exeter_nostalgia2

Civic Hall, Exeter * 4th May 1962
VERNONS GIRLS
plus Gary Kane, Dean Hunter,
and the Tornadoes

.
Vernons Girls had appeared on television as early as 1958 on 'Oh Boy!', one of Britain's first 'pop' programmes. Now down to a trio from any amount of members at one time, and currently recording with Decca, one of the trio here was Jean Owen, who, in 1964, went solo and changed her stage name to Samantha Jones.

Dean Hunter was actually Tony Smythe, rhythm guitarist for the Tornadoes.

Civic Hall, Exeter * 30th June 1962
SCREAMIN' LORD SUTCH
and his RAVIN' SAVAGES

.
With only one (unsuccessful) single released to date, he was still generally unknown to the record buying fraternity, even though he had been 'performing' since 1957. Due to his showmanship, live appearances ensured he had a captivated audience!

,

.

Civic Hall, Exeter * 29th Oct 1962
SCREAMIN' LORD SUTCH
and his RAVIN' SAVAGES
plus The Barracudas

.
Having already appeared here on June 30th, this was a return visit for David Sutch, etc.

,

.

Civic Hall, Exeter * 10th November 1962
SAPPHIRES PACKAGE GROUP
With
STEVE WESTON
MIKE SHANE
PAUL RIVERS

.
Unknown artistes at this stage.

One of few early posters that depict some of the artistes

=Civic Hall, Exeter * 12th Jan. 1963
BARON GRAVE 'SHADRACK'
with THE VAMPIRES
+ THE BARRACUDAS

These were Torquay bands, and as this poster portrays, had set up as Saturday night residents at Exeter's Civic Hall, having dates booked for four consecutive weekends! No records were ever issued by them.

A B C Exeter * Monday 3Oth March
For One Week
KEN DODD
WINIFRED ATWELL
ROSEMARY SQUIRES
BARRY SISTERS
JIM COUTON * ZIO ANGELS

.
This is a 10" x 15" Foyer display card.

Civic Hall, Exeter * 23rd May 1964
BUDDY BRITTEN AND THE REGENTS
plus THE ESCORTS

.
The Civic Hall was in Queen Street,
now part of Guildhall Shopping area.

Liverpool's BB + Regents issued nine singles 1962 ~ 1965, but are (still) virtually unknown!

Escorts members Mike Gregory + Terry Sylvester left to join The Swinging Blue Jeans, with Terry later moving to The Hollies.

St. George's Hall, Exeter * 17 Nov 1967
ALAN PRICE SET
+ Insect, Empty Vessels

.
Empty Vessels later became Wishbone Ash.

Poster states 'NO PASSOUTS'. As if anyone would faint at the sight of Alan Price? Oh, yes, I see what you mean..

Devonshire House, Exeter University
10th February 1968
GENO WASHINGTON
& THE RAM JAM BAND

Tiffanys, The Quay, Exeter
26th February 1969
EASYBEATS
Finders Keepers

By early 1969, the Easybeats for fading from interest to the pop world, thus affordable on a mid-week booking!

Midlands based group Finders Keepers is stated here as 'up and coming'. However, although they were of excellent standing within their own vicinity, having a good pedigree based on amalgamated groups, their time as Finders Keepers was waning. The most notable musician to emerge is Glenn Hughes, who helped form Trapeze, and thereafter, in 1973, joined Deep Purple.

St. Lukes College, Exeter * 24th June 1968
SMALL FACES, MARMALADE
+ Nite People, Jim's Inn,
Adge Cutler and the Wurzels,
Southern City Jazzmen.

EXETER POP and BLUES FESTIVAL
County Ground Stadium, St. Thomas, Exeter
15th August 1969
MOVE
EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND
Principal Edwards Magic Theatre * Gods
Looking Glass * Element Of Time * Old Joe
John Peel (compere) * Brian Day (DJ)

The Move and Edgar Broughton Band most should be converse with. Plenty of info elsewhere on the Internet.

Prior to this date, the Gods had at sometime guitarists Mick Taylor, who went on to play with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the Rolling Stones, and Greg Lake, who found fame with King Crimson and ELP. There appears to be erroneous information on Wikipedia and elsewhere, stating that Toe Fat was formed in June 1969, to include Ken Hensley (later Uriah Heep) Lee Kerslake and John Konas.

