With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

“Stepping out from a backdrop poster wishing life wouldn’t be so dull” Blog Advent Calendar Day 22 December 22, 2014

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It’s the 22nd December and I reckon some kids can already hear the reindeer pulling hard on the old bearded weird one’s sleigh. That means of course that we are now up to Day 22 of this years advent calendar blog posts. The 22nd letter of the alphabet is ‘V’ so todays entry in the ABC of British bands is Visage.

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Visage were formed in 1978 by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan after the pair had hosted club nights at the Blitz night club in London. They were really keen to find new music to play to their paying punters and finally they opted on producing their own. Egan recruited Midge Ure who he had worked with in the Rich Kids and the three of them recorded a cover of the Zager and Evans one hit wonder from 1969, “In The Year 2525”. The band’s line-up was then enhanced with keyboard player Billy Currie off of Ultravox and three former members of Magazine; John McGeoch, Barry Adamson and Dave Formula.

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Their first album, entitled ‘Visage’ was released in November 1980. It made the top 20 in Austria, France, New Zealand and the UK. It also climbed to the top of the German album charts. The band’s highest charting album in the UK was 1982’s ‘The Anvil’ which reached number 6. “Tar” was their first single and it failed to chart when released in 1979. However the second single was “Fade To Grey” which was a hit across the world. It made the top ten in Austria, France, Italy, Belgium, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK. It hit the number one spot in Germany and Switzerland. None of their other singles have been anywhere near as successful.

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Earlier this month the band released an album called ‘Orchestral’ which has reworkings of their best songs by a symphony orchestra. In 2009 Rusty Egan and Steve Strange appeared in Living TV’s ‘Pop Goes The Band’ where former bands are given a make over and return the favour by undertaking a one-off performance. Strange also appeared in an episode of classic TV series ‘Ashes To ashes’ playing “Fade To Grey” in the Blitz club with Visage II keyboard player Sandrine Gouriou. That episode was set in 1981. Steve can also be seen, along with other Blitz regulars, in the 1980 video for David Bowie’s UK number one, “Ashes To Ashes”. Now it’s time for you to relive those Blitz days and maybe get yourself blitzed with eggnog while listening to Visage.

 

 

“You wanted the best and you got the best” Blog Advent Calendar Day 21 December 21, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:02 am
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The 21st December you say? really? Blimey where did the time go? Anyway I just knew that something good was going to happen now that it is Day 21 in this years Advent calendar blog post series. regular readers will know that the theme this festive period is the ABC of British bands. Some of you may already have guessed who todays band is as I incorporated a clue earlier in this paragraph. Today is the turn of the Utah Saints who despite their name actually come from Leeds.

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The band played live often between 1991 and 2001 although their appearances since then are largely as DJs. Although they are still writing and recording and are supposedly working on their next album at the moment. Jez Willis and Tim Garbutt are the Utah Saints core and they really pioneered the use of sampling in pop music. they met when they were both music promoters and DJs for the Mix nightclub in Harrogate. In his inimitable style Bill Drummond off of the KLF described the Utah Saints as  “the first true stadium house band”. I’m not entirely sure what that means but it sounds good doesn’t it? They also built their own recording studio on the outskirts of Leeds which opened in 2008.

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The band’s first three singles all made the UK top ten from 1991 to 1993. Those releases were; “What Can You Do For Me” (1991), “Something Good” (1992) and “Believe In Me” (1993). Willis and Garbutt described these songs as their vocal sample trilogy. The songs sampled Gwen Guthrie, Eurythmics (“What Can You Do For Me”), Kate Bush (“Something Good”) and the Human League, Crown Heights Affair, Sylvester (“Believe In Me”). Despite persistent press stories these samples were all legally cleared. Kate Bush also let the band use clips from her video for “Cloudbusting” which is where the sample for “Something Good” comes from.

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“Something Good” is their biggest hit to date. It peaked at number 4 in the UK singles chart and made the top 10 in Australia and Ireland. Interestingly it also made it to number seven in both the US Dance Charts and the US Modern Rock charts. does this make them truly genre-defying? I’d like to think so. They have released two albums so far (not including a mix album). The first was ‘Utah Saints’ which reached number 10 in the UK album charts in 1992. The follow-up was rather unimaginatively called ‘Two’. Sadly that one failed to chart when it came out in 2000. Now you can enjoy some of the Utah Saints finest beats and I hope that you enjoy them.

