Goliath was an English jazz-rock/soul band from Manchester that released a self-titled album on CBS in 1970. Members: Linda Rothwell (vocals), Malcolm Grundy (guitar), Joseph Rosbotham (woodwinds), John Williamson (bass), Eric Eastman (drums, percussion) Background Goliath evolved from the unrecorded Mancunian act Petrus Booncamp, which featured guitarist/bassist John Williamson and singers Linda Rothwell and Roy […]
Mandalaband was the symphonic-rock project of English composer/arranger David Rohl. The project yielded a self-titled album on Chrysalis in 1975. The musicians on that recording became Sad Café. The Mandalaband nameplate was resurrected for the 1978 rock-opera The Eye of Wendor: Prophecies, which features Justin Hayward on one track. Members: David Rohl (keyboards), David Durant […]
Slaughter and the Dogs were an English rock band from Wythenshawe, formed in 1975 at the forefront of punk. On July 20, 1976, they played a watershed triple-bill with the Buzzcocks and The Sex Pistols at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall, heralding the city’s musical renaissance. During 1977, Slaughter and the Dogs placed two […]
10cc are an English art-pop band that released two albums on UK Records in 1973/74, followed by seven albums and a live two-record set on Mercury between 1975 and 1983. In their initial four-piece lineup, 10cc recorded the choral-layered production landmark “I’m Not in Love.” Following the departure of co-founders Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, […]
Diagram Brothers were an English art-punk band from Manchester that debuted with a standalone single on self-press Construct Records in 1980. Signed to Buzzcocks-manager Richard Boone’s New Hormones label, the band issued a second single and the album Some Marvels of Modern Science in 1981, followed by the four-song 10″ Discordo in 1982. Members: Andy […]
Oscar were an English art-rock/pop band from Manchester that released a self-titled album on Buk Records in 1974, followed by two albums on DJM in 1976 and 1977. Members: Tony Bamforth (keyboards, vocals), Gary McDougall (bass, vocals), Brian McGladdery (12-string guitar, vocals), Kevin Parrott (lead guitar, vocals), Roger Tweedale (drums, vocals) Discography: Oscar (1974) Twilight […]
Ludus were an English post-punk band from Manchester that released three shorptlayers and two longplayers on local small-press New Hormones between 1980 and 1982. Frontwoman Linder Sterling was also a graphic designer who illustrated sleeves for fellow Mancunians The Buzzcocks (“Orgasm Addict”) and Magazine (Real Life). Members: Linder (vocals), Arthur Kadmon (guitar, 1978-79), Toby Toman […]
The Drones were an English punk rock band from Manchester that released the album Further Temptations on Valer Records in 1977. Members: M. J. Drone [Michael Howells] (vocals), Pete Howells (drums), Steve “Whispa” Cundall (bass), Gus Gangrene (guitar, 1976-78), Mike Koman (keyboards, 1978) The Drones evolved from Rockslide, a glitter-pop band that issued the single […]
Level 42 were an English jazz-funk band from the Isle of Wight that released seven studio albums and a live double-LP on Polydor between 1981 and 1988. Members: Mark King (vocals, bass, percussion, guitar, keyboards), Mike Lindup (vocals, keyboards, percussion, 1980-94, 2006-present), Phil Gould (drums, vocals, keyboards, 1980-87, 1993-94), Boon Gould (guitar, saxophone, 1980-87), Gary […]
Samson was an English brass-psych band from Manchester that released the album Are You Samson on small-press Instant in 1969. Members: Les Jones (guitar), Norman Findley (organ), Paul Ford (trumpet), Les Olbinson (bass), Mike Delaney (drums), Ian Kewley (vocals, french horn) Samson were among a handful of acts (The Outer Limits, Twinkle, Copperfield, Gulliver’s Travels) […]
Joy Division was an English mood-rock/goth band from Salford, Greater Manchester, that issued an EP on self-press Enigma in 1978, followed by two albums and assorted singles on Factory Records during 1979 and 1980. Just as the band was breaking through in the U.K., frontman Ian Curtis took his own life on May 18, 1980. […]
John Howard — aka Howard Michael Jones (born April 9, 1953) — is an English pianist, singer, and songwriter from Bury, Greater Manchester, who released the album Kid in a Big World on CBS in 1975. Further material from the mid-1970s was ultimately released 30 years later across two discs by archivists RPM. Despite releasing […]
Kalima were an English jazz-pop ensemble that released one EP, three singles, and three albums between 1984 and 1990. The band comprised alumni from earlier Mancunian acts A Certain Ratio and Swamp Children. Members: Martin Moscrop (drums), Tony Quigley (bass, saxophone), Andrew Connell (piano, synthesizer, vibraphone), Jez Kerr (bass guitar), Ann Quigley (vocals), Cliff Saffer […]
Magazine was an English rock band led by original Buzzcocks frontman Howard Devoto. They debuted with the 1978 Virgin single “Shot by Both Sides,” followed by the albums Real Life, Secondhand Daylight, and The Correct Use of Soap. The band’s instrumentalists — guitarist John McGeoch, bassist Barry Adamson, and keyboardist Dave Formula — were also […]
Sad Café was an English ensemble that was active between the late 1970s and mid-1980s. Hailing from a then-furtive Manchester scene (10cc, Buzzcocks, Magazine) the band released six studio albums between 1977 and 1985. The instrumental core of the band congealed as Mandalaband, formed to backup composer David Rohl on a pair of album-length conceptual […]
Simply Red are an English blue-eyed soul ensemble that has been active since the early 1980s. The band is named after carrot-topped frontman and sole constant member Mick Hucknall, whose impassioned vocals propelled the band to transatlantic success with their debut album Picture Book. Members: Mick Hucknall [aka Red] (vocals, guitar), Fritz McIntyre (keyboards, 1984-96), […]
Spherical Objects were an English post-punk band from Manchester that released two singles and four albums on self-press Object Music between 1978 and 1981. Leader Steve Solamar partook in the side projects Alternomen Unlimited, The Noyes Brothers (both with Steve Miro) and The Warriors. Members: Steve Solamar (vocals, guitar, harmonica), John Bisset-Smith (guitar, vocals), Duncan […]
Dislocation Dance were an English band that was active as a recording unit during the first half of the 1980s. The band released two albums and numerous shortplayers for the New Hormone and Rough Trade labels. Members: Ian Runacres (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Andy Diagram (trumpet, backing vocals), Paul Emmerson (bass, backing vocals), Richard Harrison (drums, […]
The Colourfield were an English sophisti-pop band that released two albums and assorted singles on Chrysalis between 1984 and 1987. The band featured ex-Specials/Fun Boy Three vocalist Terry Hall and onetime Swinging Cats guitarist/keyboardist Toby Lyons. Initially a trio, the band were joined in 1986 by former Teardrop Explodes drummer Gary Dwyer. Members: Terry Hall […]
The Chameleons were an English post-punk band that released the 1983–85 albums Script of the Bridge and What Does Anything Mean? Basically on Statik Records. Their 1985 Geffen release Strange Times spawned the college radio staple “Swamp Thing.” Singer–bassist Mark Burgess and drummer John Lever carried on as The Sun and the Moon on the […]
