DESPERATE DAN x STEELY DAN - 1974

The sight of 2 well known Dans teaming up together for an advert, cropped up in the national music press in March 1974.
Yes it's Dundee's Desperate Dan carrying an album by U.S.A.'s Steely Dan.
It could be interpreted as Dan stealing the LP, giving it a visual pun (stealy Dan), especially as it may also be a rogue Dan (bolts in the neck?!).
Anyway, it's quite amusing, and I remember buying Pretzel Logic too.
If I incorporate a 3rd Dan onto the scene, Dundee's Danny Wilson, some of you will know that they were somewhat inspired by Steely Dan's music.
In fact, they even released an EP in the late 80's which gave a bit of a nod to Pretzel Logic - cheekily calling it Strepzil Logic!

JOHN MENZIES - MURRAYGATE - 1985

John Menzies moved across the road into these premises in Murraygate in the early 80s, the store having been vacated by Woolworths. Everything was on ground level this time, with the above record department at the far end of the shop. On the left is the Computer section and on the right were wall racks of cassettes and audio accessories.
This picture was taken in December 1985 and in amongst the album racks under "S" are - Shakin' Stevens, Status Quo, Simple Minds, Soft Cell, Saxon, Supertramp, Rod Stewart, Savage Progress & Small Faces.
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.

BELLFIELD STREET PANELS - 1985

In the early 80's, the decision was made to regenerate the Blackness area which had become rather dilapidated by then. One of the ways they used to attract attention to the buildings was to use art. The example above was one of the many projects to catch the publics eye. These Dundee transport themed panels in Bellfield Street were the creation of Kenny Munro, and were made using silk screen prints on tiles.
I took this photo of the car in 1985.

CAIRD HALL ON FILM - EARLY 80'S

In the early 80's, the Caird Hall was filmed doubling as a Moscow theatre in a play by Alan Bennett called "An Englishman Abroad", about communist spy Guy Burgess. It was broadcast on TV, Tuesday 29th November 1983 on BBC.
Also in the hour long film are scenes filmed in Exchange Street and Dundee High School.
I have another 2 items on this subject in my July 2008 Archives.
Here below are a couple of scenes taken at Caird Hall, including the opening sequence.

OKHAI THE NOO!

The ad at the top dates from the mid 80's and is for the Okhai Group.
They manufactured a variety of items such as product packaging, sweets, fizzy drinks, stationery, etc.
You can read the full list of what they produced in more detail on the ad.
Their main depot was based at 34 Mains Loan.
They also came up with an amusing slogan with a touch of double wordplay - "Okhai The Noo".
When Keiller's closed down in the early 80's, the Okhai Group ended up using their empty Dundee factory to produce their own range of soft drinks, including Meri-Mate. The picture of the factory interior above is dated 1984.
After about a decade in business, Okhai closed down in the early 90's.
Photo by The Scotsman.Tints by GG.

DUNDEE DEMO #3 - DANNY WILSON

The 3rd in the wee series of demo's from Dundee is taken from a 10 inch ep conveniently called "The Dundee Demo's", by local band, Danny Wilson. This was a limited edition released in the late 80's, each one individually numbered. There is 1 remix on it and 3 original demo recordings, and I've chosen the demo track "Steam Trains To The Milky Way" to accompany a little video I stitched together featuring some old moody footage from around the city.

DUNDEE DEMO #2 - THE ASSOCIATES

Before it became the polished piece of pop that appeared in the charts in 1982, here below is how "Club Country" sounded in its raw demo format. A much rougher and edgier performance. Singer, Billy Mackenzie even changed the wording from "Glad to see that you're suffering" in the demo, to "Sad to see that you're suffering" in the finished version. Although it was a pop tune that everyone used to sing along to, most people probably didn't realise how dark the subject matter was. The lyrics are in fact about Liff Hospital, which was a large psychiatric institution on the outskirts of Dundee.

SEAGATE GALLERY - 1980'S

The Seagate Gallery & Printmakers Workshop opened in 1986.
I remember visiting an exhibition by David Mach they put on in 1986.

This was David's first major show in Dundee and the exhibits were all installations.

It had a kind of local industrial theme with Jute, Jam & Journalism being represented, but in David's unique contemporary style of multitude sculptures.

Jute was depicted in a piece using 4000 jute bobbins.

Jam was portrayed using 2500 jam jars, some filled to form an image of a shark and man (as seen in the photo above).

The Journalism artwork was a massive swirling sculpture made out of thousands of magazines, with office equipment scattered in amongst them.

