On This Day 14/08/1970 The Kinks

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On this day, 14 Aug 1970, legendary pop band The Kinks played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

The band had released their seventh studio album in October 1969 Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) and were currently recording what would be Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One.

The album featured their hit Lola, released in June, a number 1 hit worldwide but peaking at number 2 in the UK charts. It proved to be a very important song for the band as in a 1970 interview, Dave Davies stated that, if "Lola" had been a failure, the band would have "gone on making records for another year or so and then drifted apart"

Written in April 1970, "Lola" was cited by Ray Davies as the first song he wrote following a break he took to act in the 1970 Play for Today film The Long Distance Piano Player. Davies said that he had initially struggled with writing an opening that would sell the song, but the rest of the song "came naturally". He noted that he knew the song would be successful when he heard his one-year-old daughter singing the chorus, stating, "She was crawling around singing 'la la, la la Lola.' I thought, 'If she can join in and sing, Kinks fans can do it.'"

Originally, "Lola" saw controversy for its lyrics. In a Record Mirror article entitled "Sex Change Record: Kink Speaks", Ray Davies addressed the matter, saying, "It really doesn't matter what sex Lola is, I think she's all right". Some radio stations faded the track out before implications of Lola's biological sex were revealed.

On 18 November 1970, "Lola" was banned from being played by several radio stations in Australia because of its "controversial subject matter", though some began playing "Lola" again after having made a crude edit, which sounded like the record had jumped a groove, to remove the line "I'm glad I'm a man and so's Lola".

The BBC banned the track for a different reason: the original stereo recording had the words "Coca-Cola" in the lyrics, but because of BBC Radio's policy against product placement, Ray Davies was forced to make a 6,000-mile (9,700 km) round-trip flight from New York to London and back on June 3, 1970, interrupting the band's American tour, to change those words to the generic "cherry cola" for the single release, which is included on various compilation albums as well.

On This Day 01/08/1980 Ultravox 1 Aug 1980 TR

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On this day, 1 August 1980, pop/synth band Ultravox played Cardiff’s Top Rank on the band’s Vienna UK tour.

Released in June 1980, the Vienna album produced the band's first UK Top 40 hit with "Sleepwalk" reaching No. 29, while the album itself initially peaked at No. 14.

A second single, "Passing Strangers", failed to reach the Top 40, only reaching No. 57, but the band achieved a substantial hit with the third single, the album's title track.

Accompanied by a highly distinctive video (inspired by Carol Reed's 1949 film The Third Man), the single became Ultravox's biggest ever hit, released in January 1981 and peaking at Number 2 (kept off the top spot by John Lennon's "Woman" and then Joe Dolce's "Shaddap You Face").

On the strength of the single, the album then re-entered the chart and reached No. 3 in early 1981. A fourth single from the album, "All Stood Still", peaked at No. 8. in 1981, and "Slow Motion" from Systems of Romance was also re-issued, reaching No. 33 the same year.

Ultravox were then revitalised by Midge Ure, who had joined the band as vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist. He had already achieved minor success with semi-glam outfit Slik and Glen Matlock's The Rich Kids, and in 1979, he was temporarily playing with hard rock band Thin Lizzy on their American tour, replacing Gary Moore.

Ure and Billy Currie had met while collaborating on Visage, a studio-based band fronted by New Romantic icon and nightclub impresario Steve Strange.

Setlist

Quiet Men

Passing Strangers

Face To Face

Mr X

Western Promise

Vienna

Slow Motion

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Private Lives

New Europeans

All Stood Still

Sleepwalk

Astradyne

Kings Lead Hat

On This Day 29/07/1975 Sassafras

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On this day, 29 July 1975, Welsh rock band Sassafras played Cardiff’s Top Rank. The band had not long released their second album Wheelin’ ‘N’ ‘Dealin’

The band was formed in South Wales in 1970 with guitarist Ralph Evans, bassist Ricky John Holt and drummer Rob Reynolds. David (Dai) Shell, a noted Cardiff guitarist, joined soon afterwards.

