Various Artists: Reading Rock - Volume One (1982) plus Bonus Tracks

(U.K 1967-1988, 1995-1996, 1999-2010)
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The 1982 Reading Festival arena is depicted in the photo below. Bands played alternately on the two main stages. While one had a band playing, gear was being set up on the other stage. There was always a rush from one side to the other between bands. There were no small stages. Note also lack of burger vans and stalls selling hippy sh*t.

This 1982 double LP was optimistically entitled 'Reading Rock Volume One', although I'm quite sure it was the last of its kind. By this point in the festival's history, it was a solid heavy rock event, although as the '80s wore on, it assimilated other contemporary styles before the 'big crash' of 1988, when it failed spectacularly, was bought out by the well-named Mean Fiddler Group (think about it) and eventually, went on to its current huge success.  The twenty second festival possibly had a more attractive lineup than 1981, at least if one was a heavy rock devotee.  

The album is, unsurprisingly, the usual mixed bag, even sticking in a couple of tracks from earlier years (Whitesnake's rip-roaring Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues is from '79 and UFO's Hot And Ready, released as a B-side at the time, is from '80), with long-forgotten third-raters such as Chinatown (with two tracks), Spider (fun, but ultimately forgettable) and Just Good Friends (WHO?), rubbing shoulders with the likes of Budgie, Twisted Sister, Quo mate Jackie Lynton (supported him once, y'know) and Stampede.

Of the rest, Terraplane, a.k.a. Terrible Pain, were tipped for greatness, only actually (allegedly) achieving it after a split, reformation and name change to Thunder, Michael Schenker was at the peak of his post-UFO solo career, Bernie Marsden appears twice, with Whitesnake in '79 and solo in '82 (guess which is better), while Marillion's set was their breakthrough after a year of solid touring. It's the latter outfit's contributions that interest us here (for once), despite the shoddy drumming (poor old Mick); he very noticeably speeds up on He Knows You Know... Anyway, Mark Kelly, in probably one of the last times he used their Mellotron in anger, adds strings to He Knows You Know (replaced by synth on the following year's album version, of course) and the same string part to Three Boats Down From The Candy as on the Market Square Heroes EP. [Extract from Planet Mellotron]

The inclusion of hard rock guitar stalwarts Gary Moore, Randy California, southern rockers Blackfoot and erstwhile pub rockers Dave Edmunds and Wilko Johnson gave the lineup spine that was missing from the previous year.

The headliners were also a tad more prestigious. The Scorpions/UFO former lead guitarist Michael Schenker, whose repertoire veered into the sort of metal jazz/rock territory inhabited by Jeff Beck- as well as delivering more predictable hard rock fare - gave Sunday night a touch of class.

Reading's 'Dual Stages'

Budgie and Iron Maiden were guaranteed to deliver an exciting hard rock show, regardless of whether one thought of them as innovators within the genre or not. Maiden's credentials were reinforced by the presence of Bruce Dickinson , the erstwhile Samson lead vocalist, who had taken over the vocal spot from Paul Di'Anno.  All three of these artists were recorded by the venerable BBC and broadcast on the Radio One Friday night rock show in 1983.

Once again, Reading delivered a mid range experience for the punters, no top end acts like Pink Floyd or the Stones which needed a mega crowd to return the organisers a profit, but a solid workmanlike bill that would leave the attendees satisfied in the main .
There were some changes made to the final band listing with Trust pulling out at the last minute and Diamond Head replacing Manowar on the Friday night. Just Good Friends was added on Saturday and Wilko Johnson & Lew Lewis added on Sunday.

