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Tractor (band)
Encyclopedia
Tractor is a band
founded in Rochdale
, Lancashire
, England
by guitarist/vocalist Jim Milne and drummer Steve Clayton in 1971. Both had been members of a beat group, The Way We Live since 1966. They are notable both for their appreciation by John Peel
and Julian Cope
, but also for their longevity because as of 2007, they are still performing. The third member of the recording band until 1972 was manager and sound engineer John Brierley, who was replaced in late 1972 by Alan Burgess as recording engineer, and Chris Hewitt as manager and live sound engineer.
The group was booked into London's Spot Studios and finished the sessions within two days, and in January 1971 the band's debut album, A Candle for Judith was released, credited to The Way We Live. The release, named after Clayton's then girlfriend, later wife, earned immediate critical acclaim "...impeccable in both technique and emotion"... Al Clark writing in Time Out in London in 1971.
Meanwhile, Peel bought the band recording equipment and a stereo PA system. He also convinced the band to change their name. Looking out of his kitchen window at Peel Acres in Suffolk, he spied a tractor in the fields adjacent to his house and recommended it as a name to them. Tractor's first release after the name change from The Way We Live was a 7 inch maxi single -- "Stoney Glory"/"Marie"/"As You Say" -- for Dandelion. They also backed up another Dandelion act -- Beau
-- on his Creation album (1971). All of this recording was done in an attic and bedroom studio of a terraced house in Edenfield Road Rochdale, which John Peel named Dandelion Studios,Rochdale to tie in with his record label Dandelion Records
.
The duo's first full-length follow-up was released in 1972. By January 1973, the album was earning positive reviews. Melody Maker
stated "albums don't come any better than this", Bob Harris
, Anne Nightingale on BBC Radio 1
and Kid Jensen on Radio Luxembourg
, all gave airplay
to the album and it climbed to 18 in the Radio Luxembourg album charts, and to 30 in the Virgin Bestseller charts. Longtime sound engineer John Brierley was eventually replaced by former The Way We Live singer Alan Burgess and, along with Milne, Clayton, and new production manager Chris Hewitt, the group began building a studio in Dawson Street, Market Street Heywood
, Lancashire
, named Tractor Sound Studios, again partially financed by John Peel. This studio would feature in a BBC film about Rochdale, Heywood, and John Peel, when the band and Chris Hewitt revisited the studio in December 2006. In September 2009, the location of Tractor Sound Studios was celebrated with a blue plaque as a testimonial to the members of Tractor and John Peel. The plaque is mounted on the front of the building. The third album for Dandelion, which was to be eventually released in the 1990s as Worst Enemies, was recorded at both Chipping Norton Studios, Oxfordshire and Tractor Sound Studios, Heywood.
Tractor eventually left the Dandelion label, which had effectively ceased to operate by late 1973.
UK Records
label.
In the summer of 1976, Milne and Clayton and manager Chris Hewitt who had returned from London where he had been working for a London PA company mixing sound for Ian Dury,Carol Grimes, and Sheer Elegance on live gigs, recruited bassist Dave Addison and teamed up again with studio engineer John Brierley, now the owner of Cargo Recording Studios at that point based in his house on Drake Street. They recorded another single -- "No More Rock 'n' Roll"/"Northern City" -- which was issued on Cargo Records of Rochdale and made the newly invented NME
Indie singles chart.It also appeared on the 1977 punk compilation LP Streets. The "No More Rock'n'Roll"single was released to coincide with the 1977 Deeply Vale Festival
, a legendary North West England music festival of the 1970s which the band were heavily involved in. At this point Tractor Music- PA Company and Music shop moved into premises along with Cargo Studios on Kenion Street Rochdale. The whole street became a music complex during the 1970s to the 1990s with many well known bands including Joy Division
buying equipment here and hiring PA's from Tractor Music and recording in Cargo Studios, renamed Suite Sixteen Studios (owned initially by Peter Hook of Joy Division and Chris Hewitt) from 1985
In 1980, Tractor Milne, Clayton, and Addison went in the studio once again, this time adding blind musician Tony Crabtree on keyboards/guitar. They recorded another single -- "Average Man's Hero"/"Big Big Boy" -- this one for Roach Records, which was a label run by the band themselves.
has given Tractor and their first album favourable attention.
The band issued CDs on numerous labels from 1991 before starting their own company in 1996, Ozit Morpheus Records, which has now reissued their entire back catalogue. Tractor began performing live again in 2001 and have become a regular festival band playing both Glastonbury
and Canterbury
festivals. In 2004 Tractor took part and provided music for an ITV documentary, Truly, Madly, Deeply Vale
. This was released as an extended DVD
, Deeply Vale Festivals
in July 2007. BBC Television
also showed a short documentary on Tractor in January 2007.
Tractor spent 2007 and 2008 in the studio recording additional material for a new extended version of their album about the Peterloo Massacre which was eventually released in August 2011. Despite the new Peterloo album being disinherited by Jim Milne the album has had some great reviews around the world.
