On This Day 10/10/1979 Penetration

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On this day, 10 October 1979, punk band Penetration played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

Formed in Ferryhill as The Points, under which name they played their first gig, at the Rock Garden pub in Middlesbrough in October 1976, they changed the band's name after a 1973 song by Iggy & The Stooges. Their second gig was supporting The Stranglers at Newcastle City Hall.

Significantly, the band also played at the club The Roxy during its first 100 days. On 9 April 1977, the band appeared on the same bill as Generation X. They were also supported by Joy Division (then named "Warsaw") in May 1977, who were performing their very first gig.Early in their career, the band also supported The Vibrators and toured with Buzzcocks.

After the release of their second single, Penetration recorded the first of two sessions for John Peel at BBC Radio 1 in July 1978. Later that year, the band released their debut album. Moving Targets was number 6 in the Sounds Critics' albums of the year; and it made number 13 in the NME critics' chart.

In 1979, they toured Europe, the US and Britain but the grueling schedule began to take its toll. A disappointing reaction to Coming Up For Air, the second album, was the final nail in the coffin of the original band. After the band split in October an official bootleg album called Race Against Time was released, which was a collection of early demos and live tracks.

On This Day 08/10/1977 Camel

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On this day, 8 October 1977, progressive rock band Camel played Cardiff University. The band had just released their fifth studio album Rain Dances.

The band was formed in Guildford, Surrey, in 1971 by guitarist Andrew Latimer, drummer Andy Ward, bassist Doug Ferguson and keyboardist Peter Bardens. Latimer, Ward, and Ferguson had performed in the Guildford area as a trio named Brew, and in 1971 they auditioned to be the backing band for singer-songwriter Phillip Goodhand-Tait.

The three went on to appear on latter's album I Think I'll Write a Song, released in September 1971. After splitting with Goodhand-Tait, the trio decided that a keyboardist would expand their sound and advertised for one in the Melody Maker. Bardens responded and successfully auditioned with a Hammond organ that belonged to a mutual friend of the group. The four travelled to Ireland to fulfil outstanding contractual obligations Bardens had with his previous outfit On, after which they renamed themselves Camel. Their live debut with the name followed at Waltham Forest Technical College in London in December 1971, supporting Wishbone Ash.

The group began regular touring in January 1972, establishing themselves as a proficient live act. They soon signed with Geoff Jukes of the Buffalo Agency as their manager. By August 1972, Camel signed with MCA Records and their eponymous debut album Camel was released in early 1973.

The band's fourth album, Moonmadness (1976), was the last to feature the original lineup. Mel Collins was added to the band on saxophone and flute for the subsequent tour. Drummer Ward was pushing for a move into jazz, which caused bassist Ferguson to quit the band in early 1977.[6][10] Ferguson formed the band Headwaiter and later became a property developer.

Richard Sinclair (formerly of Caravan) replaced Ferguson, and Mel Collins joined the band in an official capacity. This lineup released Rain Dances (1977) and Breathless (1978).

On This Day 07/10/1990 Prefab Sprout

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On this day, 7 September 1990, County Durham rock/pop band Prefab Sprout played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on The Comeback Tour in support of their recently released fifth studio album Jordan the Comeback. Support was provided by The Trash Can Sinatras.

A 19-track album encompassing a variety of musical styles and themes, Jordan has been considered by the band and critics alike to be Prefab Sprout's most ambitious project. The album was produced by Thomas Dolby, who had helmed the band's acclaimed 1985 album Steve McQueen but had been unable to commit to the entirety of its 1988 follow-up From Langley Park to Memphis.

Frontman Paddy McAloon divided the album thematically into four segments – straight pop material, a suite about Elvis Presley, love songs and a section on "death and fate". Often touching upon religion and celebrity, the songs allude to figures including Jesse James, Agnetha Fältskog, God and the Devil. Upon release, the album received widespread acclaim with comparisons made to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, the Beatles' White Album, Prince's Sign o' the Times and the work of Phil Spector.

It was also a commercial success, peaking at number 7 on the UK Albums Chart. The album's singles were less successful – "Looking for Atlantis" and "We Let the Stars Go" peaked at number 51 and number 50, respectively, on the UK Singles Chart while Jordan: The EP peaked at number 35. The album was nominated for Brit Award for British Album of the Year at the 1991 Brit Awards.

