On This Day 16/10/1983 Smokey Robinson

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On this day, 16 October 1983, American soul legend Smokey Robinson played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. He led the group from its 1955 origins, when they were called The Five Chimes, until 1972, when he retired from the group to focus on his role as Motown Records vice president. Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year. He left Motown in 1999.

Robinson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and awarded the 2016 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for his lifetime contributions to popular music. He is a double Hollywood Walk of Fame Inductee, as a solo artist (1983) and as a member of The Miracles (2009). In 2022, he was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.

In 1981, Robinson topped the charts again with another sensual ballad, "Being with You", which was another number one hit in Cash Box and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It also hit number one in the UK Singles Chart, becoming his most successful single to date.

The Gold-plus parent album sparked a partnership with George Tobin and with Tobin, Robinson released his next several Motown albums, Yes It's You Lady, which produced the hit "Tell Me Tomorrow", Touch the Sky and Essar. In 1983, Robinson teamed up with fellow Motown label mate Rick James recording the R&B ballad, "Ebony Eyes".

Review- South Wales Echo

On This Day 15/10/1995 Pulp

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On this day, 15 October 1995, rock band Pulp played Cardiff University on their Different Class tour. The tour was in support of their fifth album Different Class.

The album was a critical and commercial success, entering the UK Albums Chart at number one and winning the 1996 Mercury Music Prize. It included four top-ten singles in the UK, "Common People", "Sorted for E's & Wizz", "Disco 2000" and "Something Changed".

Different Class has been certified four times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), and had sold 1.33 million copies in the United Kingdom as of 2020.

Widely acclaimed as among the greatest albums of the Britpop era, in 2013, NME ranked the album at number six in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time while Rolling Stone ranked it number 162 in their 2020 revised version of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The album was released in the UK at the height of Britpop. It followed from the success of their breakthrough album His 'n' Hers the previous year. Two of the singles on the album – "Common People" (which reached number two on the UK Singles Chart) and "Disco 2000" (which reached number seven) – were especially notable, and helped propel Pulp to nationwide fame.

The inspiration for the title came to frontman Jarvis Cocker in Smashing, a club night that ran during the early 1990s in Eve's Club on Regent Street in London. Cocker had a friend who used the phrase "different class" to describe something that was "in a class of its own". Cocker liked the double meaning, with its allusions to the British social class system, which was a theme of some of the songs on the album. A message on the back of the record also references this idea: "We don't want no trouble, we just want the right to be different. That's all."

Review - South Wales Echo

On This Day 14/10/1977 Sutherland Bros & Quiver

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On this day, 14 October 1977, folk, soft rock band Sutherland Bros & Quiver played Cardiff University. The band had recently released their sixth studio album Down To Earth. The band were supported by City Boy.

The Sutherland Brothers (Gavin and Iain Sutherland) were a Scottish folk and soft rock duo. From 1973 to 1978, they performed with rock band Quiver, and recorded and toured as Sutherland Brothers & Quiver.

Under this combined moniker, the group recorded several albums and had a significant international hit single with the song "Arms of Mary" in 1976. In North America, they are primarily known for their 1973 single "(I Don't Want to Love You But) You Got Me Anyway".

Quiver was originally formed by guitarist Tim Renwick and bassist John 'Honk' Lodge (both formerly with Junior's Eyes and David Bowie), but soon comprised Tim Renwick, guitarist and singer Cal Batchelor, bassist Bruce Thomas (who later played with Elvis Costello and the Attractions) and drummer Willie Wilson. Most of the members of Quiver are also featured on Al Stewart's albums Orange (1972) and Past, Present and Future (1973).

Bruce Thomas, who had repeatedly been clashing with Iain Sutherland, then was asked to leave the group during a tour of Europe in March 1974. With only a week to go before the band was due to record their next album, Tex Comer filled in on bass for live gigs and a few album cuts, but Gavin Sutherland quickly moved over from guitar to bass, and the band continued as a five-piece.

As the band was switching labels, a cover of one of the earlier Sutherland Brothers recordings, "Sailing", became a major UK hit for Rod Stewart.

On This Day 13/10/1998 Bernard Butler

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On this day, 13 October 1998, former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler played Cardiff University on his People Move On tour.

People Move On was Butler’s debut album. Music critics gave People Move On generally favourable reviews, though some of them criticized Butler's ability as a vocalist. The album charted at number 11 in the UK Albums Chart; all three of its singles charted on the UK Singles Chart, where "Stay" – the album's best-selling single – peaked at number 12.

He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his generation; BBC journalist Mark Savage called him "one of Britain's most original and influential guitarists". He was voted the 24th greatest guitarist of the last 30 years in a national 2010 BBC poll and is often seen performing with a 1961 cherry red Gibson ES-355 TD SV (Stereo Varitone) with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.

