Day Two of our Artists from Made At The Atrium features Basic State.
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Emma Mae
Day One of Five Performances from Made At The Atrium. The Fab Emma Mae
Made At The Atrium
To celebrate our association with the Fantastic Made At The Atrium Production Yesterday, Keep Cardiff Live will be showing content starting this Monday of Five of the Artists Involved playing original Music.
Tonight From 6pm Live Stream
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The live event kicks off at 6 pm this evening.
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Venues 3 - Top Rank Cardiff Suite
Our Regular feature on music Venues continues with The Top Rank Cardiff Suite
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A regular venue for up and coming signed bands in the 60s and 70s would have been the Top Rank Suite in Queen Street.
Created under what was the old Gaumont Theatre, Top Rank's opening on November 22, 1963, was overshadowed by the assassination of US president John F Kennedy, but over the next four decades it thrived. With a capacity of 1,500, it was to feature some rock’s greatest bands with The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Clash, The Jam, The Police, to name just a handful.
The Top Rank was also one the Capital’s premier ballrooms and held regular evenings as a discotheque whilst also featuring its own in-house band.
It closed as the The Top Rank in 1982 but continued as a night club and live venue under various names like Ritzy Astoria and Panama Joes.
Planning permission for its demolition was granted in late 2004 and by 2005 the old Top Rank was gone for good.
Wolfstorm
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I recently spoke to Nia John, the lead singer of the South Wales rock cover band Wolf Storm. She explains what it was like being in a band through the pandemic, how music will change when concerts are allowed again, and venues prioritising "bigger" artists.
"When live music is allowed again, I think live music will change depending on the venues, and what government restrictions are in place. It will also affect how many people can go to a concert at one time, and the prices will be different too"
I asked Nia how she was affected as a music artist by the pandemic and her response was "We had to stop gigging. The band couldn't meet up to rehearse and we were quite uncertain about our future as a band when we lost two members. However, we adapted to meeting and rehearsing online"
"I think a lot will change when live music starts back up again, there will be more outdoor concerts to start but I think when everyone is vaccinated indoor concerts will be considered again"
"At the moment we only have three gigs booked from three venues who are excited to have us play when they are allowed. Venues have been good with communication and public social media posts. We messaged a few, some respond and some don't, but in all fairness they don't know when live music can recommence or what they can facilitate until it comes from the government"
The last question I asked Nia was her opinion on venues prioritising "Bigger" artists when live music is allowed.
"If it opens up doors for the rest of us and live music as a whole then great. However, in terms of cover bands on the South Wales circuit, there should be fair opportunities for all. I think that the public will struggle to afford the "bigger" artists concerts as I think prices will be more expensive so the venues can become stable again"
It was great speaking to Nia, and I can't wait to see Wolf Storm perform live!
Retro Review 50 Years on Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
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50 years ago, 21 May 1971, Marvin Gaye’s eleventh studio album was released.
Unusual in the fact it was a concept album it was also a groundbreaking recording still regarded by many as the best that the mainly singles focused Motown ever produced.
Written and produced by Gaye himself, another first for the label, such is the esteem in which this recording is held, it was named #1 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 500 of the Greatest albums of all time, and few would argue with that accolade.
Recorded at a very dark time for Gaye, a failing marriage, his longtime duet partner Tammi Terrell had died from a brain tumour, whilst his brother, Frank, had returned home from Vietnam with horror stories that had brought him to tears.
It found Gaye wanting to address social injustice issues in his music, something the label’s Berry Gordy thought would kill his career.
What certainly forced the issue and set the theme for the album was the title track What’s Going On.
After witnessing police brutality in San Francisco, Four Tops singer Obie Benson was prompted to write the song with Motown writer Al Cleveland.
The song eventually found its way to Gaye who agreed to cover it and in Benson’s words, put the finishing touches, adding lyrics and spice to the melody, making it more “ghetto “.
It was just the inspiration Gaye needed to plow headlong into creating such an innovative and significant recording.
With the backing of Motown’s finest musicians, The Funk Brothers, musically and vocally it is Gaye’s crowning glory, an album never to be surpassed from a stable of quite incredible artists.
