On This Day 13/05/1957 Tommy Steele

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On this day, 13 May 1957, original British rocker Tommy Steele & The Steelmen played the first of a week of concerts at Cardiff’s Gaumont Theatre. Also included on the bill were Freddie Bell & The Bellboys, Paul & Peta Page (The puppeteers) and The Trio Raisner (Sensational French harmonica group). It was described as "Britain's First Ever Package Show" like the American Style Package Shows.

Steele's first single, "Rock with the Caveman", was one of the first British rock and roll hits, reaching number 13 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1956. He promoted the single with his first television appearance, on bandleader Jack Payne's BBC series Off the Record, and quickly became a national teen idol.

Steele's success saw him dubbed "Britain's Elvis", though his appeal has been characterised as less provocative than Presley's. A 1957 concert review by Trevor Philpott of Picture Post described Steele's act as possessing "not a trace of sex, real or implied", whilst Stephen Glynn has written that Steele's voice "was genial before threatening, his stage demeanour more playground skip than bedroom thrust".

Steele's live performances were marked by frenzy from the teenage audience. His first album, Tommy Steele Stage Show, was recorded at a London concert the night before his twentieth birthday and issued in March 1957.

"Doomsday Rock", Steele's second single, failed to chart after its apocalyptic theme drew controversy. His third, "Singing the Blues", reached number 1 in January 1957, staving off a recording by Guy Mitchell for one week.

Steele was among the first British pop stars to be heavily merchandised, with tie-in sweaters, shoes and toy guitars. Only a few months after his first chart presence, the singer was filming his life story; The Tommy Steele Story (1957) featured twelve new songs, written hastily by Steele, Bart and Pratt, that expanded the singer's repertoire to incorporate ballads and calypso music.

The film's soundtrack was the first UK number one album by a British act, and the hit single "A Handful of Songs" received the 1958 Ivor Novello Award for Most Outstanding Song of the Year, Musically and Lyrically. By the end of 1957, Steele had bought a four-bedroomed house in South London for his parents and was reported to be earning more than British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

REVIEW - Western Mail - 12th May 1957

On This Day 12/05/1969 Gun

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On this day, 12 May 1969, British rock guitar trio Gun played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

Evolving from the Ilford-based band, The Knack, which included guitarist/vocalist Paul Gurvitz (born Paul Anthony Gurvitz, 6 July 1944, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire (although he was known by the surname Curtis until the early 1970s), his brother Adrian Gurvitz and drummer Louie Farrell, the trio changed their name in early 1968 to The Gun. The full Knack lineup had been Paul Curtis (Gurvitz) on guitar and vocals, Louie Farrell (born Brian John Farrell, 8 December 1947, Goodmayes, Essex) (who had joined The Knack in mid 1966) on drums, Gearie Kenworthy on bass guitar (born 17 October 1946), Tim Mycroft playing organ (born 1949, Purewell, Christchurch, Dorset died 1 January 2010), and for a short while, Jon Anderson of Yes.

The Knack had regularly performed at the UFO Club, supporting bands such as Pink Floyd, Arthur Brown and Tomorrow. Recording sessions at Olympic Studios produced the unreleased single "Lights on the Wall", while in November 1967 they recorded for the BBC alternative music radio programme Top Gear and twice played on air. In early 1968, the band changed its line-up to a trio, with Paul Curtis (Gurvitz) on bass, Louie Farrell on drums and Adrian Curtis (Gurvitz) on guitar.

After being signed to CBS Records in early 1968, the band scored a hit with the opening track from their eponymous album (1968), "Race with the Devil". Issued as a single in October 1968, it reached the top 10 in the UK Singles Chart, number 35 on the Australian Singles Chart and number 1 in many UK territories in March 1969.

Jimi Hendrix quoted the song's riff during his song "Machine Gun" at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, as did Status Quo on their song "Forty Five Hundred Times" during a stage show at Apollo Theatre in Glasgow in 1976. "Race with the Devil" has been covered by Judas Priest ((1977) on the 2001 remastered CD version of Sin After Sin), Black Oak Arkansas (on their 1977 album Race with the Devil), Girlschool (on their 1980 album Demolition), and Church of Misery (on their 1996 demo, released as a split album with Acrimony, and on their full-length LP Vol. 1).

Their debut album's cover is noteworthy as it was the first by Roger Dean (credited as "W. Roger Dean" on the back of the sleeve). AllMusic described it as having a "distinctive psych-flavoured proto-metal" sound. Their second album, Gunsight included "cover design + photos" by Hipgnosis and was released in 1969.[1]

Despite releasing a number of other singles, and an attempt by their record label to identify them with the underground counter-culture, the band had no further hits.

