1970 - Clapton's new band, solo album + IOW Festival goes ahead

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In July 1970, local residents were objecting to planned music festivals in the UK, one at Plumpton Racecourse and another on the Isle of Wight.

The Plumpton Festival was set to feature Deep Purple, Family, Yes, Colloseum, The Groundhogs, Elton John and Peter Green.

It didn't draw a massive crowd like the festivals at Bath and the Isle of Wight. The following year the festival moved to Reading and so began the annual rock festival in the town that is still running today (well not this year obviously).

On the Isle of Wight, the festival promoters, having failed to secure the site of the previous festival in 1969 - which had witnessed Bob Dylan's return to the stage after a three year absence - found a new site at Freshwater Bay for the 1970 festival.

"If anything disastrous does happen (with the approvals process) we can switch to one of the reserve sites," said Peter Harrigan of festival promoters Fiery Creations.

Derek & The Dominoes unveiled

"The County Council has been hounding us and the rear admirals and brigadiers have been whipping up hysteria against us. We've almost been hounded off the island."

"This could be the last year of the big festivals, so we want them to go out with a big bang."

Donovan appeared on the cover of the Melody Maker, announced as performing at the forthcoming IOW festival. 

The news section of the Melody Maker on 25 July featured the first picture of Derek & The Dominoes - Jim Gordon, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock and Eric Clapton - along with tour dates, including a festival in Nice, France.

"We did not want to do any festivals at all, let alone so early" said Clapton. "But this one seems unusual and more pleasant than many others."

On the same page is an item about how the single 'Ohio' by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young was to be released in the UK, having been banned by radio stations in America.

The reason for the ban was that
the song refers to US president Richard Nixon and the killing of four Kent State University students by National Guard troops brought in to break up an anti-Vietnam War demonstration.

Meanwhile, Eric Clapton talks to MM about his first solo album, due out in the UK in two weeks. "The biggest reason for it coming out is that it's just good music. I loved the sound of the whole thing and I never thought that was possible. I've had hang-ups about my singing my whole life. I've always been worried about whether or not I could sing."

Clapton said he felt he had to follow through with the album because "I couldn't let anybody down and I had to do it. The love that went around between everybody involved on the record was just so powerful that I'm really proud of it."

Hotlegs - the band that would later become 10cc - emerged with their hit song 'Neanderthal Man'. The band’s leader, Eric Stewart, said they were ready with an album and how amazed he was by Kevin Godley’s singing. At this point, it was just the three of them - Stewart, Godley and Lol Crete, before Graham Gouldman joined and they became 10cc.

Birmingham's Black Sabbath announce their forthcoming second album, Paranoid. The single of the title track is being released this week.

In neat gothic type, the MM describes how Led Zeppelin invaded Germany (groan...)

In the folk gigs section of the Melody Maker this week, the one hit wonder, Mr 'Dave' Bowie is playing at the White Hart pub in Acton, supported by Orpheus Boot.

Who's this Dave Bowie geezer?

Bowie was at this point involved in his Arts Lab project and had formed a new electric band, The Hype, a vehicle for the new songs he had written for his 1970 album, The Man Who Sold The World.

The Hype was Bowie with Tony Visconti on bass, Mick Ronson on guitar and Ronson's mate Woody Woodmansey on drums.

Clearly, he was some way off gaining any kind of recognition for his efforts. Quite a contrast from Ziggymania in two years' time.

In other news, Kenny Everett was sacked by the BBC for making an innocuous remark about a politician's wife passing her driving test. He had been feuding with the BBC management for some time and had recently told the MM the BBC was awful, really revolting". In the interview, Everett said he wouldn't continue as a DJ forever. He already had a London Weekend Television Show, 'Nice Time' and home studio.

The sorry tale of the Yorkshire Folk, Blues & Jazz Festival at Krumlin unfolded in August 50 years ago. What could have been one of the biggest festivals of the era with better management, turned into a logistical disaster that had to be closed down because of unseasonably wet and cold weather.

For the full picture of how a pleasant country festival turned into "an unmitigated disaster", check out the memories of those who attended on this site.