In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Alice Cooper’s debut solo record Welcome To My Nightmare comes this previously unreleased live show from the Forum, recorded June 17, 1975. The tour was categorized as one of the most over-the-top excursions of the era. From Rhino, 11/28/2025
Tracklist SIDE ONE: 1. Welcome To My Nightmare 2. Years Ago 3. No More Mr. Nice Guy 4. Years Ago 5. Billion Dollar Babies 6. Years Ago 7. I’m Eighteen SIDE TWO: 1. Years Ago 2. Some Folks 3. Cold Ethyl 4. Only Women Bleed SIDE THREE: 1. Devil’s Food 2. The Black Widow 3. Steven SIDE FOUR: 1. Welcome To My Nightmare (Reprise) 2. Escape 3. School’s Out 4. Department Of Youth
As I recently had the privilege of interviewing Steve Bolton and Paul Everett to discuss the upcoming new Atomic Rooster album. It was an interesting and lengthy discussion on the band and mainly their current happenings. But, until I’m done editing, I thought I’d take up a retro review on the band’s 1972 album Made In England, which featured Bolton on guitar. ….
On ATOMIC ROOSTER’s 4th album, the line up changed once again, with Steve Bolton now on guitar, and singer Chris Farlowe replacing Pete French. Farlowe already had a lengthy career going back to the early 60s, recording with various bands and as a solo artist, but was a more soul and blues singer and writer. He’d also been (and still is) with COLOSSEUM. And although Atomic Rooster may have gained a reputation as being a heavier, darker sounding band (early proto-metal) on their previous albums, Farlowe brought with him some of that soul and funk influence, as Made In England took a bit of a turn from the earlier albums.
Like most Atomic Rooster albums, Made In England came with different covers from country to country. In Canada and the USA, the album came with very detailed piece from American artist Abe Gurvin, who had done covers for The Mothers of Invention, Jimmy Smith, Bread, and many different genres of music during the late 60s to early 70s. In other countries, Made In England came in a denim wrapped cover, which varied in color depending on the country. The denim cover was designed by Mike Gill, and I gotta wonder if anyone out there has collected them all!? (I have not pictured all different colors below).
While Vincent Crane wrote the bulk of this album, it also featured contributions from other members, with (drummer) Ric Parnell and (guitarist) Steve Bolton each adding 2 cuts, Parnell penned and sang the excellent slower heavy psych rock of “Little Bit Of Inner Air” and the evil titled “All In Satan’s Name”, a rocker that is lead by Crane’s organ playing, while both tracks are highlighted by heavy solos from Bolton. The guitarist would contribute the stand out “Space Cowboy” (a b-side to “Save Me”, that wound up on the next LP); musically fits it’s title, as well as the slower “Never To Lose”; somewhat of a ballad that builds up and then comes back down, again, featuring a heavy solo from Bolton, and so suited for Chris Farlowe’s big voice. “Never To Lose” has also been reworked and rerecorded for the band’s upcoming new album Circle The Sun.
Vincent Crane, aside from organ and piano throughout this, would also add orchestration arrangements, notably on the first 2 cuts “Time Take My Life” and the funk rock of “Stand By Me”. The latter was issued as a single, and I’m sure if this was Rare Earth in the US, it might’ve been a hit in North America. The added soul and funk influence also comes up in tracks like “People You Can’t Trust” with it’s added gospel-like backing voices, and “Close Your Eyes”, featuring piano, and having a pretty upbeat feeling, between Farlowe’s vocals and the backing vocals, and “Breathless”, with it’s jazzy piano, and featuring a powerful guitar break thrown in for added weight, before dropping back to the piano.
Made In England was certainly a new direction for the band, and perhaps an underrated gem of early 70s progressive rock. Although the album didn’t chart well in the UK or US, it did reach #60 in Canada, and #42 in Australia. Bolton left not too long after, and formed Headstone, and later toured with The Who and Paul Young. The band recorded one more album, Nice ‘n’ Greasy (aka as ‘IV‘ in North America), before disbanding until a new line-up emerged in 1980. Later CD reissues of this album would add bonus tracks, notably the band’s BBC performances in ’72.
Two New LPs From Elektra Elektra Records will soon release new albums by Atomic Rooster and Casey Kelly. “Made In England” is the third album by Atomic Rooster to be released in this country. The group is headed by Vincent Crane, former organist for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and composer of his greatest hit, “Fire.” This album marks the first appearance with the group of their newest member, Chris Farlowe, who is now their lead singer. The LP contains Rooster’s current single, “Stand By Me.” A tour for the group is being planned for November. (Cashbox, 08-26-72)
ATOMIC ROOSTER – Made In England. Elektra EKS 75039 Although A.R has previously only attracted a small following of self -proclaimed anglo- philes their future now appears bright and their destiny obvious. The acquisition of Chris Farlow as lead singer is a coup to be envied and admired. Farlowe is no musical novice; his credentials are legion his suc- cesses legendary. Group organizer and or- ganist Vincent Crane is again treading upon virginal musical territory. Best cuts are “Little Bit of Inner Air,” and “Breathless.” (Billboard, 09-09-72)
MADE IN ENGLAND- ATOMIC ROOSTER-Elektra 75039 Chris Farlowe, Ric Parnell, Vincent Crane and Steve Bolton present the third installment of their unique brand of heavy British rock. Eleven cuts meant to be played at only the highest volumes, and sure to test the eardrums of all good Rooster fans. (Record World, 09-09-72)
Esoteric Antenna is proud to present Circle The Sun, the powerful new album from legendary British rock outfit Atomic Rooster — their first full collection of studio recordings in over 40 years.