Davids work has since gone on to be known around the globe.

They also used to put on shows regularly by local amateur artists.

Although it opened its doors in summer '86, its official grand opening event didn't take place until November 1986 - with local jazz act Havana Swing providing the entertainment.

A few years later, I managed to snap a couple of photos (above) at an exhibition there around 1989.

The pieces are by Francisco Cabral, an artist from Trinidad.

LYON STREET IN THE 80's

This is how Lyon Street looked back in the 1980's. A typical Dundee street that you would pass without giving it a second glance.
In the early 80's, however, something was brewing at number 39.
A wee social gathering of creative musicians were busy producing acts who would go on to record some classy alternative pop music. This is where Billy Mackenzie & Alan Rankine of The Associates were living back then, along with a few others. In amongst the others were Christine Beveridge & Steve Reid who went on to record as Orbidoig, releasing a couple of singles.
A cross-pollination of The Associates & Orbidoig then created a 3rd act called... 39 Lyon Street. They too released a single - "Kites" - which was a cover of the Simon Dupree hit from the psychedelic 60's.
The article under the photo is the band getting a debut mention in an NME dated June 1981.
Below, is rare footage of Billy singing an acoustic version of "Kites" on French TV.
The original vhs tape was a bit mashed, but it's well worth watching anyway.

CHEQUERS - NETHERGATE - 1981

Chequers position in the Nethergate was reflected by those who used to drink there - half were townies and half were students.

It opened around 1980 and was a cheery, civilised place to mingle - even on the nights it was crammed.

As well as a jukebox up on the wall, it had "Commedia dell'Arte" themed paintings hanging up around the pub - Pulcinella and co, as above.

Its interior was done in typical 80's ever popular green, hence this caption colour!

THE OTHER RECORD SHOP - OVERGATE

Some of the albums here in the window of The Other Record Shop taken in 1984 are - Roger Waters, Psychedelic Furs, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Human League and Echo & the Bunnymen.
The shop also sold concert tickets which is why there is a poster advertising Bob Dylan tickets on the window, although that was for a gig out of town as Dylan has never played in Dundee.
They also had a variety of rock t-shirts and comics on sale.
The advert dates from April 1985 and is a reminder that they also stocked a variety of jazz records.

Photo by DC Thomson.

LIZ McCOLGAN PARADE - 1986

This is Liz McColgan ( although she was still Liz Lynch at this stage in her career ) and her Team mates being paraded down Reform Street in an open top bus in 1986. This was to celebrate her winning 2 gold medals at the Commonwealth Games that year.

DA VINCI'S - WESTPORT - 1980'S

Da  Vinci's in Westport was often viewed as a "posers" pub in the 80's, but I didn't find it too bad at all, it was quite trendy I'd say.

As the name suggests, they were referring to Leonardo da Vinci and so they had an artists palette as part of their logo as well as examples of his artwork on the walls (prints, not originals of course!).

The ground floor had a bar and a small lounge area on a raised floor.

Upstairs was the main attraction though, with it's small dancefloor with DJ's playing regularly. It could get really crowded at times, but there were some great lively nights to be had there.

A lot of revellers often ended up having it as the last pub on their pub crawl before hitting the nearby discos!.

The colour shot above shows the location of Da Vinci's - the double-roofed white building in the corner of the car-park. Pic taken in 1982.

The black & white images were both taken in the upstairs area in 1981.

Photos by DC Thomson.

THE KEYHOLE - NORTH LINDSAY STREET

The Keyhole in North Lindsay Street, opened in the early 80's.

It was owned by ex Ice Hockey player Marshall Key, hence the wordplay related pub name.

The interior was very spacious, with a sunken serving bar in the centre of the floor.

It also later had large screens, as I recall it being packed with Scots fans watching a match one time I was there.

DUNDEE'S THIRD BRIDGE - 1980's

First there was the Rail Bridge, then the Road Bridge and finally this piece of modern sculpture, called "The Bridge". This one was erected around the early 80's in Hunter Street, Blackness/Westport area, and made by artist Ron Martin. It was of course the kind of bridge you would have on a cello or double-bass. You can just make out the 4 notches along the top where the strings would go.

DUNDEE - EUROPE - DUNDEE - 1983

I started using Inter Rail cards in 1980, and this one from 1983 was my 4th and last year of travelling this way. I chose to go to Greece going through the former Yugoslavia (despite lots of advice not to take that route). So the place names on the card are - DUNDEE - LONDON - DOVER - CALAIS - PARIS - NICE - VENTIMIGLIA - MILAN - VENICE - TRIESTE - BELGRADE - BAR (near the Albanian border) - THESSALONIKA - ALEXANDROUPOLIS (near the Turkish border) - ATHENS - KALAMATA - PATRAS, then pretty much the same route back up to VENICE. The trip from VENICE to LONDON was the direct Orient Express route through Switzerland. Then of course, back home to DUNDEE.
Click on the image to enlarge.