Principal Edwards Magic Theatre was founded at Exeter University in 1968. They were one of the first artists to have an album released on the Dandelion label, set up by Clive Selwood and John Peel in the latter part of this year. In fact, it is possible that this venue is where John met and signed up the band?

Element Of Time were another local outfit: Graham Sclater, John Shears, and Chris Bragg.

There were two groups formed in 1969 named Looking Glass. Renowned for their 1972 song 'Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)' was the American outfit signed to Epic, a subsidiary of CBS. The Looking Glass here came from Manchester, and apart from being aware of a single on Philips released March 1970 called 'Can You Believe?', including backing vocals by that versatile female duo Sue & Sunny, nothing else (at the point in time) is known about them.

Re Old Joe? ~ no information!
-

= POP & BLUES FESTIVAL '69

This is a smaller version of the adjacent 'quad' style poster. Quite unusual to have two different layout poster designs for the same venue. No mention of Old Joe on this variant though?

Plymouth had had their Festival '69 three months prior - oh, what a coincidence of choice of name.

Exeter's bash was staged at the County Ground Stadium, St. Thomas, then home of Exeter Rugby, and the renowned Speedway champions, the Exeter Falcons. This location is now home to a collection of expensive rabbit hutches - allegedly!

With the assistance of the rugby club, local disc jockey Brian Day organised this extravaganza under his promotions business 'Starline Entertainments', then in Little Castle Street. He was later based in Fore Street, close to Bill Greenhalgh. Actually, if my memory serves me well, Brian also sold second hand records at these premises.

Civic Hall, Exeter * 28th March 1960
DAVE SAMPSON And THE HUNTERS
appearing for 4 bob
-

Heading reads as THE PARKER ROYAL GROUP. This could be a correct statement here. However, they were better known as the PARKER ROYAL FOUR. The name had derived from the lead guitarist Brian Parker. In 1962, Brian played with the Roulettes, and a year later help form and was part of the group UNIT 4 PLUS 2.

Dave Sampson wrote a song called 'Sweet Dreams', having his friend and neighbour Cliff Richard in mind to issue it.. However, producer Norrie Paramour decided to let Dave record it. Parker Royal Four, now called The Hunters, backed Dave instrumentally.

The Drifters had changed their name to The Shadows in late 1959. However, this 1960 flier states
     "DAVE SAMPSON and THE HUNTERS - Chosen by
           CLIFF RICHARDS (sic) as his backing group
               while the Drifters are in America'.

Whatever the discrepancies this handbill states, it is a rare and interesting document!

-

-
Savoy Exeter *16th October 1960
ADAM FAITH
+
JOHN BARRY SEVEN
+
Johnny Worth, Johnny Le Roy,
Chris Carlsen, The Honeys.
-

Johnny Worth, a singer in his own right, had recently written Adam Faith's first two hits, "What Do You Want" and "Poor Me", both under the pseudo name of Les Vandyke.

This event was just prior to the Savoy's name being changed to the ABC (heading does state
'AN A.B.C. THEATRE').

-

ABC Exeter * 24th April 1963
PAUL and PAULA
+
JET HARRIS and TONY MEEHAN
+
JIMMY JUSTICE
+
Patti Brook with The Jet Blacks,
Terry Young Six,
Joe Black (compere)
-

One can sum up Paul and Paul in three words: five minute wonders.

Jet Harris and Tony Meehan were a breakaway duo from The Shadows. Jet played with the Jet Blacks, who in turn emulated The Shadows!

In the following month of May, the Terry Young Six were on the same tour billing as Beatles. More Shadows trivia: guitarist John Rostill joined the Shadows in November this year, replacing Brian 'Licorice' Locking. Much later, organist Dave Quincy enjoyed a spell with the jazz--rock outfit IF.

University's Great Hall * 5th Feb 1973
GRIMMS

Grimms consisted of ex-members of The Scaffold (Roger McGough, Mike McGear, and pictured here, John Gorman), The Liverpool Scene, Andy Roberts, Brian Pattern, Neil Innes, Vivian Stanshall, plus 'guests' ~ but not always all appearing at the same time!

.

Exeter Colleges Entertainments Committee
XMAS TERM '71

.Itinerary for Sept, 24th ~ Dec 13th 1971, to include at Exeter University: Manfred Mann, Spirogyra, Skid Row + Genesis, Shakin' Stevens & The Sunsets + Paul Brett's Sage, Tom Paxton, Jack Bruce & Friends + Hookfoot. Sandy Denny & Friends.

