Tuneful Tynesiders whose songs celebrated life in Newcastle

I AM often asked, "what makes a classic album?" writes MICHAEL BROOKS. The answer is up for debate which is partly why the argument should be fun. Music, by virtue of being listened to, is easily more accessible than a film or book. Record labels want their releases to reach the widest audience possible, so I can only define it, that the album should be of a high quality to make such an impact, that after hearing it you just want to own it, so it feels as if the music belongs to you and you never want to let it go.

The band Lindisfarne, was Alan Hull, Rod Clements, Ray Jackson, Simon Cowe and Ray Laidlaw, originated in Newcastle, they were categorised as a simple folk group writing beautifully crafted songs and were even hailed as the new Beatles. They were first known as Brethren; they took the name Lindisfarne from the Holy Island off the coast of Northumberland. Fog On The Tyne was their second studio album. It celebrated life in Newcastle containing such verses as "sitting in a sleazy snack bar sucking sickly sausage rolls." It did become the biggest selling album of 1972 featuring a top five hit, Meet Me On The Corner. Despite the success of the album, the band made an ill fated decision to tour America which proved to be a disaster. Tour manager Glen Colson said, "We were over there for six months mainly supporting established American rock bands. We did think we could make it in America but it didn't work, they could not understand the lyrics in our songs, we were poorly paid, barely earning a dollar a day." Back in the UK, Charisma reissued their first album Nicely Out Of Tune. This mixture of folk rock with Geordie harmonies is often referred as the better album? It contained the wistful Lady Eleanor written by frontman and main songwriter Alan Hull. It was based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe and released as a follow up record reaching number three in the charts. The next album Dingly Dell fared badly, and the band became disillusioned and disbanded. The original line up reunited in 1978 and enjoyed a top ten hit with Run For Home; Lindisfarne were unable to capitalise and broke up again. In 1998 they were back in the charts joined by international footballer Paul Gascoigne (Gazza) with a reworked but inferior version of Fog On The Tyne but it reached number two in the charts.

The band Lindisfarne are still performing and have released a dozen or so albums over the years with the band's personnel frequently changing. They are currently embarking on a 2019 tour of the UK.