2023 Charity Shop Purchases #24 - Various - The Best Glam Rock Album in the World .. Ever!
I turned 11 in 1972 so my introduction to pop music was Glam Rock.As should be the way it was everywhere for a couple of years before the focus moved on to somewhere else. Although obviously it is not something that I listen to that often I feel that it has stood the test of time and consider myself fortunate to been the ideal age to witness it first hand.
I have used the word Almost in the title of this post as unfortunately Disc 1 is missing .Nevertheless it is well worth having for the 22 tracks from See My Baby Jive onwards on the tracklist
As you would expect the usual suspects are all there - Slade, Sweet, T-Rex, Suzi Q etc all of whom will have graced these pages before.
Therefore I have decided to focus on some of the lesser known acts but I suspect that many of you will still be familiar with the tunes
Can you guess where Geordie are from? Top marks for those who answered Newcastle- Upon- Tyne. They had 4 singles which troubled the charts in 1972 and 1973 with only All Because of You reaching the top 10 (number 6).
Hello managed two top 10 songs with Tell Him and New York Groove and pretty much nothing else.
Arrows only troubled the charts with A Touch Too Much.Surprisingly their original version off I Love Rock'n' Roll didn't chart prior to becoming a monster hit for Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.
Sadly members of The Glitter Band suffered the same fate as Johhny Marr, Andy Rouke and Mike Joyce namely association with a reprehensable creature - in the case of the Smiths the right wing racist Steven Partick Morrissey . It was even worse for the Glitter Band who had previously been the backing band for the prolific paeodophile Paul Gadd
In their own right they had 7 top 20 singles and three hit albums. My Aunt Jean gave me their first album Hey on cassette for my Christmas. Angel Face was not on it.
Here's The Glitter Band live in about 1990 (it does not include that singer)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjaCyxnhLp8
I think this is great,
A great CD, when I need a release and a sing(shout) along this is one of my go to's
ReplyDeleteAs a habitual purchaser of cheap vinyl on ebay, I often see people trying to offload records by Gary and/or his Glitter Band. Anyone who buys them probably has their laptop checked for 'downloaded images'. A shame, as both you and George identify, there's some really great songs in that back catalogue.
ReplyDeleteIt should be mentioned that Geordie's lead vocalist was Brian Johnson, better known as ACDC's second lead vocalist.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware of that.Well worthy of inclusion. Thanks
DeleteAs I think you know, I still have an awful lot of old magazines and pop pinups from 1973 as they somehow ended up in my parents loft and then mine when it was cleared.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I can barely remember the band Geordie, there are definitely pinups of them in my archive folder. I once hosted a pop quiz where I out up these pictures on each wall of the house and people had to identify them all. In the Geordie pinup one of the band members was wearing a pair of those long platform boots with the letters spelling out Geordie down the side - some people still didn't identify them!
And yes, a lot of these magazines have now been sullied by the 'prolific paedophile' and make for uncomfortable reading now.
Bet this album brought back loads of happy memories. As you say we were just the right age for Glam Rock.
Hey... let's not forget Steve Tyler and Jimmy Page liked their wee girls very young as well. Julia Holcomb and Lori Mattix. There goes Aerosmith and Led Zep... not. I wonder why that hasn't happened?
ReplyDeleteI actually saw Geordie supporting The Sweet at The Rainbow in 1973. In those days Brian Johnson's party piece was carrying the bass player on his shoulders mid-song. Can't have been good for his back.
ReplyDelete