Their self-titled debut album and subsequent debut single, Virginia Plain, catapulted the band into the limelight and with it global commercial success.  But success was not without its problems.  Whereas Bryan Ferry was completely comfortable with becoming a pop star, it didn’t suit everyone in the band, and by 1973 Brian Eno had left to forge a solo career, first as an artist in his own right and later as a revered producer and music collaborator with the likes of David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads and Genesis among others.

Roxy Music’s debut album was originally released in July 1972 without any lead singles. The band then went back into the studio and recorded two new songs,  Virginia Plain and The Numberer which were subsequently released as a debut single.  The single reached number 4 in the UK singles chart which helped the album enter the Top 10 UK albums chart.  The US version and subsequent pressings of the UK album included the single, Virginia Plain.

Here are two vintage clips of Roxy Music playing Re-Make / Re-Model and the often overlooked Pyjamarama live on German television music show, Musikladen from 1973 and 1974, respectively.

Whereas Top Of The Pops was full of mimed performances, bright lights and young girls strutting their flares in front of some old men parading as cool DJ’s, Musikladen was more akin to the Old Grey Whistle Test.  The show is all about the music and the studio is made to look like a dirty, gritty basement bar.  Check out the four-letter poster behind the drummer in the Pyjamarama clip. Nice!

This is a great version of Pyjamarama which unfortunately doesn’t include the genius of Brian Eno who had already left the band before they played the show for a second time.  But Eno does appear in the 1973 performance.

Roxy Music – Musikladen contains fifteen tracks including two bonus tracks recorded in 1980.  The DVD was originally released in 2001 and has a running time of 70 minutes.  The live performances are from three separate appearances on the famous Musikladen Beat Club show from Bremen in West Germany from 1973, 1974 & 1980.

Roxy Music – Musikladen Tracklisting:

1.   Virginia plain
2.   Do the strand
3.   Edition of you
4.   In every dream home
5.   Remake re-model
6.   Streetlife
7.   Pyjamarama
8.   Mother of pearl
9.   Amazona
10. Psalm
11. All I want is you
12. Out of the blue
13. If it takes all night

Bonus tracks:
14. Over you
15. Oh yeah

Roxy Music  -Musikladen is one of many music DVD’s you can rent, buy or stream with the new film on demand online services now available on the Internet.

Xray specs – Gerrmfree Adolescence on Top Of The Pops from 1978.

Poly Styrene R.I.P

The former Thin Lizzy guitarist was said to be in good spirits in the bar of the hotel the night before his death, enjoying a bottle of Champagne and a snack with his female companion before retiring to their room.

Shocked guests at the resort who had spoken to the guitarist in the bar and found him in good spirits, happy and friendly when he departed for bed at around 11pm.

After leaving Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore carved out a solo career for himself reaching the charts with his former band mate Phil Lynott in 1979 with the beautiful single Parisian Walkways.

He would later enjoy phenomenal success both on record and with his live shows performing the blues in his own inimitable style.

His death has shocked his many friends in the music industry as well as fans worldwide who considered the 58 year old to be a robust and healthy person who had not succumbed to the typical rock and roll lifestyle.

Gary Moore – Parisian Walkways – Live

Rafferty had spent a long time battling a drink problem and had been receiving treatment in a Bournemouth hospital, he died peacefully at home however, with his daughter Martha at his bedside on January 4th 2011, from liver failure.

The singer had started his career alongside comedian Billy Connolly in an act known as The Humblebums, he quit in 1970 and two years later formed Stealers Wheel with Joe Egan, producing the classic single Stuck In The Middle With You which would endear the singer to a new generation when it was used in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs soundtrack in 1992.

In 1978 Rafferty released his best known solo album City to City which included the song Baker Street. That track alone would earn the singer a reputed £80,000 per year in royalties, but money was never his motivation.

His subsequent albums while generating some interest, failed to capture the success of City to City and Rafferty is said to have become more and more reclusive.

Gerry Rafferty – Baker Street

A true pop classic in every sense of the word the double A sided single Maggie May/Reason To Believe became the fist single ever to top both the UK and US charts simultaneously.

Although the single has been played to death on the radio in the many years since, it still retains a freshness particularly in the context of the album Every Picture Tells A Story from whence it came.

As well as his solo career Stewart was also frontman of one of the greatest rock bands of all time, the original good time band The Faces and during the early seventies both the band and singer enjoyed the time of their lives.

But it was Stewart’s solo career that really took off racking up hit after hit in the seventies and with the premature demise of The Faces, the singer veered from his early blues/rock leanings toward mainstream pop music.

Risking losing his hardcore fans, Stewart instead built an army of new admirers with his more polished vocals and catchy singalong melodies.

By the time he released Do Ya Think I’m Sexy in 1978, Stewart was appealing to a new fan base entirely, leaving critics and die hard fans gob smacked but selling more records than ever, appealing to worldwide audience.

To his credit Rod Stewart has maintained his position as one of the most original voices ever and even on his most recent American Songbook offerings, he has won over a new audience of listeners.

With such a rich and diverse history Rod Stewart’s live shows are not to be missed, a true entertainer who can call on an unprecedented back catalogue of hit songs, he remains at his best when up on stage performing to a live audience.

Rod Stewart kicks off his UK tour with the first of two nights at Edinburgh Castle Esplanade on July 14th and ends up in Belfast on July 30th, so be sure to book your tickets now.

Rod Stewart Tickets
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The band’s cult status in the UK earned them a residency at the legendary Marquee Club during a time when the Rolling Stones, Faces and The Who were regular performers.

The band Queen were support act for Sparks at one Marquee appearance and the cult following that Sparks garnered during 1973 led them to appear on BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test, during which Bob Harris referred to the band as a cross between Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention and the Monkees!

Signed to Island Records in 1974, Sparks breakthrough album Kimono My House spawned the single This Town Ain’t Big Enough, which reached number two in the UK singles charts.

In a period that is often written off  musically, the pre-punk seventies was a hot bed of alternative music where anything went and despite the odd sight and sound of Sparks they were quickly accepted as ‘normal’ by music fans.

Sparks – This Town Ain’t Big Enough

Here is Deep Purple performing Smoke On The Water live in New York in 1973.

Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water

Eric Clapton has announced five live shows here in the UK: three in May with Steve Winwood and two in February with another rock legend, Jeff Beck.

These days, concert tickets for any UK shows are difficult to purchase, especially with someone who has had worldwide hits over the past five decades.  As well as solo, he has had success with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith and Derek & The Dominoes.

Clapton is the only musician to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame three times: as a member of The Yardbirds, Cream and also as a solo artist; and was ranked fourth in The Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time.

Here’s a clip of Eric Clapton playing Layla live at Madison Square Gardens in 1999.

Eric Clapton Live UK Dates

Saturday 13 February 2010
Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck
O2 arena, London

Sunday 14 February 2010
Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck
O2 arena, London

Tuesday 18 May 2010
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood
LG Arena, Birmingham

Thursday 20 May 2010
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood
Wembley Arena, London

Friday 21 May 2010
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood
Wembley Arena, London

Eric Clapton Tickets

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This is one of my favourite Ian Dury tracks, Reasons To Be Cheerful Pt.3, this clip is from a performance in 1979.

Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Reasons To Be Cheerful Pt. 3

The song is a painful reference to the phenomenon of morphine addiction among US war veterans as a result of its use to treat injuries in the Vietnam war.

This is John Prine performing Sam Stone in Dublin in 1989.

“There’s a hole in Daddy’s arm where all the money goes,

Jesus Christ died for nothing I suppose,”

John Prine – Sam Stone – Live 1989