The original Lindisfarne line-up of Ray Jackson, Alan Hull, Ray Laidlaw, Si Cowe and Rod Clements WERE Lindisfarne and always will be.....but split in 1973, at the height of their fame, after three highly successful studio albums (including Fog On The Tyne).....then got back together for two one-off Christmas shows at Newcastle City Hall in 1976....this was the first time they had met up since 1973.

I had started promoting concerts in Newcastle as a hobby, at the ridiculously young age of 14. By 1972 (when I was 17) I'd graduated to promoting bands who were well known and usually with current hit records. In 1974/5 I was surprised to discover that LIndisfarne Mk 2 were performing their final UK tour and leaving out Newcastle Upon Tyne and so I bought a date from their agency (M.A.M.) with no inkling that this would be the first of hundreds of Lindisfarne concerts I would present or that the original, highly successful line-up of Alan Hull, Ray Jackson, Si Cowe, Ray Laidlaw and Rod Clements would eventually get back together.

In 1976 when arranging for the original Lindisfarne line-up to reform for the now famous Christmas concerts at Newcastle City Hall, I had already presented artistes such as John Martyn; Focus; The Kinks; The Sweet; Gary Glitter and various others at Newcastle City Hall (my promoting habit would later involve being forced to book U2 against my will and to have my first and last, two day rock festival, ruined courtesy of Roxy Music; to organise the first UK tour by songwriting legend Sammy Cahn.....and to arrange the very first Radio One "Fun Weekend" O.B. involving all Radio One DJ's, numerous bands and total chaos...all stories for another day).

By 1975 I was already working with Ray Jackson who signed to EMI as a solo artist. In early 1976, Mr Andy Hudson, the highly respected organiser of what used to be the annual Newcastle Festival (which encompassed all of the arts and was a lengthy summer event featuring literally dozens of artists) approached Lindisfarne drummer Ray Laidlaw, then with Jack The Lad. Andy wanted the original Lindisfarne to reform for a one-off show as one of the many headling acts taking part in Newcastle Festival in Summer 2006.

Ray Jackson asked me if I thought it would be a good idea.

I was also by then friends with the late, great Alan Hull and I told them both that if they were prepared to reform for a show at Newcastle City Hall, it should be a purely LIndisfarne event, just before Christmas and not thrown away as a part of Newcastle Festival in summer, also suggesting that I thought a Christmas show had the potential of being such a huge success. I could see a Christmas show becoming an annual event and it was obvious to me that this much loved, legendary Newcastle band had a fantastic opportunity to obtain an enormous amount of publicity should they get back together. Reforming just to get involved in a summer festival with numerous other artists, because they had been approached by the festival director......would be a total throw-away. This wasn't difficult to work out.....it was blatantly obvious.

Alan Hull was able to remain on the sidelines as it was Ray Jackson who declined the invitation to reform. The band's drummer, Ray Laidlaw, a man I have grown to respect, wasn't happy. So much so that when I approached all of the original line-up to suggest my Christmas show idea, he only agreed to appear providing I wasn't involved in promoting the shows. This caused a bit of a problem as Alan Hull and Ray Jackson both fully supported my ideas and knew I was exactly the right person to organise everything and do a good job of getting it right. A solution was suggested, being that a Mr Dave Wood, former manager of Alan Hull, co-owner of Hazy Music Ltd (who published the Alan Hull/Lindisfarne music) and owner of Impulse Studios (an 8 track studio in Wallsend, of which more later) pretended to be the promoter. Dave agreed that he would split the promoters fee with me 50/50 but that I would do all of the work and fund the event. I don't blame Dave at all, he did nothing wrong and indeed without his assistance the 1976 Lindisfarne Christmas Shows would never have happened, however only I knew the huge amount of work that I planned to do to establish this one-off show as an absolute triumph and I was just a little upset that I would have to split the promoter's fee.

I quietly planned the shows and all of the publicity which was to accompany the announcement that the original line-up were getting back together. This included two, half hour BBC TV North-East programmes, one of which was a documentary which was shown in the North-East region and then networked throughout the UK. I managed to keep the band's one-off 1976 Christmas Show a secret until the day ticket sales were announced amid an avalanche of publicity..... locally (in every single newspaper and on both TV channels); nationally (in some national newspapers and all national music press) and on radio both locally and nationally. It is a matter of record that the show sold out in minutes as soon as the Box Office opened, with huge queues outside Newcastle City Hall. A second show was later added which sold out instantly.

One week before the shows, the band met up for rehearsals. I was friendly with the head of property for the Rank Organisation and I borrowed a disused cinema and former theatre from Rank (The Pavillion) on Westgate Road, Newcastle for the band to rehearse.

I first heard the original Lindisfarne performing live when I walked into the Pavillion during rehearsals and the band were singing "Down." The sound I heard was so unique it was the defining moment when I felt I was listening to one of the most special and unique bands in the land. In that one moment the "Magic" (that only the original line-up created) really hit me. In that moment I realised why they had been the UK's biggest album-selling band in 1972..... the songs plus the harmonies that Alan/Jacka/Si created and their unique musicianship combined to create that Lindisfarne sound. They also struck me as a serious band, as opposed to Jack The Lad.....the name said it all.

(Alan Hull and Ray Jackson had been in both the original LIndisfarne and Lindisfarne Mk 2 and their vocals (as well as Alan's songs) were key to the totally unique and extraordinary Lindisfarne sound. Jack The Lad, who never achieved chart success, had a frontman called Billy Mitchell. Ironically, in later years following the tragic death of Alan Hull, Billy Mitchell became lead singer with Lndisfarne which ended up with only two of the original line-up.....sounding nothing like Lindisfarne and faded away from popular appeal, performing to a relatively small group of diehard Jack The Lad/Lindisfarne fans.

Everything about the 1976 shows was amazing and the band were delighted with the public's reaction. Afterwards Ray, Rod, Si, Alan and Jacka all went their separate ways (Jack The Lad; Radiator; Si's theatre group. Jacka's solo work) however by then I had every intention of approaching all of the band later in the year with an offer to repeat the event but with added dates.

During 1977 the original Lindisfarne all agreed that I could announce and promote the 1977 Lindisfarne Christmas Shows at Newcastle City Hall. These were easily as well received as the 1976 shows. As reported by “Melody Maker” tickets were also being sold on the black market for many times face value. Lindisfarne agreed to my suggestion that we record the 1977 Christmas shows for a possible future live album and so we hired the Island Records (Basing Street) 24 track mobile recording studio, parked it outside Newcastle City Hall and recorded every 1977 Christmas show. By this time we had established the Lindisfarne Christmas Show as an event in its' own right and it seemed to me that there was no reason why this should not become an annual event in the Newcastle calendar which could grow every year. Clearly, such a Christmas, annual get-together in Newcastle could easily allow all five original band members to get on with their other projects and bands during the remaining 50 weeks of the year.