Emerging from the shadows with ten brand new tracks, Circle The Sun marks a monumental return for a band whose influence helped shape the landscape of early 70s hard rock and progressive metal. Rich in atmosphere and attitude, the album draws on Atomic Rooster’s signature blend of thunderous guitar riffs, brooding Hammond organ, and complex rhythmic interplay — updated for a new era.
Led by the formidable lineup of Steve “Boltz” Bolton (guitar/vocals) (a Rooster veteran from the Made in England era), Adrian Gautrey (keyboards/vocals), Shugg Millidge (bass), and Paul Everett (drums), the band brings renewed energy and purpose, honouring the spirit of Vincent Crane while forging forward into fresh sonic territory.
Highlights include the soaring urgency of “Fly or Die,” the swaggering title track “Circle the Sun,” and the bluesy, defiant “Rebel Devil.” Fans of the band’s proto-metal classic Death Walks Behind You will find much to love, while newcomers will be struck by the album’s dark, modern edge.
With live concerts across the UK and Europe planned to coincide with the release, Atomic Rooster’s resurgence is not just a return — it’s a rebirth.
A new DEEP PURPLE book is available. Stealing Deep Purple tells the story of the short-lived bogus band from 1980, and fronted by original DP singer Rod Evans. Deep Purple 1980 (the ‘new’ Deep Purple, then) played shows throughout Canada, the US, and Mexico before being stopped. This period is a curious and often overlooked chapter in the band’s history, though not being Deep Purple. There’s been many articles and DP fan accounts written online in the past, but Scottish author Steve McLean has researched this thoroughly for this book (373 pages). Looking forward to this one. Deep Purple 1980 kinda capped off an era where many big bands saw their name hijacked by corrupt managers and used to make money using bogus line ups (see also Fleetwood Mac, Steppenwolf, Herman’s Hermits…)
This is the story of Rod Evans, the little known original singer of Deep Purple, who decided to reform the band for a continental tour in 1980. The problem was that this Deep Purple contained no other members of the original group and that Rod, who had been fired long before their 1970s heyday, had no real legal rights to use the name.
The tour was comprised of riots, cancelled shows, on-stage fights, arrests, terrible performances and a massive court case. The who episode has become stuff of legend, with no two accounts seemingly the sames. Evans effectively ‘stole’ Deep Purple….. And he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for all the posters, ticket sales and press coverage. Using over 200 newspaper, magazine, book and media sources plus brand new testimonies from the people who were there, Steve McLean attempts to piece together what actually happened in this real life Rock’n’Roll Swindle.
“They all had something down their spandex pants. We couldn’t tell if it was vegetable or plastic… Let’s just say it was pretty obvious those bulges weren’t real...Every time I watch that scene in Spinal Tap, I think of Deep Purple 1980.” Llory McDonald.
Dave Cousins was the singer, main songwriter, and leader of British band THE STRAWBS. He passed away July 13, at the age of 85. The Strawbs were a unique band, starting as folk rock, then evolving and adding elements of progressive, and hard rock over time. From 1972-73 the band had 3 UK hit singles – “Lay Down”, “Part Of The Union” (#2) , and “Shine One Silver Sun”.
Back in 2008 I received a few Dave Cousins solo albums (CD), His latest album – The Boy In The Sailor Suit, and a reissue of his 1972 album Two Weeks Last Summer. At the time I wasn’t very familiar, but I knew “Hero And Heroine”. I went and saw him, while promoting these discs, when he played a ‘songs & stories’ solo show at Hugh’s Room in Toronto. It was an entertaining, intimate show. Afterwards, Dave came out and greeted people, signed albums, got in pictures. I recall seeing a few posters in the Hughs Room hallways that were from previous Strawbs (Acoustic Strawbs) shows, so reckon the band had quite a following in Toronto for many years. This tour was captured in the live album Duochrome.
After that, my buddy Ed and I walked a few blocks over to a used record shop, where I picked up a handful of Strawbs’ LPs. On another day, just prior to or after the show I interviewed Dave. A bit of this was used in a local music paper. For some time now I’ve been intending to dig out the tape, and fully transcribe it.
The Strawbs last album was 2023’s The Magic Of It All.
Been some time since I finished a top 10 Canadian list, though I’ve got a few years started….1978 was a good year! If there’s any glaring omissions (in your opinion), please leave it in the comments!
APRIL WINE – First Glance
The first April Wine album to feature guitarist Brian Greenway and the start of the band’s most commercially successful era. Featured the breakthrough US radio hit “Roller”, as well as “Coming Right Down On Top of Me”, “Rock n Roll Is A Vicious Game”, and dark heavy cut “Silver Dollar”. Arguably the band’s best album.
