Tom Robinson Band on LWT 1977

[KatiesNottingham]

Does Tom or Danny, Mark Ambler or Dolphin remember the gig at Katies, the night of thier first Top Of The Pops appearance?

Would love to promote them again ... ahhh well

[naepalz]

TRB was the soundtrack for the 14 year old me. I am so glad to have found this. Only today I was listening to "I'm Alight Jack" and thinking how things politically have almost come full circle and it seems we are back to the same place again with the country run by ex Eton boys sigh ... Thank you so much for making the young me think about fairness, equality and basically fighting for what is right. I have to nag my teenagers out of their compacency on an almost daily basis!!

[Wakey222]

Hi Tom.

As a band member during this period 2-4-6-8 was a standard for all of us, a real finisher, and easy to play (if you winged the solo) so thank you and sorry for all the money we should have paid for performing rights but didn't.

[eunicefinger]

great,just bloody great

[StFual]

Tom i was a closet TRB fan in the seventies - loved the band but ashamed to acknowledge it because my friends might think i was gay. Somedays i wonder whether i've really grown up or its just become easier to acknowledge gay themes now. Anyway thanks for forcing me to challenge my values. I remember an in concert with the winter of 79 on it where Danny Kustows guitar just blew me away. If you have any live winter of 79 tapes out there i'd love to see and here them.

[cedomil]

Great performance, takes me back in '77... 2-4-6-8 Motorway was on the forefront of the wave that saved rock at that time. Glad to be gay lyrics shaped minds of ones who refused to let others do the thinking!

Still have that stencil (not meant for public walls of course!) tucked safely with Power in the Darkness LP :)

Thank you Tom.

[TIMOTHYSAARINEN]

TRB's "Power in the Darkness" was/is just as important and relevant as anything The Clash ever did. Such a great album. Fierce, emotional and intelligent. TRB 2, while very good, especially lyrically, was too gentled down. Danny Kustow's amazing guitarwork was pushed to the backseat in favor of keyboards. I was heartbroken when they broke up. Now, whenever I listen to the fantastic New Model Army, I always hear TRB. Justin's voice even sounds somewhat like Tom's. A great band. Music is a gift!

[luffe1966]

Anyone have the song "Hold out" ???

[bothways]

@luffe1966 Yes - go to my website (see "More Info" on this video for the link) then click Tom Robinson Band, then click Songs. You can hear the remastered TRB albums there.

[Barclaycard1]

Can only imagine the aggro the gay community went through at the time, there's always some idiot determined to f*** it up for anyone who's not "mainstream", wherever you go, even to this day, though I get the impression that thigs have changed for the slightly better for the gay community.Anyway, enough of my soapbox ranting, Tom- any plans to play in the West Midlands at the moment?

[Barclaycard1]

Hi Tom, I'm a bit of a bass playing trainspotter and I'm ashamed to say that I don't recognise the model of guitar you're playing in these clips, what is it and have you still got? It sounds great! :)

Also, I've noticed in the more recent clips of Glad To Be Gay you don't have the look of vitriolic hatred that you do here, have you mellowed? ;)

[bothways]

@Barclaycard1 The bass was a Yamaha that belonged to our keyboard player Mark Ambler, I didnt have a bass of my own at the time this was recorded. As to the vitriol - the lyrics describe what things were like at the time for gay people in the UK. Nowadays there's legal equality, civil partnerships and open gay MPs and police officers. So it's not just me that's mellowed :-)

[christ0h]

Even in the punk era this was pretty heavy stuff. Classic tv.

[Traitor73]

Great tune

[Gilesfly]

2468 Its Never Too Late. You hear the songs true title there.

[tonyrome67]

Gilesfly, the song is titled 2-4-6-8 Motorway, as stated by the uploader.

[bothways]

...And I wrote it, so I ought to know :-)

[sidbolero]

Danny Kustow mouths "to fuck me" at 0'23

[ThomasBellarusa]

hahah you're right

[downtwothenleft]

I did and I wont! 1977 at the Liverpool Empire, and had the pleasure of meeting Tom backstage. True gentleman! Lovely bloke! Great band!

