bass guitar, and guitarist John Gifford.

The ex-Streetbanders added Dave Lathwell on guitar and Baz Watts on drums. In addition, a four-piece brass section was created by Steve Farr (baritone saxophone), Richard Blanchchard (tenor saxophone), Oscar Stuart Blandamer (alto saxophone) and Tony Hughes (trumpet), and all hailed from the North London and Hertfordshire area. Organist Ian Kewley lived in Essex. Q-Tips' name derived from a well-known brand of cotton swab.

Q-Tips' first rehearsals took place in November 1979. Their first concert was on 18 November 1979 at the Queens Arms Hotel in Harrow. This was followed by another at the Horn of Plenty in St Albans – a regular gig for Streetband during 1978 – and a total of 16 in their first month of existence. Some personnel changes occurred during the first six months, with Blanchard and Lathwell leaving the band.

By 1 April 1980, the band had recorded two tracks, "SYSLJFM (The Letter Song)", and "Having a Party",both recorded at the Livingstone Studios in Barnet. Constant touring and concert appearances had built a strong fan base by mid 1981, when the small amount of soul music covers were outnumbered by the band's own tracks.

The professionalism of the band had attracted the attention of several record labels, with Mickie Most (RAK Records) confirming on BBC Radio 1's Round Table programme that Q-Tips "...are easily the best live band working at the moment". In August 1980, the British music magazine NME reported that Q-Tips had released their debut, self-titled album.

On This Day 01/08/1980 Ultravox

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On this day, 1 August 1980, new wave electronic pop band Ultravox played Cardiff’s Top Rank on the band’s Vienna UK tour.

Released in June 1980, the Vienna album produced the band's first UK Top 40 hit with "Sleepwalk" reaching No. 29, while the album itself initially peaked at No. 14.

A second single, "Passing Strangers", failed to reach the Top 40, only reaching No. 57, but the band achieved a substantial hit with the third single, the album's title track.

Accompanied by a highly distinctive video (inspired by Carol Reed's 1949 film The Third Man), the single became Ultravox's biggest ever hit, released in January 1981 and peaking at Number 2 (kept off the top spot by John Lennon's "Woman" and then Joe Dolce's "Shaddap You Face").

On the strength of the single, the album then re-entered the chart and reached No. 3 in early 1981. A fourth single from the album, "All Stood Still", peaked at No. 8. in 1981, and "Slow Motion" from Systems of Romance was also re-issued, reaching No. 33 the same year.

Ultravox were then revitalised by Midge Ure, who had joined the band as vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist. He had already achieved minor success with semi-glam outfit Slik and Glen Matlock's The Rich Kids, and in 1979, he was temporarily playing with hard rock band Thin Lizzy on their American tour, replacing Gary Moore.

Ure and Billy Currie had met while collaborating on Visage, a studio-based band fronted by New Romantic icon and nightclub impresario Steve Strange.

Setlist

Quiet Men

Passing Strangers

Face To Face

Mr X

Western Promise

Vienna

Slow Motion

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Private Lives

New Europeans

All Stood Still

Sleepwalk

Astradyne

Kings Lead Hat

On This Day 29/07/1986 Edwin Starr

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On this day, 29 July 1986, soul legend Edwin Starr played Cardiff’s Jacksons night club.

The biggest hit of Starr's career, which cemented his reputation, was the Vietnam War protest song "War" (1970). Starr's intense vocals transformed a Temptations album track into a number one chart success, which spent three weeks in the top position on the U.S. Billboard charts, an anthem for the antiwar movement and a cultural milestone that continues to resound in movie soundtracks and hip hop music samples. It sold over three million copies, and was awarded a gold disc."War" appeared on both Starr's War & Peace album and its follow-up, Involved, produced by Norman Whitfield. Involved also featured another song of similar construction titled "Stop the War Now", which was a minor hit in its own right. Music critic Robert Christgau called the latter album "Norman Whitfield's peak production". His backing singers during this time were Total Concept Unlimited, who later became Rose Royce.

Starr remained a hero on England's northern soul circuit and moved to England in 1983, continuing to live there for the remainder of his life. He based himself in the Midlands, living for many years at Pooley Hall at Polesworth, Warwickshire, before moving to Bramcote in Nottinghamshire.

Starr died on April 2, 2003, from a heart attack at his Nottinghamshire home. He was 61. He is buried at Wilford Hill Cemetery in Nottingham. He was survived by his long term partner Jean, and by his son and daughter from earlier relationships.

On This Day 03/05/1989 Inspiral Carpets

On this day, 3 June 1989, rock band Inspiral Carpets played Cardiff’s Radcliffe’s Club.

Part of the late-1980s/early-1990s Madchester movement. Formed in Oldham in 1983, the band's most successful lineup featured frontman Tom Hingley, drummer Craig Gill, guitarist Graham Lambert, bassist Martyn Walsh, and keyboardist Clint Boon.

Going by "The Furs", Lambert formed line-ups loosely with other various past band members from 1980 to 1983 until he and singer Stephen Holt met at The Moor End indie disco in Oldham in 1983. Holt sang on the first two independent singles. Holt departed the band before they signed with Mute Records. Inspiral Carpets are known for using organs and distorted guitars with influences from psychedelic rock.

Inspiral Carpets came to prominence along with bands such as the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays in the Madchester scene of the late 1980s. The band first appeared on a flexi-disc with "Garage Full of Flowers" that was given free with Manchester's Debris magazine in 1987. Their first proper release, the Cow cassette, soon followed. The 1988 Planecrash EP on the Playtime label received much airplay from Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who asked the band to record a session for his show. The band reworked their single "Find Out Why" as the theme song for the show 8:15 from Manchester.

As the band's popularity grew, Playtime's distributor Red Rhino Records went bankrupt, leading Inspiral Carpets to form their own label, Cow Records, in March 1989. The label's first release was the Trainsurfing EP. With half of the first album, Life, written, Holt and Swift departed and formed the Rainkings, so the band recruited Too Much Texas singer Tom Hingley and Martyn "Bungle" Walsh of The Next Step to replace them. Martyn Walsh became the band's 13th bass player.

After a handful of singles on their own label, with "Move" nearly reaching the UK top 40, the band signed a deal with Mute Records and soon experienced their first top-40 chart success in the UK with "This Is How It Feels." The single reached No. 14 on the singles chart, and the debut album Life reached No. 2 on the albums chart in 1990.