CHURCH PUB #1 - CLOISTERS

This building on the corner of Meadowside and Bell Street, was Dundee's first church to be converted into a pub.
Sometime around the early 80's it opened as Cloisters.

The top photo shows the main doorway on Meadowside, which was directly opposite Foreigners.
The middle picture is a shot of the interior, which was taken from the raised floor area where bands sometimes used to play.
I recall seeing Altres play there in the mid 80's - complete with eye-catching slide show!
The pub interior was very spacious, with the bar plonked dead centre and despite how roomy it was, Fridays & Saturdays were still usually choc-a-block.
I remember they sold "venison burgers" and I jokingly commented to the bar staff that they were a bit too dear (deer!).
The third picture was the pub's other doorway situated in Bell Street.
Later around the mid 80's it changed its name to Gabriels, then in its final years became known as the Café Club Bar, until the place was destroyed by fire in June 1991.
The original building itself now no longer exists.
Viewing it again though after 3 decades, I reckon it could have made a perfect pub for Goths!
Below, is a tiny moment of footage showing how Meadowside looked in 1980 - church left, Foreigners (black frontage) right.

 

Exterior photos by DC Thomson.
Interior shot by The Bear.

FAT SAMS - SOUTH WARD ROAD -1980's

Fat Sams opened in December 1983 and very quickly became a favourite with local clubbers.

One of the main reasons for this was because many of the best night's in Dundee in the 80's were the ones under the "Dance Factory" banner.

Dance Factory organisers had been putting on gigs in town since 1982, but they never settled on a specific venue for these events. Sometimes it was Teazers, other times it was the Marryat Hall and they even tried the Barracuda a couple of times, but when Fat Sams cropped up on the scene, this then became their venue of choice.

Dance Factory promoted the "alternative" music scene. Some of the acts I can remember catching here in the 80's were - Frank Chickens, Bhundu Boys, Shriekback, Jonathan Richman, X-Mal Deutschland, Divine, The Higsons, John Peel, The Associates, Bo Diddley, Jesse Rae, Paul Haig, plus a whole heap of others who's names now escape me!!

The above photos, which were taken around the mid/late 80's, give you an idea as to how the exterior & interior looked back then, as does the video clip below, also from the same era - with Billy MacKenzie your host.

2 STUDENT'S UNION GIGS - 1980

Here are two of my Students Union ticket stubs that have survived the passage of time.

The promoters for these Dundee gigs were AIRLIE PLACE ENTERTAINMENTS - organised by Stuart Clumpas.

Peter Gabriel appeared there on 27 Feb 1980 and he began the show by making a surprise appearance at the hall's main door where the students enter, then made his way through the audience shining a hand held spotlight on the crowd as he advanced up to the stage.
The support act was Random Hold.

The Mike Oldfield gig took place on 13 Apr 1980 and I remember one local newspaper report describing the shows acoustics with the comment - "The sound was so good, it was just like listening to a giant hi-fi in your living room!"

PLATFORM JAZZ - 1980's

PLATFORM were a promotional organisation who, in the 70's & 80's, put Jazz concerts on in Dundee.

Tickets were usually purchased from Forbes music shop on the corner of Commercial St & Dock St.

Some of the acts I can recall going to see were Morrisey/Mullen, Billy Cobham (with Mike Stern), Allan Holdsworth, Stan Tracey, Soft Heap, Gary Boyle and, as my 1984 ticket on top shows, Dollar Brand, featuring a pretty intense Abdullah Ibrahim performance.

Gig venues included the Bonar Hall, Angus Hotel, The Rep, Royal Hotel, Whitehall Theatre and Tay Hotel.

The 3 items under the ticket are all from old Wire magazines I have and are good reminders of the scene at the time.

The Dundee Jazz Festival article dates from June 1985 and featured Gil Scott-Heron as one of the main acts that year.

That's followed by a small announcement about the launch of a new Jazz Club at the Tay Hotel - and this is dated November 1985.

The final item is an ad from October 1987 and has a couple of gigs in Dundee in amongst the Scottish shows - Bobby Watson Quartet at the Rep and Don Cherry's Nu playing at the Whitehall Theatre.