There was a time when folk rock was as equal in importance to the blues, country and contemporary rock music. Where traditional folk music, such as jigs and reels was almost non-rhythmic, folk rock was folk music underpinned by bass and drums or other percussive instruments.

Additionally, folk rock tended to take the simple, direct songwriting style of folk music and attempted to combine it with a rock & roll backbeat. One of the most distinctive elements of folk rock is the chiming, ringing guitar hooks, coupled with clear vocal harmonies.

And these qualities are demonstrated magnificently on a recently released live album, titled ‘Shadows Across the Moon’ and released by one of the leading exponents in the folk rock genre.

Dando Shaft came together during 1968. That said, the earliest gig date I have for them was during September 1969, when they played The Radford Hotel Folk Club. But I digress.

Dando Shaft were at their most active and prolific from 1969 through to the end of 1972. Unlike a lot of groups from the folk rock genre, Dando Shaft remained totally acoustic. No electric instruments were ever involved in their recordings or performances.

Even after that the band folded the musicians involved would occasionally reform as they did for a new album in 1977 and an unforgettable evening upstairs at Whitefriars Monastery during May 1993.

Before that particular reunion, however, Martin Jenkins, Kevin Dempsey, Dave Cooper, Roger Bullen, Ted Kay along with timely contributions from violinist, Chris Leslie (if Fairpost Convention) reconvened and performed magnificently for a series of gigs held in Italy during March 1989.Unlike the Whitefriars performance, the Italian venture was captured on tape, and has recently been given a fresh new CD release.

Tracklist

1 Railway
2 Rain
3 If I Could Let Go
4 Sometimes
5 Feel Like I Want To Go Home
6 Cold Wind
7 Road Song
8 Shadows Across The Moon
9 Riverboat
10 Kingdom
11 Coming Back To Stay

 Reluctant Stereotypes

Coventry became well known for some remarkable talent during the late 1970s and early 1980s not least of which were the more ‘avant garde’ yet, still familiar with the then current scene, Reluctant Stereotypes.

But, as reported at the time, the Stereotypes had not been content to rely on the simply flogging the almost dead formula to death, to squeeze out the last trickles of cash, before disappearing back to their old jobs, the unemployment queue or merely hang around for the next burst of energy to drag them back out again.

The Reluctant Stereotypes were Paul Samson, guitar, Steve Edgeson, clarinet, Paul King (AKA Winston Smith), vocals, Tony Wall, bass and Colin Heanes on drums.

Steve Edgeson was more than aware of the help they’ve had received from the 2-Tone organisation. ‘The Selector and The Specials have done a great deal for Coventry, although we don’t feel part of the 2-Tone scene. The city received a lot of attention and it certainly helped us on our way initially’ said Steve during 1980.

He continued ‘I’m sure there are lots of bands around the country who are as good, and possibly better, than most from Coventry but they haven’t had the same exposure. I don’t deny the fact that we have probably been able to get this step up because we are from Coventry but I don’t think its a sham or that we are relying on that fact. The talent was always there anyway and we were fortunate to have other bands bring the limelight here and enable us to show what we’ve got to offer aside from them’.

‘People get a stereotyped image of what the band should sound like. We didn’t jump on the bandwagon, we just sort of hitched a ride for a few miles and jumped off when we realised that the petrol was going to run out’.

The then line up had its roots in a jazz rock outfit called ENS who were kind of sneered at for the idea of playing ‘serious music’ to visuals in a live context. But then another line up, featuring Paul Samson and Steve Edgeson, managed to release a track called ‘The Lull’ under the name of the Reluctant Stereotypes both Paul and Steve wanted to take some of the commercial aspects of their work into a new outfit.

Steve went on ‘We thought why not do something that we liked and have a chance for commercial success instead of playing to a cliquey following, and working at Talbot Cars, which gives you an obvious clue as to our motivations’.

‘I feel that now we are a pop band that want to be commercially successful but my ideology is that people should try and be individuals if they can and not be influenced by the masses, your mates and what the gang may think’.

‘Its like our song ‘Factory Wit’, the opening track on our new album ‘The Label’, which is an observation on the so called characters, the wits, the people who use catch phrases that they’ve heard on TV. Its cringing to hear those people rely on what other people say because they cannot think of their own comments. Its not condescension. We’ve all been through it. Tony Wall and Colin Heanes were both carpenters, Paul Samson was a tool fitter and Paul King worked for Rolls Royce’.

‘I was considered a standing joke at work because I didn’t conform to the role as a Parts Control Analyst. I used to wear off beat clothes and I was a weirdo who didn’t have his head screwed on, according to them, but I used to feel the same about them’ claimed Steve.

The Reluctant Stereotypes use both their jazz influences and the West Indian rhythms that have been adopted as the sound of the city, though they prefer to exploit the more expensive reggae rhythm while retaining the essential dance-ability.

The band were offered a one off deal with 2-Tone, that being Jerry Dammers usual ploy to give confidence to worthwhile bands while allowing them the opportunity for perusal by the larger record companies, but they refused.

‘We didn’t want to be part of 2-Tone because we thought that its life was going to be limited but they’ve proved us wrong. But we always had the confidence in ourselves and while they were a breath of fresh air, we felt we wouldn’t need their organisation to get off the ground’.

The Dodgers formed during 1976 and were made up of Bob Jackson: Keyboard, guitar and vocals,

John Wilson: Guitar and vocals, Tom Evans: Bass and vocals and Dave Powell: Drums.

After a couple of singles for Island Records Dave Powell left to be replaced by Bob’s friend from Coventry Paul Hooper.

1977 saw The Dodgers then leave Island Records and sign up to Polygram Records. Tom Evans was also replaced by Roger Lomas.

It was 1978 and the UK was still in the grip of the punk rock and new wave movement. The Dodgers then recorded and released their only album titled ‘Love on the Rebound’ which was released on the Polydor label. And this was how it was received:

Stunning and shocking is how the record company describes this album, which is in fact about as stunning as a day at Bognor and equally shocking.

From there name, one might assume The Dodgers to be the latest power pop outfit, but they’re actually very middle of the road, practically radio 2 standard.

Although ‘Love On The Rebound’, a crass title for a start, is well produced the material is completely limp, with excess vocal harmonies and dreadful lyrics. ‘Doesn’t matter if the sun don’t shine, you know I’ll see you through. Doesn’t matter if it’s rain or fine, loving’s all I want to do’ – yeuch !!!.

Thirteen songs with more than a hint of commercialism appear and also a ‘thrilling’ instrumental at the end of the album. Inevitably titled ‘Das Ende’. All so unoriginal, so uninspiring – In a word, boring.

The review summed up how things were back then, more of a personnel opinion. But Roger Lomas remembers the album very differently to that reviewer. ‘It was packed with some really strong songs’ he says. ‘I personally felt though that producer Pat Moran, at Rockfield Studios, took the passion out of the album. Every mistake he kept stopping the tape and getting us to redo that part again. It got to the point where your concentration was more on your playing than adding feeling into it the music’.

Roger had not long began recording artists for himself and, as much as he admired Pat, felt that Pat handled things completely differently to the way he would have done. Roger is keen on hearing the bass and drums but Pat, particularly with the drums, tried to dampen them down too much.

Amongst their many live dates 1978 also saw The Dodgers tour as guests to Renaissance, in the process, playing some decent sized theatres. The same year also saw them perform as special guests of The Kinks at London’s Hammersmith Odeon.

For The Dodgers it was possibly a case was right band wrong time. Some might be familiar with John Wilson’s sister, Mari Wilson, who had chart success herself with ‘Just What I Always Wanted’ and recorded a stunning version of ‘Cry Me a River’. Mari was particularly eyecatching as she sported, and revived, the beehive hair style.

The Dodgers c1976 – 78
Sources include Rex Brough / Hobo Magazine / Bob Jackson.
The Dodgers Library on the Badfinger site
http://badfinge.ipower.com/SoloBadfinger/Dodgers/DodgersLibrary.html

First line up John Wilson – guitar, bass, vocal Dave Powell drums / PCS Bob Jackson Vocals, keyboards, guitar Tom Evans Vocals / bass
Dave Powell left after the second single – replaced by Terry Williams and then Paul Hooper (Ex Indian Summer) on drums.
Tom Evans ( Ex Badfinger) was replaced by Roger Lomas (Ex Sorrows / The Eggy – later Two Tone Producer)
Final Line Up
John Wilson – guitar, bass, vocals
Bob Jackson, vocal, keyboards
Roger Lomas, bass, guitars, vocals
Paul Hooper, drums, percussion.

Singles Don’t Let me Be Wrong (by John Wilson) b/w Get to You (Bob Jackson / Tom Evans) Island. 1976

Just want to Love You (John Wilson) b/w Don’t know what you’re doing (Bob Jackson) Island

Down (John Wilson) b/w Don’t know what you’re doing (Bob Jackson) Island

Love on the Rebound (John Wilson) b/w Come out Fighting (Bob Jackson / Paul Hooper) Polydor 1978

Anytime Bob Jackson / John Wilson) b/w Little Darlin’ (Roger Lomas) Polydor 1978

Love on the Rebound

Don’t let me be wrong

Just want to love you.

Rex Brough explains –
“This band were a post Badfinger venture for Tom Evans. Roger Lomas had played in the

Eggy and the Zips, and Bob Jackson and Paul Hooper, formerly with Indian Summer. who recorded albums and singles between 1977-79. Lomas went on to be a full-time record producer, initially working at Horizon Studios, Coventry run by Barry Thomas (which was demolished). Coventry bands that came under his spell include the Specials, the Selecter and the Reluctant Stereotypes, some members of whom became 80’s bouffant hit-band, King.”

After Indian Summer split up in 1971, after the release of their RCA Neon album named after the group, Coventry keyboard player and vocalist Bob Jackson (Wikipedia) went on to play with John Entwhistles band Ro Ro and then join Alan Ross in the band Ross – recording on the RSO label and then played in Pete Brown’s Piblokto. By 1974 Bob had replaced Peter Ham in Badfinger (and was retained after Peter Ham withdrew his resignation). Badfinger disbanded following Ham’s suicide in 1975. Jackson remained in contact with Badfinger’s bassist Tom Evans, and the two joined “The Dodgers” in 1976. The Dodgers released a handful of singles and one album by 1977, the year Jackson was released by the band due to management disagreements.

It started as a demo session for John Wilson and Dave Powell but then Tom Evans and Bob Jackson harmonized very good with the other two musicians, so that they decided to form a band together. Dave Powell made the proposal to call the band the DODGERS. They selected two songs out of their sessions for the first single, which was released in March 1976. Another two songs were released in June as the second single of the DODGERS. Shortly after the release of the second single Dave Powell left the group.

Bob Jackson called his old friend Paul Hooper to join the DODGERS but as he was not immediately available, Terry Williams joined the group for some commitments in July. Now it was almost completely a Coventry band with the exception of John Wilson.

After a wrangle with the management over their behaviour – Bob Jackson was also fired and then Joined the Searchers as a guest musician – recording and touring with them. Currently Bob is with the reformed Fortunes. 

There was a radio interview on line by Steve Jones recorded in 1976 but the link doesn’t work any more – It may turn up elsewhere if you want to search for it.

Jigsaw – 1969

by Pete Clemons

When Jigsaw came together the band members had already had already gained experience from groups the likes of The Mighty Avengers, Pinkerton’s Colours and The Fortunes amongst others. By mid 1969 Jigsaw had released several singles and were in the studio, recording a fresh one, where they were interviewed.

Interestingly the single failed to materialise, possibly because things were a bit fluid and the band were in between labels. Also the interview was conducted prior to the release of Jigsaw’s debut album Leatherslade Farm released on the Phillips label.

Jigsaw had just come from the studio where they had been putting the finishing touches to their new single ‘Standing On My Head’ written by organist Clive Scott. They all felt that the song was really strong and felt that, after two years together, the recording scene was just starting for them.

Clive commented: ‘We feel much happier now that we’ve got Chas Peate and Alan Keene Music looking after the recording side and the new songs are working out nicely. Mind you, our first single ‘One Way Street’, did quite well, and got a lot of plays in the discotheques, especially in the Midlands’.

As Jigsaw’s act was largely visual, wasn’t there a problem trying to select the right kind of material to project the group’s image?. ‘It is a problem’ sad Clive ‘but we try not to categorise ourselves musically anyway. We just do what we feel is right for us and hope for the best!’.

The group seems pop orientated, but there is no question of ‘selling out’, because primarily, they play the way they want to play. Said Tony Britnell: ‘We play the kind of numbers we like, but present them in a way that appeals to the audience. So we might do Brian Auger’s ‘Black Cat’ perfectly straight, except that there’d be a tap dance on dustbin lids in the middle of it!’

All the members of Jigsaw have wide musical tastes, ranging from The Nice and the Mothers to Spooky Tooth and Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum, and this shows in the variety of material that they play. Clive Scott explained ‘Having two saxophones in the group gives us tremendous scope, especially as Tony doubles on harmonica. So we might do a soul number first, then a blues with Tony on harmonica while Kevin Mahon, the other horn man, nips off to change for a comedy piece’.

Comedy and presentation are the group’s strong points. Their act had to be seen to be believed, always relying on the unexpected. Fire eating, flame throwing, smoke bombs, interspersed with genuinely funny and skillful comic songs and characterisations. Fred Crun, the folk singer who wrote all of Bob Dylan’s songs, and that well known cleric, the Rev. Ian Parsley, were each liable to put in an appearance, and it’s not unusual for the audience to witness a concert performance consisting of lead guitar, bass and rhythm balloons. Des Dyer said that all the comedy routines and effects go down a storm, especially with the university and cabaret audiences, but added that they have to be careful when they’re throwing flames around.

Jigsaw were an incredibly hard working band who were eventually rewarded for their efforts with the world wide, timeless classic, Sky High.

Circa 1966 – 1978 – Freakbeat / Pop source including the press cuttings via the Broadgate Gnome

Clive Scott (organ, vocal), Kevin Mahon (tenor), Tony Britnel (tenor, vocal), Tony Campbell (guitar), Barry Bernard (bass), Des Dyer (drums).

Formed in April 1966 by ex members of The Mighty Avengers (Campbell / Mahon), Pinkertons Assorted Colours (Bernard), The Fortunes (Britnel) and The Transatlantics (Scott).

Main strengths were Scott/Dyer’s songwriting talents (they’d previously placed songs with Engelbert Humperdink, as well as The Mighty Avengers).

Although formed in 1966, their debut disc wasn’t until 1968.Their second single release was written by Alan Bown, who’s own band Alan Bown Set, were label mates on MGM’s Music Factory subsidiary. They recorded a number of good Pop/Psych/Progressive singles and albums before a 1975 UK Top Ten, with the unashamedly pop ‘Sky High’

See below for more from Des Dyer.

Singles:

A:One Way Street/ B:Then I Found You (MGM 1410 1968)

A:Mr. Job/ B:Great Idea (Music Factory CUB4 1968)

A:Let Me Go Home/ B:Tumblin’ (Music Factory CUB6 1968)

A:One Way Street/ B:Coffucious Confusion (Philips 6006112 1970)

A:Lolipop & Goody Man/ B:Seven Fishes (Fontana 600 7071 1970)

A:Keeping My Head Above Water/ B:? (Philips 600 6131 1971)

A:Jesu Joy Of Man’s Desiring/ B:? (Philips 600 6182 1971)

Albums:

Leatherslade Farm (Philips 630 9033 1970)

Aurora Borealis (Philips 630 8072 1971)

Broken Hearted (BASF BAG22291075 1973)

I’ve Seen The Film (BASF BAP5051 1974)

Des Dyer.

“I was in one band previous to Jigsaw with two names. In 1962/3 I started a band with my cousin Dave Hagan, we are the same age and we grew up living next door to each other. We always sang together, and would raid my older brother’s record collection to listen to and learn new stuff . We could naturally harmonise together without even thinking about it.

 Liquid Light Shows.

by Pete Clemons.

Liquid light shows are a form of light art
that surfaced in the mid 1960s as an accompaniment to electronic music and
avant-garde theatre performances. They were later adapted and evolved which
added to, and became a staple for, the performances of the massive rock tours
of the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, for many bands, a show that includes graphics
and visuals still exist today.

This meeting of ideas, brought by the light
artists and musicians, seemed to do no harm at all in terms of creativity. The
music, the lighting and the ambiance appeared to compliment each other as the
ideas bounced around off one another. And the added media publicity, it
brought, seemed to further highlight the scene.

A Melody Maker gig review from early 1967,
of groups who later became household names, described the ambiance as ‘some
very groovy picture slides which attract far more attention than the groups
themselves, as they merge, blossom, burst, grow, divide and die’. All of a
sudden it was no longer relevant that a group could play Wilson Pickett or
James Brown songs.

During late 1966 and early 1967 the public
was beginning to get worried about all this psychedelia stuff. The News of the
World newspaper, that had had a hand in a Rolling Stones drug bust, had now set
its sights on these ‘freak outs’, ‘happenings’ and ‘raves’.

The fumiest part of that infamous  article though was where it mentioned that
the headline band had, on one of its gig adverts, described themselves as
social deviants. It turned out that ‘The Social Deviants’ was actually the name
of the support band.

Earliest forms of these light shows were
essentially home made contraptions. Medical slides paired together. Various
colourful liquids were forced between them which were then viewed through a
projector supported on a wooden frame.

One of the earliest of these lighting shows
was ‘The Fantasia Light Circus’ who worked with bands such as Pink Floyd,
Fleetwood Mac and the Pretty Things at venues like the Middle Earth in London.
And one of the creators of the light circus was Mick Brockett who arrived in
Germany during 1969 after touring the show around Europe as an independent
light show.

During the summer of 1969, Mick teamed up
with a band called Prophecy (Nektar without Roye Albrighton) at a week long gig
at the Camera Club, in Furth. Prophecy bass player, Derek ‘Mo’ Moore, attended
Mick’s show at “Beat Club” in Langelsheim.

Soon after Prophecy became Nektar during
November 1969. At the same time, Mo was looking to enhance the Nektar presence
on stage. Nektar was definitely looking for something unique to complete the
bands psychedelic image so Mick, an admirer of Nektar’s sound, joined the group
as “light–musician” on January 10th, 1970 in Hamburg.

As Mick learned the music he was more able
to choreograph the lights as opposed to just randomly flashing them. As such,
Nektar’s original light show evolved from the Fantasia Light Circus and
featuring Mick Brockett providing the rhythmic liquid, slide light shows, on
one large white screen.

Today, Mick Brockett thinks the light shows
were prematurely abandoned by the rock world. That said though, many bands have
moved on to lasers that skim over the audience.

At times the light show became the center of
much attention. With a band like Nektar the lights somehow managed to steal the
show from the band. Quite often, they were the most talked about part of a gig.
But not to the detriment of the music.

Todays light shows and visuals are far more
elaborate and sophisticated than those early happenings. But there is little
doubt though that many of those pioneer light shows influenced the way future
music tours were developed through the years by other bands.

Birmingham Band Tea and Symphony were another bands with a fantastic light show to match their psychedlia. They played the Coventry Arts Umbrella club in August 1970 and many other venues.

In 1973 Rob Dalton of Dream Discos in Rugby contacted Trev Teasdel who ran Hobo Coventry’s music magazine of the time, to supply some material on his discos and equipment – Rob was pioneering a new computerised system – read about it on this link https://covdiscoarchive.blogspot.com/2015/04/dream-discotheques-and-mood-lighting.html

 The Pink Floyd 1967.

by Pete Clemons

There has always been a question mark as to whether or not Syd Barrett actually appeared on stage during The Pink Floyd’s performance at the Coventry Theatre during 1967 on the Jimi Hendrix tour.

But where, locally, The Pink Floyd did perform with Syd Barrett at the helm was at the Locarno during May 1967 and the Benn Hall Rugby during April of the same year. These gigs were either side of one of the earliest significant events The Pink Floyd played at. And that was the 14 Hour Technicolour Dream event at the Alexandra Palace on April 29th. Apparently the Floyd made it to the stage at around 5am, having driven back from an earlier gig in Holland. The event itself was an all night ritual where the Queen and Prime Minister had been offered free tickets. Every one else being charged a pound note.

It is almost impossible to know the actual set lists played at both the Locarno and the Benn Hall but The Pink Floyd would more than likely have included tunes such as Pow R. Toc H., Astronomy Domine, Scream Thy Last Scream, Interstellar Overdrive, Candy and a Currant Bun (AKA Let’s Roll Another One) and Arnold Layne which had not long been released as the bands first single. And, only based on reading different books, the gigs may possibly have begun with Reaction in G but I am far from certain about that.

Hard to imagine now but when bands like The Pink Floyd and Soft Machine began to take off, the fans of that kind of music were, initially, given a hard time. Both bands attracted the more ‘way out’ youth. The 14 hour event was described by organisers as ‘a calculated attempt to try to avoid the kind of discipline and squareness that their parents own lives represented’.

Others, who turned up for the event, saw it differently. Some attendees described the more ‘turned on’ as ‘bloody mad, chucking flowers about, what’s that all about? They are all mad. We turned up to enjoy ourselves and have laugh and a drink. A lot in there need a bloody good bath’. And there was an element of truth in that. A lot of youngsters, at that time, did grow their hair long and had little to no interest in fashion.

A few days after the Coventry gig The Pink Floyd performed their first conceptional concert, named ‘Games For May – Space Age Relaxation For The Climax Of Spring’ at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 12th May 1967.

During July 1967 when the Pink Floyd’s debut album, ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ was being released to the music press, the band were accused of being dishonest.

The following question arose: Are The Pink Floyd being quite honest when they make coy and attractive records like ‘See Emily Play’ then proceed to make the night hideous with a thunderous, incomprehensible, screaming sonic torture?

The bands response was: The Floyd do not wish to appear dishonest, but they are worried. They appreciate the contrast between their records and their live performances and agree the latter might not be all that they should be, and are taking steps to rectify the situation.

This is the point, says Roger Waters, ‘we don’t think so’. ‘We still do Arnold Layne and struggle through Emily occasionally. We don’t think its dishonest because we cant play live what we play on record. Can you imagine somebody trying to play ‘A Day in the Life’?. Yet that’s one of the greatest tracks ever made. A lot of stuff on our LP is completely impossible to do live’.

The early Pink Floyd were not for everybody but there is no doubting that their unique approach to music and live performance certainly had a lasting effect on shaping popular music to come.

 Kraftwerk in Coventry and Birmingham.

by Pete Clemons

A few years ago I noticed that German rock band, Kraftwerk, were appearing at Symphony Hall Birmingham. Having never seen them play live since 1976 I really fancied it until, that was, when I enquired about tickets. Not only did I discover that the event had sold out, I also found out that the ticket prices had been an extortionate price. Which all kind of surprised me as I hadn’t realised that they were so popular. And yes, I admit, the fact I hadn’t really taken much notice of them for over 40 years meant I was completely out of touch.

But when I did think it through maybe I should not have been surprised by their popularity. After all back in the early 1980s Kraftwerk had been a major influence on the new romantic scene that burst out of London clubs such as Billy’s and Blitz.

Technologically, I am certain that Kraftwerk would have moved on from when I had last paid any real notice of them. After all, they were never the kind of band to sit on one idea for too long.

Even during the mid 1970s, apart from a keyboard, Kraftwerk had removed the last recognisable instrument from when they began several years earlier. That instrument had been a violin and they replaced it with synthetic drums.

Each drum disc gave a different sound, such as bongo’s and snares, by completing the contact with the spring steel batons they held. The hope then was to get rid of keyboards and create jackets with lapels that could be played by touch.

When Kraftwerk released their forth album, Autobahn, during late 1974 the band themselves called it ‘Machine Music’. The sounds were created in a studio in Dusseldorf, programmed then recreated on stage with the minimum of fuss. Autobahn was based on the rhythm of cars, trucks and bridges all heard while driving through Germany.

Autobahn’s title track took up one side of an LP and lasted for just over 22 minutes. A 3 minute 5 second edited version was released as a single in the UK during 1975 and proved to be an unexpected hit for the band. Just failing to crack the top 10.

And during 1975 Kraftwerk completed a UK tour appearing at the nearby Birmingham Town Hall. For that tour the band introduced new recruit Karl Bartos. Until then, and up till the recording of the Autobahn album, the band had been Ralf Hutter, Florian Schneider, Wolfgang Flur and violinist Klaus Roeder who was with Kraftwerk during 1974. long enough though to work on the Autobahn album but had left before its release. In fact, for the bands earlier releases, Kraftwerk were, ostensibly, just Ralf and Florian.

For that Birmingham concert the bands first three albums were represented by way of performing Kling Klang, Ruckzuck and Tanzmusik. But of course their latest release was being promoted and music such as Kometenmelodie 1 and 2 and of course Autobahn featured heavily.

And it was the quartet of Hutter, Schneider, Flur and Bartos that went on to record the follow up album Radio-Activity as well as returning to the UK during 1976 to tour the album. It was the Radio-Activity album released during 1975 which apparently influenced David Bowie for his Station to Station album.

This time Coventry was a part of the tour and the band visited the ‘Lanch’ during October 1976. Kometenmelodie and Autobahn remained in the set but new music such as Radioactivity, Airwaves, The Voice of Energy and Ohm Sweet Ohm were also on offer.

After Autobahn, Kraftwerk never really bothered the UK charts again. Until, that was, around the time of new millennium. But that never seemed to stop their popularity and cult rising it seems.

The Model

Radioactivity

Robots

Autobahn

 Christopher Sidwell 2021

by Pete Clemons

There’s a belief in our society that bad things
always happen in three’s. From natural disasters to household mishaps, if it’s
happened twice, it’s definitely going to happen a third time. Particularly when
it comes to death.

The source of the superstition appears to be that
if three soldiers lit their cigarettes from the same match, one of the three
would be killed or that the man who was third on the match would be shot. Since
then, it has been considered bad luck for three people to share a light from
the same match. Maybe best to give up smoking altogether.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Because in this
case its all good news. And all three occurrences involve local artist and
musician Christopher Sidwell.

Specialist record company Ace Records, who excel in
re-issues, have been in touch with Christopher. It appears that they are
interested in a track he wrote for a previous band from forty years ago, The
Digital Dinosaurs called ‘The Sideways Man’.

They want to include the track on a new compilation
album called ‘Winter of Discontent’ compilation which the St. Etienne guys are
putting together for release in the autumn. St. Etienne’s Bob Stanley is a
consultant for Ace, along with other record companies. Together with other band
members they compile collections of obscure songs. St. Etienne fans are already
aware of this and hugely appreciate Bob’s discerning musical taste.

The album also includes bands such as Scritti
Pollitti, The Television Personalities, The Raincoats, The Melons, Danny and
the Dressmakers, The Homosexuals. Also included on the album is another track
with a Coventry connection. ‘The Window’s Broken’ by Human Cabbages, a tune
recorded in 1980 from the Boys And Girls Come Out To Play EP also finds itself
being given a fresh lease of life.

Say’s Christopher ‘They have sent a contract and
are paying me ! The album comes out on CD and vinyl – very excited ! It is not
my best material but it was as good as I could do at the time’.

The second piece of good news involves a series of
programs documenting what people did during the Lockdown last year. Tentatively
titled ‘The Lockdown Diaries’ the associated stories were built up during 2020
as Christopher completed, and posted up songs, from his Hoi Polloi album with
notes about the songs. This formed the basis of a submission Christopher has
made to a national radio station. Along with four songs being changed for ones
he wrote and recorded at home last year.

Graham Fellows aka Jilted John / John Shuttleworth,
and no stranger to Coventry following work at the Belgrade Theatre with Bob
Eaton, is mentioned in one of those songs. We both wrote a song using the
lines, ‘I remember that you came in the period that remained after Christmas but
before the new year in the days that have no name’. The project with Graham is
completely different – it is a song we wrote a while back together which was
called ‘Love in the Afternoon’ originally. It is now being used in Graham’s new
film titled ‘Father Earth’.

The final piece of news involves a tune Christopher
wrote for the Trees, ‘Here Come the Trees’ album. A version also exists on the
Hoi Polloi album by Crokodile Tears. Says Christopher: ‘The song was originally
titled, ‘Save that tree (Melanie)’ and is a song about my wonderful friend
Melanie Moon. Melanie is trying with others to prevent the HS2 devastation of
ancient woodland in Warwickshire. She has the courage to stand up to a project
that I and many other of the ‘Hoi Polloi’ believe to be wrong’. The song, it seems
is becoming an anthem with the environmentalists who are against HS2.

Good luck goes to Christopher in his ventures.
Maybe the biblical quote that begins with ‘For everything there is a season’ is
a more appropriate for his recent turn of events. A time to plant and a time to
harvest.