Ozit Morpheus Tractor

Ozit/Morpheus Older News

US Blues Tour 1963

Format: DVD, NTSC Region 0 / All Region DVD
Catalogue Number: OZIT DVD 009
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Ozit Records
Release Date: 14 December 2009

Further details here

Read review here

Order via this website

John Peel's Dandelion Records DVD

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Review by Pete Feenstra, getreadytorock.com

Review by Ian Abrahams, Record Collector, 2009

Review in www.unpeeled.net, 2009

Review in Classic Rock, 2009

Featuring: John Peel, Kevin Coyne and Siren, Medicine Head/John Fiddler, Gene Vincent, Stack Waddy, Bridget St. John, Tractor/The Way We Live, Principal Edwards, Bill Oddie.

A 6-hour long DVD hosting an exhausting collection of words and images all united under the banner of John Peel's Dandelion Records, the label he set up with business partner Clive Selwood. The label's story is told via 'talking head' interviews with Sheila Ravenscroft and an assortment of artists who released their output through the label, including Bridget St. John, Medicine Head, Stack Waddy and Siren & Kevin Coyne.

There's also a number of concert recordings taken over a number of years - you can watch the likes of Medicine Head's John Fiddler aging in a heroically undignified fashion over the course of several solo acoustic performances filmed since his heyday (his band had the only hit record in Dandelion's history!) Those with an aversion to rather old, hairy men might want to steer well clear of this DVD, but otherwise it's an interesting watch, and there's something rather endearing about just how lo-fi and unedited it all is.

Further details here

Order via this website

November 17, 2009

Route M62 Rochdale Music Blue Plaque Day Event T-Shirt

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A unique print run of T-Shirts done for the Route M62 Rochdale Music Blue Plaque Day event

Sizes L XL or XXL

This is a great T-Shirt for Peter Hook, Joy Division, New Order fans or just fans of the Rochdale scene

Order via this website

October 12, 2009

Deeply Vale "Jester" T-Shirt

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Further details here

Order via this website

ROCKIN ROCHDALE

Blue Plaque Celebration

Wednesday 23rd September, 2009 was the day when two blue plaques were unveiled in the Borough of Rochdale to commemorate and recognise two uniquely important recording venues/music buildings that influenced rock and pop music locally, nationally and internationally.

For pictures from the event, visit the ROCKIN ROCHDALE site, proceed to the LATEST NEWS links

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ROCKIN ROCHDALE

Blue Plaque Celebration - Wednesday 23rd September

The following events are totally free and are open to the public, except the Music Event as tickets cost £15.

11:30 AM - A blue plaque is going to be unveiled at 58 Market St, Heywood, OL10 1UK. This is the former site of Tractor Sound Studios. Attending will be media, local dignitaries and music celebrities. There will be a big screen video on Market St showing film related to Heywood and Rochdale.

12:00 Midday - Official opening of the Music Exhibition at Heywood Library foyer, OL10 1SJ.

01:15 PM - A blue plaque is going to be unveiled at Kenion St, Rochdale, OL16 1SJ. Attending will be media, local dignitaries and music celebrities. There will be a big screen video on Baron St showing film related to Heywood and Rochdale.

08:00 PM - Music event with bands, celebrity musicians and celebrity DJs (the line-up is listed in the poster above) at the Back Door Music Project, Broadwater Centre, Smith St, Rochdale, OL16 1HE. Tickets £15.

New reviews from www.terrascope.co.uk:

STEVE HILLAGE – DEEPLY VALE (double LP set)
DEEPLY VALE FESTIVALS DVD
BICKERSHAW FESTIVAL DVD
GLASTONBURY FAYRE DVD

Read them here!

July 25, 2008

Announcing A New Release

Grahame Smith "Kalinka"

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Details here

Order via this website.

July 3, 2009

CD Rarities Volume 10
OZIT CD 90

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This CD, Volume 10 in the rarities collection, is not available in the shops and possibly never will be. Only available from Ozit-Morpeus records via mailorder.

18 tracks - two-thirds are rare live recording, one-third - rare live studio material.

Order via this website

Mailorder Address:
Ozit Morpheus Records
Billy Fury Ltd
P.O.Box 116
Northwich
Cheshire
CW9 5UG
Tel: 01565 734066 or 07970 219701

Please make cheques payable to: Ozit-Morpheus Records

May 24, 2009

Steve Hillage
Live At Deeply Vale 1978 - 180g Vinyl

Format: 180 gram Heavy Vinyl LP
Catalogue Number: OZITLP8007
Number of Discs: 2
Release Date: 22 June 2009

Further details here

Order via this website

The Fall - Northern Cream, The Fall DVD That Fights Back

Format: DVD
Catalogue Number: OZITDVD008
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Ozit Records
Release Date: 13 April 2009

Further details here

Order via this website

The Last Mad Surge of Youth

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Times writer and former stalwart of the Rochdale music scene, Mark Hodkinson, has published his debut novel, The Last Mad Surge of Youth.

Set in both the present day and the early 1980s, when Maggie Thatcher ruled the world (or thought she did) and new wave kids were dreaming up insurrection, The Last Mad Surge of Youth is a novel about bands, growing up, moving away and getting famous, suicide, staying at home and getting bored, fanzines, the bomb, love, alcoholism, egotism and self-doubt.

The narrative begins with the DIY ethos of punk, steering through major label hype, to tired aftermath. While the protagonist, John Barrett, holds centre stage, his boyhood pal, Dave Carey, who opted out of the band for fear of playing live, is left at home, to brood. The pair meet up years later in controversial circumstances and ponder how now became then, and what they do next.

One of the scenes in the book sees Carey visit 'Digger' Music (clearly an alter ego Tractor Music) where he asks the owner (probably Chris Hewitt!) whether he'd stock a fanzine produced by the band.

It reads:

Carey took copies of the fanzine to Digger for them to sell. He passed the wall teeming with notes advertising instruments for sale and appeals for musicians to join bands. He couldn’t understand why anyone would advertise for members, it devalued the art form. Groups, the ones that really mattered, were formed out of fellowship and shared values, not on how well they could play or whether they had a Marshall amp or Gibson guitar. It was a kind of love, best left to serendipity.

He counted the exclamation marks after phrases like, ‘Must be able to play fast!!!’ and ‘Let’s get it on!!!!’ Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple-influenced bassists and guitarists were much sought after, and everywhere was the warning: no time wasters. A good name for a band, he thought: The Time Wasters. He had a notebook containing ideas for names; it was going in there. His favourite was The Pin Ups but he also liked Bread Roll Christ, Poppers, and Fountain Ear. If he left Group Hex he could see himself in The Pin Ups. They’d be wilfully enigmatic, a bit like Devo or Pere Ubu, each member in a cagoule with the hood pulled up tight by the drawstring, posing for photos on rocks out at sea, scary in the sea spray.

Three longhaired lads were perched on speakers, rolling cigarettes and nodding their heads to a song playing on the shop’s hi-fi about a willow tree. Carey asked where the dogs were.

“What dogs?”
“The dogs that are always here.”
“Dunno. Dead, maybe.”

A tall bloke with wispy hair who seemed to be in charge took a handful of fanzines and placed them on the counter.

“Of course we’ll try and sell these for you.”

Carey was suspicious.

“There’s nothing about heavy rock in them,” he volunteered.

“Fair enough. You lot are the future now, aren’t you? Punk, new wave and all that. We’ve had our day.”

He seemed sincere.

Carey looked back as he left the shop. The owner-bloke was motioning with his head towards the door. He might have been letting one of the longhairs know that a delivery had arrived or that the stand containing guitar strings needed restocking. Or, thought Carey, he might have been indicating that the kid just leaving wearing an Italian combat jacket and hand-painted Doc Martens (blue) was a dick.

The book is published by Pomona Books on 6 July, 2009 but is available now via Pomona's website.

It is priced at £7.99 and has already received widespread acclaim:

"This is by far the best book I've read dealing with that rich world of boys growing up, their obsessions, their loves, their music and how this inevitably informs the people they become and the lives they end up leading. I can't recommend it highly enough." - Kevin Sampson.

"A note-perfect rendition of the early-80s northern English indie scene, it contains all the affection missing from John Niven’s similarly biz-themed Kill Your Friends." - Andrew Collins.

"It’s a masterpiece, not a wrong note. Enjoyable to the last line." Alan Sillitoe.

May 10, 2009

Pink Floyd Knebworth 1975

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Crew Sweatshirt
T-Shirt

Please email ozitrecords@gmail.com if outside the UK for P&P costs

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Order via this website

March 19, 2009

Billy Fury Rarities 1-5

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Over 20 tracks of Billy Fury rarities on each CD

Full litho printed booklet and inlay

Very rare short-run CDR albums - part of the Rarities series which now run from 1 to 9

Volumes 1 to 5 are the rare ones

Please email ozitrecords@gmail.com if outside the UK for P&P costs

Mailorder Address:
Ozit Morpheus Records
Billy Fury Ltd
P.O.Box 116
Northwich
Cheshire
CW9 5UG
Tel: 01565 734066 or 07970 219701

Please make cheques payable to: Ozit-Morpheus Records

October 31, 2008

The North-West Region section of the politics show on BBC1: Peterloo

Tractor were fortunate enough to have John Peel indulge them to write and record a suite of songs about Manchester's Peterloo Massacre. Peel helped pay recording studio bills and even bought them equipment to launch several locations of recording studios around Rochdale where they continued to record themselves and other bands which have played a major part in Manchester's musical history.

They recorded a 21-minute suite of songs about Peterloo in 1973 and because of the campaign for a decent memorial to the victims of Peterloo, Tractor have written new songs in the last few years to add to the suite of music which now runs as a whole album at around 41 minutes. The album will be released a few weeks before the 190th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre which is on 16th August 2009.

This Sunday on BBC1 Tractor play an extract from one of the songs and members of the band and their producer Chris Hewitt talk about the politics of Peterloo and the parallels with Thatcherism and today and their idea of a Peterloo concert in the open air in Manchester somewhere near St. Peters Fields.

If you are outside the North-West region of BBC1, you can get the North-West edition of the politics show by selecting other regions on your Sky or digibox.

October 5, 2008

Steve Hardstaff has designed many covers for the Ozit-Morpheus label. Some Ozit covers, including the Tractor one, are featured in this book:

Steve Hardstaff "Cover Versions"

Reviews

"Time will certainly reveal the relevance and importance of what Steve Hardstaff has delivered over the years, with black singing ink, good old cut and paste and those ever present crackling discs that possess his soul and fire his imagination." Mike Badger (founder The La's, Co-owner Viper Label)

"Steve Hardstaff's visual trademark are musical collages packed with exciting, stimulating images and, above all, humour." Jimmy Carl Black (The Mothers Of Invention, The Magic Band, The Muffin Men)

Description

Steve Hardstaff's work has always been about Liverpool: from ferrying images around for Peter Blake and Jan Haworth for the cover of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to producing the award-winning sleeve for Half Man Half Biscuit's This Leaden Pall. Hardstaff's artwork, often signed under his nom-de-guerre 'Jacuzzi,' has been used by every record label to have graced the city in the last 40 years: posters for 'The Magical Mystery Tour', artist in residence at the legendary Eric's club, commissions from contemporary labels. Hardstaff established in Liverpool the first music industry focused design studio outside London and decades later his work continues to attract local, national and international interest. This volume pulls together for the first time a unique collection of work from one of the pioneers of modern graphic design: from the world's first triple gatefold sleeve (The Strawbs' "Grave New World") to work for Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and Liverpool favourites Deaf School, The Icicle Works, Half Man Half Biscuit, Dead or Alive, China Crisis and others, from work that provoked cries of 'treason' from the tabloid press during the Falklands war to collaborations with infamous Sex Pistols designer Jamie Reid. Complementing a striking collection of images are comments and quotes from musicians and artists who have worked with Hardstaff, including Jimmy Carl Black (Mothers of Invention), Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Suggs (Madness), Ian McNabb (Icicle Works) and others, elucidating the creative processes that have positioned him as one of the great innovators of the graphic arts and a leading figure in music industry design.

Synopsis

Steve Hardstaff's work has always been about Liverpool: from ferrying images around for Peter Blake and Jan Haworth for the cover of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to producing the award-winning sleeve for Half Man Half Biscuit's "This Leaden Pall". Hardstaff's artwork, often signed under his nom-de-guerre 'Jacuzzi', has been used by every record label to have graced the city in the last 40 years: posters for 'The Magical Mystery Tour', artist in residence at the legendary Eric's club, commissions from contemporary labels. Hardstaff established in Liverpool the first music-industry-focused design studio outside London and decades later his work continues to attract local, national and international interest. This volume pulls together for the first time a unique collection of work from one of the pioneers of modern graphic design: from the world's first triple gatefold sleeve (The Strawbs "Grave New World") to work for Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and Liverpool favourites Deaf School, The Icicle Works, Half Man Half Biscuit, Dead or Alive, China Crisis and others, from work that provoked cries of 'treason' from the tabloid press during the Falklands war to collaborations with infamous Sex Pistols designer Jamie Reid.

Complementing a striking collection of images are comments and quotes from musicians and artists who have worked with Hardstaff - including Jimmy Carl Black (Mothers of Invention), Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Suggs (Madness), Ian McNabb (Icicle Works) and others - elucidating the creative processes that have positioned him as one of the great innovators of the graphic arts and a leading figure in music industry design.

About the Author

Steve Hardstaff is a graphic designer, proprietor of Pigmeat Records and Principal Lecturer in Graphic Arts at Liverpool John Moores University. He was the house designer for the legendary Eric's club in Liverpool and has also produced artwork for bands and artists such as Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and Lee Scratch Perry.

September 13, 2008

CHRIS HEWITT IN ASSOCIATION WITH TOUCHSTONES PRESENTS A MINI INDOOR MUSIC FESTIVAL

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Building a bridge between the 70s and the 80s Rochdale culture and today

Saturday 20th September, 12-4 pm FREE ADMISSION

Featuring:

The Alligator Brothers
Sam and the Plants
Phil Barrett and his friends
Tractor featuring Jim Milne and Steve Clayton
Walter Kershaw and his Paints
and from the Backdoor Project: Ellie and Yosh

Debate: What’s the future for culture?
On Film: Deeply Vale/70s Music/ Walter Kershaw
Steve Clayton reads from his new novel "The Art of Being Dead"

www.link4life.org/touchstones

01706 924492

July 20, 2008

Two new Joy Division at the Electric Circus T-Shirts

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They have beautiful multi-colour back and front prints.

There are two different Electric Circus fronts, both have the same back print with a ghosted image of Johnny Rotten at the Electric Circus on the back.

Order via this website.

June 27, 2008

Stephen Clayton's new novel

The Art Of Being Dead
Can you become a murderer by doing nothing?

It is the late 1960s and in a bleak Northern English town, Jonathan, 24 attempts to live his life without love, pain or commitment, unaware that in his desire to avoid action he will eventually be drawn into a world of chaos, degradation and death. Visceral and edgy, The Art Of Being Dead is like Rhinehart’s Dice Man transferred to the Northwest of England.

The author, Stephen Clayton, is a founder member of the band Tractor, who signed with John Peel’s Dandelion label. They still record and tour. Stephen has also exhibited paintings at The Royal Academy. This is his debut novel.

Get it at www.bluemoosebooks.com

May 4, 2008

Ozit-Morpheus Profiled in Record Collector!

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April 4, 2008

Announcing A New Release

Grahame Smith "Arrival Of Spring"

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Details here

Order via this website.

March 27, 2008

Fundraiser - In Memory of Andy Burgoyne, Dave Edwards

10 years ago this year, my Dad, Andy Burgoyne, died of stomach cancer in Spring Hill Hospice, Rochdale. This painful time was made a whole lot easier by the support and care given to my Dad, myself, my family and friends by the staff at the Hospice. The Hospice also provided 2 weeks of respite care during the months leading up to his death. As an 18-year old who was living at home alone with my Dad at the time, I cannot express how important respite care is, not only for the patient but also the people around them. The Hospice have also cared for a number of other loved ones in my life. So to show my appreciation to them and the work they do I have arranged for myself and 9 others to do a sponsored walk up Snowdon on the 4th of May, 2008. This would have been my Dad's 56th birthday.

Please visit my fundraising page and sponsor us!

Gemstar Burgoyne

March 15, 2008

Andy Sharrocks, frontman of Rochdale late 70s-early 80s band Accident On The East Lancs, organiser of the Deeply Vale Free Festivals and DJ, now has a successful career as an Americana musician - check out his myspace site.

March 13, 2008

It Started In Rochdale - Step Into The 70s And Beyond
Rochdale, Heywood and Whitworth Music and Arts Scene
Ozit CD 247

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This CD explores the cultural diversity of the music and art scene of Rochdale that started in the 1970s, based around Tractor Music, Cargo Recording Studios, Deeply Vale Festivals and beyond. It covers 70s Rochdale bands as well as the next generation of bands such as the Pranksters, Potential Victims and Untermensch.

Details here

Order here

February 16, 2008

International radio station Big L 1395AM / Sky Digital 0190 will be featuring Billy Fury on its hugely popular programme, This Sunday At Nine, this coming weekend.

Hosted by former Radio 1 DJ, Mike Read, the hour-long programme will feature classic Fury tracks, forgotten gems, as well as the songs that helped shape him.

The show airs this Sunday (17th February) at 21.00. It repeats next Wednesday (20th February), also at 21.00.

Two exhibitions at Touchstones Esplanade, Rochdale

The admission is free

Step Into The 70s

Heritage Gallery
28 February - 29 September 2008

A nostalgic look at the 1970s, a vibrant decade packed with cultural innovation and social change. With family-friendly activities and objects from the museum and local studies collections, take a step back to a funkier time!

Exhibits included in “Step Into The 70s” will be some Deeply Vale Festival items and general info about the extremely creative era of the 1970s that spawned The Rochdale Sculptors, Tractor, Tractor Music, Cargo Studios, Brian Eastwood Guitars, Tony Crabtree, Deeply Vale and would make Rochdale a creative force in Arts and Music right through the late 80s.

Rochdale Sculptors

As part of Touchstones Rochdale’s ‘I Love 70s’ season, key members of the Rochdale Sculptors return with an exhibition of work from their 70s heydays shown alongside recent contemporary work.

The eight artists are: Tony Smart, Brian Woods, Peter Wolstenholme, Danny Milne, Barry Hobson, Walter Kershaw, Christine Pearson and the late Peter Dent.

The Rochdale Sculptors were formed in 1968 by Peter Wolstenholme and Tony Smart who at the time were lecturers at Rochdale College of Art. More tutors at the college soon became involved and the group grew to include other artists, some of whom had no direct connection with the college or Rochdale.

This exhibition focuses on the work of eight key artists from the group. It features surviving original works created when the group was active (as the majority of the large-scale work created in the 1970s was made for temporary exhibitions, much has since been sold, destroyed or lost) alongside contemporary pieces the artists have created more recently showing developments in their practice and links between the old and new works.

From the late 60s until they split in 1974, the Rochdale Sculptors often took their work outdoors to bring it directly to members of the public, targeting viewers with little or no experience of art. Their sculptures regularly appeared along the Esplanade and in other parts of the Borough as well as other locations in the region. They also exhibited indoors at Rochdale Art Gallery and other galleries and venues including the Houses of Parliament. The Rochdale Sculptors became firmly embedded in the cultural life of the town and it is fitting that their work is re-examined as part of a Touchstones Rochdale’s 70s season.

February 2, 2008

CD Rarities Volume 9

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Special 25th Anniversary Limited Edition CD Rarities Volume 9 is now available!

Each one is hand-numbered on the back.

If ordered from this website, it comes with a set of 8 Limited Edition colour postcards of Billy Fury to celebrate his 25th Anniversary.
Tel.: 01565 734066 or email ozitrecords@gmail.com to order your set now.

December 28, 2007

Tractor "Tractor"

This album is truly killer. I think there's more inspiration in these grooves than any single LP has a right to possess! They have a great sound as well, with lots of layered acoustic and electric guitars, often with thick fuzz. When this LP puts the hammer down, it mows everything flat! Their style reminds me of the great Electric Frankenstein LP more than anything, but this is a purely English band with their roots clearly in the same soil as Led Zeppelin, Clark-Hutchinson and The Groundhogs. Passing on the word to you, this is an essential purchase!

Ebay seller iamthewitch

November 20, 2007

Knebworth 1976 T-Shirts and Sweatshirts

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These beautiful T-Shirts and Sweatshirts are now in stock - sizes XL and XXL.   postage inside the UK (otherwise extra).

They feature the actual shirt design worn by the production crew at Knebworth for the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hot Tuna, 10CC and Todd Rundgren.

Order here

October 20, 2007

John Peel/Dandelion Label Night
with Tractor & Guitar George

Saturday, 10th November 2007

Zoom @ The Moon SE24

Zoom Club
The Half Moon / 0207 274 2733
10 Half Moon Lane
Herne Hill
London
SE24 9HU

For details see www.feenstra.co.uk

July 12, 2007

Buyer Beware!

Some merchants are selling a bootleg version of the official DVD by Odeon Entertainment - it is appearing at record fairs, etc. and does not have the DVD booklet in the case or a blue case. Buying a bootleg product deprives Billy Fury's family of their royalties and all the people who have worked hard on the film - of their investment of time and money.

July 4, 2007

Manchester Academy's Roll Of Honour 1973 includes Tractor - click here for further details.

June 9, 2007

Billy Fury DVD

This DVD will be released on 25th June.

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The special Limited Edition version of the DVD will only be available from Ozit-Morpheus Records. Each DVD will have a numbered certificate bearing signatures of Billy's mother Jean Wycherley and brother Albert Wycherley.

Details Here

Order here

June 2, 2007

Tractor, The Way We Live, String Driven Thing, Body and Steve Hillage are featured in the new issue of UNCUT Magazine!

Check out their free CD:

(Click on the above thumbnails to view full size!)

April 28, 2007

Joy Division - Martin Hannett's Personal Mixes
INTERSTATE CD 10797
Distributed by Ozit-Morpheus Records

Details here

Order here

January 15, 2007

This Friday, 19th January 2007

BBC 1 @ 7:30 pm

Watch the "Inside Out" programme!

This Friday, a film examines John Peel's links with Rochdale - where he worked in a mill in 1959, bought recording equipment for Tractor in 1970, which would lead members of the band and their crew to set up various recording studios in Rochdale and Heywood, bought Tractor the PA system they used at the Deeply Vale festivals and played everything recorded at Cargo Studios, Rochdale on his radio show.

Watch this show if you want to learn more about Peel's links to the town of Rochdale and how his money would help create a music industry in the town where from the late 70s onwards, The Fall, Joy Division, Teardrop Explodes, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Gang Of Four, The Chameleons, Inspiral Carpets, Durutti Column, Dead Or Alive and many more would come to record their singles and album tracks...

Taking part in the film are John Peel's wife Sheila Ravenscroft and from Tractor: Chris Hewitt, their manager (and at one time owner of the music shop and co-owner of the recording studio together with Peter Hook from New Order at Kenion St., Rochdale], guitarist Jim Milne and drummer Steve Clayton.

If you live in the BBC's North-West region, apparently you can get BBC 1 North-West if you are a Sky subscriber. In all other regions just choose BBC 1.

Previously unseen archive footage as well as a recent visit to a couple of the band's old recording haunts are seen in this BBC Inside Out production.

December 24, 2006

The Christmas 2006 issue of Record Collector has a fantastic feature on Dandelion Records including these two reviews:

Tractor - self-titled LP (1972)

The Way We Live "A Candle For Judith" (1971)

November 27, 2006

Announcing A New Release

Grahame Smith "A Touch Of Magic"

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Details here

Order via this website.

November 23, 2006

Announcing the opening of www.dandelionrecords.co.uk!

October 27, 2006

Announcing New Release...

V.A. - Black Diamond Express To Hell - An Amazing Ride Along Railroads Of America featuring hot and blue tunes from the 1920s - 1960s

The icon of the locomotive and the train it pulls has been firmly embedded in artistic and popular culture since the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century harnessed steam and encased it in metal to produce the first mammoths of power, movement, speed and beauty. These incredible machines opened up land, sea and, subsequently, air travel to an ever widening populace eager to exploit the New Century and its celebration of Modernism. Little wonder that the railroad has been the subject of setting for numerous stories in films, books and of course music. No more so than in the USA where the train has been used within a variety of musical forms and contexts: as a symbol of freedom - the means of escape from the hardships of the South to the Northern streets of gold - the way back home again; the means of getting to both Heaven and Hell - sexual metaphor; a free ride for the migrant escaping the Great Depression as well as the travelling songster and of course – disaster - the inevitable wreck with its incompetent driver (or brave engineer)!

This 29-track compilation covers the above via an exciting mix of Pre- and Post-War Blues, Hillbilly, Jazz, R 'n' B and Rock 'n' Roll. It includes 2 previously unreleased tracks and a wealth of rare material, some of which has not been available re-mastered for digital audio.

Details here

Order here

Read Unpeeled Review Here

October 16, 2006

A trip down memory lane...

This is an entry in the International Times, London, March 1972, when Chris Hewitt was based at the Union Office at the College in Rochdale and first started promoting community benefits, i.e. concerts with profits going to various causes such as cannabis drug bust court cases and Rochdale's Alternative Paper, etc.

September 20, 2006

"Hungry But Weird"
new Captain Beefheart book from Ozit/Morpheus Records

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Available now: beautiful A4-size book.

"Hungry But Weird" is one of the definitive books about Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. 108 pages on glossy art paper with many photographs and illustrations, put together in the style of late 60s/early 70s underground magazines, this is one of the best in-depth collections of writings/jottings/articles/drawings/illustrations about Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. Full colour card cover with images of Captain Beefheart back and front.

Order via this website.

John Peel Bought Us Studio Gear And a P.A.

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Order via this website.

Details here

Read Pete Feenstra's review here

Record Collector XMas 2006 Review here

Life Too, Has Surface Noise - The Complete Dandelion Records Singles Collection 1969-1972

Tractor have licensed tracks from their archives that featured on Dandelion 7" singles to Cherry Red Records for this excellent new Dandelion boxed set!

Details here

Order here

BBC Article on Tractor/The Way We Live and John Peel - also announcing a new upcoming release! Read it here!

August 5, 2006

The Ruts - Live at the Deeply Vale Festival, Late 1970s
released 01/08/2006

To complement the Steve Hillage, Fast Cars, The Fall and Nik Turner at the Deeply Vale Festival CD releases, here comes a storming late 70s live performance from The Ruts at the legendary North West England Festival, which is to be resurrected in 2007.

Comes with a 10-page foldout booklet with lots of images of Deeply Vale Festivals.

Order by sending a cheque payable to Recordrange, P.O.Box 116, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 5UG or by credit/debit cards. Phone orders: 01565 734066 or 07970 219701

June 10, 2006

Announcing new release:
Billy Fury Rarities Volume 7

Each CD is a hand-numbered limited edition

Contains 18 tracks of superb Billy rarities

Comes with a 12-page CD booklet containing many rare photographs and press articles about Billy

It will be available to all those who attend Albie's concert by sending the number of the ticket in their order letter – these customers will get a special version of the CD. However, visitors to www.billyfury.com website can also order this special CD. When writing in please mention www.billyfury.com in your order letter.

