With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“Hey you with the pretty face welcome to the human race” October 5, 2012

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 7:26 pm
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I am sure that most of you are familiar with the ELO classic “Mr Blue Sky” which reached number 6 in the UK charts in 1978. It was taken from the band’s 1977 double album ‘Out Of The Blue‘. I had always thought that the vocoder part at the end of the song said ‘Mr Blue Sky’s gone’. However as my good friend Stuart O’Hara pointed out, having heard Jeff Lynne interviewed on the One Show on the BBC, it actually says ‘please turn me over’. I can hear you ask why, well the answer is simple. The song was the last track on side one of the second disc of the album and it was an instruction to turn the record over. To those of you who don’t know what records are I would suggest that you ask your parents or your grandparents!

In the meantime enjoy once again an ELO classic and a very happy song indeed!

 

“Someone to love, somebody new, someone to love, someone like you”

Filed under: News,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 7:12 pm
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Amazingly it is now 50 years to the day that the Beatles first single was released. “Love Me Do” came out on 5th October 1962 and reached the heady heights of number 17 in the UK charts later that year. It was an US number one when it was eventually released there in 1964. It also finally achieved a higher position in the UK charts on its reissue in 1982 when it peaked at number 4.

The song was mostly a Paul McCartney composition although John Lennon contributed the middle eight. It was most likely written in 1958/ 1959 in one of the notebooks that John and Paul used to write their songs; usually under the heading of ‘Another Lennon-McCartney Original’. Many of the songs the pair wrote in the late 50s were done at Paul’s house and often while they were playing truant from school. (Allegedly at least!)

The first recording of the song in 1962 featured Pete Best on drums. Pete was then infamously replaced by Ringo Starr who played on the next recording of the song. Producer George Martin was unhappy with Ringo’s performance and brought in session drummer Andy White. Ringo was relegated to tambourine for the Andy White session and it is this which makes it easy to distinguish between the Starr and White versions.

“Love Me Do” is one of only two Lennon and McCartney songs that are wholly owned by John Lennon’s estate and paul McCartney; the other is the B Side “P.S. I Love You”. The reason for this is that all later releases were published via Northern Songs. The publishing company has been owned by, ATV, Michael Jackson and Sony at various times.

The song has been covered by many artists including Bobby Vee and Sandie Shaw. It was also played live a few times by David Bowie on the Ziggy Stardust tour in 1972/1973. In a strange coincidence the first James Bond film had it’s UK premiere on 5th October 1962.

 

“You made me feel alive, but something died I fear” October 1, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 10:54 pm
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Curses! Tin foiled again!

The Official Charts Company have released details of the biggest selling CDs in the UK since the format was included in album sales. The list probably holds no real surprises, but clearly has a few disappointing entries in my opinion. The fact that James Blunt, Dido, Leona Lewis and David Gray are in the top 10 shows how bland the UK’s music tastes have become in my opinion. Is this a result of many people buying their CDs from large supermarkets these days? Who knows, but surely that plays a part. Anyway here is the top 10;

1- Gold Greatest Hits – Abba: 4m

2 – 21 – Adele: 3.5m

3 – What’s the Story Morning Glory – Oasis: 3.4m

4 – Back to Black – Amy Winehouse: 3.225m

5 – Back to Bedlam – James Blunt: 3.209m

6 – No Angel – Dido: 3.031m

7 – Come on Over – Shania Twain: 3.02m

8 – Spirit – Leona Lewis:2.95m

9 – Urban Hymns – The Verve: 2.9m

10 – White Ladder – David Gray 2.8m

There are clearly some classic albums in the list from Oasis, the Verve and Amy Winehouse. But the current top-selling UK CD is Abba Gold, probably soon to be overtaken by Adele’s ’21’. One thing that surprised me was that Dire Straits’ ‘Brothers In Arms’ , the first million selling CD was not in the top 10 or even the top 30. Dido has one more album in the list at number 11. Robbie Williams and Coldplay have three albums each in the top 30. The Beatles’ compilation ‘1’ is at number 12 and there is no entry for Queen in the top 30 either.

