Venues - The Gaumont

The Gaumont

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Next up in the series of famous Cardiff venues is The Gaumont. In the Fifties and Sixties it was the visiting place of the early rockers.

Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran visited whilst UK’s very first rock’n’roller Tommy Steele also made an appearance, whilst jazz legend Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald also performed together on the same bill.
Situated in Queen Street it was first a music hall, known as Levino’s Hall, which opened in 1887.

In 1889, it reopened as the Empire Theatre and later, in 1990, The Empire Palace Theatre.

Rebuilding work in 1915 increased the seating capacity from 1725 to 2820, operating as a major theatre on the Moss Empire Theatre circuit.

Having been taken over by the Gaumont British Theatres Corporation, it was converted to a cinema, though still able to provided live entertainment.

It became the Gaumont in 1954 when programmed by the Rank organisation and played back up to the larger Capitol Theatre.

With attendances dwindling, Rank decided to close the Gaumont on 30th December 1961. Live shows which had been ideally suited to the Gaumont’s large stage and backstage facilities were relocated to the Capitol Cinema where there were some stage facilities but larger seating capacity.

After demolition in 1962, a new building for the now-defunct C&A clothing business was built with a large ballroom in the basement initially bearing the "Top Rank" name. This has now been demolished and replaced by a new building for the clothing chain Primark, which by 2014 had become a Matalan store.

New Feature - Venues - Cardiff

The Capitol

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Over the months our On This Day feature listed many venues that had featured some of the greatest bands and performers in popular music history.

Nearly all the venues from the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies have gone, though the memories very much remain.

Top of the Pops for any music loving fans in the Capital and surrounding area was…The Capitol Theatre, a feature on most bands tour itinerary, it’s hallowed boards were trod on by the biggest and the best including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Elton John.

Opened in December 1921, it was a purpose built entertainment centre not only with the auditorium, but also a ballroom, three restaurants and a bar.

The theatre had a seating capacity of 3,158 in the stalls, circle and balcony, which at the time, was the largest purpose-built cinema in Europe.

It was originally owned by Tilney Kinema Company,but in 1931 it was leased to Paramount Cinemas.
In 1941 the Rank Organisation took over the lease, and in 1964 they purchased the theatre from the Tilney Kinema Company.

The Beatles' last live UK tour concluded with two performances at the theatre on 12 December 1965.
The Rank Organisation closed the theatre in 1978 and it was demolished in 1983.The Capitol Centre now occupies the site.

Book Review

With Summer almost upon us (some would say it’s already been and gone!) thoughts of holidays, sun, sea, and a good book, are very much in our thoughts.

Whilst the possibility of lounging by the Mediterranean with cocktail and a good book sounds idyllic, our options seem more likely to be a deckchair in the garden, a mug of tea, whilst dodging showers. The thought of a good book does brighten the scenario somewhat.

So, deckchair, tea and umbrella in readiness, what to read ?

Fortunately, from a very early age I’ve read, devouring school and local libraries, leaving only cornflake packets and sauce bottles unread.

Lucky enough to get a steady supply from family and friends here’s a few recent purchases that may help your leisurely days be more interesting and hopefully informative.

Book one is One,Two, Three, Four by Craig Brown.
It’s a Beatle book and some would say do we need another one? Plenty of good and not so good books on the Fab Four out there but this is something of a gem amongst the diamanté’s.
For one it’s original, witty and sad all at the same time. Fascinating and unique, it documents the boys career but in a more endearing way using stories and anecdotes, similarities and unusual back stories behind some of the more well-known Beatle tales.

You don’t have to be a fan to enjoy the book, though it obviously helps, but guarantee you will find the stories charming, unusual and thoroughly entertaining.

Book two is Remain In Love by Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club drummer Chris Frantz. Whilst former bandmate David Byrne collects all the accolades and in many ways deservedly so, the real heartbeat of any band is the rhythm section and in Frantz and his wife Tina Weymouth, the band possessed a truly inspirational and exciting partnership.
The importance of Frantz, Weymouth and guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison never seemed to get the credit they deserved with the focus being frontman Byrne but thankfully this book sets the record straight and a truly fascinating insight into one of music’s most inspirational and much admired bands.
Frantz tells of the bands formative years and his life long relationship with his wife Tina.
In many ways his story is bittersweet, obviously proud of his/their achievements yet a sadness in the band’s demise and lack of both interest and acknowledgement from Byrne. The references to CBGB’s and the early New York scene is true rock folklore and engrossing whilst insight into the birth of songs like the iconic Psychokiller is certainly compelling.
The book is definitely worth reading even if just to let Frantz even up the score and tell is how it was.

