PANDA CARS AND BLACK MARIA'S

When panda cars first hit the scene on trial in England in the 60's, they started off with black & white markings, hence the nickname. However, when the rest of the UK adopted the panda's, they changed the colouring to light blue & white, although the nickname stuck.
Dundee had a fleet of Morris Minors (as in above photo) and then in the 70's I'm sure they changed to or added Ford Escorts.
Craigie, where I lived, had a small local Police Station beside the shops so we always saw them passing by on a regular basis. Still, despite being familiar with them, when we were primary school age, every time we saw one approaching from a distance, we always ended up hiding behind hedges or running up closies, even when we were just only playing in the garden.
It was a good bit of practise I suppose for our teenage years when they would come looking for us and it was time to scarper over walls & fences!
Black Maria's were black Police vans. A bit more sinister and always on the scene when there was serious trouble to deal with. Most often used at football matches. They would open up the back doors and just chuck you inside!
By the 1980's, panda's became extinct as the cars and vans were replaced with the white "jam sandwich" look.
Photo by the Scotsman. Tints by GG

ROYAL HOTEL (Teazers etc) - 70's & 80'S

The old Royal Hotel building in Union Street was quite a busy place if you go back 2 or 3 decades.
Here's the lowdown on the mid 70's to mid 80's period.
Well "Teazers" was the name of the night club they ran upstairs. The disco in the main lounge was quite roomy, and being a typical city centre club, it was always chock-a-block at weekends.
However, more interesting things were going on in the other rooms in the hotel...
In one of the smaller lounges they put on occasional jazz acts. I remember attending a few back then. Jazz-funksters Morrissey Mullen, and jazz-rockers Soft Heap, are 2 that spring to mind.
In another area of the hotel there was a larger hall that also had a stage. Dundee's alternative music promoters "Dance Factory" used this venue to put on gigs. Although these were usually advertised as being at Teazers, it wasn't the main disco room.
Needless to say, I went to lots of those too. Some of the acts who performed were, Big Country - Aztec Camera - The Fall - Durutti Column - Death Cult - Fischer Z, and on it goes.
This hall was also the place where they had a go at running a regular reggae disco. It was a bit hit & miss attendance-wise, even if the music was great, so unfortunately it only lasted a few months. Shame because it was the only place in Dundee where you were likely to hear Junior Murvin's classic "Police & Thieves" - so it got my thumbs up at the time!
When the Dance Factory moved to their permanent home in Fat Sams in 1984, Teazers started up a new club night called the Rock Machine, and this showcased both the alternative scene and rock music.
The top picture is the main Royal Hotel building's location on the corner of Union Street.
The photo under it shows the entrance area to Teazers Nite Club (the black & white doorway structure behind the pole) which was roughly halfway down Union Street.
Underneath that is the main lounge bar in Teazers disco.

The Teazers advert is a typical example of the kind published in the local press - this one here dating from December 1978.
And below, is a clip of the Royal Hotel entrance which was a separate area to Teazers doorway, and captured on film in 1985.
Although the building itself is till there today, it's no longer in use as a hotel.

STEELEYE SPAN - CAIRD HALL - 1972

The photos of Steeleye Span on stage at the Caird Hall were taken by my brother on 28th October 1972.

The band was probably the most commercial of the folk-rock acts that were on the go at that time.

The line-up did chop & change around this period so the only definite on the blurry images is vocalist, Maddy Prior, although that's probably Peter Knight (wearing the hat) on fiddle. I wouldn't want to commit myself on the other members on view.

The support act on the night was another folk-rock band, The Amazing Blondel. Don't know much about them, but a wee bit of trivia I have is that Eurythmic, Dave Stewart, used to be roadie with The Amazing Blondel as well as occasional guitarist!

QUICKIES - EXCHANGE STREET

This Barber shop in Exchange Street in the 60's and early 70's used to be known by locals as "Quickies". A nickname, not a business name. I think it just had City Hairdresser or something above the door. Another name it was called was "Scotties", after Scott, the guy who ran it. The photo above, which was taken in the late 80's has yet another name variant!
I'll always remember it as Quickies though. An apt description...in for a quick trim and out again. No messing, no fuss, no problem!
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG

JIMMY DEUCHAR - JAZZ MUSICIAN

 

Regarded by many jazz aficionados as one of the best trumpeters Britain has ever produced, the career of Jimmy Deuchar spanned more decades than is covered on Retro Dundee.

