DANCE FACTORY ACTION - 1988

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Rolling off the Dance Factory conveyor belt were these bands, who all played at the Fat Sam's venue in 1988.

Pics 1 & 2 - THE RHYTHM SISTERS - 22 May 1988.

Pics 3 & 4 - STUMP - 7 Feb 1988.

Pic 5 - THE McCLUSKEY BROTHERS - 27 Mar 1988.

Pic 6 - SWAMPTRASH - 14 Feb 1988.

Pic 7 - THE WILD SWANS - 21 Feb 1988.

Pics 8 & 9 - YARGO - 28 Feb 1988.

If you can recall anything from these gigs, then tell us all about it in the comments.

Photos by The Bear.

REGGAE INNA DUNDEE - EARLY 80'S

Some of those helping spread the pounding sounds of reggae around town in the early 80's were the following...

Misty In Roots

The Professor

Natural Roots

Misty In Roots played Dundee University on 15th October 1982. Brilliant live, this was actually the 4th time I had seen the band, the previous 3 being in Edinburgh.

The middle item is an article about the Dundee Reggae Club moving out of their base in Blazers and putting on a Xmas Reggae Party at the Howff. Guest was The Professor, who was dropping the dubplates for this bash on 21st December 1982.

Then it was time for all local sufferahs to head across to Club Feet on 28th September 1983 and skank along to the organic vibes of Natural Roots, together with a showcase set from Akabush Sound System.

Och I & I was well irie in a Babylon back in the day. Yeah mon!!

SOME QUICK SPURTS STUFF - 1978

"Dundee's most original New Wave band" - yes that's how The Quick Spurts presented themselves in 1978.

Those involved were Colin Ramsay - Gordon Walker - Forrey Rosscraig - George Barrie - with Gerry Mitchell taking over from Abe McIntosh.

The ticket for the Ardler Community Centre gig with Flux as support, took place on 14th April 1978, and the photos under it were all taken at this gig. You've got to smile at the stepladder being part of the stage decor!

At another Quick Spurts gig in St Andrews University, Gerry was dragged off the stage by some bikers and Colin waded in with his guitar to try rescue him! That's one way for your guitar skills to have an impact on your audience I suppose!!

The band split up soon after, the news cropping up in a fanzine called Kingdom Come, and Colin moved down to London where he joined Afflicted.

Big thanks to Colin Ramsay.

THIS IS THE END

Year - 1977.

Venue - The Ambassador.

Band - The End.

Not sure how much of a crowd was there but what they were seeing was not just another local gig, but the early stages of Dundee's "alternative" scene starting to shape up.

The End had Dennis on guitar, Colin doing vocals, Andy on bass, and an unknown drummer.

The Alternators were one of the other bands playing that night and there's a poster on the wall for their single that was released in January '78.

The details of the event are a bit sketchy but The End & The Alternators may have possibly been sharing the bill with Bread Poultice & The Running Sores.

Should be able to sort that out in the comments.

It was at this gig too that Colin met the members of Quick Spurts and later ended up joining them in addition to having a short stint playing bass in List-D.

And for these visual gems we have Colin Ramsay to thank.

DAVID BOWIE IN DUNDEE - 1973

Here's a good close-up of David Bowie performing live on stage at the Caird Hall on 17th May 1973.

That's Mick Ronson in the background.

This was a period when he already had a bucket load of classic tracks to choose from and a locker load of costumes to match!
Under it is a music mag ad with the tour dates.
At the start of this tour, the Bowie roadshow was accompanied by music journalists who reviewed the first 3 Scottish dates - Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow.
The snippet above is the Dundee section which gets a rave review!
There are also a couple of amusing after gig stories, one of which is discovering that Bowie & co had to get meals from the Bangladesh in the Nethergate because the Angus Hotel shut shop!
Click to enlarge.

For those of you who haven't yet found time to trawl through the Retro archives, there are more photos from this gig to be found in the November 2008 section...and in colour!

Photo by DC Thomson.

PULSEBEAT PLUS ASSORTMENT

Pulsebeat Plus were an alternative band from Arbroath who played regularly in Dundee in the 80's. In fact, according to Brian Sinclair, they were the first band to play at the Tayside Bar during his reign.