My third recent purchase is the epic The Worst Band In The World, the only authorised 10cc biography, and to my mind one of the best written and researched books on a band ever written, in this instance, being one of popular music’s most innovative and respected units that sadly never got the proper credit their stunning music deserved.

From their early days as members and songwriters of note to some of the Sixties finest bands to the creative hub that was Strawberry Studios, where they could let fly their many ideas, from the bubblegum rock of Rubber Bullets to the multi-layered epic of I’m Not In Love, their music was impossible to pigeon hole in its complexity and versatility.

It’s a real labour of love from fan and writer Liam Newton with no stone unturned in a well crafted and riveting read.

Last but not least is Hey Hi Hello by legendary DJ Annie Nightingale.
Published to mark the fiftieth anniversary of her first broadcast on Radio One, and, unlike her more autobiographical Wicked Speed, this book delves into meetings and interviews with musicians and friends like Underworld’s Karl Hyde and pop’s latest shining light, Billie Eilish.
Littered with anecdotes it’s light reading compared to the previous books mentioned yet it’s an entertaining and absorbing book by a real groundbreaking, trailblazing, DJ who stood her ground in an era that gave women little opportunity in the all-male institution that was Radio One.

Retro Review - Aladdin Sane

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48 years ago on 13 April, in 1973, saw the release of what was David Bowie’s 6th studio album.
Aladdin Sane was the follow up to what was considered Bowie’s breakthrough album, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

Produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, it proved a crucial release and did much to consolidate his newly found stardom that the Ziggy album had helped create.

Recorded at Trident Studios in London and RCA Studios in New York City between legs of the Ziggy Stardust Tour, it would the last album to feature his band The Spiders from Mars, though both guitarist Mick Ronson and bassist Trevor Bolder did feature partially on the Bowie covers album Pin Ups.

The songs on Aladdin Sane were mostly written during Bowie’s American tour and features two songs that preceded the album’s release, the brilliant Jean Genie and Drive-in Saturday, both singles, with Jean Genie, in particular, setting the tone, the songs having a harder rock sound than their previous distinctly glam roots and no doubt influenced by their travels in America.

The album’s opening track “Watch That Man” is typical as to how Bowie envisioned his album to be. Still retaining the glam rock flair but a much harder and faster edge, and reminds one of the Velvet Underground but Bowie acknowledged that the New York Dolls provided some of the inspiration for the album’s opener.

The title track “Aladdin Sane” is another song that benefits from a more experimental approach by Bowie and includes a rather inspirational piano solo by Bowie sideman Mike Garson.

“Drive-in Saturday” and “Panic in Detroit” swiftly follow. The former with its prominent female backing vocals provided by Linda Lewis and salsa styled rhythms. “Panic“ supposedly inspired by friend Iggy Pop reminiscing about the Detroit riots of 1967, name checks Che Guevara whilst Rolling Stone magazine listed Mick Ronson’s guitar work on the song his “essential recording”.

The final track on the first side is “Cracked Actor”, another rocker, it became a feature of Bowie’s live performances with the singer wearing sunglasses and holding a skull, like a scene from Hamlet which he would then kiss dramatically at the end and a worthy climax to a stunning first side.

Side two’s opener “Time” is a real Bowie ‘Tour de Force’ yet divides opinion with many describing it as one of Bowie’s most poetic offerings performed in such a dramatic fashion, though to some it’s described as weak and melodramatic. Either way still a favourite with the Bowie fraternity and one of the album’s stand out tracks.
“Prettiest Star” is an odd choice for inclusion as it was recorded originally featuring Marc Bolan on guitar but this newer more glammed up version is a far superior effort even though Ronson plays the Bolan guitar part virtually note-for-note.

What follows is probably the album’s poorest track, a cover of the Rolling Stones “Let’s Spend The Night Together”. A pretty average attempt at best and tends to pale into insignificance compared to the song that follows, “The Jean Genie,” a truly great single which at this point in his career was Bowie’s highest chart placing, peaking at No 2, and kept off the top spot frustratingly by Jimmy Osmond’s “Long Haired Lover From Liverpool.”

With its great riff and chorus, it’s glam Bowie at his brilliant best but some acknowledgment should be paid to the Spiders who provided the song with a backing track to die for.

