On This Day 26/01/1986 Style Council

On this day, 26 January 1986, former The Jam frontman Paul Weller’s band The Style Council played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on the Red Wedge tour.

Red Wedge was a collective of musicians formed in the UK in 1985 who attempted to educate youth with the policies of the Labour Party leading up to the 1987 general election in the hope of ousting the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.

The group was launched on 21 November 1985, when Bragg, Weller, Strawberry Switchblade and Kirsty MacColl were invited to a reception at the Palace of Westminster hosted by Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Robin Cook.

Review - South Wales Echo

The collective took its name from a 1919 poster by Russian constructivist artist El Lissitzky titled Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge. Despite this echo of the Russian Civil War, Red Wedge was not a communist organisation, nor was it an officially arm of the Labour Party, but it did initially occupy office space at Labour's headquarters. The group's logo, also inspired by the Lissitzky poster, was designed by Neville Brody.

Red Wedge organised a number of major tours. The first, in January and February 1986, featured Bragg, Weller's band the Style Council, the Communards, Junior Giscombe, Lorna Gee and Jerry Dammers, with guest appearances by Madness, The The, Heaven 17, Bananarama, Prefab Sprout, Elvis Costello, Gary Kemp, Tom Robinson, Sade, the Beat, Lloyd Cole, the Blow Monkeys, Joolz and the Smiths.

At the Labour Party Annual Conference in 1986, Red Wedge's support of the party was praised, in a speech on a motion concerning the arms trade, by a conference delegate (Steve Hoyland) who referred particularly to the lyrics of the Billy Bragg song "Island of No Return" which critically references British involvement in the Falklands War.

On This Day 13/01/1986 Marillion

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On this day, 13 January 1986, prog rockers Marillion played the second of two nights at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on their Misplaced Childhood tour. Support was provided by Beltane Fire. The shows were rescheduled from the previous September.

Formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979, they emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock,becoming the most commercially successful neo-prog band of the 1980s.

Review - South Wales Echo

Marillion released their debut single "Market Square Heroes" in 1982, followed by their first album Script for a Jester's Tear in 1983. They have released 20 studio albums in total. The band achieved eight Top 10 UK albums between 1983 and 1994, including a No. 1 album in 1985 with Misplaced Childhood. The album also produced two UK Top 10 singles in "Kayleigh" (No. 2) and "Lavender" (No. 5)

Setlist

01 The Thieving Magpie (La Gazza Ladra)

02 Emerald Lies (Intro)

03 Script For A Jester’s Tear

04 Incubus

05 Jigsaw

06 The Web

07 Misplaced Childhood

08 Fugazi

09 Garden Party

10 Market Square Heroes

The band

Fish (vocals), Steve Rothery (guitar), Mark Kelly (keyboards), Pete Trewavas (bass), Ian Mosley (drums)

On This Day 04/11/1986 Moody Blues

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On this day, 4 December 1986, rock band Moody Blues played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on their Other Side Of Life UK tour.

In 1986 they enjoyed renewed success with their album The Other Side of Life and in particular with the track "Your Wildest Dreams" – a US Top 10 hit (and No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary singles chart for two weeks).

The song's video garnered a Billboard Video of the Year award after being frequently featured on MTV. It was the first of three albums with producer Tony Visconti, best known for his extensive work with T. Rex and David Bowie, who together with synth programmer Barry Radman delivered a modern sound the Moodies had been seeking in order to remain competitive with their pop contemporaries.

Review -Phil Nifield - South Wales Echo

The Moody Blues performed live at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986, which raised money for Birmingham Children's Hospital. The band played four songs, and later provided backup with Electric Light Orchestra for George Harrison. Other performers included Robert Plant and former Moodie Denny Laine (whose set included "Go Now").

On This Day 28/11/1989 Lyle Lovett

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On this day, 28 November 1989 American country singer Lyle Lovett played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall. He had earlier in the year released his third album, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. Lovett won the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the album.

He signed with MCA Records in 1986 and released his eponymous debut album. He sang harmony vocals on Nanci Griffith's The Last of the True Believers album (1986). While typically associated with the country genre, Lovett's compositions often incorporate folk, swing, blues, jazz and gospel music as well as more traditional country & western styling.

Review - Mick Tems - South Wales Echo

On This Day 11/11/1988 Chas 'n' Dave

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On this day, 11 November 1988, Cockney pop duo Chas 'n' Dave played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

They were most notable as creators and performers of a musical style labelled rockney (a portmanteau of rock and cockney), which mixes "pub singalong, music-hall humour, boogie-woogie piano and pre-Beatles rock 'n' roll".