JANUARY 1978, RAY, ROD, ALAN, JACKA AND SI DECIDE TO REFORM LINDISFARNE ON A PERMANENT BASIS

Following the 1977 Lindisfarne Christmas Shows at Newcastle City Hall which once again brought scenes of long, overnight queues and extra dates being added, Ray Jackson called me in January 1978 with the news that the original band had decided to get back together permanently and that they wanted me to become Lindisfarne's manager.

As a Lindisfarne fan I didn’t need any persuasion and I asked Lindisfarne to keep the news of the band getting back together a secret until we were ready to release a new album and announce a British tour. I met with the band and presented a plan for the year. First we would go and demo new songs for an album. Then we would find a great record producer and record the new studio album before licensing it to record companies, thus retaining control while being able to obtain higher artist royalties. Then we would announce to the world that the original Lindisfarne had reformed and were back with their Fourth studio album (the first three being Nicely Out of Tune; Fog On The Tyne and Dingly Dell) and at the same time release the first single and announce dates for a British spring tour. Then we would perform at festivals in Europe and Britain over the summer followed by the release of a double live album promoted at the same time as the band performed a major two month/60 date Christmas concert tour of UK city halls and theatre venues to end the year.

HOW THE "BACK AND FOURTH" ALBUM HAPPENED.....

Someone had to pay the cost of making a new studio album without a record company’s financial backing and so I provided the upfront funding for the "Back and Fourth" album to be recorded (we recorded "Back and Fourth" and "Magic In The Air" before I eventually agreed deals with record companies, being Polygram in London and Atlantic in the USA). It was Phonogram who, a couple of months later, threw a lavish, catered press conference with an open bar, to announce that the original Lindisfarne had reformed and we announced the immediate release of “Run For Home” showed an embargoed video of "Run For Home" (secretly filmed for us by BBC TV North-East) and we also provided details of the soon to be released “Back and Fourth” album, produced by Elton John’s producer, the late Gus Dudgeon, which was also in the bag.....just!

I went on to arrange new record releases in various territories all over the world. Soon after, Lindisfarne enjoyed their first and only Top 40 USA hit in the Hot 100 American chart with "Run For Home" (on Atlantic Records) following release, as well as a Top 10 hit in the UK on Mercury and chart success in various countries for the new album and single.

THE SEARCH FOR A SUITABLE, TOP RECORD PRODUCER......

Meanwhile, back to early 1978, because we had an agreed plan and a schedule for the entire year, I had pre-booked a recording studio for Lindisfarne to record their new album (and I paid a substantial deposit). By the time Lindisfarne were due in the studio to start a week of rehearsals immediately followed by the studio time for recording the new album, I had still not found a suitable record producer to work with Ray, Rod, Alan, Jacka and Si on their new album. The previous two Lindisfarne albums had been produced by Bob Johnston (a top American record producer famous for also working with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson and Simon and Garfunkel). We had reached the date that I had booked at Rockfield Studios in Wales for Lindisfarne to record Back and Fourth and so the band had to start without a producer. To say that I was a little concerned was an understatement but I kept my nerve (I usually do)!

Arranging to put a band into a studio to record a very expensive album without a producer was simply not done, especially for an important album as this one would be. My first two choices for producers were Sir George Martin, who I spoke to well before the studio start date but he was about to start producing the band America and could not fit into our timetable....and Jeff Wayne (I had a breakfast meeting with Jeff at his Marylebone, London home) who had been very interested in producing Lindisfarne but he was about to start recording War of the Worlds and was also unable to fit into our time-table. (Mickie Most, who had produced The Animals was very keen to produce Lindisfarne but I didn't feel at all good about him producing, hated his studio and suspected he was more interested in selling studio time and getting a producers' advance. Whearas Sir George Martin and Jeff Wayne were both highly likeable and people who I greatly admired, I personally did not warm to Mickie Most.

At this stage Richard Branson telephoned me and said he had heard that Lindisfarne were re-forming and could he please be allowed to hear the demo tapes? He gave me his private home telephone number on his house-boat in Little Venice, London. After hearing the tapes, Richard told me that Virgin were going to pass.....which meant that they did not think a new Lindisfarne album would do much business, after all, the previous Lindisfarne Mk 2 albums (featuring only Alan Hull and Ray Jackson from the hugely successful original line-up) had sold very badly, "Fog On The Tyne" had been six years earlier and it was too big a risk for them, given the high cost of the record contract I was demanding, having learned that few acts become priorities for record companies unless the record company has a substantial investment at stake.

A POSSIBLE DISASTER IS AVERTED WHEN GUS DUDGEON AGREES TO PRODUCE LINDISFARNE.......

The day after Lindisfarne arrived at Rockfield Studio in Wales to commence a weeks’ rehearsal prior to recording proper (we had both the rehearsal studio and the recording studio on site reserved), ......I had the idea of contacting Gus Dudgeon, the superstar producer best know for Elton John. I was lucky to get an immediate appointment to see Gus and I rushed over to Cookham in Berkshire where Gus Dudgeon owned his own residential recording studio (The Sol) which was an incredible place. Years later when Gus unfortunately went bankrupt, The Sol was sold by receivers Thornton Baker to Jimmy Page and Jimmy eventually sold it on to Chris Rea) ....and waited...and waited, while Gus finished a recording session. Gus Dudgeon and I then had our first ever meeting where I played Gus all of Lindisfarne’s demo tapes which the band had prepared. Gus told me that he liked the tracks, loved the band but said he didn’t hear a definite, essential, first, sure-fire hit single (which is possibly why Virgin had passed). Fortunately Gus and I got on like a house on fire (I think my enthusiasm and love of the band and Alan Hull’s music must have helped) and we took a break in what turned out to be a marathon meeting and went out to dinner. I wasn't leaving without a deal and so Gus put me up in a guest suite at The Sol and our meeting resumed the following day at breakfast. Fortunately, I managed to persuade Gus to agree to produce Lindisfarne’s new album by assuring him that they were all terrific guys to work with, that he would love working with them (he did......although it wasn’t totally mutual, but that is another story*) and that once he started working with the band, he would find a hit single or the band would write one.
*Chris Rea also had problems working with Gus. However unlike Lindisfarne with 5 strong opinions, there's less risk for a hugely talented solo artist to self-produce, which Chris went on to do, with superb results.
At this stage I should mention that Gus should never have gone bust....it was down to his having a rubbish accountant who is called Keith Moore. Months later, I met with Keith Moore at his London office (Keith also famously handled Sting and ended up in prison as a result), to try and resolve royalties due to Gus for "Run For Home" and "Back and Fourth" and left the meeting feeling hugely unimpressed with Keith Moore. I then called Gus to ask if he had received correct advice from Keith Moore about tax allowances when building his studio. Gus told me that the costs were all tax allowable. I told him that he was wrong and that there were only first year allowances for machinery and plant and not for the other 90% of the massive expenditure involved in building one of the most immaculate, lavish and beautiful studios in the UK. Gus swore by Keith's brilliance....and then went bust when he received his tax demands.