RUSH – Hemispheres
The band’s 6th studio album, released in October of that year, featured the classic “The Trees”, as well as epic “La Villa Strangiato”.. The last to feature such lengthy conceptual tracks.
SAGA – Saga
The debut from Toronto’s SAGA (or, Oakville), a band with rock, pop and more so prog influences. It is the first half dozen albums that make up the band’s classic period for me, with Saga featuring such songs as “How Long” & “Humble Stance” (both featured on the live ‘In Transit‘ album a few years later), as well as favorites “Will it Be You”, “Perfectionist” and ‘Tired World”. Classic album and album cover!
FM – Black Noise
Originally released in early 1978 by the CBC, in limited edition vinyl. Black Noise would go on to become a progressive rock classic. It was rereleased later the same year via Passport (Canada), and eventually on CD in 1994 – where the original trio of Cameron Hawkins, Martin Deller and Nash the Slash undertook a mini-tour in Ontario to promote it’s release. I saw 2 of these shows, got the CD & poster signed. A must-hear album featuring the hot “Phasors On Stun” (Star Trek Reference), “One O’clock Tomorrow”, “Journey”, and the title track. Amazing stuff!
STREETHEART – Meanwhile Back In Paris
The Regina, Saskatchewan band’s debut album, released in May (or June?) . Fronted by legendary Kenny Shields (RIP), and originally featuring guitarist Paul Dean & drummer Matt Frenette, along with bass player Ken ‘Spider’ Sinnaeve, and Daryl Gutheil on keys. This features the classic “Action”, as well as favorites “Move on Over”, “Pressure” and “Look At Me”. Dean left before the 2nd album and was soon joined by Frenette to form Loverboy. Sinnaeve, who’s played with numerous Canadian acts would also later join Loverboy. Meanwhile Back In Paris would go platinum in Canada. Paul Dean would record a new version of “Action” for his first solo album in 1989.
GODDO – Who Cares?
Released very early in the year, this Toronto trio’s 2nd album was a fine follow up to their excellent debut. Featured classics like “Tough Times”, “Sweet Thing”, “Oh Carole (Kiss My Whip)” and closing epic “Too Much Carousing”. The 1994 reissue of this added a half hour of outtakes.
TEAZE- On The Loose
Windsor, Ontario’s TEAZE’ 2nd album, and full of party rockers, anthems, and a few ballads. Includes opener “Gonna Have A Good Time Tonight”, plus rockers like “Ready To Move”, “On The Loose”, and ‘Never Again’, as well as ballads “Stay Here” and (country influenced) “Sweet Misery”.
TROOPER – Thick As Thieves
Released in June. Thick As Thieves was the last Trooper album produced by Randy Bachman. Best known for featuring their trademark hit “Raise A Little Hell”. Kind of a middle of the road rock album, with the only other real rocker being favorite “Gambler”. It also featured 2 further singles, both sung by keyboard player Frank Ludwig – “The Moment That It Takes” and the excellent “Round, Round We Go”.
PRISM – See Forever Eyes
The 2nd album from Vancouver’s PRISM. This one released in June saw a few line up changes, and featured 4 singles, notably “Flyin” and “Take Me Away”, both from new guitarist Alan Harlow. One of the band’s best!
MOXY – Under The Lights
The 4th and final Moxy studio album. This one featuring the vocals of Mike Rynowski (aka Reno). A decent album, tho’ different from the previous ones. Reno, of course, went on to huge success with Loverboy, and Under The Lights would be reissued as Thinking About You (with just Reno on the cover). Earl Johnson has more recently put together a new version of Moxy…I wonder if they perform anything from this album(?)
*Other albums from ’78 that I either didn’t make my top 10, and in a few cases I don’t have – WALTER ROSSI – 6 Strings, 9 Lives, ZON – Astral Projector, BOB SEGARINI – Gotta Have Pop, BTO – Street Action (1 of 2 featuring the late Jim Clench instead of Randy B), CHILLIWACK – Lights From The Valley, THE GUESS WHO – Guess Who’s Back (post Burton Cummings, hmm), RANDY BACHMAN – Survivor, BILLY WORKMAN – Billy Workman (this is one I am looking for, if anyone has it….), EDEN – Eden (interesting prog album, does anyone have this?), AERIAL – In The Middle Of The Night (interesting sounding band from Saskatchewan, w/ Hugh Syme cover design) , FOSTERCHILD – Troubled Child
Black Sabbath was one of my early favorite bands, with a few of those early albums being the first I ever owned. I remember buying 4 of the first 5 albums for 50 cents each from a school mate’s older brother (along with Kiss Alive), when I was maybe 11. So I played these albums like crazy back then. The original Black Sabbath had such a unique sound between Tony Iommi’s riffs – which songs were almost always based around, Geezer Butler’s huge bass sound that usually doubled up the guitar, Ozzy’s distinctive vocals – the guy may not have been the greatest singer, but NOBODY sounded remotely like him, and then Bill Ward’s jazz influenced drum style, and (again) no other drummer sounded like Bill, especially on those early albums. And songs were not simply based on one riff, Sabbath had the ability to make things so much more interesting and epic, often with big changes in tempo or direction mid-song, sometimes multiple times in the same song, with totally different styles and new riffs. The band recorded 8 albums throughout the ’70s, with Paranoid being their biggest one, which featured “Paranoid”, as well as classics “War Pigs” and “Iron Man”. Over the years tho’ some of those songs have been played to death, so it was a no-brainer for me to not include them all here. Sabbath had some interesting, some scary, and some bad album covers back then. I gotta say it was Ozzy’s Speak Of The Devil 2LP live set that was a huge deal for me as well. Although it wasn’t Black Sabbath, he did do a pretty thorough set of Sabbath classics, and it would be the first time for me hearing tracks from a few Sabbath albums I didn’t have (like Never Say Die and Sabotage). Despite the band’s first few being hailed as their best, I have more of an attachment to a few of those later albums. By the time time I had those early Sabbath albums in my new collection, at a young age, this original line-up was well over, but I was happy to have seen the band (minus Bill Ward in 2015).