The top 2 items are Cranked Up reviews of gigs they played in town in 1981. Still early days for Pulsebeat Plus, not quite getting their act together live despite the opinion that their music was really good. Sound problems and personnel changes.

The photo of the band was taken at an outdoor event up at Dudhope Park, sometime around 1986/87. In case you're wondering about the stage set, they're umbrellas daubed with paint!

So, seeing as they were the act that started off all the fun at the Tayside Bar, I think I'll allow them a guest spot on Retro Dundee.

Here's a demo track of theirs, from 1984ish, a catchy song called "Better By Miles".

Photo by The Bear.

Thanks to Al for the track.

THE SOUND OF SATAN'S EMPIRE

The picture is a bit rough but good enough to identify the line-up of Dundee's Satan's Empire.
The band was - Derek Lyon, vocals - Bill Masterton, drums - Sandy McRitchie, guitar - Duncan Haggart, bass.
Heavy metal was their music of choice and this track below, called "Soldiers Of War", appeared on an album released in 1981 titled "Heavy Weight", a NWOBHM compilation.
They also had this track out earlier as a single (1980/early '81) but it seems to be extremely elusive, just as it is finding details about the band!
If anyone can add anything else, drop it in the comments.
Well they do say the devil has all the best tunes - so give this one a blast and see if you agree!
Thanx to Stephen.

FAMILY - CAIRD HALL - 1972

Prog rockers, Family, were doing their thing live on stage at the Caird Hall on 14th January 1972, with hippy band, Help Yourself, the support.
This ad appeared in the Evening Telegraph on the actual night of the gig, so I don't think it would leave much time to nip down to Larg's to grab a ticket!
Not a show I was at, but I do recall a few years later catching Family singer, Roger Chapman, performing at the Bowling Alley.

[ On the subject of family (tangentially speaking) here's a wee bit of Dundee related music trivia most of you won't know about.
A few weeks ago I mentioned that my mate, Tam Hughes, left Dundee for London in 1980 and after a period of time started up his own business "Tam's Dairies".
Well he married in 1982, and one of the bridesmaids at his wedding was 5 year old Emma Bunton, who later went on to be Baby Spice of the Spice Girls. Tam is in fact Emma's uncle.
When Tam's daughter had her 13th birthday party, the Spice Girls made their first ever public performance, a show which included the song "Wannabe", a year before it became their debut single - (he has the video of it too!).
And Emma was in Tam's hoose on the day they heard the Spice Girls reached No 1 in the charts.
He and his family have been part of the Spice Girls entourage on many occasions, and needless to say he has quite a few more stories that have spiced up his life since leaving Dundee! ]

MEMPHIS GATORS

Just like Elvis McPresley didn't hail from Memphis, neither did the Memphis Gators. As a matter of fact, the band are actually fae Douglas.
Memphis Gators cropped up on the local scene in the late 80's, after I departed, so I don't know much about them. If anyone can fill in a few background details on the band, the comments section is all yours.
One thing I did find out on an earlier Retro item was that band member, Watty, mentioned the Memphis Gators were the last band to play at the Cafe Club. Their equipment was still in the building when it was ablaze, but as luck would have it, it was all locked away in a storeroom, the only place in the entire pub the fire didn't reach, and so despite the pub ending up gutted, the band's instruments remained intact!
It looks like the picture location might be the Sidlaw Everglades!
Photo by The Bear.

UH HUH... IT'S ELVIS McPRESLEY

Not sure exactly just how far back Elvis McPresley goes, but for those of you who were living in Charleston at the time when he first cropped up on the scene, you'll probably know him better as Wattie Reid.
He did actually go through the process of changing his name by deed poll, a publicity stunt dreamt up by Caird Hall manager, John Maguire, and sure enough, a big write-up in The Sun followed.
For this gig above, sometime in the mid/late 80's, he had his Band Of Gypsies with him, featuring L to R - Martin Feeney - Pete Ross - Warren ??? - Neil Forbes - Al Hendrickx - (can't see drummer).
The venue, looking a bit like a concert party scene from It Aint Half Hot Mum, was the Oil & Petroleum Club up Aberdeen way. As you might imagine, this was a pretty lucrative place for clubby bands to play, but on this particular occasion the gig didn't quite turn out like that!
The story I have is that Elvis's agent, Mr M, told McPresley that the club was paying him £200, however, at the gig, Elvis found out the club was actually paying £800, and so the cheque made out to Mr M was ripped up. The club got a free gig and McPresley & co got a courtesy slap up meal instead!
So let that be a lesson to you...don't double-cross Elvis McPresley, or he's likely to get hot under the oversized collar!!
Photos by The Bear.