The band signed to George Martin’s AIR Productions in 1972 with a line-up completed by Terry Bennett on vocals and Robert 'Congo' Jones on drums. The band released their debut album, Expecting Company, on Polydor in 1973.

The band toured America's larger venues with such headlining groups as Ten Years After, Fleetwood Mac and Peter Frampton, played at festivals and achieved good press coverage, but never found real commercial success.

The band has been described as "a sort-of Welsh Fleetwood Mac/Eagles hybrid, with soaring west-coast melodies and a real roadtrip rock feel". In the early 1970s they held the record for highest number of gigs in a single year, with their 332 beating Slade by one.

On This Day 13/07/1966 The Creation

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On this day, 13 July 1966, English rock band The Creation played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

Formed in 1966, their best-known songs are "Making Time", which was one of the first rock songs to feature a guitar played with a bow, and "Painter Man", which made the top 40 on the UK Singles Chart in late 1966, and reached No. 8 on the German chart in April 1967. It was covered by Boney M in 1979, and reached the No. 10 position on the UK chart. "Making Time" was used in the film Rushmore, and as the theme song from season 2 onwards of The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Most of the members of what would eventually become Creation were initially members of The Mark Four, a British beat group based in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. By late 1963 The Mark Four was a quintet consisting of Kenny Pickett (vocals), Eddie Phillips (guitars), Mick "Spud" Thompson (rhythm guitars), John Dalton (bass), and Jack Jones (drums). This lineup played regularly in the UK and in Germany before issuing two non-charting singles for Philips’ Mercury Records, "Rock Around The Clock" and "Try It Baby" in 1964.

Dalton then left the band. He later joined The Kinks as a replacement for Pete Quaife before being replaced by new bassist Tony Cooke. Around the same time, Thompson left the band and was not replaced. This Mark Four lineup issued two further non-charting singles: "Hurt Me If You Will" (Decca, August 1965) and "Work All Day (Sleep All Night)" (Fontana, February 1966).

In April 1966, the group signed a management deal with Tony Stratton Smith. He promptly suggested replacing Cooke with new bassist Bob Garner (previously of the Tony Sheridan Band), and a name change. The band took him up on both suggestions: it was Pickett who came up with the name The Creation, based on a reference he found in a book of Russian poetry.

On This Day 11/07/1978 The Specials

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On this day, 11 July 1978 , legendary ska/punk band The Specials played Cardiff’s Top Rank as support to punk giants The Clash.

Originally called The Hybrids, The Automatics, later became Coventry Specials, Special AKA eventually becoming The Specials (Jun 78-81).

The group was formed in 1977 by songwriter/keyboardist Dammers, vocalist Tim Strickland, guitarist/vocalist Lynval Golding, drummer Silverton Hutchinson and bassist Horace Panter (Sir Horace Gentleman). Strickland was replaced by Terry Hall shortly after the band's formation. The band was first called the Automatics, then the Coventry Automatics. Guitarist Roddy Byers (usually known as Roddy Radiation) agreed to join the band in March 1978 ahead of a recording session of demos.

The Specials at Cardiff Top Rank

The new line-up changed their name to The Special A.K.A. The Automatics after another band called the Automatics signed a record deal with Island Records. The new name was a bit of a mouthful and was shortened to The Special AKA. The name Special AKA soon evolved into The Specials – the moniker that would be used for most of the band's career.

Joe Strummer of The Clash had attended one of their concerts, and invited the Special AKA to open for his band in their "On Parole" UK tour. This performance gave the Special AKA a new level of national exposure, and they briefly shared the Clash's management. During the tour Neville Staple, who was initially one of the roadies, became a full member of The Specials when his version of "Monkey Man" was incorporated into the group's set.

