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Andy Roberts produced a string of highly regarded and critically acclaimed solo albums during the 1970's in addition to his involvement with Plainsong, Grimms, The Liverpool Scene, and collaborations with Everyone and Yellow Dog. Several 'Best Of' compilations were released in the 1980's and the Mooncrest CD in 1994, culminating in the 'Just For The Record - the solo anthology', put together with Andy's full co-operation in 2006. |
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SOLO CAREER
‘I’m realising that my biggest problem, now as then,’ says Andy Roberts, ‘is that I get so bored in the studio. I just want to bang it down and get on with something else. In the ‘70s I was so busy rushing around from one gig to another, one session to another, one collaboration to another, that I couldn’t be bothered to polish anything in the way that other artists did. There wasn’t enough time. Andy’s ’failing’, though, has been responsible for an extraordinarily rich and, up till now, largely untapped (on CD) seam of music from the glory days of rock – intriguingly crafted, beautifully played, often luxuriantly produced (at odds with that ‘bang-it-down’ remembrance), and, taken as a body of work, the product of a man who deserves to be written back into the history which so curiously seems to have airbrushed him out or, at best, demoted his name to that of a Zelig-like footnote in the sories of other people. Andy Roberts is an enigma: a man whose story involves playing on hit singles while studying for (and achieving) a law degree in the ’60s; playing on an album produced by Jimi Hendrix; hanging out at Paul McCartney’s place during the Beatles’ studio years; playing the Albert Hall and touring America with Led Zeppelin in 1969; playing both 1969 and 1970 Isle of Wight Festivals.And yet who but a handful of connoisseurs and train-spotters on the mighty railway of rock have even heard of the fellow? Andy Roberts didn’t disappear from the limelight – he simply moved sideways, out of its glare. Simultaneously (in a combination that is rare) both as an artist and a journeyman musician, he decided to stop making records with his name on the cover after the dismal luck which all-but buried the 1973 album he regards as his best, Andy Roberts & The Great Stampede. He has remained a comfortably successful working musician ever since. [ taken from sleeve notes of Just for the Record... ] |
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| Discography | |
URBAN COWBOY | Fledg'ling FLED 3088 | 2012 Andy's URBAN COWBOY will be released on 24th September on Fledg’ling Records. The CD, which comes complete with a 12 page booklet, ( worth buying just for Andy's reminiscences from those heady days in the early 1970s! Webweaver ) has been digitally remastered from the original studio tapes. [ more info here ] |
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Andy Roberts and the Great Stampede | Fledg'ling FLED 3064 | 2007 Released for the very first time on CD, this album contains the nine original tracks plus five bonus tracks. The CD comes with a sixteen page booklet and contains Andy's recollections and includes many of the photographs he took during his trip to Jamaica in the early 1970s which inspired several of the tracks. [ more info here ] |
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NINA AND THE DREAMTREE | Strange Days Records WAS 1042 CD | 2007 A Japanese release on CD. [ more info here ] |
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HOME GROWN | Strange Days Records WAS 1041 CD | 2007 A Japanese release on CD. [ more info here ] |
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ANDY ROBERTS Cut Outs | Vinyl Japan JASK CD174 | 2006 A genuine release for the Japanese market. Pressed in a limited edition of 500 copies to coincide with Andy's dates in Tokyo in 2006. Andy mastered the 16 tracks, which are mostly unreleased songs, demos, out-takes, radio cuts, etc. The package contains a question and answer session - in Japanese! [ more info here ] |
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ANDY ROBERTS - JUST FOR THE RECORD...the solo anthology, 1969-76 | SANCTUARY CM EDD 1084 | 2006 The title may be a bit of a mouthful but this double CD, produced with the full consent and co-operation of Andy, holds the very best of his music from this period. For the first time the remixed, re-recorded and improved later versions made for B&C version of HOME GROWN are available on CD together with NINA AND THE DREAMTREE, plus several bonus items, which include tracks from Andy's 1970 EVERYONE and 1973 albums URBAN COWBOY and THE GREAT STAMPEDE. [ more info here ] |
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BEST OF ANDY ROBERTS | MOONCREST CREST CD 014 | 1992 A compact disk containing sixteen tracks and sleeve notes pulled from the 'From time to time' album released by Big Ben in 1985. .[ more info here ] |
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ANDY ROBERTS: FROM TIME TO TIME | BIG BEN | 1985 Again a 'Best of' album containing Andy's most successful solo songs. Andy was concentrating on theatre and film music during the 80's. He was briefly the Musical Director at the Royal Court, Sloane Square. [ more info here ] |
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ANDY ROBERTS AND THE GREAT STAMPEDE | ELEKTRA K42151 | 1974 Another great album, but it's release was thwarted by the 3 day week which was happening at the time! "The album never got a proper release - there wasn't enough copies, they weren't available on the release day and the review copies didn't go out. It was heartbreaking... [ more info here ]
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ANDY ROBERTS | CHARISMA CS6 | 1973 Contains tracks drawn mostly from Home Grown and Nina and the Dream Tree plus some from The Liverpool Scene days. A ‘Best Of’ acknowledgement of Andy's work packaged by Charisma. [ more info here ]
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URBAN COWBOY | ELEKTRA K 42139 | 1973 Urban Cowboy contains some real gems. A beautiful version of 'All around my grandmother's floor', co-written with Mike Evans from The Liverpool Scene, 'Richmond', 'Home at Last' and 'Poison Apple Lady'. Recorded between Autumn 1971 and Spring 1973 and released in 1973. [ more info here ] |
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NINA AND THE DREAMTREE | PEGASUS PEG5 | 1971 A beautiful album, full of atmosphere and haunting music. This album should have been massive. Tracks like 'Keep my Children Warm', 'I've seen the movie' and of course 'Nina', are timeless favourites and still sound wonderful 30 years on. [ more info here ] |
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HOME GROWN | B&C CA 1034 | 1971 The same album but released on B&C Records the following year. Between 1970-71 Sandy Roberton's (Andy's Manager) allegiance switched to B&C/Pegasus and this is the result. Only 10 tracks this time, but with 'Lonely in the Crowd' (not on RCA-HG ) and other tracks remixed. Information on the album sleeve this time. Also released on AMPEX later, but with a mixture of tracks taken from Home Grown and Nina & the Dream Tree. [ more info here ] |
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HOME GROWN | RCA 8086 | 1970 A highly regarded debut album. This album was recorded just prior to The Liverpool Scene breaking up. This album featured some great musicians from the band Mighty Baby and some very impressive song writing. The star of the front cover, the lovely sheepdog, was 'Seithenyn' - named after the legendary Welsh drunkard Seithenyn ap Seithyn Saidi, from Thomas Love Peacock's "The Misfortunes of Elphin". [ more info here ] |
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