they don't get what they due -to the economic recession

AP

RIL 19,1975

10p WE

EK

LYU

SA

50C

'Where The Stars Are'

TH

E S

A

ST

AT

EO

F

TO

UR

SWHO WILL SURVIVE ?

ByHarry Doherty

BR

ITIS

H bands can no longer afford to

take their public for granted. Fans,

due -to the economic recession, the high

cost of living and the general shortage ofcash, expect perform

ances of the higheststandard.

Ifthey don't get w

hat theyw

ant, musicians w

ill suffer.N

ew bands, in particular, have been feeling the

pinch. The m

an in the street just is° t willing any

more 46' pay to see unestablished unknow

n actseven if they have hit singles behind them

Pilot (pictured right) have had their hits but are

almost certain to be affected by the present situa-

tion. The opinion is that they are still a relatively

unknown quantity

Recognition for P

ilot could come first in A

merica

a market m

ore and more B

ritish bands are looking tofor survival T

he band's drumm

er. Stuart T

osh, said.O

ur single. Magic, and first album

are breakingthere now

The feeling is that there is room

in thestates for another band's m

usic and we could be that

band. Our am

bition is to get a number one album

and single there. That's the am

bition of every groupnowS

lade have been hit by a setback in popularityV

ery few of the gigs on their forthcom

ing tour havebeen sold out.

InsideD

isc looks at the state oftouring in B

ritain

See Page

4

WA

KE

MA

ND

AV

ID G

AT

ES

DO

OB

IE B

RO

S.

FR

ES

CO

IN C

OLO

UR

!

2 Disc-April 19, 1975

A INDICATES THIS

WEEK'S FASTEST

MOVERS

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(1) BYE BYE BABYBay City Rollers, Bell

(4) FOX ON THE RUNSweet, RCA

(10) LOVE ME, LOVE MY DOGPeter Shelley, Magnet

(6) SWING YOUR DADDYJim Gilstrap, Chelsea

(7) FUNKY GIBBONGoodies, Bradleys

(5) FANCY PANTS Kenny, RAK

(2) THERE'S A WHOLELOT OF LOVING

Guys and Dolls, Magnet

(3) GIRLSMoments and Whatnauts,

All Platinum

9(22) HONEYA Bobby Goldsboro, UA

. -' 44041.6,15 ' . . 1.4.111,,..A1.8142111,21.

41:111POILVItsvw.u...tworomarmc.ukastiag

PERSONALITY

BETTY WRIGHTCHOOSES HER CURRENTTOP TEN

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ALBUM TOP THIRTYr

wood

(11) THE UGLY DUCKLINGMike Reid, Pye

(9) PLAY ME LIKE YOUPLAY YOUR GUITAR

Duane Eddy, GTO

(15) LET ME BE THE ONEShadows, EMI

(8) I CAN DO IT Rubettes,State

(25) WITH LOVE ANDUNDERSTANDING

Gilbert Becaud, Decca

(26) LIFE IS A MINESTRONE

A iOcc, Mercury

(30) THE TEARS I CRIEDThe Glitter Band, Bell

(16) REACH OUT, I'LL BETHERE

Gloria Gaynor, MGM(1 2) PHILADELPHIA

18 FREEDOMElton John Band, DJM

tiliwr

' n4r/fIM-, .... . ,- 11

20(18) SKIING IN THE SNOW

Wigan's Ovation, Spark

(-) HOLD ON TO LOVEPeter Skellern, Decca

22(23) L.O.V.E.

Al Green, London

(13) WHAT AM I GOING TO

23 DO WITH YOUBarry White, Twentieth Century

24(-) DING A DONG

Teach -In, Polydor

25(_) LOVIN' YOU

Minnie Ripperton, Epic

Yin & Yan, EMI

27 (14) ONLY YOU CAN Fox, GTO

...i

1 GET DOWN TONIGHT KC end the Sunshine Band2 WHERE IS LOVE? Betty Wright3 SUPER DUPER LOVE Sugar Billy4 FOX ON THE RUN Sweet5 LADY MARMALADE Labelle6 GIRLS Moments and Whatnauts7 LOVER'S EVE Isley Brothers8 IT'S A MIRACLE Barry Manilow

i!) 1 9 FIRE Ohio Players4 :, 10 ONCE YOU GET STARTED Rufus I

ki:11.1t1 ..'0 4N01;13M010;41"NHOPRIPMNIMOWN i '

.(111/4jilt t

1 (2) TWENTY GREATEST HITSTom Jones, Decca

28 (17)IF

BUBBLERS ARE IN

ALPHABETICAL

ORDER

Telly Savalas, MCA

(-) THE WAY WE WEREGladys Knight and the Pips,

Buddah

(-) TAKE GOOD CARE OFYOURSELF

Three Degrees, Philadelphia

HURT SO GOODSusan Cadogan, Magnet

GET DOWN TONIGHTK.C. and the Sunshine Band,

Jayboy

GOOD LOVING GONE BADBad Company, Island

WE'LL FIND OUR DAYStephanie de Sykes, Bradleys

EXPRESSBT Express, Pye

11.11U .11VMUII1111.1111.6111Mi......a.e.0.1111..S11118.1 ..... 011.111.9.N.7tettillint11890110*.CZ40"11101/11411,0tWitlinilx5FAMIMIAMEM4141

1 (-) SOUL WALKING Whatnauts, All Platinum2 (6) STOP ON BY Rufus3 (1) TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF

The Three Degrees, Philly4 (2) SWING YOUR DADDY .... Jim Gillstrap, Chelsea5 (5) LADY MARMALADE Labelle, CBS6 (-) WHERE IS THE LOVE Betty Wright, RCA7 (10) GET DOWN TONIGHT

KC and The Sunshine Band, Jayboy8 ( ) LOVING YOU Miniie Ripperton, Epic9 (3) GIRLS Moments and Whatnauts, All Platinum,

10 (-) I FEEL SACTIFIEDThe Commodores, Tamla Motown

1101:15111111811111111116111151115151111Mit

1 (1) PHYSICAL GRAFFITILed Zeppelin, Atlantic

2 (2) HAVE YOU EVER BEEN MELLOWOlivia Newton -John, MCA

3 (3) AN EVENING WITH JOHN DENVERJohn Denver, RCA

4 (18) CHICAGO VIII Chicago, Columbia5 (9) THAT'S THE WAY OF THE WORLD

Earth, Wind and Fire, Columbia6 (7) FOR EARTH BELOW

Robin Trower, Chrysalis7 (6) ROCK 'N' ROLL John Lennon, Apple8 (13) CRASH LANDING

Juni Hendrix, Warner Bros9 (10) YOUNG AMERICANS . David Bowie, RCA

10 (14) AUTOBAHN Kraft Werk, Vertigo11 (-) BLUE JAYS

Justin Hayward & John Lodge, Threshold12 (11) COLD ON THE SHOULDER

Gordon Lightfoot Reprise13 (15) SONG FOR YOU

Temptations, Tamla Motown14 (4) PERFECT ANGEL . Minnie Ripperton. Epic15 (5) BLOOD ON THE TRACKS Bob -Dylan, CBS16 (20) FUNNY LADY Soundtrack. Arista17 (19) WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE

Alice Cooper, Atlantic18 (-) TOMMY Soundtrack, Polydor19 (-) YESTERDAY Yes, Atlantic20 (8) PHOEBE SHOW Shelter

1 (1) PHILADELPHIA FREEDOMElton John, MCA

2 (2) LOVIN' YOU Minnie Ripperton, Epic3 (8) SOMEBODY DONE SOMEBODY WRONG

B. J. Thomas, ABC4 (3) NO, NO SONG Ringo Starr, Capitol5 (4) LADY MARMALADE Labelle, Epic6 (10) CHEVY VAN Sammy Jones, GFC7 (9) EMMA Hot Chocolate, Big Tree 1 148 (15) LONG TALL GLASSES Leo Sayer, Warner Bros.9 (12) WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH YOU

Barry White, Twentieth Century10 (17) HE DON'T LOVE YOU .... Tony Orlando & Dawn11 (13) L -O -V -E Al Green, Hi12 (14) SHINING STAR ... Earth Wind & Fire, Columbia ,,,:ki

ii;,;;;;;;x1It:

13 (16) SUPERNATURAL THING ... Ben E. King, Atlantic 14,:0411. 414, Ai\14 (18) JACKIE BLUE

, . Ozark Mountain Darethvils. A&M lk,mit,1(115 (19) I DON'T LIKE TO SLEEP ALONE . Paul Anka, UA .1410,1Plik

16 (20) WALKING IN RHYTHM Blackbyrds, Fantasy I Irtlill' V:Ir-"It 70"'11, '

ii

417 (-) HOW LONG Ace, Anchor t .. 'ilLI 18 (-) IT'S A MIRACLE Barry Manilow, Arista '4., ht it

SI4,

h. 19 (5) POETRY MAN Phoebe Snow, Shelter 003:

20 (-) BEFORE THE NEXT TEARDROP FALLSFreddy Fender, Dot ,41'h' 'rC(:)3IN 6. Aifit

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lit(1 RETURN ",,,,,s.Iv 0,I,

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..i.ecustrel Oliver

2 (8) BLUE JAYSJustin Hayward, John Lodge, Threshold

3 (1) PHYSICAL GRAFFITI . Led Zeppelin, SwanSong

4 (9) THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK10cc, Mercury

5 (4) THE SHIRLEY BASSEY ALBUMShirley Bassey, UA

6 (7) YOUNG AMERICANS . David Bowie, RCA7 (10) THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES

Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, EMI8 (14) THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF KING

ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THEROUND TABLE Rick Wakeman, A&M

9 (-) STRAIGHT SHOOTER Bad Company, Island10 (15) THE BEST OF THE STYLISTICS ... Avco11 (12) ELTON JOHN'S GREATEST HITS DJM12 (11) TUBULAR BELLS Mike Oldfield, Virgin13 (12) BLOOD ON THE TRACKS Bob Dylan, CBS14 (6) ON THE LEVEL Status Quo, Vertigo15 (3) CRIME OF THE CENTURY

Supertramp, A&M16 (5) AVERAGE WHITE BAND

Average White Band, Atlantic17 (21) TOMMY Various Artists, Polydor17 (28) THERE'S ONE IN EVERY CROWD

Eric Clapton, RSO19 (16) SOULED OUT Various Artists, K -Tel20 (19) ROLLIN' Bay City Rollers, Bell21 (-) TELLY Telly Savalas, MCA21 (13) ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK'S

GREATEST HITS Decca23 (30) RUBYCON Tangerine Dream, Virgin24 (25) I'M COMING HOME Johnny Mathis, CBS25 (18) SINGLES 1969-73 .... Carpenters, A&M26 (27) SIMON AND GARFUNKEL'S

GREATEST HITS CBS27 (17) BLACK MUSIC .... Various Artists, Arcade28 (20) ROCK 'N' ROLL John Lennon, Apple29 (-) YESTERDAYS Yes, Atlantic30 (-) IAN HUNTER Ian Hunter, CBS

Disc-April 19, 1975 3

NEWS EDITOR: ROSALIND RUSSELL

24/34 Meymott St, London SE1 9LU.Tel: 01-261 8000Telex: 25137 BISPRESS.

SLADE-LASTTOUR?SLADE have announcedthat their forthcomingnationwide British tour willbe their last in this countryfor at least two years. Theband are to concentrate onthe American market. Thenext album release from theband will be a "live" record-ing from the tour, whichstarts in Bournemouth nextweek.

Chas Chandler, Slade'smanager, told Disc that theband made the decision to

NewsExtra

Robert Wyatt's new album"Ruth Is Stranger Than Ri-chard" is released by Virginon May 25.

On the record Wyatt(vocals, keyboards, percus-sion) is accompanied by BillMacCormick (bass), LaurieAllan (drums), Gary Windoand George Khan (saxo-phones) and Eno (assorteddevices).PILOT have a new albumcoming out on April 25. Titled"Second Flight", it's releasecoincides with the beginningof their British Tour startingat Newcastle City Hall on April27 ... NUCLEUS are to appearat London's Roundhouse onApril 24. This gig is to presentmaterial from their new album"Kaleidoscope of Rainbows"which is released on April 25.In October a newly formedNUCLEUS will start a Collegetour of Britain; details nearerthe time... LOVE and ARTHURLEE are back in Britain tostart another tour on May 3.This mini tour starts at South-ampton University (May 3),Bristol Colston Hall (4), StokeVictoria Hall (5), ManchesterFree Trade Hall (6), SheffieldCity Hall (12), LondonLyceum (15), Leeds TownHall (16), Leicester Universi-ty (17) ... JACK BRUCE andhis band - MICK TAYLOR,CARLA BLEY, RONNILEAHY and drummerBRUCE GARRY leave ourshores on April 20 to begin atour of Europe. They return atthe end of May and it is hopedthat they will perform somegigs in BritainGENESIS have a new singlebeing released on Friday,April 18. It is a re -mixed ver-sion of The Carpet Crawlers,which is on their double album"The Lamb Lies Down OnBroadway". It is backed with alive recording of The WaitingRoom, made in the States dur-ing their last tour

cut appearances in Britainbecause they had beenworking so much here. "Wehave got to get work doneoutside the country," hesaid. A lot more work is alsoto be put into recording.

The time during the ab-sence from home will be

NSTO ES WOODY JOINS FORSTONES U.S. TOUR

FACES guitarist Ronnie Wood will join the Rolling Stonesfor a tour of North and South America. Sources close to bothbands stressed that the situation is not regarded as per-manent at this time. The official statement issued on behalfof the Rolling Stones, read: It was confirmed today by MickJagger that Ronnie Wood of the Faces is joining the RollingStones for a forthcoming tour of North and South America.At the moment, he is not joining on a permanent basis.

A spokesman for the Facesalso denied that Wood was to bethe long sought replacement forMick Taylor, who left theStones in December. "Ronnie isnot joining them permanently.All members of the Faces wereinvolved on solo projects and itjust so happened that Ronniewas free at the time and would

enjoy playing with the Stones.The Faces have a U.S. tourcoming in the autumn and a UKtour near the end of the year."

Keith Richard, of the Stones,was recently involved withRonnie Wood's solo concerts atLondon's Kilburn StateTheatre.

spent trying to break theAmerican market. In themeantime, Slade fans willhave to be content withrecords. "It's silly to thinkthat we are deserting ourfans here," Chandler added."Every band has to concen-trate on other markets."

TWO MORE

ZEP SHOWSLED ZEPPELIN are to playtwo more dates at London'sEarls Court. The dates, May17 and 18, have been set upbecause of the great demandfor tickets for the May23/24/25 gigs. The postalticket demand for the firstarranged gigs stood at 3-10efor every ticket availablethere were threeapplications).

The promoters Mel Bushand Peter Grant felt that itwas necessary to stage theextra gigs so that as manyfans as possible could see theband, who are now reckonedto be the biggest in stature inthe wf_Tld.

All the ticket applicationsthat were not accepted lasttime had been sent back.Therefore applications arerequested in the same way asbefore.

This means that an audi-

GLITTER GIGGARY GLITTER joined theGlitter Band on stage at LeasCliff Hall, Folkestone, on Sun-day night to sing one number, I'mA Wanderer. Gary's surpriseappearance was his answer torumours that he was splittingcompletely from his band.

HEEP SOLO L.P.DAVID BYROM, lead singerwith Uriah Heep, is about tostart recording a solo album.Tentatively titled, "Take No Pri-soners", the album is set for latesummer release on the Bronzelabel.

ence of approximately 85,000will see the group. Therewill probably be complaintsover this latest developmentas the band will not beplaying any venues otherthan London

DEATH STRIKES

ROLLERS SHOWA MANCHESTER Police sergeant died last Wednesday(9th) during a rush by Bay City Roller fans outside GranadaTelevision studios, where the BCR's were undertakingrecording of their "Shang -A -Lang" TV programme.

WALSH FORWEMBLEY

As reported exclusively in DISCtwo weeks back Elton John isappearing at Wembley on June21. Two more acts have beenbooked for the gig. They areRufus and Joe Walsh. Thisbrings the number of supportbands to five.

Tickets are not available yetbut details will be publishedsoon.

SIMONDS FOR

ONDON SHOW

The Osmonds are set for two appearances at London's EarlsCourt Exhibition Hall in May. The dates are May 28/29 andthe shows begin at 7pm.

Postal, ticket applications dressed envelope and postedmay now be sent, but the to: Osmonds Booking Office,box-office itself will open on Earls Court. ExhibitionMay 3. Ticket prices are Building, Warwick Road,£2.50, £2.00, £1.50 and £1.00. London SW5.Applications should be sent For security reasons an yby cheque or postal order, one under 14 must be ac -including a stamped ad- companied by an adult.

Police sergeant Dennis Wil-liams, aged 40, attempted toprevent fans from rushing apolice van leaving a side en-trance, and suffered a fatal he-art attack during the scuffle.The van was taking the show'sguest star, Cliff Richard, out ofthe studios and not the Rollersas fans suspected.

"The boys were still inside,"said a spokesman for theRollers, "The policeman triedto hold the kids back and suf-fered the attack. He also felland cut his head, but this wouldnot have caused his death."

Rumours that the officer wasattacked or hit by the vehiclewere discounted. ManchesterCity Police issued a statementfollowing the post-mortem,which confirmed the cause ofdeath being due to heart attack.

It is reported that the Rollershave offered to aid the deadpoliceman's family by holding abenefit concert. Sergeant Wil-liams leaves a wife and twodaughters.

SPLINTER SPLIT

TO U.S.SPLINTER left for the Statesthis week to record their secondalbum with George Harrison.Apart from producing, it is ex-pected that Harrison will oncemore play on the album.

The new album should be outby late summer. Five weeks willbe spent in the studio. Amongthe musicians taking part in thesessions will be Jim Keltner,Willie Weeks and Billy Preston.

