Coventry Ring Road A4053 - And the Music.
By Pete Clemons
At the time of the ring roads official opening ceremony, on September 18 1974, there was a collective sigh of relief as, after years of pressure on the city centre, was at long last coming to an end. And here is how it was reported:
'The 15 year siege of Coventry was over. At last, the city is being relieved. For a decade and a half the city centre has been attacked on all sides by road works, diversions, one way systems and traffic lights. The weapons have been the most modern that the construction industry could muster. Earth movers, bulldozers, cranes and concrete mixers.
The arrows of ever changing direction signs have rained in on the city centre from all angles. The formal lifting of the siege will come tomorrow when the Lord Mayor, Councillor Dennis Berry, cuts the tape to open the final stage of the city's £14.4 million Inner Ring Road.
The two and three quarter mile highway encircles the city and should effectively seal it off from the thunder of through traffic. At least that's the principle. Whether it achieves that objective remains to be seen.....All the experts involved seem to think it will.
Superintendent Tom Meffin, deputy head of Coventry police said: 'if this final stage of the ring road works as well as the rest has, it will bring nothing but benefit to the motorist. The traffic flow is going to be improved a good deal now that the ring is complete. It will mean that traffic coming from the south of the city and wanting to go north need no longer use the city centre at all. The narrow, easily congested city centre roads which have been used up until now will no longer need to be used. The same will apply to traffic coming from east to west or from any direction'.
The ring roads completion will also mean that traffic policing headaches, caused during the construction period, will vanish. Superintendent Meffin said he did not expect any traffic problems and the completed road would be policed in the same way as the ring road always had been'.
But what else was going on at that time the ring road opened?. I’m sure there are others who could easily revive memories as to what was being shown on the TV and cinema back then, along with other events. But I thought I would revisit, and try to capture, the music scene both locally and nationally.
At Mr Georges Club, on the evening of the ring road's opening, you could have seen Sarah Gordon sing. She was backed by Little Free Rock who were a band that have a story of their own to tell. The following evening Jimmy Powell and the Dimensions were starring. Over in Leamington at the Spa Centre you could have seen rock trio Trapeze who were made up of Glenn Hughes, Mel Galley and Dave Holland.
Nationally, again during the week of the ring road's opening, the UK singles chart for looked like this:
1. Kung Fu Fighting – Carl Douglas
2. Love Me For a Reason – The Osmonds
3. Annie's Song – John Denver
Mike Oldfield was dominating the album charts in the UK at the time of cutting of the ring road's ribbon. Both Hergest Ridge at number 1 and Tubular Bells at number 2 were eclipsing Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings which had to settle for number 3.
After over 45 years of constant use, the ring road has, just lately, had a facelift on some of its sections. Plus, more recently, the exit section for the railway station has been changed considerably. And, despite not being able to drive it correctly, I still continue to use it regularly.
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Over to Trev Teasdel for a little bit of Coventry music information -
Quite close to the Ring Road in Lower Holyhead Road was the Holyhead Youth Centre where on a Monday night Hobo (Coventry Music and Arts Magazine) ran the Hobo Workshop gigs with support from the Coventry Voluntary Council Service. In the main hall we put on bands some of whose members came to fame or semi fame later on Analog had their first gig there - most of the members,through a series of bands formed The Reluctant Stereotypes - a less known Two Tone band combining of jazz rock and ska with Paul King on vocals - Paul left to form the hit group King. Well Analog played their first ever gig at the Hobo Workshop and did a repeat gig there 5 days after the opening of the Ring Road on Monday 23rd September. Midnight Circus also played their first ever gig there in October. Midnight Circus was led by Hazel O'connor's elder brother Neil and his band changed their name to the Flys c 1979 and released a series of singles including Molotov Cocktail. The Flys performed on the Old Grey Whistle test and John Peel and Neil himself became a guitarists with Hazel O'Connors tour band, Mega Hype.
Meanwhile down in the basement of the Holyhead Youth Centre at this time, Charley Anderson was rehearsing with Desmond Brown and other early musicians who were later part of The Selecter, and Neol Davies who came along to organise a jam session at the Midnight Circus gig - Neol went down stairs to encourage Charley's musicians to join the upstairs jam but stayed down their learning to skank. This was probably the first time home grown ska was heard in Coventry - as early as 1974 and only those of us upstairs at the Hobo Workshop heard it rising from the basement.
At the Hand in Heart on the Tuesday of the opening, Rod Felton was running the Rude Bear Folk Club with some top folk guests and floor spots from Dave Coburn and Dave Bennett.
Band who played the Hobo Workshop September / October 1974
Analog playing the Hobo Workshop - Holyhead Youth Centre 1974 - most of the band joined the Reluctant Stereotypes later. left,by the ampos is Bob Rhodes - detached youth worker with Coventry Voluntary Services who facilitated us. Back row, centre with long blond hair - Trev Teasdel, main organiser and next to him in stripy shirt Phil Knapper - singer songwriter whose brother Stu Knapper after formed the punk band Riot Act.
The Flys - formerly Midnight Circus) with Molotov Cocktail single c 1979 with Neil O'Connor.
Analog the jazz rock suite they performed at the Hobo Workshop1974
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