I personally never rated many showbiz accountants or lawyers.....the best ones don't specialise in showbiz. Who wants a lawyer or an accountant who, for example, snorts coke and wears cowboy boots to meetings trying to be cool? If they are not crooks or a bit dodgy, then there are others who are only too happy to take cases to court that they have little chance of winning. One famous firm of music biz solicitors that I encountered was called Clintons. They lost every single high court court action they ever had against me. After one massive loss not involving Lindisfarne (reported on that evenings national television news) the Clinton's lawyer rubbed his hands together and smiled as he listened to his record production company client slander the artist that I had been advising...... "Nuff said? Also, firms such as Clintons should check their evidence more carefully to ensure it has not been forged. The music business can be very dirty and it attracts some vile people.

Unfortunately, Gus was committed for a further week in his own studio, recording “Springtime For Hitler” with Legs Larry Smith but then agreed to travel up to Rockfield Studios in Wales to start producing the band even though he would have preferred to work in his own (vastly expensive) studio. While waiting for Gus to arrive following a week of rehearsing, Lindisfarne recorded “Marshall Riley’s Army”; “See How They Run” and “Stick Together” whereupon they were joined by a most flamboyant Gus Dudgeon who they were all meeting for the first time, when he turned up at Rockfield, wearing a fur coat, in his royal blue, chauffeur-driven, rare 1950’s Bentley Continental which was one of a large collection of vehicles owned by Gus, even though he had not passed his driving test and so could not drive any of them. It is a great pity that Gus eventually learned to drive. One of the most frightening car journeys that I and Lindisfarne’s former Newcastle lawyer, Richard Hart-Jackson ever experienced was when Gus Dudgeon drove us, some years later, to dinner in Hampstead, London, at very high speed. Richard and I vowed never to risk it again. I was shocked when, years later in 2002, I received a telephone call with the dreadful news that Gus had accidently killed both himself and his wife Sheila, both of whom I had remained good friends with, on the M4 motorway, just a few months after he, Sheila and Ray and Sandie Jackson had been at my family home for a dinner party and Gus had entertained us for hours with wonderful stories about working with John Lennon and other legends. Gus was an incredible, flamboyant, larger than life character and the best raconteur that I have ever met.

RUN FOR HOME

Gus persuaded me to switch from Rockfield Studios to his own studios in Cookham, which were far superior in every way. As I predicted, once he started working with the band, Gus discovered the existence of a hit single.....the Alan Hull composition “Run For Home” which Lindisfarne had not even demo’d as Alan Hull had forgotten that he had composed it until the lyrics were found in Alan’s note book, following Gus Dudgeon's arrival at Rockfield, by the bands’ drummer, Ray Laidlaw who asked Alan what it was.

Alan played the previously unheard "Run For Home' to Gus Dudgeon and the band. Gus simply said “That’s the single, let’s record it.”

I took early mixes of the half-finished "Run For Home" track to a meeting with the then head of CBS Records in London, the legendary Maurice Oberstein. At the CBS boardroom meeting Maurice was impressively joined by his A and R team, his press people and CBS marketing execs, all sitting around the boardroom table for my “presentation.” Maurice appeared very interested indeed in signing Lindisfarne. Even though by then I had Gus Dudgeon working with Lindisfarne in Gus’s extremely expensive recording studios, we didn’t have a recording contract and unknown to everyone (except the band and myself), we had already been turned down by Virgin, following Richard Branson’s approach.......not that we would have actually agreed a deal with Virgin even if they had wanted to sign the band unless perhaps we had been desperate. As it turned out, Branson’s people made a mistake.

CBS AND POLYGRAM BOTH MAKE OFFERS TO SIGN LINDISFARNE

The CBS Records team listened intently as I played them a reel-to-reel tape of the very first mix of the unfinished "Run For Home" in their Soho Square boardroom and their head of A and R, Dan Loggins (older brother of Kenny) then told me that he thought the recording needed a stronger start. I went back and passed on the advice to Gus Dudgeon and the band whereupon they came up with a much improved start, with the famous, instantly recognisable intro.

I then played the improved tape of the half-finished track to both CBS and also to Roger Bain who was new head of A and R at Phonogram Records in London and was the man who had discovered and produced Black Sabbath, had previously worked for Elton John and years before, while a producer at Decca with Gus Dudgeon, had even worked with the legendary Edmundo Ross. Roger loved the tapes and thought "Run For Home" was a hit, provided the ending could be made stronger. I returned to the studio where Lindisfarne were still in the midst of recording (they were there for many weeks....no wonder, when Gus could spend days just getting a snare drum and bass guitar sound perfectly recorded before they even started laying down tracks) ...and reported this latest advice to Gus and the band whereupon they came up with the Acappella ending followed by the chorus being sung over an extra closing verse which Alan Hull especially wrote. That did the trick. It’s amazing how top bands can agonise over singles and take so much trouble over every single detail but that is often how hits are created.

When CBS and Phonogram heard the final version of "Run For Home" they both made substantial offers to sign the band and then Arista got in on the act too. I had been impressed with Phonogram for some time as I had seen them do a terrific job for a friend, the late Alex Harvey of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and also for 10 CC who I had followed ever since my parents had become friendly with their promoter, Danny Betesh of Kennedy Street and who had told my late father that 10 CC would become very successful. I was particular impressed however with a young Phonogram product manager (I say “young” which he then was, but he was still four years older than me) called Rick Blaskey who I quickly decided would be the perfect person to handle marketing. However I was worried about the strength of Phonogram in the USA where their American company, Mercury, had a poor reputation (Graham Parker famously wrote and recorded “Mercury Poisoning” which summed up the situation). I was torn between CBS (who were also fantastic in the USA as well as in the UK) and Phonogram and all the while Lindisfarne were racking up a fortune in studio costs as the weeks rolled by, recording with Gus Dudgeon. I needed a recording contract for Lindisfarne as I was paying all the costs myself however I also wanted to do my very best for the band, being of course the primary job of a manager.

