Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. They achieved commercial success with singles that fused pop craftsmanship with rapid-fire punk energy. These singles were collected on Singles Going Steady, described by critic Ned Raggett as a "punk masterpiece".
Rock Follies is a musical drama shown on British television in the 1970s. The storyline followed the ups and downs of a fictional female rock band called the "Little Ladies", as they struggled for recognition and success. The series starred Rula Lenska, Charlotte Cornwell and Julie Covington as the Little Ladies, with support from Emlyn Price, Beth Porter, Sue Jones-Davies, Bob Hoskins, Stephen Moore, Derek Thompson, Denis Lawson and Little Nell among others. The series was made with a very low budget for Thames Television, with a style inspired by fringe theatre and was based on an original idea by Annabel Leventon, Diane Langton and Gaye Brown.
Rula Lenska is an English-Polish actress. She mainly appears in British stage and television productions, but is known in the United States for a series of commercials for Alberto VO5 hairspray in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her first husband was actor Brian Deacon and her second husband was actor Dennis Waterman. She has also appeared as Claudia Colby on Coronation Street.
Julie Covington is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", which she sang on the 1976 concept album Evita.
"Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is a song recorded by Julie Covington for the 1976 concept album Evita, later included in the 1978 musical of the same name. The song was written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they were researching the life of Argentine leader Eva Perón. It appears at the opening of the first and second acts, as well as near the end of the show, initially as the spirit of the dead Eva exhorting the people of Argentina not to mourn her, during Eva's speech from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, and during her final broadcast.
Larry Wallis was an English guitarist, songwriter and producer. He was best known as a member of the Pink Fairies and an early member of Motörhead.
Rise Up Like the Sun is a British folk rock album released in 1978 by The Albion Band. The album is in part a collaboration between John Tams on vocals and melodeon and Ashley Hutchings on electric bass. This is not the first album on which the two worked together but it remains the most fulfilling for listeners. To build the sound Hutchings brought in two of his former compatriots from Fairport Convention, Dave Mattacks on drums and tambourine and Simon Nicol on vocals and electric and acoustic guitars. In addition another ex-member of Fairport, Richard Thompson, contributed songs and backing vocals. Having assembled the principal contributors and an ambiance that encouraged their friends to drop in, Hutchings gave Tams the freedom to act as the project's musical director. They were joined by Philip Pickett on shawms, bagpipes, curtals and trumpet, Pete Bullock on synthesiser, piano, clarinet, sax, and organ, Michael Gregory on percussion, Ric Sanders on violin and violectra and Graeme Taylor on electric and acoustic guitars. Kate McGarrigle, Julie Covington, Linda Thompson, Pat Donaldson, Martin Carthy, Andy Fairweather-Low and Dave Bristow make guest appearances.
The Gospel According to the Meninblack is the fifth album by English rock band The Stranglers, an esoteric concept album released in 1981. The album deals with conspiratorial ideas surrounding alien visitations to Earth, the sinister governmental Men in Black, and the involvement of these elements in well-known biblical narratives. This was not the first time The Stranglers had used this concept; Meninblack on the earlier The Raven album and subsequent 1980 single-release "Who Wants the World?" had also explored it.
Andrew Mackay is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founding member of the art rock group Roxy Music.
10 is the tenth studio album by English rock band The Stranglers and was the last to feature guitarist/lead singer Hugh Cornwell. The album was released in 1990. 10 peaked at No. 15 and spent four weeks in the UK Albums Chart.
First Light is the fourth album by folk rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson. It was released in 1978 on Chrysalis Records.
Misfits is the seventeenth studio album by the English rock band the Kinks. The album was released in 1978. Following the minor success of Sleepwalker in the United States, Misfits featured a more rock-oriented style than many other Kinks records of the 1970s. Despite internal conflicts within the band, leading to both bassist Andy Pyle and pianist John Gosling quitting the band, the album made the Top 40 in America. The album also contained the minor hit single "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy", as well as less successful releases "Live Life" and "Black Messiah".
Sleepwalker is the sixteenth studio album by the English rock group, the Kinks, released in 1977. It marked a return to straight-ahead, self-contained rock songs after several years of concept albums. It is the first album in what critics usually call the "arena rock" phase of the group, in which more commercial and mainstream production techniques would be employed. The album also marks the last appearance of bassist John Dalton, who left the band during the recording sessions. Dalton plays bass on all songs on the album save for "Mr. Big Man". The lineup of the Kinks would be trimmed down significantly in 1977 following the album's release, as the brass section and backup singers were removed and the band returned to a standard rock band outfit.
Guts is a retrospective compilation album by John Cale, released by Island Records in February 1977. It includes the songs "Leaving It Up To You", which was deleted from Helen of Troy, and the previously unreleased "Mary Lou". It was compiled by Howard Thompson.
Sue Jones-Davies is a Welsh actress, singer and politician. She played Judith Iscariot in the film Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) and was Mayor of Aberystwyth from 2008 to 2009.
Rewired is the sixth studio album by Mike + The Mechanics, released in 2004. This was the first album released by the band following the death of the co-lead singer Paul Young. Partly because of this, the album was credited to "Mike + The Mechanics + Paul Carrack". It is the only Mike + The Mechanics album to date with only one lead vocalist.
"How?" is a song from John Lennon's second solo album Imagine, released in 1971.
Tony Stevens is an English musician, best known as the bassist with the bands Foghat, Savoy Brown and Nobodys Business.
Rock Follies is a soundtrack album of the 1976 UK television series Rock Follies. The album featured songs from the show, sung by stars Julie Covington, Charlotte Cornwell and Rula Lenska. The songs were composed by Howard Schuman and Roxy Music's Andy Mackay. The album reached No.1 in the UK album charts.
Julie Covington is a 1978 album by English singer Julie Covington. It was produced by Joe Boyd and the sound engineer was John Wood. Most of the album was recorded at Britannia Row Studios in Islington. It was her second album released on Virgin Records. In 2000, it was reissued as Julie Covington Plus and features two bonus tracks.