THREE DEGREES

MINI -TOURThree Degrees return to Britainon April 7 to start a mini -tour.The dates are: London, Ham-mersmith Odeon (April 25),Dunstable, California Ballroom(26), Southport Theatre (27),Manchester Broadway Club(May 4-10), Sheffield, ClubFiesta (11-24), Stockton, ClubFiesta (25-31), London, AlbertHall ( june 11), Liverpool,Shakespeare Club (15-21),Southend, Talk Of The Town(22-28), and Eastbourne, KingsCountry Club (29).

BARRYWHITECONCERTSBarry White is to come to- Bri-tain to appear at two gigs. Theyare: London, Royal Albert Hall,May 12 and Manchester BelleVue, May 13. These two datesare the only ones that are plan-ned at the moment, apparentlydue to the prohibitive costs ofhim bringing his approximately60 strong entourage. This bandof musicians and assistants in-cludes his 45 piece orchestra andthe Love Unlimited girl vocaltroupe.

The price of tickets for bothconcerts is £6, £4, £3, £2 and £1.The box-office at both theatresare open now.

with Beverley Legge

FOR all you soul fans out there, why not tune into RadioLondon (206 metres) on Saturday 19 and every Satur-

day after that as Robbie Vincent will be having an hour ofsoul on his programme, from 1 pm to 2 pm. Whilst we're withRadio London you can't miss the programme on Tuesday,April 22, at 11 am as one of the staff of DISC will be talkingabout life as a "high-powered Rock journalist" - heavy stuff.

Saturday Scene, (1TV 9.45 am, April 19) features Cliff Ri-chard and The Lone Ranger with Tonto. In the afternoon ofthe same day is another of the successful "Saturday SceneRoadshows" from the Wimbledon Theatre with some specialsurprise guests.

Ann Murray "In Concert" on April 19 features of courseAnne Murray. This Canadian pop star who has her own dis-tinctive smooth style will also be appearing on The GlenCampbell Music Show in the near future, Glenn's guest onthe first show is Jim Webb, who composed many of his hitslike Galveston and Wichita Linesman. (BBC 2, April 20.)

," 0 9, t1


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flEU'S 2E -LT ELLO AGAIN! Well last week I dutifully kjZ reported an account of a press-up competi-

% tion which took place at Heathrow Airportbetween Rob Davies, who was acting as Mud's

1representative and Harvey Ellison, who waspressing up for the Glitter Band.

6 Faithful readers will remember that Rob claimed an easy0 win. Well, folks, the war is on! When I mentioned this to the\ Glitter Band after we'd done the show on Saturday, Harvey,

with a look of amazement on his face said: "He didn't tell you4 that - not actually on the show?!" to which Pete added:

"Harvey can easily beat Rob; in fact, Harvey would win evenif he was only doing press-ups on one hand!"

I must tell you here and now, just in case you were in any doubt,0 that Mud and The Glitter Band are extremely good friends. Harvey went on to suggest: "Look why not arrange a competition between us

on Saturday Scene and then you can judge for yourself." Now that6 idea really appeals to me - I've got to find out who's telling the truth!O Any more developments on this matter I shall report to you immediately!!

But back to the show, which wasn't exactly without problems; infact, it was without The Glitter Band for half of it! The boys had got

O delayed so I did the first two spots on my own, and took the opportunity to read out some extra requests. During this time we'd

managed to contact Stephanie de Sykes and persuaded her to comeik over and see us. Having explained the situation to Stephanie I askedk her if she'd ever had any similar experiences.

She told me that one incident she remembered very well was whenshe was supposed to hand out Christmas pudding and do an interviewon Tony Blackburn's show; not having met him before Stephanie was

eager to make a good impression. However she got stuck in heavytraffic - thus causing her to be late; and to make matters worse when

Ilk she switched on the radio all she could hear was Tony Blackburnannouncing that his special guest Stephanie de Sykes should be ar-

O riving in a minute.O Poor Stephanie, knowing there wasn't a hope in heaven of arriving

on time burst into tears, but a policeman, obviously eager to rescue alk damsel in distress, went over to her, calmed her down, and very

kindly offered to ring Tony for her to confirm that she was on her

2

watyreally sympathised with Stephanie over that; there's nothingmore frustrating than being delayed through no fault of your own,and having no power to do anything about it.

Actually Stephanie and I had met the day before at a reception, but I don't want to give away any secrets about that as you'll be reading 14

the full story in Disc soon! I don't know - all these secrets rm sup-posed to keep! People have been ringing me up all week, asking me k

who's appearing on our Roadshow this week, but once again I have toO stay silent. What I will tell you, though, is that the person this

aforementioned reception was held for will be a guest. How's that for111 an obscure clue?!

114Now back to The Glitter Band. Unfortunately, Pete, Tony and

Harvey (that well known press-up champ!) didn't arrive in time toa pAr fetaerr otnh theer ht. oofwo seo aIpj outjust ehsa t ecdo teog Jr aothont oatne c(11 Gt eer r yo.

h b ys on yet an-% other hit record, and asked them if after such a lot of hits ( I've lost k

count just exactly how many) it was still as exciting. Gerry assured I me that every one was very thrilling and they still got as concerned asIN ever over each new record. Well, as the saying goes "It's tough get- lk

ting to the top, but it's even tougher staying there."The Glitter Band are in the middle of a British tour - hence their

I delay on Saturday. Last week I chatted to Mud about the advantagesand disadvantages of being on the road and Dave told me that some-times they have rather a lot of time to kill and nowhere else to kill it h,other than their hotel. He added that to pass the time they wereaccustomed to sitting down for three course meals, sometimes twice aday.

I asked John if this was something The Glitter Band did as well. Hetold me that they did indeed eat quite a lot ( I should think they'dneed to the amount of energy they must use up). Pete and Tony,apparently play cards and snooker to pass the time, and according toGerry he and John spend a lot of time sleeping. That just leaves 1Harvey who I presume is too busy practising his press-ups to think of 1111

anything else!Joking apart John and Gerry spend lots of time successfully writing

- in fact Gerry has been involved in writing Gary's next single "Log"Like You and Me" which is due for release on April 25, and yetanother hit from the Glitter stable, I presume.

Some of you may have seen Ronnie Laine on London Bridge on 111

Saturday. I wish you could all have been present at the conversationlater that day. He had a whole group of us in fits of laughter as he 1recounted the story of the birth of his son. Apparently he was very

worried about it all so he decided to read aloud to his wife while she was in labour to take his mind off it.

He chose to read "Rip Van Winkle" but was so nervous he couldn'tget any of the words out. Eventually, his wife said "Ronnie, for

goodness sake, give me the book," and then she read aloud to him! 1Ronnie said he couldn't possibly go through it again!

§r/41rAVAIAIM/41KIAVW''MadrAIPAKIP4

ARE TOURING BANDS IN BRITAIN

0 THRU

E ROAD

The time when the romantic image of touring was thelifeblood of every band has long past. Perhaps it was true inthe golden days of the glorious sixties but, as the grimseventies progress, the image has become little more than amyth.

Few groups nowadays, unless very much established, tourfor the love of being on the road. Young groups are out tomake whatever meagre earnings they can while, for recog-nised bands, the basic idea is though the tour itself may notyield a profit, the feedback in terms of album sales willmake up for the loss.

This is particularly true when have been on the road in thisone considers the bands that country recently: Cockney

Pilot - trying to break.

Slade - struggling.

irs HARRY

DOHERTY

INVESTIGATESRebel ("The Best Years Of OurLives"), 10CC ("The OriginalSoundtrack"), Hunter -Ronson("Ian Hunter") and so on.Bands preparing to tour sooninclude Pilot ("SecondFlight"), Slade ("Slade InFlame") and the Bay CityRollers ("Once Upon A Star").

Lesser known bands reallysuffer. On most occasions, es-tablished bands will sell outtours or, at least, have a readymade market to play to. Newbands haven't and fans won'trisk wasting money these days.

The days when a band earned thebulk of its money on stage havegone. Many artists complain thatthey lose by touring here. Costs arehigh. Competiton, or rivalry,between bands to win acclaim forputting on the best show, is keen, sothousands of pounds have to be putaside for lighting, sound equipmentand whatever other special featuresthey require.

The bigger a reputation is, themore dynamic the accompanyingstage set. And that costs an awful lotof money. Very few bands walk onstage now, plug in and play.Audiences want a show. Theydemand a spectacle.

The lucrative American market isgradually snatching our mostpromising discoveries. The Stateshave raced ahead of us. A few yearsago we were on level pegging, butthings across the water have pro-gressed way ahead of us. Britainstill produces quality bands, Amer-ica imports them. When bands canplay to audiences averaging 30,000,it's easy to see why patriotism isthrown out the window.

Tours here aren't as successful asthey used to be. In some cases, thiswould appear to be due to publicapathy, and to the economic reces-sion here. Very few tours are nowselling out in advance. It's taking alot to persuade fans to part withtheir money.

The recent Rak package tour is a

Cozy Powell

prime example. Three fairly wellknown bands - Suzi Quatro, CocrzyPowell's Hammer and Arrows -were presented. Ticket prices werereasonable yet the tour was whatcan only be described as a flop. Thepublic just wasn't interested. Mudwere another pop band who couldn'thave been pleased with turn -outs ontheir last tour.

Some pop bands have seen thatthere is a bit of security in thecabaret club circuit. People like Al-vin Stardust, whose ballroom andconcert appearances have beenrelatively unsuccessful, Mud,Showaddywaddy and the Hollies,have sought asylum in the safe ter-ritory of one -week stints.

Two relatively successful handsare Pilot and Slade. Both have hadbig hits and Pilot, in particular, arebeing tipped to do amazing things inthe future. Both are also preparingto commence tours.

At the moment it seems thatPilot's tour may not be the successpeople hoped it would be, despitethe fact that their last single, Jan-uary was a number one and the la-test, Call Mr Round, is heading inthe same direction. The problem isthat they are not yet established as a"live" band and have done nothingconcrete in the eyes of the punter.The result is that many are notwilling to risk a couple of quid on agig that they might not enjoy. Pilotmight be (and in my view, are) oneof the best bands around but theyhaven't proved it yet. It'll be inter-esting to see the tour results.

Slade, on the other hand, are adifferent kettle of fish. They arewell established but, quite frankly,are struggling in the presentclimate. Many gigs on their upcom-ing nationwide tour have not soldout, something that the band can'tpossibly be happy about and theyhave announced the tour will betheir last for at least two years(see page 3).

The tour opens at BournemouthWinter Gardens next week. The boxoffice there reported that "there areplenty of seats left." The gig at theband's home town in Wolverhamp-


1 Occ - plugging their album.

ton was one that should have soldout. It hasn't and many ticketsremain on the shelf. Seats are alsoavailable at important venues likeGlasgow Apollo and London's NewVictoria Theatre, where Slade playtwo gigs at each. Tickets are stillavailable for all shows.

This is not to say that the showswon't sell out. The trend is thatmany tickets have been selling inthe days approaching the perfor-mance and on the day itself, but thatis hardly a good excuse for a band ofSlade's calibre. They have beensurrounded by tons of publicityrecently, all of it concerning theirfilm "Flame". The interest causedby the film alone should have en-sured an instant sell-out tour. Ithasn't. The hand's last single, HowDoes It Feel, wasn't a big hit. All ofthis goes to indicate a serious decl-ine of interest in Slade. The overalltouring situation hasn't helped butit could be, as many critics havebeen forecasting for some time, thatthese heroes are on the way out.

In general, trends in touring arechanging with the ever -varyingeconomic situation. I spoke to fourpeople with different interests intours for their views: a toppromoter, a Corporation Entertain-ments' Manager, the manager of avenue and a university socialsecretary.

All were unanimous in theirviews that people now think twicebefore going to gigs. Punters are notso willing to part with money. A fewsaid that it was now harder to sellacts to fans and not many acts couldsell-out tours instantly.

John and Tony Smith and HarveyGoldsmith's organisation is one ofthe biggest in Britain. Recently,they were responsible for theHunter -Ronson tour and they, arenow preparing plans for the YesBritish tour which will include gigsat two football stadiums, Queen'sPark Rangers' Loftus Road groundin Shepherd's Bush and Stoke City'sground.

A spokesman talked about some

Suzi Quatro

of the problems of promoting con-certs at this time.

"We have found that ever sincelast year's three-day week, very fewtoms have been selling out. Over-night sensations like the Bay CityRollers will sell out in one day andbands like Yes and Genesis, who arewell established, will sell out. But alot of other bands are suffering.

"We're finding that kids areholding on to money. Door sales oftickets are becoming bigger andbigger. Eighteen months ago, you'dbe lucky to take £100 at a door. Nowit's commonplace to lift £600 or17011

"Because of this change, we'vehad to attack the market in differ-ent ways. It's no good now just put-ting advertisements in musicpapers. We have to go for regionalpromotion, 'run local competitionsthrough local radio stations andnewspapers. There is a lot of co-or-dination now that promoters neverhad to go through before. We haveto make sure that we keep in touchwith university social sees and keepchannelling them information tokeep interest alive.

"The state of the business is thatthe country doesn't have any moneyso the kids don't have any money.We've got to be very careful nowwhere we put bands. Frankly, themarkets have to be safe. We have tomake sure that we do a more con-centrated promotion job than everbefore.

"It takes much more to sell a showto the public than it ever has and theprofits are less, all the hall expenseskeep going up. Groups have higherexpenses. It costs a lot more toadvertise.

"During any depression, enter-tainment will survive. The peoplewho are suffering are the first timearound bands. Young bands who arejust building up their following,who have been trying to do that forsome time. Business for them isdropping.

"Although I think that pop willalways do well, it's hard to say what

Harley - doing fine.

the demand on the road is for it. TheSuzi Quatro tour is a classic exam -a.ple. As much as I think pop is astrong force, there are about fiveacts in the top ten that couldn't sella hundred seats in London. It's thesame with reggae.

"The position with a kid is that hehas £2 in his pocket. There are fourconcerts he can go to. Maybe one ofthose is a good American act. He'llthink 'can I see that band here inthe next year?' If he can't, he'll takethe chance to see them now.

"Punters are a lot more selectivenow than they've ever been. They'reholding on to their money and notall of them are being satisfied.When they are not satisfied, theycomplain.

"A lot of bands tour now to sell arecord. If they're lucky, the tourmight break even. Emerson, Lakeand Palmer feel strongly abouttheir fans and give a spectacularevent. Then everybody goes out andbuys their albums. Bands today tourfor a purpose. The release of an al-bum has to tie in with a tour. Yesare another example. If they aregoing to go out and do a tour beforetheir album comes out, nobody willknow what they are playing. So theyrelease the album and the kidsknow what they are playing. Groupsthat just do 'live' gigs withoutrecords don't always give value formoney."

Promoters take a lot more care inpreparations for tours. The organi-sation we talked to conducts surveysfrequently in an effort to assesswhat demands are. The fans are themost important people of all,especially today.

"There always will be bands whowon't make it on tours. Everythingcomes out in the wash on a tour. Ifthe public wants it, they'll go andsee an act. If they don't, they justwon't bother."

Bob Brunce is the Entertain-ments' Manager at Gravesend Cor-poration. The gig there can be de-scribed best as a second divisionvenue, never really getting the bigacts but every so often they'll havesomething big to sell out. But theydepend on the younger bands whoare on the way up. Bruce caters forquite a tiny community but eventhere, kids are ensuring that moneyisn't wasted.

"About a year ago, kids aroundhere would have come along to seeanybody," he said. "It didn't matterto them as long as they got out forthe night but now they are not quiteso prepared to see just anybody.They pay money to see the rightproduct. If they don't like the band,they won't bother. Once they'd havecome to see anybody just becausethey liked the place here. Now theythink about what they are doing."

The change in attitude of the kidshas given them a bigger say in whatgoes on. Mr Bruce now consultsthem about what bands they wantand it works. That system wouldhardly work on a large scale,though.

Mr H. Morris has been manager ofBirmingham Civic Hall for manyyears. He's seen a lot of changes. Hefeels that fans now expect a muchhigher standard from bands than atany stage in the past. But he alsofeels that a lot of bands are reachingthat standard.

"Bands are definitely makingevery effort to put on better shows,"he told me. "There is a very greattendancy towards providing extragimmicks for audiences and it'ssomething that I think should beapplauded. The result is that nameacts are taking better moneybecause people are prepared to paymore to see them. But it's down the

street to new people who are enter-ing the s^ene. They are definitelycatching the cold end of it."

He also noticed what he called"the terrible trend" in recentmonths of people not buying ad-vance tickets. This could have beenpartially due to the Birminghambombs, but he found that it was ageneral thing. People preferred tobuy tickets in the last 48 -hourswhereas before there used to besteady flow of advance sales.

Universities have always been agood market for bands and, appar-ently, will continue to be. The un-iversities with large capacity hallsare moving more and more in on thebig fish. Big acts are starting to playuniversities again. But there arestill colleges that must stay contentwith the small fry.

Terry Coles is social sec at ExeterUniversity, one of the biggest un-iversities in Britain, with a concerthall capacity of 2,000. They are

Genesis and Yes - safe bets.

lucky in that they have no townvenue to compete with and rely a loton the local population to boost theticket sales. Most universitieshaven't got this valuable addedbonus.

Universities would appear not tobe feeling the economic pinch. Lastyear, at this time, ticket salesdropped for gigs. This year it hasgone in the opposite direction. Rea-son is that grants have increased sothere is more money available.

Exeter gigs operate on a self-helpbasis, where many other universi-ties rely on a subsidy scheme. It's alla matter of balance and, to date, ithas worked well. They have alsomanaged to keep prices down to alow point - the average admissionprice is about £1, compared to the£1.50.42 range in the theatres. AndExeter has managed this with bandslike 10CC, Hunter -Ronson etc. Anall-time low of 50 pence was chargedfor John Entwistle's Ox.

So, it looks like it's back to watching TV.

"Over the last year," Coles said,"we've sold out seven times out often. The response has been reallygood. But then Exeter is in themiddle of a few big towns likePlymouth and Taunton. I hope weappear to promote as any profes-sional promoter would promote."

So the universities circuit looks asafe area for bands to play. But big-ger bands need bigger venues andmore money. Ticket prices havestayed fairly static in Britain butthey are double in the States. All ofwhich makes it the place to be.