'Going with the flow', I went with two friends to see Shakin' Stevens at this time. (Just) the three of us met him afterwards while he was changing and eating his paper plate supper. Can I state that he was not much of a conversationalist.. to say the least!

Great Hall, Exeter University
Monday 13th January 1975
JOHN ENTWHISTLE'S OX

Even though this outing was promote the latest LP 'Mad Dog', their fourth album, this was the first time that John and his band had gone out on tour. Yes, the spelling on the above is incorrect.

Depicted here is an original advertisement for this event, and a £5 note (to scale) that was autographed on the night by all the band: John Entwistle, Robert Johnson, Mike Decan, Graham Deacon, and Jeff Daily. A scarce artifact indeed!

* * * * * *
Paramounts
PROGRAMMES, TICKETS

The majority of Programmes printed for the UK tour circuit are generic.
The ones depicted here specify Exeter, either within or on the accompanied Ticket.
nb. 'Odeon Theatre' was predominantly a Cinema.
-

A.B.C. Cinema, Exeter * 26th Aug 1964
ROLLING STONES
+ Barron Knights, Paramounts,
Julie Grant, Long John Baldry and his Hoochie Coochie Men, Overlanders,
Worryin' Kind.

23rd ~ 30th August stint, with their first appearance of three in Exeter.

The Coochies included Rod Stewart.
A single had been released in June, with Rod appearing on side 2 'Up Above My Head'.. now worth a packet (pun = see also Stones July 1965 ).

The Worryin' Kind trio (Rufus McGhee, Shakey Turner, Joe Joe Gunne), are nothing at all to do with The Worrying Kynde, who formed 1965.

Paramounts info here.

Odeon Theatre, Exeter * 2nd Oct. 1964
ROLLING STONES
+ Inez & Charlie Foxx, Mojos, Don Spencer. Dave Berry/ Innocents, Simon Scott, Le Roys.

The Stones 4th UK tour, 2nd time in Exeter.

Following this tour, three of the Mojos departed, and two others stepped in: Aynsley Dunbar, and Lewis Collins. Lewis later became famous by being in the 70s hit TV series 'The Professionals'. Incidentally, his father was the band's manager.

Simon Scott issued several singles, but without much success, so is now virtually unknown. Here he is with his current backing band The Le Roys.

Don Spencer hanging on, on the strength of his one hit from 1963, 'Fireball', the end theme for the TV series Fireball XL5.

Odeon Theatre * 18th Nov. 1964
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
BRIAN POOLE &
THE TREMELOES
+ Herman's Hermits, Primitives,
Dave Berry and The Cruisers,
Gobbledegooks, Echoes.

.
Dusty on the cover and star of show (final act), yet Ticket states 'BRIAN POOLE & THE TREMELOES SHOW' !

Youthful Herman's Hermits starting out on Nationwide Tours.

The Primitives who were akin to The Pretty Things, but received no commercial success.

ABC Cinema, Exeter * 28th April 1965
PRETTY THINGS * BILLY FURY
DAVE BERRY * BRIAN POOLE
+ Tremeloes (B. Poole's group),
Gamblers (Fury's backing band),
Zephyrs, Kestrels, J.Barry Seven

.
Although the Pretty Things were a good r&b band, they had very little success in the Singles Chart. Their outward appearance did not help. Maybe if they had been more smartly dressed...?

All other acts on this show were becoming, or were, 'old hat', and coming to the end of their career of any success at the top.

ABC Cinema, Exeter * 3rd Feb. 1965
CILLA BLACK - P.J. PROBY SHOW
+ Tommy Roe & The Roemans, Remo 4,
Mike Cotton Sound, Tommy Quickly,
Sounds Incorporated, Fourmost.

.
P.J. Proby did not appear due to the bad publicity of the unintentional trouser splitting escapade. This was blown out of proportion because PJ had been outspoken (honest) about some of the pop scene's darker side, and the powers to be wanted him discredited. It succeeded, as his career to a nosedive.

Sounds Incorporated were a versatile band that backed many artistes on the UK tour circuits. There is a glimpse of them on this cover accompanying Cilla.
.