The required record deal had to be the best achievable. I wanted (and eventually achieved) what were then considered very high advances, terrific promotion commitments and also a minimum guarantee to release two studio albums. I had learned my lesson two years earlier the hard way, when I had signed Ray Jackson as a solo artist to EMI (after doing a deal with their then head of A and R Nick Mobbs who had also signed the Sex Pistols). EMI did not release their contractual minimum recording commitment nor did they even finished recording the minimum commitment and only ever released one single which was hopelessly promoted. Ray Jackson and I later sued EMI for damages and won a groundbreaking High Court victory after a long trial, during which His Honour Mr Justice Michael Davies at one stage disrobed and was observed tapping his foot as he watched video evidence showing Ray Jackson holding a massive Knebworth crowd in the palm of his hand....we had him from that point. The judgement in our favour created new case law for recording artistes.

In the end, I negotiated a terrific offer from Phonogram that we could not refuse, which excluded the territory of North America. This left me free to sign Lindisfarne to CBS for the USA but CBS wanted all or nothing. CBS ended up with nothing and Lindisfarne signed to Phonogram for the UK and most of the other territories in the world but specifically excluding North America. There was no way I was going to allow Mercury to release Lindisfarne in the USA. We now had a great record company behind us everywhere except in the most important market in the world, being the USA, where Lindisfarne were close to unknown, have toured extensively without having achieved any previous chart success. I didn’t even try to get an American record deal after CBS had declined to sign us for the USA. I decided to wait and see.

THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.............LINDISFARNE ARE BACK

Prior to the release of "Run For Home", Lindisfarne’s agents had carefully planned a British concert tour of mainly universities (with the aim of promoting the new recordings), none of whom had any idea of the identity of the band they were being asked to book. Our agent, Martin Hopewell of Cowbell Agency (who also handled numerous other major bands such as Jethro Tull and Roxy Music) simply told the University Social Secretaries that they were booking a major band and once the name of the band was revealed they could pull out if they so desired. Nobody did!

The news of Lindisfarne’s imminent permanent reforming and new studio recordings had not been announced at the time that we needed to set up the tour, I needed it all to remain a secret so as to maximise publicity at the right time, when we had something to promote. It had therefore been essential, albeit highly unusual, for all of the University venues (and other venues) where we were appearing not to know who they had booked until the reformation of the band was finally announced.....otherwise the news would have leaked out. The big announcement finally occurred in Spring 1978 in Newcastle Upon Tyne at a lavish press launch at Gosforth Park, with Phonogram’s hot air balloon flying overhead, in the presence of all of the regional media/TV/Radio (and the national music press who had been promised an open bar). We announced that Lindisfarne had reformed, introduced "Run For Home" which was released the following day, announced the tour dates (including a Newcastle City Hall date) which went on sale shortly thereafter and announced the new "Back and Fourth" album. There was a huge amount of invaluable, positive publicity, including lengthy features on both BBC TV and ITV news channels.

That summer, as “Run For Home” was rising up th e UK and various other charts around the world, word got out that most unusually, Lindisfarne, a major British band, were free of contractual commitment for the USA.

"RUN FOR HOME" GOES TOP 10 AND I HAVE TO ABANDON MY HOLIDAY IN FRANCE

“Run For Home” climbed up the UK charts so slowly and it stayed in the charts for so long that it actually ended up selling more copies than many No 1 records.

In the spring of 1978, I escaped with a new girlfriend for a brief touring holiday in France as "Run For Home" continued its’ slow but steady climb up the UK charts.....except there was a sudden explosion in sales.

I should never have set off on this holiday, which was ill-fated from the start. Before even leaving to catch the car ferry to St Malo in France, we had managed to drive to Plymouth by mistake, checked into the Holiday Inn, had dinner, retired for the night...all before we realised that we should have actually been in Portsmouth to board the early morning ferry to St Malo and so we had to drive through the night to get to Portsmouth in time for our crossing.

On arriving in France, I then had a minor car accident which still disabled my vehicle which had to go to a garage for repairs and so we needed somewhere to stay for the night while we waited for minor but essential repairs to be completed. Finding any accommodation in La Rochelle proved impossible, as we spent most of the day visiting hotels which had no available rooms. La Rochelle’s Office de Tourism finally managed to find us some accomodation, which turned out to be miles out of town. La Taverne was an appalling, filthy, disgusting, no-star excuse for an inn, which was totally infested with noisy rats. We got out of there first thing the following morning and I was so furious with the Office De Tourism that I demanded they somehow obtain a room for us in the best hotel in the area.

That is how we later ended up waiting for hours, trapped in the hotel reception of the multi-starred Le Yachtman hotel, waiting for a possible room in the packed-out seaside town of La Rochelle, where every single hotel room for miles around was fully booked, while hoping for my car to be ready sooner rather than later.

I immediately called my office in the UK from Le Yachtman Hotel’s reception to let my P.A. know where I could be contacted, as I had been incommunicado for the previous 24 hours as a result of the car accident and I had to keep calling in as nobody had been able to contact me as my BT Carphone only functioned in the UK and the “Inn” we had suffered trying to sleep in the previous night (during which we experienced a rat invasion of epic proportions) had no telephones in the unmanned, overflow building, in the next village, which we had had to walk to, with our luggage, after first checking in to the vile La Taverne and the rude Frenchwoman proprietor had barked, "First you eat (dinner was gross) then you go to you bedroom in next village then you return here for breakfast." The village had no taxis.

From that point, as we waited in hotel reception for a possible room, half the telephone calls that came in to the Le Yachtman Hotel must have been for me. The avalanche of telephone calls that came in included calls from the CEO of Polydor, Freddie Haayen who was calling the hotel from the USA and I kept losing him as the transatlantic line was continually being cut off. A few minutes later, Atlantic Records’ boss Doug Morris (who has only recently retired in 2011 as CEO of Universal Music) called the hotel reception. Almost every time the hotel’s telephones rang, it was for me. I decided that I needed to cut the holiday short and get back to the office as I couldn’t easily conduct negotiations with American record executives while stuck in a public hotel reception at Le Yachtman Hotel in La Rochelle while waiting for a room.

