Steve Ashley
I honestly can’t remember this at all, but both the monthly Penthouse poster (see below) and the commemorative poster mention his name, so he must have played. Perhaps we turned up late? Or maybe I just erased him from my memory? 🤷♂️
The monthly poster announced that Ashley was lately of Fairport Convention (not quite correct) and Albion Country Band (absolutely correct), two bands that I would see in later years. A quick perusal of the internet informs that he is an English singer-songwriter, recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, writer, and later, a graphic designer. Ashley is renowned for his songwriting and gained initial recognition with his debut solo album, ‘Stroll On’ (Gull, 1974). Drawing inspiration from English traditional songs, his songwriting style is modern in its content while maintaining traditional influences in melody, poetry, and vocal delivery.
In the spring of 1972, Ashley joined The Albions, a band which featured several former Fairport members (and there’s the connection!) and had secured a deal with Island Records. However, after a brief nine-month period, the band split without recording.
By 1973, Ashley had established his own ephemeral folk-rock group, Ragged Robin, with Richard Byers, Brian Diprose, and John Thompson. They performed in clubs, colleges, at the Cambridge Folk Festival, and held a residency at Roy Guest’s Howff in London’s Primrose Hill.
In November, Ashley inked a solo recording contract with Gull Records and, after some adjustments to the tracks, his much-anticipated debut album was finally released in April 1974, titled ‘Stroll On’.
Now, I’m obviously speculating here when I say that I don’t think that he joined A Band Called ‘O’ for their performance, but that instead he gave us a short rendition of a few songs from that solo album.
It seems to me to have been a very strange combination of two very contrasting musical styles but, as I can’t remember seeing him, I’ll be kind and award him a bang average 2½ stars.
Setlist: unknown
A Band Called ‘O’
The ‘O’ tour
Pix (guitar, vocals) / Craig Anders (guitars, vocals) / Mark Anders (bass) / Derek Ballard (drums) / Pete Filleul (keyboards, vocals)
This was my introduction to a much under-rated band that I simply cannot recommend highly enough! Starting out life as Jersey group The Parlour Band with just one album – ‘Is a Friend?’ which I have and play quite often – and a very different sound, they would subsequently resurface in 1974 with a new name and album, ‘O‘, and a terrific reputation for being a hard-working, heavy-gigging band. They would later change their name to The O Band, but they will always be A Band Called ‘O’ to me.
I saw them more times than any other band back then and the obvious problem here is that it’s very hard to differentiate between their several early gigs in the mid-1970s but I’ll give it a go.
All that I can recall from their first gig is that we were very surprised at just how good the band were and that they could be quite funky in places. The stand-out track that they played – in my very humble opinion – was the segued ‘Captain Cellophane / Sidewalk Ship‘.
They were so impressive that the next day quite a few of us went straight into town to Bernard Dean’s record shop to pick up the album; I’ve still got my original copy that I bought that day and I still play it very regularly. 🙂 It’s great music which – in my humble opinion – hasn’t dated and it brings so many good memories flooding back. One thing that I think needs mentioning here though, is that their studio output never, ever matched the energy of their live performances. It wouldn’t be until the release of the ‘On The Road’ CD that we could really appreciate just how good they really were.
There are no setlists for their early gigs but I would guess that they played most of the album and supplemented it with maybe one or two upcoming or current singles such as ‘No Manners’ and ‘There Ain’t Nothing I Wouldn’t Do’ and quite possibly a new tune or two (their second album ‘Oasis‘ wasn’t far away).
Setlist: unknown
Footnote: Steve Toal, recalls, “one of my favourites, played many a time, first time they played all we shouted was ‘Get Funky’!” (a track from their debut album).
Edit: I’ve just (13th September 2021) come across some posts that Pix himself made on a forum back in 2014 which relate to the formation of the band. So here you have it – straight from the horse’s mouth!
You can visit the forum for yourself HERE.
Gigs'n'Stuff 