Jerry Dammers (keyb)
Lynval Golding (gtr)
Horace Panter (bass)
Silverton Hutchinson (drms)
Terry Hall (voc)
Roddy Radiation (gtr)
Nevile Staples (voc)

On This Day 04/07/1969 Deep Purple

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On this day, 4 July 1969, rock legends Deep Purple played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

It was the final show of their "Mark I" lineup, with their "Mark II" lineup following after, debuting live at The Speakeasy Club in London on 10th July, six days later.
Founding members Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore felt that Rod Evans, with his tender, smooth voice would not be able to cope with their louder, more aggressive material. Evans had also expressed reservations about his place in the band and voiced his wish to permanently move to the US. Tensions were also high with bassist Nick Simper, whose playing style was considered, in Paice's words, "stuck in the late '50s and early '60s" by the other band members and unfit for the new musical direction they wanted to pursue.

Singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover of the band Episode Six, who had formed a songwriting duo, were invited to join Deep Purple and replace Evans and Simper.

Early in 1969, the band released the non-album single "Emmaretta", named after Emmaretta Marks, at that time a cast member of the musical Hair, whom Evans was trying to seduce. By March of that year, the band had completed recording for their third album, Deep Purple. The album included the track "April", which featured strings and woodwind, showcasing Lord's classical antecedents such as Bach and Rimsky-Korsakov. This would be the last recording by Deep Purple Mark I.

Deep Purple's North American record label, Tetragrammaton, delayed production of the Deep Purple album until after the band's 1969 American tour ended. This, as well as lackluster promotion by the nearly broke label, caused the album to sell poorly, finishing well out of the Billboard Top 100. Soon after Deep Purple was finally released in late June 1969, Tetragrammaton went out of business, leaving the band with no money and an uncertain future (Tetragrammaton's assets were eventually assumed by Warner Bros. Records, who would release Deep Purple's records in the US throughout the 1970s).

On This Day 29/06/1980 Steve Hackett

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On this day, 29 June 1980, former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett played Cardiff’s Top Rank on his Defector tour.

Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) came to prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970. Hackett remained with the band for eight albums before leaving in 1977 to pursue a solo career.

Hackett's first post-Genesis album was Please Don't Touch, released in 1978. As with Voyage of the Acolyte, much of the material on the album was in the style of progressive rock. It did contain, however, much more vocal work. Hackett, who had never sung lead on a Genesis song, turned over most of the vocals to a number of singers, including folk singer Richie Havens, R&B singer Randy Crawford, and Steve Walsh of Kansas.

A pair of progressive rock albums followed—1979's Spectral Mornings and 1980's Defector. They were both Top 40 albums in the UK, while they charted #138 and #144 in the United States, respectively. Hackett toured Europe for the first time as a solo act in 1979, and in August performed at the Reading Festival. The Defector tour brought him to the United States for the first time since his last tour with Genesis.

Tour Setlist

Slogans

Every Day

The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere

Tigermoth

Kim

Time to Get Out

The Steppes

The Toast

Narnia

Black Light / Blood on the Rooftops / Horizons

Sentimental Institution

Jacuzzi

Spectral Mornings

A Tower Struck Down

Clocks - The Angel of Mons

Please Don't Touch

The Show

It's Now or Never

(Elvis Presley cover)

Hercules Unchained

On This Day 21/06/1984 Siouxsie and the Banshees

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On this day 21 June 1984 punk originals Siouxsie and the Banshees played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on their Hyæna Tour.

Hyæna was the band’s sixth studio album released earlier the same month. Hyæna is the only studio album that guitarist Robert Smith of the Cure composed and recorded with Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Hyæna was namechecked by Brett Anderson, the singer of Suede.James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers hired producer Hedges because he loved the sound on lead single "Swimming Horses".

Bradfield stated: "Swimming Horses' by the Banshees – what a fucking record that is! I remember thinking 'You really care about that record. I'm gonna have to chase that record down." He also mentioned the importance of the drums: "I loved Banshees records, where everything starts with the drums".

Setlist

Dazzle

Cascade

Running Town

Feathers

Desert Kisses

Pointing Bone

Red Over White

Melt!

Red Light

Christine

Bring Me the Head of the Preacher Man

Painted Bird

Arabian Knights

Spellbound

Monitor

Encore:

Helter Skelter

(The Beatles cover)