On This Day 08/02/1977 Gallagher & Lyle

On his day, 8 January 1977, Scottish musical duo Gallagher and Lyle played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre on their Love On The Airwaves tour in support of their sixth studio album Love On The Airwaves which peaked at #19 on the UK album charts.

Their first recognition came in 1968, when they were signed by the Beatles to write for Apple Records' artists. They were founding members of the band McGuinness Flint and wrote the 1970 UK chart hit "When I'm Dead and Gone".

In 1972, they formed the duo Gallagher and Lyle, whose fifth album Breakaway charted well, the title track being a cover hit for Art Garfunkel in 1975, and it included the hit songs "Heart on My Sleeve" and "I Wanna Stay with You". Don Williams took their song "Stay Young" to No. 1 on the US Country charts.

The duo split in 1980, but re-formed in 2010 and worked together on an intermittent basis, mainly as a live act, until 2018.

Gallagher and Lyle have worked, jointly and individually, on records with, among others, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Ronnie Lane, Ronnie Wood, Joan Armatrading, Ralph McTell, Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention and Jim Diamond. Artists who have released Gallagher and Lyle songs include Bryan Ferry, Ringo Starr, Elkie Brooks, Fairport Convention, Art Garfunkel and Joe Brown.

On This Day 04/01/1976 Procol Harum

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On this day, 4 Jan 1976, progressive rock band Procol Harum played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre, supported by Viv Stanshall's Vivarium.
Best-known for their recording "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is was the 1967 hit single and one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies.

Touring to support Procol's Ninth (their eighth studio album, ninth including Live) that was released in September 1975.

Procol's Ninth was the first release from the band to feature non-original songs: a remake of The Beatles' "Eight Days a Week" and Leiber & Stoller's own "I Keep Forgetting". "Eight Days a Week" was put on the album by the producers, initially against the band's wishes. The album also featured "Pandora's Box", a track that had been composed by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid early in the band's career.

Cash Box said of "Pandora's Box" that "we guarantee you’ll be humming this Procol heavy night and day by the time Halloween rears its head a few weeks from now." As included on Ninth, it differed substantially from the more psychedelic unfinished version of the song that was ultimately released as a bonus track on the 2009 reissue of the band's first album.

Produced by renowned songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Procol's Ninth featured a slightly different direction with a much more stark sound than previous more elaborate productions. According to an interview with guitarist Mick Grabham, conducted by Roland Clare for the 2009 reissue, Leiber and Stoller focused less on the production sound and more on "the structure of the songs".

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.