[Mike Harte]

Coming from North London, I saw an abundance of live acts doing the club rounds, so many that I can't remember many of them. Bob will probably remember, but we had venues like the Country Club in Haverstock Hill, and just along the road from there, a small place called Conrad's Bistro possibly better known as the Witches Cauldron. Carrying on a bit, we had the Moon Café which on a road that led on to the Finchley Road where there were another couple of places, plus The Refectory in Golders Green. Further up the long Finchley Road (where it became the High Road in North Finchley), a pub that constantly had superb bands on in the back room, was the Torrington.

But on Sunday nights, a constantly changing group of some really serious musicians would turn up at a coffee place on the Finchley Road between Swiss Cottage and the Hendon Way, and they would jam way into the early hours of Monday morning. Not necessarily "pop" music, but sounds that would keep you wanting more and more.

Then, I met the girl who became my wife, and she worked for the New Musical Express. As a staff member she got invites to pretty well all the record releases, so it seems as though every night we were out at the launches. Of all of them, the ones that stand out are (all from Ronnie Scotts in Soho), Osibisa (a fabulous African/Caribbean fusion band based around percussion) who were my absolute favourite, Blue Mink featuring the fabulous Madeline Bell, 10cc and Georgie Flame and the Blue Flames.