He began trumpeting professionally in the 1950's and kept it going right up until his death in the 90's.

Jimmy was also a composer & arranger who went on to record numerous albums and singles under his own name, and many as guest on other performers recordings.

Although he mainly played on the UK circuit, he has also spent a fair bit of time playing in Europe and USA too, not to mention occasional TV appearances.

Dundee was Jimmy's home base though, and during the late 70's - early 80's he organised jazz jam sessions down at The Sands in Broughty Ferry every Sunday lunchtime. I remember going to many of these. He would start off with a basic quartet, and if anyone fancied joining in, then they did so. Sometimes there would end up being about 8 on stage. All good fun, and a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. He also used to invite some of his jazz friends to visit and perform. One I recall was a gig at The Sands by his long time buddy from London, Ronnie Scott.

The photo above is Jimmy playing in the City Square. Perhaps the City Council should rename the square "Deuch's Place" (sorry, just a wee jazz joke there!). The local talent with him in the picture are - Frank Rossiter on trombone - John Whyte on guitar - (unknown hidden guitarist) - Jimmy on trumpet and Jim Mckenzie double bass.

Below is a wee tribute video I made as a reminder of his good work. The track is taken from a 1955 7inch e.p. called "Don't dance, dig" and the tune is a be bop version of "Dancing in the dark"....no, not Springsteens!!

SLICKERS - SOUTH TAY STREET - 1980'S

Couldn't find a photo or ad for this pub so will have to make do with this...er...arty recreation.

Slickers was located near the Westport end of South Tay Street and opened for business in the early 80's.

It was a bit of a trendy bar at the time, the place to go to see girls wearing bubble skirts and their big back-brushed hair, with the blokes wearing those new romantic baggy breeks.

There was the main entrance part of the bar which was the usual standing around area and then further along you went up a couple of steps to get to a more lounge based zone where they had lots of seats and tables.

Fridays & Saturdays were always cram packed with new wavers while Thursdays & Sundays would often attract a more student-like crowd from the alternative scene.

Slickers claim to fame was that it was the first pub in Dundee to have a Video Jukebox.

It presented a mixture of pop videos (Duran Duran, Ultravox...) a few classics from the past (Bob Marley, Dire Straits ...) and some alternative acts (New Order, Teardrop Explodes...).

I can remember playing over & over P.I.L "Public Image" - David Bowie "Lets Dance" and The Mighty Wah! "Come Back".

I must have put quite a lot of 50p's in it over the years come to think of it!

The other item above gives you an idea as to what the jukebox would have been showing in '84 - the article coming from a 1984 music magazine.

Video Jukeboxes are very common these days of course, but below is an example of the first generation that Slickers had.

BOOTS RECORD DEPARTMENT - 1970'S

Around about 1970, Boots on the corner of Reform Street, became the first store in the city to install an escalator. The first weekend it was operating saw an influx of kids to the shop who wouldn't normally be in Boots. They were the ones trying out this modern contraption the most. It was just like a visit to the funfair I suppose, the novelty of it.

What I liked about it was that it lead straight into the record dept on the first floor. Yes, Boots did used to sell albums, singles, cassettes and posters in the 70's.

They didn't have a "down" escalator though, so after a wee rummage through the record racks it meant having to use the "old fashioned" staircase. They did have framed pictures on the stairway walls, so at least you got a free art gallery display for your efforts!

The top image is of when Boots changed their exterior appearance the same time as they got the escalator put in.

Underneath it is the carrier bag from their record department - with a pop act on one side and a classical conductor on the flip.

POTTERS SHOE SHOP - MURRAYGATE

This ad for Potters in the Murraygate is dated April 1970.
A week devoted to getting a free fitting from the experts it says, but isn't it just trying on different sizes?
The above styles don't appear to reflect the fashion of the times either it has to be said.
Anyway, the shoe shop was on 3 floors and was in quite a nice "ye olde" type of building.
Below is a piece of footage (almost a pun there) of the actual building, taken from across the road.
It only lasts a couple of seconds, so don't blink!!