 

 

“If you criticize them I’ll know that you can see” Blog Advent Calendar Day 20 December 20, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:03 am
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Here we are in December’s 20’s already, it’s December 20th and Day 20 of this years advent calendar blog posts. Regular readers will know that this years theme is the ABC of British bands. The 20th letter of the alphabet as I hope all of you know is ‘T’. As a big fan of a certain fellow called Julian I have chosen the Teardrop Explodes for this post.

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Wikipedia describes the Teardrop Explodes as post-punk/ neo-psychedelic; what the fuck does that mean when it’s at home? Can a band not just be a good band or great band? I am guilty of slotting music into genres on occasions, but post-punk/ neo-psychedelic? That is more pretentious than a thousand Nigel Farage clones.

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Head Teardrop was Julian Cope, an artist who I really love. Dave Balfe was in the band, he went on to set up Food Records. Troy Tate who later produced the Smiths was also a Teardrop. The band formed in the rather incestuous music scene in Liverpool in 1978. The band signed to Zoo Records which was run by Dave Balfe and future KLF man Bill Drummond. Part of the appeal of the Teardrop Explodes for me was the eccentricity and fragility of Julian Cope. He once said “”I was goaded into becoming a rock star by Bill Drummond and the pseudo-intellectual side of me thought it would be quite charming.”

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They were always more of a cult band given their limited chart success. Although their single “Reward” is a mainstay of many 80s compilation albums. It was also the bands highest charting single, reaching number 6 in the UK charts in 1981. Their first album, released in 1980 was ‘Kilimanjaro’ from which they eventually released five singles. Aside from compilations they released another two albums; ‘Wilder’ in 1981 and after the band came together again briefly in the late 80s ‘Everybody Wants To Shag The Teardrop Explodes’ in 1990.

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The band took their name from a frame in a Marvel comic. Daredevil # 77 to be precise. Will the band ever get back together? Probably not, when Julian Cope was asked that question some years ago he replied; “Would you ever return to having your mother wipe your asshole?”. The Freshies featuring Chris Sievey who went on to become Frank Sidebottom released a single in 1981 called “I Can’t Get ‘Bouncing Babies’ By The Teardrop Explodes”.

 

 

“It’s the time that every Santa has a ball” Blog Advent Calendar Day 19 December 19, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:10 am
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How excited are you now? Less than a week to the big day. Obviously if you are a turkey and you are reading this I do appreciate your lack of excitement. However if you are an excited turkey then there is no easy way to tell you, but you’re stupid! it is December 19th and day 19 of this years advent calendar blog posts. We have now reached the letter ‘S’ in the ABC of British bands. If I were to tell you that you’ll even get a Christmas song included today would it help you guess who the band is? Well it’s Slade!

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The band all hail from the Black Country in the UK’s West Midlands coming from Wolverhampton and Walsall. In the 60s drummer Don Powell and guitarist Dave Hill were in a band called the ‘N Betweens. They met Noddy Holder while travelling to gigs and invited him to join as guitarist and vocalist. He agreed at the second time of asking and eventually joined around the same time as bass player Jim Lea. That was in 1966 and the band became Ambrose Slade in 1969. It wasn’t long after that (later in 1969) that they became Slade. their massive success followed soon after.

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“Get Down And Get With It” was their first UK top 20 hit reaching number 14 in 1971. Shortly after that they had the first of their six UK number one singles with “Coz I Luv You“. That song started a run of 12 consecutive UK top 5 hits running from 1971 to 1974. They also reached the top of the Irish charts six times. Their 1983 song “My Oh My” might only have hit number 2 in the UK but it went all the way to the top in Norway and Sweden. sadly they never really made it big in the USA. Whilst many people may have seen Slade as a singles band they also climbed to the top of the UK album charts twice; with ‘Slayed’ in 1972 and the with ‘Old, New, Borrowed And Blue‘ in 1974. ‘Sladest’ a compilation album of their biggest hits to date also went to number one in the UK in 1973.

