DJTees Blog

Saturday, July 25th 1970 The Victoria Embankment, Nottingham.The Nottingham Festival which lasted for three weeks, including a music festival. This was to take place on the last day, Family, Taste, Atomic Rooster, Mungo Jerry, Anno Domini, Aztec City was the bill. Must have been Taste’s last tour schedule.The festival was held in one of the largest marquees in Europe, which held 10,000 people. Promoter Peter Hubbard, who promoted along with Eddie Kennedy said, "All the festivals so far have such bad facilities and too many people all trying to make use of them at once. There is plenty of room...

One of the little joys I get in collecting records, is spotting the moment a straight 60s artist realises everything has become groovy and they release a flowery, psychedelic cover for an album, usually in 1967 or 1968.If you don’t believe me, look at The Association’s 1966 album Renaissance and 1968’s Birthday, or Buddy Guy’s This Is Buddy Guy compared to One Man And His Blues. Chuck Berry in Memphis to From St Louie To Frisco. All are suddenly groovy.This shows you the culture, at least for a couple of years and shows you the effect rock bands had on...

You might not have heard this. It is a bit obscure, but it’s possibly the best Mike Bloomfield record. Certainly up there with Super Session and the Electric Flag albums. Recorded across two weekends in February 1969, it’s a jam-style blues record played with that taut, stinging style and tone that Bloomfield had.Although it’s thought of as a Bloomfield record, in actual fact it’s credited to ‘various’. It’’s more of a jam session with Baritone Saxophone – Snooky Flowers, Gerald Oshita,Bass – John Kahn, Congas – Dino Andino, Drums – Bob Jones,Lead Guitar – Michael Bloomfield, Piano – Mark Naftalin,...

The Allman Brothers are a brilliant band and one which I collect. I have all the vinyl albums and plenty, though not all, of the singles, especially from the 1970s. Perhaps surprisingly, they were successful on the Billboard 100 on a frequent basis with 12 charting between 1970 and 1981. But in the UK, they were much less successful, which seems an aberration now. But they didn’t chart a single and only Brothers And Sisters charted at #42lThe albums are not hard to come by, though UK copies of the first two are hard to find without paying substantial cash....

I‘ve long had an enduring passion for the Steve Miller Band, especially the early records, which in the UK at least didn’t sell at all. They are a great blend of psychedelia and blues, especially Children Of The Future. Recall The Beginning … a Journey From Eden too, which is an often ignored classic, in my view. They had all the freaky psychedelia of late 60s San Francisco but the discipline of blues and a tremendous guitar player in Miller as well as a winning way with a melody. When they hit big with Fly Like An Eagle and Book...

This is a record that might interest you if you’re into Derek and the Dominoes or Delaney and Bonnie. It fell through the cracks at the time and didn’t chart, It’s really good. Released in 1972, it’s a bit like the next album Derek and the Dominoes didn’t make. Clapton is on it on one track and Rick Vito handles the rest of the guitar. George Harrison is on it, along with Jim Gordon and Bobby Keys. Jimmy Miller and Andy Johns are producing, so you know it’s classy.He was on dozens of records in these years, especially Delaney and...

If you can’t find a good supply of records at charity shops and car boots, there’s always Discogs. It is undeniably a fantastic service. You can get almost any record you want, so it’s great for new stuff or if you need one record to complete collecting an artist. But, and it’s a big but, buying from Discogs lacks a big part of the collecting experience for me; surprise. It’s clinical or transactional. There are two basic groups of collectors; people like me who see it as a whole lifestyle and those who see it as plain and simple collecting....

Remember flexi discs? They were a great way of introducing a new recording to listeners. Because I was quite poor, I thought of them as free music. In the UK Lyntone was the company that produced them. I still have many by the likes of The Faces and Alice Cooper and even Monty Python.This is an especially lavish one housed in a small version of the album and has highlights from the record, so you knew what it was really like before you bought it. Prior to the album becoming available, British music newspaper New Musical Express released an issue...