So, leaving my own picks for Black Sabbath’s best below, plus my album ranking below.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
2. You Won’t Change Me
From Technical Ecstasy, tho I’m sure ranks low among Sabbath ’70s fans, I like most of it. The added use of keyboards (courtesy of Gezz Woodruffe) on various tracks adds a lot of color and feel to songs here without necessarily losing any heaviness. Love the organ riff throughout this one, the piano in the mix, and Iommi’s guitar sound and solo.
3. Hole In The Sky
Sabotage has a few killer rockers, kinda more hard-rocking, faster, and less doomy. This one being my favorite here, with the band just jumping right into that big sounding riff & beat. Just my opinion, but I think Ozzy sounds at his best on this album and the next one (Technical Ecstasy).
4. Sweet Leaf
Following the coughing, a classic riff kicks off the band’s 3rd album Master Of Reality. Well written and produced, Huge sound on this album. This one never gets old.
5. N.I.B.
From the band’s debut. Sabbath had such a sound early on that no one else came close to. Such a distinctive bass intro, followed by the riff, just classic.
6. Snowblind
Volume 4 seemed to be the band’s doomiest record (IMO), slower paced and very dark musically and lyrically. This track, about cocaine, is my favorite here.
7. Back Street Kids
Another from Technical Ecstasy. A great opener. Love how this one chugs along, slightly brighter sounding, killer guitar solo, and then it all comes to quick close.
12. Symptom Of The Universe
Another from Sabotage, (again) with the band just getting right into it, like the beginning of thrash metal. Interesting change of direction 3 quarters of the way through tho’, like back to a bit of a hippy tune.
8. Junior’s Eyes
From the last album with Ozzy. Again, the band trying something different, tho (for me) it doesn’t all work here, but this one stands out.
10. War Pigs
The first song off the band’s massive 2nd album, Paranoid. This one being slow, dark, and crushingly heavy for the time with that sound based around Tony Iommi’s riff. Kinda like a follow up to the band’s self titled opener from the debut.
11. Dirty Women
Another great track from Technical Ecstasy. Just dig the big sound on this, Ozzy’s vocals, especially after the break and things pick up, followed by Iommi’s lengthy soloing as the song plays out, just epic.
12. Thrill Of It All
Another riff driven rocker from Sabotage. Dig how the track picks up, keyboards in the mix, and Ozzy sounding at his best on this album. “Oh yeah – Oh Yeah!”
13. Children Of The Grave
From Master Of Reality, just a cool riff and with Bill Ward’s drums, sound like this song marches along, which suits the lyrics, I guess.
14. The Wizard
That first Sabbath album had some outstanding and different things going, including this with Ozzy’s harmonica intro, followed by a classic heavy song.
15. Megalomania
Over 9 and a half minutes of epic Sabbath. Bill Ward kills it here, along with Ozzy’s performance being a highlight here,
16. Sabbra Cadabra
From Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Quick and catchy riff opening this one. Love the change of pace mid way through with the addition of Rick Wakeman on keyboards. I had a tough time picking another from this album, aside from this, “Killing Yourself To Live” and “A National Acrobat” are favorites here.
17. Electric Funeral
Preferring the non-hits from Paranoid, this slower doomy number, with (as always) Iommi’s riff being the main focus, and with a cool mid-song change in direction before coming back to the riff. Ozzy’s delivers the song’s sinister lyrics so fitting.
18. Supernaut
Love the continual riff going here, along with Ozzy’s vocals and Bill Ward bashing it out all the way through.
19. After Forever
The 2nd track from Master Of Reality. Lots of classic songs here, such as “Into The Void” and “Lord Of This World”, but I always dug this one. Religious lyrics, posing questions.
20. Johnny Blade
Strange – synthesizers opening a Sabbath song, instead of a big riff. But another favorite from Never Say Die. Excellent, but very different, as the band seemed to be looking for new ideas near the end of the ’70s.
Next up: Never Say Die, Gypsy, Black Sabbath, Wheels Of Confusion, A National Acrobta.
BLACK SABBATH 70s ALBUM RANKING
There’s been times where any Sabbath album from this era has been my favorite, even briefly, but my first choice has always been at the top. This is MY own ranking, based on what I like and listen to most these days, and get that (like many of us), this could change drastically next year.