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Most of Slade’s biggest hits were written by Jim Lea and Noddy Holder. Usually Jim provided the melody with Noddy contributing the lyrics. Dave Hill’s Super Yob guitar is now owned by Marco Pirroni off of Adams and the Ants. Perhaps because of his early days as a keen amateur boxer it was Don Powell who took the hat round after early Slade gigs. In December 2000 Noddy Holder made a brief appearance in long-running UK soap opera Coronation Street. He played a character called Stan who was there to replace the cobbles in the street. OK that’s enough trivia and stuff now it’s time to enjoy a pile of Slade smashes!

 

“When I met you you were seventeen not just another teenage queen” Blog Advent Calendar day 18 December 18, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:10 am
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Wow there are now only seven big sleeps until the fat, weird, beardy bastard in red jams himself in your chimney. If that sounds like a double entendre or euphemism it wasn’t supposed to ok. Any it’s December 18th and day 18 of this years ABC of British bands advent calendar blog posts. That means we are at the letter ‘R’, would you like to know what is behind the little cardboard flap today? Okay then I’ll put you out of your misery, it’s Racey!

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The bands was formed in Weston-super-Mare in the mid 70s by Phil Fursdon and Clive Wilson.  Their first single was “Baby It’s You” in 1977 it was written by Chris Norman and Pete Spencer off of Smokie. Racey were signed to Mickie Most‘s RAK Records and their first hit, like many on that label, was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. It was a big hit reaching number 3 in the UK chart, number 2 in Ireland and number 1 in Australia.

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The follow-up was “Some Girls”, a song that was originally written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman for Blondie who were being produced by Mike Chapman at the time. Both songs were produced by Mickie Most. “Some Girls” fared even better than “Lay Your Love On me” reaching number 2 in the UK, number 2 in Ireland and number 1 in both Australia and South Africa. The band had one more UK top 20 hit before they broke up in 1985. That was in 1980 and it was a cover of the classic rock ‘n’ roll tune originally by Dion and the Belmonts; “Runaround Sue”. On their 1979 album ‘Smash And Grab’ the band recorded a Chinn- Chapman composition called “Kitty”. this later went on to be recorded under the title “Mickey” which was a big hit for Toni Basil in 1982. Now take some time to relive the late 70s and early 80s when Racey were at their peak.

 

 

 

“With her went my future, my life is filled with gloom” Blog Advent Calendar Day 17 December 17, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:05 am
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Is it really December 17th? It is? Oh well Christmas will soon be over. But in the meantime we’re at day 17 of this years advent calendar blog posts. this means that we are now at the 17th letter of the alphabet, which as you know is ‘Q’. Can you guess which band will feature under the letter ‘Q’ in my ABC of British bands? Really? Are you sure? I’m thinking that most of you guessed Queen, in which case you’d be wrong. Todays band proudly representing the letter ‘Q’ are the Q-Tips. (Any free advertising here for Q Magazine is purely coincidental and accidental; unless the publishers of that great magazine would like to ply me with money and gifts!).

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The band was formed in 1979 by the remnants of one hit wonders Streetband who hit the charts with “Toast”. Three members of that band stayed together and they were John Gifford (guitar), Mick Pearl (Bass) and Paul Young on vocals. Yes that Paul Young the one with the spiky hair and who layed his hat anywhere he damned well wanted to. They brought in  another guitarist, Dave Laswell and Baz Watts on drums. They then added a brass section consisting of Oscar Stuart Blandamer, Tony Hughes, Richard Blanchchard and Steve Farr. The band was further augmented by keyboard player Ian Kewley. Later in their career Gifford and Blandamer were replaced by Garth Watt Roy and Nick Payne.

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The band was quite short-lived, breaking up in 1982 when  Paul Young signed a solo contract. During their time they were a highly praised live act. They also supported some massive names including the Who, Average White Band, J Geils Band, Bob Marley, The Knack and Thin Lizzy. They began by playing lots of soul music covers but in the end they had a substantial amount of self-penned material as well. The band briefly reformed for some live dates in 1993. In case you were wondering they took their name from a well-known brand of cotton swabs. Now enjoy some rather spiffing tunes from the Q-Tips.

