Jim Milne, Steve Clayton together with Michael Batsch and Alan Burgess formed a beat group 1966 in Rochdale at Balderstone School. Burgess and then Batsch left, leaving Milne and Clayton to record a demo tape in their bedroom which was sent to John Peel’s Dandelion Records label. John Peel was impressed and signed them up. The material was re-recorded and their first album called A Candle For Judith was released in 1971, the group being called The Way We Live after the problem page in “Woman’s Own” magazine.

The group was renamed Tractor in 1972 followed by the release of an an album of the same name.

Although never commercially successful, they have developed a cult following with many of their tracks being remastered and re-released by Ozit Records.

Discography

Albums

THE WAY WE LIVE -"A Candle For Judith" LP 1971

TRACTOR - ”Tractor” (1972)

Re-released Albums & Compilations (only albums with previously unavailable material listed)

TRACTOR - ”Tractor” (original Tractor album plus 3 bonus tracks - Stoney Glory, Lady of Astorath and Overture which is an unfinished part of Peterloo from Worst Enemies album) 

TRACTOR - “Tractor” - New 30th Anniversary Edition (contains 6 bonus tracks, including a brand new track featuring Nik Turner of Spaceritual.net on sax and flute, as well as a track ("Sidereal") recorded live at Glastonbury Festival, 2002)

TRACTOR “Worst Enemies” (contains the complete 21-minute Peterloo suite of songs which would have formed part of a third album for Dandelion before they decided to stop investing in bands) 

TRACTOR “Original Masters” (contains earlier recordings of the eight songs on The Way We Live album “A Candle for Judith” plus another six previously unreleased tracks including live versions of Lost on the Ocean and Electric Witch.  The eight Candle for Judith songs on this CD were recorded in 1970 in the attic studio in Edenfield Road, Rochdale, produced and engineered by John Brierley and are slightly more raw than the Candle for Judith Dandelion masters, which were recorded at Hollick and Taylor, Birmingham and mastered at Spot Sound in London.  Because the band always felt more at ease in their own studio environment,  Dandelion encouraged them to record in their own studio again for the Tractor”Tractor” album.) 

THE WAY WE LIVE/ TRACTOR - “Steve’s Hungarian Novel” (contains tracks taken from 1969 to 1974 with the addition of a long track,”The Stream” recorded in 1998. 

Singles

THE WAY WE LIVE - "King Dick II" - appears on Dandelion EP 1971 along with Principal Edwards, Magic Theatre, Stackwaddy, and Siren.

TRACTOR – ”Stoney Glory” Maxi single on Dandelion Records 1972

TRACTOR - "Roll The Dice" on UK Records 1973

TRACTOR - “No More Rock’N’Roll” on Cargo Records (the label linked to Rochdale’s Cargo Recording Studios run by Tractor engineer John Brierley).  This was the first recording that featured Dave Addison on bass guitar who continued to record and play live in Tractor until the early nineties.   This single was released to tie in with the 1977 Deeply Vale Free Festival and was in the shops as well as being sold from the stage at the Festival.  This was quite a succesful single gaining a review in NME as one of the first indie singles. 

TRACTOR - “Average Man’s Hero/Big Big Boy”

Other Tractor Contributions:

Greasy Truckers Party 2002/ 2003 (live compilation of various artists, 2003)

Other Recordings By Tractor Artists

“Who Am I?” A-side and “Trick Of The Light” B-side appear on a JIM MILNE solo single on the Birds Nest label.  

THE WAY WE LIVE (Jim Milne and Steve Clayton) also play on the 1971 album by BEAU entitled "Creation" on Dandelion Records

TONY CRABTREE recorded as CRY for Virgin Records in 1977 covering the Rare Bird number “Sympathy” and the B-side was Tony's  song “Policeman's Blues” (Tony also played at the Deeply Vale Free Festival with his band Nirvana - long before Kurt Cobain thought of the name).  Tony recorded and gigged with Tractor for a year or so in the early 1980's as well as recording and gigging once as MILNE AND CRABTREE (Milne on bass and vocals and Crabtree on keyboards) in 1985 at an outdoor festival against heroin use. The festival was promoted by Chris Hewitt.

DAVE GOLDBERG of TRACTOR had a band and an album called ONE MORE STORY. Dave wrote all the songs on the album one of which has since been covered by Ian Matthews and Jim Milne co-arranged all the guitar parts on the album although he could not be there for the recordings. 

KHABBRA - Khabbra are guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Surinder Khabbra and drummer/percussionist Steve Clayton (of Tractor) who also produced this album.  Steve Clayton wrote, produced and played percussion on a track on this album called “Don’t Blame Me.”