Until the economic situationeases, no band can afford to relax.New bands are going to find it hardfor a few years. But one good thinghas come out of it all - the public isparticular about what it wants andis starting to get its way. That aloneis bound to keep our stars on theirtoes.

HARRY DOHERTY


Have You Never BeenMellow-

Olivia Newton John's new album,produced by John Farrar of the Shadows,brings together 12 beautiful songs by suchwriters as John Denver, Rick Nelson,Albert Hammond, John Farrar,

Hank Marvin and Bmce Welch.The title track, "Have You Never Been

Mellow," is Olivia's latest single on EMI 2271-already a No.1 smash hit in the USA.Olivia has never been mellower. Available on Tape

EMI Records Limited, 20, Manchester Square, London W1A 1 ES


THE AMBITIONS OF ALICE

I'LL TAKE PRESIDENT FORD

FOR A FEW

DUCKS 1 I T

THERE are,two sorts of people who live in America. Those who can bedescribed as sane and those who like living in Detroit. Alice Cooper

definitely belongs to the sane category. At the age of seven he and his familymoved out to seek safer territory.

Despite this early exodus,Alice still retains an enor-mous amount of respect forhis birthplace, which is nodoubt one of the reasons heenjoys returning every so of-ten to play a gig there,

Last Saturday he and SuziQuatro. another ex -Detroitcitizen turned up at the localhockey stadium and playedto 16,000 or so of theirformer neighbours. Needlessto say both acts were greetedwith unrestrained hysteria.

After the gig in his hotelroom, Alice had this to say

"Detroit is the home ofrock 'n roll. It's the best

_audience in the world, that'swhy I like playing here somuch. No other town ap-preciates rock like they do "

However attractive Detroitmay seem to a rock musician,there are plenty of reasonswhy non -musicians shouldwant to leave as quickly aspossible. Right now unem-ployment is massive whilethe murder rate continues tobe terrifyingly high. If youwanna survive in Motown,you double lock your doors atnight bar all vvindoNAos andnever, never walk the streetsafter dusk.

In view of this. Alice sdeparture from the city to therelative tranquility of theWest Coast is perfectlyunderstandable

"I was born out here but itgot a little boring after awhile so we moved awayfrom the area, Life is mucheasier in Los Angeles."

Alice's attitude to theviolence in Detroit is one ofcasual acceptance. He's wellaware of the city's highhomicide rate but he doesn'tlet it worry him,

"As long as I canremember Detroit has alwaysbeen like this, If you livehere, that's the price youmust pay

Without doubt Detroit isthe breeding ground for somepretty rugged individuals.Over the years it's producedit's share of both criminalsand celebrities. Alice believesthat it also produced a veryspecial type of rock listener

"They're all connosieurs.They've seen everything andeverybody in the world TheDetroit audience is a toughaudience, very much like theScottish audience, they'reboth very high key. Alicebelieves that he has firmlyestablished his reputation,even with these toughaudiences "When Alice

comes to town they know thecircus has come. It's morethan a concert for them, it'san event. They know they'regoing to see this enormousexplosion on stage

It's always easy for an ar-tist to come out with suchgrandiose descriptions of hisperformance on stage How-ever, in Alice's case the de-scription is totally justifiable,Those who have seen hisearlier shows reckon the newproduction is somewhat lessgory than usual But no mat-ter what the critics mightsay. Welcome To MyNightmare'' is a masterpieceof visual rock Once againCooper has shown himself tobe rock n roll's most ef-ficient theatrician His talentfor being tastefully tastelessis impressive. Whether he isdancing round his owngravestone decapitating a10ft monster or simply sing -

Alice at Showtime; that's nobutter knife he's got there . .

ing a lovesong to a corpse,our Alice has lost none of hisold charm.

Inevitably when you buildyour stage act around suchhorrific activities you findyourself the victim of nastyrumours The (fourth) ideathat Alice kills chickens onstage has been with him forsome time. Recently he ac-quired a new rumour, namelyskinning cats alive. Onceagain this idea is false,nevertheless, it will doubt-lessly pursue him to the end

of his days. Sometimes,however, the rumours areless horrific. "The other day Iheard I was really CaptainKangaroo's son

Who is Captain Kangaroo?

"He is a new American idol.He's got a kiddies show inthe morning which I watchevery day. I think people willbelieve what they want to,and obviously a lot of peoplewant me to be this guy." Butwould Alice want to be Cap-tain Kangaroo's son? "No,not at all." Plain Detroit cityis all very well, but far moreimportant is when does heintend bringing his new showto Britain

"I would like to play Eng-land in the summer so we canplay an outdoor concert. Theindoor dates in England arejust too small. I would like toget 30-40.000 people insomething like a footballground because then you canwork with much more ambi-tious things like fireworks

and camels, and ele-phants, we'll bring a zoo intothe show. It would be thebest thing you'd ever seen."If for some reason you missthis concert, there's oneother way of catching aglimpse of Alice performinghis new album

Last week he just finishedputting touches to a TVspecial based upon ''Wel-come To My Nightmare"Although the show won'tfollow the same format of the"live" act, it will contain thesame songs and feature theubiquitous Vincent Price, Atthis stage it's impossible tosay exactly when we will beseeing this unique pro-gramme. Like most popstars,Alice has realised virtually allhis wildest dreams, A stringof hits a lot of beer an inter-nxtional reputation and bankaccount to match. However,there remains one furtherambition for him. "I really dowant to play golf with Pre-sident Ford and take him fora couple of bucks. I am sure Icould beat him. I think I

would have him pyschedfrom the beginning."

But if you think that meansAlice is into politics, youcannot be more mistaken. "Iam very interested in enter-taining. I can't really get intopolitics, It's not my area, I'man entertainer. My wholepurpose is to entertain, I

have no message at all."

lio


REVIEWED BY

LON GODDARD

Eric Clap ton

ERIC CLAPTONSwing Low Sweet Chariot (RSO2090 158).Definitely the single of theweek, and as the only real gemon the new LP "There's One InEvery Crowd", a wise choice.Beautiful spiritual touch to theangelic background vocals,softly colouring a velvet reggaerhythm that waves along, carry-ing you through with simple mas-tery. Clapton reduces his leadguitar to nil, sings close to themike, and strings it all togetherwith a stacatto organ that isalmost not there at all. Insteadof a middle eight,Yvonne Elliman does a femalevocal in the centre. Absolutelysuperb in every respect. Got tobe number one.

FLUDDBrother And Me (Polydor 2058544).This guy's voice is full of realcharacter, a few bits of dust andmaybe some gadgets he swal-lowed as a kid. The rest of theband provide finely blendedharmonies to a beautiful littleproduction. The accent borders

on calypso at times, but changesenough to save the day. Thesound is spot on and the lyricfits well. The Pilling Brothers,Edmund and Brian, are thebrains it seems, and their his-tory goes back to pre -Led Zep-pelin. This kind of delayedboogie is very classy; perhapstoo classy, but this really de-serves a break, because it hasindividuality and zest.

ABBAI Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do (EpicEPC 3229).Maybe they have a stutteringproblem - their career in Bri-tain certainly does. No, it isn't a

Abbe

really anxious couple gettingmarried and it isn't any kind ofnaughty admission. Its closer toBilly Vaughn doing Sail AlongSilv'ry Moon than anything else.Very pretty sax/clarinet sounds

(' ANC'(

PAPER THE SINGLE-MINDED MUSICgive it's middle of the roadflavour an Hawaiian overtone.You could waltz to it, listen to it,but if you were busy twiddlingyour thumbs, would you pay at-tention to it? Strongest sinceWaterloo, but won't win anycontests.

HELEN SHAPIROYou're A Love Child (DJM DJ3363).Love Child? Ooh, pretty risque.One of the early sixties legendsreturns again with a pretty, but

Helen Shapirosickly little message from mumto toddler about how daddywasn't official. Wouldn't wringemotion from a piping hot dish-rag. Should've used the tune forsomething less and told the kidstraight. Maybe the Womblescould have delivered it better(sorry Mike - didn't mean it).

BILL & COO Smoochie (Brad-ley's BRAD 7513)A demented upper-class accent-ed twit (presumably Bill) chants'Smoocheh, smoocheh, night anddeh' and 'togethah' in the back,while some awfleh drab youngladeh churns out a similar,slightly more tuneful yawn outfront. Not only wouldn't thissteam up the windows in yourMorris Minor, but you'd have tostop for Montezuma's Revenge ifsome retarded DJ occasioned tospin it. The garbagy gag ap-proach deserves an arch pox onthe writer and a physical gag onthe singers. Has the dustbinsewn up.

ALAN PRICEMama Divine Polydor 2442133).Oops! Thought it was GeorgeHarrison, but no - the backingis much tighter and a whole lotcleverer than he ever was as asolo performer. This rocks alongat a vigorous pace, broken by

Alan Pricethe occasional synthesizer andfeatures Price's strictly disci-plined style - you can bet heworks the musicians hard, butto good effect. Has the neces-sary excitement, but lacks ahook. Real cleanliness probablywon't make up for that.

BUDDYRock Around the Rock (Beeb004).Pretty ordinary pop ruffagefrom the BBC's label. "Theheaviest marketing campaignever mounted by BBC Recordsand Tapes," says the handout.Whoops! It's not poor, but suchfodder won't fool anybody. Ittakes a bit more to get into theKenny/BCRs club.

KEN BOOTHELady With The Star Light (Tor-pedo TOR 35).

Boy can those reggae menplay flat when they want to. Thewierd thing is that it fits,though. No more Bread mater-ial for Ken if he can come upwith irresistable relaxed tuneslike this. A strong chorus line,

Ken Booth

cute melody and easy Jamaicandance beat. Might sound like itwas recorded in a tube tunnel,but you can't do this stuff at theRitz, can you? Provided peoplearen't passed the slight reggaeboom, this will get places. Toobad it's Roll Out Those LazyDays of Summer re -done.

JOHNNY BRISTOLLeave My World ( MGM 2006505).Smart soul stuff from a man ofmany talents. If he yawned, hecould sound like Barry White,but it's fine left in his highervocal register. Much harmony,funky rhythm aided by brassand a sax solo. Bristol sounds like

Johnny Bristol

he's paid studio dues and knowshow to construct very attractivematerial. but it's ballroom gearwhen you match it againstsomething like the O'jays. Awriter, producer and singer,Bristol's got just about every-thing to offer the charts.

JOHN KONGOSRide The Lightning (Cube BUG58).Lennon -like voice and mandolinmake an interesting combina-tion, which might do a McGuin-ness -Flint (remembei WhenI'm Dead and Gone?) on thecharts. Heavy percussion and a

John Kongos

slight T. Rex quality pound intoa good build. Later, it becomesfrenetic and the screaming

starts. Sounds like a good timewas had in the old town thatnight. Kongos looks like adropout Robert Mitchum in thenew publicity photos. Never geta job in a war movie looking likethat, my boy.

BO DONALDSONThe House On Telegraph Ifill(ABC 4049)This is the U.S. band with therevitalised surfer look, thatnicked the automatic hit poten-tial of the BCRs' songs - andhad big American hits withthem. They're just so swell andthey look so absolutely wonder-ful and sing fabulously nasalthat if this gets out of hand, itcould plug up the charts badlyfor awhile. You've heard itbefore.

HELEN REDDYI Am A Woman (Capitol 15815).I think she's been trying to con-vey this point for considerabletime, now - good for her, she'scome out and said it Not thatthere was ever any questionphysically; just overtones in MsReddy's songs radiating a strongfeminist promotion. Now she

Helen Reddy

says she's invincible in this un-memorable tune. I think shewill find buyers able to with-stand its invitation to fork outhalf a quid. Fall back andre -group.

CAROL DOUGLASA Hurricane Is Coming Tonight(RCA 2543).Powerful better attempts femaleShaft effort. Not fanciable, butnot a torture. Isaac Hayes won'tsweat.

PETULA CLARKI Am Your Song (Polydor 2058560).Pretty tune in best Pet Clark fa-shion. Stands as good a chance asthe follow-up, but she must becrowded by grandchildrenrequesting money for guitarsthese days.

GLEN CAMPBELLRoll Me Easy (Capitol CL15814).Super -polished Arizona rockwithout the cactus. By the timehe gets to Phoenix, he'll havemade a whole bunch of these toflog.

CHICAGOHarry Truman (CBS 3103).Micky -take on late ex -presidentof the USA, with Beach Boysharmonies and '20s touches. Notso clever, boys - leave it on theLP.

GERRY MARSDENYour Song (DJM DJS 362).Gak! Gerry's dipped Elton's songin the Mersey and, surprise, it'scome out all wet.

JUNIOR & THE COOL NOTESCurly Locks (Torpedo TOR 36).Boy changes hairstyle to dread-locks (Rasta), neighbour's dadremoves pal from vacinity.Tragic.

GALLERYI Believe In Music (Sussex SICIE8-A).Catchy Mac Davis tunemurdered.

AN MURRAYDream Lover (Capitol CL15813).Interesting reggae version ofBobby Darin's '60s hit sung byan excellent voice. The strangeoff -beat defies the highschoollyric most of the time, then

Anne Murray

reverts to normality for bits andpieces. Admirable attempt at asimple number and commenda-ble approach to changing it Theeffect, however, isn't quite in-teresting enough. Tough luckAnnie - maybe next time.

POINTER SISTERSLove Your Life Before You Die(ABC 4048).Wow! The first country/wes-tern soul record, complete withsteel guitar and a Red RiverValley approach to the melody.The concept is so bizarre, TexRitter and Otis Redding areprobably squirming in theirgraves. Still, the effect is plea-sant, because they do it so well.If the sisters make it to theCountry Hall Of Fame, I'll eatmy 10 gallon hat

TURTLESShe'd Rather Be With Me(Philips 6078426).Re-release from defunct '60sband featuring Howard Kalanand Mark Volman (Flo and Ed-die). Still strong, but not strongenough to do it twice_

COMMANDER CODY & HISLOST PLANET AIRMENDon't Let Go (Warner Bros K16535).Good sound on speedy jive fromgeneral camp group specialisingin updated G&W/pop mixture.Commander enjoys himself.

TOWER OF POWERIt's Not The Crime (WarnerBros K 16543).Fair disco rave about criminalsexual act (the Beeb will love it)and getting caught Tight soulnumber that's completely safe ifyou start in the middle, after thenaughty suggestion.

BUGNITI & MUSKERAU Made Up (Epic EPC 3182).Clever vocal harmony excercisein S&G/CSN&Y tradition. Ma-turity is coming, but it's stillpimply. Duo that may survive(but those names

RIMSHOTSWho's Got The Monster (AllPlatinum 6146303).Very powerful soul instrumen-tal which may just be what thedoctor ordered for the time of theyear. Great beat, good electroniceffects - will necessitate mus-cular spasms.

BLUE GOOSELoretta (Anchor ANC 1015).Band will have a hit if they keep-this standard up - but this isn'tit. Coarse vocals, weighty fuzzguitar, active rhythm, tea, nosugar.

TAMMY JONESLet Me Try Again (Epic EPC3211).Big, blustering ballad with Eu-rovision-esque appeal. Come tothink of it, this beats the onesentered and it still isn't much.

THE ARZENBOYSBump On My Head (Part One)(DJM DJS 370).Tremendous sound, greatrecord. Could carry the Bump abit further. Light soul flavourwith gag effects_ Definitely abum record with big chances.


,pHA/LENNON

From Hamburg to New York Citywith his latest single Stand By Me R6005

from the album Rock 'n' Roll PCS 7169,

to Walls & Bridges PCTC 253 which is now%ac e charts again. ...

.41John Lennon! .:: : :. :See him in an Old Grey Whistle Test :Special on Friday April 18th when he will :be interviewed and will perform his new single.

:Both albums are available on cassette & cartridge. .;...1

,table re,,,rdsMarketed by EMI Records


RAK

RAK 201

FROM THEIR FORTHCOMING ALBUM O''MUD ROCK Vol 2'

EMI Records Limited, 20, Manchester Square, London 1N1 A 1 ES.


RICK GETS HISSKATES ON

FOR ARTHURSHO"I CAN imagine what you thought: 'Hello, he's

cracked up at last.' Doing a show on ice: can youjust picture me on skates? Why I can't even stand onmy own two flat feet half the time."

Rick Wakeman, Just trying toenvisage people's thoughts very ill, even worse than he atwhen they found out that his the time realised.latest epic "The Myths and "Suddenly on the day of theLegends of King Arthur and his concert I felt really ill - I justKnights of the Round Table" couldn't move. The doctorwas to be staged on ice at wanted to cart me off to the ho -Wembley's Empire Pool. spital then and there, but I said

"As always when these stories 'Arseholes, I've got a concert tofirst get out it got all twisted and do this afternoon.' So he gaveturned. I'm not going to be on me some jabs of pain killer and Iice - you must be joking! Nor went through the whole thingare any of the musicians, or the completely numb: I couldn'tchoir or any of the other musical feel a bloody thing. "Even -performers. tually that wore off and I

"The idea started because it's thought I was okay. Then onevery difficult to sustain an day the next week I had called aaudience's interest and atten- band meeting when suddenly Ition throughout a three-hour had this terrible pain: it was the

worst thing I've ever exper-ienced in my life and I hope Inever feel it again.

"I managed to stagger up-stairs and after a while my oldlady came up looking for me.She'd just about had enough ofmy Wing ill and refusing to doanything about it, and wantedme to come down because theband had arrived. All I couldsay was 'get the f ming doctor- and in the end she did.

"When he came he gave methis injection and suddenly Ifelt much better. I was justabout to get up when in camethese two guys with a stretcher.I was real mad 'cos I felt greatby then. I kept saying 'I canwalk down the stairs' but theyweren't having any.

"Eventually they got me tothe hospital and suddenly I hadthe most dreadful shock when Isaw the sign over the room theywheeled me into. It read Car-diac Arrest Unit. I've neverbeen so scared in my life: I justkept thinking 'I've got someth-ing wrong with me tick tock.' Ireally thought I'd had it.

