With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“I want the world to know I’m happy as can be” November 15, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 10:46 pm
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This month, November 2012, marks the 60th anniversary of the UK singles chart which began in the NME in 1952. We’ve come a long way from crooner Al Martino‘s “Here In My Heart” all those years ago to the current resident of the number one spot in the UK singles chart; Robbie Williams with “Candy”. Maybe we haven’t come too far though as Robbie does fancy himself as a crooner doesn’t he. I must confess that Robbie’s current number 1 is one of the few songs of his that I like.

The chart now includes downloads which have helped to boost sales of singles considerably. Apparently there have been 3.7 billion singles sold in that 60 year period in all formats. But the peak for the physical format was the 80s which recorded 640 million singles sales.  The biggest selling UK single ever was Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind ’97” which was the singers dedication to Princess Diana. It sold 4.9 million copies and therefore raised millions for charity. Personally I prefer the original version. Does anyone ever play the Diana version these days? Incidentally do you know what the biggest selling single never to top the charts is? It’s Wham! with “Last Christmas/ Everything She Wants” which lost out to Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” which is the second best-selling single ever back in 1984.

There have been more than 1,200 number ones in the chart’s history. The artists with most number one singles in the UK are;

Elvis Presley (21)

Beatles (17)

Cliff Richard (14)

Westlife (14)

Madonna (13)

How tragic is it that Westlife are in there?

Hopefully it really will be their last ever tour

As a teenager I can still recall lining up my cassette recorder microphone near the transistor radio to record my favourite songs from the Radio 1 chart rundown back in the 70s. How many of you did the same? I know of at least one fellow blogger who did. You can check out his excellent post on this chart milestone on his Every Record tells A Story blog by clicking here. You’ll even be able to see him on the chart history documentary on the Beeb! Recording the charts now seems almost pointless given the availability of music on-line, which I think is a real shame. But hey that’s progress right? Talking of progress, the first ever UK number one single based on download sales alone was as far back as 2006. It was the excellent “Crazy” from Gnarls Barkley.

There are also a number of chart records an artist probably wouldn’t want though, like;

Most Top 75 hits (97 of them) without a number one. That one is the honour of the Glee Cast. I hope they keep that one forever

Most Top 40 hits without a number one is easily won by Depeche Mode with 40 of them.

But perhaps the one you really should feel sorry for is Sash! A record of five number 2 singles and no number 1.

But let me finish on a better note. The first single I ever bought was a classic UK number one in my opinion. It was “Sugar Sugar” by the Archies and stayed at the top for 8 weeks at the tail end of 1969. Personally I fell that the charts will stay with us for many years yet, albeit very much adapted from the old days of purely physical sales. I would love to hear your thoughts on this fabulous UK Charts anniversary.

Even the charts are younger than Cliff

 

“In the year of the scavenger, the season of the bitch” November 13, 2012

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 9:45 pm
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According to the Mail OnLine (so let’s treat the information cautiously) dogs prefer classical music to heavy metal and they don’t seem to like those cheap relaxing music for your canine friend CDs either. I wonder if that has anything to do with the location of their sub woofer? Click here to read the full article.

Anyway I thought that I’d like to try a little experiment about how true this is. So here are a few dog related songs that I would like you to play to your mutt and tell me what reaction you get. Unfortunately I can’t do that as I only have cats.

 

“Toss and turn, fall to sleep holding my pillow tight” November 11, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 8:13 pm
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I know that many people thought that Michael Jackson was a little odd, me included. However I suspect that his weirdness shielded some of the odd behaviours of his family. Jermaine Jackson couldn’t resist the temptation of lumbering one his offspring with a ridiculous name; Hello Jermajesty! But now he is playing the name game on his own name. He has allegedly applied to the courts to be allowed to change his surname from Jackson to Jacksun, apparently for ‘artistic reasons’. I guess he won’t be blaming that on the moonlight or the boogie but definitely the sunshine! I’d love to hear your views on Jermaine’s proposed change.

 

“Keep smiling through, just the way you used to do”

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 7:51 pm
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Much has been said today of the courage and sacrifices of generations of men and women who lost their lives or their way of life by serving their country and rightly so. I, as I hope all of you, could never express enough thanks for what these people have done and continue to do. So I make this post in memory of all those who have been lost or injured in conflicts across the globe.

