THE DISAPPEARING CORNER - 1980'S

These images were all taken around the corner wedge area where City Road meets Milnbank Road.

Most of the main buildings you can see in the photos have vanished, replaced now with landscaping.

If you want to do a Google Street View comparison, here are their locations.

Top pic - Baxter Street shot from City Road in April 1986.

2nd pic - Baxter Street looking back down towards City Road in March 1984.

3rd pic - Blyth Street on a rainy day in November 1984.

last pic - The back of Blyth Street and Fleuchar Street in February 1985.

Photos by Neale Elder.

BAXTER PARK FESTIVALS - 1980'S

In July 2010, I put an article up on Retro about the "Peoples Festival" that took place at Baxter Park in 1981.

This was coordinated by a group of Anti-Nuclear organisations who went under the banner of No Nukes Music.

The review I posted back then came from Cranked Up fanzine, but it didn't really contain much info about the bands who were playing.

The review above, however, was published in the Courier and gives an account of the same event, including naming some of the acts who were performing.

So there was - RB's - Gypsy Joe - The Shoplifters - Alternative - Toxic Effects - Blaise - plus a few others.

There are also a couple of words from those in the crowd who give their opinion of the event - which appeared to get a thumbs up in general.

The other item is for another Baxter Park festival, this time celebrating International Youth Year - which was 1985.

Some of the bands taking part in this do were - AAGA - Chilli Peppers - Life Support - Plastic Surgery - plus others.

This article appeared in Deadbeat fanzine.

You'll need to give the Courier item a click to read the enlarged version.

A 2ND HELPING OF LIXX

1. LIXX ON STAGE AT BAXTER PARK.

2. STEEVO & JO DOLL AT BAXTER PARK.

3. THE LIXX STAGE GEAR.

4. LIXX BACKSTAGE IN EDINBURGH.

5. LIXX PROMO POSE.

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All the above photos were taken in the mid to late 80's period.

I've already done a wee feature on the history of Lixx, so those of you who need to refresh your memory, you can find the first batch of Lixx stuff in the September 2010 Archives.

Meanwhile, here below is a track from 1989 called "Someday". This was to have been released as a single following on from their album, but for some reason it never saw the light of day, so it's good to give it a new lease of life on Retro.

No shortage of Lixx guitar licks as the guys sound fully energized on this metal workout, their polished performance buffing up a blazing burnish!

Big thanxx to Joe Ogilvie.

PEOPLES FESTIVAL OF MUSIC - 1981

This event called the Peoples Festival Of Music took place at Baxter Park on 29th July 1981.

It consisted of stalls selling various knick-knacks alongside those who were selling politics - CND, Anarchists, Friends Of The Earth and so on.

There was also a kiddies farm, and of course there was the main music festival itself.

I haven't got the full band list as to who played that day but Dundee rockers, No Fixed Abode were on, as were a couple of punk bands, with Perth's ska outfit, the RB's, top of the bill.

The main complaint in Sid Gripple's report at the top, published in Cranked Up, was the lack of enthusiasm in the crowd.

Sid also suggests the smaller than expected turnout may have been down to the fact that the Royal wedding was being televised the same day!

Well whatever was causing the apathy, all I know is I wasn't at Baxter Park that day, neither was I at home watching any Royal nonsense because I was actually in the middle of a tour of Spain & Portugal with my Inter Rail card, and on the 29th July 81, I was in Lisbon.

I probably would have popped along to Baxters though if I was in Dundee.

So to read about Sid's account of the festival, click onto the image to enlarge it.

Ditto, if you want to have a nose around the photograph of the festival crowd to see if you recognise anyone.

 

Photo by DC Thomson.

THE BAXTER PARK DISPLAYS

On one summer weekend each year in the 60's and 70's, Baxter Park put on a display that attracted hundreds of visitors. All the entertainment and action took place in front of the Pavilion, and around the edge of the cordoned off square, they had Army vehicles, Air Force tents, food stalls, ice cream vans and so on.

Performing in the square would be things like motor cycle stunt teams, a dog handler's obstacle course and the highlight would be the Red Devils sky-diving team. They would drop from the sky wearing their smoke flares and land dead centre on a cross marked out in the middle of the square.

I remember one time in the late 60's they ended the show with an old fashioned biplane that flew extremely low over the pavilion, over the crowd and off down across the Tay. A few people in the crowd even ducked by instinct, but it wasn't as low as that!

(By the way, in the late 60's, psychedelic rockers Jefferson Airplane released an album called "After Bathing At Baxter's" and had an image of a biplane on the cover.
However, theirs wasn't about a trip to the park, but more to do with a trip on LSD..!!)

Anyway, one of the quirkier side show attractions was a 6 ft robot that claimed it could answer any question you asked it. I wish I had asked it how it worked!

The above photo was taken on 22nd July 1976. Not much of a crowd for this one though compared to earlier shows. The sky-divers on this occasion are from the Golden Lion Team. The 2 guys are, Jim Conway from Mid Craigie and Mike Colligan from St Marys.

Below you can see the original Red Devils in action that may bring back a few memories of this Baxter's annual event, although it wasn't filmed there.

Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG