After going to my first concert in December 1981, I started to look for more. One of them was a day at Farnborough Recreation Centre. A classic gig-in-a-gym, with the awful sound you'd expect. Budgie were du to headline, but didn't turn up, so we got Spider instead, who were at the peak of their modest popularity. I remember the day, and remember buying a t-shirt for Larry Miller Band, but for years hadn't a clue exactly when it had been. Then recently I found this, and that bit of the puzzle got filled in! Source
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - I Love Rock N Roll
From Bad Reputation, which I still have on picture disc!
Because we all do!
Jethro Tull - Broadsword
From Broadsword & The Beast. There's a couple of German TV clips from this era wrth checking out
When I was a boy I had an evening paper round for a few years. My route included going round the shopping arcade which housed Simon’s Records – the Yateley record shop. When I arrived, the shop would still be open and I’d drop in for a chat. This was the shop where I first heard Metallica, Accept, and many other metal bands before they became famous. These guys knew their stuff and also that I could afford an album a week on a paper-boy’s salary. One day they had huge display for Jethro Tull’s new album – ‘Broadsword & The Beast’. The album cover is this somewhat Tolkienised painting of Ian Anderson. There was also a giant cut-out Viking ship, from the back cover and lots of runes etc. I was entranced! I had to have this! Every night I’d check to see if the display had been taken down and could therefore be rescued for posterity. In the end, one of the staff grabbed the giant cardboard cut-outs, but I scored a couple of album sleeves, and from somewhere a taped copy of the album itself. It remains one of my favourite Tull albums – folk elements picked out with synthesizers, great songs and lovely Martin Barre solos.
Demon - The Grand Illusion
From The Unexpected Guest
For some reason I never saw these guys live. Judging by this video, and the full show HERE, it was experience. Classic NWOBHM: losts of Sabbath, a bit of Priest and a great sense of humour. Demon went on to a more proggy sound and many more concept albums before splitting up at the end of the decade. They're touring again now, but I doubt they're still climbing out of tombs.
Accept - Fast As A Shark
From Restless And Wild which really does start like this
I was at Simon's Records taking my regular break from the evening paper round and the guy behind the counter (not Simon) said "You'll like this". The needle went down on the groove, and 30" later I was handing over my money. This album arrived for me at the perfect time and I saw the band a few times. When UDO Dirkshneider quit I kept buying his U.D.O. albums for a while, but missed the shows.
The classic Accept line-up were heavier and more thoughtful than anything coming out of the States in the 80s. Restless & Wild is definitive thrash metal in my mind, although Metallica came close with Ride The Lightning.
Judas Priest - You've Got Another Thing Comin'
From Screaming For Vengeance. That's the Kempton Water Pumping Station at the London end of the M3!
Screaming For Vengeance is the Priest's finest album. I have this single on 7" picture disc. Very well played. I had the album on tape for some weird reason.
Marillion - Market Square Heroes
The 12" single is essential as the b-side is Grendel
A whole bunch of lads from school went to see Marillion close down the Reading Top Rank Suite. I wasn't one of them, which I regret to this day.
Meanwhile, in other music I wouldn't know about for years, some of my all time favourites were doing their thing...
Captain Beefheart - Ice Cream for Crow
From Ice Cream for Crow
The final Captain Beefheart album. From here, Don Van Vliet would give up on the music industry, return to the Mojave desert where he grew up, and become a well-regarded painter. He died in 2010 from multiple sclerosis.
The Richard Thompson Band - Shoot Out The Lights
From Shoot Out The Lights, recorded with Linda Thompson
The final album as a married couple, the ensuing tour was a very public break-up of their relationship. This video is from a year later as I couldn't find one from '82. Richard Thompson is known for bleaks songs and this album is packed with them. Dark, miserable, genius from a bloke with a very whimsical sense of humour.
Frank Zappa - guitar solo from Ship Arriving Too Late to Save A Drowning Witch
From Ship Arriving Too Late to Save A Drowning Witch ##
Because this is anther killer piece of guitar, and in 1982 FZ was best known for 'Valley Girl'.
All the above videos are taken from YouTube, mostly posted by people who don't hold the rights.
