The 1970s: The decade of success: Failed supergroup, first solo album, SGB is born, „Tulane“ in the charts, world tour with The Who, Zeppelinfeld 1979

The 1970s become the decade of success for Steve Gibbons. But it didn’t start out so promisingly:

• The plan to create a Birmingham supergroup with The Balls ended in endless sessions that led to just one single and finally to the break-up of the group.
• Afterwards he records   „Short Stories“a highly acclaimed solo LP with top-clas accompanying musicians: A lavishly produced masterpiece which does not find its way into the record shops
• Furthermore, he has to realize that a gagging contract, which he signed too lightly, hardly leaves him the freedom to record new records.

But soon the tide turns:

• With the formation of the Steve Gibbons Band (SGB), things start to move upwards, first in the local area where they gained an excellent reputation as a live band.
• When Pete Townsend of The Who became aware of the group and The Who’s management took care of them, they also became visible on the international scene.
  As support act of the Who the SGB tours the USA with groups such as Little Feat, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Electric Light Orschestra (ELO), The J. Geils Band and Nils Lofgren.
  And finally they can also score in the local British charts: With Tulane, a Chuck Berry cover, They get a real hit.
• Music lovers in Germany will probably remember the performance at the open air festival on Nuremberg’s Zeppelinfeld (Zeppelin Field) in 1979, which was also the performance of the group with the largest audience.
• By the way: As far as Germany is concernde. more public-effective than the performance on the Zeppelin Field was the performance of the Steve Gibbons Band (SGB) in 1979 in the „Musikladen“, one of the few niches for rock music in what was then exclusively public television. There the band not only played one song in front of an audience of millions, but also gave a short concert with seven songs.

The following LPs were released in the 1970s :

• Short Stories (solo) 1971
• Any Road Up (1976)
• Rollin`On (1977)
• Caught in the Act (Live) (1977)
• Down in the Bunker (1978)

We report on this in the following chapters:

• „Short Stories“: A lavishly produced masterpiece does not find its way into the shops (1971) (The story of Steve Gibbons‘ first solo LP)
• Return to a changed „Brum“ – Old contract forbids new records, but live it is all happening – The Steve Gibbons Band is formed (1972 -74)
• Who are you: Roadie or future star?Pete Townsend is disabused – or: A jacket that had it in it! (1975)
• The stages of the world open – On the Road with The Who (1975/76)
• Permanent guest at UK concert halls as support act, but first Steve Gibbon’s band LP „Any Road Up“ doesn’t take off(1976/77)
• Second album, second chance: First (and only) UK hit single(1977/I)
• Among the last guests of Marc Bolan: „Tulane“ opens the doors to TV and radio studios (1977/II)
• „One of the Boys“: Steve Gibbons writes and Roger Daltrey sings the „1977 My Generation“(1977/III)
• „Caught in the Act“: The live document of the „classical line-up“ of the Steve Gibbons Band (1977/IV) The live document of the „classical composition“ of the Steve Gibbons Band (1977/IV)
• „Down in the Bunker“:Preliminary artistic highlight with a lot of new things (which fits to the nevertheless „old“), but only a sales hit in Scandinavia (1978)
• Scandinavia tour with Handicap, Musikladen Extra, solo performance with Pete Townsend, the Nuremberg Zeppelin Field and Best-of-LP with different country compilations(1979)

Here you will find the overview concerning the 1980s.

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