Pink Floyd, Yes, 10CC, Roxy Music, Foreigner, Procul Harum, Small Faces, Elvis Costello's Attractions, the Clash, The Foundations are among the many who have links with Cambridge . They either came from the city, studied at the old Tech, now Anglia Uni, or the University. The likes of Syd Barret, Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour, Olivia Newton-John, Nick Barraclough, Joe Strummer all did a bit there and legendary bands like Telephone Bill who did not quite make it are legion. So some of have had not only the big bands who came to be around in early days but the ones that went before who are now long forgotten. Then remember the Cambridge Folk Festival has been around since who knows when and the names that has attracted are another story. So studying there I was often too busy to actually study, the gig guide was hectic!
Then, before that, I grew up in SW19 where we had Donovan and his manager Gypsy Dave living opposite our hangout at the Hand-in-Hand pub. For some years our local up and coming were the Rolling Stones who I, for instance, saw at Cheam Baths Hall (where??) for 2/-. To those of you under 60, two shillings or ten pence now! With Eel Pie Island near enough, the Crawdaddy Club at the Station Hotel in Richmond, and later Richmond Athletic Club, plus a tube ride up to the Marquee, 100 Club and Blue Flamingo with various folk clubs like Bunjies, Les Cousins, etc, and then the jazz clubs… A tanner return to the West End and we had it all. Most of my crowd were aspiring musicians, I joined in but do not have what it takes at all and took the step from 'cello to bottleneck guitar to be able to play a bit of blues. Some of the British blues scene were consequently just part of our crowd until they drifted off to be famous, some forgotten, whilst others are long dead and others off their tops. Because Patti Boyd was part of the ‘winter headquarters pub’ crowd, jaws dropped one day when George Harrison walked into the public bar. He played darts with some of us, probably winning easily because people were traumatised by one of ‘them’ using OUR pub. The publican made sure the local newspaper heard of that and the queues for a bevvy were impossible for weeks. He never came again. Others did. Local sidemen guitarists for Marianne Faithfull and Cat Stevens were part of the crowd, the latter was very regular amongst us. Jeremy Taylor was in the darts team too, when he was shown the door by South Africa, playing alongside the late Bill Mann who was then music critic of The Times and started out HATING all pop and modern music until he was part of that crowd. Some of his Beatles and Pink Floyd reviews are now considered seminal.
C’est la vie. I still know some of them and know exactly what Mark means, but then at 63 I look in my own mirror… I’ll say no more on that.
But yes, I remember MfP, I have a few albums to this day even and know what? I have a price label of 6/8d on one of them, bought as new, some considerable time before 14/6!