NME FASHION ADS - 70's/80's

On the occasions when you couldn't always find what you were looking for in Dundee shops (which was quite often) and you couldn't always afford to go to London to indulge, then the mail order pages in music papers were a good alternative.

The ones above are all from old NME's I have, so let's tuck in...!!

The top ad is dated 1978 and features gear with a distinctly early 70's look - rugby shirt, cheesecloth shirt, embroidered kurta, loons and smock top.

The next 4 ads are all from 1981 and include a mish-mash of punk, new romantic, rock, new wave and soul boy gear, items such as - PVC breeks, denim jacket, bomber jacket, patch jeans, hardcore punk vest, jack boots (with the ad saying that they make Dr Martens look like ballet shoes!), stud belt & wristband, deck shirt, colonial shirt, Syrian scarf, cavalry shirt, regency shirt, leopard print trousers, stripy jeans, Bowie suit, pirate shirt, boating trousers, army surplus, Hawaiian shirt, tukker boots, and plenty more examples in amongst them.

The last one is dated 1985 and already there seems to be a bit of a retro thing going on in their ad with their mohair jumper, bondage trousers, gas cape, ski goggles, buckle boots, creepers and such like.

I'm sure some of you will have spotted your particular look!

I used to send for the odd item using this mail order route. One from around the 1981/82 period being a "Dread At The Controls" T-shirt. It was pertaining to Mikey Dread's radio show - and I wore that for years!!!

I remember Joe Strummer used to wear one too.

So anyway, it seems quite appropriate to include it here.

Click onto the ads to have a closer inspection.

STONE THE CROWS - CAIRD HALL - 1971

On the 17th March 1971, this budget-priced concert was on offer at the Caird Hall for 50p.
The bands involved were prog rockers, Beggars's Opera - Arc, who were another prog rock outfit - and top of the bill, Stone The Crows, who were more blues rock based.

YES - CAIRD HALL - 1971

Prog rockers, Yes, were on stage at the Caird Hall on 10th October 1971 - along with support act Jonathan Swift.
The artwork on the poster would appear to confirm that this would be before they teamed up with their long time collaborator, graphic designer, Roger Dean.

SUPERTRAMP - CAIRD HALL - 1975

The unique sounds of Supertramp were to be heard in the Caird Hall at a gig that took place on 25th November 1975.

Special guest was Joan Armatrading.

THE JAM - CAIRD HALL - 1979

Jute, The Jam and Journalism - here's an article from the NME mentioning the tour dates for The Jam.
Included on the list is their gig at the Caird Hall which was on the 9th December 1979.
There is a recording of this show doing the rounds, but I haven't been able to get my mitts on it yet!

LIST-D IN THE PRESS ... AND IN COURT

List-D cropped up on the local music scene in the late 70's.

The band kinda started off as teenage punks music-wise, and as a result their gigs had a bit of a reputation for often ending in fights!

Later in 1980, they tried to develop a more mature sound.

They played locally at venues such as the Junction 9 & Marryat Hall, and sometimes ventured out of town too.

The above photo was taken in 1980 in the spare grounds near the Grey Lodge in the Hilltown area. The Grey Lodge being where they rehearsed. Spot the nifty piece of graffiti in the background!

Line-up, L to R...

Jim Grieves (Sykes), drums.

Mark Stuart (deceased), guitar.

Eddie Harrington, bass.

Dek McHugh aka Zippy, vocals.

This was the band's strongest line-up but a couple of other members came & went - Colin Ramsay, Gordon "Fanta" Walker for example.

Zippy was only 17 at the time of the photo, and left Dundee before he was 18.

The photo was published in the Dundee Standard, and while they were at it, Dek was asked to supply his Top 5 records.

The 3rd article is a report from the time List-D ended up in court.

This was in summer 1979 when they were supporting London band, Beggar, who were doing a mini-tour of East Scotland & Highlands.

After Peely gave the band a shout-out on radio, both bands over-did the celebrations and it all went wrong.

You can read about it yourselves.

Click onto it to bring up the large version.

Many thanks to Dek.

MISBEHAVIN' - PUB BAND - 1980'S

I've scoured every page of every issue of Cranked Up looking for a live review or some other article about pub rockers, Misbehavin', but to no avail. They did get a couple of name-checks in the passing, but the band's brand of rock covers didn't invoke anything substantial written about them when they were doing the pub/club circuit in the early 80's.
In the line-up we have - Bill Higgins - Chris Taylor - Nigel Brodie - Pete Sillars - Scott Martin.
Chris Taylor, who was a painter, illustrator & caricaturist, died earlier this year.

SEVERED ARM APPEARANCES - EARLY 80'S

Recently unearthed photos have surfaced of Dundee alternative band - Severed Arm.

The images all come from around the 1982 period.

Top picture was taken at the Tayside Bar.

Middle shot has the guys striking a pose in the street.

Bottom image is the band on stage at an outdoor festival in Baxter Park.

A reminder of the line-up....Jim Low, vocals - Dave McDonald, guitar - John Anderson, bass - Cass, drums.