"They kept me there for ages,just laying in bed not allowed tomove. I couldn't even get up tohave a shit, or comb me ownhair."

"Golly, what a wizzard pint." Yeolde Rick takes a slurp.

show if all they've got to look atis a bunch of musicians. So tohelp the show out a bit I thoughtit could be rather nice if we dida proper ice ballet with worldchampions doing the dancing. Itwon't be all the way through,but I thought if small parts of itwere illustrated in that way itcould be rather beautiful."

So that's what will happen -and only those who know whichis the right way up for a pair ofskates will actually be on the ice.Once the whole concept hasbeen tried out there are plans totake the show abroad: althoughit's not yet certain exactly whenand where, or how much will beon ice. At the moment here iswhat Rick sees happening.

"After Wembley we'll take itto Europe for a couple of con-certs probably with one in Ger-many. Then in August we'regoing to America to do three orfour shows. I also want to goback and do it at Christmas onice in the States - probably atsomewhere like the CarnegieHall in New York."

Rick has already been all overthe world with his "Journey ToThe Centre of the Earth"production, but the perfor-mances of this work are not li-kely to be so numerous. Notbecause the work won't stand it,but because there's a possibilityRick might not.

Around the time of Rick'sperformance of "Journey" atCrystal Palace last year he was

/ WELLALMOST

BY ROSEMARY HOME

Rick did survive that terribleperiod, but it will have a lastingeffect.

"The doc said I wasn't to tourany more, but in the end theylet me go to America as long as Itook it easy, went for regularcheck ups, and only did a coupleof concerts a week. FortunatelyI was all right.

"My days of three-monthtours with a gig each night areover. In future I'll just do a fewgigs and the rest will have to bedone with films, television andso on."

Does that mean we may see afilm of "Arthur"?

"Well, unfortunately, severalhave already been made. I saw'Camelot' which was all rightbut a bit too long, and I'm look-ing forward to seeing MontyPython's 'Search For the HolyGrail' - which should be quite alaugh. But I would really like todo a film at some stage: I've hada couple of offers but we're justlooking at them at present."

Of course Rick has alreadyrecently been involved in onefilm: "Lisztomania" in which heworked with Ken Russell, andRoger Daltrey.

"I really like Roger - he'ssuch a nice guy. You know, Ithink Roger is the epitome ofwhat a superstar should be like.I never knew him in the earlydays, but I like to think hehasn't changed at all. AlthoughI've not known him for long I'dlike to be able to think of him asa good friend.

"Talking about the film, wellI'm not really allowed to saymuch. But I think I can say,without fear of contradiction,that it could be the film to giveMary Whitehouse her firstcoronary!

"As for Ken Russell, I thinkhe's great. Do you know, I endedup with a part in the film as theGod Of Thor where I got sent

along to the wardrobe depart-ment and was sprayed fromhead to foot with silver paint. Itwas supposed to wash out butI'm still finding bits of it all overme.

"That's an amazing talent hehas you know. I'm sure if he'dasked me to swing from theceiling I would have done it -yet there's no way I would haveever done what I did for anyoneelse. I thing Roger wouldprobably tell you the same.

"There's one more thing I cansay, and that is that when itcomes out (probably aroundOctober) I think it's going to bea great film. What's more Ibelieve that, even more than`Tommy,' it will be the one toestablish Roger Daltrey as a topline film star."

In the meantime, Rick iswatching with some interest theprogress of his "soundtrack" al-bum in the charts.

"I am very pleased with theway it finally turned out. It haseverything I wanted to see in it,plus a lot more that the otherpeople have given it. I am sureeverything will be good for theshow too: I got very keyed upbefore the premiere of "Jour-ney," but these days I havelearned my lesson. I don't insiston doing everything myself, andhave passed on a lot of theproblems and worries to otherpeople.

"They still don't know quitewhat's wrong with me, and Iknow I must take it easy fromnow on, but I don't think it'llever be so bad again. With thisshow I feel I'll be much morerelaxed. After all, I honestlybelieve you're only ill if you al-low yourself to be."

Good luck anyway Rick. Andwhatever happens it seems sureyou've got a hit on your hands -even if it's not you wearing theskates.

Wakeman - plus a few medieval Hell's Angels along for the ride. (Spot the mystery guestll)

I AM moved to hear that the modern Britishmilitary are spending less time shooting and

more time exercising their golden tonsils withuniform discipline. THE Horse Guards, whograciously refrain from leaving silver bullets asthey prace into the Whitehall sunset, have in-formed me that the finals of the "Army MusicGroup and Singer Competition" are in full swing.I am glad to see that firing squads have taken amore light-hearted appraoch to life.

The judging, explains the handout, will start at2000 hours. Only the well trained could arbitrateat such length.

WE are informed that Dana, notable religious oratorand chat show enthusiast, is to appear at a dubiousvenue in Bristol, depicted on the hand-out as the PillMemorial Hall. I hope the performance does not suffera pregnant pause.

A most friendly, hand-written and illustrated letterhas arrived to me from Alice, a Rollerskates admirerfrom London. As well as being a Rollerskates fan, Aliceis a dog lover and works in a kennels on Saturdays.Recently, her favourite specimen has experienced ablessed event and given forth with not one, but fivecuddly little furballs. Alice's problem with names forthe puppies was very brief. "I have called them allDerek Longmuir", she reports. Later, her cat had sixkittens and Alice made up for her lack of attention tothe other Rollerskates by naming them Derek, Eric,Les, Alan, Woody and Tam. The matter is being con-sidered for submission to the RSPCA.

"Fingers" Claphands is out to impress his new lady friend PattiOboy, in a large way. He is to purchase for her a new £6,000sports car, with which she will be able to complete the weeklyshopping in a more suitable style. "Fingers", an unemployedfarmhand, is pictured here chatting to what may or may not be aused car salesman. We are told he is also in the market for a tractorand about forty acres.

Spot the Loony Dept. Pictured above with one of our wonderfulbobbies is a certain Mr David Fanbelt who delighted your Ferretrecently at a record company reception with an unforgetable dis-play of idiot dancing and chanting, the climax of which was markedby Fanbelt writhing on the floor shrieking "Herne Bay, Herne Bay".Fanbelt is currently promoting an album "African Dance (NoMore)" (by scaring people in discotheques, I suppose?).

SMALL ACHIEVEMENT SERIES

Little FeatTHROUGHOUT the recent Warner

Brothers Music Show packageconcerts, Screams of "We wantLowell George!" could be heard -to the dismay of fellow bands theDoobies and Bonaroo. The reasonfor Little Feat's ever increasing cultfollowing and, Lowell George's un-dercover superstardom, has nobearing on who they've played withor which stars they've been seenwith ... it's purely and simply thesuperiority of their music. Shufflin',

ti

punchy boogie, laced with peculiarincidentals that make you think.'now how did they ALL remember todo that THE'. With total restraintand precision, George guides hisband into unbelievable rhythmconcepts, flavoured with melodicslide guitar colouring and gutsyvocal harmonies. Their albums,"Little Feat", "Sailin' Shoes","Dixie Chicken" and "Feats Don'tFail Me Now", are just what theRock 'N' Roil Doctor ordered.

SMALL ACHIEVEMENT SERIES

Little FeatTHROUGHOUT the recent Warner

Brothers Music Show packageconcerts, Screams of "We wantLowell George!" could be heard -to the dismay of fellow bands theDoobies and Bonaroo. The reasonfor Little Feat's ever increasing cultfollowing and, Lowell George's un-dercover superstardom, has nobearing on who they've played withor which stars they've been seenwith ... it's purely and simply thesuperiority of their music. Shufflin',

ti

punchy boogie, laced with peculiarincidentals that make you think.'now how did they ALL remember todo that THE'. With total restraintand precision, George guides hisband into unbelievable rhythmconcepts, flavoured with melodicslide guitar colouring and gutsyvocal harmonies. Their albums,"Little Feat", "Sailin' Shoes","Dixie Chicken" and "Feats Don'tFail Me Now", are just what theRock 'N' Roil Doctor ordered.


SN'T it always the way? When everything seems to beI going like a house on fire, something comes along to puta spanner in the works? It doesn't matter where on earth youare, either.

The tour of Japan was going like a train. Superb. No hitcheswhatsoever, until we were booked to appear on the country's top -rating television show, Fuji TV's "Live Young".

I arrived at the studio, prepared to sing two of the hit records withbacking tracks as my accompaniment, when I was suddenly pre-sented with a Japanese group who were to provide my backing.What a great idea, I thought. Then came the crunch. The musicianscouldn't play the two songs I'd chosen. They had no idea at all. So wewere stumped.

However, Yours Truly came to the rescue. I spent over an hour in asmall cupboard of a room teaching the group the songs. I ended upplaying the drum part, bass part, organ part and lead guitar. Buteventually they cottoned on ... and when we ran through the showfor the final rehearsal, everything slotted together nicely ... and theshow went off without a single hitch. But I was worried! Only whenI'd seen the play back on video-tape were all my fears finallydispelled.

The following morning, we boarded the train in Tokyo for Osaka,over 300 miles away. It was one of those famous bullet -trains that canreach speeds well over 120mph. And the journey took a mere 21/2hours to complete.

I can't praise the Japanese Railways enough. They are superb inevery respect, and they put our system to shame. The actual train isshaped like a bullet, so there's no rocking, no rolling, no shudderingwhen in motion. Just a smooth, highly -enjoyable run from start tofinish. The railway system over there is highly renowned for itsefficiency. Trains set off on time and arrive at their destination tothe second. And once aboard, one is treated to the utmost of luxury.Even the seats have to be seen to be believed, they're so comfortable... and a controlling lever at the side allows the passenger to sit inalmost any position possible. You can even swivel the seat through360 degrees in one go, to look out of the huge panoramic windowsthat complement the compartments.

And the on -train facilities, too, speak reams for the country'stransport service. Each set of carriages has its own stewardess,rather like on board a 'plane. She patrols the corridors with a hugetray, stacked to the top with every kind of refreshment a passengercould ever need, and she serves it instantly to your seat, wheneverneeded. It's a marvellous idea.

Tokyo is a funny city. It's like the West End of London. Neon signslight the entire city ... and there are so many people milling around,that you could never be alone for one second. And everything is doneat such a rush. There's never a second to spare.

After the outing to Osaka we were back in the capital and weretaken to enjoy the pleasures of the Geisha houses. Now, don't jumpthe gun, let me explain. In Japan, 99 per cent of the Geishas are forhookers. The odd per cent are the old-style, traditional houses. And,needless to say, we were treated to one of the traditional Geishas. Itwas a great experience.

Geisha houses are, in fact, establishments for entertainments, intypical Japanese style. Glorified dining rooms, where you are treatedto the food of the country. On entering, everyone has to take off theirshoes. They are treated to delicacies of every sort. We had a meal ofgreen tea, saki, raw fish and vegetables ... eaten with chopsticks.And throughout the meal, some weird and wonderful Japanese mu-sic was played for our further enjoyment. Great fun. And it's onlywhen you savour the hospitality of a typical Japanese house, that yourealise how small everything is in comparison to back home. Well,the Japanese are so much shorter.

On the eve of our departure for England, we threw a party in ourhotel for all the people who had helped us during our stay. Then itwas all down to a few fond farewells before we left for the airport andhome.

Tokyo Airport is just like the main city. A miniature West End.And security there is so tight, that we had to undergo no less than sixfull-scale searches before we were allowed on board the 'plane. Eventhen, we had to pay out $900 in excess baggage charges. We'd alloverdone the souvenir buying slightly.

Eventually, the 'plane took off for London, and after a stop -over inAlaska, which was freezing, we arrived on home shores at 6am onSaturday, all completely shattered. And the first port of call was theairport restaurant for a nice cup of tea.

... It's great to be home.

"I'd certainly never have thought of speaking one of mysongs," says David Gates in slight disbelief. As a

songwriter of considerable stature he's used to differentversions of his material, but he had to confess that TellySavalas' version of If was hardly a run-of-the-mill coverversion.

"You know they released it here, and it was a slight suc-cess - but nothing like it was in England. It's certainlydifferent, and good luck to him. Like I said, I'D never havespoken it, but then, as he says, he can't sing ...

"It's always nice to see one of shows - one in London, Man -your songs at the top of the Bri- chester and Birmingham, andtish charts - that's a great corn- there may possibly be one inpliment. So whichever way you Southport too, making four in all.look at it, even if I'd hated the It's not as many as rd like, but it'sway he did it, I won! a start."

"But I do like it - my song Because it's such a long timenow sounds like poetry, and since he was last here, there'llthat's very flattering. In a way be a lot of fans who won't knowthat makes sense, and suits the quite what to expect:song more than it might have "I've certainly got somethingdone many others. Also it's a to live up to. When your songsvery romantic song, and that's are as well known as many ofsomething which is enhanced mine are people have very highby the words being spoken. Na- expectations of you. All I can doturally I'm glad he did it." is my very best.

David hasn't heard Yin and "Will I be nervous? Proba-Yan's version of his song, which bly," he admitted laughingmay or may not be a good thing. sheepishly at the thought. "I"But I've sure heard about it. certainly very much want it toThey've done a FUNNY version be good."of my song?" As these shows are going to

I hastened to add that it mean a geat deal to him, Davidwasn't so much his SONG they has put a lot of thought time andwere making fun of as the hard work into preparation. AsOTHER version of it: ridiculing a fan of both his old and newthe performance with a little work I was curious to know justmore accent on his characteri- what the blend of those two erascation of Kojak than Telly him- would be in his show.self had used. "Of course I'll do material

"Oh I see," David murmured, from my two solo albums butsounding not a little relieved. there'll also be a lot of the old"But I'm still looking forward to favourites from the Bread days:hearing it for myself when I things like Make It With You,come over ..." Baby I'm A Want You and of

It's not long now 'til that hap- course If.pens. His delighted British fans "I just couldn't cut out the oldare to have a chance to see him stuff: why at the time it meantlive, for the very first time since just as much to me as the newhe split from Bread. material does now! It wouldn't

"It must be about three years be fair to the public either: it'ssince I was last in England, and stupid to abandon material justthat was when I came over to do because you leave a group. It'sa BBC "In Concert" for Stanley still stuff I wrote.Dorfman. I've been wanting to "I won't be doing other peoplecome back and play live in Bri- from the group's materialtain for some time now, but I though. That's not because ofnever felt I would get the any ill feeling, I'm just morechance to do it the way I wanted, comfortable with my own. Itand play gigs all round the was written with my voice incountry. mind, in my style and my range.

"At least this way I get to do a I promise anyone who comeslittle bit of that, as well as lots of along that they'll get a prettyradio and TV appearances. At comprehensive selection of mythe moment we have three work over the years."

WHAT DOBREAD, KOJAKAT THE OTHERSIDE OF 11ICHSOAP' HAVE INCOMMON?NOT A HOLD UP IN A NEW YORK

SUPERMARKET, DUMMY!THE ANSWER IS THE DAVID GATES SONG

'IF' WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY RECORDED

BY BREAD AND THE TELLY SAVALAS

VERSION WAS RECENTLY PARODIED BY

YIN AND YAN (c/w 'BUTCH SOAP') IFTHIS SOUNDS COMPLICATED ROSIE

HORIDE WILL SORT IT OUT

Naturally, David's also hopingthe tour will do a lot to promotehis latest and second solo album"Never Let Her Go." But he hasbeen disturbed at a recent cri-ticism of it - that it's tooSHORT. Someone has noticedthat the album's only 37 min-utes in total running time andcomplained that David isn't giv-ing value for money in thesedays of rising album prices.

He's not only surprised butsounds a little hurt at thesecomments; here's his answer.

"I've never given muchthought in the past to the lengthof a song. I write them, andwhen the thought is finished Iend the song. I've alwaysbelieved that there are toomany songs that stretch out farlonger than they should do:some people would only havethree songs a side on an albumbut I disagree with that. I simp-ly write a song and make it aslong as I feel it should be.

"It really never occured to meto time them - but after this I'llcertainly give it more consider-ation. Please tell everyone thatI had no intention of making thealbum short or trying to de-fraud them in any way. And Istill think it's a good album."

"In fact, as much as one can

ever be pleased with one's ownwork I am pleased with thisalbum.

"I was writing songs beforeBread so I didn't expect to dryup or that my songs wouldchange when I left them. Butthere WAS a slight feeling ofsatisfaction and relief when`First' came out and was suc-cessful. The people in Britainhave been marvellous to me:they've supported me in my soloventures even though theyhaven't seen me."

But now as we said earlierDavid is about to rectify thatlast matter: "Never before seenon stage in Britain, DavidGates" he jested, doing his bestto sound like a ringmaster. "Se-riously, it's the first tour I'vedone on my own."

Of course, there will be a bandhere with David. It consists offriends old and new. Jim Gor-don on drums, Larry Knechtelon keyboards, guitarist DeanParks and Carol Carmicheal,who does vocals and percussion.

"Tell everyone that I'm reallylooking forward to making con-tact with them and I hope they'llcome along to see what DavidGates is all about. I'll do my bestto see they're not disappointed."

What more could we ask.


HER NEW SINGLE

I NT OFF HOKE THAN

I COULD CHEWRA,200FROM HER FORTHCOMING ALBUM'YOUR MAMMA WONT LIKE ME' OAK

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WARNERB OSTHE BANDS' VERDICTS

THE BOOBIES were the stars of the WarnerBrothers Music Show, or at least they topped the

bill at each concert no matter who the support bandwere. With them on this trip was their most recentlyacquired member, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter.

"I guess it was a good tour -we certainly had some greattimes and played some goodmusic. To be honest it wasn't asbad as I'd thought it was goingto be! One thing struck me veryforcibly on the tour . . .

"I know that the whole worldis going through a bad patcheconomically but somehow itseemed so noticeable in Britain,especially in London. The peo-ple seemed really down.

"Of course we have our trou-bles here, but it's such a hugecountry that somehow the econ-omic problems seem less no-ticeable. The situation worriesme a lot, because I'm afraid thatthe recession will harm theup-and-coming musicians.

