sound of the suburbs

And now for a little bit of history the first Glastonbury festival was held in September 1970 the day after Jimi Hendrix checked out. It was a two day event organised by Michael Eavis, the same person that runs the festival to this day. 1,500 people paid the sum of £1.00 to see acts including Marc Bolan and Al Stewart, the ticket price included as much milk as you could drink, Eavis's day job was as it still is that of a dairy farmer. Having been bitten by the bug but unable to wait a full 12 months the following years event was held at the end of June featuring Hawkwind and David Bowie amongst others. Exactly why I don't know but the next festival wasn't to be untill 1978 and was an impromptu event organised by travelers. Michael Eavis was back in control for 1979 and this was to be the last event going under the banner of Glastonbury Fayre as 1981's CND fund raiser was to be the first Glastonbury Festival. The festival has been held each year ever since excepting the years 1988 and 1981 due to their failure to obtain a license, and the 2006 event which has not been programmed for more personal reasons. From its humble origins the festival has grown to be a 153,000 person sell out event raising £1,350,000 for the benefit of local, national and international charities. It would be stupid and very train spotting of me to list all of those that have played, needless to say for any music fan there are literally thousands of artists you wouldn't mind seeing. So back to 1992 Eavis thought that with the end of the cold war CND were no longer such an urgent cause and so the donation went to Greenpeace and Oxfam. 70,000 lucky people paid £49 to see the likes of Primal Scream, PJ Harvey, the Levellers , Tom Jones ............ and there was no free milk!
My chosen extracts for today come from the major league, first up Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, who were at their zenith during this period and I certainly hope that an introduction will not necessary. Jim Bob, Fruit Bat, two old guitars, some samples and an ancient drum machine in front of an adoring and highly appreciative crowd giving us a version to kill for of 'Sheriff Fatman', muthafucka indeed. Takes me back to the good old days when I was a dj on a Montpellier radio station, I played my copy to death, just. Just as they had promised themselves way back at the begining that they would call it day when playing together stopped being fun well this came to be in 1997 and so Carter USM are no more. As to their current activities Jim Bob you can catch up with on his site and Fruit Bat put together Abdou or as they are now called iDou. Enough of Carter for now as I think there's an above average chance we shall revisit these two south London wideboys another day.
Last up on our Glastonbury round up Blur, wow what a big band you may be thinking but with hardly a glimse of boys and girls on the horizon back in '92 it was sill the small time for Damon and co. We are talking about pre 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' days and the track 'Sunday Sunday' was a little taster from their 1993 breakthrough album. Just to show how things change Carter were playing way up on the main stage while Blur's performance was on the much more intimate NME stage.
So any one who fancies purchasing 'In A Field Of Their Own' should either rummage through the bacs of their local second hand record store or else try out............... where the going rate would appear to be about $15. And if you're in a generous mood you can always check out the charity sites I've linked. Giving to a worthy cause does make you feel as good as listening to good music.