Please email ozitrecords@gmail.com if outside the UK for P&P costs

Volume 8 is available also, containing 18 rare tracks and a 10-page booklet

Mailorder Address:
Ozit Morpheus Records
Billy Fury Ltd
P.O.Box 116
Northwich
Cheshire
CW9 5UG
Tel: 01565 734066 or 07970 219701

Please make cheques payable to: Ozit-Morpheus Records

April 1, 2006

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Manchester District Music Archive, Chris Hewitt/Ozit Morpheus Records and Touchstones Rochdale present:

Manchester Music Meets Rockin' Rochdale

Saturday 8th April, from 12:30 pm till 4 pm at Touchstones Exhibition Centre in Rochdale

ABSOLUTELY FREE

As well as introducing/unveiling extra items into the Rockin’ Rochdale Exhibition for the last couple of weeks on Saturday 8th April, we aim to hold a special event which will include:

John Crumpton and Bob Jones’s film, “The Rise And Fall Of The Nosebleeds”, a superb documentary about Manchester band Ed Banger and The Nosebleeds [see text at end from Bob Jones]

Rare film footage of Vinnie Reilly of Durutti Column jamming with Martin Hannett and Steve Hopkins

Rare film footage of Lisa Stansfield being backed by Rochdale band The Directors

Rare posters from the Manchester music scene of the 70s and 80s

Rare film footage of the late, great blind Rochdale guitarist Tony Crabtree

On show: one of the first tape recorders used to record early Tractor material in the 1960s which would eventually lead to the opening of Cargo Studios/Suite Sixteen

Live acoustic performances from Guitar George Borowski, The Cougars - unplugged acoustic blues and Pete Farrow

Text from Bob Jones about The Nosebleeds Film:

When punk happened, filmmaker John Crumpton filmed Wild Ram, a lively rock combo on an exciting bill at the Forum, Wythenshawe. Wild Ram evolved into "The Nosebleeds", with fabulous but sometimes fractious lead singer Eddie Garrity, guitarist Vinnie Reilly, drummer Toby and bassist Pete, managed by well-known animal lover and hunter Vinnie Faal. A raucous single, "I Ain't Been To No Music School" was released on Rabid Records. The tensions of life on the road, the internal squabbling, the chaotic booze and phlegm-soaked performances were captured by Crumpton, aided and abetted by music and video freak Bob Jones, as part a body of work carried out at the Manchester Film and Video Workshop.

Through the tight-fisted attitude of North-West Arts, who owned the equipment, the performances and revealing interviews were shot on one black and white reel-to-reel video recorder, with a cheap mic. Due to the rediscovery of punk this attempt at a close-up study of local musical history has been digitally manipulated and has been provided with a much improved soundtrack. Which is not saying much. With framing that resembles some of Pontecorvo's finest work, this short study deserves its place in the pantheon of rock visuals, along with Spinal Tap, The Doors (outtakes of Jim Morrison interviews available from Ozit Records) and Bird.

March 18, 2006

The Deeply Vale Festivals of the 1970s 5CD box set

Until we bring you Deeply Vale Festival - Summer 2007 - don’t despair because for a few years we have been working on The Deeply Vale of the 1970s 5CD box set!

Featuring tracks from as many musicians as possible associated with Deeply Vale Festivals in the 1970s and including some real gems - remember the Steve Hillage Live at Deeply Vale and The Fall Live at Deeply Vale CDs – well, two tracks each from Steve Hillage and The Fall [with end of set outro by compere Tony Wilson] were held back from the albums in order for them to go on this 5CD set; check out the list below. Blind Rochdale guitarist Tony Crabtree, who passed away last year, has some rare acoustic stuff in his memory on this album set. Amazing full set from Wilful Damage and several great tracks from Graham Massey and Co. in Danny and the Dressmakers [Deeply Vale 1978]. Fast Cars, The Tunes, Accident on the East Lancs, Body, Visitor 2035, Tractor, Howard The Duck, Durutti Column - their fourth ever performance live at Deeply Vale 1978, The Ruts, the joint rolling contest compered by Eddie Kledjys - it’s all here!

We are just getting the artwork and packaging together if any other musicians who were there or who want to be involved in donating a track or two to this boxed set, please email ozitrecords@gmail.com

Bring What You Expect To Find - The Deeply Vale Festivals of the 1970s

Disk 1:
1. Killer Man Giro - Deeply Vale (Music by Foggy/Words by Hovis B. Reading)
2. The Joint Rolling Contest (Featuring Eddie Kledjys)
3. Murmo Schulze - Our First Number
4. The Tunes - In The Car
5. Ruts - It Was Cold
6. Moodswings - Skinthieves
7. Body - Andromeda
8. Fast Cars - Images
9. Tractor - Roll The Dice
10. The Fall – Bingo Master’s Break Out
11. Tony Crabtree - The Banks Of Pontrathrain

Disk 2:
Danny & The Dressmakers - Full Set From 24th July 1978 Featuring:
1. Danny & The Dressmakers - Ernie Bishops Dead Body
2. Danny & The Dressmakers - What Are We Doing On At A Rock Festival?
3. Danny & The Dressmakers - How Hot Is A Match?
4. Danny & The Dressmakers - Johnny Be Really Fucking Good
5. Here & Now - Strawberry
6. Accident On The East Lancs - Fuck The Society
7. Elti-fits - Untitled
8. Piccadilly Radio Interview Part 1
9. Steve Hillage – Getting Better
10. The David Bacha Band - What You See Is What You Get (Foggy's Beautiful Friday Night Remix)
11. Pete Farrow - Candy Man
12. Trevor Hyett - You Just Can't Make It
13. Howard The Duck - Untitled
14. Aspull - Raspberry

Disk 3:
1. Visitor 2035 - Untitled
2. Durutti Column - Halitosis
3. Tony Crabtree - Little Wing
4. Rivington Spike [Poet] - Untitled
5. No Change - Ruin
6. Here & Now - My Band’s Better Than Your Bong
7. Nik Turner's Sphinx - The Awakening - Pyramid Spell
8. Body - Untitled
9. Foggy & The Mental Asylum Seekers - Michael Howard, Fuck Off
10. Moodswings - Hairy Piano
11. Pete Farrow - Daydreamer
12. John Keegan - Yearning For The Human Race To Run
13. The Fall – Brand New Cadillac
14. No Change - Lament

Disk 4:
1. Danny & The Dressmakers - Dynamite
2. Murmo Schulze - The Death Pulse
3. Accident On The East Lancs - Help Me Mary
4. John Keegan - Me & The Green Machine
5. Piccadilly Radio Interview Part 2
6. Ruts - SUS
7. Elti-fits - Letterbox
8. Fast Cars - Who Loves Jimmy Anderton
9. Howard The Duck - You Know Me
10. Durutti Column - Boxes
11. Aspull - Damson
12. The Tunes - Untitled
13. Body - Tales Of The Riverbank
14. Visitor 2035 - Topa
15. Here & Now - Hairy Barber

Disk 5:
1. Tractor - Lost On The Ocean
2. Pete Farrow - Underwater Guitarist
3. Elti-fits - Tony Wilson
4. Trevor Hyett - There's No Such Thing As Too Much Fun
5. Steve Hillage – U.F.B
6. Dr. Fogg’s Mistik Misfits - Valley Of Dreams (Improvisation)
7. Ruts - Jah Wars
8. Fast Cars - Tameside Girls
9. Nik Turner's Sphinx - God Rock
Wilful Damage - Full Set From 25th July 1978 Featuring:
10. Wilful Damage - Living In A Prison
11. Wilful Damage - Proton Neutraliser
12. Wilful Damage - I'm Scared
13. Wilful Damage - Peace & Life
14. Wilful Damage - Vandals
15. Wilful Damage - Encore (Featuring Eddie Kledjys)
16. Bill Normal - My Fathers Woolly

Karl 'Foggy' Forshaw: Digital Restoration & Remastering, Live & Studio Engineering, Studio Production & Mastering
Thomas Hewitt: Additional Engineering
Chris Hewitt: Concept & Executive Producer

Killer Man Giro Are:
Hovis B. Reading - Poet & Surrealist
Foggy - Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Programmer, Composer, Engineer, Producer & Idealist

Foggy & The Mental Asylum Seekers Were:
Foggy - Guitar & Sound Generation
Tyrion Moses - Drums
Tom Fool - Saxophophone
Scotty - Bass
Darryl - Vocalisation & Face Paint
Sooty - Plastic Drainpipe & Fire Breathing
Emma Pyromaniac - Metal Objects

Dr. Fogg’s Mistik Misfits Were:
Foggy - Guitar, Sequencing & Sound Generation
Blacky - Drums
Mark - Keyboards
Gary - Bass

December 2, 2005

Announcing

(click above to view full size images)

New Zappa and Beefheart book:
“Zapped - Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart”
Published by Ozit-Morpheus Records for Christmas 2005

“Zapped - Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart” is a 96-page book with full colour cover and all pages printed on glossy art paper. Great text, many photos and illustrations relating to Frank Zappa, The Mothers of Invention and Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band. Each book is an individually hand-numbered limited edition.

Available now from Ozit-Morpheus Records, P.O.Box 116, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 5UG, UK. Cheques and Postal Orders payable to Recordrange; telephone numbers for credit card orders: 01565 734066, 07970 219701, 01565 734577 – Switch, Maestro, Visa and MasterCard are accepted. Or order via this website.

Jim Milne gets praise from South African radio!

Top Seven Lead Guitarists

Roy Buchanan - Dale Hawkins and solo. Telecaster king who could play better than Clapton, well that’s what Clapton said.

Jukka Tolonen - Tasavallan Presidentti. Furious riffs and astounding sounds in the jazzy side of Steve Miller….

Jim Milne - Tractor. Awesome lead breaks.

Brian Parrish – Badger. Riveting breaks that extend for at least an hour.

Jim Cregan – Stud /Blossom Toes. Acoustic lead through a Marshall Amp and Leslie Speakers; nobody has ever achieved this sound.

Mike Bloomfield – Electric Flag/Paul Butterfield Band/ Supersession albums. He cradles the axe like a baby and it weeps like a child, Jewish sensitivity.

Peter Banks - Syn/Yes/Flash. Gretsch tone and reverb… the best!

Rockin’ Rochdale - The Concert has been cancelled, due to unfavourable weather conditions. Please check back soon for rescheduling information (tentatively Spring 2006). All tickets will be refunded at the outlets through which they were purchased.

Announcing

www.rockinrochdale.com is now up and running!

It will be developed as a site in conjunction with the exhibition at Touchstones Centre, Rochdale, and will widen its base to cover all musical connections to Rochdale.

November 18, 2005

Chris Hewitt of Deeply Vale Free Festivals and Ozit Morpheus Records will be on The Michelle Mullane Show from 11:45 pm to 1 pm on BBC GMR this Friday, 18th November, talking about Deeply Vale Festival 2006 and the Rockin’ Rochdale Concert.

Also on the show, performing some songs live, will be Jim Milne and Steve Clayton of Tractor, who appear in concert at the Gracie Fields Theatre in Rochdale (date TBA), along with Wilful Damage, Pie and Roq. The Rochdale concert will be compered by Michelle Mullane.

Rochdale Rocks - a history of popular music in Rochdale from "Middleton to Milnrow"

Exhibition at Touchstones Centre, The Esplanade, Rochdale, 22nd October, 2005 onwards. For six months, the admission is totally free!

(the last picture above is a photo of Grant Showbiz, who was at Deeply Vale engineering for Here And Now in 1978 and 1979 - he went on to work with The Smiths, The Fall and Billy Bragg as a producer and still works with Billy Bragg)

Exhibition to be opened by Clint Boon of The Inspiral Carpets (Clint went to Art College in Rochdale)

Encompassing all of the following and more:

Deeply Vale Festivals of the 1970s

Cargo Recording Studios, Suite Sixteen Recording Studios, John Peel's Dandelion Recording studios, Vic’s Place Recording Studios, Tractor Music music shop and PA Hire

Brian Eastwood's guitars - legendary custom guitars built in Rochdale [for Showaddywaddy, Motorhead, etc.]

Bands that came from Rochdale: Tractor, Gracie Fields, Localeroes/Victor Mature, Mock Turtles, The Chameleons, Untermensch, The Pranksters; bands that came to Rochdale to record, including The Fall, Joy Division, Dead or Alive, Julian Cope/Teardrop Explodes, Durutti Column, Section 25, The Membranes, New Order and hundreds of others - displayed in record sleeves, photos, anecdotes etc.

THE ADMISSION IS FREE

Cargo Studio, Suite 16

The official Cargo Paper

Tractor at the Cargo Studios in the 70s

(click above to view full size images)

Rockin’ Rochdale - A History Of Popular Music, Middleton To Milnrow

Which track on "Sgt. Pepper’s" has a Rochdale connection? Who once made a single with boxer Prince Naseem? Which smash hit single was written by Alan Partridge’s brother and where did Peter Hook meet PJ Proby? Uncover the answers to these and many more questions in an exhibition that features everything from 18th century musical concerts via Gracie Fields to the Deeply Vale Rock Festival and beyond.

Highlights already lined up for display in Rockin' Rochdale include unseen footage of the Deeply Vale Music Festival on a big screen, some rare guitars hand-built in Rochdale - one especially for Top Of The Pops, rare musical posters from the 1970s and memorabilia from the legendary Drake Street recording studios Cargo and Suite 16 that hosted the likes of New Order & Teardrop Explodes.

As well as viewing an extensive range of musical memorabilia there will be the opportunity to listen to music from local bands and hear interviews with important contributors to Rochdale’s musical heritage. For the first time John Brierley speaks about what it was like to work on the recording of the legendary single ‘Atmosphere’ with Joy Division and, from a different era, Heywood’s famous band leader Eddy Hilton takes us back almost half a century to the great days of the dance halls.

To prove that Touchstones is a museum like no other there’ll also be a look into the future with a section on local bands who might just be 'The Next Big Thing'!