ABC Cinema, Exeter * 24th Feb.. 1965
ROY ORBISON

+ Rockin' Berries, Marianne Faithfull,
Cliff Bennett and The Rebel Rousers, Three Quarters, Untamed,

.
Girl trio Three Quarters issued two singles on Columbia with this revised line-up. Both records are scarce.

Untamed were to be 'another Who' but never made any success. Their producer was the same as the Who & Kinks during this period - Shel Talmy.

.Paddy

Odeon Theatre, Exeter * 16th July 1965
ROLLING STONES
+ Walker Brothers,
Tommy Quickly and The Remo Four,
Elkie Brooks, Thee of London, Steam Packet.

.
Walker Brothers billed as 'Special Guests'. Ironically, three months later they would knock the Stones 'Satisfaction' off the top of the singles charts with, in complete contrast, their rendition of Bacharach & David's 'Make It Easy On Yourself'.

Paramounts featured in the programme, but appeared at Bournemouth only, as did Twinkle with Bobby Rio and his Revelles, who are also stated on the inside page.

Remo Four were known for the Hammond Organ sound. A great live band in their own right, and like Sounds Inc, were employed as backing for solo singers on UK tour circuits. At the time of this tour, (the now late) Tony Ashton had recently joined them as their organist.

Elkie Brooks not really suited for this tour, as the audience expected beat and boom! However, her backing band Boz And The People, who had just completed with her the Frank Ifield tour circuit, consisted of Boz Burrell (who later joined King Crimson and then Bad Company), Ian Whitman (to The Action), and Ian McLagen (McLagan) moving to the Small Faces, replacing Jimmy Winston after their first single release 'Wat'cha Gonna Do About It'.

Thee Of London: this tour was to assist their release of the Jagger / Richard pen 'Each And Every Day', but failed to make an impact, and they disbanded soon after. Previously called The Rivals (no records issued), the quartet's lead singer and bass player Tony Savva formed soon after The New Breed, and again a Decca single was issued. In 1966 Tony then set up another group A Wild Uncertainty, with 'A Man With Money' b/w 'Broken Truth' being issued on the Planet label. All three singles, in particularly the latter, are now very collectable!

Steam Packet at this time consisted of
Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, Brian Auger Trinity, Julie Driscoll = wow!. Auger's solo stint on this show was 'Rock Candy', that coincidently (or not?), was one of the Remo Four's party pieces.

John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers (Eric Clapton, John McVie, Hughie Flint) are pictured, yet did not appear, and are not listed on the programme's itinerary - any thoughts on this?

ABC Cinema * 21st Oct. 1965
CILLA * EVERLY BROTHERS
BILLY J. KRAMER & DAKOTAS
+ Paddy Klaus & Gibson,
Lionel Blair and his Kick Dancers,
Marionettes, and Pete Brady
the compere f Radio London DJ)

A double-sided Poster-Programme.

re Paddy Klaus & Gibson: info here

NME Sept. 24th
Front cover with dates / venues

* * * * *

EXETER'S ONLY LIVE PERFORMANCE ISSUED ON VINYL?

Click here for info!

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© Peter Rice Destiny One
1900s RECORD SHOP IN EXETER 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s BEAT DANCES IN EXETER 1960s AT ST THE CIVIC HALL EXETER DEVON IN THE SIXTIES
EXETER NOSTALGIA HERE ! ROCK N ROLL IN EXETER 50 YEARS AGO 1960s POP GROUPS IN EXETER DEVON 1970s POP GROUPS IN EXETER DEVON
BEAT GROUPS IN EXETER IN 1964 1965 1966 1967 THE BEATLES IN EXETER IN 1963 1964 CONCERTS AT THE ABC EXETER CINEMA 1960s 1970s
1960s RECORD SHOPS IN EXETER BRINGING ON BACK THE GOOD TIMES IN EXETER DANCE HALLS IN EXETER IN THE 1950s 1960s 1970s
RECORD SHOP BAGS HERE! VINTAGE RECORD COVERS OF EXETER BUSINESSES HERE! BIRTH OF PUNK IN EXETER 1976 1977 1978

1a Bags	1b Moons in Plymouth	2 Concert Memorabilia	3 Ken Spray's 'The Music Shop'
4 The Left Bank	5 Civic Hall's live recording	6 About the author	7 Star Scene package at the ABC 1965
	8 Paramounts (pre Procol Harum)	9 Correspondence