Manchester & The NorthWest's Popular Music

Manchester
Popular & Rock Music (2 of 11)
Around Manchester and the Northwest Region

Freddy Garrity

Freddie and the Dreamers

Freddie & the Dreamers was a British group of the early 1960s that succeeded in making a breakthrough in America as part of the British Invasion in the wake of the Beatles. Their biggest US hit was in 1965, "I'm Telling You Now", which reached Number One in the charts. Their comic and frivolous caught the mood of the period, despite being slated badly by music critics.

Freddie Garrity was born in Manchester on 14th November 1940, and in his early teens he played guitar as part of the skiffle craze sweeping the UK in the late 1950s. Garrrity's superficial resemblance to Buddy Holly was initially credited with his rise to stardom but it was more probably his comic, exaggerated dancing which accounted for his popularity with young audiences.

He was a member of a group Kingfishers before deciding to form his own group. The other band members were all Mancunians: they included Pete Birrell (bass), Roy Crewsdon (guitar), Bernie Dwyer (drums), and Derek Quinn (lead guitar). In 1961, the band auditioned for the BBC and soon appeared on "Let's Go" and "The Beat Show" on radio. They soon toured England and Germany, and in 1962 they signed a contract with EMI/Columbia Records.

In May 1963, their first single, "If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody" reached Number 2 in the UK singles chart. Other hits followed in succession, including "I'm Telling You Now" and "You Were Made For Me", "Do the Freddie" and "I Understand". After the band's decline in the late 1960s, Garrity went on to host his own UK children's TV series called "The Little Big Time".

He also formed a new Freddie and the Dreamers act in 1976, and continued playing his old hits in the United States., Britain, and Australia well into the 1990s.

Inspiral Carpets

The "Carpets", local lads from Oldham, including Graham Lambert, Stephen Holt, Craig Gill, Clint Boon and David Swift, were largely ignored by Manchester musicmakers in 1986 when they produced their first demo music.

First real breaks came at regular Saturday night bookings at the Boardwalk, even though audiences were small and professional abuse and derision dogged their efforts, while they continued at daytime jobs to pay the bills. Described as "a gang of working-class skivvies"; "A psychedelic band without the drugs" .

Ordinary, unassuming, modest. Nationally favoured by 1989, with TV (Top of the Pops) and live appearances.

Their live concert sold out at the G-MEX Centre in Manchester in July 1990.

Major albums and songs include :

• Plane crash
• Trainsurfing
• Find Out Why
• Keep The Circle Round
• Garage Full of Flowers
• Theme From Cow
• Seeds of Doubt
• Life
• The Beast Inside

Big Flame

This Manchester trio featured Alan Brown, David Brown, and Gregory O'Keefe, and was arguably one of the best groups signed to the Ron Johnson record label.

Powerful and dynamic music with attacking staccato guitars typified their sound. They first appeared in 1984 with a debut EP entitled "Sink", and within a year they had released the EP "Rigour" on the Johnson label.

After exposure in the New Musical Express compilation of new talent, and several very successful releases following that, the band eventually broke up, and several members went on to form the new group "Great Leap Forwards".

Other music includes :

• Why Popstars Can't Dance
• Two Can Guru
• Cubist Pop Manifesto
• XPQWRTZ

Blue Orchids

An "experimental" pop group, largely derived from the Manchester pop group The Fall.

The band featured Una Baines (keyboards and vocals), Rick Goldstar (guitar), Steve Toyne (bass), Joe Kin (drums), and Martin Bramah (guitar and vocals).

Lyrics had a rather sinister fell to them and were usually spoken of half-sung, appealing to a limited audience.

Many band members were replaced, and by 1991 the largely reformed band went on to produce singles like "Diamond Edge".

Their revival of the Hammond Organ influenced bands like Inspiral Carpets, and others.

Other music includes :

• Bad Education
• The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain)
• A View from the City

Mark E Smith

The Fall

The Fall formed in Manchester, in 1977, the brainchild of Mark E Smith.

The group included at various times - Mark Smith, Una Baines, Martin Bramah, Karl Burns, Marc Riley, Mike Leigh, Yvonne Paulett, Craig Scanlon and Tony Friel. Dogged by many changes in the personnel line-up, their debut album "Bingo Master's Breakout" was typical of Smith's surrealistic output.

After a series of successful singles, the group gained gradual acclaim.

Their lyrics were highlighted by frequently baffling word juxtapositions, and rhythms were driving and insistent. Under Smith's determined control they won commercial acceptance, and are regarded as one of Britain's finest Rock Bands. Albums include:

• Dragnet
• Hex Enduction Hour
• Perverted by Language
• This Nation's Saving Grace
• The Frenz Experiment
• I am Kurious Oranj
• Extricate
• Shiftwork
• Code Selfish

Mark Burgess

Chameleons

The Chameleons were formed in Middleton, Manchester in 1981.

The group comprised Mark Burgess (vocals and bass), Reg Smithies (guitar), Dave Fielding (guitar), and John Lever (drums).

After some early success on BBC Radio, they went on to release "The Shreds" on the CBS Epic Label, but without commercial success the group soon moved to the independent Statik label and issued several successful albums which included "As High as you can Go".

Regular tours built up a following and acquired much critical acclaim.

The group collapsed, however, when their manager, Tony Fletcher, died, leaving them in chaos, from which they never recovered. Group members went on to form new bands : Sun and the Moon, and The Reegs. Other music includes :

• Script of the Bridge (Album)
• What Does Anything Mean Basically?
• Fan and the Bellows
• Strange Times
• Tripping Dogs.

The Chameleons website is at: www.thechameleons.com

Crispy Ambulance

The group formed in Manchester in 1978 and was made up of Alan Hempsall (vocals), Robert Davenport (guitars), Keith Darbyshire (bass), and Gary Madeley (drums).

In many ways emulating Joy Division, another Manchester band, Hempsall sang with that band on occasions. After playing cover versions of other's music, they produced their debut single called "From the Cradle to the Grave" in 1979, which brought them to the attention of Rob Gretton and Factory Records, and this company produced their next record.

The band broke up in 1981, but later reformed as Ram Ram Kino with additional members. Other music includes :

• Unsightly and Serene
• Live on a Hot August Night
• The Plateau Phase (Album)