Speaking about the exhibition, David Pugh, Museum Access Officer at Touchstones Rochdale said, "This exhibition brings together some of most memorable musical moments in the borough’s history providing an exciting insight into the cultural life of Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton over the last 200 years."

It is also an exhibition that will continue to grow after it has opened, as David explained, "The history of popular music wasn’t taken seriously by museums until recently, and yet it is something that nearly everyone enjoys. Whilst researching this exhibition, we’ve discovered just what a rich musical heritage our borough has. The public are bringing in new stories and donating new objects all the time. We are, therefore, designing part of the exhibition as a place where people can contribute their own musical memories and help to build up a unique history of the local music scene."

Owner of Ozit-Morpheus Records, Chris Hewitt, who has been one of the key researchers for the exhibition, added, "At 51, and MD of a record and production company, I look back on my years in Rochdale with affection. I have crossed paths again with so many people interwined in the Rochdale music scene whilst researching this exhibition. I went to primary school and junior school in Middleton with Bob Fisher and Martin Kay. Bob's dad would become legendary as sandwich supplier for the Bickershaw Festival; Bob would go on to be manager of Judge Happiness and the Mock Turtles. Martin and Bob ran Parish Bowman studios in Middleton for a while and Martin would go on to design sleeves for The Chameleons who would record in Cargo on Kenion St., Rochdale, above my music shop and would take Kieran Miskella, who started off as a roadie for Tractor on tour as their sound engineer. In 1972, aged 17, I was promoting my first concerts in Rochdale and would use cut-and-paste artwork techniques for my concert flyers, and then I would go to photocopy each one at 5p apiece on the only public photocopier back then - in the building where Touchstones is holding the exhibition in 2005/6 - a coincidence? It was the reference library back in 1972, and I can recall trying to photocopy on that primitive machine a concert flyer I had put together with a really dark picture of the Pink Fairies on it - I was promoting them at the College Hall across the road on St. Mary's Gate - don't know how many 5ps I wasted trying to get the picture lighter on the flyer. That same year 1972, I teamed up with Jim Milne, Steve Clayton and John Brierley [Tractor] just before their album was released and got into the Radio Luxembourg rock charts at No.18. I still manage the band now, 33 years later, and their albums continue to sell, and last year their DVD of two 2003 concerts achieved ecstatic reviews all over the world. When John Peel sent the sales royalties for Tractor off to us in the early 70s, we used them to buy better tape recorders, a mixing desk, studio and stage microphones and to set up several recording studios and a music shop, rehearsal rooms and to hire a PA system. John Peel helped kickstart that whole local industry by financing the release of Jim Milne and Steve Clayton's songs . Other things that contributed towards that creative scene back then were the Art College and the Technical College, the Rochdale Sculptors, Axis Poetry Magazine, Axis bookshop, RAP, Henry and Eddie Kledjys with their Streetlife street theatre, the folk clubs of Rochdale - Jack and Mavis and Terry Christian, Tony Crabtree - and all of that would also explode into Deeply Vale Festivals - the rest, as they say, is history."

Rockin’ Rochdale will open in the Heritage Gallery on the 22nd October and run until 23rd April 2006. For further information on this exhibition please call 01706 864986.

The exhibition has been supported by Ozit Morpheus Records.

Touchstones Rochdale is located on the Esplanade in Rochdale Town Centre. The award winning Arts and Heritage Centre is open seven days a week, Monday to Friday 10 am - 5:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday 11 am - 4:30 pm. Entry is free. The Centre offers a museum, four art galleries, a heritage gallery, Tourist Information Centre, Local Studies Library, Café and shop with regular events and workshops. For further information ring 01706 864986 or visit www.rochdale.gov.uk/touchstones or contact:

David Pugh, Museum Access Officer
Email: david.pugh@rochdale.gov.uk Tel: 01706 864938

Mashuda Begum, Marketing Officer
Email: mashuda.begum@rochdale.gov.uk Tel: 01706 864942

On GMR with presenter Becky Want at 3:30 pm on Friday, 14th October 2005, Chris Hewitt will be giving a little advance insight into the Rockin’ Rochdale [an interesting glimpse into the history of the Northwest Rock Scene] Exhibition which opens to the public on Saturday, 22nd October in Rochdale.

Chris will explain how a royalty cheque from John Peel for Rochdale band Tractor's early albums kick-started a whole industry in the town in the seventies, eighties and nineties with Joy Division, The Fall, Teardrop Explodes, Dead Or Alive and The Chameleons all coming in to Rochdale to record, and further money from Peel helped to finance Tractor's PA that was used at the Deeply Vale Festivals, the Electric Circus, etc.

July 9, 2005

The sad loss of Rochdale's talented guitarist Tony Crabtree on Sunday, 3rd July, 2005

Jim Milne and Steve Clayton will play some songs dedicated to Tony Crabtree on the Michelle Mullane Show at midnight on BBC GMR on Tuesday, 12th July, 2005

"It is with great sadness that we must report the death of blind Rochdale guitarist Tony Crabtree on Sunday, 3rd July, 2005. Tony, who was blind from birth, went to a piano tuning college in Shropshire as a child owing to his incredible hearing faculties. In the early seventies, he started playing guitar in rock bands and had a fairly legendary band called Nirvana by the mid-seventies. He played at Deeply Vale in 1977 and 1978 and was idolised for the closeness he could get to Jimi Hendrix's guitar and vocal sound. In 1978, he was signed by Virgin Records for an advance of £37,000 but only ever got to release one single - under the band name Cry. It was a cover of the Rare Bird song, "Sympathy". The B-side was a number written by Tony and his friend Mac, entitled, "Policeman's Blues". Tony on signing to Virgin was asked to sack the other two members of Nirvana; one of these was his step-brother, bass player Carl Conwell, and the other - drummer Geoff. Tony was never happy about this and then, having signed a dodgy 20-year management contract with a used car salesman called Austin Williams, Tony was dropped by Virgin in late 1978, and they asked for all of his £37,000 advance back. Devastated by this, he sold off all his equipment and stopped gigging. Chris Hewitt took Tony Crabtree under his wing in 1979 and started getting him solo acoustic concerts - he supported Atomic Rooster at Middleton Civic Hall and did a fantastic acoustic version of ‘Be Bop A Lula’ with just acoustic guitar and vocals; Tony could do a vocal impersonation of long tape loop echo. In 1980 and 1981, he played keyboards and guitar in a much expanded version of Tractor along with Jim Milne and Steve Clayton and is featured on keyboards and guitar on Tractor's 1981 single, "Average Man's Hero". Tony also recorded several songs in the mid-1980s along with Jim Milne at the Suite Sixteen studios in Rochdale. One of these songs, ‘Word Games’, appears on the Tractor CD, ‘Worst Enemies’. In 1985, Tony performed at Heaton Park on a Yamaha grand piano and vocals along with Jim Milne on vocals and bass guitar; Chris Hewitt captured this superb set to a crowd of 10,000 on video. Tony also got a piano bar residency, arranged by Chris Hewitt, where six nights a week he would play a Yamaha electric grand piano at the Dukes Nightclub in Drake Street, Rochdale, around 1985. This, in turn, led to piano bar work in Spain, after which Tony gave up playing music again for a while, but in 1996, Chris Hewitt and Dave Edwards bought him a new set of strings for his acoustic that had been unstrung for a couple of years and asked him to play at the Carlton Ballroom in Rochdale at the Deeply Vale anniversary night - this was captured on DAT and video and was a superb performance. Tony started gigging again and didn't stop for many years until he became quite ill recently. Jim Milne, Chris Hewitt and Steve Clayton of Tractor have all said in the last couple of days: what a great loss it is to Rochdale's musical talent. He was as good as Jimi Hendrix, there is no doubt!

From Rochdale Observer (read obituary here):

Very sad to hear of Tony's death. I met him many times in folk sessions but I recall one session where I introduced him to a set of Uilleann pipes. He was fascinated by them and within a few minutes was sufficiently co-ordinated to be able to play up and down the scales. Not an easy thing to achieve in such a short time as any piper will tell you! A really talented and original musician who will be sadly missed.

Les Hall, Huddersfield

We were blessed when Tony joined Tractor - his musicianship and vocal ability were, and remained, awesome. Although he wasn't with us long, he brought so much to us as a band member and a person - warm, hilariously funny and a sharp wit. I last saw him a few years ago at the Bamford Bowling Club with his trio and introduced myself to him. He 'got me' straight away and began berating me in a wicked copy of my 'Sudden-Scouse' accent. I was lucky to call him a friend.

Jim Milne, Liverpool

Hi, my name is Peter Blanksby, I have just listened to Hendrix playing ‘Wind Cries Mary’ on the PC through my Itunes. The next song was S.R.V. ‘Little Wing’, I was just listening to it when I thought about an old mate who could play it just as good or even better. His name was Tony Crabtree, I’ve played with him a couple of times on guitar, he used to play me ‘Little Wing’ so I could just sit/stand and stare, close my eyes and you would think it was Hendrix, even the voice! I could tell you a story or two about Tony, ha ha! He used to play at the Monsal Head, near Bakewell in the early to mid-70s. I jammed with him a couple of times and we had a day of jamming, I think it was somewhere on Oxford Rd. in Manchester (it was a long time ago). Another friend of mine, Jim Kerr (joker), played drums for him; at that time we lived in Buxton, The Queens Head, and we always played the Policeman’s Blues on the jukebox there. The last I heard he got paid 50K and was in the USA with Jeff Beck (tut rumours), so while I was listening to ‘Little Wing’, I put his name in Google. My gut turned over and my heart sank deep down to my feet when I read about Tony. Just to say to all the other people who loved him as a person and as a guitarist, he will be playing with my top 2 guitarists, Hendrix & S.R.V. Wow, I would have loved to have seen those 3 together, and they would have offered him a seat at their table and a spot on the stage with them. Why? Because he deserved to be with the best.

It’s with great sadness that I am writing the email. R.I.P. Tony.

Best Regards,
Pete

Tractor (Jim Milne and Steve Clayton) will be performing several songs live on Michelle Mullane's Show on BBC: GMR 95.1 and 106.4 FM on Tuesday, 12th July, 2005 at midnight. There will also be chat and interviews with Jim Milne, Steve Clayton and Chris Hewitt, Tractor's manager and one of the founders of the Deeply Vale festivals. The chat between numbers will be about the Deeply Vale Festival 2006 and also about the sad death on Sunday, 3rd July of blind Rochdale guitarist Tony Crabtree.

May 21, 2005

The Fall
Live At Deeply Vale Festival, 1978
OZIT CD 786

"A Terrific Document of early Fall" is what the Fall website has said about this forthcoming "Fall Live at Deeply Vale CD" - out early to mid-June 2005.

Order from our Ozit Shop

More details here!

April 15, 2005

Fast Cars
Live At Deeply Vale Festival, 7th, August 1979
OZIT CD 783

Order from our Ozit Shop

More details here!

Added to the site:

Deeply Vale article from Goldmine, April 29, 2005

Part I    Part II    Part III

March 20, 2005

“The Abba to Zappa of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band in the early to mid-1970s”

by Jeff Watts
ISBN: 0954931203

An 80-page Limited Edition Book - each book hand-numbered with the copy no.

A most comprehensive analysis of writings on Captain Beefheart in the 1970s, plus The Magic Band, and a section on Beefheart and Zappa’s relationship and a small section on Zappa in the early 1970s - together with great photos and Beefheart and Zappa influenced artwork - put together by author Jeff Watts in the style of a 70s underground magazine and printed on high quality paper to repro the artwork and finished in a stiff card colour cover.

Available from distributors now - whilst stocks last - order what you need as this is a limited run!

Order from our Ozit Shop

January 11, 2005

Tractor (Jim Milne and Steve Clayton) will be performing several songs LIVE on Michelle Mullane's Show on BBC: GMR 95.1 and 106.4 FM on Friday, 21st January 2005 at midnight. There will also be chat and interviews with Jim Milne, Steve Clayton and Chris Hewitt, Tractor's manager and one of the founders of the Deeply Vale festivals.

Kevin Coyne
(1944 - 2004)

November 25, 2004

Manifesto Music Presents:
Christmas Kicks - a festive tribute to John Peel

Tuesday, 26 October 2004 was a very sad day for the world of music, as the great John Peel passed away into musical heaven. To celebrate John’s incredible influence on modern day music, “Manifesto Music” is very proud to announce details of a tribute to this amazing man.

“Christmas Kicks” will feature Badly Drawn Boy, Doves, Stephen Fretwell and Peel faves Tractor and Haven playing their favourite John Peel songs picked from his now-famous “Festive 50” from the last 20 years. Alongside this Christmas pudding list of superstar songwriters will be DJs Elliot Eastwick, John McCready, Richard Hector Jones and Phil Beckett spinning tunes true to the spirit of John’s musical legacy. Overseeing the proceedings on the night will be Peel protégé Marc “The Lard” Riley.

Christmas Kicks will be held on Sunday, 19th December at 7 pm till late at The Southern, Nell Lane, Chorlton, Manchester. Admission will be £12 with all proceeds from the night going to a charity.

The tickets are limited to 250 and are available from Piccadilly Box Office and Piccadilly Records.

For more information on this event please call Rob O’Shea 07970 972 009 rob@manifestomusic.co.uk or Matt Ryan 07973 375 501 ryanmattd@hotmail.com or see the website www.manifestomusic.co.uk

Julian Cope writes...

