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"We Came Alive In The Living Room...Part 2..

15th Oct 1983 

 

There were a lot of strikes going on back in the early 80's. and power-cuts were becoming common place again. On the 15th October the TV Personalities were due to play at The Living Room,at The Adams Arms in Conway Street.

This was one  of the nights for a power cut!  

 

Undeterred,the club moved downstairs  the Living Room moved downstairsi nto the bar  itself, and with acoustics and a battery amp, sets by candle-light were the order of the evening.Jowe Head, Nikki Sudden, ,Jed Dmochowski,the Jasmine Minks,,all played,with this set from the TVPs as a closer. The sound is dodgy,epescially after Three Wishes,when I had to turn  the tape over and move the cassette recorder!

So here in all its Here. in all it'sramshackable glory is the sound of the people who would influence indie music for at least the next few years,and in some cases forvever,having a pub sing-a-long to their favourite tvps songs,and a couple of others!! Three Wishes was THE song during the year-hear the Living Room regulars belt it out here-along with inprovised percussion of beer-glasses,tables and anything else that came to hand.

 

TV Personalities live at The Living Room,Adams Arms,London 15/10/83

1.Part-Time Punks

2.I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives

3.Bike

4.Picture Of Dorian Gray

5.Three Wishes(part)

6.14th Floor

7.Where's Bill Grundy Now?

8.Smashing Time

9.unknown song

10.La Bamba

11..Painter Man(part)

(recorded on a hand-held walkman)

From the Paul Groovy Archive.

the who odds and sods

I haven't been able to listen to any music on my way to and from work for the last couple of weeks thanks to an ear problem. All better now,so last night I let my trusty shuffle setting  decide what album I should listen to.
This is what it gave me:

 

Not a choice I was going to argue with-this is a great album.A stop-gap collection of outtakes and rarities put together by John Entwistle it may be , but it also provided the original home for some fantastic Who songs,from the tongue-in-cheek  humour of Postcard,with its reference to The Who's ill-fated tour of Australia/New Zeland with the Small Faces,to the majestic and beautiful Pure and Easy, via the very first single I'm The Face and an anti-smoking song! I loved the artwork as well-the cut-out sleeve,the Braille, the insert with typical Pete Townshend track by track notes-the whole thing was a great artifact before you even got to the music!

 

At the time of its release, The Who and Ken Russell were filming Tommy in and around Portsmouth.One location was the Wesley Central Hall in Fratton (the rally where Sally Simpson gets kicked in the head).

 Did I think of bunking off school and getting in to watch The Who? Too fucking right!!  Well the bunking off bit went ok,but getting to watch was a bit harder-finally manged it in time for the last couple of mins filming after being there all day.

I hung around after most people had left,and saw the Almighty Keith Moon getting into the Rolls Royce parked outside.The car only then went and got stuck at the traffic lights outside the Co-op (now The Bridge Centre),so  I was able to get his autograph.

Worth the detention for bunking off I think!

 

5-6-7-CREATE!

"Why sell it when you can give it away"- I think that was a lyric in a Desperate Bicycles song,but even if it isn't it sums up what I did with my fanzine Groovy Black Shades. I would give it away at gigs and run into shops like Virgin,when it was in The Tricorn Centre or HMV, when it was just about the music maaaan! and leave a bundle of copies of the latest issue on  the counter.

(A copy was picked up from The Regal clothes shop in London by a guy from Gosport,who told the singer of a local band about it, leading to my  meeting long time pal and comrade in noise Stephen Clarke-weird huh? rather cool though)

Anyway here's 3 that cover 1982-1983. one day I will get them scanned and try and decipher the typing and put them up here. til then.....





Issue No.5-Interviews with The Pastels & The Direct Hits. I gave these away at a Pastels hosted "Spontaneous Happening" in Glasgow and at the first nights at The Living Room.

















Issue No. 6-Interviews with Ed Ball of The Times,and Jowe Head,as well as bits on The Mixers Direct Hits and Nikki Sudden.Also had articles written by The Creation Cowboy(aka Alan McGee) and The Legend. Mainly given away at Living Room gigs.
















Issue No.7-massive Nikki Sudden interview,bits on The Times,The Psstels,Barracudas,Nikki Sudden,Jasmine Minks,Biff Bang Pow. Also articles by The Creation Cowboy,The Legend,Batman(aka Grant Morrison) and Kevin P (Writer supreme).

"We came alive in the Living Room..."

as the man described by Noel Gallagher as "The 2nd best song-writer in Britain" once sang. Thing is, Noel, if Edward Ball is 2nd best,who is No.1 ?

(All together now.. "You are No.6")

....sorry,where was I? Oh yeah, Here's some snapshot memories of years ago. Some of The Pop Art Visionaires live at The Living Room,at The Adam Arms.

On   the 4th June 1983  The TV Personalites,played at the Adams Arms pub,in Conway Street,London. The gig was in a room above the pub, usually used as a meeting place for "Dingles Folk Club",but tonight home to an evening  listed in the N.M.E as  "Here Comes The Summer".
             
Now,people who should know,like say, Alan McGee,(whose "Communication Blur" fanzine was promoting the event), and the guy who wrote the Creation Records story, say that the Living Room's first night was headlined by The Nightingales.  They are probably right.

Thing is it doesn't matter whether "Here Comes The Summer" was a trial-run the week before The Nightingales, or was the week after,or whatever. (Makes for a good legend though-TVPs opened AND closed The Living Room's original home-and one that I'm going to stick to-"if in doubt-print the myth" I think I read somewhere).

It's place in music history is secured forever (well indie music anyway) as the night Alan McGee,fanzine writer,gig promoter,guitarist with 3 singles under his belt,and founder of Creation Records, met Joe Foster,aka Joe From Hendon, a Missing Scientist,and playing guitar in fellow Pop Art Visionary Dan Treacy's TV Personalities.

That history records that the meeting went as follows:

Joe: "You Alan?"
Alan: "Yeah"
Joe: "You owe me £5 for the taxi."

Soon Joe would be producing the bands that Alan was signing to Creation,starting the ripple that one day in the distant future (weirdly it would be almost 10 years to the month) lead to the musical tidal wave that was Oasis.


But back to the 4th June:  there were other bands there that night-Miles Landesman,cosmic legend from the Splash Of Colour era band Miles Over Matter, 12 Cubic Feet-including diy cassette artpop/freak out Paul Platypus in their ranks,with the final slot going to Alan's friend,a man who loved the TV Personalities as much as Alan,and The Ramones more than anything else on earth ,and wrote passionately about music that moved him in "Communication Blur",  The Legend and His Swinging Soul Sisters.







Anyway here's some blurry pictures of the night that sort-of changed the World. It was certainly a night that changed mine but that's a story for another time.

and you can hear a lo-fi recording off the TV Personalites set that night HERE

GBS-12-30 Years Ago Today-4.6.83 by Groovyblackshades on Mixcloud