This was what Reading was about at the time, but the formula was about to change, as the following year's Festival (1983) would be the last Reading for several years.  
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The following are recollections from various people who attended the festival (taken from ukrockfestivals.com)
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Nicola remembers - Abiding memories – vodka and ginger beer, meat paste sandwiches for 3 days, everyone was friendly, some great bands. Yes Schenker was technically brilliant but god was he boring to watch. Give him his due he did play a good Dr Dr. Some of the ‘little’ bands had more enthusiasm. Loved Grand Prix and Tygers - less polished but much more raw enthusiasm. Seem to recall Rock Goddess getting a lot of drooling males watching. Had completely forgotten Diamond Head were there. Was it me or was there more space than at Donnington, seem to remember being able to lie back and listen without getting trampled on. . Oh and the ‘official’ T-shirts were £5, a fortune back then. Picked one up for £2 on the last night, it finally disintegrated in 1992 Anyone remember the press reports of non-stop riots between bikers and police? I got back home to find the parents worried sick. I didn’t see any riots but I did see three Angels wading into the river to rescue a swan that was tangled in a fishing line and then looking after it until a very nervous RSPCA man arrived. .
Barry recalls - Band of the weekend were Blackfoot, the perfect festival band, good time (southern) rock'n'roll that lifted the spirits of everyone gathered. Tight band and what a master of ceremonies, singer and guitarist in Ricky Medlocke. When they came back to the UK, some years later, they were a different band, sold out to hair-rock, which, in a way, makes the Reading performance such a great memory. To this day I can still recall turning around to see numerous confederate flags being waved by the crowd.
As for the rest? Maiden, without doubt the most popular band of the weekend, solid entertainers and riding high on the success of 'The number of the Beast', on the way up and up and now living legends. The Tygers of Pan Tang put in a good performance but had the unenviable task of being sandwiched between Blackfoot and Maiden, if I remember rightly. Gary Moore, I remember for looking utterly disgusted by the bottle/can throwing antics of some of the crowd. Quite rightly so as these idiots injured quite a few people in the process.
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Pheonix says - All I can fill in is Chinatown's names: Steve, Steve, Danny, Pat and John (Vocals, Drums, Guitar, Guitar and Bass respectively) and odd bits from there. I think they played both songs from their single which had come out about a year earlier, the A side of which was 'Short and Sweet', and the B side... Nope, it's gone. They also may well have done their version of 'Doctor Doctor', which with all due respect to the other groups present then was truly kick arse, and honestly the best version of the song I've ever heard.

.Pat recalls - Can`t remember Tygers of Pan Tang at all (must have done a tour of the stalls while they were on), but I do remember being won over by Blackfoot, who were fronted by the charismatic Ricky "Rattlesnake" Medlocke. They included a great version of Free`s "Wishing Well" in their set, yes the same cover that Gary Moore had done an hour or so before..
And finally Dave remembers - The afternoon bands were a bit hazy then and worse 27 years years later but I remember Grand Prix being pretty good, Spider being a dreary Quo like boogie band and Dave Edmunds being an up market pub rock band. Cheetah - masses of whistles and chants of "get your t*ts out for the lads" Twisted Sister - sweary, pantomime dames - funniest looking of all was the lead guitarist - Mendoza? Maiden - OK and the crowd favourite but they seemed a bit plodding to me. Y&T - best of the weekend - we'd got Earthshaker on import a year or so earlier so were looking forward to their appearance. They had played a great gig at the Marquee the week before and had great reviews. They did not disappoint.
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It is interesting to note that I purchased this double LP from my favourite Import Record shop in Carlton (Melbourne) back in the 80's called Reading Records (how coincidental is the name hey) but it was in fact an offshoot from 'Reading Books' which still exists in Carlton today. Anyhow, the main reason why I purchased this album was because of the two live Budgie tracks.
At that time, there were no live recordings of Budgie available in Australia, so it was certainly a 'must have' item for me. Because it was an imported album I'm sure I paid threw the nose for this double LP but now cherish this album for its collectability.

It is strange that Mean Records chose to include a couple of tracks that weren't actually from the 82 Festival - Whitesnake's recording was from the 79 Festival and UFO's from 1980. Yet, they neglected to include tracks from bands that did perform like - Iron Maiden, Gary Moore and Tygers of Pan Tang. Below is the (almost) correct running order of the 1982 Reading Festival, taken from the official festival program. Perhaps they had intended to release a Volume Two (based on the name for this release - Volume One) but as far as I can gather this did not happen.