Master of Reality – to me, just the most solid Sabbath album track to track. On other Sabbath albums of the 70s, there always seems to be something I either can’t get in to or just doesn’t fit. Plus, that huge sound going here with Tony’s guitar from “Sweet Leaf” right through to “Into The Void”.
Technical Ecstasy
This album always ranks low amongst the Sabbath 70’s albums, but I really like it. I like the production, the keyboards used without taking away from the weight of the Sabbath sound, and Ozzy sounds great here. I love most of this, even don’t mind the Bill Ward ballad (though I have no idea why a band with such a distinctive lead singer would have someone else sing such an oddity on album). Lyrically, a bit less doomy, and almost more rebellious at times, with songs like “You Won’t Change Me”, “Back Street Kid”; plus “Gypsy” and “All Moving Parts (Stand Still)”.
Sabotage
Love Sabotage for the big 3 kick ass rockers here, being “Symptom Of The Universe”, “Thrill Of It All”, and “Hole In The Sky”, plus the epic “Megalomania”. A few things on side 2 tho I’ve just never gotten in to, but maybe one day.
Volume 4
This album has a lot going on, just thinking about it. A fairly dark album, musically and lyrically, but so much good stuff from “Wheels Of Confusion”, “Snowblind”, “Supernaut”, “St Vitus Dance”…. I can do without “Changes” though.
Black Sabbath
I remember getting this and hearing this when i was like 10 or 11, and it being so heavy, dark, almost scary (especially the song “Black Sabbath”). Kinda not right that I’ve got it so far down my list, but I’d heard it so much, and a few things I never got into. Years later I would get the first Lucifer’s Friend album, an interesting comparison, but no one sounded as evil as Black Sabbath did on this debut.
Paranoid
The band’s 2nd and commercial break through, due to “Paranoid” becoming a hit single. A bit more consistent than the debut, IMO, and though I love this album, I don’t know if I ever need to hear “Paranoid” or “Iron Man” again.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Bringing this album home at such a young age, I think I kept it a bit hidden due to the cover, not wanting to answer any questions. But the lead off title track just blew me away, still my favorite 70s Sabbath track. I remember getting Speak Of The Devil (and subsequent Sabbath reunion live albums), and being disappointed that Ozzy didn’t sing the song in full…if at all on some). But, kind of a grey sound to this album beyond that, though there is a number of excellent tracks – “A National Acrobat”, Killing Yourself To Live”, “Sabbra Cadabra”, and I always liked “Fluff”, an odd instrumental ballad.
Never Say Die
I think I heard the song “Never Say Die” on Speak Of The Devil first, and then finally getting this album, and wondering why it sounds almost sloppy or something. But I did really dig this album for a brief period with songs like “Johnny Blade”, “Junior’s Eyes”, “Shock Wave” and even the jazzy “Air Dance”, but not a fan of a few things (sax on Sabbath album!?), and the overall sound of this record.
British artist Terry Pastor contributed to a number of album covers in the ’70s, 80s, and still does on occasion. Although album cover art was not his only thing going, Pastor did work on iconic covers by David Bowie, as well as a couple of classic SWEET covers he illustrated, which sparked my interest.
In our conversation below Terry talks ab out his contributions to the covers for SWEET’s ‘Off The Record’ and ‘Level Headed’ albums, as well as David Bowie’s ‘Hunky Dory’ and ‘Ziggy Stardust’. Terry also shares stories on a few other covers he worked on, as well as aspects of his career. Beyond the interview I’ve added in more images of album covers by Terry, as well as additional notes, and links to websites featuring Terry and his work.
I want to talk about how you first got into the whole art thing, as far as what led to getting into album covers and the music stuff.
When I was at school, I just always liked drawing and stuff, and I suppose I was always an artist, so there was that. When it came to record covers, I suppose maybe at the time, in the late 60s and 70s, most record covers were sort of artwork rather than typo or photographs. So, that sort of work suited my style, really.
I think with things like the SWEET covers, I didn’t have really too much to do with the input, because if I remember rightly, there was a junior engineer, that was working on producing both the Sweet LPs that I did the covers for, and basically it was his idea in both cases. He just came to me and said, “oh, I just want this idea painted”. So, I didn’t have a lot of input, in a sense, with either of those covers when it came to the idea. Maybe the way they came eventually about was mine, but the initial idea wasn’t mine at all. It was this engineer chap.
Was it Norman Goodman?
It rings a bell, yes. I think he was quite a young guy. I don’t think he was the major engineer. I think he was the junior engineer, or whatever there.
So, he gave you the idea and you kind of had to go with that?
Yes. He came up with what he wanted and then I sort of tried to make it work. I remember things like the stylus, the needle on the actual pick-up arm, that was meant to be a coke spoon, so it was like a drug reference, which was very sort of predominant at that period. Drugs and musicians seemed to be quite a thing then.
It’s a very detailed, very bright cover. Obviously going over to the back, so it’s one continuous thing.
When it came to doing the second cover, because they’d obviously been pleased with the first one, and he came to me again with this idea of having this – basically like an electric guitar, but where the pick-ups were on the top of the guitar, it was like a cassette player sort of mechanism there. So, it was like a cassette player, built into the guitar in between the pick-ups. That was the idea of it, I guess.