I’ve always loved Argent. I even loved the name. They were always second division in the sales and fame stakes, but that doesn’t concern me. They had three UK Top 40 singles: "Hold Your Head Up", which reached No. 5 and spent 12 weeks on the chart, "Tragedy" (No. 34), and "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" (No. 18). Two of their albums charted in the UK: All Together Now, which peaked at No. 13 in 1972, and In Deep, which spent one week at No. 49 in 1973.Even so they always loomed large in my teenage rock life....

Sligo Sounds Festival 1971 Fri May 28, 1971 - Mon May 31, 1971, Sligo, IrelandThere are not a lot of festivals in this era in Ireland. But this was a rare high profile one.It featured a lot of top folk groups with a lot of them like Chapter Five and the newly-formed Horslips who were a magical blend of traditional Irish music with strident rock. The full three days line-up was Fairport Convention, Bridget St. John, Tír na nóg, Horslips, Dirty Dozen, Chapter 5, The Green Briar Skiffle Group, Farren Folk, Chieftains, Seamus Tansey, Double Vision, Louis Stewart.I love that...

If you wanted a venue for a rock show, where better than a zoo in Dudley, in the west midlands? This was a fundraiser for the World Wildlife Fund. Edgar Broughton Band, Faces, Jeff Dexter, Quintessence, Sam Apple Pie, and T. Rex played. The compere was Jeff Dexter who had popularised The Twist in the early 60s and was the resident DJ at the Middle Earth club in Covent Garden and compered the first Glastonbury.T.Rex were still a duo, hippy acoustic outfit. Sam Apple Pie had a big live following as a blues-rock band which had originally featured Malcolm Morely,...

Wild Wednesday Wed Jun 21, 1972 Sherwood Forest, Davison, Michigan Wild Wednesday jams happened for years, from 1969 - 1974. By 1972 they were indeed pretty wild and were an excuse for local Michigan bands to strut their stuff. This year the bands were Bob Seger, Dennis Coffey, Frijid Pink, Johnny and the Hurricanes, Julia, King Biscuit Boy,SRC, Teegarden and Van Winkle, The Früt, The Rumour, Whiz Kids, Wylie, Mike Quatro Jam Band.The first of those, Bob Seger, was just starting to break in Michigan, though nationwide success was still some years away and was persuaded to play ‘Turn The Page’...

This one day event’s line-up was Boz Scaggs, Cold Blood, Elvin Bishop, Joy of Cooking, Stoneground, The Doobie Brothers, The Chambers Brothers.It was held at the T-Car Speedway which opened in 1964 and closed in 2005. Also known as Tahoe-Carson Speedway, Champion Motor Speedway and Silver State Raceway.Carson City is quite high above sea-level and this show came after a period of drought, so the audience could count themselves unlucky. The show was supposed to start at 12 noon and run until midnight, but with heavy rain mid-day the acts didn't get started until 4 pm.The Chambers Brothers are reported...

Progressive Festival D'Aix En Provence, Sat Aug 01, 1970 - Mon Aug 03, 1970, Saint-Pons, Aix-en-Provence, France. The festival, which took place on the Saint-Pons estate, located ten kilometres west of Aix-en-Provence on the banks of the Arc, brought together approximately 40,000 young people whose average age was around twenty. This French-style "Woodstock", held despite the ban issued by the Bouches-du-Rhône préfecture, had raised many concerns and its initiator, General Clément, himself secretary general of the International Music Festival. He was strongly criticised, starting with the president of the Festival, the CEO of the Casino, who was to castigate "the...

Schaefer Music Festival Thu Jun 15, 1972 - Sat Sep 02, 1972, Wollman Rink, 63 Center Drive, New York City New York 10065The Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park was a recurring music festival held in the summer between 1967 and 1976 at Wollman Rink in New York City's Central Park. It featured a number of notable performances. The sponsorship was taken over by Dr.Pepper in 1977 and the name changed to the Dr.Pepper Central Park Music Festival until the location of the festival was moved to Pier 84 in 1981 and the Wollman Skating Rink ceased being used as...