On This Day 11/05/1963 The Springfields

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On this day, 11 May 1963, The Springfields (featuring Dusty Springfield) played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens. Also on the bill were, headliner Del Shannon, The Eagles, Peppi, Kenny Lynch, Johnny Tillotson and Ret Anton.

The trio formed in 1960, when Mary "Dusty" O'Brien, who had been a member of all-girl singing trio the Lana Sisters, joined her brother Dion O'Brien and Tim Feild, who had been working as a duo, the Kensington Squares. Dion became Tom Springfield, and Mary became Dusty Springfield.

Tom Springfield was a songwriter and arranger with a wide knowledge of folk music and the group had strong vocal harmonies as well as Dusty's powerful lead. Occupying a musical sphere comparable with that of the contemporary Peter, Paul and Mary, they were signed to Philips Records in London by producer Johnny Franz. In 1961, they released their first single, "Dear John" which failed to chart. They achieved UK success with the two follow-up releases, "Breakaway" (No. 31) and their Christmas hit "Bambino" (No. 16), also produced by Franz.

In December 1962, Tom's composition "Island of Dreams", his first recording made with Mike Hurst, debuted on the UK Singles Chart, where it remained for 26 weeks. It peaked at No. 5 in its 16th week on the chart, in early April 1963, five weeks before the Springfields' follow-up hit "Say I Won't Be There" would also peak at No. 5.

By this time, the Springfields were one of the most popular groups in the UK. The group had several chart hits and had recorded several foreign language records. However, Dusty Springfield felt limited by the group's folk act and Tom's lead role within the trio, and she decided to leave for a solo career. She and Tom announced that the group was to be disbanded on the TV variety show Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963.

Tom Springfield subsequently wrote a number of songs for Australian pop-folk band the Seekers, including the two UK number-one hits "I'll Never Find Another You" and "The Carnival Is Over", as well as the Oscar-nominated "Georgy Girl", which he wrote with actor-singer Jim Dale and which hit big on both sides of the Atlantic.

On This Day 10/05/1985 The Colourfield

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On this day, 10 May 1985, pop band The Colourfield played Cardiff University. The band had just released their debut album Virgins and Philistines. It peaked at #12 in the UK album charts.

Formed in 1984 in Manchester, England when former Specials and Fun Boy Three frontman Terry Hall joined up with Karl Shale and ex-Swinging Cats member Toby Lyons. Despite the fact that all three members were from Coventry, the band was based in Manchester.

In January 1984, The Colour Field released their first single "The Colour Field", which just missed making the top 40 in the UK Singles Chart. In the summer of the same year, they released "Take" as their second single, which commercially performed less well. Their third single was "Thinking of You", released in January 1985, which reached number 12 in the UK chart, and featured Katrina Phillips accompanying Hall on vocals. Their fourth single, released days before their debut album came out, was "Castles in the Air" which reached the lower reaches of the UK chart.

Virgins and Philistines contained all original material except "The Hammond Song" (a cover of The Roches song), and "Can’t Get Enough of You Baby" (written by Linzer/Randell), which was the only track that received much airplay. The album was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport (near Manchester) and was produced by Hugh Jones and Jeremy Green, and engineered by Chris Jones.

On This Day 09/05/1988 The Primitives

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On this day, 9 May 1988, indie pop band The Primitives played Cardiff University.

Formed in 1984, disbanded in 1992 and reformed in 2009, the band's two constant members throughout their recording career have been vocalist Tracy Tracy and guitarist Paul "PJ" Court. Drummer Tig Williams has been a constant member since 1987. Often described as an indie pop or indie rock band, The Primitives' musical style can also be seen as straddling power pop, new wave and post-punk.

The band's early singles were released on their own Lazy Records imprint. In late 1987, they signed the label over to RCA, which released the band's material from then until their split.

Lovely (1988), the band's first album, reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, and produced two top 40 hit singles: "Crash" (UK No. 5, US Modern Rock No. 3) and "Out of Reach" (UK No. 25). "Crash", and the band were described in Melody Maker as "the perfect band who have made the perfect single".

"Way Behind Me" was released as a single soon after, and was included on later versions of the debut album, as well as on the follow-up album Pure.[1] 1988 was the band's peak year; in addition to the hit album and singles, the band undertook a sell-out tour of the UK, ending in two nights in May at London's Town & Country Club.

The album Pure (1989) was preceded by three singles: "Way Behind Me" (UK No. 36, US Modern Rock No. 8), "Sick of It" (UK No. 24, US Modern Rock No. 9) and "Secrets", (UK No. 49, US Modern Rock No. 12).

On This Day 08/05/1981 Larry Norman

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On this day, 8 May 1981, American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and released more than 100 albums.