Steve published his first novel 'The Art of Being Dead' in the meantime and is currently hard at work on the follow-up due for release in late 2011 early 2012
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
founded in Rochdale
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
by guitarist/vocalist Jim Milne and drummer Steve Clayton in 1971. Both had been members of a beat group, The Way We Live since 1966. They are notable both for their appreciation by John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
and Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
, but also for their longevity because as of 2007, they are still performing. The third member of the recording band until 1972 was manager and sound engineer John Brierley, who was replaced in late 1972 by Alan Burgess as recording engineer, and Chris Hewitt as manager and live sound engineer.
Early history
In the early days, the main marketing tool of unsigned hopeful bands was to send demo tapes to sympathetic DJs. Accordingly a tape was sent to Peel who had a fondness for Rochdale, having worked in a cotton mill there before becoming a DJ. Peel sent his label manager, Clive Selwood, from London to Rochdale in order to sign up the band.The group was booked into London's Spot Studios and finished the sessions within two days, and in January 1971 the band's debut album, A Candle for Judith was released, credited to The Way We Live. The release, named after Clayton's then girlfriend, later wife, earned immediate critical acclaim "...impeccable in both technique and emotion"... Al Clark writing in Time Out in London in 1971.
Meanwhile, Peel bought the band recording equipment and a stereo PA system. He also convinced the band to change their name. Looking out of his kitchen window at Peel Acres in Suffolk, he spied a tractor in the fields adjacent to his house and recommended it as a name to them. Tractor's first release after the name change from The Way We Live was a 7 inch maxi single -- "Stoney Glory"/"Marie"/"As You Say" -- for Dandelion. They also backed up another Dandelion act -- Beau
Beau
Beau is a specialist twelve-string guitar player who first became known in the late 1960s through his recordings for John Peel's Dandelion Records label...
-- on his Creation album (1971). All of this recording was done in an attic and bedroom studio of a terraced house in Edenfield Road Rochdale, which John Peel named Dandelion Studios,Rochdale to tie in with his record label Dandelion Records
Dandelion Records
Dandelion Records was a British record label started in 1969 by the British DJ John Peel as a way to get the music he liked onto record. Peel was responsible for "artistic direction" and the commercial side was handled by Clive Selwood of Elektra Records and his wife Shurely...
.
The duo's first full-length follow-up was released in 1972. By January 1973, the album was earning positive reviews. Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
stated "albums don't come any better than this", Bob Harris
Bob Harris
Bob Harris may refer to:In sport:* Bob Harris , American baseball player* Robert Harris , Scottish footballerIn TV and radio:...
, Anne Nightingale on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
and Kid Jensen on Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg may refer to:*Radio Luxembourg , a Long Wave commercial radio station that began broadcasting from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 1933...
, all gave airplay
Airplay
* Airplay is the amount of time a song is played on the radio.It may also refer to:* AirPlay, an audio & video streaming technology from Apple Inc.* Airplay , Foster & Graydon music project from 1980* Citroën C1, Citroën C1 Airplay...
to the album and it climbed to 18 in the Radio Luxembourg album charts, and to 30 in the Virgin Bestseller charts. Longtime sound engineer John Brierley was eventually replaced by former The Way We Live singer Alan Burgess and, along with Milne, Clayton, and new production manager Chris Hewitt, the group began building a studio in Dawson Street, Market Street Heywood
Heywood, Greater Manchester
Heywood is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Roch and is east of Bury, west-southwest of Rochdale, and north of the city of Manchester. The town of Middleton lies to the south, whilst to the north is the...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, named Tractor Sound Studios, again partially financed by John Peel. This studio would feature in a BBC film about Rochdale, Heywood, and John Peel, when the band and Chris Hewitt revisited the studio in December 2006. In September 2009, the location of Tractor Sound Studios was celebrated with a blue plaque as a testimonial to the members of Tractor and John Peel. The plaque is mounted on the front of the building. The third album for Dandelion, which was to be eventually released in the 1990s as Worst Enemies, was recorded at both Chipping Norton Studios, Oxfordshire and Tractor Sound Studios, Heywood.
Tractor eventually left the Dandelion label, which had effectively ceased to operate by late 1973.
After Dandelion
Tractor then recorded a single in their Heywood studio, the reggae-tinged "Roll the Dice", released on Jonathan King'sJonathan King
Jonathan King is an English singer, songwriter, impresario and record producer. He is also the author of three novels, Bible Two and The Booker Prize Winner , and Beware the Monkey Man , and an autobiography, 65 My Life So Far .King first came to prominence as an...
UK Records
UK Records
UK Records was launched in 1972 by Jonathan King to distribute his own releases and some other artists. The abbreviation UK stands for "United King". The label was distributed at first by Decca Records and, after 1976, by PolyGram...
label.