After we managed to get back to the UK, my new girlfriend and I split up. I’m pleased however that she got back to work as she was one of the people working for Phonogram who helped to manipulate the UK charts by visiting chart return record shops and being persuasive. This may sound terrible but probably every major record company engaged in manipulating the charts to gain some small advantage for their priority artistes. If an artiste was not a “priority” act they had little chance of success given the enormous number of singles that were released every week. Less experienced manager didn't know about the system however I had owned chart return record shops and so I was fully aware of what went down throughout the UK. Having said that, the UK system of chart manipulation was nothing compared to what went on in the USA, were priority records stood little chance unless they were literally bought into the charts via the hiring of very expensive regional promoters. What they did was.....can you guess? Let me put it this way, it was easy for a major record company to launch any record up to a certain position in the charts whereupon it started to became progressively prohibitively expensive to keep going and unless the record had “legs” of its’ own, it would usually plummet the week after the promotional support ended. I used to liken the abandonment of priority promotional efforts to pulling the plugs from a dying patient in intensive care.....you just couldn’t keep it going indefinitely. The BPI (British Phonographic Industry) reminded me of the tabloid press in that they were composed of total hypocrites and members said one thing and went off and did the opposite but just didn’t shout about it.

ATLANTIC SIGN LINDISFARNE FOR THE USA

As soon as I got back to the office, my PA told me that Seymour Stein (the legendary boss of Sire Records who made Madonna a star) was among those who had called to speak to me and would I call him back urgently at The Dorchester hotel in London where he was staying (all this and I was only managing Lindisfarne...God knows the pressures that poor Brian Epstein was under managing The Beatles before he overdosed back in 1967).

Seymour Stein’s equally famous wife, Linda, answered the telephone when I returned Seymour’s call and rudely yelled her head off at me for phoning, because they were “asleep.” How the hell should I know that they would be asleep in the middle of the morning in London when I was calling them from England? (Since then Seymour has gone into the “Real Estate” business while Linda managed various rock bands until she was murdered in her Manhattan apartment in 2007....I guess she may have yelled at the wrong person!). As far as I was concerned, that was enough for me and my next call was to Doug Morris at Atlantic. Doug and his right hand man, Jerry Greenberg and I negotiated a deal and Lindisfarne signed to the legendary Atlantic Records. What a result! Within weeks Lindisfarne had their first ever Top 40 hit in the USA with "Run For Home." Atlantic’s promotion department in New York were something else!. That’s how Lindisfarne got their first USA hit. Their previous record company could not possibly have ensured that Lindisfarne’s releases were top priorities. I wonder if much has changed? It was always about achieving airplay, one way or another and launching a priority single in the USA was a very expensive business....every single week. Later I invited my then close friend, Phonogram product manager extraordinaire, Rick Blaskey over to New York, thus providing him with his first experience of seeing how American record companies worked, when he accompanied me to my meetings at Atlantic as an observer. The experience wasn’t wasted on the highly talented Mr Blaskey. He ended up a few years later working for my all-time industry hero, Mr Clive Davis, the man who was sacked as head of CBS (always a colourful company), for alledgedly putting the invoices for his son’s Barmitzvah through on his CBS expenses. CBS were stupid to sack Clive Davis who went on to found the Arista label. Rick became Clive’s Number 2 and Vice President of Arista in charge of International. One of Rick’s many achievements was being responsible for breaking through with superstar Whitney Houston all over the world. Clive Davis A and R’d Whitney and RicK Blaskey ensured she turned her into a worldwide superstar. We got another two album commitment from Atlantic and large advances for two albums even though only the first album was ever released on Atlantic.

The "Back and Fourth" album was released and charted in the UK and in many other countries around the world and our agents were inundated with requests from promoters, festivals and TV for appearances by Lindisfarne. While this was happening, Lindisfarne were mid what was originally planned as a “secret” UK tour of Universities.

A few months later, after "Run For Home" had been a runaway hit, everyone at Phonogram in London, except Rick Blaskey, insisted we release" Juke Box Gypsy" as the follow-up single. Rick was a lone voice in imploring that the album track, "Warm Feeling" should be the follow-up release, apart from Ray Jackson who co-wrote "Warm Feeling" with Charlie Harcourt. Phonogram ended up releasing "Juke Box Gypsy" albeit after Rick Blaskey had done everything in his power to persuade everyone to release "Warm Feeling" as the follow-up, but all of the other executives argued that we needed an up-tempo single. However Phonogram also wanted the lyrics to "Juke Box Gypsy" re-writing and the vocals re-recording as they were worried that with the existing, original lyrics, the record would be banned by the BBC. Rick suggested we get a friend of his (who I suspected was possibly one of his many beautiful ex-girlfriends) Emma Jacobs (daughter of David Jacobs) to dress as a Gypsy for the single cover photo, which we did. We also expensively re-recorded the vocals and re-mixed the track before releasing the single....but something was lost in the mix, apart from which, the wrong single had been released. Big mistake. Had we released “Warm Feeling” the entire history of Lindisfarne would may been different as album sales would have gone through the roof. "Warm Feeling" could have gone Top 5 in the late autumn of 1978. Instead, "Jukebox Gypsy" plummeted out of the charts as soon as the priority prmotion ended, when the record failed to develop legs of it’s own. What a waste of a huge pre-sale and a Top of The Pops appearance.

"Warm Feeling" could have been a big-selling Top 5 hit given the fact that we were guaranteed a Top of the Pops appearance and that advance orders would be substantial after "Run For Home’s" massive sales success. The advance orders alone from UK record stores for "Juke Box Gypsy" exceeded 60,000 copies. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The worst two words in the English language are “If Only.” "Warm Feeling" eventually established itself as the hit that never was, when it became a huge favourite at Lindisfarne shows. The perfect opportunity for a follow-up hit had been wasted. The Levi Jeans advertsing agency at one stage wanted to use "Warm Feeling" for a commercial but Chappell advised asking far too high a fee and so Levis passed...and there went the second opportunity. It’s like a horse race.....a band can fall at any hurdle and yet we had managed to get so much right that first year.......

MAGIC IN THE AIR

Fortunately, I had had the foresight to hire the Island Records Mobile Recording Studio to record all of the second series of Lindisfarne Newcastle City Hall concerts that Lindisfarne performed during Christmas 2007. I now delivered the tapes to Phonogram and negotiated a contract for a double album release. Phonogram loved the recordings and passed them on to Gus Dudgeon who mixed them and then Phonogram released the double-live album which became "Magic In The Air" in winter 1978 to coincide with Lindisfarne’s triumphant sell-out November/December UK Christmas tour where the band were supported at every show by the remarkable Chris Rea, who had also been produced by Gus Dudgeon and had also enjoyed a USA hit with Fool (If You Think It’s Over).