[Nighthawkx15]

Great stuff. Last year Tom was kind enough to let me have the guitar chords to this and a few other songs, and took time to explain how to get the best out of the songs. A real Gentleman

[twold4this]

Great stuff! Both great songs, and I often find myself humming or singing 'Glad to be Gay'. I seem to remember the clenched fist symbol being given away as a stencil (not for use on walls, of course) with this single or perhaps one of his albums.

[godivanz]

I agree with lioli - Danny Kustow is an all time great guitarist - up there in my book with Mick Taylor and Angelo Brushini. TRB - the thinking mans punk band - clever, witty, ironic, sarcastic and melodic.

[giantplanet]

"prostitutes,pansies and punks"

[MercFriendlyChat]

TRB were too advanced for their time, such a shame. About time we had bands of this calibre now. I'll only have TRB tunes played when I am on Desert Island Dics.

[Tobester63]

i wish i had a grey cortina, whiplash aerial, racing trim, cortina owner, no-one meaner, wish that i could be like him!

[MercFriendlyChat]

Funny, I did a vid for that tune. Hope Tom does'nt mind.

[lioii]

Great band, probably the only 'punk' band that were genuinely political and were smart too.

I had the pleasure of meeting Tom at a festival in Leeds about 10 years ago when I worked for Shane MacGowan, a true gent! We chatted about Danny Kustow who to me is one of the best guitarists ever, just listen to that beautifully seductive guitar break on 'Too Good To Be True' to appreciate just how good he is!! Where's Danny??? TRB, please reform.

[BruthaVito]

What about The Clash and The Jam = very political and very , very smart ...

[bothways]

Dolphin now runs a successful publishing company called Extreme Music at extrememusic(dot)com and the last time we met he was living in LA.

[DephPriest]

Awesome performance Tom. What on earth was that bass you were playing? Just picked up PITD on CD and currently listening myself back to my yoof. Now where did I put that homemade fist stencil????

[bothways]

It was Mark Ambler's bass - I didnt own one at the time (we were on the dole)... it was some kind of Yamaha!

Thanks for your kind words. Tom x

[begonias]

I met this band backstage at a little place in Davis, California ... they autographed my sign, which read "Danny Kustow Is God." Hey bothways, we saw you once with Sector 27 ... that album was underrated.

[bothways]

Thanks Begonias!

Tom R x

[DeadManOnLeave]

Powerful now, so many years after, I loved the way they nicked the SWP symbol and made it their own and flypostable!

[bothways]

actually it was the other way round. We originally nicked the IDEA of the fist logo from the 1971 Gay Liberation Front badge, but wanted a sharper design in black and yellow. Roger Huddle from Rock Against Racism (and SWP!) found us the fist image and assembled the logo for us in late 76/very early 77. It was only after TRB had been in the charts - later in 77 or early 78 that the SWP adopted that same fist as their logo. Fair enough since it was Roger's image in the, erm, fist place.

[strummer08]

tom robinson,danny kustow,mark ambler and dolphin taylor great band this was there big hit back in 77 from the power and the darkness album other classics were dont take no for an answer,up against the wall,martin to name a few i luv the b side 2 this song it was the classic bob dylan song i shall be released geat band luv em

[lioii]

This was a 4 track EP if I remember correctly. I think the song you're referring to is 'I Shall Be Released' which was the B side of 2-4-6-8.

Brilliant band, loved them, never saw them unfortunately but had the pleasure of meeting Tom at a festival in Leeds when I used to work with Shane MacGowan.

[gwtele]

'froo da nite'

[Nighthawkx15]

Amazing..What do we have these days--Robbie Wiliams?

[beanson99]

God- they were so fucking good

[lynnetom20042003]

A gem of a video from the distant past, with Tom Robinson's iconic song about the bad old days of discrimination and hatred.

[cajunnb]

I too, thank you for posting this song. Tom's was important voice back then. The song still stirs my outrage.

[804pillow]

long live memory lane

[groeslon]

thanks to whoever posted this.wonderful artist/band.

[mickles1981]

TRB always ahead of the times. Brilliant cutting lyrics. Thanks for bringing back the real 70s. Power in the darkness!