TECH COLLEGE UNION AKA BOWLING ALLEY



This building on the corner of Marketgait & Guthrie Street, once had a real tenpin bowling alley in the 60's. So later, when it came to be a Students Union in the 70's, us lot who went there still generally referred to it as the "Bowling Alley".
The students in this case being from the College of Technology rather than University.
It's heyday was the mid 70's to mid 80's period, and was always a really good buzz.
Card carrying students got in free and they could each sign in 2 paying guests.
I remember you had to be signed in before 11:00 pm - then the doors closed! This often lead to a rush of people vacating the pubs between 10:30 & 11:00 for a mad dash along the Marketgait to make it on time, otherwise they'd be locked out.
The rooms were upstairs, 3 areas all on the same floor.
A wee recreation room with darts, pool table & table football to chill out in.
Then the main hall itself that had the disco and bar (see 2nd photo above).
Finally, a back room with a stage area where bands played.
The DJ was Brian Wilson, who played a diverse range of music, an aspect that made visiting the Bowling Alley such a big draw. The original name was Deepwater Disco and then it later became known as Brian's Disco.
The Bowling Alley also had the comfiest seats in town, so much so that sometimes you were reluctant to get up off them to dance!
Quite often at the end of the evening there would be an amusing beer fight. Typical student fun really, never any trouble.
Along with the disco and cheap beer, the other attraction was live music.
Like the University circuit, this was a good place to catch an act at the beginning of their career...
The Sex Pistols, Dire Straits, Simple Minds, Motorhead are just 4 of the acts who performed there before going on to greater things.
Rock, punk, pop & new wave were all represented, with the likes of Saxon, 999, Joe Jackson, XTC... too many to mention really.
Needless to say it was a hot venue for local bands too, e.g. Colossus, Friction, Skeets Boliver...and on it goes.
Examples of the venue cropping up in the music press back then are displayed in the above cuttings...
The first one is from an NME and shows Lemmy's Motorhead there on Saturday 9 October 1976.
The one under that is from the Melody Maker and the date XTC performed there was Friday 27 January 1978.
The last one is from an NME and has the Dire Straits gig dated as Wednesday 21 June 1978.
The place then had a bit of a make-over (UV lights etc) in the early 80's which is shown on the 3rd & 4th photos above.
Although the building is still there today, it has since gone through further transformations - but not necessarily an improvement made to it!.

Thanks to DJ Brian Wilson for first interior photo.
Thanks to David Pentland for the other two interior images.
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The Bowling Alley now has its own website - go visit Bowlin' Alley

BE BOP DELUXE - CAIRD HALL - 1977

Another one of my old ticket stubs from the Caird Hall, this time it was Be Bop DeLuxe on stage, 32 years ago to the day.
The band appeared in that transitional mid 70's period in music - after glam rock and before punk, so journalists were unsure how to categorise them as the band were too clean cut to be a full on rock outfit but not commercial enough to be a pop group, so they generally got classified as a college band or art rock band.
Mind you they did actually have a couple of chart successes, their most known one being "Ships in the night".
Having released around 4 albums at this point, the gig was mostly album track material rather than a show of their greatest hits.
The band split in 1978, but their prolific main man, Bill Nelson, is still involved in the music biz today with his various solo projects.

Incidentally, Bill later went on to collaborate with Billy Mackenzie for a one-off recording session. He ended up playing guitar on Associates single "Take Me To The Girl".

WHAT'S THAT IN OLD MONEY?

Found these coins the other day.

It's the old £SD currency we used before 1971.

The top large one is One Penny.
The small silver one is Brian May's plectrum...er I mean a Sixpenny bit (tanner).
Bottom left is a Ha'penny (hupnae).
Next to it is a One Shilling (bob).
The brassy one with the straight edges is a Threepenny bit (thrupnae).

In the 1960's, these were the coins we got our pocket money in and spent on things like the penny tray and comics.

We'd play pitchy with them in the school playground too.

They also got chucked out of cars at wedding scrammies!