Yeah, it’s interesting because obviously there was a couple of different covers, but you can see the similarities between this one and Off The Record. Did you have any contact with the band, other than the engineer?
No, I didn’t hear two words, sadly. I do remember thinking that, I had a couple of their LPs given to me to get an idea about what they were about, but I knew they were sort of very commercial stuff, that was on Top Of The Pops and all that stuff, but I remember thinking that the guitarist was sort of like, not wasted on the band, but he was certainly a lot better than really the music they were doing. He was capable of more stuff, I always felt. He was an interesting guitarist, and I just felt he could have done other things. I’m not knocking the band, not at all, but I just felt that he was wasted on just that commercial stuff. He could have done better stuff than that. Maybe he has as well, I don’t know. I haven’t followed his career particularly, but…
He still runs the band. He’s the only guy left.
Is he!? Well, I think that whole thing, the age I was then, and I suppose having grown up, even as a school kid in the 50s, my music was really more sort of Little Richard and Eddie Cochran and all that…Chuck Berry, that sort of stuff. I already had sort of predetermined taste in music, and when it came to the glam rock thing, I didn’t really like it very much. It was not my scene at all, but everything has its use and its purpose, and it fits into, what society was expecting at that time. I understand that, but it wasn’t really my taste particularly. It’s the same thing happened to me when I was that much older again, when punk happened with the Sex Pistols, et cetera. I just thought, ‘Well, I sort of seen this with the Rolling Stones’. It was the same sort of deal, but suddenly they were public enemy number one, which the Rolling Stones were back in the 60s.
So, it wasn’t really anything new for me, and I didn’t really get what all the fuss was about, but then again, I was that much older, and not that easily turned on as maybe an impressionable sort of like 15-year-old would have been.
One thing about the Level Headed cover… The guitar on the inside, the blue guitar?
I think it was, was it a Gibson Firebird, was it!? It’s all hand airbrushed.
Did that come from, did somebody give you a picture of a guitar, or…
They wanted it to be a Gibson Firebird, I think, and that’s probably why I chose that guitar. I probably had some sort of photographic reference initially, and then from there, I just did the thing with the cassette, being pushed in between the pickups, etc.
Now you also did some Bowie stuff, Ziggy Stardust, a lot of that stuff was pretty out there at the time.
Yeah, I did Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust, which were interesting covers. Not really my scene at the time, because they were just colored up, airbrushed, retouched, and colored photographs, which I didn’t normally do. I also designed the covers choosing the typography which I designed and hand colored with the airbrush. They worked out very well.
I did the Hunky Dory one first, and I think because David liked it, he just wanted the same treatment done for Ziggy Stardust. And in fact, at that time he didn’t really have a great deal of input into the covers, in the sense of, he phoned me one evening when I was working on Ziggy, at my studio, and wanted to know how it was going. And I said, ‘well, I’ve finished the front, and I was working on the back cover,’ and he said, ‘Oh, is there something on the back?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s you in the phone box’. And he said, ‘Oh I can’t wait to see that. I didn’t know if we were going to use that’. So obviously, I think the management were driving it rather than he was at that stage. I guess maybe when he became much more established, probably had more input into how covers were to be done.
Well, he was very visual, right?
Yes.
I saw that you had a picture of Trevor Bolder at your website as well.
Okay, Sadly, since that thing at the Blue Plaque unveiling in Heddon Street, London, I think it was only about a year later, he died, which was very sad.
Looking through your covers, and the one cover I do like, it’s kind of a rare album, is the Three Man Army album.
Yeah, I sort of like it. I could do a lot better now. It was one of the first covers I’d ever done. And the interesting connection there was that when I did that cover, I was involved, to some extent, with a record producer called Shel Talmy.
I don’t know if you’ve heard of him. (Yeah), he did the Kinks stuff, and the Who, and a lot of stuff like that in the UK in the 60s. I was sort of working, not with him – but under him, with his sort of organisation. And that cover came about via Shel Talmy and his PR guy. So that’s how that happened, at that time.
Was he associated with that album? Because I don’t see his name on the credits anymore.
No, I don’t think Shel Talmy himself was involved in the production of it, but I think his production company had something to do with the fact that I did that cover, was because they were obviously maybe managing them, or they had some involvement, anyway, with the band, but maybe not with recording them… But I don’t remember too much. That was a long time ago now. This was 1971.
You’ve done a lot of covers in the 70s and beyond that. What stands out for you? Aside from the iconic ones that people remember the most, what were sort of the ones that you had the most input in, or most unhappy with?
I did a cover for a band called Byzantium that were going around about 1971, maybe, 72… And that included Chas Jankel, he was later in Ian Drury and the Blockheads; it was his first band he was in. The connection there, interestingly with Bowie, is that I’d just finished the artwork for this Byzantium cover, and it was on my desk in my studio in Covent Garden, and David dropped in for a cup of tea, and he said, ‘Oh, I really love that cover, I love S&M”, because it was these sort of hands in black leather mittens. And he was quite into the, let’s say, the masochist sort of image. It was interesting that he saw that cover before the band did. So, he’s consolation for them.
