ON THIS DAY 17/12/1972 THE SWEET

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On this day 17/12/1972, Glam rock giants The Sweet played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart.

The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit.

Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments.

In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.

The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.

Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image.

Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe".

A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period).

The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.

On This Day 16/12/1994 Dina Carroll

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On this day, 16 December 1994, singer Dina Carroll played Cardiff International Arena.

Combining the early soul-pop of Mariah Carey, the power balladry of Whitney Houston, and the sophisticated dance-pop of M People, Dina Carroll was one of the most successful U.K. female vocalists of the '90s.

Born in Newmarket, Suffolk in 1968 to a Scottish mother and Afro-American G.I. father, Carroll began singing with her sister at a young age, and after winning a talent competition at school, she decided to pursue a career in the music industry.

In her teens, she moved to West London after signing to independent dance label, Streetwave, where she provided uncredited vocals for a production outfit named Masquerade. In 1989, she signed to Jive/Zomba Records where she released several club hits, including a cover of Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By," and contributed to Brothers in Rhythm's single "Peace and Harmony."

Her breakthrough came in 1991, when she appeared on Quartz's Top Ten dance reworking of Carole King's "It's Too Late," and was offered an album deal by A&M Records. Two years later, her first LP, So Close, had spawned two Top Five singles, "Don't Be a Stranger" and a rendition of Sunset Boulevard number "The Perfect Year" helped her to scoop Best British Female Vocalist at the 1994 Brit Awards, and up until Dido's No Angel, was the biggest-selling debut album by a female artist in U.K. chart history.

Review - South Wales Echo

After moving to Mercury Records, she developed otosclerosis, a hereditary bone disease which affects the ears, whilst working on her sophomore, Only Human, which despite reaching number two, failed to achieve the same multi-platinum sales of its predecessor.

Carroll changed directions for her self-titled third effort, hooking up with Rhett Lawrence in Los Angeles for a dance-pop sound reminiscent of her club roots, but although lead single "Without Love" reached the Top 20, various record company wranglings meant that plans for its release were shelved. Other than a performance of Van Morrison's "Someone Like You" on the Bridget Jones soundtrack, and a 2001 hits compilation, Carroll hasn't released any new material since.

On This Day 15/12/2014 Chris Rea

On this day, 15 December 2014, singer/songwriter Chris Rea played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on his The Last Open Road Tour.

Known for his distinctive voice and his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty five studio albums, two of which topped the UK Albums Chart, The Road to Hell in 1989 and its successor, Auberge, in 1991.

He had already become "a major European star by the time he finally cracked the UK Top 10" with the single "The Road to Hell (Part 2)".

Over the course of his long career, Rea's work has at times been informed by his struggles with serious health issues.[6] His many hit songs include "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat", "Stainsby Girls", "Josephine", "On the Beach", "Let's Dance", "Driving Home for Christmas", "Working on It", "Tell Me There's a Heaven", "Auberge", and "Julia".

He also recorded a duet with Elton John, "If You Were Me".Rea was nominated three times for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist: in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

Setlist

The Last Open Road

Work Gang

Where the Blues Come From

Josephine

Easy Rider

'Til the Morning Sun Shines on My Love and Me

Julia

Stony Road

Come So Far, Yet Still So Far to Go

Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 49

Stainsby Girls

The Road to Hell (Part 1)

Encore:

On the Beach

Let's Dance

Driving Home for Christmas

On This Day 14/12/1976 Sex Pistols

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On this day, 14 December 1976, pioneering punk rock band the Sex Pistols played the Castle Cinema, Caerphilly on their Anarchy tour.

Earlier in the year they had played three other Welsh shows with barely a raised eyebrow, but following a last-minute cancelation by Queen, The Sex Pistols and friends appeared on the Tonight Show, presented by Bill Grundy. Famously turning the air blue, John Lydon, Glen Matlock, Steve Jones and Paul Cook came across as uncouth, ill-mannered oiks to millions watching, and as a fantastic anti-establishment breath of fresh air to a few. The incident cost Grundy his job, and made the Pistols front page news.

Venues already booked for their Anarchy Tour reneged on deals, and local councils pressured others to cancel shows. So many venues cancelled on the band that they ended up going twice to some of the venues that would have them.

Cardiff's Top Rank was one of the shows cancelled, but a south Wales promoter called Andy Walton stepped into the breach and offered a show at the town's Castle Cinema.

A campaign was waged in the South Wales press, urging the gig to be abandoned. A typical letter can be found in the archives of the South Wales Echo: "...we feel bound to protest against the decision of our local Castle Cinema management to engage a 'punk rock group' already notorious for its dependence on obscenity, blasphemy and open violence." But to no avail. The gig went ahead, not least because the Castle Cinema's elderly lady owner... refused to be bullied by Caerphilly's worthies."

There was a lot of religious objection to the band and the gig. A leaflet handed out in the town that night said, "Even though apparently just a passing fad... such trends are clearly part of the fulfilment of Jesus' prophecy that before his return to earth, wickedness would multiply beyond all previous limits". (You can see the full leaflet at www.thesexpistols.co.uk.).