 

 

“How dare I show face When my diction is such a disgrace” Blog Advent Calendar Day 16 December 16, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:11 am
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Today is December 16th and Christmas is getting closer. You certainly don’t need to walk 500 miles to get to the festivities now do you? Have you sent your letter to Santa? Have you sent a letter to America? Last posting dates must be here soon. Anyway it is now day 16 in this years ABC of British bands advent blog posts. We are noon on the letter ‘P’. If you sussed out the clues that I left earlier in this paragraph (and frankly they weren’t difficult) you’ll know that todays band is the Proclaimers. Obviously you may have just looked at the picture too 🙂

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The band is Scottish twins Charlie and Craig Reid who were born on 5th March 1962 in Leith. They later went on to live in Edinburgh, Cornwall and Auchtermuchty. The latter place is where they went to the Bell Baxter High School. The boys were a part of a number of punk bands before eventually forming the Proclaimers in 1983. Their big break came along in 1986 after a fan sent a demo tape to the Housemartins. The boys were then invited to support Hull’s finest on the 1986 UK tour. This exposure led to a slot on Channel 4’s the Tube in early 1987.

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Later that year their second single, “Letter From America” went to number three in the UK singles chart and number two in Ireland. This was the first of their six UK top 40 hits. Their biggest chart success came with a re-recording of 1988’s “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” in 2007. It was in aid of Comic Relief and the video involved many celebrities including Peter Kay and Matt Lucas. The song helped raise millions for Comic Relief that year. The original version of that song is their only US hit to date and it reached number 8 in the US Rock chart in 1988. The band have released 9 studio albums so far since 1987. Six of those made it to the UK top 50. 1988’s “Sunshine On Leith” reached number 6 in the UK chart and almost made it to the top in Australia, sadly stalling at number two. ‘The Best Of The Proclaimers‘, a 2002 compilation is their highest charting UK album making it to number 5 that year.

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Charlie and Craig are fans of Hibernian Football Club and their song “Sunshine On Leith” has become something of an anthem at the club’s home games. They are also keen supporters of Scottish independence. For me the Proclaimers are something of a Marmite act in that you either love them or hate them. Personally I love them, perhaps that is because I am half Scots. Either way you can now take some time to love or hate a selection of the Proclaimers best tunes.

 

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“Couple billion in the whole wide world find another one ’cause she belongs to me” Blog Advent Calendar Day 15 December 15, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:05 am
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Well today is December 15th and therefore Day 15 in this years advent calendar blog posts. The fifteenth letter of the alphabet is very obviously ‘O’ and today I will being doing something which might surprise many regular readers. Todays entry in the ABC of British bands is One Direction, although I still like to refer to them as Wand Erection.

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The band members are Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. They came to prominence via the X-Factor in 2010 when they finished third in the contest. They all entered the contest as solo artists but didn’t make the cut until Simon Cowell saw the benefit of bringing them together. Matt Cardle won the contest that year while Rebecca Ferguson was in second place.

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1D have smashed chart records across the world, notably in the USA where they are the first band ever to have their first four albums reach number one on the Billboard chart. The record of the first three albums hitting the top of the US album chart was held by…… yes you guessed it, One Direction. Surprisingly for a boy band they have had more success in the albums chart than in the singles chart. They have had only three UK number one singles and none in the USA. They have had number one singles in Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand and Ireland.

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They are certainly a manufactured boy band but perhaps not as controlled as the likes of Westlife. There isn’t much in the way of choreographed dance routines and insipid covers of old ballads. Having a watched a bit of footage in preparation for this post they seem to be pretty good live performers (Fuck! Did I really say that?). I thought that their performance of “Steal My Girl” at the BBC Music Awards 2014 was among the better showings on the night.