For a time, Rockney was also the name of their record label, their major breakthrough being "Gertcha" in 1979, which peaked at No. 20 in the UK Singles Chart, and was the first of eight Top 40 hit singles the duo played on. They had their biggest success in the early 1980s with "Rabbit" and "Ain't No Pleasing You". They also had nine charting albums.

Charles Nicholas "Chas" Hodges and David Victor "Dave" Peacock met in 1963, but the duo only started writing songs together in 1972.[4] In the 1960s and 1970s, Hodges and Peacock were in various groups. Hodges was with The Outlaws and then Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers in the 1960s, while Dave Peacock was with a group called the Rolling Stones (formed before the more famous one), and The Tumbleweeds, and worked with Mick Greenwood and Jerry Donahue.

Hodges and Peacock were both part of Black Claw with Harvey Hinsley and Mick Burt, three of them (Hodges, Peacock and Burt) would later be in Chas & Dave. They recorded with Albert Lee, and released an EP called Country Pie. After Black Claw, Hodges joined Heads Hands & Feet in 1970.

Both Hodges and Peacock had worked as session musicians and in backing bands for a wide range of artists; Hodges as part of The Outlaws had worked with Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Bill Haley, and also supported the Beatles as the Rebel Rousers.The hook of the song on which Hodges and Peacock played guitar and bass in 1975, Labi Siffre's "I Got The...", was later sampled on Eminem's "My Name Is".

On This Day 04/11/1981 Bauhaus

On this day, 4 November 1981, gothic rock band Bahaus played Cardiff’s Top Rank on their Mask tour. The band had just released their second studio album Mask.

Bauhaus expanded their style a bit on Mask, particularly by incorporating keyboards and acoustic guitar on songs such as "The Passion of Lovers", and funk rhythms and saxophone on tracks like "Kick in the Eye", "Dancing" and "In Fear of Fear".

The album cover is a drawing by guitarist Daniel Ash.The original artwork for the album was a gatefold sleeve with blue text on the inside and a stark black-and-white image of the band. On later editions this inside was replaced with white text and a montage from the promotional video for the song "Mask".

Setlist

The Passion of Lovers

In the Flat Field

Silent Hedges

Terror Couple Kill Colonel

The Man With the X-Ray Eyes

(Slow version)

In Fear of Fear

Hair of the Dog

Mask

Rosegarden Funeral of Sores

(John Cale cover)

Dancing

Hollow Hills

Spy in the Cab

On This Day 26/05/1989 Tim Finn

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On this day, 26 May 1989, former Split Enz founder and singer/songwriter Tim Finn played Cardiff University. He had earlier in the day performed at the Our Price store in Cardiff.

In late 1988, Finn recording his eponymous third album, Tim Finn, for Capitol Records.

The album yielded strong reviews and the New Zealand hit "Parihaka", based on a Māori village known for its campaign of passive resistance to European occupiers.

In 1971 Finn commenced a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Auckland. There he jammed in music practice room 129 (later the name of a Split Enz song) with friends and future Split Enz bandmembers Mike Chunn, Robert Gillies, Philip Judd and Noel Crombie.

Music soon became more important to him than his studies. In 1972 he quit university. A few months later, Phil and Tim formed the group Split Ends, renamed Split Enz in 1975, shortly before they left New Zealand for Melbourne.

Between 1975 and 1984, the group released nine studio albums. Split Enz played its last show on 4 December 1984 in Auckland.

On This Day 05/10/1981 Hazel O’Connor

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On this day, 5 October 1981, British singer/songwriter and actress Hazel O’Connor played Cardiff University.

She became famous in the early 1980s with hit singles "Eighth Day", "D-Days" and "Will You?" She also starred in the 1980 film Breaking Glass.

O’Connor had just released her second studio album Close Plus, produced by legendary producer Tony Visconti, which reached #32 in the UK album charts. The album spawned 3 singles, most notably a version of The Stranglers “Hanging Around”.

O'Connor was born in Coventry, England. She is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after the Second World War to work in a car plant. Her brother Neil later fronted the punk band The Flys, best known for their single "Love and a Molotov Cocktail", which she later covered.

Her film debut was in Girls Come First in 1975, where she was credited as Hazel Glyn. She became prominent as an actress and singer five years later in 1980 when playing the role of Kate in the film Breaking Glass. She also performed on the accompanying soundtrack.