The Tractor connection? It comes in the not-inconsiderable shape of Chris Hewitt - a sort of Rochdale mish-mash of Bill Graham, Timothy Leary and Wavy Gravy - who road-managed the Tractor boys back in the early 70s [Editor's Note: He still does and has since about 1973 been their manager and mentor as well!!], beadled about in the latter half of that decade with the Deeply Vale festivals, the 1978 line-up featuring fest faves Misty in Roots, The Ruts, Here and Now, Nik Turner and Steve Hillage along with new kids - The Fall, Durutti Column, Frantic Elevators and The Out (George’s band), and in the last few years has been promoting little package tours under a slightly cheeky ‘Greasy Truckers Party’ banner with Spaceritual.net, Tractor, Pie and the George Borowski Band, as well as releasing recordings new and old by a selection of the above and others on his Ozit record label (named in homage to those now-toppled twin towers of the Underground press, Oz magazine and International Times). I went to a couple of Chris’s “Greasy Truckers” gigs in 2003.

An extract from the Julian Cope website written about Chris Hewitt, November 2004

November 13, 2004

TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY VALE - TV DOCUMENTARY

Granada Region, ITV1 @ 11:30 pm
Friday 19th November 2004

Don't miss it!!!

The ITV Documentary "Truly, Madly, Deeply Vale" is now scheduled to be broadcast in the Granada region on Friday, 19th November, 2004 in the late evening.

The following musicians/media people have provisionally agreed and will hopefully take part in interviews: Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy, Grant Showbiz (who was soundman for Here And Now at the time), Mark E. Smith of The Fall, who took his band on tour with Here And Now after meeting them at Deeply Vale, Andy McCluskey of O.M.D. (who was in Pegasus at the time he played Deeply Vale), Jimi Goodwin of the Doves who was aged eight in the audience at the time, he went to Deeply Vale, Steve Cowen of the Mock Turtles who was in the audience, aged 14 at the time, Luke Bainbridge (ex-City Life journalist) and now Deputy Editor of the Observer Monthly Music Magazine - who was aged four at Deeply Vale, Pete Farrow - legendary Stockport folk/blues troubadour and busker, Trevor Hyett who was both a compere at the legendary 1978 festival and covered the first festival for Granada in 1976, Vinni Reilly of Durutti Column, Stanny and Phil Odell of legendary Whitworth punk band Wilful Damage, Henry Kledjys who was involved in Street Theatre at Deeply Vale and has recently worked on Phoenix Nights, Alan Hempsall from Crispy Ambulance, Graham Massey from 808 State, Stuart Murray from Fast Cars - to name but some of the people taking part! The programme is being researched by Tom Smetham and produced by Rockumentary filmmaker David Nolan.

Read more at www.cerysmaticfactory.info

NORTHWEST'S SEVENTIES ROCK HISTORY FINALLY ON THE MAP

Back in 1976, a group of people who frequented the Dressers Arms, a hippy/rock pub in Heywood [across the road from where legendary Heywood/Rochdale band Tractor had their Dawson St. Heywood Recording Studio in an attic] decided to get together and hold a free rock festival at the top end of Ashworth Valley in a section of the Valley known as Deeply Vale approached on foot from Heywood or Rochdale or by car from Bury or Rossendale. This group of organisers included the band Tractor, their road crew, their manager Chris Hewitt, plus five guys who lived in a commune in Rochdale including Heywood born Dave Smith and Rochdale youth worker and artist Andy Burgoyne, Dave Edwards, Dave Hopkins and Andy Sharrocks, plus other people from Heywood and Bury including Jim O'Neill, Dave Wimbush, Cliff Jackson and Pat O'Neill to name but a few. Dave Smith of Heywood had the original idea and knew Frank Turner [who owned Deeply Vale at the time] through his father and he asked Frank Turner could he have a party camping out in Deeply Vale with a few friends - Chris Hewitt, Tractor's manager had the equipment and contacts with bands - this party turned into a three-day rock festival with 300 people that September in 1976 and then 3,000 people in 1977 and 20,000 people and over fifty bands for five days in 1978 and 1979! What started off as a crazy idea in a Heywood pub amongst a group of underground music fans, musicians and art students has become one of the greatest pop music culture events of the Northwest.

Bands who played there include The Fall, Steve Hillage, Nik Turner of Hawkwind, Durutti Column, Misty In Roots, Spizz Energi, The Ruts, Tractor, Fast Cars, The Drones, The Movement Banned featuring Heywood vicar Rev. Mike Huck, Wilful Damage, ATV, Here And Now, The Frantic Elevators featuring Mick Hucknall, Crispy Ambulance, Danny and The Dressmakers, No Change, Victor Brox, The Out featuring Guitar George Borowski, Alchemist, Cry Tough, Mudanzas, Exodus, Pete Farrow and many more.

TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY VALE - THE BOOK
stories from the North West and Manchester Underground Music Scene

The 14 words above are the working title for a comprehensive book being prepared at the moment by Mick Middles and Chris Hewitt. It covers the Bickershaw 1972 Festival, near Wigan, through to Deeply Vale Festivals 1976/77/78/79, The Electric Circus, Stoneground, The Leigh Festival [Factory/ Zoo 1979], The Alexandra Park Manchester Free concerts [1978 and 1981], the history of Cargo Recording Studios, the history of the Rochdale Arts and Music scene of the seventies which would lead to Deeply Vale Festivals being organised from this little Pennine town as well as a plethora of recording studios opening up around Rochdale and Heywood in the early to mid-seventies and numerous Northwest and international artists coming to the town's studio to record from the seventies through to the nineties. The book should be out in Autumn 2005.

The website www.deeplyvale.com is now online.

If you have anything to contribute please email info to ozitrecords@gmail.com or drop us a line at Ozit Morpheus Records, P.O.Box 116, Northwich, Cheshire CW 9 5UG

November 2, 2004

John Peel presents Tractor - by Julian Cope (click here)

September 30, 2004

Two new Steve Hillage CD reviews posted on the site, from Record Collector, November 2004 and Feedback - Mensa's Music Magazine

September 4, 2004

Read new Tractor DVD review from Feedback - MENSA's Music Magazine, September 2004 here!

Read new Tractor DVD review from www.dvdfever.co.uk, September 2004 here!

Read new Tractor DVD review from The Observer, August 2004 here!

Tractor (Jim Milne and Steve Clayton) perform a full concert at Rochdale Transport Club, Baron Street, Rochdale on Friday, 24th September, 2004, along with fellow Rochdale rock band and fellow Deeply Vale Festival regulars Alchemist - a special Deeply Vale reunion night!

Advance tickets are £8
Tel: 01565 734066 or 07970 219701

July 27, 2004

Coming soon:

Fast Cars "Who Loves Jimmy Anderton — Fast Cars Live At Deeply Vale Festival"

An ITV documentary about the Deeply Vale festivals, "Truly, Madly, Deeply Vale"

- both to be released early in November.

A book about Deeply Vale and the Manchester/Northwest underground/alt.music scene of the 60s onwards is due out in 2005.

June 26, 2004

Launched!

- www.deeplyvale.com - the Deeply Vale Festival site - is now up and running!

- We have new photos of Tractor live at the Canterbury Fayre, August 2003 (browse here)

June 16, 2004

Tractor will be playing live on the Spencer Leigh Show on BBC Radio Merseyside at 6 pm UK time, Saturday, 19th June 2004.

June 13, 2004

Jim Milne and Steve Clayton of Tractor return to their native Rochdale on Saturday, 19th June at 1 pm at the Touchstones Centre, The Arts and Heritage Centre, The Esplanade, Rochdale, to perform an electro-acoustic set. They will be playing some songs from their new DVD, "Beyond Deeply Vale". The admission will be free.

Both Tractor and Deeply Vale have now achieved legendary status in rock music circles, and ITV are making a one-hour documentary to be screened in November 2004. A small Deeply Vale exhibition will be on display on 19th June, and this will be an introduction for a much larger exhibition to be staged in Autumn 2005 at Touchstones!

Announcing new CDs

String Driven Thing "The Early Years (Mark Two)"
OZIT CD 0029

Order from our Ozit Shop

Billy Fury "Rarities And Teenage Jottings"
Ozit CD 223

Order from our Ozit Shop

New Tractor/Deeply Vale DVD

(click above for full size image!)

This DVD was launched at the concert in Shrewsbury on 13th May. It has around two and a quarter hours of footage relating to Tractor and Deeply Vale including rare archive footage of Tractor. There is a special half-hour documentary section about Deeply Vale Festivals.

TRACTOR: Beyond Deeply Vale DVD ENTS TV/Ozit DVD 0004

It's a difficult thing these days - so many bands that you worshipped in your youth are either still going or reforming, often with mixed results. Sometimes it's bad enough having to listen to them try to recapture that old magic, but, when you consider age, looks and visual impact, even worse - having to watch them do it - I'm no oil painting, but I've seen enough DVDs recently of ageing (and not so ageing) rockers that, without a good light show, stage show or visual impact, just leave you empty inside watching a bunch of old me recreate their youth.

Tractor are no oil paintings either - but, hell, this is good stuff - I mean, seriously good stuff. First off, content. It's long - very long - two and a quarter hours. You get two concerts. Both are the band playing live in 2003, one at the tail end of the year, the other in the beginning. After that you get archive footage of the band's history, a photographic look-back at the Deeply Vale Festival itself, a promo video of the band, the band playing live on a return visit to Deeply Vale in 2003 and more.

But it's the concert footage that is the meat of the DVD. Shot professionally, the quality of music and visuals is superb - great sound for sure. The first thing you notice is how much guitarist Jim Milne looks like Clive James, and you realise you're into ageing rocker territory, but it's OK - I didn't mind that a bit. Drummer Steve Clayton is behind this arsenal of drums and percussion, and his looks don't really come into it as his playing performance throughout is addictive. So, lights, picture quality, visuals - all OK - then the next shock. You realise pretty soon on that the tracks you knew and loved from the seminal self-titled album that John Peel eulogised all those years ago - many of which are here - are being performed on an acoustic guitar. Just as you think it might turn into an electric fest, no such luck, however, there's something more to surprise you: it works and it works superbly. Milne's lost none of his vocal prowess and, unusually but most welcomingly, it sounds pretty close to the vocal performance, as evidenced on the original album. It's the interpretation here of those tracks, and the passion with which they are delivered, not to mention the awesome drum and percussion work of Clayton, that keep you hooked to the performance - not sure you'd be hooked so much if you didn't know the albums first, but then you probably wouldn't buy the DVD first, so, again, immaterial.

Through the delights such as 'All Ends Up', 'Little Girl In Yellow', 'Make The Journey' and more, it's a riveting little concert, visually and sonically. But the next one, repeating tracks admittedly, from the end of the year, is even better. Milne "goes electric" a lot sooner this time, and halfway through they are joined by a female hand drummer that provides extra rhythmic force and some superb drumming duelling on this concert's 'Make The Journey'. Overall, if the first one was the starter, this is definitely the main course, as the band show they really have lost none of their magic. This is a DVD I will watch again, pure nostalgia trip admittedly, but it works and that's the point.

The archive and promo footage is, as in most cases, seriously interesting first time around, but I'm not sure you'd want a repeat watch. But, overall, it's a DVD worth every penny if you're a Tractor fan, and, if you're not, then you really need that album called 'Tractor' in your life - one of the few albums of its time by a little-known band that truly does deserve the status "legendary".

Andy Garibaldi

More details here!

For Goldmine review, June 2004 - click here!

For Record Collector review, June 2004 - click here!

Order from our Ozit Shop

STEVE HILLAGE
LIVE AT THE DEEPLY VALE FESTIVAL '78

The complete 77 minute concert on CD for the first time - I mean, this thing's so rare it's never even been bootlegged - well, not in this quality it hasn't! Yes you can really wake up now - it's a mixing desk recording - that's right, MIXING DESK! Time to foam at the mouth and reach for that computer button or phone and order - right now, from us - what is a slice of classic Hillage from a time when a live recording has never before been presented to us! The rather fabulous 'Live Herald' was from a year earlier, and this CD here really represents the "last of the old", as the new, altogether more muscular, rhythm section backs the trio of Hillage on guitar and vocals, Miquette Giraudy on synths and vocals and the late, lamented Christian Boule on lead, rhythm and glissando guitars. Musically it's a set of things from the first four albums and presented here in excellent quality, so that you'll hear magical playing from all concerned. In many ways, Hillage's guitar work here is arguably better than on the previous live album - there seems to be an added bite, and certainly the whole performance is a lot stronger, none of the heaviness taken away by post-production or anything like that - it's all here in gloriously "untampered" sound - you hear it exactly as you heard it at the time. Surely I don't need to say how essential this is for anyone into Gong, Hillage and all spheres of psychedelia but I'm telling you anyway - essential and then some!

Andy Garibaldi

More details here!

For Goldmine review, June 2004 - click here!

Order from our Ozit Shop

To the Deeply Vale Festival Page

To The Alchemist Web Site (Participants in The Deeply Vale Festival)

WHAT A NIGHT!!!
TWO PROG ROCK GREATS FROM THE SEVENTIES TOGETHER ON ONE STAGE!!!

Thursday 13th May, 8 pm

The Buttermarket Live Music Venue

Shrewsbury, Shropshire

The Buttermarket is right next to Shrewsbury BR Station in Shrewsbury Town Centre
Shrewsbury is easy to get to from the North West via A49 or from Birmingham and the South via M54

Concert featuring:
Tractor/The Way We Live (Jim Milne and Steve Clayton)
String Driven Thing
Guitar George Borowski
Body

Original String Driven Thing member Pauline Adams (vocals and tambourine) will be joining Chris Adams (vocals/guitar) and Grahame Smith (violin) for a few numbers - this is the first time Chris, Grahame and Pauline have shared a stage together as String Driven Thing with three original members since 1973!

(Grahame was also in Van Der Graaf Generator and Peter Hammill's group)

Plus other musicians to be announced

Tickets £10 in advance; £12-50 on the door

Tickets by phone/card 01565 734066
or write to:
Recordrange (cheques/P.O.s payable to Recordrange)
P.O.Box 116, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 5UG

April 12, 2004

Announcing new CDs

Nik Turner "Kubanno Kickasso" OZIT NIKTCD 334

Gene Vincent "The Definitive Collection of Rarities and Outtakes, Vol.1" OZIT CD 221

To order from our Ozit Shop

March 27, 2004

Read brand new reviews from MENSA Music Magazine!

