This area will cover some the work Andy Lothian was involved in relating to his connection with the music business in the 60's & 70's.
He participated in a variety of aspects of the music scene back then, such as...
Leader of local band - East Coast Jazzmen (playing double bass).
Presenter of Scottish music TV show - Teenbeat.
Editor of a pop music publication - Scottish Beat.
Nightclub owner - Tomb Jazz Cellar & Palais.
Record Label owner - ALP records.
Concert Promoter.
Artiste Agency.
He participated in a variety of aspects of the music scene back then, such as...
Leader of local band - East Coast Jazzmen (playing double bass).
Presenter of Scottish music TV show - Teenbeat.
Editor of a pop music publication - Scottish Beat.
Nightclub owner - Tomb Jazz Cellar & Palais.
Record Label owner - ALP records.
Concert Promoter.
Artiste Agency.
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This advert was published in the music press in February 1970 and displays the kind of gigs Andy was promoting back then.
A couple of Dundee shows in amongst them. The office was located in Exchange Street. |
One of the gigs on the Feb 1970 ad is for Pink Floyd.
No Dundee date for them on this occasion, but here is the original poster for the Newcastle show. |
An advert published in November 1968 for a big show in Glasgow called Poparama.
It features 4 main acts - The Who, Joe Cocker, Small Faces and Arthur Brown. |
A gig in Motherwell for Tyrannosaurus Rex in May 1970.
This was just before they shortened their name to the more well known, T.Rex. Dundee's Sleaz Band was the support act. |
Andy started up a pop publication in 1964 called Scottish Beat.
Although it featured many famous chart groups, there was a big emphasis on the local scene too with lots of Scottish bands, gigs, venues etc cropping up in the mix. The first issue came out in February 1964 (Beatles cover), and this one here, issue 2, hit the shelves in April 1964. The Scottish Beat office was based in 63 Gellatly Street. Andy had already brought David Bowie to Dundee in 1966 for a gig at the Palais, but in this tour of Scotland in March 1969, the Dundee show was cancelled.
In fact, there were around 10 Scottish dates in March '69, half of which were cancelled, including this Aberdeen gig. The "Temple Of Peace" gigs were staged at Green's Playhouse in Glasgow.
This advert was published in May 1970 and lists 3 concerts relating to the venue. |
When the first issue of Scottish Beat was published, the office received over 2000 letters from readers all over the UK, giving it a big thumbs up.
One of the letters was from Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, who also praised the periodical and then reminded Andy to send him copies of future issues. An ad for a new record by Glasgow's Studio Six dated September 1966.
By this time, ALP records had done a distribution deal with Polydor and so it was their A&R team who handled the promotion and sales. This advert is dated June 1970 and has 3 main bands playing a couple of Scottish gigs.
Family, Chicken Shack and Black Sabbath the bands - Glasgow and Edinburgh the locations. |
The Jazz Band Championship advert is from September 1960, and one of the acts who competed was Andy Lothian's East Coast Jazzmen.
This contest took place in Glasgow - 12 bands were on parade, and with 5 Glasgow acts involved, Glaswegians were hot favourites to retain the title.
However, it was the East Coast Jazzmen who startled the judges & crowd with their performance, and won the trophy to "thunderous applause". They also secured the award for "Best Rhythm Section".
You can see on their gig list dated March 1961, they put their "Champions" title to good use by incorporating it into their advertisements. It worked too - later that year they played their first gigs in London, then afterwards had a residency in Germany.
This contest took place in Glasgow - 12 bands were on parade, and with 5 Glasgow acts involved, Glaswegians were hot favourites to retain the title.
However, it was the East Coast Jazzmen who startled the judges & crowd with their performance, and won the trophy to "thunderous applause". They also secured the award for "Best Rhythm Section".
You can see on their gig list dated March 1961, they put their "Champions" title to good use by incorporating it into their advertisements. It worked too - later that year they played their first gigs in London, then afterwards had a residency in Germany.
A gig in Aberdeen for one hit wonder, Peter Sarstedt, on 10 March 1969.
The Dundee date in the Caird Hall took place on the 7th. The Humblebums were Billy Connolly & Gerry Rafferty. |
This was a one-off gig for Hank Locklin, staged in Aberdeen in December 1969.
When Andy brought him back for a full Scottish tour in 1970, the Dundee crowd in the Caird Hall got 5 encores! The Humblebums were, once again, the support act. |
Andy famously brought The Beatles to Scotland in '63 & '64'
With the gig at the Caird Hall in October 1963, Andy had to make an announcement on stage before the show started - all because of what happened at the Glasgow concert previously, which you can read about yourself. |
It wasn't only famous bands playing major venues Andy organised, he also catered for local bands hitting the scene who played small town venues.
Here in November 1968 The Brian Marshall Foundation were doing their thing at West Calder Youth Centre. |
Andy was involved in this big show.
A two night performance in Aberdeen that took place in August 1964. Billy J Kramer the headline act. This particular package tour didn't stop off in Dundee, but in September '64, Billy J Kramer did play in the Caird Hall with completely different support acts. |
A Tom Paxton gig in Glasgow - May 1970.
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Andy owned the Palais Ballroom in South Tay Street, and every Sunday throughout the 60's, they had an attraction called the Top Ten Club.
This brought in the best chart groups from all around the UK, which were usually accompanied by local acts on the bill too. This ad here is from Nov 1966 and lists a couple of well known bands who were to be playing that month. |
This ad for the Top Ten Club is from Feb 1964.
It highlights some of the local acts who had residencies, and below them are some of the forthcoming attractions who were well known nationally. |
Andy Lothian Org was the agency dealing with Irish act, Emerald Showband.
This outfit also played at the Palais fairly regularly. The ad is dated April 1968. |
A touch of humour with this ad dated April 1970.
Although it's for Andy's Agency in Dundee, they decided to have the secretary the main centre of attention in the advert, most probably because she'd be the one who answered all the calls first. They have a list of some of the acts they had on their books at the foot of the caption. |
This advert for ALP Records was published in July 1966 and is a mixture of the label's beat group releases and their traditional Scottish ones.
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August 1966 is the date of the advert, and Peter & Alison is the act who brought out a single on ALP Records celebrating the opening of the Tay Road Bridge.
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Unfortunately, not only was Ginger Baker's Airforce one of Andy's final concerts in Dundee but they were also the act who ended his business.
Andy paid the band a large figure in advance, but the Scottish shows drew very small audiences and as a result, the Andy Lothian Organisation went bust the following month. The Caird Hall gig took place in May 1970. |
An advert for the Andy Lothian Organisation in Panmure Street.
Plenty of well known bands listed. Also lots of big names due to visit the Top Ten Club. Ad published in June 1966. |
2 ads for the price of one!
The Andy Lothian Agency in London. The Andy Lothian Organisation in Dundee. Both covering a variety of business atcivities. Advert published in August 1966. |