 

“A radio and phonograph, Charlie Chaplin made us laugh” November 7, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 6:32 pm
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OK I know he may not have been a musical superstar but I was saddened by the news that Clive Dunn has died. He was aged 92, so not a bad innings compared to some. If your one of the baby boomer generation in the UK, like me, you will remember that he played Lance Corporal Jones in the classic comedy ‘Dad’s Army‘. Who can forget the refrain of “Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring” or “They don’t like it up ’em”.

Clive also had the UK Christmas number one with “Grandad” in 1970. The interesting thing for me is that I always thought he was much older, largely because of the parts he played. In fact he was only 50 when he was on top of the charts. That is younger than I am now. My thoughts go out to his family, friends and all his fans. RIP Clive Dunn.

 

“Seen a lot of things in this old world”

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 12:15 pm
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This will be one of my shortest posts ever, I promise. I would like to say a big well done and sincere thanks to the American people for seeing sense and re-electing Barack Obama and not sliding to disaster with Romney. I’m sure that much of the world feels the same.

I nailed my colours to the wall the on this election quite clearly on an earlier post (click here to see that post) and I am so pleased America delivered. Enjoy Obama’s victory speech below and the song that was played as he took to the stage.

 

“Welcome to the Pit and the Pendulum” November 5, 2012

Filed under: Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 9:28 pm
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This is a special message to all my American readers. On November 6th you will have the chance to vote once again in a Presidential election. I would like to offer some advice and some opinions. I recognise that some of you may not agree with me, but I can live with that!

Firstly whatever happens please use your vote. Do not assume that your guy will win whether you vote for them or not. This election could be as close to call as the Dubya versus Gore election in 2000. Secondly and here is where I’m sure I’ll lose some of you. Vote Obama! He has been a great president in some very hard times trying to manage an economy which was almost dead and buried when he inherited it. All of this in the midst of a global recession. He has also introduced an incredibly forward thinking health care plan.

He may not have achieved everything he set out to do, but then look back at the record of any previous US President or indeed British Prime Minister and see what their delivery to promise ratio was. I suspect most of them would have been low. As a Brit I believe Obama has done a great job but even I am disappointed with some aspects of his first term, notably a failure to close down th prison facility at Guantanamo Bay. But compared to his opponent Mitt Romney he is by far the better candidate. OK so let’s consider the crazies for a moment; Donald Trump and the so-called ‘birthers’ who think Barack doesn’t have the right to be President. Well he has made his birth certificate available to you and you still don’t believe him. You were never going to were you? In the same vein why is no one making a big fuss about a lack of tax records from Romney, especially as he had promised to publish them?

I am not religious in the slightest and I believe that it is wrong for a political leader to be overtly religious. Mitt is a Mormon a faith that is based on, let’s face it some rather strange concepts based on the visions of Joseph Smith in the 1800s. It wasn’t so long ago that the Mormon faith allowed and promoted polygamy. In addition to that some would say that it is at its roots a very sexist and racist religion. Although to be fair, Mitt’s father took a stand against some of those principles when he supported the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.

Mitt is definitely what some US hacks call a ‘flip flopper’. His views on abortion and gay marriage seem to have moved like a yoyo to suit his mood and his position. He said himself in an unguarded moment that he really doesn’t care about 47% of the population. So finally I believe that you should vote for Obama, I think you need to give him another four years. If you vote for Romney the only ones who will benefit in the long-term will be the rich. But like I said at the start, whatever you do use your vote!

Incidentally these are my opinions and I have and will offer advice to UK voters when the time arises. I believe that we voted the wrong way last time and now we’re stuck with a pathetic, corrupt and inept coalition government for the next couple of years at least. So let me step off my soapbox and give you some music. This is a music blog after all.

 

“There’s a fine line drawing my senses together and I think it’s about to break” November 2, 2012

Filed under: News,Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 11:13 pm
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Does anyone fancy some stuffed Anaconda? Really? Well it’s quite mature, maybe 120 years and will only set you back £10,000. That’s a bargain if I ever saw one. Anyway I’m not talking about some strange delicacy to be eaten, I’m referring to Albert the stuffed Anaconda who lives in the Ansel Library at the Foreign Office in London. Well, when I say lives I really mean that he is hung from the wall. He has been dead for some time. He’s not just resting, he is indeed and ex Anaconda.

