With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“Catch me if you can cos I’m the England man” August 21, 2017

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 7:00 am
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There haven’t been many good football (that’ll be soccer to my American readers) songs in my opinion. But there are a few exceptions; “Back Home” by the England 1970 World Cup Squad, “Three Lions” by Baddiel, Skinner & the Lightning Seeds and the 1990 New Order song “World In Motion”, yes even with that John Barnes rap!

Anyway New Order’s song which was England’s official 1990 World Cup song was originally titled ‘E for England’. At least it was until the FA realised the name might be misconstrued as a reference to drugs and rave culture! Really? was it that obvious?

For me those three songs represent some of the best England performances we have ever had from 1970, 1990 and 1996. Is that coincidence? Maybe you have some favourite football songs, what are they?

 

“What should we take and how much should we give” August 20, 2017

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:25 pm
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I don’t often post about music birthdays on this blog, well certainly not too often anyway. But I will make an exception for one of my favourite singers of all time, Johnny Nash. He turned 77 on 19th August. He has a voice like no other and along with hits that span genres using blues, reggae and soul to name but a few, he was also influential in bringing Bob Marley to the fore. Johnny was the first person to have a hit internationally with a Bob Marley song; “Stir It Up” in 1972. Most people will know Johnny Nash for “I Can See Clearly Now” but he has recorded plenty of other great songs in a career that began back in the 1950s. Enjoy a few of those to celebrate his birthday now!

 

“Me and some guys from school had a band and we tried real hard”

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 7:00 am
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OK so it is clear that Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams have, confusingly for some folk, very similar names. But did you know that they also share the same birthday! Both were born on November 5th. Bryan in 199 (the year of my birth) and Ryan in 1974. Ryan now sends Bryan an email every year on their shared birthday. Ryan has also covered “Summer Of ’69” and “Run To You” at various times.

 

 

“Did she come from a strange world and leave her mind behind” August 19, 2017

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 9:48 pm
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Have you ever wondered about the title of Nick Drake’s ‘Five Leaves Left’, his 1969 début album? Did you think maybe it sounded spiritual or maybe profound? Well it might sound that way, but it was inspired by the fact he’d nearly run out of Rizlas for his, presumably, Wacky Baccy rollups! In fact Rizla packets used to include a note towards the end which said something like “only five leaves left”. Do they still have that?

 

“With a brat like that always on your back” August 18, 2017

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 6:00 am
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It is now estimated that more Ramones t-shirts have been sold worldwide than Ramones albums. Seriously? What is the world coming to? Personally I feel very lucky to have seen the band play live in London back in 1977

the-best-funny-pictures-of-ramones-like-our-band-shirt

 

“Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues” August 13, 2017

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:00 pm
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In 1996, Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for apple sauce, why was that? Well in Japanese “Ringo” means an apple offering or peace be with you. Is that where Mr Starkey got his infamous “peace and love, peace and love, peace and love” comment from in his speech a few years back about giving up on autographs?

 

“Now my advice for those who die declare the pennies on your eyes”

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 6:00 am
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Allegedly according to producer George Martin, the 60’s Batman TV theme tune inspired George Harrison of the Beatles, to write the hit song “Taxman”. Now there’s a thought for a brand new super hero team up; Taxman and Robbing! I guess it’s also fair to say that the Jam ripped off “Taxman” with start and Weller’s band also recorded a version of the Batman theme!

 

“They shared the driving all through the night” August 12, 2017

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 5:00 pm
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You often hear of stars, fossils, rare insects and such like being named after everyone from David Bowie to Frank Zappa. But how about a singer having a bus named after them? Well Leo Sayer had a bus named after him in Brighton, although it is no longer in service. So much for the show must go on right? Perhaps the driver was moonlighting?

Anyway why did Leo have a bus named after him in Brighton? Well that is where he was first discovered in 1970. The man who discovered him, Adam Faith also had a bus named after him. I would be interested to hear of any other musicians and singers that have had buses, coaches, cars, bikes, trains, boats, planes or rockets named after them.

 

“Don’t want to know about one-night-stands”

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:00 pm
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How are Roxy Music connected to Krautrock? Well the two scantily clad ladies on the cover of Roxy’s 1974 album ‘Country Life’ are the cousin and then girlfriend of Michael Karoli off of Krautrock pioneers Can. Their names are Constanze Karoli and Eveline Grunwald respectively

The album cover was far too steamy for retailers in the US, Spain and the Netherlands. They either covered up the expanse of flesh or changed the cover.

 

“They told me he was bad but I knew he was sad”

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 7:00 am
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A couple of my recent posts have mentioned session players, notably Carol Kaye and Glen Campbell. But did you know that Billy Joel also played on a few sessions in his early years. The stand outs were two Shangri-Las hits; “Leader Of The Pack” and “Remember (Walking In The Sand)”. Although it was most probably demo versions.