MORE ST ANDREW & THE WOOLLEN MILL

Bringing May's mega music mix to a halt, I'm gonna let St Andrew & The Woollen Mill continue with the comedy and have them play the month out with a bit of a chuckle.
This is another couple of tracks taken from the same source as yesterdays but shows a different side to the act, because along with the self penned material in the set, St Andrew also performed well known tunes...but with a humorous twist of course!
So once again the examples here were both recorded live - first one is a rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross", and the second one, the tune from "Close Encounters", dropping Vangelis's "Chariots Of Fire" into the fray!
I've seen them do this back in the early 80's and it's now interesting to observe that this comedy routine predates Bill Bailey by quite a few years.

Thanx to Jim.

ST ANDREW & THE WOOLLEN MILL - LIVE

Around about 1985ish, St Andrew & The Woollen Mill brought out a cassette that chronicled the history of the band. Done in the style of a mock documentary, it had interviews, fly-on-the-wall behind the scenes shenanigans, studio recordings and live recordings. It was put together really well, lasts an hour, and of course being comedy material, is funny all the way through. It's also loaded with references from the early 80's Dundee music scene, as well as mentioning quite a few well known places around town.
To give you a flavour of the content, here below is a recording capturing some of the fun of their live performances.
As a wee reminder, and to help put you in the picture, the mince roll caravan was up the Hulltoon.
The rest should be self explanatory.

Big thanks to Jim.

ROUNDING UP THE RAUNCHY GUYS

At long last, the hunt for the remaining members of Country & Western's most notorious combo, The Raunchy Guys, is over. After a lengthy period evading capture, the 2 other music outlaws who were in hiding, have finally been caught.

You may recall a few months ago only 2 of the Rauncheros had been unmasked - Bullet Fritter Snakebelt aka Jim Low & Stompin Hoss aka Gordon Walker - well now I can exclusively reveal the images of the other rhyme syndicate pair.
The top photo is Big Musket Teepee aka Al Hendrickx and below him is The Bear aka Joe Jordan.
You can also see from the shocking candid photo of Bullet Fritter Snakebelt that not only was he a threat to the public, but was also a danger to himself!
At least that's one chapter of local music history we no longer need to worry about.
Time for a celebratory hoedown now!
So go tie your mules to the trough, grab a shot of red-eye, lasso a showgirl and let's get the party started!
Meanwhile, here's a reminder of The Raunchy Guys material and why it was worthwhile tracking them down to prevent such music crimes being repeated - a song called "Washboard Line", which as you'll hear, contains a well known tune that they quite clearly stole then tried to pass off as one of their own.
Shameful stuff, but let's all sing along to it anyway, while they themselves get carted off to San Quentin!
The photos were discovered in a safe belonging to The Bear.

COLOSSUS - LAST DEMO - 80'S

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a demo track by Colossus that featured Gordon Band on vocals, dating from the late 70's.
Well this is another track of theirs, this time from the early 80's, and in fact comes from what turned out to be, the bands last demo session. The same line-up as before except Fran Docherty has taken over the singer's spot.
So here is a tune called "Anything You Want" - the first 90 seconds or so has a kind of Canterbury vibe to it, intricate interchanges knotting the intro together, before unravelling itself into a rocking groove that churns along like a tag match between Uriah Heep v Rush!
It's a bit of a bruiser!
Big thanks to Ewen.

KEVIN MURRAY - BONAR HALL - 80'S

Kevin Murray and co live on stage at the Bonar Hall, mid/late 80's period.
Not sure who the 2 guys with him are, but if you take a closer look at the side of the stage, you'll spot Les, from Sound Control, twiddling the knobs at the mixing desk.
Photo by The Bear.

JOE MACKAY - UNICORN - 1980'S

This is Joe Mackay getting things swinging along at the Unicorn sometime around the late 80's.
The 2 guys in the background also played for another Joe at the time, Joe Public.
A wee reminder that you can hear Joe Mackay's guitar work in full flow on a recording by John Huband dating from 1973 that I posted on Retro, May last year. Just use the search box to track it down.
Photo by The Bear.

ATTRACTION PROMO PIC - 1980'S

I'm afraid I know nothing about this act called Attraction, so I can't supply the band line-up or anything else for that matter, although word is they were clubby/pub entertainers in the late 80's.

Here's a couple of such a gigs - the D.R.I. Social Club ad is dated November 1988 and the Lochee Utd Social Club ad is dated September 1988.

Did they all model for C & A?

If anyone can dish up some info about them, the comments dept is all yours.

Photo by The Bear.

DEATH CULT - TEAZERS - 1983

Before the Dance Factory made it's nest in Fat Sams, it used to roost at Teazers (Royal Hotel) in Union Street.

Here's an ad for a gig they put on there in August 1983 featuring Death Cult.

This was the bands' in-betweeny phase - first starting off as The Southern Death Cult, then shortening their name to this version, Death Cult, before finally in 1984 chopping it right down to The Cult, and that's when they then went on to be chart bound around the globe.

The gig was actually the live UK debut of the band under this name. Word of it reached journalists, leading to a gig review in the national music press!

You may recall Vex did a gig at the Tayside Bar in 1982 calling themselves Death Cult, but they reverted back to Vex after this lot here became known.

