In an occasional series of music related jokes here is one of my favourites. Thank you to those smashing people at Popbitch for bringing this one to my attention and for giving me the opportunity to play such a great track again!
Doctor, doctor, my husband was
admitted into hospital for
involuntary buttock spasms.
Where is he?
ICU, baby. Shakin’ that ass!
Click here to read my review of Danny Worsnop’s upcoming solo album ‘The Long Road Home’ and thank you to those delightful people at Subba-Cultcha for giving me an early listen of this marvellous platter from Earache Records!
Click here to read my review of the fabulously named Methyl Ethel’s new album ‘Everything Is Forgotten’. I would like to thank those delightful Subba-Cultcha folk for giving me the opportunity to take an advance listen!
Do you like your music a little jangly, indie pop and very English? You do? then I suggest that you check out Kingston Upon Hull‘s Brosnan. Their current single is the catchy, bubbly and frankly rather spiffing “Flash Harry”. I have always admired British bands and singers who don’t go down the road of aping an American accent when playing rock ‘n’ roll. Brosnan’s singer Rory Moses is very much in that English accented rock camp with the likes of Paul Weller, the Clash, Pulp, the Libertines, Arctic Monkeys and many others. The rhythm section of Johnny Rodrigues on bass and Jake Haylett gives this three-man combo a great bedrock to their signature sounds. Jake is also the band’s producer. Also a big thank you to Mr Haylett senior for introducing me to the music of this fine northern band.
“Flash Harry” is a fine follow on from last years “Orange Wine” which was the title of their six track EP. The other five songs all showcase a band that really seem to know their stuff. I particularly love “Ceasefire Baby” and “I Don’t Mind”. I have yet to see Brosnan live but I get the feeling from listening to their stuff on Soundcloud (click here for their page) that they will be pretty damned good. I will definitely be in the audience for any Brosnan gigs in York. In fact if any of my promoter friends are reading this please check them out. This is very much a message to you Simon Pattinson!
Hello good people of the blogosphere and thanking you for coming to visit my blog. The With Just A Hint Of Mayhem blog is eight years old today, Thursday 9th February 2017. This blog is an Aquarius. So I was going to treat you to another numbers post (i.e. songs with 8 in the title) but then my wonderful wife Catherine a.k.a. Catwoman gave me an even better idea of which I will tell you more soon.
Firstly though here are some stats for the eight years that this blog has been alive;
1,587,200 visits (most from UK, USA, France, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Australia)
1,016 posts (including this one)
842 comments
1,019 followers
Most common subjects via tags (David Bowie 141, Beatles 132, the BBC 107)
The post with the most views (68,439 to date) was published when the blog was only 8 days old, click here to read it, it was titled “We Are Starlight, We Are Golden”.
Most searches;
lady gaga 96,870
pink floyd 57,082
kate bush 41,699
lily allen 34,810
eminem 34,675
slipknot 27,081
catwoman 21,443
beatles 16,794
pink 16,497
bjork 12,772
Many of you searched for naked artists and the most popular search there was 2,620 searches for Lily Allen Naked, you pervy bunch you!
Anyway enough of the stats! How about the birthday celebration idea that my wonderful wife came up with? Well how about some music from a selection of artists that were also born on February 9th? You want some of that? OK well here you go.
Carmen Miranda born 1909
Ernest Tubb Born 1914
Carole King born 1942
Major Harris born 1947
Holly Johnson born 1960
Travis Tritt born 1963
Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo (off of Daft Punk) born 1974
James Owen Sullivan a.k.a The Rev (one time drummer with Avenged Sevenfold) born 1981 and sadly died in 2009
Sadly I missed the Kickstarter campaign for this album from the talented and magnificent Daniel Versus The World. ‘Remember Who You Are’ is another fine release from Dovetown Records, the label that brought you Colour Me Wednesday and the Tuts among others. The album came out last year and I purchased the CD version a few weeks ago. The songs are all wonderfully catchy pop tunes, most of which grab you very quickly and bury themselves in your brain. Lyrically Mr Stocker is a great talent and he and the band have the chops to back up those often sublime lyrics.
I find the music and singing sometimes reminiscent of early Elton John or Billy Joel. But these words are not words that Elton could have even dreamt of singing back in the day, although as a great campaigner for the LGBT community I reckon Reg would enjoy this record. The album is dedicated to ‘all the angry queer punx’ which is in itself a fabulously bold statement especially in the dark days of so-called president Trump. (I somehow doubt that the Tango Prez will like Daniel Versus The World, but hey that’s the orange comb-overs loss!)
