This is the 23rd song in the Play It Again Mayhem series, which began in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist click here to take a listen! So far, 15 of the 23 songs are from the 1970s. But this one was originally released in 1997, and following it being used to soundtrack a Rolling Rock beer advert it went to number 3 in the UK chart in 1999. It is by Canadian rock and hip hop collective Bran Van 3000 and is called “Drinking In L.A.” This is a perfect summer song in my opinion, what do you think?
If you have enjoyed this article, feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, EMail. Are you interested in writing and reviewing for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem? If so then please get in touch.
This is the 22nd song in the Play It Again Mayhem series, which began in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist click here to take a listen! So far, 15 of the 22 songs are from the 1970s. But this one was released in 2001, so incredibly modern, right? The song is “Buck Rogers” by Feeder. It reached number 5 in the UK chart and went to the top of the Indie chart. The reason I have selected this one, apart from the fact that it is a great song that we don’t seem to hear very often, follows a recent conversation with my son Luke. We were in a restaurant and the song came on in the background. We both immediately identified it as Feeder but couldn’t remember the title. In my all-knowing wisdom and a brain full of music trivia, I said that the title is not in the lyrics and that the song was named after a car! How wrong was I with that? I certainly managed to send me and Luke down a rabbit hole looking for cars that might give a befitting title to such a great song. Luke was the first to find the true title and suggested that if I say anything with enough conviction it is, at least initially believable. Maybe I should go into politics, don’t worry I am not planning that! Anyway, this song was really chosen by me, my son, and Mr Rogers from the 25th Century!
If you have enjoyed this article, feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, EMail. Are you interested in writing and reviewing for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem? If so then please get in touch.
This is the 21st song in the Play It Again Mayhem series, which began in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist click here to take a listen! So far, 15 of the 21 songs are from the 1970s. But this one was released in 1968, although it was reissued in the UK in the 1970s after it became popular on the Northern Soul circuit. It is the incredibly talented Archie Bell and the Drells from Houston, Texas, with “(There’s Gonna Be A) Showdown”. Gotta love a song tile with parentheses, right? The song is about a dance showdown which is obvious when you hear lyrics like “I know I’m good, so you better be better. When you get out on the floor, you better have your steps together“. This tune really takes me back to my youth. I love it, do you?
If you have enjoyed this article, feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, EMail. Are you interested in writing and reviewing for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem? If so then please get in touch.
This is the twentieth song in the Play It Again Mayhem series, which began in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist click here to take a listen! It has only been just over 2 weeks since the last entry, so do you fancy a quick one while she’s away? OK, that was a big tease, this post does not feature the Who! Once again it is back to the 70s though, to 1978. This means that so far, 15 of the 20 songs are from the 1970s. This time it is the turn of the Rolling Stones. This is the first non-single track to make the Mayhem Play It Again Playlist, although it was a B-Side. It appeared on the flip side of the Stones’ huge 1978 disco-funk-styled smash “Miss You”. It is called “Far Away Eyes” and like “Miss You” appears on the band’s 1978 album ‘Some Girls’. It is a delightful country pastiche or homage from the Stones. Jagger’s vocals are very much in a great country style and are split between spoken and sung. It is a lazy, lolloping rhythm. Ronnie Wood plays a fabulous slide guitar on it. This, maybe surprisingly, is my favourite ever Rolling Stones song. What is yours?
If you have enjoyed this article, feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, EMail. Are you interested in writing and reviewing for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem? If so then please get in touch.
This is the nineteenth song in the Play It Again Mayhem series, which began in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist click here to take a listen! It has only been 3 weeks since the last entry, so how about another quick one? Once again it is back to the 70s, to 1974. So far, 14 of the 19 songs are from the 1970s. This time it is the turn of the Faces, (or in the case of this release Rod Stewart and the Faces), a seminal British band that influenced countless others. The shortened title of the track can be seen in the header above. But, the full title, including parentheses, is “You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything (Even Take the Dog for a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away the Ironing Board, or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings)”. Has there ever been a title quite like that before or since? The single still holds the record for the longest-titled song ever to chart in the UK.
