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BY ALAN WILSON
José had first visited England in May 1967 by arrangement with his record company RCA to promote their new exciting unknown artist. He stayed for a month and performed at a number of clubs in London, recorded a few songs that were released as singles, solely for the UK market at that time, and appeared on various TV and Radio light entertainment programmes. In fact, he almost never made it further than Heathrow airport, due to the UK quarantine regulations and the fact that José arrived with his guide dog. This was reported in all the national daily papers in the UK and gave José immediate publicity that perhaps he or his record company were not expecting. After this month long sojourn, José returned to the States, recorded the "Feliciano!" album, became an "overnight" international pop star in 1968, and was in demand all over the world. He was reluctant to return to the UK, due to the quarantine regulations, but, after just under two and a half years he did return for this one off concert, at the venue mentioned above, and RCA recorded it, and one song that José sang was one of his own compostions "No dogs allowed" referring to that earlier incident. The concert itself was a great success and he received some good reviews, one describing him as "probably one of the most distinctive singers and instumentalists to have emerged in many years" and another saying that whether he was singing, playing, joking or smiling his big, boyish smile, it was all superb. In addition to the songs later released on the double album, other numbers José sang included "Sunny", "Miss Otis Regrets", " Earl Scruggs’- Breakdown" and "Susie-Q". What a debut, his first performance in an English theatre, that was to be followed by the equally superb record, released from it.
The double album "Alive Alive-O!" released in January 1970 was taken from a concert, José’s first proper UK concert, performed at The London Palladium on 5th October 1969.
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