 

“I’ll find some crowded avenue, though it will be empty without you” September 27, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 5:20 am
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I guess most of you have already heard of the sad passing of the great Andy Williams. I can remember watching his show when I was a kid; he introduced the Osmonds to the world and who from my generation can forget the Cookie Monster? I went through a period in my teens where I told myself I didn’t like Andy Williams’ music because it was classed as Easy Listening and my Mum and Dad liked it. As a teenager, certainly in those days, it was just really uncool to like the music your parents liked, although I did let Elvis through that cool versus uncool sieve.

But as I got older I began to realise just how talented a singer Mr Williams was. He could take a song that was completely identifiable with another artist and make it his own. Notably “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons classic. (I do still love Frankie’s version as well). He could take a song and sing it so well that any cover would pale into insignificance, I’m mostly talking of “Can’t Get Used To Losing You” here. Then of course there is his truly sublime version of the beautiful “Moon River“.

People will say that to leave this mortal coil at 84 is a good innings and maybe it is, compared to many, but Andy Williams will be sadly missed. So my feelings go out to his family, friends and his legions of fans across the world. RIP Andy Williams, you were a true icon.

 

“Got no self-esteem and vertigo” September 21, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 11:15 pm
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Robbie is in the news a lot lately isn’t he? Many of you know that I really don’t have much time for Mr Williams from Stoke. That will probably always stay true. However I would like to congratulate him on becoming a Dad and to wish him, his wife and little Theodora all the best. I am also really concerned that I really like his new song “Candy” which he co-wrote with Gary Barlow. I think I must be getting ill, there is no other explanation about why I would like this Robbie song surely. It is a bit of an earworm though.

But to counter all that Robbie has been doing the promo rounds for the new single and forthcoming album. On one breakfast TV appearance in the UK he apparently suggested that he would like a knighthood. I can only assume that this desire follows Gary Barlow’s recent royal award and promotion to national treasure. Will Robbie ever get that knighthood? probably! Will he ever be a proper national treasure? With Gary Barlow and Cheryl Cole are already in the role I seriously doubt it! What do you think?

And finally for the record I haven’t mellowed too much because I still believe that “Angels” ranks among one of the worst songs ever released!

 

“‘Cause I forgot that you left me behind to remind me of you” September 19, 2012

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 6:59 pm
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Today, September 19th, would have been my Dad’s 81st birthday. But sadly he died in 2001 shortly after his 70th birthday just 5 days out of his 60s. I still miss him a lot and I often wonder what he would think about where my life has gone since he died. For my whole life there were always two Bill Adamsons in my family; me and my Dad, yes we shared exactly the same name. But since 24th September 2001 I have been the only one. But then I do see my Dad every morning when I shave and I hear him in the way I laugh. I sometimes wonder if I am in fact turning into him and frankly that wouldn’t be a bad thing. I was and always will be proud of my dad as both a father and a man. Time may heal, but that gap in your life after you lose a parent always remains. I’m sure that many of you who have lost a parent will have similar memories too and if it would help you to share them feel free to add a comment with your own feelings about sadly departed parents.

Obviously I have to include some music in this post, this is a music blog after all. So I have chosen four songs; Rod Stewart‘s version of “Sailing” as that was his favourite song ever. “The Living Years” from Mike and the Mechanics as that song made me reflect a lot after dad died and yes I cried a few times at that one. Next is the song that my Mum chose to have played at his funeral, “I Can’t Stop Loving You” by Ray Charles. Finally I felt that I had to include Mike Skinner‘s fabulous Streets track “Never Went To Church” as that is all about coming to terms with the loss of his own father and provides the title for this post. In the words of Roland in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series ‘do you remember the face of your father?’ Well i do and I always will. Enjoy the music Dad, these are for you.

 

“In case you get to thinking that you’ve been took”

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 6:41 pm
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There was a news article on the BBC website this week about the Drifters. Apparently they are touring the UK at the moment and they have sadly had a lot of their possesions and kit stolen during a meal stop in Nottingham. Obviously that is not good news and I certainly hope that they get their stuff back. However what really interested me was what almost appeared like a throwawy line in the report. It said that the group have had 65 different members since they formed in 1953. That must be some kind of record surely. if you know of a group who have had more members then I’d love to know. Acts like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or the London Symphony Orchestra and probably the So Solid Crew clearly do not qualify!