"For one thing, we've alreadydiscovered that some concertsaren't doing well at all. Under-standably, when people findthey can only afford to go to sayone concert a month they go andsee their favourite group,rather than try out someonenew, as they might once havedone.

"So the top groups shouldn'tsuffer too badly ( I hope that in-cludes the Doobies) but thelesser known up-and-coming ornew ones might, I'm afraid.

"It is also affecting solo andstudio musicians. Becausethere's so little money aroundpeople ai.e being persuaded thatunless they do sessions cheaperthan the normal rates there'll beeven less work in future. Record

companies and everyone elseseem to be cutting down: if itgoes on like this there'll be a lotof musicians out of work. Andthat's something I'd hate to seehappen."

As you can see, Mr Baxterthinks a lot more about manythings. That's why, intellectual-ly, some things about Europedisturbed him - apart from justthe general economic gloom.

"There are a lot of 19th cen-tury attitudes around in Europe- some things that really an-noyed me. I like to talk to peo-ple, and in some places I foundit very difficult to get them todiscuss things beyound a certainpoint.

"Also they just don't seem tohave caught up technologicallyyet, which means that so muchI'd normally take for grantedsimply isn't there."

But despite those drawbacks,Jeff still thinks it was a goodtour as tours go - and if hedidn't love playing he wouldn'tbe in the business he is in.

"Although I sometimes thinkrock musicians should getdanger money. They face somany hazards to their healthand well being, especially ontour. Lack of sleep, bad diet,changing time zones all taketheir toll. There are so manyairplane crashes and nearmisses too. But I think themajor hazard is that whileyou're on the road it's almost

Members of the six bands in the Music Show in relaxed mood.

BY ROSEMARYHORIDE

impossible to relax - and Imean 24 hours a day. Because ofthat there's a certain tendencyto subsidise the metabolism issome way, whether it's withcigarettes, alcohol or whatever.Whichever one they use though,in the end it often just makesmatters worse.

"You know, most of the reallybig groups who are out on theroad a lot of the time try not toget too involved with anything- they all know just how dan-gerous it can be."

However all the Doobies sur-vived the marathon Europeantour "more or less" intact, andJeff currently looks just finewith his Californian tan andslightly sun -bleached hair.When I saw him in one of L.A.'sbest known restaurants he wasjust about to go off for a fewdays' holiday on the Atlanticcoast before joining the rest ofthe band for the next tour.

"I've been pretty busy sincewe came back from Europe, so Ireckon I deserve a couple ofdays off. I've done some workwith James Taylor, and withCarly Simon - and we're justmaking an album with WolfmanJack. That really has been sucha laugh, I just can't tell you. It'scertainly not quite like anyother album I've ever workedon.

"If he goes on the road I thinkI might just go with him - itcould be such good fun. As long

MUSIC SHOWEARLIER this year one of the most extensive (and

expensive!) promotional concepts of all timebecame a reality. Warner Brothers assembled a packageof six of their groups and sent them round Europe todisplay their many and varied talents to a few thousandpeople.

Now all those artists are back home in the States. Wechose three of the groups concerned and then trackedthem down in Los Angeles, to find out what they are upto at present and how they felt about the European tourwhen the show was over . . .

Two Doobie Brothers, Tom Johnston (far left) and Keith Knudsen (far right) backstage with Keith Richard,Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger

as h didn't interfere with mywork with the Doobies then I'ddo it.

"Of course, I am totally com-mitted to the group - in thesame way that I'm always totallycommitted to anything I do. TheDoobies come first, but beyondthat we're all free to do what-ever else we want. I've alwaysdone a lot of studio and sessionwork, before Steely Dan and al-so after I left them before I

joined the Doobies. The otherDoobies don't do as much, butI'm going to try to lure some ofthem into it, because we havesome fine musicians in ourband.

"Together we've just finishedthe next Doobies album, whichis going to be called 'Stampede'.Is it good? It's not only good, it'sgreat. We had one or two peoplealong to help, a couple of wellknown jazz musicians, and Cur-tis Mayfield came down too.

The more musicians I can getinvolved with the better I like itit's stimulating. That'ssomething musicians need allthe time, musical stimulation."

That could explain why Jeffhas worked with so manygroups and musicians: not onlythe Doobies and Steely Dan buta few less known groups withmore exceptional names. Here,for your delectation, is a selec-tion: Your Mother's Lunch, Ul-timate Spinach and Little JJand the Screamers. It must begood to get back to a band witha straightforward fraternalname.

And back to them he will be,by the time you read this. Onthe road for a month and a half,getting back into the hazardousbusiness of rock tours. For theDoobie Brothers at least, Eu-rope was just another tour.

'IT WASN'T ASBAD AS I

THOUGHT ITWOULD BE'

EXCEPT!

THE TOUR

'SUPERSHOW WAS SO GOOD

FOR US' SAY BONAROO"IT WAS a nice experience:and a unique tour." That's howBill and Bob of Bonaroo (trysaying that when you've had acouple of drinks) saw the MusicShow. They were the newestand least known of the bandswho went to Europe.

Bonaroo

"I think how we felt after-wards was best summed up by acartoon we saw of the showbunny looking absolutely be-draggled and exhausted. It wentwell for us, though. I think theonly mistake we made wasrenting equipment. You know,

WHATEVER YOUR

OM KISIC

HARLEQUIN

HAS THE

LARGEST

SELECTION

harlequ::nRECORD AND TAPE SHOPS

we could never even be sure itwould be at the gig let alone be-ing right.

"It was so good for us being ona supershow like that with allthe status it carried. That wasour first tour ever - now we'reready for the States, and we'regoing on the road with RobinTrower.

"It could have been a disaster,but everyone was kind to us.That's not to say it was easy -and do you know that in somecountries they even booedbands - like they did Tower ofPower and Graham CentralStation in France.

"Nobody made any money outof it, but that really wasn't whatit was about. We were just out toprove our right to be there:none of the other bands hadheard of us either!

"We were lucky in one otherway: so many people in theother bands went down withcolds, flu and stomach troublesbut we were all just fine. No onegot sick at all."

So they had only goodmemories of the different partsof Europe they visited: alth-ough they did confess to havingbeen glad to leave Germany: "Itgot a bit heavy."

For a group that's only beentogether six months they didvery well, and seem to realisetheir limitations.

"We were there to let peoplesee us, and to get them to takenotice of our new single whichhas just come out. We'll go backto Europe if that takes, and notworry about an album untillater in the year."

As you can see, the Show'snewest band were delighted tohave the opportunity it afforded- they realised it could do themnothing but good, and that's justwhat it did. They have a lot oftalent, so watch out for Bonaroo.

Little Feat.

0

OF all the Music Show bands, the concensus ofcritical opinion is that Little Feat profitted most

from the tour. They already had a hard core of fans inthis country at least, people who'd greatly admiredtheir recorded work. And seeing them perform hereonly strengthened those people's feelings towards theband, while also converting to their cause many of theaudience who'd really gone along to see the Doobies.Even the other groups on the tour agreed that LittleFeat did pretty well.

"Yes, we did have a goodtime." Lowell George had to ad-mit. "Somehow everythingseemed to come together for usat the Rainbow and theaudience was veryappreciative."

Such modesty. Of the mu-sicians I know that saw theshow, several said that Lowell'sband put on a show they'd havehated to follow. The generousJeff Baxter added that hethought they were pretty goodtoo: a magnanimous gesture,as more than a little of theDoobies' limelight was stolen atthe Rainbow gig and at severalothers where the two bandswere coupled together.

"For me the Doobies can dono wrong with their albums,"Lowell reciprocates. "Theydon't really need the exposure,where I guess we did." And itdid a lot of good - alreadythere's talk of a tour later in theyear with Little Feat coming ontheir own.

"We though we'd like to getover there and expose ourselvesin Europe and when we finallymade it we were quite success-ful. We'd have loved to havedone it before, but finding arecord company that's preparedto spend out money on underw-riting that sort of a venture isn'teasy. The Music Show packagewas an exception to the generalrule: it was a very far-sightedventure and the opportunity ofa lifetime."

So that's one up to Warners asfar as he's concerned, and com-ing from someone who dislikesrecord companies on the wholeand made several disparagingcomments about them. For ex-ample: "I sometimes think they

decide what to do by throwingdarts at a chart on the wall," etc.

But Lowell is by no means abitter person: he just had a hardtime in the early days of hiscareer and is now cynical aboutall the red tape. A piece of ad-vice from his experience tothose starting out: "Whateveryou do, don't sign anything untilyou know exactly what itmeans."

At the moment he's engagedin writing of a different kind:songs. "I always find that thehardest part - you need infor-mation on so many levelsbecause people appreciate yoursongs on so many levels. It'srare that a song will just comeout and be right: I think the lasttime that happened to me waswith Roll Me Easy. or maybe -Rock 'n' Roll Doctor_ And evenwhen something's written youdon't know how it'll sound whenit's recorded.

"I remember one of the firstones I ever did. A guy from acompany heard us and said itsounded so good he gave us achance to make a record: and itsounded awful! I rememberthat when I wanted to go back toschool he was only too glad toget rid of me."

But these days things arerather different Lowell is in


N TO

ULE'

demand to play with all kinds ofpeople, which he does wheneverhe has the time. We discussedthe up and coming Allen Tous-saint tour:

"You know. I was amazed tofind it's his first tour. I can'tbelieve it ... after mine I was awreck, because I just knewsomething would go wrong.After the Music Show tour I wasfine. although it seemed muchlonger than it was - the onlypeople who were exhaustedwere the roadies, and that'swhat they're paid for!

"The one difference it didmake (apart from odd changesin personnel, like Ronnie Mon-trose coining back and firing hislead singer) was that so many ofthe bands come back copping anattitude for the first time ever.It made them feel important

"No. we didn't I'll tell you theonly time we ever did anythingoutside ow- normal behaviour-

That was at a homecoming ball(US college event) when Rit-chie went through the whole setwith a knackwurst down thefront of his pants - in front of awhole audience of about 1,000people. And do you know theywere all so smashed no one no-ticed! That was the first and lastpiece of showmanship LittleFeat ever came up with."

Some bands just don't need it.They are one: their music is en-ough, See you soon, Little Featfor some even bigger feats.


THE AME OF THEGAME IS CHANGE

N

AND JOHN WETTON'S RECENT MOVE

FROM MIXT MUSIC TO URIAH HEEP

WAS A LITTLE PUZZLING, HOWEVER

JOHN EXPLAINSUNDAUNTED by (or more likely because of) the

almost total indifference that greeted his depar-ture from Roxy Music, bass man John Wetton(ex -Family, ex -King Crimson) was served up for ex-amination by the music papers last week to elucidateon his decision to quit the glitz of Roxy for the thuddyrifferama of Uriah Heep; a move deemed suspect bymost observers.

Suffering a nervey hangoverfrom a brandy drinking bingethe previous night, Wetton wasintent on keeping our chat on acomfortable plane. Why, Iasked, did he leave Roxy?

"Well, I never joined them,"was the snappy comeback fol-lowed by a self-conscious chuck-le. "They don't seem to havepermanent bass players.There's no room for a strongbass player at all you know, an-other forceful personality,there's too many .... well, Iwon't say too many, but not a

good balance, at the moment, ofstrong personalities in thegroup, and another one wouldjust add to the turmoil."

How did John get the offer tojoin Heep?

"Every time I join a group it'sbecause an old friend has askedme to join a new one. I'veknown Lee for 10 years and hejust phoned up out of the blueand said, `I'm not very good atspeeches, how'd you like to jointhe Heep?' more chuckles, so Isaid, `We'd better have a blowand a chat and see what hap -

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BY DAVID

FUDGERpens.' We did, and it happened."

(Can this be love?) Wetton'scareer has taken him recentlythrough some interesting, if notextreme changes of musicalstyles - from the outer limitsvoyages of Crimson to theFerry -go -round of '70s poseurpop and now to the basic rockformula of Heep. He has takenthe changes in his stride alth-ough with a note of sadness heharked back to Crimson.

"I was listening last night tothe new `Crimson Live' album.It's quite amazing. At the time Inever realised how good thegroup were. But it was just im-possible to keep the group go-ing. There were too many thingsat stake, too many differentlifestyles. Yet in Heep they allhave similar lifestyles; they en-joy being on the road and theydo work a helluva lot, they havedone for years and they proba-bly will continue to do so. Thatsuits some people, it doesn't suitothers. It didn't suit Crimson;Robert Fripp couldn't stand it onthe road, and Bill Bruford insist-ed on tours being only threeweeks long.

John Wetton

"I happen to like being on theroad, I can exist in Heep, Ithink, far happier than I did inCrimson."

I probed Mr Wetton for hisviews on Roxy but he was anx-ious to talk about his present si-tuation, and it appears he has hissights set on super stardom.

"It would seem that withUriah Heep my name will beput over to that many morepeople and in a sphere that Iwant to work in. I'm not par-ticularly interested in doing thesmall theatres in America, the

way that Roxy Music are doingit. They don't like playing bigstadiums at all, their act reliessolely on the fact that theaudience can see them andyou've got to be within 30 yardsof them to see what happens.It's a very small group on stage.

"I prefer to play in groupsthat spread out on stage, in an18,000 seater in America witheverybody on their feet, it's anincredible feeling. I did it withCrimson and that's what I wantto get back to." Wetton followedthis with yet more nervouslaughter.

UGLY DUCKLING

MAKES GOOD Bill:EVERY SO often, a single appears in the

charts which is the work of one of our ren-owned TV comedians. At the moment we havetwo battling it out; one by the Goodies and theother by Mike Reid, each as different as the pro-grammes the artists feature in.

Mike Reid's Ugly Duck-hng is probably accepted asthe most straightforwardcomic number. The original,by Danny Kaye, was a rela-tively sad song; Mr Reid hasadded his amusing cockneyrhyming slang to make it in-to a lighter song. When Mikecame to do the tune, hewanted it his own way; in thesame style that he cracks his'IV jokes.

"It was when we were atthe Palladium doing one ofthe `Comedians' shows, andLouis Benjamin said thateach one of the producerswas to get his comic to do asong. So we went into thestudio and I decided to doThe Ugly Duckling - in myown way.

"We had the choir and or-chestra in there and we didjust one take. It took about10 minutes in all and thatwas it: when we played itback, everybody fell about,so we decided to leave it as itwas and just release it.

"1 was really quite lucky,'cos we didn't do any sort ofadvertising and things likethat. A lot of our success wasthanks to deejays who hadheard it and played it a lot.Then we got on `Top Of ThePops' and the single sudden-ly took off. I was really quiteamazed, because it was myown idea to do it like thatand I'm so chuffed that it's

doing so well.""The Ugly Duckling single

is only to get people to acceptme as something other thanjust a comic. I really likesinging and some music justknocks me out. I would liketo get into it more. Unfor-tunately, in the past I'vesmoked so much, that myvoice is not in very goodshape. I suppose if I did singmore I would do BuddyGreco and Frank Sinatratype numbers. That wouldbe great - and if I managed

to get a silver disc I'd bebowled over.

"I feel that you have to bea bit different, you know?Take somebody like Kojak.Even if the guy can't sing therecord is great because it's

It seems that biggeraudiences aren't the main rea-son for him joining Heep. Ap-parently whilst playing withRoxy he'd been toying with theidea of getting together his ownband and trying to do the twothings at once had proved alittle hard.

"It all got very frustrating,and when somebody says `wouldyou like to come and join mygroup?' all your problems areover. It was very much that sort

11111 to page 23

different - and look howwell it did in the charts.

"Doing this single I'vefound out so many thingsabout the record businessthat have amazed me. Forexample, to get into thecharts you have to sell somany records. The figureseemed to be huge, but whenyou see the orders coming in,it's apparent how they addup. I still find it all too much- I didn't realise there wassuch a lot of money in thebusiness."

This potential crooner hassung before - "I wanted tobe a singer when I was about15, so I worked as a comperein pubs. I used to be allowedto sing Elvis Presleynumbers. I sang until about1965 when I became a comic.I don't think I could doPresley type motions nowanyway!"

One can't finish talkingabout Mike without men-tioning the cockney rhymingslang that he uses to suchgood effect. On Radio Lon-don, he was asked by the in-terviewer if he ever madeany up. "No, I don't make upmy own. It just seems todevelop with age. Take theslang for a 10 pence piece. Itused to be `coon', but now it'scalled a 'creature'. That'sbecause the original rhymecame from `Creature of TheLagoon' which gave you`coon'. Now it's progressedone step further to`creature'!"

All very confusing - ifyou're not a cockney.


OPE

ARIESIT's the last complete week of Aries now - and we should be right in

the heart of spring. (I wish someone would tell the weather...)Next week we'll be delving into the depths of those bull -like peoplethe Taureans, but for the moment we'll tell you our last interestingfacts about Arians. This week's birthday personality is Glen Campbell- rather appropriate as he's here at the moment.

Arians are quite oftenmusical, and when theychoose that as their car-eer they tend to be in-novators there too, asthey would be in otherprofessional fields. Soway out music, whetherclassical or popular, willoften be penned bysomeone of this sign.

We've already said howfavourable the yearahead looks for them -well creatively this will bea good Arian year too. Ifthere's one particularproject they've had inmind for a while this willbe the year they'll see itcome to fruition - and ina far better form than

even they envisaged.What more could they

ask really - a year withluck in love, money and alot of achievement too.One slight word of warn-ing: think a bit more thanusual, Arians. If you'renot too headstrong this

year you'l! reap the ben-efit, and it could be one ofyour best years ever.

Tucked into the lastpart of this Arian periodthere are two famousbirthdays too: those ofCharlie Chaplin and Niki-ta Kruschev.