It was the last official single from the band and was recorded with a mostly classic lineup of Kenney Jones (drums), Ian McLagan (piano, organ), Ronnie Wood (guitar, backing vocals), and Rod Stewart on vocals. Ronnie Lane had previously left the band and was replaced on bass by Tetsu Yamauchi who plays on this track. The song was co-written by all five of them. It was recorded over a few sessions at Musicland Studios in Munich and Olympic Studios in London. It reached number 12 in the UK charts and scraped to number 100 in Australia, it failed to chart anywhere else, sadly. The song never appeared on a studio album but is on most of the greatest hits type packages from the band. It is my favourite Faces track and has been since I first heard it. It has a supremely happy and danceable vibe and I would love to have seen how this style might have developed had the band stayed together. So give it a spin and let me know what you think of it. Incidentally, fact fans, this is the second time Rod Stewart has featured on the Play It Again Mayhem playlist. He appeared back in May 2022 with a solo hit, “I Was Only Joking”.
I love the lyrics to the song, they really suggest someone very much in love with their partner, here they are.
“hey baby, I wanna say something to ya’, listen sometimes when I get out of my head and I say all the wrong things sometimes I know I stay out late at night and I get back fighting, hey babe somehow all my plans keep slippin’ through my hands and I end up crying, but listen I can be a millionaire honey when you’re standing there you’re so exciting you can make me dance, you can make me sing you can make me do just any old thing and I love it sometimes I wanna get up so early and get away from here girl summer’s gone and before long north winds blow, that bring the snow I’ll keep us warm girl my schemes it seems are merely dreams fading with each morning, hey babe but this old heart of mine is far too proud not to keep on trying you can make me dance, you can make me sing you can make me do just any old thing, yeah baby so little bird don’t fly away want you here every day don’t ever leave me I’d rather lose both my eyes than never see your smiling face again girl you can make me dance, you can make me sing you can make me do just any old thing you can make me dance, you can make me sing you can make me do just any old thing hey babe, keep on loving me babe yeah, keep on loving me babe just keep on loving me babe … just keep on loving me darling … woww, alright, hey baby, oh darling keep on loving me darling just keep on loving me darling …”
If you have enjoyed this article, feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, EMail. Are you interested in writing and reviewing for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem? If so then please get in touch.
This is the eighteenth song in the Play It Again Mayhem series, which began in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist click here to take a listen! It has been 5 months since the last entry, so we are way overdue for another, right? It is back to the 70s once again for this song, 1976. In fact, 13 of the 18 songs so far are from the 1970s. It is called “What A Way To End It All”, and it is by the iconic cult Liverpool band Deaf School. After the band broke up, singer Bette Bright went on to some success as Bette Bright and the Illuminations. Keyboard player Max Ripple, a.k.a John Wood, is now Emeritus Professor of Design at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Deaf School‘s master of woodwind was Ian Ritchie. He has toured as a saxophonist with Roger Waters and he played sax on “See the Day” by Dee C Lee, “Club Tropicana” by Wham!, and “C’est La Vie” by Robbie Nevil. The band also featured someone who went by the name Cliff Hanger on guitar. Mr Hanger was actually Clive Langer. He went on to produce many top acts mostly with Alan Winstanley. Those acts included Madness, Elvis Costello, The Teardrop Explodes, and Dexys Midnight Runners, to name just a few.
I used to own “What A Way To End It All” on 7-inch vinyl. It is still a great song in my opinion. It has a great chorus, fabulous carnival, circus, music hall style instrumentation, and at times the vocals remind me of Sparks. If you have never heard it, get on it now!
If you have enjoyed this article, feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, EMail. Are you interested in writing and reviewing for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem? If so then please get in touch.
This is the seventeenth song in the Play It Again Mayhem series, which began back in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist, click here to take a listen! It has only been 7 weeks since the last entry, so it must be time for another, right? Anyway, this is a song that has, perhaps in an ironic way, been in my head for the last couple of weeks given all the rain we have had in much of the UK recently. It is T. Rex with “Celebrate Summer”. After 10 top 5 hits, including 4 UK number ones, from 1970 to 1973, Marc Bolan’s glitter had faded a little. Although in 1977 he championed some of the younger punk bands and fronted his own weekly TV show, ‘Marc’. Some of the new bands he embraced included the Jam, the Damned, Eddie and the Hot Rods, and Generation X. The show also saw appearances by David Bowie and Hawkwind. But sadly his untimely death at far too young an age in September 1977 put to rest any chance of the diminutive former Mr Feld rising to the heights of the early 70s Bolanmania period.