DANCE FACTORY BANDS #2

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Moving on to the 2nd selection of images of unknown bands playing at Fat Sams in the mid/late 80's.
A couple of the acts in this lot look familiar to me but I just can't quite put a name to them.
If you're not so sure who they are either, you may have better luck spotting someone you know in the crowd.
Photos by The Bear.

DANCE FACTORY BANDS #1

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Next up is a big bundle of photos spread over 2 days featuring bands who played at the Dance Factory in the mid/late 80's.
Unfortunately, the bands in the pictures weren't catalogued, so although the reason I put them up was because they are a fine set of images in the first place, if you think you can identify any of the acts, that'll be a nice added bonus.
Some bands have 2 pics, some just 1.
See how you get on.
Photos by The Bear.

BLUES 'N' TROUBLE - 1980's

Gritty Scots band, Blues 'N' Trouble, played in Dundee many times during the 2nd half of the 80's, at venues such as University and College.

Here's a couple of items pertaining to their Fat Sams gigs.

A flyer for a performance on 21st December 1987 accompanied by a themed disco keeping the R & B sounds flowing.

An advert published in the local press for a stomp on 28 June 1989.

IRON MAIDEN - CAIRD HALL - 1980

A bit of a heavy metal extravaganza for this gig that took place on 12th June 1980 at the Caird Hall.

Top of the bill, Iron Maiden, supported by Praying Mantis, and although it has Colossus on the ticket, they didn't appear on the night.

Also keeping the crowd happy through the evening was metal specialist DJ, Neal Kay.

Thanks to Mark.

SAXON - MARKETGAIT GIG - 1979

Saxon's debut gig on Scottish turf took place on 21st September 1979 and the venue was the College of Technology Union in the Marketgait - or the Bowling Alley as we all called it.
The show was recorded by resident Bowling Alley DJ Brian Wilson and he has passed on this rare track to me from the gig, featuring the vocal delights of the Dundee crowd as an added bonus!
So here are the heavy metal rockers going back to the old style rock 'n' roll days with a song called "Bop Shoo Wop"...and getting all interactive in the process!
A lively wee beastie!
Big thanks to Brian.

NO FIXED ABODE DEMO - 1980'S

Not sure why, but drumming and singing at the same time always seems to be a tougher task than crooning at the piano for example, could be because it's physically more demanding, but anyway, Lloyd Anderson had the job as singing drummer in No Fixed Abode, and his band mates were Lyle Osborne on guitar, with bassist Jed Ward later replaced by Ronnie Boyd.
As well as being regulars on the local music scene in the early 80's, they also made demo recordings, and the track below is taken from one of these original demo tapes.
So the tune I've chosen to play on the Retro Dundee jukebox is called "Wolftime" - one of their rockier numbers.
See how you rate this then!
Big thanks to Ewen.

IMMACULATE FOOLS GIG REVIEW - 1985

Well here's a gig review that's a wee bit different from the norm.
This was put together by Deadbeat contributor, Hilary. It seems the Immaculate Fools appearance at the Dance Factory in March 1985 was so bad that she couldn't muster the usual kind of account of a live performance, so she just went around some of those who were in the crowd asking for their assessment.
Turned out they had the same opinion!
Amongst the Dundee critics were Ged, Kit & Gary from Danny Wilson, music journalist Bob Flynn, DJ Dave Calikes plus a few others who shared similar viewpoints.
Clearly the band should have presented a show that was a bit more foolproof!

JOHN MORAN - HOME & ABROAD

When John Moran began singing in Dundee in the early 60's, he opted to have a pop star kind of name, and became known as Johnny Hudson (top pic). He soon teamed up with established local band The Hi-Four and they in turn changed their name to the Johnny Hudson Hi-Four.

The band toured around Scotland and were the first Dundee pop group to work in Germany, approximately the same time as The Beatles famously resided there.
The Johnny Hudson Hi-Four hung out with guys like Long John Baldry, Willie Wilson, Tony Sheridan, Bobby Patrick and a young Alex Harvey! This experience in Germany was rewarded in 1963 on the band's return when they found out they were to be supporting The Beatles in the Caird Hall.
Quite a high to finish on - because in 1964 the band were transformed into the Poor Souls.
I've already written a couple of items about the Poor Souls on Retro so no need to repeat the info here, but around 1967, after a couple of record releases, the band split up.
However, it wasn't to be the end of the Poor Souls name because at the tale end of the 60's when John Moran moved to Canada, he resurrected the Poor Souls name in Toronto, albeit, obviously, with a completely different line-up. This incarnation of the Poor Souls released a 7 inch single on the Canadian Quality label in 1970 - A side "Lookin' Around", B side "Scarecrow".
John also made a solo album of self penned material the same year, a track from which you can hear below. The song is called "Something You Said", and although it dates from 1970, it does sound like the kind of thing that was popular in the UK in the mid 70's. Wings meets Gerry Rafferty! In fact if this had been released in the UK back then, I reckon it could have been a top ten chart contender.
See what you reckon.
Big thanks to Mac.

DUDHOPE PARK BANDS #2

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Here are some more bands who were performing at the Dudhope do, only I haven't got the names of these acts. So if anyone can identify any of them, drop the info into the comments.
If you need a closer look, click them to enlarge.
Photos by The Bear.