The other thing that was rather sort of typical of the rock and roll business was that one of the band members said, ‘Oh, we’re having our first gig to promote the LP next Friday (or whatever). Come along’. So, I went along to the gig and went backstage before they went on into the dressing room, and they had this incredible argument, and they all walked off in different directions, never went on stage, and the band just disbanded before even doing promotion for the LP at all!
Wow!
Which was rather typical at that time, really.
That’s quite a story. Geez.
You hear so many stories about musicians not getting on. I remember a quote from George Harrison when he was friends with Eric Clapton when he was in Cream, and he went backstage before a concert. There was an incredible argument, and George Harrison said, ‘I’m glad I’m not in this band’. So, you can imagine that there was some bad feeling going on there between the members, and that seemed to be the case a lot of the time with groups.
I suppose the thing is, it’s a bit like you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose people you work with.
Have you been a part of any books or anything as far as a lot of these bands that have had books on them, like Bowie, The Sweet, and various others? Have you contributed to any of those?
Plenty of books not about the Sweet though, but particularly about Bowie and another that comes to mind is the Status Quo Rocking around the World, who published the book with the Princes Trust Charity. I did it because one of the Quo members is Andy Bown who is a great friend of mine and my son was helped by the Princes Trust Charity to start his career in music.
Occasionally I’ve been asked if there are prints available of their covers, which there are. Unfortunately, I never got the artwork back, so I don’t know what happened to that. I guess it’s in someone’s studio wall somewhere. That happens a lot with them. Probably if I sort of looked at my artwork through the years, which is hundreds and hundreds of things all together, I hardly had anything given back. It all just disappeared. That happened with both the Bowie covers I did. I never saw them again, so I don’t know what happened to them.
I know that I was at Bowie’s exhibition at the Victoria Albert Museum when that was on, and interestingly, I didn’t see any of my original artwork there at all. There was other artwork there, but not mine, so I don’t know if they’d chose not to put it in the show or if they didn’t have them either. But I do remember one thing. It was reported to be, it said it was the original artwork for Hunky Dory, but it wasn’t. It was some sort of copy that was very badly done. So that was interesting that it was supposed to be my artwork, but it wasn’t. I didn’t say anything. I just kept quiet. I didn’t want to cause waves, but I did say to my wife at that time, ‘Look, it’s saying I did this, and it’s not mine.’ So, I don’t know who did it, but anyway, there we are.
When you submitted things back then as art, that was kind of the end of it!?
No, generally, with record covers, there was never a problem with coming back for alterations. Sometimes with advertising, where they always wanted things altered, but with all the covers I’ve ever done, never had any bad feedback. I remember particularly taking the artwork for Ziggy Stardust to David’s manager, Tony Defries. I remember taking it to his offices in the West End and just giving him the artwork, and I said to him, ‘Oh, when am I going to get paid?’ And he said to his colleague, ‘You hold him and I’ll hit him, which is typical, so they didn’t really mean it, but it was that sort of rock and roll manager thing, never ask for money. But I did get paid; they paid me ok, so that was fine.
I don’t think I was paid very much for doing it. Probably a couple hundred pounds, but then, I think 200 pounds then is probably equivalent to about 3,000 pounds now…. So maybe I wasn’t too badly paid.
In retrospect, I think because all those album covers have become so iconic that the bands and that have made more on them through selling T-shirts and posters and everything else.
Yes, absolutely. I publish my own fine art prints of David Bowie which are very popular. Interestingly, when he died, the first year after he died, the amount of prints I sold was phenomenal. The minute someone dies, you don’t know what you’ve missed until it’s gone sort of thing. And people go crazy. I remember the day he died, that morning I was in bed about 8 o’clock in the morning and I just said to my wife, I’ll get up in a minute, and then the phone rang. and they said ‘Are you watching TV?’ And just as we switched it on, there was this thing coming up about David Bowie having died. And we said, oh, what’s happening here!? And then as we were watching this, the phone rang. It’s always when, you know, TV companies want to come and interview me. I thought I was going to have a quiet day, but it was like a mad day in the end. It’s bizarre, you know!?
Yeah, it’s a shame because obviously nowadays when people die, their albums and their worth gets ridiculous as far as, trying to go find something.
Well, I guess it’s the day that Brian Wilson has died. And it’s interesting the amount of people that are really sort of like, big hitters in the rock-pop business are all sort of saying he was like this genius, you know!? Which was nice, that he’s had that sort of accolade. Paul McCartney particularly has said that he was probably one of the greatest songwriters ever.
Now, you only did the one Beach Boys cover, right!?
I did, which was a terrible, terrible cover. Again, that was because, and I’m not saying it wasn’t my fault, but it was done through an advertising agency, and they wanted me to do this cover, and it wasn’t my idea, and I didn’t want to do it the way they wanted it. And the way it worked out just didn’t really work. There were two art directors in fact, and they both wanted it a certain way and I didn’t want to do it that way, so it ended up a bit of a mess. I mean, they could use it, which I was surprised about because it could have been better. But there we are, that’s the way it goes.
The Camel cover you did is kind of futuristic, with the robotic hand they’re pointing out to the record, obviously.
Yes, a very simplistic sort of cover, really. It could have been more. Another band I did a record cover for, who were quite a big band at the time was Soft Machine. It was a weird thing, like that sort of fleshy – pieces of flesh with metal rods going into them and stuff. And it was a mixture of machinery. I think it was Soft Machine 8. But again, I didn’t have much involvement with the band. They wanted me to do this cover; it was quite successful, I guess.
