Chronicles Part IV - 1965 onwards (4)

From http://renshawschronicles.blogspot.com/:

We're now up to 1969 - I was growing up - I was 20 after all. Times were changing too - the early innocence of the 60's and Swinging London etc, and all that had done to promote Britain and help the economy, was now gone, and a new era was dawning. This was reflected in the way music was changing - gone were the bright, poppy little tunes and we ushered in an era of darker, heavier music. Progressive Music was the label that was stuck on it - it came initially out of extended blues jams, but soon took off in a whole new direction, some of it seriously weird - even by today's standards.

I had been to a couple of what they called package tours in the mid-60's, where they would gather together a group of artistes and lump them all together - like a variety show. One example I recall attending featured Big Dee Irwin (Swingin' on a Star), Bobby Vee, Dusty Springfield and another group who I've since forgotten - perhaps the Hollies or the Swinging Blue Jeans?

By the time of the late 60's, musicians saw themselves as very self-important and demanded more time for their extended improvisations and thus the one act concert developed. Green's Playhouse in Glasgow had been a old cinema that had converted to a concert hall and it was the ideal size for these progressive groups, who had suddenly discovered they could increase the volume to ear-shattering levels by the additions of banks and banks of huge speakers and amplifiers. Concerts then were a sight to behold - you could barely see the groups for the columns of speakers on stage.

I was at the very first big "progressive" rock act to appear there - it was The Nice, who featured Keith Emerson on organ and their pièce de résistance was their extended version of "America" (from West Side Story). The place was packed and three thousand people couldn't hear for two days afterwards!

I went to loads of concerts at what eventually was re-named the Apollo in the late 60's/early 70's - too many to remember them all now, but they included, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, Pentangle, Faces, Chicken Shack and many others - some of them more than once.

This is beginning to read like a musical blog, but the point of describing all this is to give a flavour of what was going on then - and what I was feeling and doing.

Meanwhile, another secretary had joined Fraser, Martin & Co - Margaret Weir was her name, and it transpired that I knew her elder brother, Jim, who was also studying to become a C.A. Jim was a great rock fan and helped me through the maze of new music that was sprouting everywhere. I have particularly fond memories of borrowing his copy of Jack Bruce's (ex-Cream) first solo album, Songs for a Tailor - I loved it, and still do to this day.

Knightswood Amateurs was still going along nicely, but that didn't stop us from also having our usual kick-abouts on the few bits of grass next to the local pitches at the "KTA". The surfaces of these pitches still consisted of black ash - basically coal and coke - and a slide tackle could easily see you hospitalised if you happened upon one of the large lumps of coke, which could embed themselves into your rear upper thigh and glutæus maximus. Our Saturday matches were held up at the school at Drumchapel, who had a much more modern surface consisting of red blaize, which at least made the pitch level and the ball wasn't subject to huge deviations when it landed - but slide tackles were still something to be avoided.

At our little midweek kickabouts, we were joined by two brothers, one of whom had been signed by Partick Thistle - as a goalkeeper. He was Alan Rough, who went on to win over 50 caps for Scotland in a career that saw him play for Hibs and Celtic as well as the Jags, plus a place in the SFA Hall of Fame. He would never play in goals with us, however - he always wanted to be outfield. We got to know his younger brother, Dougie, quite well.

The new decade came along and with it, my 21st. I remember holding a party at 46 Foxbar Drive and Mum and Dad were good enough to go out for the evening - although I'm not quite sure what Barry and Dawn did? The following photo was taken then (I think) - I'm dancing with Carole, who was my pal Roddy MacLeod's then girlfriend, later fiancée, ultimately wife:

The following month was a pretty momentous one for me. For a change, instead of going to the dance at the Men's Union at the University one weekend, we decided we would try the Q.M. - this was the Women's Union - times were different then! Marsha Hunt was playing that night and she'd made a bit of a name for herself (check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsha_Hunt_(singer_and_novelist)). This was the night I met Jo. I was particularly attracted to her eyes - I thought she was looking at me too, but it wasn't until later that I found out how blind she was - she didn't have her glasses on and couldn't see a thing! I saw her back to her late night bus in the city centre - that's what you did in those days - and we agreed to meet again the following midweek.

That was not the only life-changing thing that happened to me in 1970 - but I'll save that for the next posting.