The final track on the album is “Lady Grinning Soul” a romantic, almost cinematic piece that again utilises the keyboard skills of Mike Garson and provides the album with a more than fitting finale.

The Ziggy album may get most of the plaudits, the Aladdin Sane album consolidates and a stepping stone in creativity for the ever evolving Bowie. A true classic.


“Aladdin Sane was my idea of rock and roll America. Here I was on this great tour circuit, not enjoying it very much. So inevitably my writing reflected that, this kind of schizophrenia that I was going through. Wanting to be up on stage performing my songs, but on the other hand not really wanting to be on those buses with all those strange people. Being basically a quiet person, it was hard to come to terms with. So Aladdin Sane was split down the middle.”
– David Bowie on the theme of the album

“We wanted to take it that much rougher. Ziggy was rock and roll but polished rock and roll. [Bowie] wanted certain tracks to go like the Rolling Stones and unpolished rock and roll.”
– Ken Scott on the album's sound

Review By Tony Woolway

My First Music Memory

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The influences of others can have a big effect on our musical path through life.
listening to The Beatles with my Mum was inspirational to me as a small boy.

My Mum Mavis Plays a Tune

We had the records and I in particular, played them to death on a tin pot radiogram, this was before getting my very own ‘portable’ record player.

Whether it be friends or family, these early influences can be both a breath of fresh air or a burden.
Getting back to my dear old Mum, now sadly gone, her love of music almost lead to a split from my father and in doing so, no me.

It all came about when my Mum bought herself a ticket for Bill Haley, who was on his first tour of the UK and who had got the kids jumping with this new found racket called Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Bill Haley

Not being a fan, my father and her husband to be, demanded that she not go, something she brought up at regular times when we discussed music.

Not that she bore a grudge, but was forever sad that she never rebelled and went with her mates. My Dad could be funny like that. Had it been Elvis, who never toured the UK, I doubt I’d exist now as I couldn’t see her backing away from that gig.

Another of my earliest memories was playing constantly ‘Heartbreak Hotel‘ at full volume until the plug was pulled, along with hits by The Beatles, Dave Clark Five and, when much younger Lonnie Donegan’s ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman, it must have driven the old man nuts.

These records that my Mum had bought certainly kick-started a love of music with me pushing aside my Pinky and Perky multi-track EP on shocking pink vinyl, never to be listened to ever again.

Whilst Rock ‘n’Rock never made any impression on my father, he did have a soft spot for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and when he did venture near the record player without kicking it or turning it off, he’d been known to play their hits and records that I very much liked myself.

Not such a happy memory was being sent into town to buy him ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’ which he had heard in the cinema whilst working away and that featured prominently in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Strolling into Buffalo Records, Cardiff, with my head barely reaching above the counter, I asked for the record, the title of which I had repeated parrot-fashion on the bus, just so that I wouldn’t forget the title and incur his wrath.

I paid my money and headed off to the bus station feeling very pleased with myself, certain in the knowledge that delivery would be met by a bar of chocolate, no problem.

What neither my Dad or me realised was that the film version of the song was by B. J. Thomas. Sadly, gripped tightly in my small brown paper bag was a version by French heartthrob Sasha Distel. Not best pleased with the result there was no celebratory chocolate, though he did come to enjoy the version by Slasha.

Having a older brother, his record collection, though quite eclectic, served to provide much inspiration, most notably his records by Al Green and the excellent Motown Chartbusters.

Less than inspiring was Bread’s Greatest Hits and Rick Wakeman’s Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, though both sold by the truckload.

For every unmentionable album in the rack there was a gem like Hunky Dory or Bridge Over Troubled Water and so my education continued.

Of course friends can provide the best albums to check out. I remember hearing The Clash for the first time on the shittiest of cassette recorders.

The recording I believe was taken direct from the radio, The John Peel Show. Even allowing for the awful recording I was gripped, just as I was when a good mate played me Joni Mitchell’s Court And Spark for the first time.

Moments like these still remain to this day, where the hairs on the back of your neck signal something new and exciting.

I’ve tried where possible to guide and influence others, most notably when my sister asked my go with her to town as she wanted to buy ‘Mother Of Mine’ by Opportunity Knocks winner Neil Reid.

We came back with a bit of a result as I convinced and cajoled her into buying Ringo’s ‘Back Of Boogaloo’ and ‘The Witch Queen Of New Orleans’ by Redbone, both from the bargain bin.

I think she grew to like them both, eventually.