If something cost 2 Shillings it would be written 2/-, and if it cost 2 Shillings and sixpence it would be 2/6d.

I can clearly recall when I was in my last year at Balerno Primary school in 1969/70, we got lessons teaching us how to convert old money to the new Decimal currency which was on the horizon. Us kids got the hang of it pretty quick but the older generation struggled at first when prices in the shops changed from old to new. So when people were trying to figure out the prices when shopping after the transition took place, that's when you would hear the phrase "What's that in old money?".

The big change-over - "Decimal Day" - took place on 15th Feb 1971.

THE GALLEON BAR - INTERIOR

This was the view you got from the balcony inside the Galleon. Most folk made a grab for the seats nearest to the balcony railing because you could keep an eye on what was going on down below. It was like getting a window seat on the bus..!!

THE GALLEON BAR - EXTERIOR

A little reminder of the curvy exterior of The Galleon in Whitehall Crescent. A pub I used to drop in on now and again rather than regularly. In fact, looking back, I think I only went there when there were bands playing, that would have been in the late 70's early 80's.
The main reason why it wasn't a "regular" so to speak, was probably down to the basic fact that it was quite difficult to get around ALL the pubs, all the time...although there were quite a few of us who gave it a good go..!!

THE BUZZ AT MR BEAUJANGLES - LATE 70'S



So who's the bloke causing all the fuss with the Beaujangles babes?

Well it's TV & movie star, Patrick Mower.

This was the official opening of Mr B's shop in the Wellgate Centre in the late 70's.

I think Mr M might have been trying for the Saturday Night Fever look!

Photo by DC Thomson.

MONKEY BOOTS - EARLY 70'S

Following on from my previous post, I thought I'd put a picture of Monkey Boots up for those who may have forgotten all about them. Very popular with Dundee's streetwise teenagers in the early 70's. They were worn by girls as much as the boys, and sometimes were considered to be a cheaper alternative to Doc Martens amongst gang types.
It also meant shoe shops did brisk business selling tins of Kiwi Ox Blood boot polish!

EARLY 1970'S CARDIGAN



Anyone remember these?

All the rage in Dundee around the 1972-74 period.

The maroon ones above were the most popular although there were also a black coloured version and a dark green variant.

These tartan cardies were worn mostly by the 12 to 15 year old age group, usually along with Monkey Boots!

You can see one lad in the photo above wearing one.

Incidentally, the main guy in the picture is Steve Murray, who once played for Dundee FC, although he was with Celtic when this snap from 1973 was taken.

AUSTIN THE TAILOR - WELLGATE - 1960'S

Heading along towards the steps in the old Wellgate, Austin's was roughly half-way up on the left, 2nd shop past the Forester Arms Bar.
Despite the photo being taken in the swinging 60's, the sensible suits & shirts in the shop window display show that they wouldn't have been able to provide the kind of groovy gear as worn by Austin Powers!

THE ASSOCIATES - FAT SAMS - 1985

Sometime around the start of 1985, The Associates played live on stage at Fat Sams.
Above is a review of that very gig, written by local journalist, Bob Flynn.
It was a gig I was at too. Absolutely choc-a-block I recall.
A couple of wee extra details I can remember are - on 2 or 3 of their songs they brought on backing singers dressed in black polo necks - they were called Die Zwei, from Germany.
I can also remember occasionally glimpsing part of the show on the in-house TV screens. They had TV monitors in the back room so you could still catch the act when nipping through for refreshments. I wonder now whether the show was ever recorded onto video? If anyone out there has a copy, feel free to get in touch..!!
I do, luckily, have an audio recording of the Fat Sams gig.
So here below is a reminder of that sweaty evening in South Ward Road.
The vid contains a short piece of film of Billy Mackenzie in Fat Sams at the start, but it's not from this gig, it's only the music that's from Fatties. The rest of the visuals are stitched together from various sources.
The track is "The Affectionate Punch".

ANGUS HOTEL #3 - 1980's

On the Angus Hotel reception desk they used to have a visitors book for guests to sign and an additional separate book for celebs autographs.

Being Dundee's top hotel for 3 decades meant that it did contain quite a few famous names. In there were the likes of Maggie Thatcher, David Bowie, the Queen, Peter Ustinov, Rod Stewart and so on, page after page.