D Isc OGRARIRe -arrange the following into

a top thirty song title:GADIN NOGD

Solutions to last week's puzzlePHILADELPHIA FREEDOM

CLUES

ACROSS

1 Smart judge of a Marley/Wailersalbum? (5,5)

7 Like Procol Harum birds (6)8 This provides a connection withWray (4)

10 Lovely Rita was one of the meterones (5)

11 How Lindisfarne played out of tune?(6)

14 Mr Hammond (6)16 The confidence of Adam and Percy'

(5)17 "- Special Love Song" (Charlie

Rich) (4)18 Drivers of the "Fandangos in Space"

band? (6)19 Having that astral look and laugh-

ing? (6,4)

DOWN

2 Like a rooster? (6)3 I sort out these groups of musicians

(5)4 Album of those Bay City lads doin'their thing (6)

5 Her song, or John Denver's? (5)6 The zone you get to by taxi (8)9 Piece of music my heart is (8)

12 A little one that Aretha said (6)13 Name associated with Family Coo -

kin' (6)15 Some libretto for Paul (5)16 In which to see Slade (5)

SOLUTION TO LAST WEEK'SPUZZLE

ACROSS: 4 Bump, 6 Graffiti, 7 Love(Games), 8 Byrds( birds ), 10 Taylor,12 Union(Gap), 13 Dream, 14 Jungle,17 Mason, 20 Anne, 21 Electric, 22Swan( Song).

DOWN: 1 Iggy, 2 Land, 3 Night, 4 Billy,5 Poetry Man, 8 Bluejeans, 9 Reign,11 Leeds, 15 Green, 16 Essex, 18 Airs,19 Once.

LAST WEEKS WINNERSA. Diaz, London NW4; Kenny Ball,Richmond, Surrey; Miss M. Daly,Fulham, London; John Low, Dover -court, Essex; M. Craeknell, LondonSE9; John Neve, King's Lynn, Norfolk.

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ALICE

COOPEROlympia Stadium. Detroit,USA. Saturday.

Welcome to Motor City USA,birthplace of Tamla Motown,home of General Motors andreputedly the murder capitalof the world. If you likestaying awake all nightcounting police sirenshowling past your window,then this city is definitely foryou

Those people with anysense get the hell out of De-troit, just as soon as they can.One person who did that wasa young Detroiter nowknown as Alice Cooper. Buton Saturday Alice returnedto his native city to play themassive Olympia Stadium,bringing with him his verylatest roadshow, "WelcomeTo My Nightmare".

Anyone familiar with theCooper concert style willknow that Alice's perfor-mances are not geared forthose with weak stomachs orMary Whitehouse cons-ciences. This newest ex-travaganza of his is noexception.

For the most part "Wel-come To My Nightmare" isbased around Alice's currentalbum of the same name. Init he bludgeons his waythrough a whole series ofnightmarish sequenceshelped out by a bizarrelyclad cast of dancers and ofcourse the new ultra -ef-ficient Alice Cooper band.

Alice opens up the showwith the title track from thealbum and is instantly metby a barrage of enthusiasmfrom the tough Motownaudience_ The band is placedwell at the back of the stagegiving him and his dancersplenty of room to carvort

about up front. Thesequence doses with Aliceclimbing into a giant box andbeing carried away.

The opening half of theshow is marked by plenta, ofmood changes. Alice alter-nates between heavy rocknumbers like No More MrNice Guy and the disturb-ingly restrained Years Ago,taken from the new album.To vary the song, Alice'skeyboardist Josef Chirowskyadds some high - pitchedsynthesiser for the finalrendition.

And now for somethingcompletely different. Alicedons white tails and top hatand reappears on stage withfour dancing skeletons com-plete with top hats andcanes. The 'mood of the mu-sic changes from poundingrock 'n' roll to toe -tappingvaudeville. It's the kind ofwell - choreographed routinethat could have come stra-ight out of a Fred Astairemovie, and it' prettyunbelievable.

The audience are stillrecovering from seeing thiswhen Alice rips off his jacketand tie to sing Cold Ethyl, agrim love song to a corpse.As he sings he drags arealistic looking dummyacross stage, flings her onthe ground, picks her up bythe hair and dances with her.

Moments later the dummycomes to life and starts doingballet -like movements acrossthe stage. For a while shedances round Alice, thenthey lie together on a plat-form and are wheeled off.

And so the show proceedswith Mr Cooper revealingnightmare after nightmare,each one tinged with a slightelement of tongue-in-cheek.

Next, two gigantic spidersappear from the side of thestage and while Devil's Food

is played, they climb up amassive cobweb. The guitar-ists Dick Wagner and SteveHunter come to the front ofthe stage to take part in aspectacular riff duel. Fol-lowing that, we have thevoice of Vincent Price in-troducing Black Widow, acue for the two spiders to at-tack Alice.

Even more spectacular isthe sudden emergence of agiant cyclops with torch -likeeyes flashing on and off. Thecreature, standing perhapsten feet high, advances onAlice in a menacing fashion.A fight breaks out and onlyfinishes when Alice decapi-tates the monster.

As the end approaches wereach the show's highlight. Aspecial screen is loweredover the stage and filmprojected on to it. All man-ner of nasty things are to beseen - bats, silver wierdosand even a neon gravestone.Suddenly, Alice is seen torush out of the screen on tothe stage. The effect is star-tling. As if the celluloidimage had suddenly becomeflesh and blood. School's Outfollows, as harsh as ever, andthen the show comes to anend.

The encore is inevitable.Alice plays Department ofYouth and then leads out hiscast of dancers for a finalbow. The young citizens ofDetroit go wild, setting offfirecrackers, holding up thecustomary lighted matchesand screaming for more. It'sbeen a sensational show.

For nearly ten minutesthey hold out. For a momentit looks as though Alice isgoing to return, but no, avoice informs us that Alicehas left the building. "Buthe'll be back on Tuesday.Tickets are now available."

Beverley Legge

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COCKNEY

REBEL

Hammersmith Odeon: Sa-turday, April 12The enigmatic affectationknown as Steve Harley, isnot without talent. He couldbe regarded as the ManagingDirector of a tightly runorganisation, the mechanicsof which have been well-oiled by a domineering in-tellect determined to havehis manifestations see reali-ty. It must, without first-hand knowledge of all in-struments contained in theCockney Rebel unit, be com-plicated for Steve to describehis musical intentions; asDISC may try to convertmusic into words, Steve musttry to convert words intomusic for the benefit of hisplayers. This he obviouslydoes and does well. The onlytwo who need a pep -talk inthe gym are the sound mixerand Steve himself.

The Got To Pick A PocketOr Two, Fagin-type figurewho lurched into action withthe LONG overdue lights -on(someone had left the band'scostumes at home and a maddash to collect themstretched the interval tonearly three-quarters of anhour), commanded instantattention. The ankle -lengthmaroon velvet coat andDerby hat presented a vividpicture as he and his acousticguitar pirhouetted aroundthe stage. The band, StuartElliott on drums, GeorgeFord bass, Jimmy Creganand Snowy White guitars,Duncan McKay keyboardsand Lyndsey Elliott percus-sion, fused together in per-fect syncopation, utilising allmanner of affects and rigidplanning to ensure the colourof the sound never remainedthe same for long. This newCockney Rebel is undoub-tedly a beautiful unit towitness.

In general, Steve carriedoff his somewhat Dylan -/Hunter vocal concept withpolish, but occasionallypushed the accent to un-necessary and off-key ex-tremes. On steadily pacednumbers, like Make MeSmile, and on quieter close-miked moods, the approachwas perfection. The lightingplan was incredibly artistic- especially the six -beamfocus on his head andshoulders for the immensely

moving Sebastian. The vi-sual content was an excitingand inspired piece of work,the lights changing the at-mosphere frequently, alwaysstrengthening the relativeemotional point Harleydelivered. Plainly, the crowdwere overcome by contin-uous peaks of awe, eventual-ly storming to the front forSteve's invigorating run-down of the Rebel singlesJudy Teen, Mr Soft and MakeMe Smile.

The punters' high-energycontent and anticipationwere apparent during thefirst half, too - an unfortun-ate state of affairs for theexcellent Sailor, who wereplagued by screams of`Rebel!' during moments ofsilence. Cheerfully, however,Sailor keyboards man HenryMarsh seemed to have at-tracted a male fan -following,for gruff choruses of'Henry!' rang out passiona-tely from the remote sec-tions of the balcony. Henrylooked politely embarrassed.Sailor's set was short andtheir sound was reasonable- but they know they'vedone better performancesand under better astmos-pheric conditions. Open UpThe Door, their punchyfinale, made quite an im-pression on the reasonablyresponsive audience.

Finally, though, back toRebel, a word has to be saidfor Steve's hands. They'renot unlike flexible giantsalad forks that fly expres-sively through the air, bathehis face in caresses, frame itin all shapes and glidesmoothly over his stick -figure torso, all of whichmaintains a high degree ofaudience attention by allow-ing no lapses in movement.His mime gestures occasio-nally laughable, are ex-tremely clever and attrac-tive. Less clutching of theheart during moments ofkeen intensity, however,would lend more credibilityto the spectacle.

Well done Steve. As a totalrealisation, the performanceradiated. Special mentionmust be paid to DuncanMcKay's superb keyboardaccompaniment - the stacat-to clavinet sound sometimescut like a knife; and JimmyCregan's matchless lead gui-tar, which he seemed to dishout with nary a glance at theneck. This package is a realfeather in a good showman'scap - one of the acts of '75 -but a little more vocal res-traint, please.Lon Goddard

ATLANTIC

SOUL TOURAtlantic Soul TourSouthampton Gaumont10/4/75Those of you smart enoughto catch a concert on thisgreat package tour couldn'thave been disappointed.Each of the four acts weregreat, those four being TheJimmy Castor Bunch, Sisters

Sledge, Ben E King and TheDetroit Spinners. Eventhough The Spinners werethe top act, no single actstood out as being the -ie, they were all good.

Jimmy Castor and hisBunch opened up, goingthrough many of thenumbers on his new album"Butt Of Course", includihgthe inimitable Bertha ButtBoogie, the opening bars be-ing greeted with enthusiasmfrom the audience. Jimmyleft after his set but hisBunch stayed on to be thebacking band for Ben EKing. He is a man who I'venever seen live, so I can'tcompare him with past per-formances and things likethat. But if his performancethen was anything to go byhe definitely needs morecoverage than I think he hasbeen getting. He wentthrough a short but verysmooth set performingnumbers like Happiness IsWhere You Find It, Stand ByMe and You Know I Lied.Tracks from his new albumwere also featured, the al-bum being called"SUPERNATURAL"

Sisters Sledge is probablynot a name that you are ter-ribly familiar with, yet. Beassured though, that thisfoursome from Philadelphiaare going to get big overhere, probably before theyear is out. All they need is agood single; and with theirelan and good looks andyouth they will undoubtedlygo far. Kathie, Debra, Kimand Joan sparkle onand off stage. The audiencewent mad with their render-ing of Help Me Make ItThrough The Night,especially as Joan, who wastaking lead vocals, held ontothe last note without falter-ing. A spectacular per-formance and one worthcatching.

The final act on the showwas, of course, The DetroitSpinners. Backed by Maur-ice King and his orchestrathey went through a largerepertoire. If they had beenthe only people on the showit still would have been agreat gig as they were on topform. The immediacy of theSisters wasn't, of course,there but their show was justas pleasing and entertaining.

With polished choreo-graphy they progressedthrough singles of their own,It's A Shame and GhettoChild and others by varioussoul acts. Never boring theymanaged to keep theiraudience very well, con-sidering that the show was solong. Near the end of theirset they did a number of im-personations of famousstars. Ever seen a black El-vis? It certainly is an amus-ing sight! And when theywent through Stop In TheName Of Love with wigs an'all 'a la Supremes, ever-ybody fell about.

The package as a whole issuch good value for moneyand also so entertaining, thatone must congratulate At-lantic for getting it on theroad and not just releasing acompilation album; whichthere is anyway.

Les Hall

THEIR NEW ALBUM

`SERIOUSLY

SPEAKING'

BRILLIANT***GOOD**REASONABLE POOR

GLITTER BAND

"Rock' N Roll Dudes" (Bell253).

Leaves no doubt that MikeLeander knows this project in-side out - the execution of theGlitter Band sound neverflounders for a moment. Excit-ement suffers no flaws; thefuzzy lead guitar is crisp andexpertly mixed against thepunchy lead vocals. Drums areincredibly punctual thuds in thedesigned Glitter style, and thewhole concept is still delight-fully re -vamped fifties/sixtieshigh-school hop. The most in-novative unit is the track BringHer Back, with tight vocals byJohn Springate and an amazingscratch to Leonard/ Phipps disci-plined drum sound. Therecording is so out front itpunches you in the face.

Best lyrics are contained inPictures Of You and Games Up,both of which have a distinctpoint and a clever rhythmic fit.Three tracks owe credit to ex -member John Rossall, butnothing suffers on the others inany way - the LP is a total en-tity, beautifully made in theirthumping tradition.

The calculated guitar work isalmost ghostly, while the per-cussion is fully below the belt -practically illegal in terms ofstudio use; impossible to refuseat a party. If Bring Her Backisn't released as a single, there'sno justice. Whew! Promotes abead of sweat!0000LG

BAY CITYROLLERS

"Once Uon A Star" (Bell 8001).First LP produced by newstudio man Phil Wainman ( ex -Sweet) and a big sound im-provement. The feeling updatesfifties and sixties teenagelaments and a number of classicstyles - but remains solidly inthe 70s and reveals thatFaulkner and Wood are still thewriting section of the group.

Les, who is definitely NOTconsidering a solo career at thispoint (see letters page), fea-


FOX -FRESH Al"Fox" (GTO GTLP 001)Some bands are born great,some have greatness thrustupon them. Fox are of the rarebreed that is the first category.Unfortunately, there is anabundance of bands in thesecond category who have donelittle or nothing to meritrecognition.

Fox, on the other hand, are abreath of fresh air in whathas almost become a stinkingpop market. While other bandswere considering what theirnext negative step would be,Fox came along with a sweetlittle single called Only YouCan, and a sweet little ladycalled Noosha. She is backed bya band crammed with talent.

This band offers somethingthat is new, original, totallyprofessional which must arousethe passion of the remotest popfan. They are a pop group for

the seventies, with qualifica-tions which would have madethem a revelation in the star-studded sixties. So versatile thatthey must be huge.

The debut album is not per-fect. On a few occasions,producer and guitarist, KennyYoung, tried a few smart thingswhich don't work. Like a littleintro to Only You Can which isso smart that it would havebeen better to take it a stepfurther and make it into a trackon its own. As an intro, itdoesn't work. Overall, however,it is an exceptionally wellproduced work.

All of the songs are ultra -commercial. Every one a gem,as they say. But you'll not beable to compare one song to thehit single. I don't think I'mexaggerating when I say thatsix of the tracks could stand ontheir own as follow-up hit sin-

gles. I can't agree with thechoice of Imagine Me, ImagineYou as the follow up. It's upbeatand poppy but so is Only YouCan. Something in the otherextreme, like Love Ship or thebeautiful Patient Tigers, wouldhave given the band the widerrecognition they deserve.

There is a neat touch of subt-lety about the infectious TheJuggler. Spirit has the samewinning characters. He's GotMagic would have won the Eu-rovision and Pisces Babies' lyr-ics make it special. The albumcloses with another poppy track,Red Letter Day, yet anotherpotential single. The opener,Love letters, I think, owes itsbeauty to what is almost a ripoff of the piano backing on theJohn Lennon classic, God.

To finish, all I can say is thatFox are going to be huge. If youliked the single, you'll love thealbum.0000HD

tures as co -writer on two tracks;Martina and Hey! BeautifulDreamer, the first of which is anostalgic reminiscence concern-ing a fictional (stressed on thesleeve!) young lady's thoughts,spiced with effective acousticguitar breaks; the second a dis-tinctly Carpenterish ballad,punctuated by swelling four-part harmonies that will forceyou to dance too close for par-ental approval.

The most beautiful part ofthis album is the artful mixing,which places back-up vocals andinstrumental sections in thebest possible perspectiveagainst Les McKeown's compe-tent lead. Seven of 12numbers are self -penned, thebest of which is The Disco Kid,where vocals are echoed intoreal rock 'n' roll fashion to afunky underwater guitarrhythm. Singles Bye Bye Babyand Keep On Dancing areincluded.

Rollers fans will be in seventhheaven over the extravagantpackaging, with a separate,full -colour identity card for eachmember; Zeppelin fans willcringe at the whole idea - butthere's room for everybody,isn't there? I would, however,suggest that more sophisticatedlyrics were applied to the songsand that Wainman and Goodis-on, both respectable ' men,should refrain from directlynicking the Everly's Till IKissed You now titled WhenWill You Be Mine. Tsk,Tsk.000 LG

RUBETTES"We Can Do It" (State Etat 001Super)Whether the Rubettes can do itor not is a matter of considera-ble opinion. If this is supposedto be the album in which theyshow that they can do it, thenthey've failed miserably. TheRubettes are a band strivingdesperately for recognition.This album does little to help inthe task.

"We Can Do It" is what al-bums used to be until the publiccaught on to the con. The atti-tude of putting a load of B-sideson an album with a few hit sin-gles has long gone. All thetracks are commercial but thesingles I Can Do It and Juke BoxJive stand out among a fairlymediocre bunch.

The band revels in nostalgia.They haven't experienced thefame here that we are led tobelieve they have on the con-tinent. Tracks like the crummyThe She Na Na Song (guesswhat the chorus line is),Something's Coming Over Me,the horrendous It's Just MakeBelieve Don't Do It Baby and I'llAlways Love You don't merit

attention. At The High. SchoolHop Tonight is the best of thenon -singles, with exciting vocalarrangement.

The Rubettes will have to tryagain if they want to reach awider audience. This albummight find a home in their fans'homes but few others will takethe bother.00HD

ALEX HARVEY"Tomorrow Belongs To Me"(Vertigo 9102 003)

This latest offering from theSensational Alex Harvey Bandcarries on from where "The Im-possible Dream" left off, inmore ways than one - as can beseen by the almost identicalcover design.

aggressive - withHarvey's voice driving throughthe raw pounding of the band,particularly in The Tale of TheGiant Stone -eater and Give MyCompliments To The Chef, thetwo most immediately impres-sive tracks.

It is these two tracks whichalso display Harvey's talent forlyrics at its pungent best.