The Way We Live - A Candle For Judith 2003

Greasy Truckers Party 2003

Guitar George Borowski “Check out Guitar George”

and from the Modern Dance Magazine:

The Way We Live - A Candle For Judith 2003

Tractor - Tractor

Guitar George Borowski “Check out Guitar George”

December 25, 2003

Read brand new reviews from Rockerilla (Italy), Classic Rock and Record Collector Magazines - here!

...Ozit have combined the best of the original tracks by The Way We Live, including their unique gem, ‘A Candle for Judith’ from 1971

The Way We Live - A Candle For Judith 2003 - Rockerilla

...those original eight songs are augmented by two unreleased tracks from the same period as the album sessions, and a further nine The Way We Live/Tractor recordings spanning 35 years from the late 60s to 2003.

The Way We Live - A Candle For Judith 2003 - Record Collector

It is a party show involving various bands; thirty musicians altogether, along with many dancers and a lightshow, etc..

Greasy Truckers Party 2003 - Rockerilla

...when the public hears the authentic unsung hero of rock, Manchester’s ‘Guitar’ George Borowski [in the 1980s, the great guitarist in The Out], it will be well impressed!

Guitar George Borowski “Check out Guitar George” - Rockerilla

If there was ever a band that needed, really desperately needed, a live album, it’s the Toilet Boys!

The Toilet Boys - Live In London - Classic Rock

November 29, 2003

Read brand new reviews from Unpeeled Magazine here!

When we asked Mr. Peel what he thinks of this stuff he said: "(It is) music of such power, skill and exuberance, that I dropped my veggie samoosa!" ... that Jim Milne bloke can really play that guitar, and the refreshing thing about this set is the sheer variety!

The Way We Live - A Candle For Judith 2003

November 27, 2003

Goldmine's Jo-Ann Greene reviews Greasy Truckers Party 2003 and The Way We Live - A Candle For Judith 2003 in her regular A Broad Abroad column!

"Greasy Truckers Party 2003 is an exhilarating listen — the Strange cuts, which feature two songs from the second Doctors album, Figments Of Emancipation, plus an excerpt from their singer’s autobiography, are especially welcome, while Tractor are still churning up as much magic as they ever did."

"...the quality of the original Jim Milne/Steve Clayton duo’s work remained constant through all those years, and recent remastering work has done nothing beyond add some additional luster to the group’s original polish. An excellent booklet includes the band members’ own recollections, together with some great illustrations."

November 18, 2003

New CD from Guitar George Borowski

"Check Out Guitar George (He Knows All The Chords)"
More details on this release here!

Read brand new review from Unpeeled Magazine here!

Legendary Manchester and North-West guitarist and songwriter Guitar George Borowski has spent the last three years recording this excellent new album. When George was guitarist in Manchester band The Out - their version of George's song 'Who is Innocent' was continually played on the radio by John Peel. There is a new version - Track 15 on this new album.

Unpeeled Magazine - Fan-f***ing-tastic album, and, to quote Ian Hunter, 'call me a fan, that's just what I am'!

Q MAGAZINE - "Guitar George Borowski, one of the hitherto-unacknowledged people, products and 'things that have helped shape rock'n'roll… and a commemorative verse in Dire Straits' 'Sultans of Swing' - such has been the life of Mr. Unsung Personified."

TEENAGE FAN CLUB's Norman Blake - "The songs on this album from George are the best that he has written, and I know that you are going to love them just as much as I do."

FRANK BLACK of THE PIXIES - "I have never seen a rock'n'roll performer so completely connected with what he was doing onstage."

TERRY CHRISTIAN of THE WORD - George has an uncanny ability to straddle the divide and deliver a message to all camps."

JIM GOODWIN of DOVES - a unique singer-songwriter with a righteous howl: "I decided after seeing guys like George that this was the life for me."

To order from our Ozit Shop

October 20, 2003

Announcing 2 New Releases From Ozit!

Toilet Boys "Live In London"
OZIT-MORPHEUS OM2-0013-2
To order from our Ozit Shop

September 17, 2003

The Dandelion Records Concert and Convention

Former Dandelion Records [which featured in Record Collector No.149] artists will be holding a Concert and Convention on Sunday, 5th October 2003, at the Buttermarket, Shrewsbury, a superb concert venue centrally located in the UK and not too far from the M54 and M6 motorways.

2003 is the year when Clive Selwood [Peelie's co-director in Dandelion] has written his autobiography, and John Peel has started work on his, so what better year to have a concert by artists that started their career with Dandelion Records! It is hoped that Clive Selwood will be signing copies of his book at the Convention.

John Peel, legendary Rock DJ and founder of the Dandelion Records label, will be in attendance!

Artists performing include: Kevin Coyne, who will perform a solo set and also a set with his fellow Siren member Dave Clague; John Fiddler will perform a Medicine Head set; and Tractor's Jim Milne and Steve Clayton will perform material from both Tractor [various albums] and their "The Way We Live" album.

Original Siren member Nick Cudworth, who was on the 2 Dandelion Siren albums with Kevin Coyne and Dave Clague, has agreed to join Kevin in the live Siren line-up! Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime concert!

This is the first time since the late sixties that a collection of Dandelion artists has been on the same concert bill.

There will also be a Convention/Record Fair in the afternoon with particular emphasis on Dandelion vinyls and CD reissues, but also encompassing other esoteric sixties and seventies labels, including Charisma, Harvest, Vertigo, Chrysalis, Island and more - prospective stallholders for the Convention, to take place on Sunday, 5th October, daytime, should contact Chris Savory at 01782 714182.

For ticket information for the Concert on Sunday, 5th October, evening, contact: Ozit -Morpheus Records And Productions, P.O.Box 116, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 5UG, UK. Tel: 01565 734066 or 07970 219701. Telephone credit card bookings are accepted for tickets.

Ozit Morpheus Records is operated by Recordcore Deeply Vale Recordrange

Kevin Coyne - The Dandelion Years

My two albums with Siren on Dandelion were well-received (the first "Siren" getting rave reviews in Rolling Stone) but sold, I'm told, poorly. My first solo album, "Case History" (1971), was destined for a similar fate.

The records, however, have been consistently re-released, which makes me wonder as to what the real sales figures are. There's people all around the world, judging by letters I receive, who love both the 'Siren' and 'Case History' albums. It's most gratifying, as I consider the tunes on these albums some of the best I've been involved with.

Siren was principally Dave Clague (bass and guitar), Nick Cudworth (guitar and keys) and myself (vocals and guitar). We were London-based, discovered by John Peel (Dave sent a tape) and basically penniless. Our short career involved much good humour and lots of heartfelt music. It was a memorable time.

August 27, 2003

Canterbury Fayre - 22nd, 23rd, 24th August 2003
(browse Tractor live photos here)

22nd August - Croissant Neuf Stage 4:30 pm onwards: The Theory, Guitar George Borowski, Tractor, Spaceritual.net, trippy projector lights from Striking Lighting!

23rd August - main stage: Deborah Bonham, Incredible String Band, Roy Harper, Robert Plant

24th August - Croissant Neuf teatime: Richard Kid Strange from the Doctors Of Madness

DJ John Peel played a track from the new album, The Way We Live - A Candle For Judith 2003 (Ozit Morpheus Records CD OZIT CD 216) on BBC Radio One on Thursday, 21st August - the night before the band's appearance at the Canterbury Festival!

...new OZIT CD!...

Greasy Truckers Party 2002-2003

...featuring SpaceRitual.net, Tractor, The Theory, Guitar George Borowski, Richard Kid Strange (from The Doctors Of Madness)
More details here!

To order from our Ozit Shop

August 1, 2003

The Way We Live - A Candle For Judith 2003
(Ozit Morpheus Records CD OZIT CD 216)
Full info here!

Finally, the 19-track definitive version of The Way We Live 'A Candle For Judith', Tractor's first ever release [OZIT CD 216] will be available as a special pre-release version which can be mail-ordered from this website by the 2nd or 3rd week of August 2003! It will feature approximately 19 tracks of Tractor's music, including the eight that were on The Way We Live Dandelion album, a new track featuring Nik Turner [ex-member of Hawkwind] on sax and flute and lots of other rare archive tracks updated, finished, remastered, etc.!

Browse other pics from the booklet here - click on the thumbnails for full size images!

To order from our Ozit Shop

July 29, 2003

Tractor's 'Little Girl in Yellow' get Korean translation - browse the Korean version here along with a writeup on the band.

Pete Feenstra's review of Tractor Live at Rayners, Harrow, Friday 25th July 2003 published in the Soundcheck magazine can be found here.

Browse new live photos of Tractor by Mark Flowers - click here!

July 13, 2003

OZIT SHOP PRESENTS...

Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy Glassware!

Tankards, Frosted Pint Glasses and more!

Click here to view high quality scans and detail!

July 12, 2003

The three people from the legendary 1978 Deeply Vale Free Festival - back together again 25 years later, in 2003! Left to right: Nik Turner, who was at the 1978 Festival with Sphynx; Chris Hewitt, one of the founders of the festival in 1976 and production manager 76-78; and Steffi Sharpstrings [guitarist of Gong and Here and Now] who was at the festival with Here and Now in 1978 and 1979.

Out latest finds:

Click here for full size image!

This photo of Deeply Vale Free Festival circa 1978 shows the area where Nik Turner had his Pyramid Stage - the green pantechnicon van was his! (Thanks to Mark for this photo).

Commemorative mirror from the Deeply Vale Free Festival.

July 4, 2003

Two brand-new reviews posted on this web site of the 30th Anniversary remastered edition of Tractor's S/T album (Ozit CD 217): Aquarius and BBC Music.

Also read: Badcat Records review of the same album.

May 23, 2003

Spaceritual.net and Tractor Live
The Rock Cafe 2000 - Greasy Truckers Party/Robert Calvert Convention, 17th May 2003

BROWSE PICTURES HERE

May 10, 2003

Announcing new OZIT Release!

Billy Fury "The Last Concert"
OZIT CD 220

A 2CD set: one - a previously unreleased live recording of the last ever concert by Billy Fury and the other featuring rare demos / previously unreleased studio recordings. The CD booklet and double-sided inlay contain rare photographs of Billy during the latter years of his career, all in full colour on every page.

Two versions of this special 2CD set are being sold, one "regular" version - at our Ozit Shop, the other - with an extra 4-page booklet - at the Liverpool concert event (read all about it here!)

April 15, 2003

Spaceritual.net and Tractor live in Glastonbury 2003 - browse photos here

Canterbury Fayre - Friday, 22nd August, 2003 - Spaceritual.net & Tractor

A great 3-day festival that Spaceritual.net played last year, this year's event is on 22nd-23rd-24th August!

Website www.canterburyfayre.com

Featured bands this year include:
Robert Plant, Incredible String Band

February 27, 2003

Saturday, 17th May 2003, from around lunchtime till late - Rock Cafй 2000, Stourbridge - Space Rock And Prog Rock Convention/Greasy Truckers Party dedicated to Robert Calvert! With record and memorabilia stalls! Meet ex-members of Hawkwind during the day and poetry read by Robert's son Nick Calvert and in the evening - sets from Spaceritual.net, Tractor plus other special guests

February 19, 2003

Richard Kid Strange will be performing some Doctors of Madness material at a Greasy Truckers Party for the second time!

For those of you who missed Richard's superb set at The Greasy Truckers Party at The Picture House, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire last October, here is the opportunity to see him again!

Saturday, 3rd May 2003
The Greasy Truckers Party/Ozit Morpheus Records comes to High Wycombe
with SpaceRitual.net featuring ex-1970s members of Hawkwind
and a rare solo set from Richard Kid Strange

at The Zoom Club

Bucks Chilterns University College
Queen Alexandra Road
High Wycombe

Doors open at 8 pm

Ј10 advance tickets
Ј12 on the door

Tickets: Ј10 advance plus 30p postage from:
Recordrange, P.O.Box 116, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 5UG

Telephone credit card/Switch card bookings: 01565 734066 / 07970219701 / 07966 218959
Fax card bookings: 01565 734196

Ozit Morpheus Records is operated by Recordcore Deeply Vale Recordrange

February 15, 2003

22nd March - Glastonbury Assembly Rooms
(doors open 8 pm, late bar until 1 am)

Greasy Truckers Party hits Glastonbury!

With SpaceRitual.net (hopefully still including Del Dettmar) + Tractor and Indivisible + lights projectors by Striking Lighting

Advance tickets Ј10 (Ј8 unwaged) from: Gothic Image Bookshop, High Street, Glastonbury or by telephone - credit card bookings: ring Ozit Records at 01565 734066/07970 219701

Tickets on the night Ј11 (before 9 pm) or Ј12 (after 9 pm)

January 13, 2003

Newsflash: Legendary SpaceRitual.net and ex-1970s Hawkwind member Del Dettmar of the In Search of Space line-up of Hawkwind will be joining SpaceRitual.net's UK tour within the early days of the tour! He should hopefully be with the band by the Southampton date when he arrives over from Canada to do signal generators and noises for the tour.

January 7, 2003

Review in Feedback - Mensa's Music Magazine, January 2003

Review in Q Magazine, February 2003

November 27, 2002

Nik turner offers the hand of friendship to Dave Brock at Exeter Court and Dave accepts as there are no winners in this fight amongst current and ex-members of Hawkwind except the people being paid in the legal system!

All references to any dispute are systematically being removed from all websites related to Nik Turner.

A message from Nik:

All hail, beings of another cosmos!

You'll be happy to hear that Nik and Dave have managed to sit down and settle their mess amicably, trying to cut through the crap and act like big people, shaking hands even, in order to promote goodwill and limit the damage in a situation where the only people that score are the legal professionals.

