Do you remember Whigfield’s dance floor classic (OK that was a little OTT) “Saturday Night”? Well the song was an absolute smash in 1994, but did you know that Whigfield was sued by Lindisfarne? Why did that happen I hear you say, well largely because the Geordie gang that was Lindisfarne felt that “Saturday Night” was a rip-off of their north east anthem “Fog On The Tyne”. Seriously? You’re having a laugh right? Nope it is absolutely true! The Lindisfarne boys lost as did the Equals who but together a similar legal challenge over their own “Rub A Dub Dub”. Are they even close to be similar? I will leave that for you to be the judge, but personally I think that the Equals have the best case although theirs and Whigfield’s songs are both a bit shite right?
It is a little while since I have posted about the Dame so I thought that I would now. Bowie used to draw out the shape of the guitar solos that he wanted the very sadly departed Mick Ronson to play. He said in the sleeve notes to the 2002 reissue of ‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ that the guitar solo in “Moonage Daydream” ‘started as a flat line that became a fat megaphone-type shape, and ended as sprays of disassociated and broken lines. “Moonage Daydream” also made it to number 24 in Classic Rock’s 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.
Regular readers will know that I am a fan of classic British punk band and now old men like me The Damned. In fact I even saw them play live recently. Anyway did you know that there is a link between Vanian, Sensible and the boys and Aussie legend Nick Cave? Well there is!
Are you familiar with the Damned’s 1985 album ‘Phantasmagoria’? Yes I know it was their major label debut (thank you MCA), but did you know that Nick Cave’s future wife Susie Black was on the cover? Well she was indeed! That was another ‘With Just A Hint Of Mayhem’ public service announcement. Obviously I took another opportunity to play Nick Cave’s magnificent “Into My Arms” for my beautiful wife Catherine a.k.a. Catwoman. In case you didn’t know, that is our song 🙂
OK so we all know that the for me classic album cover produced by Hipgnosis for Led Zeppelin’s 1974 ‘Houses Of The Holy’ has caused a degree of controversy. But frankly I find it all bloody poppycock. It was inspired by ‘Childhoods End’ the Arthur C Clarke classic sci-fi story and the shots were filmed on Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway and Dunluce Castle.
Despite the number of children on the cover there were only two child models used; 7-year-old Samantha Gates and her little brother Stefan Gates. That is all very well known but did you know that young Stefan went on to be a cookery show presenter on the BBC? He was once asked if he knew what the cover of the album actually meant. He replied “I personally have no idea”. Actually neither do I, does anyone?
I was delighted to have the opportunity to review the new album from the rather excellent metal gods known as Korn. Click here to read my review of the new album and thank you to those very nice people at subba-cultcha for making this happen! let me know what you think of the album.
Nag Champa have just released their first EP and this Yorkshire based British band produce authentic sounding jazz. “Authentic” did I really say that? It translates as bloody good jazz music! I believe that they are all students at the Leeds College of Music. Back in the olden days as my eclectic music taste developed I was very much into jazz funk. As a result I explored the music of a lot of jazz artists; Norman Connors, Roy Ayers and Herbie Hancock to name but a few.
Nag Champa seem to draw their influences from a lot of jazz greats, including some of those that I have come across before. The opening track on the EP, “Slow Me Down” builds up to a very funky workout reminiscent of the Crusaders. Maya Kally’s vocals are both easy on the ear and soulful at the same time. The band are very tight, but I would like to see them play in a live setting to see how well that recorded excellence translates in the live setting. I do have it on good authority though that they are even better live.
Is there a strong market for jazz music these days? Of course there is and the success of likes of Gregory Porter and Jamie Cullum are proof of this. Nag Champa take on Stevie Wonder‘s “Superstition” on this EP and they pull it off brilliantly. They handle a cover just the way I believe covers should be handled, by making them very different from the original and they take the song in a new direction. “Daydreamer” has a nice dreamy feel of chilled but funky jazz and along with the previously mentioned “Slow Me Down” has lyrics written by singer Maya Kally. I also love the synth and keyboard wig out towards the end of this track which is very Herbie Hancockesque.
If you like jazz or jazz funk then I am sure that you will love Nag Champa. If you don’t see yourself as a jazz fan check them out anyway, I don’t think that you will be disappointed. For a first release this is an accomplished set of songs and performances which highlights great potential for bigger things in the future. Definitely a band to watch out for. Check them out on BandCamp (where you can buy the EP) and Facebook. Can we see them at Live In Leeds and the Apollo Festival in York next year please?
Just in case we wake up to an orange bewigged world on Wednesday as Donald becomes US President I felt I had to run an appropriate post. America please vote sensibly tomorrow, please do not abstain. The fate of the world may rest on your vote, I hope that we can trust you to do the right thing. Look at it this way, it is not an election it is an IQ test. In case you need any help in passing that test let me tell you that the answer is NOT Donald Trump. The only good thing about Trump winning will be that it would make the UK referendum vote to leave Europe looking far less stupid, that is no good reason to vote for a lying, misogynist, racist, arrogant arsehole. Rant over!
