The best-known line-up of the Pirates, and also the only line-up ever given Johnny Kidd's blessing to retain and to record under the name "
The Pirates" (Mick Green, Johnny Spence and Frank Farley), re-formed in 1976. They released four albums:
Out of Their Skulls (1977), reaching number 57 in the UK Albums Chart,
Skull Wars (1978), ''Happy Birthday Rock'n'Roll
(1979) and A Fistful of Dubloons
(1981). These contained some original songs, but mostly R’n’R/R&B classics. Out of Their Skulls
and Skull Wars'' featured a mixture of live and studio tracks. They played at Front Row Festival, a three-week event at the Hope and Anchor, Islington in late 1977, which resulted in the band's inclusion, alongside
Wilko Johnson,
The Only Ones,
The Saints,
the Stranglers,
X-Ray Spex, and
XTC, on a hit double album of recordings from the festival.
The Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival compilation LP (1978) reached number 28 in the UK Albums Chart. The original line-up featuring Spence, Green and Farley also had two tracks on each of compilation albums
It’s Rock’n’Roll (1977) and
The London R & B Sessions (1980). This line-up did its final gig in 1983 (until re-forming for the third time in 1999, releasing
Live In Japan 2000 (2002)). After 1983, The Pirates kept going on every now and then with various lines-up, always including Mick Green, in the 1980s and early 1990s with John Gustafson (The Big Three,
Roxy Music) on bass and vocals with different drummers. Then, in 1996–1998, they appeared with Björn Anders (bass/vocals) and Romek Parol (drums), before re-forming with the Green, Spence and Farley line-up in 1999, which continued to perform until 2005. Due to ill health, Frank Farley retired from the live circuit in 2005, to be replaced by Mike Roberts. With Mike Roberts, Johnny Spence and Mick Green, they continued a few more years. Since the break-up in 1983, albums were mostly made under the name Pirates, with various line-ups, such as
Still Shakin (1987), with John Gustafson playing bass and taking care of vocal duties;
Land of the Blind with the Green-Anders-Parol line-up, which was released in 1998; and
Skullduggery by the Green, Spence and Roberts line-up in 2006. The band dissolved on the death of Mick Green in January 2010. Since then, Anders and Parol have formed a new band, The Spellkasters, in 2013 with new frontman Pete Edmunds. An album, ''Kastin' The Spell'', was recorded in Anders' Swedish studio for release on Angel Air Records in February 2014. The album contains new versions of Pirates tracks—"Gibson Martin Fender", "Don't Munchen It" and "Going Back Home"—that Mick Green co-wrote with Wilko Johnson. The Spellkasters started a worldwide tour in March 2014. Original bass player and vocalist of the Pirates trio Johnny Spence is still touring and recording, with a Finnish rock and roll and rhythm & blues trio Doctor's Order. Their co-operation started in 2008; most of the concerts and tours have been in Finland, but they also performed at the International Gastro Blues Festival in Hungary in 2012. Johnny Spence and Doctor's Order have made two albums,
Full Throttle No Brakes (2009) and
Hot and Rockin (2011), both on Goofin' Records. Mick Green also recorded a six-track mini-album,
Cutthroat and Dangerous, with Doctor's Order, which was released in 2007, also on Goofin' Records. Another set of Pirates, with Joe Moretti (guitar), and re-uniting original Pirates Brian Gregg (bass) and Clem Cattini (drums), has also played occasional gigs in recent years. Moretti played on "Shakin' All Over" and its follow-up "Restless". However, this Pirates line-up has Joe Moretti's son, also called Joe Moretti, on guitar. == Deaths ==