Stuart Maconie of NME described the album as "riding a thematic railroad from nuggets of pure pop philosophy to weighty matters of the soul". Comparing the album's ambition to "other great pop jamborees from Sign o' the Times to the White Album", Maconie commented "to say it's the pop triumph of the year is to damn it with faint praise". David Wild of Rolling Stone said, "If Brian Wilson at the height of his creative powers had spent a year in the studio working up a concept album about love, God and Elvis, the result might have sounded like Jordan: The Comeback.

On This Day 06/10/1972 Electric Light Orchestra

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On this day, 6 October 1972, rock band the Electric Light Orchestra played Cardiff University.

Formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters-multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements and futuristic iconography.

It was during this tour that Roy and Jeff began to not get along. The problems were initially caused because of the attention Roy was getting over Jeff, especially with the press. Although Electric Light Orchestra was a completely joint venture with the two songwriters/producers/musicians equally splitting the tasks on the first album and during the tour, Jeff's songs were featured even more than Roy's songs. However, at the time, Roy was the much bigger star, having had big chart success as a songwriter and more with The Move. Jeff, on the other hand, had experienced no chart success with the Idle Race and little to no chart success as a songwriter when he joined The Move.

So at press events and many of the tour performances, it was Roy who was getting all the attention, with very little left over for Jeff. According to many sources, they nearly came to blows at times and would stand at the edge of the stage on performance nights and argue who should be the last to go on to the stage. There are specific reports of this in Italy, so that "getaway" leg of the tour did little to allay the problem. Roy claims, and probably accurately, that manager Don Arden fomented the rivalry, with the goal of getting one to leave the band and then he would have two bands with talented musicians to manage, rather than one band with two talented musicians.

The reason for Roy Wood’s departure was the subject of gossip columns for many years after it happened. The truth is, the band was having difficulties functioning with two leaders. Roy and Jeff were great friends, sharing a dream with the creation of the Electric Light Orchestra concept. Roy has stated that he was often troubled by the disagreements over the direction of his band while in The Move and would not go through that again. So when Roy and Jeff were apparently feuding in Electric Light Orchestra, the very thing he didn't want to happen was happening. There are some stories of them arguing over such miniscule things as who would go on stage first while at shows. Therefore, Roy left to form another band, Wizzard, where he was the sole leader. The problem was that Roy left without telling anybody. When the band came together in July to work, Roy was simply gone and Jeff and Bev learned about Roy leaving from the music trade papers.

After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. For their initial tenure, Lynne, Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.

Line up

Jeff Lynne: vocals, guitar

Bev Bevan: drums

Richard Tandy: keyboards

Wilf Gibson: violin

Mike Edwards: cello

Colin Walker: cello

Mike deAlbuquerque: bass, backing vocals

Jake Commander: engineer

On This Day 05/10/1980 Joe Jackson

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On this day, 5 October 1980, singer/songwriter Joe Jackson played Cardiff’s Top Rank on the opening date of his Beat Crazy tour.

Beat Crazy was Joe Jackson’s third studio album released on the 10th October . It was a relative disappointment commercially, peaking outside the Top 40 in both the UK and the United States, with its singles failing to chart.

Nevertheless, the Joe Jackson Band was successful and toured extensively. This would be the last studio album released by the Joe Jackson Band's original line-up until 2003's Volume 4.

Beat Crazy was intended to be a stylistic departure from Jackson's first two albums. However, as he recalled, the band lacked a clear direction during the recording. Jackson later stated that he felt the record "didn't really work". He explained,

“The stereotypical difficult third album, in which we tried to change the formula a bit without quite knowing how. It's darker than the first two and the reggae influence is more pronounced. There's some good stuff on it (I especially like the title track and 'Biology') but it’s not quite the triumphant swan song of this band.”

Line-up:

Joe Jackson (voc, p, organ)

Graham Maby (b, voc)

Gary Sanford (g, voc)

Dave Houghton (dr, voc)

Setlist

One To One

I'm The Man

Biology

Beat Crazy

Look Sharp!

Mad At You

Pretty Boys

On Your Radio

The Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff cover)

Friday

Fit

Is She Really Going Out With Him?

Don't Wanna Be Like That

Got The Time

One More Time

It's Different For Girls

On This Day 04/10/1994 Orbital

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On this day, 4 October 1994, electronic music duo Orbital played Cardiff University.