OLD STAMPING GROUND - 1982

I forgot all about this wee shop until I saw this photo - Dundee Philatelic Supplies at Sinderins, on the Perth Road / Hawkhill junction.
Can't say I was ever in it mind you, but passed it often enough.
The shop itself was being stamped out at the time of the photo which was taken on 23rd September 1982.
The corner seated area still remains today, but the wedge of shops that are boarded up, have all been demolished.
And is that a couple of Harris pupils plunking? Surely not!
The 3 white posters on the boards are for Hot Chocolate, who were playing at the Caird Hall in Sept '82, a review of which can be found in the Nov 2009 Retro Archive.
Leading us nicely into the start of another music theme in May.
It'll be mega. So stick around!
Photo by Neale Elder.

LIFF ROAD STORES - EARLY 70'S

Another corner shop that was on the go in the 70's was Liff Road Stores, a grocers on the corner of Stevenson Street and Liff road.

It's not just the shop that has closed down now, it's the entire chunk of this corner area that has completely disappeared.
In it's day though, as you can see on the door, it was a Green Shield Stamp shop.
When the locals popped in for a pint of milk, there may be a chance they ended up with the same brand as the one in the other photo - John Kerr of Balfield Dairy in Clepington Road.
Shop photo is from the early 70's.
Milk photo is from Bridie.

SIMPSON'S SWEETIE SHOP - 1979

Bart and Lisa would have enjoyed this place - Simpson's Sweetie Shop on the corner of Graham Place and Princes Street.
The picture was taken in 1979, and although there is still a corner shop at this location, it isn't this one anymore.
On the subject of sweeties, anybody remember Ross's Chocolate Puff Candy? Same as a Crunchie but about the size of brick! Here's an ad for it from the 60's. It's black & white but my memory has it as being a red and yellow wrapper.

WHITEHALL THEATRE AD - 1970

Let's find out what was going on at the Whitehall Theatre in April 1970...
First up was "The Lex McLean Show". Lex, you may recall, was a Scottish comedian/actor, full of Glasgow patter, who cropped up on the telly quite a lot around this period. Looks like he had a sizeable team with him for the Dundee performance.
Next was a musical called "Viennese Nights" featuring Marion Studholme.
A crime drama followed it, one entitled "Meet Mr Callaghan". This starred Neil McCallum who was in the TV series "Vendetta". Was he the brother of U.N.C.L.E. agent, David?
Final week had a local production running, "The Student Prince", an operetta presented by the NCR.
This ad appeared in the Courier on Saturday, 11th April 1970.

LOGIE SCHOOL EVENTS - 1970'S

Logie Secondary School was in Blackness Road, and in 1974, as it reached the end of it's life, it put on an exhibition called "Life And Times Of Logie School 1929 - 1974". It was basically a wee commemorative show looking back at the history of the school and area.
The top 2 items are the front cover and introductory page of the exhibition booklet.
Next is a ticket for a different event - the Logie Fair - which took place on 21st October 1972. The school even managed to get TV celeb, Jimmy Spankie, to open it.
Not sure who the showbiz contact in the Logie staff room was but around 1971 they got the Bay City Rollers to play in their school hall for an end of term do. This was way before their world domination days in tartan of course, and back then would have looked a little like as they are in the above photo, posing in their cosy cardie's!
Logie school eventually closed down in 1975, and along with it went it's nickname - The Penitentiary!
The headmaster in it's final years was Peter Murphy.
Many thanks to Yvonne.