The album’s manifesto is most clear on opening track “Second Class Citizen” which relates to the treatment of gay people by many in this ‘modern’ society of ours. I find it incredible and horrifying that there are still people out there that continue to persecute minorities. Sadly it is often people of my generation that are guilty of such misinformed arrogance and hatred. Yes I am a middle-aged/ old straight white bloke, but I am also an Earthling. I totally accept people for who are what they are I have never been bothered by skin colour or sexuality. If you are a good person then I reckon I’ll probably get on with you, if you’re not then I’m pretty sure that I won’t!
“Thank You” is currently my favourite song on this collection. On first listen you might think of it as a heartbreak song, however while it certainly does seem to be about Daniel being spurned by a former lover the message turns to glass half full with the line ‘thanks for making me, me’. I should mention the band who are very tight and offer a more than accomplished canvas for Daniel’s song paintings. Laura Ankles on drums, Jaca Freer on bass and Carmela Pietrangelo on guitar. Daniel Stocker himself plays piano and obviously vocals too.
The CD, download and music streaming age make it easy to skip tracks on albums, however ‘Remember Who You Are’ is one of those gems on which there are no tracks that you need to skip. Another favourite of mine is “Little Blue” especially for its couplet around ‘love will make you six feet tall, but I’m six-foot three’. In a parallel universe “I’m So Fun” has topped the charts for the last twelve weeks. Next week my favourite Daniel Versus The World songs will probably different, but what is wrong with that? If Daniel did take on the world right now he might not win but he would give that mean old world a few good body blows at least. I recommend that you buy, download or stream this album immediately, no on second thoughts that is not a recommendation it’s an order!
It fills me with wonder that through an accident of history and maybe the genes that gave him such a long life Henry John “Harry” Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009) will always be remembered as the last fighting Tommy. The last combat soldier from the Great War or World War One who died aged 111 in 2009. It’s like a sliding door moment which led Harry to that place.
I was recently on a visit to the Somerset city of Wells which is where Harry Patch’s funeral was held. He was buried in Monkton Combe next to his brother and his parents. His memorial stone is outside Wells Museum. He was born in Combe Down near Bath. He believed that the commandment ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill‘ was one to obey and in a 2007 interview he spoke of a German soldier that he shot during his time in the trenches on the Western Front from 1916 to 1918. He said “I had about five seconds to make the decision. I brought him down, but I didn’t kill him…. Any one of them could have been me. Millions of men came to fight in this war and I find it incredible that I am the only one left”.
Seeing his memorial stone and reading about him brought tears to my eyes and a weird sense of pride. People like Harry should be an example to everyone and his memory of war ought to be a lesson to us all, but sadly it isn’t. He became a great man by accident and lived that role with grace. RIP Harry Patch, you will never be forgotten. This is a music blog so please enjoy Radiohead‘s tribute to Harry Patch and hear the man himself giving the spoken word part of the Imperial Vengeance track.
Before Roxy Music Bryan Ferry once took an audition to join classic UK band King Crimson. This was just after the late, great Greg Lake left to form Emerson, Lake and Palmer. I am not sure how the audition went but given Byron Ferrari’s (as the NME used to refer to him) later success with Roxy Music I assume that he wasn’t offered the job. The gig was given to Gordon Haskell.
That marvellous 70s pop band Mud were once known as the Mourners and to promote themselves in the most ghoulish and appropriate way they could the band even had black business cards printed that carried the phrase ‘we’re dead with it’. Actually I kind of like the name the Mourners, but I guess Mud sticks, right?
One of my favourite Alice Cooper tracks is one of his lesser known singles which barely scraped into the US top 50 and peaked at number 12 in the UK. It is taken from the 1973 album ‘Muscle Of Love‘ and considering that it was released in 1973 it is to some folk confusingly titled “Teenage Lament ’74”. I used to have the album and the single on vinyl. So why am I telling you this? Well I learnt something about the song this week that I never knew before, or maybe I knew but had forgotten it. Anyway that little trivia nugget is that backing vocals on “Teenage Lament ’74” were provided by Liza Minelli.
This really is a strange video indeed!