Along with this hard rock,Alex Harvey has also foundspace for blues (Soul InChains), jazz influence (SharksTeeth) and the optimism ofTomorrow Belongs To Me (yes,the same number as the onefeatured in the somewhat men-acing scene in "Cabaret".

Yes, folks, all this and moremakes this an album to featurein any collection. Again, the ex-cellent arrangements are byDerek Wadsworth. 000 SC

SANDY DAVIS"Back On My Feet Again" (EMI3070).Can this be Paul McCartney indisguise? No of course not, I justthought I'd throw that in.Seriously though Sandy Davisdoes sound remarkably like theex-Beatle and some of the trackshold the same sort of immediateappeal.

The title song contains muchof the McCartney jaunty catchi-ness and makes an excellentstart to a very pleasant album.

Among other musicians fea-tured are Average White Bandmembers Allan Corrie, OnnieMcIntire, Roger Ball and thelate Robbie McIntosh, who playon Only Love Can Last Forever.

If, like me, you haven't comeacross Sandy Davis before, thensift through the racks at yourfriendly record store, dig thisone out and give it a hearing.Listen out for Step In The RightDirection and He's Just AHeartbreaker. SC

SLY STONE"High Energy" (Epic Import).Sylvester seems to be consistentin his recording delays - or he'ssigned a one -album -a -decadedeal, for this is a quite weak

double album collection of oldfiller material from past al-bums. The two -record set con-tains odd, less successful sin-gles, such as Life and M'Lady,but if you're a Sly follower, youwill object to the low-keychoices offered. Tracks like Ad-vice, Harmony, Turn Me Loose,and so on, lack the solid char-acter that would term it a`greatest Hits' volume. JimCharne, who wrote the sleevebumf, says, "American pop mu-sic in the sixties and seventieswas shaped by the week-longfestival held on Max Yasgur'sfarm in upstate New York dur-ing the summer of 1969(Woodstock)". I'd be interestedto know how that event shapedthe sixties. Nice writing, Jim.Nice singing Sly, but why notimprove on recording punc-tuality? LG

JOHNNY BRISTOL"Feeling The Magic" (MGM2315 324).Superb soul material, produced,written and sung by JohnnyBristol, and so raw it's utterlysexual. His vocals retain a neatcombination of American C&Wand southern soul, mixedespecially well on Morganton,North Carolina. An accom-plished producer, who cut suchnames as Marvin Gaye, Smokey& The Miracles, Diana & theSupremes, and Stevie Wonder,Bristol also co -wrote How SweetIt Is for Jr Walker. All thesedues have paid off by creatingthe style presented by Hang OnIn There Baby, which flowsagain on the featured tracks,Feeling The Magic, I Wouldn'tChange A Thing and the single,Leave My World. Slower balladslike I'm Just A Loser and Go OnAnd Dream break the mood,but don't match his unique up-beated formula of self -harmon-ies, always added to the leadvocal in the most tasteful emo-tional areas. First class mater-ial. INDOLG

DAVID

FANSHAWE"African Sanctus" (Phonogram6558 001)QUESTION: What do you getwhen you combine a composer,an explorer, a writer, a man who(for his build) is remarkablyadept at African dance, and atatty peaked jungle cap?ANSWER: David Fanshawe.

"African Sanctus" is, if youpardon the phrase, a real mul-ti -media project, the result ofthis extraordinary man's travelsin, and love of, Africa.

It reflects his fascination withthe people and musical culture

and the effect is quiteshattering.

Television viewers had thechance at Easter to see a BBCOmnibus special under"African Sanctus" title, which isalso used for the record andFanshawe's autobiography.

The record is a combination ofAfrican music taped by Fan-shawe during his travels, andthe Latin Mass, added later withother musicians.

It is the resultant synthesisthat makes the work so inter-esting, with the arrangement ofthe Mass blending with dances,chants, milking songs and songspraising leaders and past vic-tories in battle from the peopleof many parts of Africa.

Overall, a remarkable and ex-tremely impressive work.0000SC

VARIOUS

ARTISTES"Beyond An Empty Dream"(Charisma CAS 1101)Sub -titled "Songs For A ModernChurch" this album featureswork by Clifford T. Ward,Anawim (Tom and JoanMcGuiness and Kevin Peak),John McLaughlin, CapabilityBrown and the ,CharterhouseChoral Society.

It is an attempt to present acollection from musicians shar-ing similar beliefs without try-ing to force them on thelistener.

I think it succeeds. 00SC

RICK WAKEMAN"The Myths and Legends ofKing Arthur and the Knights ofthe Round Table"This is Rick's latest epic: a mu-sical attempt to portray both thestories and characters of KingArthur and those in his court.As with his "Journey" the al-bum also contains stretches ofnarration and really needs to belistened to as a whole ratherthan by individual tracks, as onemight with an ordinary rockalbum.

The music here succeeds evenbetter than its predecessor inengendering the feeling of theperiod: there are some grandpieces which sound courtly andmajestic, while others accuratelydepict events and feelings.

Simply as a piece of music mypersonal favourte is Sir Lan-celot of the Black Knight: I feelit stands up on its own betterthan much of the rest of the al-bum. That's not to say I dislikethe other tracks: Rick wrotethem to perform a function andtell a story, and that's what theydo. But it's not really an easyalbum to listen to, and demandsa great deal of concentration.

However, that didn't hinder"Journeys" phenomenal suc-cess, and I'm sure it won't dothis one any harm either.

Personally I feel I shall enjoyit more when I've seen it per-formed but to those of you whowon't have the chance I'd saylisten carefully to this album.Once you've got into it it's a veryinteresting album.000RH

EMMYLOU HARRIS"Pieces of the Sky" Reprise K50437This name will probably be newto most of you, but Emmylou isa delightful American ladywho's already built herself quitea reputation in the States. Thisis her attempt to break into theEnglish market -a collection ofsongs by well known writerswhich she interprets tastefullyand marks with her own un-usual style. Some of the songs,like Bluebird Wine, have a dis-tinct country flavour - welldone, but not my personal taste.It's the ballads which I feelshow her voice off to its bestadvantage. She sings a beautifulversion of Lennon/ McCartney'slovely For No One, and the trackI like best of all is a song calledToo Far Gone which was writtenby Billy Sherill.

On the whole this is a goodselection of songs, well sung andproduced, and very easy on theears. I'd recommend it to any ofyou who feel like a change fromheavy rock and would like to getyour first taste of a lady we'regoing to be hearing from a lotmore. 000 RH

STEVE HILLAGE"Fish Rising" (Virgin RecordsV2031)At times elating and other timesirritating, throughout Hillage'sguitar work is impressive and attimes, along with organist DaveStewart, drummer PierreMoerlin and bassist Mike How-lett, produces some excellentpassages of tight, funky blow-ing. The voyages into thecosmic stuff and the speedyMcLaughlinism, were a bit tir-ing, as were the lyrics that Icaught.

The "cosmic stuff" and thetwee sleeve notes hark to Hil-lage's association with Gong, butsome of the material is not un-pleasantly uncharacteristic, onoccasions I expected to hearvoice of Robert Plant glide in ontop of some of the very heavyguitar riffs.

Generally a quite nicely puttogether album. One criticism isthat I found it a bit rich, someemptier passages would haveprovided an enhancing contrast.On the whole it could provequite a major dea1.000DF


Bay City Rollers

ROLLERDERB . 11,TAM PATONI am utterly fed up with your letters page. I don't think I've seen aletter on it yet that isn't criticising some pop star. I don't think thereare any pop stars left to criticise. I think it's about time an end wasput to it all. Why don't all these pop music luvvers just belt up? Afterall, there's room for everyone in the pop world. So just rememberthat variety is the spice of life - it would be PRETTY DULL withonly one pop star/group to idolise, wouldn't it? Peace (?!!!) and allthat. Anita Kettlhut (BCR's fan), Woodlinn Ave, Glasgow.Dear Anita - a commendable thought. Since you are a BCR fan, I willpresent, specially for you, the latest correspondence on the boys, includ-ing replies to the question of whether or not lovely Les should go solo. BL.

BCRs NOI just read the letter by the BCRfan criticising "Rock On With45" for not having the BCRs astop billing (5/4/75). I am dis-gusted by his/her selfishness.It's about time Rollers fansrealised there are other groupson this earth, though the Rollersare a good group. Before youstart complaining that yourScottish supermen don't get en-ough publicity, spare a thoughtfor some good bands who don'tget any! Alice Cooper Fan,Manchester, Lanes. (for reasonsconcerning my health, pleasedon't print my full address!).

THIRD RATE RUFUSIn answer to the BCR fan fromDerbyshire (5/4/75). She ratesRufus as half as talented as theRollers, who are short-trou-sered weeny-boppers and haveno talent at all. Their lyrics,with words like Shang -A -Lang,and Shoo-Be-Doo-Eh should onlyattract all those under five.Rufus are far superior. Rufusfan, Perth, Scotland.

BEATLES FANI am thoroughly disgusted by acomment from a BCR fan(5/4/75) saying "The BCRs arethe best group since the Bea-tles." What a load of rubbish.God help us if they are. If youlike teenybop music, prettyfaces and V -necked jumpers,they're great, but surely anyonewho knows anything about mu-sic knows that the BCRs, withtheir pretty tunes, are nowhere

near the Beatles standard, orindeed the standard of a lot ofBritish groups - and probablynever will be. Julian White,Redcar, Cleveland.

BIG CON TRICKI was really shocked to read adaily newspaper's story aboutthe whole disgraceful BCRsfake -up and con trick. After youhave fed us so much informa-tion and publicity about theRollers during the past months,it is up to you (and otherpapers), to give us the factsabout this lousy affair NOW.Miss S. Miles, Billericay, Essex.Miss Miles refers to a recent dailypaper story accusing the Rollers ofnot being able to play their in-struments and thus not appearingon their discs. Manager Tam Patonhas commented to the contrary. BL

APRIL FOOLReading in a daily paper lastweek, I think it is scandalousthat a big, slick record companycan deliberately set out to foolpeople like this. Everything theRollers have done, including"Rollin' " - a complete SHAM!It sows in my suspicious mindall sorts of doubts concerningother artists. Miss R. S.,Ipswich.

GUESS WHOThe fact that a certain group arenow one of this country's lead-ing pop bands, to us, is absolu-tely incredible. It seems westand alone, immune to thisunfortunate illness, which hasswept the country, infecting thebrains of thousands of poor lit -

Editor -in -chief: RAY COLEMANEditor: LON GODDARDAsst Editor: Rosemary HorideNews Editor: Rosalind RussellChief Sub: David Fudger 24-34 Meymott Street,Assistant Sub: Simon Clarke London, SE1 9LU.Fashion Editor: Lynne Thirkettle,Editorial: Beverley Legge/ Harry Doherty /Les HallCartoonist: J. Edward OliverContributors: Alvin Stardust, Sally JamesNew York: Lenny Kaye, 666 West End Avenue,New York City, NY 100218. Phone: 212-799 8144Los Angeles: Jean LewisAdvertisement Manager: John JonesSubscriptions: United Kingdom f13.50 per year. Overseas f8.50. Canada and USA$22.10. Airmail rates on application. Subscription inquiries to: IPC Business Press(Sales & Distribution) Ltd, Oakfield House. Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath,Sussex, RG16 3DH Tel 0444-53281. Licence No. CV 258, IPC Business Press Ltd.

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LETTERS PAGEtle children, leaving them sadlyunable to distinguish betweenmusic and brainless utterings.Or is it meanings in such classicsas Shang -A -Lang. Don't get uswrong, we're not Rufus fans. Asfor the suggestion that the leadvocalist could be as successful asElton John of David Essex, weagree this could be possible ifsomeone gave him the mainthing he lacks - talent. All wesay is, that to the best of ourknowledge, at least Rufus playall their instruments. To close,we will sing praises of your ser-ies of five posters - toilet paperis very expensive in these timesof hardship. Diana Beech andThea Brown, Burnham, Bucks.

BCRS YESI agree with the BCR fan in is-sue dated April 5th. I thoughtthe BCRs were the stars on"Rock On With 45", but what dowe get instead? A third rategroup called Rufus. Kid Jensenmust need his head tested -Rufus can't even sing in time.Granada, pull up your socks -the BCRs deserve a programmeof their own; they've workedhard for it. Miss R. Wooley,Walsall, Staffs.Dear Miss Wooley - Check out-Shang-A-Lang-, the Rollers' ownshow. Betcha Rufus don't get aguest appearance there/ BL

LES GO SOLOLes solo? Oh dear! OK, he isvery good looking and has agood voice, but on radio inter-views, he hasn't much to say. Hehas little evident writing talent,unlike Woody and Eric. Person-ally, I don't think any of themhave the talent or the exper-ience to go solo ... YET. Alone,the boys are very unspectacular,but together, something reallyclicks into place and they hap-pen. No doubt in a few years,when their talent has had timeto develop, they could beginthinking in a solo direction. IfLes left, the rest would have toreplace him - and who wouldLes get for a backing band? Ithink we can disregard thisremark as a spasm of fantasy.Fellas, we love you just as youare. But Les, if you really wantto go it alone, go ahead. Don't bedisillusioned if we say 'we toldyou so'. BCR Fan, Bridgewater,Somerset.

GIRL TROUBLEIf Stephanie and Moire(5/4/75) think Les should gosolo, they are very wrong. Hewouldn't be as great as he iswith the other four fantasticguys. Sure, he's got the looks,personality and voice, but I'msure Les and many other fansrealise his place is in the group.He's one of them, reached star-dom with them and helps makethem what they are today. I canassure you he'd never thinkabout splitting. He's got moresense. BCR Fan, Denham,Bucks

UNFAIR FANSI think a certain letter from twogirls was very unfair to Leslie ofthe Rollers. What annoyed me,was that they just about toldhim to pack in the Rollers andstart thinking about a solo car-eer. I'm sure the last thing hewants is other people making uphis mind for him. He gets morepublicity than the rest, so is itnot just as good as being solo?No doubt when they decide tocall it a day, he will go solo - buthe has only been on the popscene for a year, so give the guya chance: Ronnie McGhie, Eas-terhouse, Glasgow.

HOLD ON LESWe would like to tell Stephanieand Moire to get lost when shesays Les should leave the BCRs.Who do they think they are,telling one of the best Britishgroups to split? The Rollers areonly in their teens and haveplenty of time for individualsuccess if they want it, so pleaseLes, don't think about leaving(not for about eight years,anyway). We love you all theway you are. Ali and Lyn, Wel-lingborough, Northants.

UNIT PLEAAnd just who do these two girlswho reckon they are Rollersfans think they are? If theywere fans, they would not betrying to break up the group.That letter of theirs probablyupset millions (including us) offans. The Rollers are fantastic,but they are a complete outfitand would not exist if any one ofthem left. Just keep your bigmouths out of it! Janette andSally, Chessington, Surrey.

PLAY SCHOOLI am writing to complain aboutthe Ferret column (5/4/75). Itconcerned the Rollers not play-ing on their records. In a liveradio interview with the groupand Tam Paton, they said it wasonly on Keep On Dancing andRemember that they didn't play.Every record since then hasbeen all their own work. BowieFan, Edinburgh.

NEGLECTED

HOWES

The Hollies

The Hollies - remember them?They topped the charts last yearwith The Air That I Breathe.Since then, they have been sad-ly neglected by the press. It'sreally heartbreaking for us tosee our favourite band out inthe cold, so come on DISC, let usknow what the Hollies are doingthese days. Please print this let-ter and break the monotony ofall the various slaggings ofgroups. Hollies Fan, Swindon.Dear Fan - the Hollies aren't ex-actly out in the cold - they havespent a lot of time in America,where they do very well, and tour-ing the world. At any time, theycould return with a monster hit.Hang on! BL

SHADOWS -BAD LOSERS

I may be one of the few who thought Teach -In, with Ding-A-Dong, deserved to win the Eurovision Song Contest. Theywon fair and square, beating the Shadows by 15 points. Youwouldn't have thought so, listening and watching theShadows on "Top Of The Pops", making sarcastic remarks.When the DJ asked them to introduce Teach -In, they did itwith a grudge, then threw paper snowballs at them. Ding-A-Dong is a far more catchy song than Let Me Be The One;musically, it's heaps better, and the vocals are sung betterthan those on the Shadows' disc. I think Teach -In will be oneof our top groups in 1975 and, of course, Ding-A-Dong willbe a big hit. Anyway, Getty is far better looking than HankMarvin. Carole May Couper, Dundee.Dear Carole - try not to hold the Shadows' irritability against them;remember, most TV is tightly planned - even down to paper snowballgags and apparent attitudes. Anyway, I thought Turkey did swell. BL

ONE HIT

RSWONDEIn reply to Duncan Clairmont'sstupid letter of April 5th, heneeds to get a bit of commonsense, calling Bowie, Floyd, Yes,Roxy, ELP, Free and Queen in-fantile one -hit wonders andflash -in -the -pan garbage. Bowiea one -hit wonder? He's hadmore hits than Clairmont's hadhot dinners. The same with therest. These groups have thou-sands of mature fans - and theyall can't be following flash -in -the -pan garbage as he suggests.As for his 'greats' - Stardust,Glitter, Showaddywaddy,Rubettes, Wombles, Carl Doug-las and Lena Zavaroni - his de-scriptions apply to them. If hewants to go around making afool of himself, all right - butplease don't print it. Zep Fan,Ireland.PS - thanks for the poster ofLed Zep in DISC a few weeksback - how about one with leadsinger Robert Plant in it includ-ed in the near future.Dear Zep Fan - as a matter of fact,we were thinking about that onlyyesterday. Comin' up soon. BL

STRIPED TERROR

INVADES HOTEL!IAM a shop assistant in an exclusive perfumery shop

within a famous Welsh hotel. At the beginning ofthis year, a Scottish pop group stayed at the hotel for afew days. During this period of time, never has therebeen such a loss of profit! I returned from my teabreak to find every shelf empty and five boys instripey socks with perfume bottles stuffed down theirtrousers, trying to make a quick getaway. I was as-tounded and produced my official search warrant. Onshowing them this, they gave me back the perfumewithout any trouble, so I never got to search them afterall. Is it because I have BO? Worried Blue Eyes,Pembroke Dock.Dear Blue Eyes - I have absolutely no idea who this group could have been, norwhy they should require perfume in such quantity, while personal hygiene prob-lems such as yours go sadly unnoticed. Two recommended remedies are- wearstripey socks yourself and keep your arms tightly to your sides. BL

DON'T KNOCK

QUOI think Lexy from Scotlandshould keep quiet about thegreat Status Quo, for the sake ofhis health. If a band was evervastly underrated, it's them.