Orbital won an NME award for Vibes Best Dance Act early in 1994, but it was their headline appearance at the Glastonbury Festival on 25 June 1994 that brought them most attention. Q magazine classed it as one of the top 50 gigs of all time, and in 2002 included Orbital in their list of "50 Bands to See Before You Die".

Crucially, the expanded TV coverage of the 1994 Glastonbury Festival by Channel 4 meant that Orbital's set reached a huge audience, in what is regarded as a pivotal moment. Speaking to The Guardian in 2013 about the gig, Paul Hartnoll commented: "I didn't know how much of an impact it would have. Being young myself, I just thought, 'It's about time – of course we should have acid house at Glastonbury'. It used to annoy me. I just used to think it should be happening."

Orbital gave an improvisational element to live electronic music as the brothers mixed and sequenced their tracks on the fly, wearing their trademark head-mounted torches behind banks of equipment. Orbital were one of the few electronic acts invited to play at Woodstock '94.

The third album, Snivilisation, was released in August 1994. Alison Goldfrapp provided vocals on a couple of the tracks, including the single "Are We Here?". This track also included a sample from "Man at C&A" by The Specials. Among the remixes of "Are We Here?" was "Criminal Justice Bill?" – four minutes of silence, a reference to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which was in part intended to clamp down on the rave scene which had given birth to Orbital. The other track with Goldfrapp vocals, "Sad But True", was remixed for the Times Fly EP, the band's only release in 1995.

Setlist

Forever

Sad But True

Kein Trink Wasser

Impact (The Earth Is Burning)

Remind

Walk Now/Walk About

Crash and Carry

Are We Here?

Halcyon + On + On (with Belinda Carlisle)

Attached

Belfast

On This Day 04/10/1996 H-Blockx

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On this day, 4 September 1996, German rock band H-Blockx played Cardiff University.

founded in Münster in 1991, the band rose to fame with their successful debut album, Time to Move, released in 1994 on Sing Sing Records, and produced by Ralph Quick and Chris Wagner.

The music videos for "Risin' High" and "Move" received considerable airplay on MTV. The band earned a nomination for "Best Breakthrough Artist" at the following MTV Europe Music Awards, however, the award went to Dog Eat Dog. With the help of the singles "Risin' High", "Move", and "Little Girl", their debut spent 62 weeks in the German album chart, selling over 750,000 copies worldwide, and earning the band their first gold album. Their first major tour followed.

In 1999, World Wrestling Federation contacted the band to record a song, "Oh Hell Yeah", for wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin. Although it was never used as his theme song, it became synonymous with Austin and was released on WWF The Music, Vol. 4. A reworked version of "Oh Hell Yeah" was featured on the 2002 WWE Anthology album The Attitude Era.

On This Day 02/10/1975 Melanie

On this day, 2 Oct 1975, American singer Melanie played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

Melanie is widely known for the 1971–72 global hit "Brand New Key"; her 1970 version of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday"; her composition "What Have They Done to My Song Ma"; and her 1970 international breakthrough hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)", which was inspired by her experience of performing at the 1969 Woodstock music festival.

The No. 1 hit "Brand New Key" (often referred to as "The Roller Skate Song"). sold over three million copies worldwide and was featured in the 1997 movie Boogie Nights.

When first released, "Brand New Key" was banned by some radio stations because some inferred sexual innuendo in the lyrics. Melanie acknowledged the possibility of reading an unintended sexual innuendo in the song, stating:

“ Iwrote ['Brand New Key'] in about fifteen minutes one night. I thought it was cute; a kind of old thirties tune. I guess a key and a lock have always been Freudian symbols, and pretty obvious ones at that. There was no deep serious expression behind the song, but people read things into it. They made up incredible stories as to what the lyrics said and what the song meant. In some places, it was even banned from the radio ... My idea about songs is that once you write them, you have very little say in their life afterward ... People will take it any way they want to take it.”

Melanie had another top 40 hit single in 1973 with "Bitter Bad", a song that marked a slight departure from the hippie sentiments of her earlier hits, with lyrics such as "If you do me wrong I'll put your first and last name in my rock n' roll song". Melanie's other chart hits during this period were the self-penned "Together Alone" and a cover of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", which reached No 37 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1974.