The album cover of "Magic In The Air" is not a realistic painting. Phonogram engaged a model maker to actually build a miniature, scale model of a stage, complete with stage lights, which was then photographed for the sleeve. Everyone wanted the model afterwards but Phonogram told me that the model maker had been promised he could keep it. The inside cover featured a photo of a friend of mine from Newcastle, Kim Serfontein, who was a famous Newcastle beauty. Kim went on to become a "model" and marry a Lord (Randall Sidley) and become Lady Kennilworth. I introduced Kim to Rick Blaskey and they hit it off for a while. Not long after, Phonogram paid for Ray Jackson to record a solo album. We did a video of Ray performing "Little Town Flirt" and Rick provided the most drop-dead gorgeous lady-friend to be the "flirt." I have a copy on Video and if someone could explain to me (as I haven't a clue about such things), how to upload this to YouTube, then you can take a look. Meanwhile I hope the new "Magic In The Air" CD includes the inside sleeve photo collage from the original LP release.

Towards the end of the lengthy 1978 UK Christmas tour I arranged for Lindisfarne and crew and Chris Rea and his crew to take over a Newcastle restaurant after one of the Newcastle City Hall shows. The result was a legendary food fight between both bands, which at one stage made the John Belushi scenes from Animal Farm look pedestrian. Photos of this dinner can be found on both Chris Rea and Lindisfarne web sites. The next day I had to pay to have the restaurant redecorated. One of the photos shows Chris Rea hurling some food across the room just as, unbeknown to him, someone else had thrown the entire contents of a gravy jug at Chris. The photo captures the flight of the gravy, through the air, towards an unsuspecting Chris Rea who had just launched a food missile in my direction. Although the photos don't do justice to what happened, I can testify that at one stage there were dozens of missiles in the air all at the same time. The state of the restaurant ceiling had to be seen to be believed.

THE HAZY MUSIC LIMITED ALAN HULL STORY.....

Prior to the release of "Run For Home"; "Back and Fourth" and "Magic In The Air", the late Alan Hull had been signed to Hazy Music Publishing Limited from the start of his recording career until early 1978. This company, run by a terrific character called Barbara Hayes, from her home in Golders Green, who had previously launched April Music for CBS Records before she left to set up her own company, was one third owned by Lindisfarne’s Alan Hull, one-third owned by Barbara Hayes and one-third owned by Dave Wood who had once managed Alan Hull many years earlier. Back in 1978 Dave Wood owned a small 8 track demo recording studio in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, where Alan Hull (and Sting) had made their earliest recordings. I wanted Alan to be with a top, international music publisher. Also I wanted Alan to own 100% of all of his own compositions, unlike Lennon and McCartney, Elton John and Sting who had also signed unnecessary publishing deals early on in their careers and as a result no longer owned their own copyrights.

Before Lindisfarne set foot in the studio in early 1978 and before anyone knew the secret of the band reforming, I negotiated with Dave Wood, on Alan Hull’s behalf, for Alan to buy Dave Wood’s one third share of Hazy Music Ltd for £5000. What a bargain! As a sweetener, I gave Dave Wood a 16 track recording machine so he could upgrade his 8-track facility in exchange for a few hours of studio time a week, little of which I ever got around to using. I must have eventually been entitled to hundreds of hours, if not thousands of hours of studio time. 16 Track machines were hugely expensive in those days however I swapped a huge Concert sound system that I bought for another band (see my blog entry "The Wrong Blondie" who I had stopped working with, for the 16 Track Studer machine and Dave Wood was delighted as were Tyneside musicians who suddenly had the first 16 track facility to hire in the region. It was a good deal for everyone.

As soon as Alan Hull controlled two-thirds of Hazy Music Ltd’s shareholding in early 1978 we called a board meeting and I was appointed managing director of Hazy Music Ltd, over Barbara Hayes, who we genuinely liked and looked forward to working with. Lindisfarne’s Newcastle solicitor, Richard Hart-Jackson and I were soon amazed to find, after taking control of the company, that the books had been cooked and Alan Hull was being fleeced (an accountant was also involved!) and had been for years. We called an emergency shareholders meeting in Newcastle, which Barbara Hayes attended from London and sadly, she had to resign. We then, that day, came to an arrangement with Barbara where Alan gave her his two-third shareholding in Hazy Music Ltd in return for Barbara agreeing that Hazy Music Ltd would give all of the Lindisfarne copyrights (which included Meet Me On The Corner written by Rod Clements and others not written by Alan) to a new 100% Alan Hull owned publishing company, to be run by me as Alan’s manager, which Alan decided to call Crazy Music.

In that way, before anything was released following the band getting back together in 1978, Alan Hull ended up in the fantastic position of owning 100% of the hundreds of songs he had already written as well as 100% of anything he would write in the future. I then arranged an administration deal for the Crazy Music catalogue, on Alan’s behalf, with Chappell Music for the world but once again excluding the USA and Alan received what was then a very substantial advance. Chappell Music were then one of the biggest and best publishers in the world and they put on a luncheon in their New Bond St HQ to welcome Lindisfarne. Alan Hull had ended up in the position that Lennon and McCartney, Elton John, Sting and almost all other recording artists could only dream of.......owning all of his publishing, past, present and future. worldwide, as well as all other Lindisfarne copyrights that had been published by Hazy Music Ltd. I was poised to enter into a splendid publishing deal for Alan’s Crazy Music in the USA but we never hit the success level in the USA that we needed to achieve it. I did however have a most enjoyable meeting with American publishing legend, Lester Sill, at EMI’s famous Los Angeles HQ. Meeting Lester (in his bright yellow Hawaiian shirt) was amazing. If you don’t know who Lester Sill is, Google and read about him on Wikipedia.

Many years later Alan went on to sell his publishing company outright to RCA for what was then a very substantial sum, long after Lindisfarne had enjoyed their second, 70’s peak. By then I had left the music industry. Alan had telephoned me at my London home to ask me if his publishing was valuable. I told him it was very valuable. He then asked if I would handle the sale of his publishing for him and offered me a commission. I told Alan that firstly I couldn’t take a chunk of his earnings just for doing a one-off deal. I then advised him NEVER to sell his publishing. He later did and paid someone else a commission.