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Did you know that Liam has a strange fear of spoons? Or that Niall is not a big reader and that he once said that the only book that he had ever read was To Kill A Mockingbird? Harry Styles apparently wanted to be a lawyer before the bands X-Factor success. Rather fittingly for these advent calendar posts Louis was born on Christmas Eve. Zayn has a tattoo in arabic on his collar bone, the English translation is ‘be true to who you are’ OK that’s enough from me now feel free to enjoy a selection of Wand Erection’s finest.

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“She used to be a girl of simple pleasures, a breath of spring to chase your blues away” Blog Advent Calendar Day 14 December 14, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:01 am
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Ladies and gentlemen and those that aren’t quite sure it is now December 14th and that means that my Christmas advent blog posts for 2014 have reached Day 14 which in turn means that we are at the letter ‘N’. With that in mind I have decided to pick a band from Scotland for todays ABC of British bands entry. Please allow me to welcome the mighty Nazareth to this post.

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The band formed in 1968 and the original members were Manny Charlton (guitar), Pete Agnew (bass), Darrell Sweet (drums) and Dan McCafferty (tonsil-shredding vocals). The band still tours although Pete Agnew is the only one of the original members still with the band. There are no middle east or biblical overtones to the band’s name. They are named after a town that is mentioned in the classic song “The Weight” from the Band. That town is Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The line is “I pulled in to Nazareth, I was feeling about half past dead”

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The band was probably at its commercial peak in the early 70s when they had three UK top 20 albums from 1973 to 1974. I used to own two of those on vinyl; ‘Razamanaz’ and ‘Loud ‘N’ Proud‘. They also reached the top 20 of the album charts in Norway six times between 1980 and 1989. Their latest album ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Telephone’ has charted in four countries this year; Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Austria. This is probably the last Nazareth album to feature McCafferty’s vocals as he retired due to ill-health last year.

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Their biggest success in the UK singles chart was with “Broken Down Angel” which peaked at number 9 in 1973. Their cover of Joni Mitchell‘s “This Flight Tonight” made it to number one in Germany that same year. In 1975 they released a cover version of the classic ballad “Love Hurts” it made it to the top of the charts in Canada and South Africa. Dan McCafferty has released a few solo recordings over the years and his cover of the Rolling Stones “Out Of Time” almost made the UK top 40 in 1975, stalling at number 41, I used to have a vinyl copy of that too. In 1994 Guns ‘N’ Roses covered Nazareth’s “Hair Of The Dog” on their covers album ‘The Spaghetti Incident’. Supposedly Nazareth had previously turned down an invite to play at Axl Rose‘s wedding. They might not have entertained guests at Mr Rose’s wedding, but you can enjoy Nazareth now.

 

“And the only things I see are emptiness and loneliness and an unlit Christmas tree” Blog Advent Calendar Day 13 December 13, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:08 am
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Are you excited yet? You must be right? There are only 12 more big sleeps to the big day. Have you bought all your presents? What did you get for me? I hope that it was something expensive. Anyway it’s December 13th a.k.a Day 13 a.k.a the letter ‘M’ of this years advent blog post. Regular readers will know that this year it is the ABC of British bands. If you’re not a regular reader please feel free to waste an hour catching up on the letters ‘A’ to ‘L’.

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In the meantime though let’s get back to todays band; it’s Mud. That’s neat, that’s neat, that’s neat, that’s neat isn’t it? Although the band formed in 1966 they didn’t have their first chart hit until 1973 with “Crazy”. That kicked off a run of UK 10 UK top 20 hits lasting up until 1975. This included three UK number one hits; “Tiger Feet“, “Lonely This Christmas” and a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Oh Boy”. Ellie Hope off of Liquid Gold who had a big hit with “Dance Yourself Dizzy” in 1980 sang backing vocals on Mud’s version of “Oh Boy”.

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Band members were Rob Davis (guitar), Ray Stiles (bass), Dave Mount (drums) and Les Gray on vocals. Sadly Les and Dave are no longer with us having passed away in 2004 and 2006 respectively. The last time the four of them played together was at Dave Mount’s wedding in 1990. Rob Davis has had a lot of success as a songwriter in recent years co-writing hits for Kylie Minogue (“Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”) and Spiller (“Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)”) among others. But enough of the recent activity, take yourself back to the 70s and enjoy some Mud classics.

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