He first achieved fame in 1992 as the guitarist with Suede, forging a songwriting partnership with Brett Anderson. He co-wrote and played guitars or piano on every recording until 1994, when he exited Suede.

Immediately after leaving Suede he formed the duo McAlmont & Butler with David McAlmont and they released two singles, "Yes" and "You Do". A compilation album, The Sound Of... McAlmont & Butler, was released after the collaboration ended.

On This Day 12/10/1990 The Men They Couldn’t Hang

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On This day, 12 October 1990, Folk/Punk band The Men They Couldn’t Hang played Cardiff University. The band had just released their fifth album The Domino Club.

The Men They Couldn't Hang came together in 1984 to perform at the alternative music festival in Camden Town alongside The Pogues and the Boothill Foot Tappers.

Paul Simmonds, Philip 'Swill' Odgers and his brother Jon, veterans of the Southampton-based pop-punk band Catch 22, met Pogues roadie Stefan Cush whilst busking in Shepherd's Bush in London. Their early line-up was Stefan Cush, Philip Odgers, Paul Simmonds, Jon Odgers and Shanne Bradley.

The band's name is inspired by "The Man They Couldn't Hang", and was originally coined by Shane MacGowan - with whom Bradley previously played in The Nipple Erectors - as a potential name for his own band, who eventually became The Pogues.

In August 1990, the band supported David Bowie in his concerts at the Milton Keynes Bowl, as part of his Sound+Vision Tour.

The band split in 1991 after releasing the live album Alive, Alive-O, a performance recorded at London's Town & Country Club that was later released as a DVD, The Shooting, by Cherry Red Records. Paul Simmonds and "Swill" Odgers then formed Liberty Cage who released an album, Sleep of the Just, in 1994 and an EP, I'll Keep It With Mine, in 1995.

On This Day 11/10/1977 Mink DeVille

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On this day, 11 October 1977, American rock band Mink DeVille played Cardiff’s Top Rank as support to Dr Feelgood. The band just had a UK hit with Spanish Stroll taken from their debut album Cabretta.

Mink DeVille was formed in 1974 when singer Willy DeVille (then called Billy Borsay) met drummer Thomas R. "Manfred" Allen Jr. and bassist Rubén Sigüenza in San Francisco. Said DeVille, "I met Manfred at a party; he'd been playing with John Lee Hooker and a lot of blues people around San Francisco. ... I met Rubén at a basement jam in San Francisco, and he liked everything I liked from The Drifters to, uh, Fritz Lang."

Willy DeVille occasionally sat in with the band Lazy Ace, which included Allen on drums and Ritch Colbert on piano. When Lazy Ace broke up, DeVille, Allen, Colbert, Rubén Sigüenza, and guitarist Robert McKenzie (a.k.a. Fast Floyd, later of Fast Floyd and the Famous Firebirds) formed a band called Billy de Sade and the Marquis.

In 1975, the band changed its name to Mink DeVille; lead singer Billy Borsay took the name Willy DeVille. Said DeVille, "We were sitting around talking of names, and some of them were really rude, and I was saying, guys we can't do that. Then one of the guys said how about Mink DeVille? There can't be anything cooler than a fur-lined Cadillac can there?" DeVille also remarked about the name, "What could be more pimp than a mink Cadillac? In an impressionistic sort of way."

From 1975 to 1977, Mink DeVille was one of the original house bands at CBGB, the New York City nightclub where punk rock music was born in the mid-1970s. "We auditioned along with hundreds of others, but they liked us and took us on.

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 09/10/1986 Christy Moore

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On this day, 9 October 1986, Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist Christy Moore played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

Moore had recently released The Spirit of Freedom his ninth solo album. The album is notable for featuring two songs written by Provisional IRA member Bobby Sands. The songs "Back Home in Derry" and "McIlhatton" were written by Sands while in prison at Long Kesh.

In addition to his significant success as a solo artist, he is one of the founding members of the bands Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, Paddy on the Road was recorded with Dominic Behan in 1969. In 2007, he was named as Ireland's greatest living musician in RTÉ's People of the Year Awards.

Moore is best known for his political and social commentary which reflects a left-wing, Irish republican perspective, despite the fact that his mother was a Fine Gael county councillor and parliamentary candidate in Kildare.

He supported the republican H-Block protestors with the albums H-Block in 1978, the launch of which was raided by the police, and The Spirit of Freedom.

He ceased supporting the military activities of the IRA in 1987 as a result of the Enniskillen bombing.

Moore has endorsed a long list of leftist causes, ranging from El Salvador to Mary Robinson in the 1990 presidential election. He has incorporated songs about Salvador Allende ('Allende') and Ronald Reagan ('Ronnie Reagon') into his repertoire.

Review - South Wales Echo