Working with Lindisfarne was a wonderful experience and I became lifelong friends with the late Alan Hull and with Ray Jackson and their families. I left the music business after working with Lindisfarne, turning down approaches from some very famous artistes to manage them. Instead I followed Seymour Stein of Sire Records and went into Real Estate.....at least the London property market does not rely on the need to have hit records....and Seymour Stein went on to divorce his wife.

Barry McKay, former Lindisfarne manager, 1978-1982; promoter of all Lindisfarne Christmas Shows 1976-1987

Postcript:

Lindisfarne never recorded any future album ever again that was even close to being as good as "Back and Fourth" or "Magic In The Air." What happened? Firstly, Gus Dudgeon insisted there were no singles on the follow-up album songs and suggested to Alan Hull that the band record a full album of songs by other new writers that Gus had found. That was never going to happen. At the time, poor Gus was also in total chaos (due to poor tax/financial advice), he had gone bust and lost his beloved studio (and all of his cars). Lindisfarne chose Hugh Murphy to produce "The News." I had to ask myself later.....was Gerry Rafferty (Baker Street) a runaway success because of Hugh Murphy or in spite of Hugh Murphy?

Five years ago I met with the Lord Mayor of Newcastle to see if I could persuade the city to honour my friend, James Alan Hull with a permanent memorial, such as a street renaming or a blue plaque on the Newcastle City Hall or a statue. I got nowhere. I'm currently trying again.

Copyright: Barry McKay 2012

...thanks for posting!

(I thought I had stretched the margins with vast Mahavishnu Orchestra posts in recent months, but I think yours is truly the 'Hey Jude' of Word blog posts.... :-D )

I wouldn't put yourself down for not spotting 'Warm Feeling' as the 'right' second single - you got absolutely everything else bang on: that plan took a lot of nerve and instinct to pull together. You've reminded us - maybe even *informed* us for the first time - of Lindisfarne's weight in the 70s music world, before the naffness and bad decisions told hold (the Gazza records, the Christmas party K-Tel album...).

But I suspect they were at a tipping point when you got involved - without you, or someone really helping helping them maximise their 'punch' (probably well above their weight, in terms of the advances and publicity you secured) Lindisfarne might well have signed up with a modest sized label, or perhaps a more modest deal with a big label and with much less of a plan to build on things. An okay album (with a lesser producer) would have delighted the faithful but not relaunched things in any significant way.

It sounds to me like in 1978 they had one shot, one decent chance to relaunch the original line-up and make it feel like a special event... and you ticked all the boxes!

I had 'Magic In The Air' on vinyl, growing up in the early 80s - by then, definitely a product of a past age (even though only 4 or 5 years previous) but it really captured a special atmosphere. I suspect it probably comes closest to justifying - for those, like myself, who were never 'there' at the time - their legendary live reputation, even more so than live recordings of the band in the original 1971-73 era (with the honorable exception of the 'We Can Swing Together' live B side!). It somehow seemed diminished when it came out on CD via Sanctuary a few years back - maybe that gatefold LP sized sleeve and that great cover were essential to the experience, who knows...

Anyway, let's see some BBC NE promos (presumably the ones you refer to, shot by Geoff Wonfor) of Run For Home, Juke Box Gypsy and others:

Thanks Colin H for adding exactly the perfect video link for Run For Home. I have no idea how to add video links. This edited/shortened version of Run For Home was the very one which BBC North East filmed for us and that we showed at the Press Launch at Newcastle's famous Gosforth Park racecourse. The dog that director Geoff Wonfor (then a young film editor at BBC Newcastle in his very first ever pop video) focused on in his cut, was Alan Hull's dog, Barney. Run For Home was filmed on the roof of an office block in Newcastle, just around the corner from Percy Street (named after the famous Percy family) where the Haymarket pub was situated. Photos of the band at The Haymarket featured on the inside cover of Fog On The Tyne and of course The Haymarket is just around the corner from Newcastle City Hall.

I haven't a clue where we filmed Juke Box Gypsy althoughthe blonde lady who started off the video by walking over to the Jukebox seems familiar and is probably a girl I knew in Newcastle who I later introduced to Rick Blaskey. All of the these videos were where Geof Wonfor first learned about video production and of course he eventually became one of the top music TV directors in the UK, working on The Beatles anthology and many other terrific projects. His wife, the late Andrea Wonfor worked at Tyne Tees Television. She was a marvellous person and a talented director and producer who eventually became boss of Granada TV. I recall seeing one of her earliest programmes about Italia Conti stage school. We also had professional videos made in London but the Look North videos were fun and Ray Laidlaw always worked on them with Geoff Wonfor. Today Ray and Geoff still work together producing superb events which they film (one of which was The Hull Story, filmed at Newcastle City Hall which is simply fantastic and available at Amazon.....it was the Memorial event to Alan Hull and all profits went to support a memorial charity in Alan's memory). Ray Laidlaw and Geoff Wonfor have just released their latest DVD featuring Mark Knopfler, AC/DC's Brian Johnson and many other on the subject of River Songs (see Lindisfarne's web-site)

... but wasn't Roll On, Ruby the fourth album, also released in 1973 before the split?

I am a purist when it comes to Lindisfarne and I only managed the original line-up. I could not stand later, post 1980's line-ups (especially years after my involvement with the band). Following Alan Hull's tragic and untimely death, when they got in Mitch from Jack The Lad to front the band, I thought the result was an abomination.

Lindisfarne's first studio album, with the original line-up of Ray Jackson/Alan Hull/Ray Laidlaw/Rod Clements and Si Cowe was Nicley Out of Tune. The second studio album was the biggest selling British album of 1972, Fog On The Tyne. The third studio album was Dingly Dell, then the original line-up split up when they were still on top.

Alan and ray Jackson formed Lindisfarne Mk 2, recording the Happy Daze and Roll On Ruby albums. Ray Laidlaw, Rod and Si formed Jack The Lad, a band I couldn't stand. Lindisfarne Mk 2's Roll On Ruby cover included a tree which had a branch falling off. If you look very carefully at the branch, there was a very rude, two word message from Alan Hull written on it and directed at Jack The Lad!

The original line-up of Ray/Rod/Alan/Jacka and Si got back together again for the first time since 1973 when I promoted the December 1976 Newcastle City Hall re-union concerts and then they all went their separate ways, only to repeat the concerts with more show dates at Christmas 1977. When they all decided to reform in January 1978 and I set about planning the forthcoming year, the studio album we would record was therefore the ORIGINAL line-ups' fourth studio album. Hence the title, "Back and Fourth." The original line-up had the credibility to succeed again given every one of their previous albums had sold well and all of their concerts had sold out. There was a certain magic and sound that the original line-up created which LIndisfarne Mk 2 never quite managed (even though the Mk 2's recorded some superb material, as reprised for the Alan Hull memorial concert which can be seen on the DVD, The Hull Story). As for Jack The Lad......I could never understand the point of it.