Nik says there is talk of a 'joint' concert to raise money for their costs. What do you think? So let's make a fresh start, and let bygones be bygones, in the spirit of progress and brotherly love.

Nik has agreed not to use the name Xhawkwind.com or exhawkwind or ex-Hawkwind since Dave has trademarked the name Hawkwind, and is the only one allowed to use it or give permission for the use of it, and the use of these names may infringe on Dave's rights.

Spaceritual.net is a pretty cool name anyway, in the right spirit. Nik wants to thank everyone for their support and vision, the fans, the band, the dancers, the crew and Mr. Chris Hewitt for their continued help and support, and Blaiddwyn - for his impartial temperance.

Nik also mentioned that the Spaceritual.net are performing a concert at Wrexham Central Station this Friday, November 29, so be there!

Stay cool,

Thunder Rider

Make sure you see Spaceritual.net on their tour and also see Hawkwind on their tour!

October 11, 2002

Tractor's 30th Anniversary Remaster!

This new 30th Anniversary Edition of the Tractor "Tractor" CD (Ozit CD 217) contains 6 bonus tracks, including a brand new track featuring Nik Turner of Spaceritual.net on sax and flute, as well as a track ("Siderial") recorded live at Glastonbury Festival, 2002. Available from our shop!

NB: All HMV UK branches now carry the new Tractor CD album!

Acoustic Album Launch

A Special Tractor Event!
Acoustic Album launch in the town where it all started!!!

Friday 25th October, 2002 - Andy's Records, The Wheatsheaf Centre, Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Jim Milne and Steve Clayton performed a short set in the shop to launch their album. Also present with a surprise guitar was Brian Eastwood of Eastwood Guitars!

July 13, 2002

Announcing new releases by Doctors Of Madness:

OZIT CD 0045 "Figments Of Emancipation"

Reissue of their classic Polydor album with a definitive CD booklet, featuring seven original tracks plus two bonus tracks: "Out" and "What Goes On" from the Doctors' last live concert in London in 1978.

OZIT CD 0046 "Sons Of Survival"

Reissue of their classic Polydor album with a definitive CD booklet, featuring ten original tracks plus three bonus tracks including "Don't Panic England" featuring Dave Vanian of The Damned on lead vocals,"The Last Human Being In The World" from the Doctors' last concert and "Triple Vision" acoustic demo.

Order here!

Also, introducing new web sites:

www.richardstrange.com

www.doctorsofmadness.co.uk

July 5, 2002

Spaceritual.net and Tractor/The Way We Live live at the Glastonbury Festival, Thursday 27th June, 2002!

Special Report

The Ozit/Morpheus Records and Nikt Records' "Greasy Truckers Party On The Road 2002" hit Glastonbury Festival's Greenfield site on Thursday 27th July when the Croissant Neuf Big Top and Field outside was filled to capacity and the first major musical performances at Glastonbury 2002 took place.

The Croissant Neuf Big Top was immediately jammed to capacity when Andy Hope let the public in and the crowds were ten to twenty deep all around the outside of the tent; Tractor took to the stage at 9:30 and performed a storming set with Jim Milne on acoustic guitar and vocals and Steve Clayton on drum kit and congas and they perfomed around 40 minutes of music and received rapturous applause at the end of every number. Thirty years since their classic Dandelion Records album, they come to Glastonbury for the first time and stormed the crowd!

After a quickish stage change, Spaceritual.net took to the stage: the basic four-piece of Nik Turner - sax, flute and vocals, and 'Alien Space Suit' Thomas Crimble - bass guitar, Mick Slattery - guitar, Terry Ollis - drums, were joined by Sam Ollis on drums, Commander Jim Hawkman - keyboards and twiddly noises, two exotic dancers, Adrian Pearson on congas, Thomas Hewitt on electric guitar, Jackie on percussion, Richard Lanchester on percussion and African drummer Ben Baddoo.

Thanks also to Joe "The Hat" Brian, the photogapher, Melissa (also photogapher), Sally Howell, Andy Hope and all the Croissant Neuf crew! spaceritual.net played two hours plus of early Hawkwind material and the crowd were ecstatic. Watch out for spaceritual.net at Guildford Festival and more dates for the Greasy Truckers Party On The Road 2002 with spaceritual.net and Tractor!

May 25, 2002

spaceritual.net to play at the Guildford Festival!

on Friday 19th July, 2002, at around 9:45 pm

This will be a great spaceritual.net event in the true spirit of Barney Bubbles and Robert Calvert!

For more info, watch this site and also www.guilfest.co.uk!

May 17, 2002

James Dewar (ex-Stone The Crows/Robin Trower) has died. Read a tribute from Big George here.

James Dewar (1942 - 2002), R.I.P.

March 11, 2002

New Links:

New web site dedicated to Free Festivals (1970-1985), includes a bit on Deeply Vale!

www.megalomania.co.uk - Megalomania Music Ltd.

February 23, 2002

It is with deep regret that we have to inform you that former Body bass player Ronnie Nelson is in the hospital at the moment with brain haemorrhage; they are quite likely to switch off the life support machine this weekend. You will see Ronnie's picture here in the News section and also in the Pictures section of our site along with other Body photos from the classic Festival and "The Body Album"/Liverpool Space Rockers era. Ronnie is a great bass player and a great guy, and his work on The Body Album which we are proud to have been involved with (alongside Gary, Tony And John) is simply classic.

That album, since it was first recorded (and now it is available on CD on Ozit/Morpheus Records/Recession records), as well as the band's excellent live gigs, including their appearance at the Free Festival, are amongst our brightest memories left to us by Ronnie and the band.

Ever since we first met them at the Deeply Vale Festival in 1976, when Body turned up in their bus, they, along with Tractor, formed a sort of 'North-West hippy festival band alliance' playing together at festivals such as Rivington Pike and Deeply Vale…

Ronnie, our thoughts and wishes and those of all Body fans and music fans in general go out to you and your loved ones.

February 10, 2002

Announcing New Releases from OZIT/Morpheus Records!

Tractor "Tractor" OZIT CD 00217

The band's definitive version of the classic 1972 Dandelion album remastered with extra rare acoustic bonus tracks, plus a track recorded by Tractor (Jim Milne and Steve Clayton) featuring Nik Turner of Hawkwind on sax and flute. Inner pages of the CD booklet were designed by Jacuzzi and include many rare photographs from the Tractor/The Way We Live archives.

The Way We Live "A Candle For Judith" OZIT CD 00216

The band's first (1971) album for Dandelion records, now finally released as the band's definitive version with extra rare acoustic demo tracks, plus a track by Jim Milne and Steve Clayton featuring Nik Turner of Hawkwind on sax and flute! CD booklet with inner pages designed by Jacuzzi with rare photos of The Way We Live/Tractor.

String Driven Thing "The Early Years" OZIT CD 0029

The definitive version of Chris and Pauline Adams' (feat. John Mannion) first String Driven Thing album from 1968, plus rare bonus tracks including a couple of tracks featuring Chris Adams and violinist Grahame Smith (previously unreleased); inner pages of CD booklet designed by Jacuzzi.

www.silvermachine.net - Hawkwind Tribute Band Site

December 28, 2001

Hi, Steve Clayton here.

Just to let everybody out there know about a gig that Jim and I played last Thursday 20th December at the Limelight Club in Crewe - first gig that we have played together for over fifteen years! Played many tracks off the first and second albums plus a couple of new things. Brilliant club, great sound and a wonderful audience (thanks to anybody who was there) - and just as important - great fun. Hopefully, the first gig of many!

Love and peace,
Steve
Hebden Bridge Hi, Jim Milne here.

A quick message to everybody who attended our Crewe gig last week and to everyone at Ozit for making such a special night possible. It was amazing to see and work with Steve Clayton and Chris Hewitt again after so many years. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it was pleasing to dust off some old material and find it still viable.

New Year's greetings to everyone - I have a feeling 2002 is going to bring major changes in the fortunes of all those patient Tractor fans everywhere. Watch this space!

With all my love,
Jim Milne

P.S. Love you, Poppy!

December 23, 2001

FIRST TRACTOR/THE WAY WE LIVE GIG IN 20 YEARS!!!

The spaceritual.net Christmas Party
20th December 2001
at the Limelight Club in Crewe, Cheshire

Live Report

The Limelight Club in Crewe was pretty full for the first on-stage meeting of Jim Milne and Steve Clayton of The Way We Live/Tractor in 20 years. Jim played electro-acoustic guitar through an effects pedal board and also handled vocals; Steve played congas and cymbals. Thomas Hewitt joined on electric guitar on some numbers - set list and photos will follow on this site so watch this space!

spaceritual.net followed next - a great line-up with Nik Turner on sax, vocals and flute, Thomas Crimble on bass, Terry Ollis on drums, Mick Slattery on lead guitar and vocals, Commander Jim Hawkman on synths and vocals, Del Dettmar on axe and synths, Jackie (Terry Ollis's lady) on percussion and vocals and Thomas Hewitt on electric guitar.

Both the spaceritual.net and Tractor sets were recorded live on a multi-track, and will feature as part of our CD releases in due course!

November 5, 2001

It is with deep regret that we here at Ozit-Morpheus Records UK and the Deeply Vale Festival Archives office have to announce that Deeply Vale Festival stalwart Eddie Kledjys took his own life last Friday. Last known affectionately by everybody as 'Mad Eddie', he started off in a street theatre with his brother Henry and then got into making speaker cabinets and flight cases, putting up festival stages, fences, generators and you-name-it… In the years of his far too short life he did it all in the entertainment world. He never did get his idea of a TV Blacksmith on Breakfast TV off the ground but that just shows he was years ahead of those folks at Breakfast TV! We will miss you, Eddie.

July 14, 2001

Record Collector, June 2001 issue, has a writeup on Chris Adams of String Driven Thing "The Damage II" (his new solo album): "...Chris' laid-back, emotional tunes will find favour with fans of his old band and anyone with a keen ear for a well-tuned lyric!" (Record Collector)

March 22, 2001

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Two new Phil Lynott/Thin Lizzy items
in our stock!

We now have a rare, limited edition Phil Lynott white T-shirt (only 20 available): "Phil Lynott - a special tribute", with a depiction of Phil on the front - a full colour photo. Size: L (Large) only. This superb-looking shirt is a must for all Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy fans!

Price: ₤12 plus postage. Order it at the Ozit Products page!

Also available: The Spirit of Black Rose, stunning new 2CD set in tribute to Thin Lizzy and Phil Lynott!

Featuring: Philomena Lynott, Robin George, Demon, Randy Bachman, Ken Hensley, Nitzinger, Southern Rock Allstars, Primal Fear, Doc Holliday, Lotus, Bigelf, Hobbit, Loaded Dice, Locomotive Breath, Yellow Pearl, Carl Dixon, Motherlode, Ten Jinn, Dogface, Ian Osbourne, Damon Johnson, Tribe of Gypsies, Thin As Lizzy, Roddy Cleere, The Boys Are Back, Kurgan's Bane, Fatt Elizabeth, Thin Lipztick, Vick LeCar's Blue Moon, Parris, Sinner

Price: ₤15 plus postage. Order it at the Ozit Products page!

March 21, 2001

A brand new Tractor album is now underway, it will include contributions from Jim Milne, Dave Goldberg and Steve Clayton.   Two new songs written by Jim have been recorded in the studio; the numbers are provisionally titled, 'Easier To Say' and 'No More Lies', and feature Jim on electric and acoustic guitars and vocals, Steve Clayton on drums/percussion and Dave Goldberg on keyboards/Hammond organ.

These will feature amongst new Tractor/The Way We Live releases on Ozit/Morpheus Records very soon, so watch this space!

February 19, 2001

Announcing:

Dandelion Records Website

Fresh Dandelions (Beau, John Trevor, etc.)

February 4, 2001

ANNOUNCEMENT!

New to Ozit stock:

We have copies of Big George's "The Alleged Album" - only on rare ltd. edition 12" vinyl and CD

The "All Fools Day" album is now also available on cassette

Also available: Big George - black T-shirts with the print of Big George on the back

Also now in stock: a few copies of Big Amongst Sheep "Astropop" - rare 12" picture sleeve vinyl - featuring Nik Turner (Hawkwind) on saxophone, on one track: a must for all Hawkwind and Nik Turner fans!

Proceed here to order!

January 30, 2001

NothinButDaBlues have created a new web page on Big George and the Business - take a look!

January 1, 2001

Signed copies of "My Boy - The Philip Lynott Story" are now in stock with inner front page signed by the author, Phil's mum, Philomena.

Proceed here to order!

December 31, 2000

Goldmine's Jo-Ann Greene mentions "I Am Just A Cowboy" in A Broad Abroad:

Finally this month, a fascinating interview album blends the thoughts and words of the late Phil Lynott with nine cuts by Dizzy Lizzy, a Thin Lizzy tribute band who sound even closer to the real thing than the reunion lineup currently treading the boards. I Am Just A Cowboy (Ozit - U.K.) was produced with the full cooperation of Lynott's mother Philomena, features excellent liner notes and is a good deal all round. Just like Thin Lizzy themselves, then.

November 13, 2000

New Phil Lynott items now available from Ozit:

Two new Phil Lynott poetry books

A colour booklet with some nice photos of Phil

A B2-size full colour poster of the "I Am Just A Cowboy" album cover

Philomena Lynott's book, "My Boy"

Proceed here to order!

November 5, 2000

ANNOUNCEMENT!

T-Shirt

We now have Phil Lynott/Thin Lizzy black T-shirts with the reproduction of the “I Am Just A Cowboy” album cover, in full colour, on the front! This superb-looking shirt is a must for all Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy fans! Price: ₤12 plus postage. Order it at the Ozit Products page!