In 2008, Christian rock historian John J. Thompson wrote, "It is certainly no overstatement to say that Larry Norman is to Christian music what John Lennon is to rock & roll or Bob Dylan is to folk music." Thompson credited Norman for his impact on the genre as a musician, a producer, and a businessman.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Norman also influenced a number of emerging punk and alternative rock artists. According to documentarian Larry Di Sabatino, Larry Norman was "an early influence" on the post-punk band U2. When Bono met with a summit of Nashville Christian music artists in 2002 to garner support for an African aid campaign, he specifically asked to see Norman. Upon Larry Norman's death, Bono sent flowers to his funeral with the note "Eternal singer, still eternal, Bono."

According to Charles Normal, Larry Norman attended his "first of many" punk rock shows while touring London in 1977, seeing Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the Damned, and Dead Boys. Regarding the punk movement, Norman stated that while he initially disliked some of the lyrical content, he was generally supportive of it and its youthful energy, which he viewed as preferable to disco.

In late 1980, Norman moved to England and, with his father, founded Phydeaux Records, a company designed to compete with the bootleg market by selling rarities from Norman's own archives. He signed a distribution deal with British label Chapel Lane and released several albums before returning to the United States in 1985.

Norman then began work on an anthology project celebrating his career in Christian music, beginning with the album White Blossoms from Black Roots: The History and the Chronology: Volume One; however, the project collapsed when the head of the distribution company was arrested for check forgery and the company's merchandise was seized by the FBI.

Setlist

I Hope I'll See You in Heaven

If I Were a Singer

I Am Near

When You Sent Your Son

No More LSD for Me

A Note From Mr. God

One Way

U.F.O.

666 (The Anti-Christ)

The Outlaw

The Troubles

On This Day 07/05/2009 Radio Moscow

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On this day, 7 May 2009, American psychedelic rock band Radio Moscow played The Globe in Cardiff. The band had just released their second album Brain Cycles.

Radio Moscow are often compared stylistically to blues rock bands from the 1960s and 1970s, particularly fellow power trios like Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, or rock bands with heavy rhythm sections like Pretty Things, The Who and Blue Cheer.

Reviewing the band's self-titled album for music website AllMusic, Greg Prato described the group's sound as "a throwback to the classic rock of the '70s", comparing certain songs to artists such as Ram Jam, The Allman Brothers Band and The Jeff Beck Group. Following the release of Brain Cycles, Radio Moscow have also been cited as an example of the stoner rock genre.

Formed in 2003, the band currently features singer-guitarist Parker Griggs, bassist Anthony Meier and drummer Paul Marrone. Signed to Alive Naturalsound Records, the trio has released five full-length albums as of June 2017.

Prior to the formation of the band, Parker Griggs recorded under the solo alias Garbage Composal.[2] After completing an album's worth of material, Griggs enlisted bassist Serana Rose to form Radio Moscow, and the duo relocated to Colorado.

Following a show, Griggs got a demo into the hands of The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, who then helped in getting Radio Moscow signed to Alive Naturalsound Records. During this time, Parker recorded the contents of 3 & 3 Quarters which was eventually released in 2012 under Radio Moscow. The album is predominantly Garage Rock, with all instruments handled by Griggs.

On This Day 06/05/1978 Magazine

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On this day, 6 May 1978, new wave band Magazine played Cardiff University. The band had just recently released their second album Secondhand Daylight which peaked at no38 in the UK album charts.

Upon its release, Secondhand Daylight was hailed in the NME. Reviewer Nick Kent described songs like "Feed the Enemy" as "very Low-period Bowiesque", due to the "stray saxophone bleats and lulling synthesiser chords". Sounds was less positive; music journalist Garry Bushell declared that Magazine were in "retreat to the '70s progressive lie". The Guardian wrote that the album "explores the mixture of keyboards, saxophone and Howard Devoto's Rottenesque vocals in a professional, controlled and surprisingly subdued manner".

Formed in 1977 in Manchester in England by singer Howard Devoto and guitarist John McGeoch. After leaving the punk group Buzzcocks in early 1977, Devoto decided to create a more progressive and less "traditional" rock band. The original lineup of Magazine was composed of Devoto, McGeoch, Barry Adamson on bass, Bob Dickinson on keyboards and Martin Jackson on drums.

Their debut album, Real Life (1978), was critically acclaimed and was one of the first post-punk albums. After releasing two other albums, Secondhand Daylight and The Correct Use of Soap, McGeoch left the band in 1980 to join Siouxsie and the Banshees. Magazine released another studio album and disbanded in 1981. All four of their albums reached the top 40 on the UK Albums Chart.