Description
VARIOUS Reading Rock Volume One (1982 UK 20-track double vinyl LP, features live performances recorded at the 1982 Reading Rock Festival, with tracks by Whitesnake, Terraplane, Marillion, Budgie, Twisted Sister, U.F.O, Spider, Grand Prix, Vardis and more, picture sleeve MNLP82).
Reading Rock Volume One UK 2-LP vinyl record set (Double Album)
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
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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
The 1982 Reading Festival arena is depicted in the albums photo. 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 or burger vans and stalls selling hippy sh*t.
The twenty second festival possibly had a more attractive lineup than 1981, at least if one was a heavy rock devotee. 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 .
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. Maidens 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 years Festival (1983) would be the last Reading for several years.
The following are recollections from various people who attended the festival (taken from ukrockfestivals.com):
Nicola remembers – 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. 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.
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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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Pat recalls – 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.
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And finally Dave remembers – The afternoon bands were a bit hazy but I remember Grand Prix being pretty good, Spider being a Quo like boogie band , Cheetah – masses of whistles and chants of “get your t*ts out for the lads” Maiden – OK and the crowd favourite, Y&T – best of the weekend.
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The main reason why I purchased this album was because of the two live Budgie tracks.
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