In the summer of 1976, Milne and Clayton and manager Chris Hewitt who had returned from London where he had been working for a London PA company mixing sound for Ian Dury,Carol Grimes, and Sheer Elegance on live gigs, recruited bassist Dave Addison and teamed up again with studio engineer John Brierley, now the owner of Cargo Recording Studios at that point based in his house on Drake Street. They recorded another single -- "No More Rock 'n' Roll"/"Northern City" -- which was issued on Cargo Records of Rochdale and made the newly invented NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
Indie singles chart.It also appeared on the 1977 punk compilation LP Streets. The "No More Rock'n'Roll"single was released to coincide with the 1977 Deeply Vale Festival
Deeply Vale Festivals
The Deeply Vale Festivals were a unique free festival held in northwest England in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. It is regarded as the one of significant events that united punk music into the festival scene.-Deeply Vale Free Festival:...
, a legendary North West England music festival of the 1970s which the band were heavily involved in. At this point Tractor Music- PA Company and Music shop moved into premises along with Cargo Studios on Kenion Street Rochdale. The whole street became a music complex during the 1970s to the 1990s with many well known bands including Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
buying equipment here and hiring PA's from Tractor Music and recording in Cargo Studios, renamed Suite Sixteen Studios (owned initially by Peter Hook of Joy Division and Chris Hewitt) from 1985
In 1980, Tractor Milne, Clayton, and Addison went in the studio once again, this time adding blind musician Tony Crabtree on keyboards/guitar. They recorded another single -- "Average Man's Hero"/"Big Big Boy" -- this one for Roach Records, which was a label run by the band themselves.
Recent history
As recently as 2004, Julian CopeJulian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
has given Tractor and their first album favourable attention.
The band issued CDs on numerous labels from 1991 before starting their own company in 1996, Ozit Morpheus Records, which has now reissued their entire back catalogue. Tractor began performing live again in 2001 and have become a regular festival band playing both Glastonbury
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
and Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
festivals. In 2004 Tractor took part and provided music for an ITV documentary, Truly, Madly, Deeply Vale
Truly, Madly, Deeply Vale
Truly, Madly, Deeply Vale is a 2004 television documentary produced by David Nolan for Granada Television, about the history of the Deeply Vale Festivals which ran from 1976 to 1979 in the North West of England. The programme makers tracked down many of the musicians who played there, including...
. This was released as an extended DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, Deeply Vale Festivals
Deeply Vale Festivals
The Deeply Vale Festivals were a unique free festival held in northwest England in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. It is regarded as the one of significant events that united punk music into the festival scene.-Deeply Vale Free Festival:...
in July 2007. BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
also showed a short documentary on Tractor in January 2007.
Tractor spent 2007 and 2008 in the studio recording additional material for a new extended version of their album about the Peterloo Massacre which was eventually released in August 2011. Despite the new Peterloo album being disinherited by Jim Milne the album has had some great reviews around the world.
Steve published his first novel 'The Art of Being Dead' in the meantime and is currently hard at work on the follow-up due for release in late 2011 early 2012
Albums
- A Candle for Judith (as 'The Way We Live')on LP and CD
- Tractor - album on LP and CD
- Steve's Hungarian Novel- double album on LP
- Worst Enemies album on CD
- Original Masters album on CD
- Before, During and After the Dandelion Years, Through to Deeply Vale and Beyond album on CD
- John Peel bought us a studio and PA CD (2006)
- Peterloo- Various artists including Tractor" CD August 16th 2011
Singles
- "King Dick II" - as The Way We Live on Dandelion EP (picture label )
- "Stoney Glory"/"Marie"/"As You Say" - Dandelion Maxi single
- "Roll The Dice" - UK Records
- "No More Rock'n'Roll" - Cargo Records
- "No More Rock'n'Roll" - Jim Milne and Tractor without Steve Clayton Polydor
- "Average Man's Hero" - Roach Records
Compilations
- There is Some Fun Going ForwardThere is Some Fun Going ForwardThere is Some Fun Going Forward is the only sampler album released by John Peel's Dandelion Records label, and was marketed by Polydor. As one might expect from Peel, the artists featured were not necessarily mainstream, and in fact, the only artists featured who enjoyed chart success are Clifford...
- Dandelion sampler album (1972) - A Bolt From the Black - featuring Tractor, Jimmy Page, Samson, Warhorse
- StreetsStreets (punk album)Streets is a compilation album of early British punk rock bands from a variety of independent record labels . It was an attempt at an end of year ‘round up’ and, significantly, was the first album released on Beggars Banquet Records .The sleeve notes stated that: "1977 was the year that the music...
- Beggars Banquet sampler album (1977) - Hard Rock - Dutch sampler
- It started In Rochdale CD Album 2008 Ozit Morpheus Records CD 247
DVD
- "Beyond Deeply Vale" - Ozit Morpheus/ents DVD ooo4
- "Deeply Vale Festivals" - Ozit Morpheus DVD ooo5
- "John Peel's Dandelion Records" - Ozit Morpheus DVD 0007
External links
- Official website
- Julian Cope's Reminiscences
- BBC Documentary
- [ Allmusic Guide entry]