Feb 12, 2024
PJ Harvey in session while John Peel watches on, 1993
seen from Estonia
seen from Czechia
seen from Czechia
seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Georgia
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
PJ Harvey in session while John Peel watches on, 1993
25 years ago today! Atari Teenage Riot released their debut album “Delete Yourself!” on their own label Digital Hardcore Recordings. Tracks like “Speed”, “Kids Are United”, “Start The Riot”, “Hunt Down And Kill The Nazis” and “Midijunkies” described a dystopian future, a modern surveillance state, the rise of far right and neo nazi ideology, censorship of Free Speech and terrorism. Established music critics immediately attacked the album for being too ‘harsh’, too ‘noisy’, too ‘violent’, too ‘direct’, too ‘loud’. What many don’t remember is that it was already finished in 1993. The major label Phonogram/Vertigo UK had signed ATR in 1992 and when they heard the mastered album, they refused to release it, fired the A&R who had signed the band and even better... they kicked ATR out, ripped up the deal. Usually bands in that situation would split up and vanish. But Alec Empire, Hanin Elias and Carl Crack didn‘t have another choice. They were pretty much blacklisted in the German techno scene. And when they played shows in punk rock clubs, the audiences rioted because they were ‘using computers’ on stage. Back then punks believed that an Atari computer was a symbol of the capitalist system that would replace humans in the work place... and worse. Cyberpunks and hackers were a tiny scene from which ATR emerged. BBC Radio DJ John Peel started playing the record and kept pushing it. Artists like Björk, Moby, The Prodigy and many others started to embrace it. Two years later in 1997 it was released in the US on the Beastie Boys label Grand Royal under the title “Burn Berlin Burn”. Many streaming services have lately banned ATR from their catalogue (or removed various songs from it). Remember you can always access it on the band’s bandcamp. https://atariteenageriot.bandcamp.com/album/delete-yourself-remastered Do you think Atari Teenage Riot’s view of where society was heading was wrong? #atariteenageriot #atr #deleteyourself #electronicmusic #digitalhardcore #dhr #cyberpunk #techno #breakbeat #drumnbass #rave #theprodigy #moby #björk #beastieboys #90s #johnpeel #berlin #london #usa #anniversary #25 #speed #fastandfurious #1995 https://www.instagram.com/p/B9HWPd-iHE9/?igshid=1mawwiktw7xh6
Mark E. Smith (1957-2018) #markesmith #thefall #prestwich #manchester #johnpeel #musician #singer #songwriter #postpunk #diy #punk #spokenword #music #england #english #sexpistols #albertcamus #lyricist #vonsudenfed #iamkuriousoranj #stepforward #roughtrade #beggarsbanquet #cherryredrecords
Learning From The Best ----------- I’m too young to have witnessed Peel’s influence on the world’s music first hand but I am just about old enough for the sound of his voice to be as familiar as it still is comforting.
Before reading this book I knew only that he was a ‘legend’ of UK broadcasting and a regular voice on the radio. In making my way through Margrave of The Marshes I learnt that his contributions have reached infinitely broader than just to the UK and that he has touched on a considerable amount more of the music I already own than I ever knew he had.
Peel’s reach in both taste and influence is so broad that I think any music fan would find several hilarious anecdotes or fly-on-the-wall insights buried in this quite short book so I do urge everyone to read it! The tone does get sad in parts given John’s untimely death but I drew much more inspiration and courage from it than I did any overwhelming sense of grief.
He strikes me as a sensitive man who was constantly looking for new music because he was aware of just how powerful a force sound can be if you find the right song at the right moment. It should be OK for men to cry more often and in reading this I felt glad to be in such good company knowing that Peel too was one of them.
I’ve taken plenty of notes throughout the book and I’ll get round to sharing some of my favourite snippets really soon!
Onto the actual text this time, including a Contents page so you should be able to work out how long you have to wait for the articles you’re interested in.