Albert was a gift to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office some time in the late 1800s after he had received the full services of a taxidermist. Albert was allegedly presented by a bishop, in what is now Guyana, to the Colonial Secretary sometime in the 19th Century. As such he is in fact a Foreign Office asset and therefore need to be maintained. This news came to light following a request by the Guido Fawkes website via the Freedom of Information Act.

In my opinion this money could easily have been spent somewhere else and Albert could have been scrapped, buried or given a seat in parliament. I find it incredible that in these times of austerity so much money could have been spent on a dead snake! We are living in a time where budgets are constricted with venom and politicians are rattled! Did the cabinet hold a COBRA meeting? What do you think of stuffed Albert? Could we not have made a few pairs of shoes for the homeless from Albert’s skin or bailed out our local Greek kebab shop?

Click here to read the story of Albert on the BBC. Of course this is a music blog so please enjoy a few snake related songs;

Ignore the scumbag at the start of this next clip

 

Ian Hunter – Harrogate Theatre Thursday 25th October 2012 October 25, 2012

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:54 pm
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I had the good fortune to accompany my good buddy John Williams to a gig in Harrogate on Thursday. Not just any gig, but an Ian Hunter gig. Someone who I have always liked but up until now had never seen play live. So I was anticipating great things. Did we get great things? Well let me talk about the support act first and then I will tell you!

Otis Gibbs all the way from Wanamaker, Missouri provided a very entertaining support set. He has some great songs, many of them well written story songs. He also engages really well with the audience between songs. Otis Gibbs; talented, humorous, good bloke and frankly bloody good at what he does!

As I said earlier I was expecting great things from Mr Hunter and I can say that categorically he didn’t let us down. He was, and I use this word sparingly these days, awesome. He started the show with two great rockers “Comfortable” from his new album and the classic “Once Bitten Twice Shy“. He played a lot of songs from the new album including the superb title track “When I’m President”, the wonderful “Black Tears” and a song that grows on me every time I hear it “Ta Shunka Witco (Crazy Horse)”

Obviously he played some classic Mott The Hoople tracks including “All The Way From Memphis” and “Roll Away The Stone“. Then there was the obligatory (well Mott played it often) cover of the Velvet Underground‘s “Sweet Jane“. But that wasn’t the end of the Mott songs. During the encore they played my two favourite Mott The Hoople songs; the sublime “Saturday Gigs” and the best song Bowie wrote and never released himself “All The Young Dudes“. A stupendous end to a great set from a brilliant artist and indeed an excellent band; the Rant Band. Ian is 73 now but he rocks better than many younger rock stars.

Mr Hunter thank you for an excellent night and keep on rockin’ dude! Let me finish with a short clip of “Saturday Gigs” from tonight which was filmed on my positively ancient Nokia as were the photographs in this post.

 

“‘Cause he’s a scumbag, don’t you know I said he’s a scumbag, don’t you know!” October 23, 2012

Filed under: News,Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 9:45 pm
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Last year I posted about the death of Jimmy Saville as did many people. At the time I felt that he had been a bit of an eccentric but now it is clear that he was a cowardly paedophile scumbag. In the last few weeks I have had thousands of people searching for Saville arriving at my blog. I just want to make it clear that I have no respect for him and the only feelings I have for him are that he died before he could be tried. If there is such a place I hope he rots in hell.

As usual the downfall of a celebrity brings about a whole range of jokes about that person, usually derivatives of those that have been used for others. One of the many that I have seen was “The Vatican has revealed that Jimmy Saville was only two sexual assaults from getting his own parish!” Now that one did appeal to my sick sense of humour. However what I read earlier on a BBC profile of Scumbag Saville, who was a lifelong Roman Catholic, was that 22 years ago “Pope John Paul II made Saville  a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great . This particular honour is also called a papal knighthood“. So maybe that joke wasn’t too far from the truth after all. What do you think of what appears to be the real Jimmy Saville?

Clearly paedos hunt in packs! I hope Glitter is shitting himself now!