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This post includes a rip of my near-mint double LP (320kps) along with full LP album artwork. Because the total running length of both LP's exceeds the limit of a single CD, I have decided to include some bonus tracks from bands that were not included by Mean Records. I have sourced these bonus tracks from individual 'Reading 82' bootlegs released for Iron Maiden, Gary Moore, Y&T, Tygers of Pan Tang and Praying Mantis and selected what I consider to be the two best tracks for each band, based on their sound and performance. Sadly, there are no Blackfoot recordings from this festival available.
I would like to acknowledge the use of concert photos taken by Frederick Moulaert and extracts of festival details from ukrockfestivals.com
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Track Listing
Record one
01 - Whitesnake - Walkin In The Shadow Of The Blues (Reading 1979) *
02 - Terraplane - I want Your Body
03 - Marillion - He Knows You Know
04 - Jackie Lynton - Slow Rider
05 - Budgie - Superstar
06 - Bernie Marsden - SOS
07 - Chinatown - I Wanna See You Tonight
08 - Randy California - Come On Woman
09 - Stampede - There And Back
10 - Twisted Sister - Shoot 'Em Down.
Record Two
01 - Michael Schenker - Attack Of The Mad Axeman
02 - Marillion - Three Boats Down From The Candy
03 - Terraplane - Turn Me Loose
04 - Just Good Friends - You Really Got Me
05 - U.F.O - Hot & Ready (Reading 1980) *
06 - Budgie - Panzer Division Destroyed
07 - Grand Prix - Keep On Believin'
08 - Spider - All The Time
09 - Chinatown - Caught On The Wrong Side
10 - Jackie Lynton - The Hedgehog Song
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Bonus Tracks
Gary Moore - Nuclear Attack, Parisean Walkways
Iron Maiden - Tush (with Blackfoot), Wrathchild
Y&T - Black Tiger, Forever
Tygers of Pan Tang - Slave to Freedom, Blackjack
Praying Mantis - Nightmares, Flirtin' With Suicide
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* All tracks recorded at the 1982 Reading Festival except Whitesnake (Reading 1979) and U.F.O (Reading 1980)
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Reading Rock Part 1 Link (131Mb)
New Link 10/09/2025
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Reading Rock Part 2 Link (144Mb)
New Link 21/12/2023

Various Artists - Reading Festival (1973)