Page 2 SOUNDS April 10, 1976
CONTENTS
FEATURES David Bowie 12-14 Bill Bruford 16 War 17 PFM 18-19 Kate and Anna McGarrigle 19 Led Zeppelin 20 Bachman Turner Overdrive 27 Clive Davis 30 Guitar Special 32-39 Miracles 45
REGULARS News 2-4 Charts 6 Wax Fax 7 High Society 8-10 Jaws 11 Albums 20-24 Singles 40-41 Reggae 41 Fair Deal 42 Letters 44 Steppin’ Out 46-48 On The Road 49-51 New Sounds 54
SOUNDS
EDITOR Alan Lewis
DEPUTY EDITOR Alf Martin
FEATURES EDITOR Barbara Charone
SPECIAL PROJECTS Phil Sutcliffe
NEWS EDITOR Hugh Fielder
EDITORIAL Geoff Barton Dave Fudger Susanne Garrett Vivien Goldman Jonh Ingham Tony Mitchell
CONTRIBUTORS Mick Brown Giovanni Dadomo Flip Fraser Jerry Gilbert Dan Hedges Robin Katz Dave Laing John Peel
PHOTOGRAPHER Mike Putland
IN AMERICA Toby Goldstein 212 672 3166 Al Rudis Steve Rosen Ted Joseph Peter Crescenti
ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Jonathan Ward
TELEPHONE SALES MANAGER Eddie Fitzgerald
ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION Len Driver
MANAGING DIRECTOR Jack Hutton
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mike Sharman
ADVERTISEMENT DIRECTOR Peter Wilkinson
Spotlight Publications, Stoplight House, 1 Benwell Road, London N7 7AX. Telephone: 01-607 6411.
NEWSDESK
KISS MAYHEM Three attacks by the US destroyers
KISS, US kings of heavy rock in heavy make-up, are at last to play three gigs in Britain next month.
Despite the transatlantic publicity they have so far made little impact on record here but their fourth UK album ‘Destroyer’ will be released on Casablanca to coincide.
The label also plan to back up the full frontal assault on the British market with giveaways at the concerts including arm bands and Kiss masks and a TV advertising campaign.
The dates are: Manchester Free Trade Hall May 13, Birmingham Odeon 14, Hammersmith Odeon 15. The band may use their own jet-liner on the tour.
‘UNOFFICIAL’ FLOYD A PINK FLOYD single taken from ‘Wish You Were Here’ is being released in this country in a special limited edition of 10,000.
It will be ‘Have A Cigar’ b/w ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ and comes through an exclusive distribution deal arranged by Lightning Records with the Dutch company who originally released it.
The last of the official Floyd singles released in the UK was ‘Point Me At The Sky’ and they have recently again vetoed any further single releases here, though they put them out in every other record buying country, because of what they regard as the lightweight pop image of the charts here.
ALVIN, FAIRPORT IN FOOTBALL FEST BANK HOLIDAY Monday is now set to be the biggest day ever in live rock in the UK – another huge football ground festival probably starring Alvin Lee has been announced, coinciding with the Who and Co. putting the boot in at Charlton (see opposite page).
The Southend Charity Festival Committee say that contracts are expected to be signed this week for a line-up starring Alvin and Friends, Budgie, and the debut of the new Fairport Convention.
Support acts planned are The Dave Bromberg Band, Magna Carta, the Mickey Jupp Band and Crossbreed with our very own John Peel compering.
Confirmation came from the business end Alvin and the Fairports that they were likely to do the gig though it was still being negotiated – neither band’s line-up has yet been announced.
The Festival is run for the benefit of Christian Aid relief and development projects in the third world.
It starts at 11 am and runs through to 9pm at Southend United Football Ground. Tickets are now on sale from the ground in Victoria Avenue at £2 though they will be £2.50 on the day. Postal applicants should send an SAE with cheques and postal orders made out to ‘Southend Sounds ’76.’
SOME OF THESE KNIGHTS GLADYS KNIGHT And The Pips will tour Britain later this month doing two shows a night in five venues, her last visit for some time as she is pregnant.
The dates are: Bournemouth Winter Gardens April 23, Manchester Palace 24, Southport New Theatre 25, London New Victoria 27, Birmingham Odeon 30.
They will be bringing their own rhythm section and the tour coincides with the UK release of their States hit ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’.
Gladys is also starring in a movie titled ‘Pipedreams’ due for release in Britain in the autumn.
STILL NO TUBES Tubes’ record company A&M say that they cannot tour the UK in May as their new album ‘Young and Rich’ (produced by Ken Scott who worked on the Supertramp albums) will be released then and they will be touring the States to promote it.
But they have been trying to arrange a London venue to do a possible week of shows later in the year as well as provincial dates and A&M said they were “virtually certain” to come to Britain in ’76.
RECORD NEWS
JON DOES THE LOT Jon Anderson, who plays just occasional acoustic and percussion with Yes, has been a one-man band on his solo album ‘Olias Of Sunhillow’ released by Atlantic on May 7. He wrote the words and music and plays all instruments including keyboards and harp.
He will perform excerpts from it on OGWT on May 11 and get a spot in the Daily Telegraph colour supplement on the release date. Yes start a three-month tour of the States in late May.
