March 1971 - The Birth of the RCA Neon Progressive Label

March 1971 - The Birth of the RCA Neon Progressive Label

by Pete Clemons

Neon was RCA's move into contemporary music. The first three albums of the then new series were released during March and were from Brotherhood of Breath, Fair Weather and Indian Summer. In a special survey SOUNDS magazine looked at the three groups, reviewed the first albums and talked to Olav Wyper, RCA's commercial manager, who was responsible for that new series. The label was launched at a special concert held at Imperial College, London in front of a student audience, the market that Neon had hoped to hit.

Man behind new label:

Olav Wyper is RCA's commercial manager and the man responsible for the launch of Neon, RCA's move into contemporary music.

He joined RCA from Philips where he masterminded the birth of Vertigo. Prior to that he was marketing manager for CBS for three years after working as a journalist, a copy writer and as advertising manager for EMI.

He likes the majority of contemporary pop music, enjoys Miles Davis 'enormously' and names Stan Tracey's 'Under Milk Wood' suite as his favourite piece of music. His favourite composer is Brahms.

New name in contemporary audio arts:

The first three releases on Neon - the name comes from the Greek word Neos which means new - are diverse in character.

There's Brotherhood of Breath, the band led by Chris McGregor: Fair Weather fronted by Andy Fairweather Low: and Indian Summer, a new band from Coventry. The music of each of the three groups is vastly different but that's very much Neon's policy.

Olav Wyper first saw Indian Summer on a trip up to the Midlands to check out the music that was coming out of the Birmingham and Coventry areas.

We went up there because we had heard that there were some very good groups playing in the clubs in the Midlands. There were two bands that we saw, Indian Summer was the supporting act, and Black Sabbath.

Indian Summer didn't really have it together musically at that time, the original band that we saw then, wasn't the band that's together now, but after I left Philips and came here in November we saw them again after Jim Simpson, their manager, contacted us here and we signed them there and then.

Indian Summer summary:

There's been something of a resurgence of late in the number of rock bands coming out of the provinces after establishing large followings in their home town. Black Sabbath came out of Birmingham with enough impact to hit nationally and now Indian Summer are looking for the same kind of success having broken out of their native Coventry.

The group has been together for nearly two years and its members came from different groups working in and around the Coventry area. Their aim, they say, is 'to achieve the meaning of Indian Summer - to give something fresh, warm and exciting when no-one expects it'.

Focal point of the group is organist and vocalist Bob Jackson whose voice at times verges on a scream reminiscent of Arthur Brown in the Crazy World days.

Colin Williams plays guitar, Paul Hooper is the drummer and Martin Harker plays bass and joins with Paul in a drum duet they include in their stage set.

Indian Summer album review: 'Indian Summer' (NEON NE2)

First impression is that Indian Summer sounded more than a little like Jethro Tull in their 'Witches Promise' days but this isn't a bad indication and they set up a tight, insistent beat throughout. Bob Jackson (keyboard, lead vocal) Colin Williams (guitar, vocal), Paul Hooper (drums, vocal) and Malcolm Harker (bass, vocal) make up the band and were responsible for all the compositions.

While there isn't a great deal of flexibility - more numbers sound too much alike - they are better on the faster items with dashing organ backing up good vocals.

'Emotions of Men', 'Black Sunshine' and 'Secrets Reflected' are good tracks, but 'Another Tree Will Grow' is the best number with the band breaking free a little more. There are some interesting guitar passages from Williams.




Neon NE 01: Beginning From An End, Fair Weather, 1971

Neon NE 02: Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath, 1971

Neon NE 03: Indian Summer, Indian Summer, 1971

Neon NE 04: Tonton Macoute, Tonton Macoute, 1971

Neon NE 05: Dando Shaft, Dando Shaft, 1971

Neon NE 06: Spring, Spring, 1971

Neon NE 07: Shape Of The Rain (Riley, Riley, Wood And Waggett), 1971

Neon NE 08: Time IS ..., Raw Material, 1971

Neon NE 09: Septober Energy, Centipede, 1971

Neon NE 10: Metropolis, Mike Westbrook, 1971

Neon NE 11: The Running Man, The Running Man, 1971

............................

Indian Summer's Progressive Album on RCA Neon Label 1971 featuring Bob Jackson on vocals and keyboards - later of Pete Brown and Piblokto, Ross, Ra Ra, The Dodgers The Fortunes, Badfinger.

Malc Harker bass - based in Coventry at the time but later head of his father's firm Harkers in Stockton on Tees.

Colin Williamson and Paul Hooper - The Dodgers The Fortunes, Badfinger. and Paul Hooper more recently played drums for Prelude.

And Dando Shaft on RCA Neon

And Fresh Maggots originally ear marked for RCA Neon but actually on RCA Victor

Pink Floyd – Lanchester Arts Festival 1972

 

Pink Floyd – Lanchester Arts Festival 1972

by Pete Clemons

The listening public were on the verge of seeing and hearing the release of one of the greatest albums of all times. One, on a scale that continues to touch people today. Here is an interview with the band prior to them performing in Coventry at the Lanchester Arts Festival of 1972.........

The Pink Floyd's current repertoire, which they'll be performing at Lanchester, includes just one old number in the whole two hours which, as Roger Waters says, is quite a breakthrough for them.

They have plenty of oldies to choose from - but they'll probably be ending their set with either 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun' or 'Careful With That Axe Eugene' - the two pieces from their old repertoire that they most enjoy playing still.

As he said when he was spoken to during December, when the group were rehearsing and getting material together for the tour: 'The old stuff is being phased out, but there are still a couple of them that are still fun to play - the two that spring to mind are 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun' and 'Careful With That Axe Eugene'. But the first half hopefully won't be a great kind of epic.....you know 'Atom Heart Mother' and 'Echoes' are both kind of odyssies. Epic sound poems I think we are coming down to earth a bit. I hope we are - getting a little less involved with flights of fancy.

Last week after the start of their tour Roger was asked how things had gone. 'At the first gig we had a terrible technical disaster during the first half of the set, which is 50 minutes long and is one whole new piece, and we couldn't finish it. The tape we were using just wouldn't play on to the end; but I think that's been sorted out now'.

The new piece seems to have worked out as he had hoped, in coming down to earth a bit. Its about the pressures that come to bear on people working inside the rock and roll business - dealing with things like travelling, and the wearing effects that has on you, and in more general terms, with the passing and the wasting of it, money and authority - the church and violence.

'It is' he says, 'more theatrical than anything we've ever done before, more into the whole theatre/circus thing. And in concept it's more literal, not as abstract as the things we've done before. It's more mental - we've gone mental'.

There're using a lot of specially made tapes with this first half of the set, and of course the quadrophenia sound system, as long as the hall they play is suitable for it. It's hardly surprising that technical disasters happen, but even when they do, the people seem to relate to what the music is saying. Roger had heard a report from one guy who'd seen the concert in Brighton, and apparently he hadn't really realised they hadn't been able to finish the piece, and he'd been moved and frightened by it.

The second half of the set includes 'Echoes' and I think 'One of These Days' plus the oldie.

And finally, another point of interest will be to see how they've coped with controlling their volume. When Roger spoke in a December interview he said 'The whole thing is getting completely insane , and that's another thing we've done. I'm happy to say, we've got quieter'. It'll be interesting to see if the Floyd can be effective without being ear-shattering, because if they can do it, other bands might just follow their lead.