Mothers (formerly the Carlton Ballroom) opened above an old furniture store in Erdington High Street, Birmingham England in 1968.
The club opened on 9 August 1968 and closed its doors on 3 January 1971.
In this time more than 400 acts performed there, many of whom went on to even greater success.
Possibly the most significant of the live recordings that took place in Mothers was Pink Floyds Ummagumma, a double-album on EMI's new label Harvest. It was released in October and featured two live sides, partly recorded at Mothers Club, Birmingham, on 27 April 1969; and part recorded at Manchester College of Commerce in June 1969.
The Who performed Tommy and Traffics, world debut took place at Mothers with fledgling rock bands like Black Sabbath playing some of their earliest gigs there.
Some of the better known Rock bands to play mothers include:
Family, Fleetwood Mac, Edgar Broughton Band, Traffic, Free, Roy Harper, Blodwyn Pig, The Strawbs, Quintessence, Steppenwolf, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Jon Hisemans Colosseum, The Nice, Tyrannosaurus Rex, The Who, Fairport Convention, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Soft Machine and hundreds more.
Mothers club was voted number one rock venue in the world by America's Billboard magazine and John Peel was quoted as saying: "People are amazed to hear that for a few years the best club in Britain was in Erdington.".
Roy Harper later told The Amazing Pudding magazine:
"That was the first club outside London that meant anything at all and that's why there's been this long association [of Harper] with Birmingham. I played there about six times between 1968 and 1970. I have always enjoyed playing here".
Bibliography
Mothers 1968 - 1971- the home of good sounds by Kevin Duffy, ISBN: 0709302177