The rather bizarre fact about the recording of What’s Going On is it almost was never was released as a single and in a stand off with Gordy, Gaye threatened never to record for Gordy again. It eventually sold over 2 million copies and inspired a truly great album.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Marvin Gaye discussed what had shaped his view on more socially conscious themes in music and the conception of his eleventh studio album:
“In 1969 or 1970, I began to re-evaluate my whole concept of what I wanted my music to say ... I was very much affected by letters my brother was sending me from Vietnam, as well as the social situation here at home.
I realized that I had to put my own fantasies behind me if I wanted to write songs that would reach the souls of people. I wanted them to take a look at what was happening in the world.”
Tony Woolway
Track listing
1. "What's Going On"
Marvin Gaye Al Cleveland Renaldo "Obie" Benson
3:53
2. "What's Happening Brother"
Gaye James Nyx Jr.
2:43
3. "Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)" Gaye Anna Gordy Gaye Elgie Stover
3:49
4. "Save the Children"
Gaye Cleveland Benson
4:03
5. "God Is Love"
Gaye A. Gaye Stover Nyx
1:41
6. "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" Gaye 3:16
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Right On"
Gaye Earl DeRouen
7:31
2. "Wholy Holy"
Gaye Benson Cleveland
3:08
3. "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"
Gaye Nyx
5:26
My First Music Memory
Music. In many ways, is as much a part of my life as breathing. I love music, I love going to see my music live. I love listening to my old favourites and some new discoveries.
I love playing music through my amp back at home. I'm not sure my mum appreciates the latter contribution but what can I do, this is her fault anyway.
I don't really get a lot of musical influence from my mum apart from a few weird singles such as the Worzel Gummidge song and Neil from the young ones’ hole in my shoe. But she did start off my love for music initially.
It must have been around 1998-1999 the pre-sister years. At this time, my mum worked for an independent card shop where she would create and produce hundreds and hundreds of handmade, personalised cards. She made these while I was sat in front of the tv or having a nap presumably because at this time I was only around 2-3 and she did this to make some money while looking after me. And when she had completed a few boxes of the cards, we would pack up the boot of her blue Rover Kensington and head to a small town not far from Wrexham (where I live) called Mold.
Mold wasn’t really anything to brag about, it was a nice little town with shops on both sides of the street. Mold boasts that Jonny Buckland from Coldplay grew up there which if you said that to me in my teens I would not care a bit. But now, I'm a Coldplay megafan so to think he walked the streets where I've been is very cool indeed!
Once mum had dropped off her cards to the distributor, we wouldn't go home straight away but instead, we would take a short walk down the street, and turn the corner onto what seemed a street that was always sunny, I can always remember it being sunny there.
I can't remember what the place was called but it was a little cafe/tea room where everything inside matched the colours and details of a china cup with the white and blue floral design. That was already very striking to me as a child. I can remember the smell as if it was yesterday, and they always had a small pot of sugar cubes which fascinated me because it meant I had something to play with while mum was having her tea probably.
Now I really don't know if this song ever played there but it's really intertwined with one another. I can't think of Mold without thinking of the song/band and I can't listen to the band without thinking of Mold tea rooms but my earliest memory was The Beautiful South.
The Beautiful South was a small, insignificant part of my childhood but this has transformed my listening tastes. I'm not a huge fan of modern genres of music, I like good songs with good lyrics and a great tune when I was discovering ‘my band’ I oriented toward The Beatles first and from that grew to like The Kinks and the beach boys and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, that style of music suits very well with me.
The beautiful south to me was a mix of great vocals and a happy tune. Perfect 10 is a lovely tune and I love Rotterdam. The song of theirs that I remember most is You Keep it All In.
This song also takes me to 2017 too, I bonded with a work friend over it, we would break out into songs while cooking in a hot cafe kitchen and it was really great fun in the summer just having a sing with your co-worker.
A small claim to fame on my part is that in the same workplace, I worked with the Julie from ‘song for whoever’ by none other than the beautiful south!
I think it’s incredible that I have a few strong Early Music Memories in my life and The Beautiful South has been there for some of them.
To sum up my first music memory would be the happiness, sunshine and the smell of a coffee shop. fantastic.