In March 1985, The Associates booked in for the night when they were in town for a gig at Fat Sams.

A while afterwards, I managed to get the page from the celeb book the band had signed that night.

I also attended the gig too and I'm gonna give that a mention on Retro Dundee next. Stay tuned..!!

Incidentally, on the other side of the page was the signature of songstress, Susan Maughan. She had a couple of hit records back in the 60's (remember 'Bobby's Girl'), and she was performing at the Whitehall Theatre in April that year.

ANGUS HOTEL #2 - 1970'S

This photo of the Angus Hotel zone was taken in 1973.
The road layout reminds you it was in a perfect spot to catch travellers from all points on the compass.
There were a couple of small business premises to the left of the main entrance canopies. Grampian TV was next door. Next to them was a jewellers, office supplier and a car rental. Later, one of those premises was occupied by 2nd-hand record shop, Groucho's.
The 2 businesses across the road in the same Nethergate building next to the roundabout were, J.D Brown Photography Studio (the window with the net curtains) and next to it is the Bangladesh Restaurant, where David Bowie & Co once bought meals to bring back to the Angus Hotel after their gig in '73.

ANGUS HOTEL #1 - 1960'S

Built in the early 60's, The Angus Hotel, on the corner of Marketgait and Nethergate (now Debenhams), was Dundee's top city hotel for around 3 decades. It was THE place for visitors to stop off at, whether they be royalty, politicians, rock stars or celebs. It wasn't only for out-of-towners though, locals used it too, for functions, weddings and so on. It even hosted gigs occasionally. I remember going to a few jazz concerts there in the late 70's - early 80's.

The building was part of the overall Overgate Centre design, and adjoining the hotel on the Nethergate side were 2 pubs, The Glamis and The Nethergate Bar. Then around the back of the hotel was the Overgate shopping area.

The short piece of footage below, from the mid 60's, gives a better view of it's position and layout, showing the front of the Angus and the shops at the rear.

 

Photo by the Scotsman.Tints by GG.

THE OTHER RECORD SHOP - INTERIOR - 1984

The photo at the top is of inside The Other Record Shop in the Overgate and was taken in May 1984.

A wee look around the shop shows that there is still plenty of vinyl to be had. However, the ominous appearance of the CD rack (like a Dalek in the centre of the store) would later go on to almost exterminate vinyl from record shops.

Compact Discs started to compete with vinyl in 1982 and although rock & pop acts were a bit tentative to try using this format at first, it wasn't long before everybody released their material on CD. This in turn became especially lucrative for record companies who chose to re-issue their back catalogue which then had punters purchasing their entire record collection all over again!
It was now pretty much the beginning of the end for vinyl.

DJ's and serious record collectors have prevented vinyl being killed off completely though, becoming more of a specialist commodity nowadays. I for one opted to hang onto most of my vinyl collection, many of which were purchased from this very shop.

Underneath the top picture is a reminder of the stores carrier bag.

Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.

LED ZEPPELIN - CAIRD HALL - 1970's

Led Zeppelin stopped off at the Caird Hall twice in the 70's - first was on 13 November 1971, and their second was on this day 36 years ago, 27 January 1973.

I missed out on these Dundee gigs but I did manage to catch them live a few years later in England around 78/79.

There are quite a few photos from their Caird Hall shows available to view on fan sites such as Led Zeppelin Database, like Jimmy Page with his double necked guitar.

To get a reminder of them in Dundee, you can travel back in time to their '71 show with this recording below and hear them perform "Heartbreaker", with the Caird Hall crowd getting a bit over excited, inducing a ticking off from Robert Plant!

BILLY PLATER RECORDING - 1985

This recording is a bit of a mystery to me.
It's by Billy Plater and called "Tay Bridge".
This review of it cropped up in a Deadbeat fanzine in August 1985.
For starters, I've no idea who Billy Plater is, never seen the name anywhere before.
Although the track title is "Tay Bridge", I don't know if the act is from Dundee or out of town.
The reviewer doesn't even know if it's a duo or a band!
A 10 minute electronic track means it's probably on cassette rather than vinyl.
Deadbeat didn't give it a thumbs up really, but I wouldn't mind hearing it.
Anyone know anything about it?