(U.K Artists 1973)
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The Reading Festival originates from an annual Jazz and Blues festival organised by the National Jazz Federation and London's Marquee Club. The inspiration came from the Newport Jazz Festival of 1950s America. The first National Jazz Festival took place at Richmond Athletic Ground in August 1961 when the main attractions included traditional Jazz musicians such as the Tubby Hayes, Johnny Dankworth and Tony Russell.
By 1965 the popularity of traditional Jazz had waned, overtaken by Rhythm and Blues performers such as the Who, the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart. Subsequently the festival became known as the National Jazz and Blues Festival. Noise complaints forced the 1966 festival to move to Windsor Racecourse, then in 1968 to Kempton Park and then, in 1969, to Plumpton. The festival finally reached Reading in 1971. Reading Council granted permission to the promoter, Harold Pendleton, to hold the festival by the Thames as part of the town's Festival of Arts.
Between 1971 and the mid 1980s the festival built a reputation for booking the biggest names in the business, as well as showcasing the talents of new bands from around the globe. The late 80s and early 90s were to see changes in the contemporary music scene with indie sounds and dance cross-over acts coming to the fore. In 1988 the Mean Fiddler, who had championed such acts in venues across London, were given the task of booking the festival bands. The following year they were asked to organise the whole event and, after the legendary festivals of the early 90s, the future of the festival was assured (extract from readingmuseum)
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Although the Reading Festival has been going, on and off, since the early '60s, I only know of two years where albums of the event were released, 1973 and 1982.
The '73 LP, Reading Festival 1973, was released by GM (Gaff/Masters) Records, the recording imprint of Rod Stewart's management company, Gaff Management, so it should come as absolutely no surprise to find that almost all (all?) of the eight artists represented had a clear GM connection in one form or another, with several cases of inter-band co-operation, too. Fair enough - it's their album... Despite containing an artistically pretty mixed bag, the album's chiefly of interest these days for its otherwise unavailable live tracks, although, surprisingly, it not only had a vinyl reissue in 1990, but has also made it onto CD via those nice See for Miles people (extract from planetmellotron.com)
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I remember picking up my copy of Reading Festival 73 from Brash Suttons, Geelong back in the mid 70's when they were having a huge sale. This album was one of many titles being given away for the pricely sum of $1.99 and I'm pretty sure the normal price for a record was around $7.00
What caught my attention was the inclusion of tracks from some well known artists: Roy Gallagher, Status Quo and The Faces. However, I wasn't all that familar with the other artists although one of these - Greenslade was a band that I'd always wanted to pursue.
Needless to say, I was happy with my purchase at the time and I still put this album on my turntable every now and then.
This album was also released on the Tiger Lily label as "Reading Festival Featuring Rod Stewart", and is a unique release ... it's certainly obscure. I've only seen two copies in 40 years of collecting so good luck locating another copy.
As you probably guessed, the other album title wasn't particularly accurate. Yeah, the performances were taped at the Reading Festival (officially The 13th National Jazz, Blues & Rock Festival, Reading, England held over three days in June 1973), but in spite of the title, Rod Stewart (and the Faces) were hardly the dominant act on this eight selection compilation. In fact they were only featured on one lackluster track - turns out Stewart and the Faces who were in the midst of going their separate ways also got pretty bad reviews at the concert itself. So what's actually on the album?
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- The late Rory Gallagher started the set off with a blazing "Hands Off". Fantastic live version that kicked the crap out of the original studio version (found on 1972's 'Blueprint').
- There's a Bo Diddley "Road Runner" cover by the band Strider. Not a half bad heavy metal cover version I must say.
- Greenslade's was not exactly a known quantity in Australia in the 70's, but "Feathered Friends" was a surprisingly enjoyable piece of progressive puff. I've certainly pursued their albums since hearing this track from Readings.
- Pulled from their 'Piledriver' album, "Don't Waste My Time" was a standard Status Quo rocker. Mindless fun ...but still 12-bar blues at it's best.
- The Faces were probably the band most folks came to see, but based on their pro-forma cover of "Losing You" you had to wonder what the excitement was about. A lackluster Stewart vocal and seemingly endless Kenny Jones drum solo didn't exactly help.
- Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was Andy Bown's "Long Legged Linda". Yeah, he didn't have the most impressive voice you've ever heard, but the song was a great slice of pub rock energy. One of the standout performances ...
Note: The album covers incorrectly credits his name as Andy Brown (not Bown) which is pretty poor.
- Easily the weirdest artist and song in the lineup was Leslie Duncan's "Earth Mother" ... Mind you I have nothing against Duncan, but her pop moves sure sounded out of place here. Mind you her performance was actually quite good. Nice guitar work ...
- That left Tim Hardin as the other big surprise. Hardin managed to turn in a pair of stunning performances on "Hang On To a Dream" and "Person To Person". (He sure didn't rock out like this on the studio albums I've heard.)
