I am sad to report the death of Donald Byrd or to give him his full name Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II. he died on 4th February aged 80. He was seen by many as the finest trumpet player of his generation and was able to transition from a be bop style into jazz funk fusion. He was seen as a pioneer in the latter genre. It is via jazz funk that I became aware of Mr Byrd. I was a bit of a teenage Soul Boy, come Funkateer. As a result Donald Byrd’s band the Blackbyrds were a favourite of mine.
I posted about him as recently as December last year; click here to read that post. He was also a much sought after sideman to many other performers including Art Blakey, Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock to name but a few. My thoughts go out to his family, friends and fans. RIP Donald Byrd.
In my teens I became a big fan of the Ohio Players, perhaps drawn in by their somewhat erotic album covers. Nonetheless they were a truly powerful funk band and “Love Rollercoaster” stands the test of time as classic slice of 70s funk. That song never fails to get me moving. Younger readers may know the reasonably good cover of the song by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
It is with regret that I must report the passing of the band’s lead singer Leroy ‘Sugarfoot‘ Bonner aged just 70. No details of his death have so far been reported but my thoughts go to his family, friends and fans from across the world. Celebrate his life with a few classic cuts from the Ohio Players.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish a very happy 150th birthday to the London Underground. It all began when the first train rolled out of Paddington Station back on January 9th in 1863. It now carries more than a million passengers each day across it’s 270 stations.
I am proud to say that it is also an organisation that I worked at for a large part of my working life. I worked for London Transport from 1975 to 1988 and then as a contractor with Transport for London from 2000 to 2004. So here are a couple of Underground related songs to help you ‘Mind The Gap‘ as you celebrate!
Well all I can say is about bloody time Mr Jones! You have probably already heard the news that the Dame himself a.k.a. Mr Bowie has released a new single today, his 66th birthday. It is called “Where Are We Now” and is taken from a new album, ‘The Next Day’ which will be released in March. The single and album are produced by Bowie’s long time friend and producer Tony Visconti. It is his first new album for ten years and was recorded in New York.
Like many others I had assumed that Bowie had retired after his heart problems in 2004. I am very pleased and excited that he hasn’t. I heard the new song on Chris Evan’s Radio Two breakfast show this morning. It’s a slow, atmospheric ballad which evokes feelings of sadness to me. It also includes what appears to be many references to his time in Berlin in the late 70s. I will be playing it a lot over the coming weeks. It feels a lot like the more mellow songs from both ‘Heathen‘ and ‘Reality‘ from 2002 and 2003 respectively. It also sounds like it would fit well on the album that his record label bizarrely rejected in 2001. That consisted of a number of rerecordings of some his 60s songs and some other material. It would have been called ‘Toy’ and obviously I have the bootleg and it is damned good.
Only Bowie could have informed the world that he is not retired and announce the release of new material in such an understated way. the single was simply made available on iTunes before the press kicked in. Contrast that with the hoopla around the Rolling Stones 50th anniversary activities; press conferences and yet another compilation with just a couple of new tracks. I can hardly wait for the album now. I haven’t been as excited about the release of a new album from anyone for many years! Click here to read the report on the NME.
On line the single appears to be receiving mixed, but mainly positive reviews. I would love to know what you think of it. Will this lead to any live gigs or maybe a full on tour? I’d like to think so, but given his time away from live performance maybe not. but at least we know that the fabulous David Bowie is back in a big way. Oh and before I forget, Happy Birthday Dave!
It appears that Hall and Oates have fought rather violently according to the NME’s News of the Weird. Not Daryl and John but Roger Oates and Scott Hall in Norwalk, Ohio. Roger Oates allegedly bit off Scott Hall’s (his neighbor) eyebrow. As the NME said that this proves that Roger Oates is truly a “Maneater”
Regular readers will know that I am not a fan of the X Factor and similar shows. Personally I believe all those shows will ever give us are at best some moderate average talents with no career longevity. So I was very pleased to hear the recent news about Leona Lewis‘ career. Cowell and company clearly hyped her as an international superstar. I always thought she was a second-rate shouty singer with close to zero presence and personality.
It looks like the buying public have finally begun to forget her too. Her latest single “Lovebird” has failed to reach the UK top 200 and is rumoured to have sold only 600 copies. It has such deep and meaningful lyrics as well; ‘dum, dum, diddy’ anyone? Anyway it’s excellent news in my opinion now let’s hope the X Factor goes the same way shall we?
After continuing to pile on the sales throughout 2012 Adele’s ’21’ album, which was already the biggest selling long player of the new century, has now moved above Oasis’ ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?‘ to reach number 4 in the best-selling UK albums of all time. It is also the second best-selling album in 2012 after Emeli Sande‘s ‘Our Version Of Events’. If it continues to sell at the same rate it is likely to become the 2nd best-selling UK album ever by this time next year. Not bad for an album that was only released in 2011 is it? Incidentally the best-selling UK album currently is Queen‘s ‘Greatest Hits‘.