LOCHEE BATHS - ST. MARYS LANE

Lochee Baths is where I learned to swim. This was back in the late 60's when my primary class used to visit there once a week for lessons.
The entrance was up a wee side street called St Marys Lane, just off Lochee High Street.
The interior layout was very compact, in fact there was actually hardly any room to move around the edge of the pool.
When we went there it was only the girls who got to use the perimeter cubicles, us boys got chucked in the communal changing room around the back.
I remember we all started off using arch shaped polystyrene floats before any attempts at proper swimming commenced, but it didn't take long before the whole class could swim.
The upside to the trip was, because we attended Balerno school in Douglas, it meant a lengthy bus journey, so we kind of viewed the 3 hour day out as a bit of a skive from class, what with the all-round excursion using up a full morning.
The downside to it was, our class was booked during the winter months so I can also recall the miserable return journey when we were all damp haired, freezing and shivering waiting on the bus back.
Still to this day, anytime I happen to catch a whiff of bleach, I always get a flashback to the Lochee Baths!
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.

OLD BANK BAR - REFORM STREET

My memory of the Old Bank Bar is that I used to visit it more often during the day than I did in the evenings. The main reason was probably based on the fact that in the mid 80's it was one of the first pubs in Dundee to get an all-day license. Inevitably, the novelty of not getting chucked out at half-two was taken advantage of on more than one occasion. The thing about being open all day, however, is that it did sometimes mess up your sense of time. Now and again we would plan to pop in at lunchtime just for a quick pint, only to then see it turn into an unplanned all day session. Lethal..!! It took a few weeks to get used to it.

UB40 - CAIRD HALL - 1982

27 years ago today, reggae band UB40 were playing at the Caird Hall, my ticket stub above managing to survive the passage of time.

This was the 2nd time I had seen the band live as I saw them play in Edinburgh 2 years earlier.

Great upbeat vibes on the night that got everyone out their seats!

The item below the ticket is a full page ad from an NME back then that has the tour dates listed.

SLEAZ BAND DEMO #3

Sleaz Band demo number 3...

SLEAZ BAND DEMO #2

Sleaz Band demo number 2...

SLEAZ BAND DEMO #1

A rare compilation of unheard demo tracks by Dundee act, Sleaz Band, was unearthed recently.
20 tracks in total, all of which were recorded during the 1969 to 1974 period.
Although the Sleaz Band did release a proper record in 1974, none of the demo tracks made it onto vinyl.
Sleaz Band seemed to share the same musical arena as bands like, Jo Jo Gunne, SAHB, Geordie, Blackfoot Sue etc - not quite full-on rock and not overtly commercial pop, but all lurking around the same in-between territory in the early/mid 70's.
Don't know why Sleaz Band didn't hitch on board the road to success, they certainly supported many big names and so would have been in touch with plenty influential contacts in the biz - but sometimes that's not always what the bands themselves are looking for.
Perhaps they just enjoyed the booze more than the biz!
Anyway, I'm gonna put up 3 of their demo's, all if which are untitled.
Here's the first of the batch...

CRANKED UP - A DUNDEE FANZINE - 80'S

This is the cover of the very first issue of Dundee music fanzine, Cranked Up. It wasn't the cities first fanzine, with the likes of "Men from Soya" and "Le Sinistre" being very short-lived attempts earlier. Cranked Up, however, kept it going for 18 issues, so they had a good run.
The mag hit the scene in 1981 and managed to capture the start of the "New Wave" bands that were springing up locally, although a variety of other music categories were given plenty fanzine space too.
Performers and places that get a mention in ISSUE 1 are - SCROTUM POLES - BLIND PEW - TAYSIDE BAR - UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS - THE GRIP - TIFFANY'S - NO FIXED ABODE - MEGAZONES - BARRACUDA - ASGARD - ST. ANDREW & THE WOOLEN MILL.
The main man behind Cranked Up was, Jock Ferguson, who nowadays makes a living acting, specialising in Scottish characters. Check out his website to see what he's up to http://www.thesonsofscotland.co.uk/jockferguson.htm