September 24, 2000

Pete Farrow: Who Said there's no Beach in Stockport? First CD review by Alec Martin published at www.thisisbolton.co.uk

September 7, 2000

Chris Hewitt and members of Tractor are sad to report the untimely death of Dave Edwards from injuries which resulted from his 'trike' motorbike accident. He was Godfather to Chris's son Thomas and a closely involved person in all affairs of Tractor, Deeply Vale Festival services, and the launch of the Deeply Vale Archives.

September 1, 2000

Dave Edwards, Deeply Vale organiser, is in intensive care at the moment, having been critically injured in a trike accident. Our thoughts are with him, his brother Bryan, his son Dylan and his entire family

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Brand new Billy Fury web site launched!

www.billyfuryofficial.com

www.billyfuryofficial.co.uk

August 12, 2000

The new book on Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy entitled, "Phil Lynott - Rockin' Vagabond" has been released and is available at 9.99 Pound Sterling. This is an in-depth look at the life and times of Phil the Rocker, leader of the 70s Irish rock legend Thin Lizzy. This book has been written by Ken Brooks and is available as a softback.

Also announcing: Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols: "Probably! His Last Ever Interview" - OZIT CD 0062

This rare "Probably! His Last Ever Interview" with Sid comes from a tape recorded by journalist Jolie Black and includes bonus material: Glen Matlock and Rat Scabies discussing Sid Vicious, etc.

Available mid-September 2000.

Superb Steve Jacuzzi-designed booklet and inlay featuring paintings of Sid Vicious included from Ozit's resident artist Chris Daniel.

July 10, 2000

Pete Farrow "Who Says There's No Beach In Stockport" (OZIT CD0054) - a 23-track CD album across the whole time period of his career including detailed sleevenotes and testimonials! Five of the tracks on this album were produced by the (late) legendary producer and visionary Martin Hannett.

March 24, 2000

Read the latest review of Doctors Of Madness CD published in French magazine Acid Dragon here.

Also announcing:

Atlantic Soul Machine "Black White and Blue" (OZIT CD 101)

March 6, 2000

The Billy Fury CD, "Wondrous Place Live, Plus Other Rare Live Songs And Early Studio Demos", is now available from Ozit - check out the details here!

Featuring a 12-page full colour biographical booklet and double- sided back inlay and picture CD; many rare photos provided by Billy's mum and brother.

February 9, 2000

Due out soon: new Bob Marley CD, "Why?", an electronic remix featuring the voice of Bob Marley, remixed by Fog, of Ozit-Morpheus Records.

February 5, 2000

Update on the Billy Fury CD, "Wondrous Place Live, Plus Other Rare Live Songs And Early Studio Demos" - it will be out in about three weeks. It will feature extra rare studio tracks from his first ever record (a one-off 78) that he cut in Liverpool. This record, only one copy of which has survived to this day, is in poor condition but we are trying our best to enhance the sound as it will be of great interest to both and and collectors. (See below for further details).

December 24, 1999

We are launching a new section, as part of the Ozit-Morpheus Records page: "Happening Bands"! This is a separate section from "CD Releases" and its main mission is to bring you the latest information on new bands signed by Ozit-Morpheus, their whereabouts and happenings, gig schedules, upcoming releases and so forth.

November 29, 1999

Click here to read the new Doctors Of Madness CD review published in this month's Record Collector magazine!

November 18, 1999

"Ultimate Rock - Spoken Moments of Thin Lizzy" - a tribute to Phillip Lynott (see below for earlier news) is just being finalised now. (CD cover art design by Chris Daniels).

Also in the works at the present time, coming soon: a new book on Jim Morrison and The Doors. This is going to be a definitive book on The Doors in softback, entitled: 'Jim Morrison and The Doors - Eloquent Basilisk'.

November 7, 1999

Paperlate Radio in Holland will transmit an interview with PETE BEST, the original drummer in the BEATLES, on November 21, 1999. DJ Andre Steijns will converse with Pete about the wildest days of his life, when he was a member of the BEATLES and about what happened in the aftermath of that period.

October 3, 1999

Here And Now have a new 6-track CD album on G.A.S. records, entitled, Gospel Of Free, with two tracks recorded live at Deeply Vale Festival in 1978.

Click here for more details.

The album, just available, has a 32-page booklet about the free festivals of the late seventies and some pictures of Deeply Vale - page 2 of the book is a great shot of Deeply Vale and a map of Deeply Vale directions and picture of Glastonbury 1977, as well as the whole story of British free festivals through the eyes of the Here And Now band and family.

This CD can be ordered via Ozit Records - 15 British Pound Sterling + Postage if outside the U.K. (inquire here about further details).

September 26, 1999

Paperlate Radio page in Holland has announced their 200th show: http://home.concepts.nl/~paperlte/pap200.htm

DJ Andre Steijns has played THE WAY WE LIVE track "Woman of Fire" off the new double vinyl LP set, STEVE'S HUNGARIAN NOVEL

Also featured was OZIT Recording artist KHABBRA - a studio interview and his track Fire - a live recording done at Paperlate studios on July 3rd, 1997

September 18, 1999

Record Collector this month reviews Before, During And After The Dandelion Years... Through To Deeply Vale And Beyond - click here to read!

September 9, 1999

A new double vinyl gatefold sleeve LP featuring a lot of previously unreleased material, entitled, "Steve's Hungarian Novel", is now available as a limited edition - only 200 hand-signed copies! Click Here for more details.

Also available:

Albie Wycherley (Billy Fury's brother) "I Never Met Colette" + 3 other tracks (4-track CD EP) OZIT FAB-HOL CD 501

September 6, 1999

TV Smith "Channel Five" (OZITCD 44) gets reviewed by Q magazine! (Click here to read the review!)

September 5, 1999

Trevor Midgley, Beau And John Trevor of The Way We Live/Tractor collaboration fame now has his own website:
http://members.tripod.co.uk/TrevorM/index.html

August 29, 1999

The first short story from Steve Clayton has arrived, entitled, "After The War" - click here to read it!

26 August, 1999

Ozit Records and PE.BE Splash Records Proudly Present:
THE PETE BEST BAND - Casbah Coffee Club 40th Anniversary CD - an all new 16-track CD to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Casbah Coffee Club, the birthplace of The Beatles!! Read all about it!

8 August, 1999

A new double vinyl gatefold sleeve LP featuring a lot of previously unreleased material, entitled, "Steve's Hungarian Novel", is now in the works; it will be available as a limited edition - only 200 hand-signed copies to be made with a possibility of re-pressing later!.. Watch this space!

10 May, 1999

A Very Special Guestbook Entry: "Hi everybody, Chris has been telling me about the site and, as I'm recently back on line, I've finally visited it. I'd like to thank the 'older' Tractor/Way We Live fans for their support over the years and say 'HI!' to all the new ones. Stay patient - one day there'll be some new material for everyone to get their teeth into. Until then........ Best wishes, Jim Milne"

4 March, 1999

From the Paperlate Radio page in Holland:

On Sunday, March 21th we'll be chatting on the phone with someone who allready visited our show two years ago: CHRIS HEWITT from the legendary progressive rock band TRACTOR. We'll be also talking with another ex-Tractor member: STEVE CLAYTON.

Our regular listeners already know that there's a new Tractor album available: "Before, During and After the Dandelion Years, Through to Deeply Vale and Beyond" . It's released on Ozit Records, P.O.Box 116, Nortwich, Cheshire CW9 5UG England.

Ozit Morpheus Records is operated by Recordcore Deeply Vale Recordrange

TUNE IN and HAVE A STRANGE TRIP!!!

2 March, 1999

We have updated the Pictures page with "new" photos (old and new) as well as samples of Steve Clayton's drawings - check them out here

14 February, 1999 - Message from Steve Clayton:

Alex. Yo my man. Steve Clayton here. Good site man. It should catch a lot of people, or even stranger creatures.

Love you all. Especially you sixteen year old school girls. Don't hesitate to talk to me.

Ozit/Morpheus Older News

US Blues Tour 1963

John Peel's Dandelion Records DVD

Deeply Vale "Jester" T-Shirt

ROCKIN ROCHDALE

Blue Plaque Celebration

Wednesday 23rd September, 2009 was the day when two blue plaques were unveiled in the Borough of Rochdale to commemorate and recognise two uniquely important recording venues/music buildings that influenced rock and pop music locally, nationally and internationally.

ROCKIN ROCHDALE

Blue Plaque Celebration - Wednesday 23rd September

Announcing A New Release

Grahame Smith "Kalinka"

CD Rarities Volume 10 OZIT CD 90

Steve Hillage Live At Deeply Vale 1978 - 180g Vinyl

The Fall - Northern Cream, The Fall DVD That Fights Back

The Last Mad Surge of Youth

Pink Floyd Knebworth 1975

Billy Fury Rarities 1-5

The North-West Region section of the politics show on BBC1: Peterloo

Steve Hardstaff "Cover Versions"

CHRIS HEWITT IN ASSOCIATION WITH TOUCHSTONES PRESENTS A MINI INDOOR MUSIC FESTIVAL

Building a bridge between the 70s and the 80s Rochdale culture and today

Two new Joy Division at the Electric Circus T-Shirts

Stephen Clayton's new novel

Ozit-Morpheus Profiled in Record Collector!

Announcing A New Release

Grahame Smith "Arrival Of Spring"

Fundraiser - In Memory of Andy Burgoyne, Dave Edwards

It Started In Rochdale - Step Into The 70s And Beyond Rochdale, Heywood and Whitworth Music and Arts Scene Ozit CD 247

Two exhibitions at Touchstones Esplanade, Rochdale

Step Into The 70s

Rochdale Sculptors

CD Rarities Volume 9

Knebworth 1976 T-Shirts and Sweatshirts

John Peel/Dandelion Label Night with Tractor & Guitar George

Saturday, 10th November 2007

Zoom @ The Moon SE24

Buyer Beware!

Billy Fury DVD

Tractor, The Way We Live, String Driven Thing, Body and Steve Hillage are featured in the new issue of UNCUT Magazine!

Joy Division - Martin Hannett's Personal Mixes INTERSTATE CD 10797 Distributed by Ozit-Morpheus Records

This Friday, 19th January 2007

BBC 1 @ 7:30 pm

Watch the "Inside Out" programme!

Announcing A New Release

Grahame Smith "A Touch Of Magic"

Announcing New Release...

V.A. - Black Diamond Express To Hell - An Amazing Ride Along Railroads Of America featuring hot and blue tunes from the 1920s - 1960s

A trip down memory lane...

"Hungry But Weird" new Captain Beefheart book from Ozit/Morpheus Records

John Peel Bought Us Studio Gear And a P.A.

Life Too, Has Surface Noise - The Complete Dandelion Records Singles Collection 1969-1972

Announcing new release: Billy Fury Rarities Volume 7

(click above to view full size images)

Manchester District Music Archive, Chris Hewitt/Ozit Morpheus Records and Touchstones Rochdale present:

Manchester Music Meets Rockin' Rochdale Saturday 8th April, from 12:30 pm till 4 pm at Touchstones Exhibition Centre in Rochdale ABSOLUTELY FREE

The Deeply Vale Festivals of the 1970s 5CD box set

Bring What You Expect To Find - The Deeply Vale Festivals of the 1970s

Announcing

Jim Milne gets praise from South African radio!

Rockin’ Rochdale - The Concert has been cancelled, due to unfavourable weather conditions. Please check back soon for rescheduling information (tentatively Spring 2006). All tickets will be refunded at the outlets through which they were purchased.

Announcing

“The Abba to Zappa of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band in the early to mid-1970s”

TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY VALE - TV DOCUMENTARY

TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY VALE - THE BOOK stories from the North West and Manchester Underground Music Scene

Announcing new CDs

New Tractor/Deeply Vale DVD

STEVE HILLAGE LIVE AT THE DEEPLY VALE FESTIVAL '78

Announcing new CDs

Nik Turner "Kubanno Kickasso" OZIT NIKTCD 334

New CD from Guitar George Borowski

Announcing 2 New Releases From Ozit!

The Dandelion Records Concert and Convention

Kevin Coyne - The Dandelion Years

OZIT SHOP PRESENTS...

Spaceritual.net and Tractor Live The Rock Cafe 2000 - Greasy Truckers Party/Robert Calvert Convention, 17th May 2003

Tractor's 30th Anniversary Remaster!

Acoustic Album Launch

Announcing new releases by Doctors Of Madness:

Spaceritual.net and Tractor/The Way We Live live at the Glastonbury Festival, Thursday 27th June, 2002!

Special Report

CD Rarities Volume 10
OZIT CD 90

Steve Hillage
Live At Deeply Vale 1978 - 180g Vinyl

It Started In Rochdale - Step Into The 70s And Beyond
Rochdale, Heywood and Whitworth Music and Arts Scene
Ozit CD 247

John Peel/Dandelion Label Night
with Tractor & Guitar George

Joy Division - Martin Hannett's Personal Mixes
INTERSTATE CD 10797
Distributed by Ozit-Morpheus Records

"Hungry But Weird"
new Captain Beefheart book from Ozit/Morpheus Records

Announcing new release:
Billy Fury Rarities Volume 7

Manchester Music Meets Rockin' Rochdale

Saturday 8th April, from 12:30 pm till 4 pm at Touchstones Exhibition Centre in Rochdale

ABSOLUTELY FREE

TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY VALE - THE BOOK
stories from the North West and Manchester Underground Music Scene

STEVE HILLAGE
LIVE AT THE DEEPLY VALE FESTIVAL '78

Spaceritual.net and Tractor Live
The Rock Cafe 2000 - Greasy Truckers Party/Robert Calvert Convention, 17th May 2003

The spaceritual.net Christmas Party
20th December 2001
at the Limelight Club in Crewe, Cheshire

Two new Phil Lynott/Thin Lizzy items
in our stock!