At the same time as this excellent news, it has also been revealed that Adele’s ’21’ is the most returned and exchanged Christmas gift this year. Presumably because almost everyone in the country already has it. This is based on figures provided by the Music Magpie site. Emeli Sande was in second place with One Direction‘s (or Wand Erection as I like to call them) ‘Up All Night’ in third place. What album’s have you exchanged and why?
So just a few days after the terrible massacre of 26 people in an American school, including 20 children aged 6 and 7 the headteacher of a Bradford primary School, Rashidah Butt used a pretend gun in a school play. All this in front of an audience of a very similar age to the US children who died. Sure it was a fake gun, but this woman holds a position that should make the welfare of children paramount. In my opinion this is at best a horrendous error of judgement for which she should apologise profusely. At worst she is an insensitive, uncaring idiot who should never work in education again. Perhaps she could become a lobbyist for the NRA. I’d love to know what you think of this incident. Click here to read the story in the Bradford Telegraph and Argus.
Day 9 in my 12 days of Christmas series of posts has arrived and frankly I am running out of room to keep all these diverse and wonderful gifts I keep receiving from my true love. Any suggestions as to what I can do with 9 ladies dancing. OK perhaps you’d better not answer that because undoubtedly most of you will add the word lap somewhere in there won’t you? It would seem likely that the interest in ballroom dancing has surged recently, perhaps due to TV shows like Strictly Come Dancing (is that the correct title? Personally I have never watched it). Dance was one of the most popular art forms according to the Arts Council in England and applications for grants for dance projects had increased from 373 to 437 from 2011 to 2012. So today is quite special because you’ll get three songs for the price of two. Firstly it’s a classic slice of what I would call disco bubble pop. It’s Tina Charles with “Dance Little Lady Dance”. Tina was born Tina Hoskins in March 1954 and later changed her name to avoid possible confusion with Mary Hopkin. She chose Charles as that was her father’s first name. She started out as a session and backing vocalist. She provided backing vocals along with Linda Lewis on the Steve Harley and Cockney rebel classic “Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)” a UK number one from 1975. She was also the uncredited vocalist on the 5000 Volts hit “I’m On Fire”. This was due to contractual reasons. That song made it to number 4 in the UK and number 1 in Germany and Sweden. It only managed number 26 in the US but it was competing against a version of the same song by Jim Gilstrap. Tina’s big break came when she met record producer Biddu who had a massive success with “Kung Fu Fighting” from Carl Douglas in 1974. he produced a few songs for her including the biggest hit of her career, “I Love To Love (But My Baby Loves To Dance)” this was at number one for 3 weeks in the UK in 1976. The song I have chosen for this post was also a UK hit for Tina but only managed a peak of number 6. That song is “Dance Little Lady Dance”. A remix of the song was issued in 1987 and made the top 20 in Germany and the Netherlands. her touring band in the mid 70s featured two future members of Buggles and Yes; Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes. The second song I have chosen for you today is “Private Dancer” from another Tina, this time Tina Turner. The song was written by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits and was originally considered for inclusion on the band’s album ‘Love Over Gold‘. However Knopfler didn’t think it was right for a male vocalist. John Illsley from the band featured on Tina Turner’s version of the song. Guitar was provided by Jeff Beck and not Mark Knopfler on Turner’s version of the song. The song only reached number 26 in the UK but managed a number 7 position in both France and the USA. The choreography for the promotional video for the song was provided by former Strictly Come Dancing judge, Arlene Phillips. As I mentioned earlier, you will get three songs for the price of two today and the third is a special Billy Bonus for Christmas. as I alluded to lap Dancing earlier in this post, which is something I have never experienced (ok so maybe I have just the once……. or maybe twice) I thought I would take the opportunity to add some Kate Bush. No I know she isn’t a lap dancer, but I would be very tempted if she was, but she did have a song called “Sat In Your Lap” didn’t she. It reached number 11 in the UK in 1981 and was the first single to come from Kate’s album ‘The Dreaming’, albeit some 15 months before the album appeared. The B Side was a cover of Donovan’s “Lord Of The Reedy River”.
Yet another atrocity in a school in the USA and many more children who have had their lives taken away so very early. What will it take before the gun law changes or will that never happen? As a part of the so-called ‘civilised’ western world I feel so angry and upset about mass murder. I suspect it won’t be long before the press and politicians blame the films the murderer watched or the books he read or the games he played or the music he listened to? What about asking how he got the damned guns?
I have nothing else to add other than the numbness I feel so here is the song that is going through my head right now. I know it may not be lyrically appropriate but the chorus hook line are what are getting me through. My thoughts go out to all the family and friends of all those adults and children so cruelly cut down in their prime.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 