August1970

BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST-Taking Some Time On/ The Iron Maiden (Harvest)
BLUE YOGURT-Lydia/ Umbrella Man (Penny Farthing)
PAUL BRETT SAGE-Three D Mona Lisa/ Mediterranean Lazy Heat Wave (Pye)
CARAVAN-If I Could Do It All Over Again, I’d Do It All Over You/ Hello, Hello (Decca)
DOCTOR FATHER-Umbopo/ Roll On (Pye)
ENGLISH ROSE- Yesterday's Hero/ To Jackie (Polydor)
FAMILY- Strange Band/ Weaver's Answer/ Hung Up Down (Reprise) #11
GHOST-I’ve Got To Get To Know You/ For One Second (Gemini)
GRACIOUS-Once On A Windy Day/ Fugue In D Minor (Vertigo)
HARD MEAT-The Ballad Of Marmalade Emma And Teddy Grimes/ Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (Warner Brothers)
HAWKWIND-Hurry On Sundown/ Mirror Of Illusion (Liberty)
HIGH BROOM-Dancing In The Moonlight/ Percy’s On The Run (Island)
I LUV WIGHT-Let The World Wash In/ Medieval Madrigal (Philips)
OPAL BUTTERFLY-You’re A Groupie Girl/ Gigging Song (Polydor)
MICK SOFTLEY-Can You Hear Me Now/ Time Machine (CBS)
SOMEONE’S BAND-Story/ Give It To You (Deram)
TANGERINE PEEL-Soft Delights/ Thinking Of Me (RCA)
THUNDERCLAP NEWMAN-A Reason/ Stormy Petrol (Track)
TREMELOES-Me And My Life/ Try Me (CBS) #4

ANDWELLA-World’s End (Reflection)
DONOVAN-Open Road (Dawn) #30
BILL FAY-Bill Fay (Deram Nova)
HAWKWIND- Hawkwind (Liberty)
FYNN McCOOL-Fynn McCool (RCA)
MAGNA CARTA-Seasons (Vertigo) #55
MOODY BLUES-A Question Of Balance (Threshold) #1
NIRVANA-Dedicated to Markos III (Pye)
QUIET WORLD-The Road (Dawn)
STATUS QUO- Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon (Pye)
T2-It’ll All Work Out In Boomland (Decca)
TRAFFIC-John Barleycorn Must Die (Island) #11
YES-Time And A Word (Atlantic) #45
V/A-Groupie Girl-Original Soundtrack (Polydor)

MEMORY BOX

1970. I just got expelled from an all boys school in London at age 15 as my hair was too long. The headmaster gave me 2 shillings to get it cut so I went to the local pub and got a half of cider.
In fact 1970 was a great year--expelled, lost my virginity, busted for pot (shit back then) and I went to the biggest rock festival of all time.
My friend and I took the train out of London, then the ferry to the IOW on the Thursday before the weekend. We were meeting friends on Friday so I took an old pillowcase with a peace sign painted on it so they could find us. I was blown away by the size of the crowd even a day early. We camped near 'Freak Street', close to a 100-foot trench hole 12 feet deep (the toilets) that had scaffolding around so you could sit and shit. Well, the scaffolding was gone in the middle of the night to build shacks for the punters, which left a hole full of you know what in a field in complete darkness. We sat by our tent listening to yells of 'WALLY!’ with the occasional scream from some poor hippy who had found the hole by mistake. The night was filled with magic, fires and anticipation of what was coming in the next 3 days.
We slept and found our friends next morning.
We entered the site and all I remember were Taste, Melanie & Family who I had seen back at the Chalk Farm Roundhouse. On Saturday we hit the beach in the morning and found we were the only guys wearing swimming gear, well, at 15 there's not much to show. And then the show...What a line up! I remember John Sebastian doing 8-9 encores, Miles Davis with his back turned to us, The Doors, who should have come on later (not a day time band), ELP-their first gig, and Free who were great but had sold out to the top 10. I was in love with Joni Mitchell at the time (she never knew) and I was angry that she got beer cans thrown at her.
I wandered off at this point and found the tent where Hawkwind/Pink Fairies were playing. It was filled with smoke and stoned people--what a trip! My life changed at this very second and the night was a blur. Finding your tent in a sea of 600,000+ is hard, as is trying to avoid the trench from hell. Some guy was stuck in 5ft of human waste with other guys pissing on him!! Ahh…peace & love.
Sunday morning... The Sun was shining again, never has there been a festival with such perfect weather. By now the fences had been torn down and we were sleighing down the grass hills on sheets of corrugated iron.
Leonard Cohen was a break from the Heavy Rock but I was waiting for the best - Jimi. Jethro Tull were wild and we let off a pipe bomb on top of the hill during their performance. We waited hours for the man to come, everyone was falling asleep and then JIMI came out, What can I say? THE best was on stage and I will never forget it. “Red house” was so loud that the amps picked up military aircraft radio overhead (I have the tape).
I stayed for 6 more days in a B&B in Shanklin

IOW Memories by "ColinBirdseye"