And a reminder of their sound....here below is a nifty little number captured at Ardler Community Centre, recorded around the same time as the photos.

A nice bit of chainsaw guitar powering its way through the tune - a song called "Leave Me To My Own Devices".

Big thanks to Dave.

THE BLUSH ON VINYL - 1982

There is already a track by The Blush up on Retro Dundee which was taken from the "Dundee Compilation Cassette" and so was not really considered an official release, technically speaking.

This one above, however, was the band's "official" release, recorded at Wilf Smarties studios and came out in 1982.

It is a double A-side - "A Look From Outside" & "Skipping", and when it was out it became a Radio Tay "Toe-Tapper", that is, it got played on the station, twice a day for 2 weeks!

In previous items about them on Retro, I have The Blush line-up as - Jeff Doran, vocal & guitar - Eddie Robertson, guitar - Steve Duncan, bass and Steve Aungle, drums.

If it's still the same team on this recording then most have adopted pseudonyms on the cover, and they have also recruited a keyboard player.

Should this be Steve Aungle we're hearing on drums, then just like yesterday's band, there is a connection with Billy Mackenzie because later, Steve went on to record with Billy.

Coincidentally, The Associates also recorded a track called "Skipping" in 1982, appearing on the "Sulk" album, but a totally different song.

This is the track I've opted for to tune into, it being a bit edgier than the flip side.

Quite a lengthy robust intro, but it does break into song...eventually!

PARADES IN PERSON - EARLY 80S

Parades were a new wave/alternative pop act on the go in Dundee in 1981-82.

Line-up : Steve Knight, bass - Mike Knight, guitar - Sandy Chisholm, drums - Angus McFarlane, vocals.

They had a really good reputation at the time, almost everyone in agreement that they were a top notch band.

The 2 Cranked Up reviews were both caught live at the Tayside Bar - top one being their debut gig in 1981, and the lower one from 1982.

Parades sound was compared to The Associates, and there is probably a very good reason for this, because bassist, Steve Knight, used to be in The Associates. That's a picture of Steve I've put up to accompany the reviews.

There is also a mini interview with the guys when they all met up in the Tav for a chinwag.

As far as I know, Parades split later in 1982 after Steve set sights on a move to London.

You'll need to click on the top sheet to read the enlarged version.

THE CLASH - CAIRD HALL - 1980

The 18th January 1980 saw The Clash rumbling into town for a gig at the Caird Hall.

This was their "16 Tons Tour", the band arriving on stage to the sound of Tennessee Ernie Ford's version of the song "16 Tons".

Quite a lively night needless to say, the band wearing black, red & white combination gear and telling the crowd at the front to stop gobbing!

There were at least 2 dozen songs in their set on the night, recordings of which exist and I have in my collection.

I was tempted to accompany this item with a Caird Hall sound sample but I thought you'd like what's below even better.

It's footage of the band in Dundee the day after the gig, about to depart for their next show elsewhere.

It has Joe Strummer doing his bit for the camera, filmed at the Tay Hotel and around the corner area of Whitehall Crescent.

The cops are making their presence known too....just in case!

S'PUNK FANZINE - 1979

Back in 1978 when Steve Grimmond and Craig Methven were still only in their mid teens, they started up this fanzine call S'PUNK (it's punk), dedicated to the punk scene and its kindred on the fringe.

This particular one above is issue 13 and came out in January 1979.

So quickly sifting through some of the pages I've put up on display...

On top is the front cover which has an image stating "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog".

The 2nd page down is the editorial intro, or idiotorial as they have it, cramming in a few words about the mag content, surrounded by the bands and subject matter for this issue.

Image 3 is a look back at their "Singles Of The Year" for 1978. Both list their personal top 10 and there is also a general S'Punk top 20.

Craig has gone for The Only Ones - "Another Girl, Another Planet".

Steve opted for Steel Pulse - "Ku Klux Klan".

4th page down is a mention of a gig that took place up at the Bowling Alley in Marketgait, the band being Punishment Of Luxury (Punilux for short). This includes a rather brief encounter with the band which soon became an aborted interview! There is also a mini review of the gig itself.

Lastly, we have 5 acts at 2 venues.

The upper 2 are for Richard Hell & The Voidoids and John Cooper Clarke, the support acts for Elvis Costello who played the Caird Hall on 14th January 1979.

Finally, a 3 band gig, this time at Bloomers in South Tay Street.

Support acts were Curfew and Straits, with The Skids being the main headliners.

S'Punk must be a contender for being one of Dundee's earliest fanzines I reckon, so it's a rare read, and if you want to view the pages in more detail, just click onto them to enlarge.

Big THANKS to Craig.

CIRCUS OF HELL DEMO - 1984

Circus Of Hell sprung out of the Dum Dum Boys in 1984.
They kinda ditched glam and adopted Goth, so their sound was still in rock territory but had a slightly darker vibe.
Similar to someone like The Cult, for example.
The band also recorded a 3 track demo tape in '84.
And so from it, here is one of the tracks, titled "Loose On You".