On This Day 13/12/1972 Supertramp

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On this day, 13 December 1972, rock band Supertramp played Cardiff High School.

formed in London in 1970. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), the group were distinguished for blending progressive rock and pop styles.

The classic lineup, which lasted ten years from 1973 to 1983, comprised Davies, Hodgson, Dougie Thomson (bass), Bob Siebenberg (drums) and John Helliwell (saxophone), after which the group's lineup changed numerous times, with Davies eventually becoming the only constant member throughout its history.

The group found no success with their first two albums, but after a lineup change into what became their classic lineup, their third album, Crime of the Century (1974), was their breakthrough.

Initially a more experimental prog-rock group, they began moving towards a more pop-oriented sound with the album. The band reached their commercial peak with 1979's Breakfast in America, which yielded the international top 10 singles "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in America", "Goodbye Stranger" and "Take the Long Way Home". Their other top 40 hits included "Dreamer" (1974), "Give a Little Bit" (1977) and "It's Raining Again" (1982).

On This Day 12/12/1974 Uriah Heep

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On this day, 12 December 1974, rock band Uriah Heep played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre on their Wonderworld tour.

In June the band had released their seventh studio album Wonderworld, the last Uriah Heep album to feature bass player Gary Thain.

Formed in London in 1969, Uriah Heep were part of the early 1970s rock scene and have been referred to as major pioneers of the hard rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock genres.

Recorded in Munich's Musicland Studios in January, disappointed fans and band members alike. "Recording abroad disrupted the band's normal method of operation and that had a big negative effect on the group. Our communication was falling apart, we were arguing over stuff like royalties and we were getting involved in matters beyond music", keyboard player Ken Hensley said.

Guitarist Mick Box remembered weeks spent in the studio as "dramatic" for all the wrong reasons. "David (Byron) was drunk for most of the time, Kenny was having an emotional time of it and I was constantly trying to help them so it was difficult for me too. There was also a little bit of friction because (artistic) Kenny didn't like all the attention that (flamboyant) David was getting."

Gary Thain was in even more serious trouble. According to Blows, "A strenuous touring schedule, compounded by the bassist's heavy drug dependency (inherent even before joining Heep) was taking its toll, though matters came to a head while on tour during September", when the bassist received a serious electric shock on stage in Dallas during a gig at Southern Methodist University’s Moody Coliseum on 15 September 1974.

The rest of the US tour was then canceled and their UK dates rescheduled. Soon after going out of hospital, Thain, in Sounds, openly accused manager Gerry Bron of having turned Uriah Heep into a mere "financial thing" and was fired two months after the group's final gig of 1974 at New Theatre in Oxford on 14 December. A year later, on 8 December 1975, Gary Thain was found dead in his Norwood Green home, having overdosed on heroin.

On This Day 11/12/1994 Carcass

On this day, 11 December 1994, Liverpool extreme Metal band Carcass played Cardiff University on their Heartwork UK tour. Support was provided by Cubanate.

.Formed in 1985. The band have gone through several line-up changes, leaving guitarist Bill Steer and bassist-vocalist Jeff Walker as the only constant members. They broke up in 1996.

Carcass are regarded as among the pioneers of the grindcore and melodic death metal genres. They are also described as one of the earliest and most important of the new generation of grindcore and death metal bands.

Their early work was also tagged as "splatter death metal", and "hardgore" on account of their morbid lyrics and gruesome album covers. Their fourth album, Heartwork (1993), is considered a landmark in the melodic death metal genre.

Carcass were also one of the few death metal acts to sign to a major label, with Columbia Records handling North American distribution for Heartwork, while the album was distributed worldwide by Earache who released all of the band's albums up to and including Swansong (1996).

On This Day 09/12/1970 The Idle Race

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On this day, 9 December 1970, rock band The Idle Race played Cardiff College of Food Technology and Commerce.

The Idle Race were a British rock group from Birmingham who in the late 1960s and early 1970s had a cult following but never enjoyed mass commercial success.

In addition to being the springboard for Jeff Lynne, the band holds a place of significance in British Midlands' pop-rock history as a link between the Move, Electric Light Orchestra, the Steve Gibbons Band and Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders.

The group were well received by the music press for their melodies, whimsical lyrics, and inventive production. They often appeared on the same bill with such bands as the Spencer Davis Group, the Who, Small Faces, Pink Floyd, the Moody Blues, Status Quo, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Yes, Free, and the Move.

In addition to original material, their set list included extended covers of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild", the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Purple Haze", Moby Grape's "Hey Grandma," The Lemon Pipers' "Blueberry Blue," The Doors' "Love Me Two Times", and an electric version of "Debora" by Tyrannosaurus Rex.

BBC disc jockeys such as John Peel and Kenny Everett were big boosters of the group. But despite critical respect and famous admirers such as The Beatles and Marc Bolan, Idle Race failed to catch on with the public.