PETER PYE & DUDLEY D WATKINS

Peter Pye was the cartoon strip running along the bottom of the children's page the same day as the previous item.
Peter, it has to be said, was an Oor Wullie look-a-like, but dressed in medieval clobber and a chef's hat.
There was a good reason for the likeness, however, he was drawn by Wullie's creator, the one & only, Dudley D Watkins, who's now a bit of a legend in the world of cartooning.
Peter Pye's first appearance was in The Dandy way back in the 40's, but was a very short-lived cartoon strip and never cropped up in The Dandy again, so I'm guessing it's reappearance in the 1972 Tele would have been only it's 2nd showing since the original.
Dudley wouldn't have seen the re-run though, because he died in 1969 and is buried in Barnhill Cemetery.
Click on the strip to read the large version.
Photo by JG.

CHILDREN'S OWN CORNER - 1972

This'll take you back...
Children's Own Corner, in the Tele on a daily basis sharing the page with a short story, a crossword and a cartoon strip.
The thing about Aunt Joan's birthday greetings was you wanted to see your name in the paper when you were 8, but not when you were 13 - or beware the playground taunts! I bet loads of kids moaned to their parents for putting their name in when they reached that age. I mean, you were a teenager now, no a bairn!
Anyway, if you know someone who has a birthday on 14th January then you may be lucky enough to spot their name in this example above which was published on Friday, 14th January 1972.
So, I've managed to complete the Word Diamond and Riddle-Me-Ree ok, that just leaves me to put the Colouring Picture into Photoshop now and get the Fill Bucket out!
Click item to enlarge if you can't read it as it is.

THE HANDY HANDBOOK

I wonder how many of you kept these wee books?

They were called The Handy Handbook and were given away free with the Evening Telegraph.

As well as the calendar inside, they also had bits & pieces of general information about Dundee such as local services, holiday dates, football fixtures and so on, with an occasional household hint thrown in.

Each one also had a view of the city on the back page, a variety of which are on display above.

The books in shot date from the 2nd half of the 50's, right through to 1969. I'm not too sure if this was the end of the line or if they kept it going in the 70's, but they do make for a very nice collection when grouped together.

Big thanks to Bridie.

THE WEE RED BOOK - 1973

They still do the Wee Red Book every year as far as I know, but here is one I kept from the 1973 season. It's stuffed with all things to do with Scottish football, but I reckon the reason most people buy one is because they have the forthcoming season's fixtures list.
Why I still have this one as a souvenir is because '73 was the year Dundee FC won the Scottish League Cup. It's fair to say though, I've had no need to keep any since!
The 2 Scottish football legends on the cover also have Dundee links.
Jimmy Johnstone, who was absolutely brilliant for Celtic, joined Dundee in the mid/late 70's. He was however past his peak by then and only played a couple of games for the Dee.
The other Johnstone is Derek, who was actually brought up in Dundee and went on to become a bit of a Rangers superstar. He supported Dundee United as a kid and even had a short stint at Tannadice in the mid 80's. Like wee Jinky though, his best years were behind him by then.

DUNDEE TROPHY CENTRE - HILLTOWN

I take it this is the same Frank Gilfeather who is the ex boxing champ, journalist, TV host, futba pundit, playwright and author.
If so, this ad for his Dundee Trophy Centre shop up the Hulltoon is dated 1981.

FANCY A DIP?

On a chilly Spring evening in the Ferry, sometime in the early 70's, my brother snapped this guy nonchalantly walking along the water's edge going away for a swim with his specs on!

THE 2ND DUNDEE MARATHON - 1984

Here's 3 great shots capturing some of the masses who ventured down to the city centre to cheer on the runners taking part in the 2nd Dundee Marathon on 29th April 1984.
The top image is the City Square which was used as a base-camp during the event. I don't know who the band is, but I'm sure someone will be able to fill in the details on that. What I can tell you though is that the yellow poster in the background is for Cannon & Ball who were appearing at the Caird Hall the following week.
Middle picture is a view along the Nethergate towards the finish line.
The bottom photo is of Don MacGregor, the ex Olympic athlete who won the Dundee Marathon for the 2nd year running! (couldn't resist that wee pun!)
If you want to have a nose around the crowds to see if you can spot someone you know, just give them a click to enlarge.
Photos by Neale Elder.