PETE HOOD & CO - 1980'S

There are quite a few examples of Pete Hood's work up on Retro because this is the guy who did the gig reviews and band interviews in Street Life magazine in the late 80's.

Here he is schmoozing with a couple of local celebs at Fat Sams.

The top one looks as if he's passing advice onto an aspiring young music journalist, but this is Terry McGregor who aint no would-be music journalist, she WAS one, although we all know her better as Toni Scott fae the Journal's Poparound page.

Most of you will probably recognise Pete's other companion by now, even if he is in his civvies, it's Lixx vocalist, Jo Doll.

Photos by The Bear.

CHALMERS & JOY RECORD SHOPS

Although I don't have any photos of Chalmers & Joy, I don't want to leave them without a presence on Retro Dundee, so I'll do what I usually do under these circumstances, and use other bits & pieces.

The top ad is one I found in the small ads of a 1972 Telegraph.

However, I don't actually recall visiting either of the 2 shop locations mentioned in the ad - one in the Hilltown and a shop up Albert Street.

By 1974, the Hilltown shop had disappeared and their city centre shop on the corner of Seagate/Gellatly Street had opened up, and that's the one I used to go to.

It was an upstairs/downstairs job, but us teenagers need not have bothered too much about what was on offer downstairs as, apart from the singles, it was a mix of Scottish traditional and easy listening. The youthful goodies were upstairs - where all my dosh went!

The staircase walls were covered in posters and when you reached upstairs, these walls too were taken over by poster racks. The room itself was quite spacious and they had a sizable vinyl selection, even if they didn't really keep up with the times as energetically as Bruce's did.

I think the shop went through a couple of interior changes over the years but the layout I've described is the one that sticks in my mind most.

The Top 20 album chart dates from December 1975, and gives a general idea of what kind of material was selling at the time. Apart from a couple of corny easy-listening crooners, the remainder are all well known established pop & rock acts. Disco Hits 75 is a good reminder, however, that the mid 70's wasn't just all about pop & rock music.

Next up we have another advert, this one dated March 1977.

Oh by the way, you see the Status Quo "Live" double album in the ad, well technically, I'm on that one! I went through to Glasgow for their gig at the Apollo where the album was recorded, so I was part of the audience.

The final ad dates from 1985, and reminds us that they had a special discount on offer for students.

Underneath that ad is a reminder of the shop's carrier bags.

The striped one being the Hilltown & Albert Street bag, and the pinky red one coming from their Seagate shop.

So, were you part of the Chalmers & Joy hoi polloi?

B.G. FORBES IN COMMERCIAL STREET



Here's some ads pertaining to BG Forbes, a shop that sold records and musical instruments.

First though, the photo is a good wee reminder of its location - right on the corner of Commercial Street and Dock Street.

I shopped in here quite a lot in the 70's because it had a really cool selection of jazz vinyl that other record shops in Dundee didn't have - a fine array of ECM albums for example. Some I recall buying were - Terje Rypdal, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny, Eberhard Weber, these kind of acts, although I must admit I also came home with a heap of pretty obscure albums from this place too. Names that spring to mind are Pacific Eardrum, Opa, Stomu Yamashta, Passport, Brand X, Casiopea, Shakti, Turning Point, PFM, Milton Nascimento, Nucleus, Marscape, Solution, Azymuth, UK, Nana Vasconcelos, White Noise, Isotope....and plenty others of this variety.

Why they stocked records such as these was probably down to the fact that the guy who ran the shop, Rob Adams, was himself a bit of a jazz-rock aficionado. In fact he was also in a couple of local bands called Europe and Head, acts influenced by the likes of Weather Report.

Anyway, getting back to the above items - the first ad that's making a "note" of the name, dates from 1978.

The small ad under it is from a 1972 Telegraph and the next one is from a 1977 Telegraph - both displaying albums that were more commercial than the kind I usually bought from there.

The 2 yellow items date from 1980 and were adverts that cropped up on the reverse side of tickets for gigs on at the University. The idea being that if you took the ticket stubs into Forbes you got £1 knocked off the price of the related albums - these here being for Peter Gabriel and Mike Oldfield.

We'll just have to ignore the fact that the Uni got the address wrong on one of them!!

Top photo by Neale Elder.

ROCKPILE RECORDS - 1980'S

3 adverts for Rockpile Records published in local fanzines in 1982.

A neat wee shop, selling a mixture of new and second-hand records.

Very aromatic too I remember!

I never actually bought any records from there mind you, my visits were only when I was off-loading parts of my collection from time to time.

And, it was also the only shop in town who dared to sell bootlegs!

LONG FELT WANT - 1966

These guys here messing about with a steamroller, were a beat group who got together at Dundee University in 1966.
Long Felt Want was the band name and the line-up consisted of -
George Robertson (lead guitar)
Nick Cronin (vocals)
Mick Gate-Eastley (rhythm guitar)
Drew Jones (bass)
Rob Syers (drums)
It didn't take long for them to get gigs as they supported The Kinks at The Palais in April 1966, then a couple of days later they were on home turf playing at a University charity ball.

Thanks to Martin Dudley

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.

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.