That's exactly the sort of *stuff* I like to read in our illustrious magazine and this blog. Thanks for posting. With the cruel passage of time and the depletion of brain cells it is easy to forget how popular Linda's Farm were back in "the days". Alan Hull really was a great songwriter. Any tales about his solo LP Pipedream? It is a firm favourite in the Beany Arena. Keep those tale a-coming.

Alan Hull - I Hate To See You Cry

...there's something magic about the whole original package of 'Pipedream', a bit like the original 'Fog On The Tyne' (the texture of the sleeve, the evocative and atmospheric pics in the gatefold...), that seems essential to fully enjoying it.

Musically, I don't think Alan Hull ever really recovered from his purple patch of writing for the first two (arguably three) Lindisfarne albums and the Indian summer of 'Pipedream'. I never cared much for 'Squire' (the next solo LP) and only occasionally after that did he seem to come up with something to match the 'golden era'. 'A Walk In The Sea' was the solitary piece of magic on 'Phantoms' (circa 1977 wasn't it?).

So, in my opinion, 'Back And Fourth' was a last-shot maximising of Hull's writing talent, 'Run For Home' his 'Let It Be'. I can't think of anything he wrote in the 80s onwards that I'd ever wish to hear again. But that's okay - he had his period of inspiration, more than many other writers, and was able to make a living on the basis of it ever after. Result.

Should be in the magazine, though. As should be a lot of your stories. And on the podcast. You've now let us know your name, which is interesting. Get the tales out there.

I have vague memories of going to a 'virgin records' shop that was the upstairs of a house in Ridley Place. It was about 40 years ago when I was about 11 or 12 and I had wondered if I had imagined it. Was it your shop?

I saw Lindisfarne on the Magic in the air tour. It was my first proper gig & was a terrific night.

The support act was Chris Rea & he had an album out
"Whatever happened to Benny Santini?"

Superb album & a cracking show.

Lindisfarne themselves were on fire & again, gave a brilliant show.

Very underrated band IMHO.

Nice memories Barry. I'll never forget that car ride with Gus' new sound system in his Triumph Stag just about blowing us out of the windows as we ignored one red light after another after going out to dinner when Gus, who was obsessed with Auf Wiedersein Pet, volubley aired his appalling Geordie accent to the whole restaurant

That car journey was the only time I ever experienced you looking concerned Richard.....and given some of the litigation you handled for me during the many years before you retired, that's really saying something.

...if you guys haven't read Peter Doggett's 'You Never Give Me Your Money', on the Beatles' unbelievably tangled web of litigation from 1968 onwards into the 21st century, I heartily recommend it (as many others around here already have).

I've just finished reading it - one of the best books on music I've ever read. Imagine: a first class page-turner based on an impenetrable labyrinthe of ridiculous lawsuits, fallings-out, perceived-slights, personality foibles, affairs and bad advice over a period of decades. And it's not even by Dickens! But then Doggett is a brilliant, penetrating writer/researcher and he makes an incredible patchwork of exquisitely-assembled information read so easily - and, moreover, we all know and care about the central in spite of their flaws.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention it...

Interesting stuff. I have my original Roll On Ruby LP sitting on the desk in front of me and I simply cannot see any writing on the broken branch, even with a bleedin' magnifying glass!

I saw the original Lindisfarne 3 or 4 times between 1970 and 1973 but the best ever was at the tiny Toby Jug in Tolworth early in 1971. The band returned for the final encores stripped to their underpants and I was in the front row centre! I can still recall Alan Hull's purple pleated undies for some bizarre reason. Weird the things you remember. Clear White Light was great at that show.

Try again. It doesn't need a magnifying glass. The first letter is "F" and the first letter on the second word is "O"

is a great live album.

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/north-east-news/2012/01/22/lindisfarne-c...

...I wouldn't be getting your hopes up especially on how the mastering will sound on these Esoteric reissues. I have several Esoteric CDs and can't say I've ever thought, 'wow, great mastering' - as I have with other labels. Those CDs I have on Esoteric where I have previous versions on CD from other labels are no better or, in one case, not as good. Unless the mastering has been done independently, by interested parties prior to licensing to Esoteric, I honestly don't expect them to sound any different to the late 90s/early 2000s Sanctuary (or was it Virgin?) reissues.

http://northeast.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/north-east-life-lindisfa...

I came across this one. A half hour TV show made for Grampian TV. (Other acts in the series include Richard Digance and The Cambridge Buskers. Eek.)

I'm not sure of the date but I'd guess at early 80's. And I think it's 4 of the 5 original members - not sure about the guitarist.

I received my CD's today. The sound is very good indeed and the packaging (and booklets inside cd's) are extremely well done.

The best blog on this forum ever.
Thank you OZ for sharing.

Thanks to all, but mainly to Oz and ColinH for making this such a fantastic thread.

My meagre contribution is this brief clip, which features two of the North East's greatest songwriters together. I love Paddy, but Alan does make Mac look almost punchably precious here.

http://youtu.be/t6Xej9wd49o The date for the unveiling ceremony will be announced late April. There will also be a live performance at the unveiling. I'll place details here as soon as I can.

I am really happy that this thread has been so well received. The CD of Magic In The Air, the record of a unique event just before Christmas at Newcastle City Hall in 1977 has turned out to be superbly remastered. Esoteric Records/Cherry Red have done a terrific job. Listening to this new CD is almost like being there. The late James Alan Hull will be honoured by the City of Newcastle upon Tyne in July with a heritage plaque unveiling on the Grade 2 listed Newcastle City Hall where John Lennon (another working class hero who Alan greatly admired) performed 4 times with The Beatles and where Alan Hull performed 137 times, mostly with Lindisfarne. The legends who have performed on this stage would make a list as long as your arm. The date and time of the unveiling will be announced in 2-3 weeks. I understand that there will be a surprise following the unveiling, which should be of great interest to those who loved Alan's music.

...including the mighty Mahavishnu Orchestra, on June 19 1973.

Interviewed by Chris Welch during the June 1973 British tour, John McLaughlin said: ‘When we were booked to play at Newcastle we were asked if we would reduce the admission prices, and I said ‘sure’. Employment is pretty bad up there, but they are really great people in Newcastle. I used to live in Whitley Bay, you know.’

Perhaps, as Michael Caine might tell you, not a lot of people know that.