“Celebrate Summer” is a non-album single and the last T. Rex single to be released while Marc was still alive. It came out on 12th August 1977 and he died in an awful car accident in Barnes on 16th September 1977. The song was performed on the ‘Marc’ TV show three times and despite some relatively good reviews, many of which cited a punk/ new wave influence, it failed to get much radio airplay and as a result, it failed to make the charts. Personally, I consider this track to be among T. Rex‘s best.
So to steal some lyrics from this rather wonderful ditty “Hey little punk forget all that junk and celebrate summer with me. Summer’s not a bummer. This is summer. And it’s now” Whatever you are doing and wherever you are I hope you make the most of your summer!
If you have enjoyed this article, feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, EMail. Are you interested in writing and reviewing for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem? If so then please get in touch.
This is the sixteenth song in the Play It Again Mayhem series which began back in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist, click here to take a listen! It has been nearly ten months since the last one, how lazy was I? Anyway this is a song I consider an underrated classic from 1976 by legendary blues guitarist Elvin Bishop, entitled “Fooled Around And Fell In Love”. Bishop was not the vocalist on “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” though, that job fell to Mickey Thomas who many of you might know as vocalist, backing vocalist, and guitarist for Jefferson Starship and Starship from 1979. Elvin Bishop apparently felt that the tune better suited Mickey Thomas rather than the real gravelly blues sounds he created himself. It was this song and his other work with Elvin Bishop that helped Mickey Thomas get the gig with Jefferson Starship, which evolved into simply Starship.
The song’s best chart position was number three in the USA and New Zealand. It only reached number 34 in the UK, but I am proud to say I bought a copy all those years ago. The tune has been featured in many films, my favourite was its appearance in the first ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ film in 2014 as a part of the now rather famous mixtape. It was that film that made me fall in love with the song all over again. Rod Stewart covered the song in 2006, but frankly, that was not Rod’s finest moment and, for me, does not even come close to the original. The track remains one of my favourite songs of all time.
If you have enjoyed this article feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;FacebookTwitterInstagramEMailAre you interested in writing and reviewing for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem? If so then please get in touch.
This is the fifteenth song in the Play It Again Mayhem series which began back in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist, click here to take a listen! This one is from the noughties, 2005 and it is one of the newest songs to feature so far. The song is “Signs” by Snoop Dogg Featuring Justin Timberlake and Charlie Wilson. Now I am sure you are all familiar with Mr. Dogg (a.k.a. Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.) and Mr. Timberlake but did you know that Charlie Wilson was the lead singer of the Gap Band? Wilson also featured on Snoop’s 1996 single, “Snoop’s Upside Your Head” and also on “Beautiful” from 2003. Anyway, I loved this tune from when it was released, in fact, I used to have it on CD Single. Snoop’s lines are wonderfully odd, “you’ll see Venus and Serena at the Wimbledon Arena” for example. Plus the “Cupid don’t fuck with me” hook line sung by Justin Timberlake gets right in your head rather quickly. The song made it to number 2 in the UK chart and also became an Australian number 1. This is a go-to party tune for me and my Dad Dancing take on Timberlake’s dance moves is something to behold! Well so I’m told 😉
If you have enjoyed this article feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;
This is the fourteenth song in the Play It Again Mayhem series which began back in 2020. Check out the previous entries along with this new one in the Play It Again Mayhem Spotify Playlist, click here to take a listen! This one is from the 1980s, 1987 to be precise, it is “Skin Trade”, Duran Duran’s 15th single. The song is taken from their 1986 album ‘Notorious’, their fourth, which was co-produced with Nile Rodgers. It always baffled me that the single only reached number 22 in the UK. I was never a huge Duran Duran fan, but for me, this is by far their best single. You even get Le Bon singing in falsetto and according to him he was channelling Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stone’s 1980 UK top ten hit “Emotional Rescue”. What do you think of this track?
If you have enjoyed this article feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 