REAL THING release a single in mid-May to tie in with their guest appearance with David Essex at Earl’s Court on May 15.
BARNEY JAMES, ex-drummer with Rick Wakeman’s English Rock Ensemble, has his first solo single out on April 9 on the Solddon label. Titled ‘All The Prizes Taken’ it’s from his album ‘Koneg – The Second Coming’ scheduled for May release.
JOHNNY TAYLOR’S US number one hit ‘ Disco Lady’ has been rush released in the UK by Columbia. Taylor is a soul black veteran who first recorded in the 50s and had a string of hits on Stax during the past decade, including the classic ‘Who’s Making Love’. He joined Epic after the recent Stax collapse.
FREDDIE MACK, who played ‘Mr ‘Superbad’ in the K-Tel TV ads for the album of the same name last year, has a single of the same name out on Contempo on April 23. It’s called ‘Mr Superbad’.
LINDA LEWIS, whose current single on Bell is a Van McCoy song ‘Baby I’m Yours’, is heading for New Orleans to record with Allen Toussaint. Later in the summer she will co-star with John Miles in a Mike Mansfield TV special.
GRAND FUNK have signed to EMI International for the world outside North America.
NANARETH’s single ‘Love Hurts’ and album ‘Hair Of The Dog’ have both gone gold in the States.
ANNE-KARINE THINGNAES, Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest entry ‘Mata Hari’ is being released by DJM in the UK.
MOON WILLAIMS new single on DJM ‘Every Time I Take The Time’ will be ‘endorsed’ in radio ads by admirers including Deep Purple, The Rubettes, Angie Bowie and Biddu.
SHIRLEY BASSEY has a single called ‘Natali’ released on April 9 by United Artists. It’s taken from an Album ‘Love Life And Feeling’ out on April 23.
BONNIE DOBSON is recording a new album for Polydor and tracks so far completed include ‘Morning Dew’ (which she originally wrote) ‘A Taste Of Honey’, ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’. The album is scheduled for July release.
URIAH HEEP have finished work on their new album, ‘High And Mighty’, which is the first that the band have produced themselves. It will be released in May.
ARISTA RECORDS have taken over Haven Records in America which gives them such artists as the Righteous Brothers, Gene Redding, Willie Harry Nelson, Eve Sands, and Rob Grill and the Grassroots. The Righteous Brothers and Willie Harry Nelson have albums due for release shortly.
‘THE HAPLESS Child And Other Inscrutable Stories’ is the title of an album released by Virgin next weekend. The music is by Mike Mantler and lyrics by Edward Gorey and among those taking part are Robert Wyatt, Carla Bley, Terge Rypdal, Steve Swallow and Jack De Johnette.
Advert – SOUND CITY BASS GUITAR STRINGS
Designed for & used by International musicians & groups too numerous to mention.
Rec. Retail BASS GUITAR Incl. VAT WIREWOUND – SET 7000 (Nickle) £ 7001 1st 1.10 7002 2nd 1.31 7003 3rd 1.68 7004 4th 1.86 7000 Set of 4 Strings 5.95
Rec. Retail SOUND CITY Incl. VAT TAPEWOUND – SET 8000 (Nickle) £ 8001 1st 1.26 8002 2nd 1.55 8003 3rd 1.96 8004 4th 2.18 8000 Set of 4 Strings 6.95
* BASS GUITAR sets or singles are available in long or medium scale.
The Cardiff Music String Co., Ltd., Pontygwindy Industrial Estate, Caerphilly, Wales, CF8 3HU, Great Britain.
SOUND CITY T-SHIRTS for ONLY 65p When you buy one set of SOUND CITY STRINGS – Ask your dealer
Next time: page three
Matana Roberts @matanaroberts Episode 919: “this show just can’t be pinned down” >> or listen at podcast sites below the best new music, independent of the industry system &…
The best new music, independent of the industry system.
Glass Isle - “Luna Ellekter”.
Listen again to James Holden and Tom Ravenscroft rummaging through John Peel’s record collection for the Peel Acres show for BBC 6 Music: GO>>
I am continually surprised at the number of people who haven’t heard the odd and catchy songs of Glasgow’s strangest son, #ivorcutler Poet, musician, performer and weapons-grade eccentric, he spent many years quietly teaching music to young children and appearing on radio shows like #johnpeel His music is wistful, bizarre and above all, sticky. You will whistle these tunes in the shower or while doing something tedious and they will raise both your spirits and your own levels of #eccentricity to about where they should be. Link in my bio to #playlist. #ivorcutler #ivorcutlerfans #harmonium (at Lochend, City of Edinburgh) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl04Pu7oM_R/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=