Here are a few songs which fit the bill, the mood and sum up my thoughts on the orange skinned idiot that is Trumpzilla!
One of my great friends shared a band with me on Facebook. The friend is Mr Nick Horslen and the band who are very new to me are Slowmother. Their sound has elements of classic rock, prog and a degree of dark menace, which is something that I personally love in a band. They describe their music as Chemical Blues which also works for me. Your experience of listening to them may lead you to describe them very differently from the way I have. But I will be surprised and disappointed in you if you don’t conclude that they are a bloody good band indeed!
Slowmother are based in Milan and are made up of Alessio Slowmother on vox and guitars, Grazi Mele on drums and backing vocals and Pietro The Butcher on bass and backing vocals. Obviously all their names are the names that they were born with……. right? They sound like a very tight band with some great songs, especially the phenomenal “Drugs” and “Liar”. Vocally I find them reminiscent of Stiltskin whose singer Ray Wilson also went on to front Genesis briefly in the late 90s. I would definitely pay to see this band, so let’s hope that they come to play in the UK soon. Let me know what you think of them. Check them out on Facebook, Bandcamp and Soundcloud.
So if recent reports are true we could have an Oasis reunion tour of some type next year. Click here to read the report on the NME website. I am sure that there will be many people who are very excited by this news, but I am not one of them. In my opinion the first two Oasis albums; ‘Definitely Maybe‘ and ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ remain stone cold classic albums. The third album ‘Be Here Now‘ was frankly a shambolic, over-egged pile of shite. After that they never reached their early heady heights again, although there was the occasional excellent single in that time.
I saw Oasis twice, first in a tiny dive of a pub in Windsor in 1994 with about 100 people and secondly at Knebworth in 1996. Two excellent shows in two very different venues and circumstances, but both bloody good. Personally and with hindsight I think that they should have quit after Knebworth, it was mostly downhill from there. Noel‘s subsequent solo career proves to me that he was the real talent behind Oasis. Liam‘s post Oasis activity has so far been Beady Eye and to be fair they were nothing but the remainder of Oasis but without Noel to write the songs. I saw Beady Eye at the Reading Festival a few years ago and they came across like a below average Oasis tribute band who largely wanted to perform their own sub standard songs.
But if you are a big fan or if Oasis were always ‘your band’ then just go ahead and enjoy yourself. But for me Oasis are not a band that should reform, I think that it could kill off the tarnished legacy that they have left. But no doubt the whole circus will provide copious copy on those darlings of the intellectual press the tabloids! As usual I would love to hear your thoughts on the boys from Burnage getting back together via the comments on here.
Once again I have attended a gig at the York Barbican where the sound was not great quality. Maybe that has something to do with relocating the sound desk to the side of the stage and therefore behind the main audience speakers. The support band for this gig were General Roots, an excellent reggae band from London. Initially I put the sound down to just not allowing sound check for a support band, but I doubt that was the case. They did come across as a very talented band even with the poor sound production. The biggest impact on them was not being able to hear their MC Mr Minister. I particularly liked their songs “Special” and “Walk Tall”. My beautiful wife Catherine (a.k.a. Catwoman) also loved the latter.
Now i did have some misgivings about seeing the Specials with only three original members left (Terry, Lynval and Horace). I last saw them in around 1980 and I have always felt that Jerry Dammers was the real heart and drive behind the band and I was disappointed that he chose not to get involved in the reunion back in 2008. Dammers had a writing credit on the majority of Specials songs. Having seen them again for the first time in 36 years I don’t believe that this incarnation of the band is a patch on the original line up for the first two albums.
As with the support band the sound was not of great quality and at times lacked clarity and was a little ‘muddy’. They kicked off their set with “Ghost Town” which was probably their biggest hit based on chart positions around the world. It was also their second UK number one. It remains a great song but as the set progressed I felt like they had played their set list in reverse and in my opinion peaked (if indeed they did peak) much too soon. Terry Hall was by his own admission in a shitty mood and for me this was reflected in his sullen and at times spoilt brat performance. In my opinion I felt like we were watching an average Specials tribute band. There were some highlights, notably Steve Cradock who played to his usual high standards. Lynval’s acoustic rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” was alright.
I know that many people will not share my opinion given by the volume of people who sang and danced the night away. But in my opinion this is a band that should not have reformed I think they are a very pale imitation of what they were, more like The Averages than The Specials. Sorry boys but that really wasn’t a great gig in my opinion, I gave it an hour before leaving but I doubt that myself and Catwoman will be coming to see you anytime soon.