The album also sported some great sound quality courtesy of Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio and producers Chris Beckwith and Jimmy Horowitz. In fact some if the performances were so good you had to wonder whether they were spiffed up with some post-production work (check out the strings on Duncan and Hardin's performances).
Shame the set didn't capture some of the other festival performances since the 1973 line up was pretty electric including opening act Embryo, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Genesis and Spencer Davis.
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First Hand Concert Reviews
(taken from ukrockfestivals.com).
Here's my recollection of the Reading Festival in 1973.. yes it was held over a bank holiday, and yes, too, by the time the festival was in full swing it was clearly evident that the hippie dream was well and truly done and dusted. Hawkwind never did play - wish they had. Commander Cody (reason I went) did well in a high profile but ultimately unsuccessful bid to break through to UK acceptance.They did a killer version of "smoke smoke smoke (that cigarette)."
Genesis and Rod Stewart were the big draws of the time, and I remember pissing myself with laughter when, after a suitably portentous two hour wait while the great Genesis got their stage set ready, on came Peter Gabriel in this ridiculous pyramid with eyes doing Watcher of the Skies.
No, not my kind of spectacle.
There was some ugly violence, led by this huge ginger haired guy in the crowd, I think during Rory "man of the people" Gallagher, whose power was briefly cut midway during a song.Of course he went on playing. And I remember another incident, sign of the times, when some gentle long haired guy got up to sway naked in the crowd only to be the recipient of bottle after bottle. (this would probably have been Jesus)
I remember John Martyn, and a whole host of now vanished wannabes. Alex Harvey went down a storm. But when Rod Stewart appeared with The Faces there seemed to appear from nowhere this crowd of hooligans waving football scarves, crowding in front of the stage like an army. "Am I losing you?" I remember Rod asking.
Weather was fine, the whole place fenced, regulated, homogenised, and I remember John Peel playing with breathless wonder the just released stones single "Angie". I went with a friend who was paranoid about being caught smoking substances in public. When I lit up, he scuttled like a crab about twenty feet forward.
Oh, another thing, in a bizarre way I think the first band on, a now forgotten German group (Embryo) were by far and away the best there! They announced in heavy Germanic tones "Ve haf just come bak from living in Morocco" and played what I guess would sound very much like world music nowadays. They were met by silence and me, noisily clapping.
(recollection by Nick Black)
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Not all the programming of this efficiently organized festival may have been imaginative, but at least the top-of-the bill acts over the three days provided a vivid contrast, and if competition is partly what these events are about, then it must be said that Rory Gallagher excelled. He is a musician from Cork basing his music on the Blues, an anachronism, perhaps, but his sheer, honest energy rings through. Only he of the three bill-toppers risked doing anything new, when he played four numbers from his next album to be released in October. Of these " Sleep on a Clothes Line", " Million Miles Away" and "Who's That Coming" are well up to the standard he demands. His guitar-playing is unmistakable, which is more than can be said for most these days, and his musical integrity unchallenged. Loathing personal aggrandisement, he is the total anti-star, and as such a genuine hero of the people. In contrast, Saturday night's appearance of Rod Stewart and The Faces was a disappointment. They worked hard, but one wonders how long this group that has obviously lost its impetus can continue. Despite this, Rod Stewart still stands out as a personality, and surely must now make his own way in Rock.
Sunday night brought another glimpse of Genesis, a group who use theatrical effects as well as thoughtful electronic music in the style of groups like Pink Floyd. To say this is a tribute. They, too, are about to launch a new album, but played safe by rendering what we have heard before. "The Musical Box". " Supper's Ready" and " The Return of the Giant Hogweed" pleased both myself and the 25,000 audience, and was an effective climax to three days of sunshine and friendliness. Festivals always produce at least one surprise success and this year it was portly George Melly, musically from another era. The youthful audience immediately accepted his trad-jazz-flavoured tunes like " Frankie and Johnny" and his zany, uninhibited approach. Undoubtedly a new cult figure has arrived.
(recollection by Michael Wale)
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The post consists of a 320kps rip of my 'pristine' vinyl copy and includes full album artwork. Select photos from the festival are included, with thanks to Vin Miles, Steve Austin and Gareth Tynan who took them.
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Track Listing
01 - (Rory Gallagher) Hands Off (8.50)
02 - (Strider) Road Runner (4.35)
03 - (Greenslade) Feathered Friends (6.00)
04 - (Status Quo) Don't Waste My Time (4.21)
05 - (The Faces) Losing You (7.00)
06 - (Andy Bown) Long Legged Linda (3.52)
07 - (Lesley Duncan) Earth Mother (6.10)
08 - (Tim Hardin) a. Hang On To A Dream
b. Person To Person (7.37)
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Reading Festival 73 Link (105Mb) New Link 26/10/2015
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