Status QuoWhile album after album andsingle after single went straightinto the charts, unbelievers in-sisted on putting the banddown. Quo are a boogie band,always putting out new and dif-ferent sounds, packed with en-ergy and enthusiasm. And withthe effort they put into theirconcerts,what more could an-yone want? Peany, Cardiff.

QUEEN - NO

FLASH IN THE PANI am writing to complain aboutpeople using Queen as an ex-ample of useless groups gettingall the attention. They probablyhaven't listened to their albums.How can the group be a flash -in -the -pan if they've beenaround for four years? LeaveQueen out of silly argumentslike Philip Anthony's (5/4/75),because they're as good as an-ything going. R. Kingsford,Hatfield, Herts.


C1URCORNER

DISC's weekly question and answerfeature. If you have something to ask, sendyour question (on postcards please) to

CURIOUS CORNER, DISC, 24/34 MaymottStreet, London, SE1 9LU.

ROD'S

TRACK

RECORD7 Please can you give me the list of the al-

bums that Rod Stewart has released. AlsoIN what label are they on? - Lots of love ...

Ragni in Reading, Bucks. Well Ragni (How did you get that name? It'snot the same Ragni as with the original Hairrecording is it?) the list of Stewart albumsreads at about seven at the moment those be-ing: "An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let YouDown," No VO4, "Every Picture Tells A Story",No 6338063, "Gasoline Alley", No 6360500,"Never A Dull Moment", 6499153, "Sing ItAgain Rod", No 6499484, "Live Coast ToCoast", No 9100001, and the latest, "Smiler",No 9104001.

All the above albums are released on Mer-cury through Phonogram Records. There areof course records made with the Faces but theydon't really count do they? Anyway thanks forwriting Ragni and keep on trucking, Les.

7 Can you please tell me what albums orsingles are being released by The

II Moments and Whatnaughts in the nearfuture? Also what is happening on the AllPlatinum scene at the moment. After Shirleyand Co it seems like nothing much is going on,i.e. are there any tours coming off, thanks. -Lenny Green, 13 The Cedars, Southend-on-Sea,Essex. At the moment there is not much on the AllPlatinum scene happening at the moment. The

Moments are in the States at the moment andhope to come back to Britain near the end ofthe year. It could possibly be a package tour, iewith Shirley and Co, The Moments and alsoThe Whatnaughts. That remains to be seen.

There is a new single coming out on April 25by Retta Young who is the girlfriend of AlGoodman of the Moments, it is called S.O.S.Apparently it is quite a good number; hardbacking and softish vocals.

When the Moments were over here theywrote a new single which is scheduled forrelease later in the year.

7 Please could you give me the address ofRadio One, please, as I know one or two ofthe deejays there? - Tommy Sweetapple,

St Hellier Avenue, Morden, Surrey.

7 Can you please tell me if there is a RadioOne Disc -Jockey Fan Club, or if not, isthere any place where I can get informa-

tion and pictures and info on the DJ's? Alsocan you print a picture of Johnnie Walker? -Robert Watson, 150 Kinloch Street, Carnous-tie, Angus, Scotland. If one wants to write to any of the BBC RadioOne disc jockeys please write to BBC RadioPublicity Office, Aeolian Hall, 135-137 NewBond Street, London W1Y OED. On the otherhand if you Want to write to BBC Radio ingeneral please write to BBC Radio, Broadcast.ing House, Portland Place, London W1A IAA.

from PageJOHN WETTON

of situation. Maybe someday I'llget a band together of my own,and then all these rumours willstop about me beingmercenary."

It had not been the Fudgerintention to harp on the finan-cial prospects of Wetton's newgig but as he'd raised the sub-ject I asked if the promise ofplenty green stuff had been themain reason for his joiningHeep.

"No, not at all," he almostflinched, "in fact to date I wasearning more with Roxy than Iam with Heep, obviously thelong term benefits with Heepfinancially are very good. Youcan't really say that I was join-ing Heep for the money. I wouldobject to that," a mildly an-guished Mr Wetton went on toreiterate that it was the oppor-tunity to be freed from thefrustrating dilemma he'd foundhimself in with Roxy that hadprompted his joining Heep.

"Gigs with Roxy don't lastvery long, you know; I knewthat. I wasn't particularly sad toleave Roxy. I think they weresadder about me leaving than Iwas about leaving them in around -about way.

"But I was never particularlyhappy; I was thinking this wasonly a temporary thing until Iget something heavier.

"I want to try playing somerock and roll for a bit, just plaindown-to-earth, high energy rock

and roll - after being throughthe cosmic stuff. I love playingin America and Europe. Ihaven't enjoyed playing inEngland for quite some time. Iquite enjoyed playing some ofthe Roxy tour, but then it wasjust playing the notes andwatching everybody scream. Iwas acting out the fantasy ofbeing a pop star, although thosesort of fantasies have worn verythin.

"I used to remember peoplebuying houses on the strengthof hit singles and after we'd hadtwo with Family we still hadn'tmade a penny. Nobody hadbeen fiddling me but the bandcost so much to run."

"But it was quite enjoyable,doing some of those gigs withRoxy, getting pulled off thestage and all that sort of non-sense. The most satisfying per-iod of my career though waswith Crimson. All the music wasout of the top of our heads andafter every gig you'd gone thro-ugh this incredible battle to getout something new.

"That's possible with Heep,not on the same scale cause it'snot improvised music but youdo get the same empathy onstage with the members of thegroup," Wetton enthused._ John's first outing with UriahHeep starts in May with a Eu-ropean tour, A Heep album fea-turing Johm will be releasedjust prior to the tour.

There were a couple morethings that I wanted to ask him

but on both he was more than alittle reluctant to give out withthe goods. Firstly I asked if heknew why previous Heep bassplayer Gary Thain had left thegroup as the original story of avoluntary departure due to ill -health had recently been dis-missed and apparently Thainwas fired. Wetton would onlysay:

"It's a very touchy subject, infact it's blue. You can talk aboutmy kidneys if you like."

The other touchy subject wasmoney. Someone from anothermusic paper had recently sug-gested that John had beenseduced be lotsa bread to joinUriah Heep (perhaps that wasthe only way they could justifyit) and hence when I askedWetton if he was getting a bigdeal out of Heep financially heresponded with: "I don't thinkI'm at liberty to say." He con-ceeded, though that he's happyabout the money involved, andthat although he hadn't been amember of Roxy Music he hadgot an extremely good deal,BECAUSE he hadn't been amember of Roxy. Interestingstuff, huh?

Anyway, Disc is a nice paperso to end on a friendly note wewish him lotsa luck with Heep.He says there is no one he'd liketo commit his life to, for thenext couple of years, more thanthem and we sincerely hopeHeep's music benefits from MrWetton's considerableexperience.

SONG WORDS

FANCY PANTS KennyBill Martin Phil Coulter

Better get readyBetter get steadyBetter get set to go'cos here she comesThat's fancy pants

She's the slickestShe's the quickestChick you'll ever knowThat's why they call her fancy pants

shout: "Come on fancyshow us how to move"Look at her rockLook at her rollLook at her rock 'n' ton'n' roll 'n' roll

chorusThey call her fancy pantsAnd if you give her a chanceShe'll dance dance dance

Look at her groove an' look at her moveShe's magicThey call her fancy pantsAnd if you pass her a glanceShe'll just dance dance danceShe's really sweetShe got magic feetWhen she hears that beatShe goes wild

spoken "'You know I really love that fancy pants

One night stands and boogie bandsThat's all she wants to knowShe quite a girl that Fancy pantsShe's a rocker she's a shockerBut I need her soReally love my fancy pants

Repeat shoutRepeat chorus

®Copyright Martin/Coulter Ltd. 1975

Disc Academy of MusicSCHOOL REPORT I

BazPeabodyand theGreenCustard

Baz Peabody:Thick Groober:Guthra Jacks:

Piano, organ, vocals.Accoustic guitar, drums, vocals.Violin, saxophone, harmonies.

Past Record:The unfortunate failure of their "It's Thick" LP has given the leaders, Bazand Thick, the urge to try out their unusual talents on various audiences.

Attendances:Their gigs in pubs seem to be their 'force field' - Baz Peabody and his uniquemusic can command respect from the most indifferent listener.

Remarks: This band breaks down every barrier in the music business. Thick Grooberdoes not allow himself to be type -cast in any single musical style.

Head'sReport:

01 ''- , ,,j_4,;-.- e - -of i...,C.., t. Jt.,,,,, eji 4") 5, 4...i% -71.

,,,......1:... s L.,-1-11 y en....1 +. ........e-sni...,1) ---d- 1,0/3

0.1 re<4.;,e41. c.....1 ( P,2.-A2t....,-), L., s.) .c.(....:- .

A ri....x....) s c.. 1.:k s,..;.) 6 ..- L el" ,...,-0-14. ',Jr.

Mus cal AbilityStage AppearancePersonal Appearance

B

B


-Jr dutia r64 oltverSPECIAL 250T" EPISODESINCE

ABSOLUTELY NOTHINGHAPPENED IN LA51 WEEK'S

BEINGEPISODE,

OUR HEROESPRE STILL. E OF

HELD PRISONERBY A TRIBE

SAVAGE RED INDJANS

'DID"ST THOUHEAR ABOUT YEINDIAN WHO WAS 'TARRESTED FORLINGERING INHIS WIGWAM?

HE WAS CHARGEDWITH LOITERINGWITHIN TENT/

I UNDERSTANDTHAT THE REDTEPEES AREPUBS WHERETHEY SELLNOTHINGBUT &A/

THAT'S WHYTHESE PEOPLEARE KNOWNAS RED ilvN

GINS

LOOK, THEY'VE CAPTURED THE WAGONMASTER' IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE GOING 10

PERFORM SOME HIDEOUS INDIAN TORTURE!

THEY -THEY'VE BURIED HIM UP TO HISNECK IN SAND' NOW I SUPPOSE THEY'REGOING TO RELEASE KILLER ANTS THAT

WILL EAT HIM ALIVE!

WORSE THAN THAT THEY'RE GOINGTO PLAY HIM "FUNKY GIBBON"!

ClAcusE M6.II5 A my PROFUSEBIT BEWILDEREDS AND PROFOUNDBY ALL THIS - REGRETS, MADAM,COULDS YOU BUT I FEAR THAT ITELL ME AM TOTALLY INCAPABLEEXACKLY OF RESPONDING TOWHAT IS YOUR REQUEST SINCEGOING ON? UNFORTUNATELY I DO

NOT SPEAK A WORDOF ENGLISH

HEY. THIS INDIAN IS DOINGSTRANGE THINGS WITH THE700THP/Ci< THAT HE STOLE

FROM ME -

HE 'S TYING ITT,:SOME FIRE TONG',THAT HE'S SPL I 7

IN TWO'

I WONDERS IFHE'S TELLINGTHE TRUTH?

I NEVER REALISEDTHAT PAPER WASA VEGETABLE.ti

7

4,, 5 K IRTSAC;-:kkACH,

UGH -WHITEMAN'SPICKWITH

FORKEDTONG'

WELL, IT TOOK ME HOURSAND HOURS OF CEASELESSToIL,BuT I'VE FINALLYFINISHED IT' I CAN'TWAIT TO SEE HER FACEWHEN SHE HEARS THISROMANTIC DECLARATIONOF MY RESPECT. ADMIRATION,WORSHIP, DEVOTION ANDETERNAL ADORATION'

YOU MEAN IT'S A 2p. TEPEE'S

TELL YOU WHAT -ME EXCHANGEIT FOR UM TENT MADE FROMHAIR -PIECE IT UM REAL WIG(JAW THAT SHOULD BEWORTH UM TWOPENCE

ALL RIGHT THEN -THAT MEANTHERE'S A 2p. TOUPEE

TEPEE TO PAY!

THAT PILE OF ASPIRINSHAS GONE MOULDS'

UGH THAT HEAPBAD MEDICINE'

MY BIRD, HIM NAMEDTOM ME CALL HIM

TOM, A HAWK!

ME, WATHA, STAND ONLADDER. THEN ME BEHIGHER WATHA!

'Tepee For Two'

ME NOTICE YOURPIPE 15 FULL OF UMLITTLE. GREEN

VEGETABLES

MEANWHILE, FRESCO -LE RAYE ISCONTINUING HIS ROMANCE WITHTHE LOCH NESS MONSTER

THE TROUBLE WITH GIVINGFLOWERS TO A VEGETARIAN 15THAT SHE TENDS TO EAT THEMWHAT I NEED IS SOME TOKENOF MT' AFFECT ION

MORE LASTINc,

I KNOW! I'LLWRITE HERA POEM!

1Lo, Cupid's dartHath pierced my heart,And it both smartWhen we're apart.

UM STAGECOACH HAS PASSED THISWAY WITH SIX HORSES, THREEGUARDS. TWO PASSENGERS ANDUM CHEST OF GOLD.

THAI INCREDIBLE'YOU CAN TELL ALLTHAT JUST BYLISTENING TOTHE GROUND?

N4 L.

4/- 4' 4L.

ME, WATHA, SELL MYSERVICES TO ANYONE

WHO PAYS.

ME KNOWN ASHIRE WATHA!

11 '-.OLD INDIAN JOKE FROMCON GODDARD. LONDON

"Roses are red,Violets are blue.I'd reall likeTo shack up with yi)...)

.416 1..

MORE THE SEARINGHEAT THE HIDEOUSTORTURES -THE AWFULMD/AN JOKES.-

IARA'vor

k) WAIT!THOSE

BLARINGBUGLES!

IT -IT'STHE U.S.

CAVALRY!

WE'RESAVED!WE'RESAVED!,

WHEN ME TELL YOU TO BURYHIM UP 10 HIS NECK IN SAND,THAT WASN'T EXACTLY WHAT

ME HAD IN MIND!

SHE BEENBAD GIRL, so

HAVE TO WEARRID SHOES SOPEOPLE LAUGH

AT HERMISDEEDS

--THAT WHYTHEM CALLED

MOCK- HER- SINS'

SMOCKTHREETIMES.

ME. SIOUX WARRIOR'ME SEE ONE-FOURTH OFROW OF LONGKNIFE SOLDIERS

HMm- IT REMIND ME OF 41,GREAT WHITE SINGER --

OUR CHIEF, HIMCALLED DULL KNIFE.

MAINLY BECAUSEHIM ALWAYSHALF- CUT! -

OLD INDIAN JOKES FROM -QUARTER ROW! MIKE TWEEDIE,HORNCNURCH

21 love you so,More than you know.If you should go,'Twould be a blow.

30, fair Paleolithic Dinotheriidaen

Ichthyosaurus,fc.

81KNICKER TYWITCH

BUT, SUDDENLY

P5ST-- QUIET!I HAVE COME TORESCUE you!

WHY HAVETHTI -40U NOT

GOT AHORSE ?

leitertat

1; 11 :4131"4.:I CAN'T AFFORD oNE.LUCKILY, SOMEONE HAS LENTME THIS CHAIR WITH REINSATTACHED TO IT.?

I I, S.

THAT'S WHY THEY CALL ME --

TN LOAN REIN -CHAIR!a. t

THIS COULD POSSIBLYBE MORE DIFFICULT

THAN I THOUGHT

J.EDWARD OLIVER'S

MOM MICX NO)CL, HAMILTON ROAD,OISHOP5TOK6, EASTLEIGH, HAMP5N1Rf

onelioess is,,.

--WHEN THE FIRST MAIL YOU EVERRECEIVE 15 A TELEGRAM FROM

THE QUEEN.FROM GLEN MILLER, KINGS WAY,STAINFORTH, Nr DONCASTER, YORKS

'S for FALSETTO(S;n3;n3 high, not beneath),And it's quite hard to doWith a FALSETTO teeth;

I

* DRESS DITTIES (AND SINGERS) FROM SHEENA COX, THE LIZARD.SiVAWNDHANI. NORFOLK. SEND YOUR GARBAGE (OR LARGE SAE TO JOIN THE FRESCO FAN CLUB)TO SIR EDWARD OLIVER, DISC, 24/ 34 MEYMOTT

Next week: For one week only . .Speclal 251St. episode Full Tonal BLACK it WHITE!

Lei!

agmoi-rms-rigaewn 200671W0371,01/13dX9Nt r

ziomomris'0801'15 3410ZIDIYI

i.250/102. BSTREET, LONDON SE I ILU

DISC is published by IPC Specialist and Professional Press Ltd. Surrey House. 1 Throwley Way, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 4QQ(Telephone: 01643 8040) and printed by W.W. Web Offset, Swan Close, Banbury, Oxon. Tel: 0295 4381. American tradedistribution: European Publishers Representatives Inc, 36 West 61st Street, New York, N.Y 10023. Registered at the GPO as anewspaper. Printed in Great Britain. CONDITIONS OF SALE AND SUPPLY: This periodical is sold subject to the followingconditions, namely that it shall not, without the written consent of the publishers first be given, lent, re -sold. hired out or otherwise

disposed of by way of trade at a price in excess of the recommended maximum price shown on the cover: and that is shall not be lent.re -sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutiliated condition or in any unauthorised cover of trade; or affixed to or as part ofany publication, or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever. DISC Editorial Offices 24/34 Meyinott St. London SE1 9LU(Telephone: 01 261 8000), DISC Advertising Offices, Surrey House. 1 Throwley Way, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 4QQ (Telephone:01-643 8040) Telex: 946564 BISPRESS SUTTON. Contents (T) Copyright IPC Business Press Ltd., 1975.

Documents

they don't get what they due -to the economic recession