It sounds like I’ve done a lot of album covers. I haven’t really. I’ve done a few, but it certainly wasn’t my main source of work through the years at all.
You do books and what else?
Lots and lots of advertising work, which, I did because it paid a lot of money but I don’t particularly want to relate my name to the stuff because it was pretty crappy stuff and they paid well. I enjoyed record covers very much and I enjoyed book jackets. And a lot of double-page spreads for girlie mags and stuff like that, which was popular then and a good source of work.
But the advertising was where the money was. I mean, if you did a book jacket, maybe £300, £400, the equivalent amount of work in advertising would be £2,000. So, there’s a big, big difference in income. I was basically a hard-nosed commercial artist really, I guess at that time. Not so much now than I was then.
Do you still do album covers? You still working?
I have never stopped working, one of the most recent record albums I was commissioned to do was to provide the colored artwork for Arcade Fire, a most famous Canadian Indie Rock band who are absolutely huge in America who rang me out of the blue because they loved the hand airbrushing technique that I used on the Bowie record sleeves, plus I do collaborative work with great photographers like Mick Rock, Formento and Formento and Scarlet Page (Jimmy Page’s daughter).
Actually, the last actual cover I did was really for a CD cover. It was for a singer-songwriter called James Passey. I don’t know if you know him. He’s a folk-y sort of singer really. But that’s the last cover I did about a year or two ago. I also did a cover, actually I really liked the cover for a guy called Ginger Wildheart but he’s a bit sort of like below the radar, sort of guy. He was in a band called The Wild Hearts, but I think they were a bit underground really. I don’t know too much about them. I met him, lovely guy, very nice guy. The music’s a bit sort of not at all commercial, so you may not have heard of him really.
What else do you have on the go? Do you foresee yourself putting in your artwork?
Well, I really just do my own work now. Just my own sort of art prints and original artwork. But mostly art prints and publishing my own stuff. I get offered commissions, but don’t chase work. actually.
Additionally (some post-interview notes, adds, and links):
Some Interesting covers that were not used! (see below for explanations from Terry)
The Rolling Stones. Painted this in 1964.I was seventeen and a big Stones fan. Sent this to Decca records .They sent it back without any note or comment!
Carl Palmer cover: Although Carl came to my studio and liked the painting it was not used. Don’t know if he actually had a record released under his name or not? This would have been around 1976.
Andy Bown cover was never used. Although Andy wanted this image was his idea, the record company elected for a head shot of Andy instead. Around 2011.
Books featuring Terry Pastor’s work –
Status Quo: ‘Pictures, Forty Years of Hits‘.
‘Designed by Peter Saville‘. In conjunction with The Design Museum London. 2003
Lots of books on David Bowie, too many too mention.
There is a brand new video from BADFINGER’s HeadFirst, which was officially released (CD & vinyl) nearly 50 years after its recording.
“Keep Believing”, another classic Pete Ham cut, follow video releases for “Moonshine”, featuring Tom Evans & Bob Jackson sharing lead vocals, and the Mike Gibbins ballad “Back Again”.
One of the best (well, my favorite) and most surprising recent releases. Check it out if you haven’t!
The BOLTON IRON MAIDEN released 2 CDs years back, comprising of their studio & live tracks made back in the early-mid 70s, back before another band used the name and went on to become one of the biggest bands in Heavy Metal. BIM, then just known as ‘Iron Maiden’, were the 2nd British band to use the name at the time (before Steve Harris came along). Now from the band’s recordings comes a very limited vinyl release of their music, just 7 tracks, with a new cover (to the CDs). Check it out. And check out my previous features on the band, including an interview with Paul TJ O’Neill!
*Available on black vinyl (+ special edition) and colored vinyl.
Details:
Active between 1970 and 1976, the Bolton Iron Maiden (originally known as Birth and then Iron Maiden) was a psychedelic hard-rock band formed in Bolton by Ian Boulton-Smith (Beak) on lead guitar, Derek George Austin on bass and Paul TJ O’Neill on drums / vocals.
Influenced by contemporaries like Led Zeppelin, Cream, Free, Groundhogs or Andromeda, their music blended blues, hard rock, and progressive elements.
They soon built a strong reputation supporting acts such as UFO, Bedlam (with Cozy Powell), Caravan, Thin Lizzy…
In 1976, the band disbanded following the death of guitarist Ian Boulton-Smith from cancer.
In 2005, Paul O’Neill revived interest in BIM by releasing two albums, “Maiden Flight” and “Boulton Rides Again”, which compiled studio and live recordings. The proceeds from these albums were donated to Cancer Research and Macmillan Cancer Support. With the blessing of the more famous Iron Maiden and their manager Rod Smallwood, the band adopted the name “The Bolton Iron Maiden” to avoid confusion.
For the first time on vinyl, “Maiden Flight” collects their previously unreleased studio recordings from 1972 plus raw as live tracks circa 1975.
Insert with detailed liner notes and rare photos / memorabilia. Download card with extra (live) bonus tracks.
Outsider Rock 