 

“Feet fail me not, this may be the only opportunity that I got”

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 6:38 pm
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The team at the finish, just how fresh do we look? 😉

Regular readers will know that I took part in the world-famous Great North Run last Sunday. It is a half marathon (13.1 miles) which starts in Newcastle and finishes in South Shields. It was my first half marathon for 17 years so I wasn’t expecting a great time. I was part of a team of five and I am pleased to say that I came third in that little group with an official time of 2.44. But also big congratulations go to the rest of the team as well; Stuart O’Hara, Nick Cooper, Simon Downs and David Carline. In the overall race I was 35,301st, but I did still have a pulse at the end of the race and I have suffered no major aches or injuries. To my knowledge I was beaten by a the fridge man, a gingerbread man, a Scooby Doo (although I did beat another Scooby home) and Jesus. JC carried a heavy wooden cross for the whole run and gave me a rather disdainful look when I asked whether he was in fact Jesus or Brian.

The atmosphere and support were tremendous and perhaps the only negative was the heavy rain at the start. especially as it took me 50 minutes to actually reach the start line from when the gun went off. But there were somewhere in the region of 55, 000 entrants. A lot of our excellent Olympians and Paralympians were also there to offer support. In fact I was even able to high-five with the swimming superstar Ellie Simmonds and the magnificent Mobot himself, Mo Farah.

Up to now we have raised 83% of our target sponsorship for the Save The Children charity. So thank you to all of you who have contributed so far, but it’s not too late. Click here if you would like to donate. I also promise that this will be my last begging post for some time. So now for a special treat how about some appropriate songs?

 

“You see I spy for a living and I specialise in revenge” September 14, 2012

Filed under: News,Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 7:37 pm
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Many of my regular readers will know that I am not a big fan of the institution of the British Royal family. However I am a big supporter of an individuals right to privacy. I felt that it was fundamentally wrong for one of our most scummy tabloid newspapers, the Sun, to print the naked pictures of Prince Harry recently. Especially as their sleaze-bag owner Rupert Murdoch agreed with his equally sleazy editor, Kelvin McKenzie that it was ‘in the public interest’. Now that a French magazine has published some topless shots of Kate Windsor I wonder if the Sun will do the same? Their definition of ‘public interest’ must surely relate to topless shots of the future Queen? Or have the scum at the Sun finally found some morals? I doubt it, they’re probably just scared of a backlash and a drop in sales.

This is a newspaper which has been proven to have lied on many occasions before, including Hillsborough and phone hacking so clearly they are not the best moral barometer are they? Anyway back to these paparazzi pictures of Kate. They were supposedly taken by a long-range telephoto lens while the Royal couple were on a private holiday in France. In my opinion this is a perverted Peeping Tom approach, pure and simple. If that photographer had done the same thing at my house or yours he would and should be arrested in my opinion. The editor of the French magazine Closer (nothing to do with the UK magazine of the same name incidentally) claims that is no different to what you might see on many beaches across Europe. That much may be true, however how would women relaxing topless on a beach feel if some scummy bloke took pictures of them and published those pictures without their permission? Indeed what if someone did it to the French editor. Incidentally I have not seen the pictures and I will not be wasting time searching for them. What do you people think of this issue?

 

“For here am I sitting in a tin can” September 13, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 9:35 pm
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I still have heroes, do you? You might have guessed that David Bowie is one of mine and so is Neil Armstrong. Both men were in the news for very different reasons recently. Firstly there was the sad death of Neil Armstrong a true pioneer. Secondly the supposedly retired Mr Bowie has opened his archives to the Victoria & Albert museum in London for a massive exhibition of costumes, set designs, lyrics and many other delights next year. Click here to read the Bowie story.

I know I am a bit late posting about Neil Armstrong but a public memorial service has just been held to honour him in Washington. Click here to read about it on the BBC website. He is a man who I am sure will be remembered in thousands of years as the first human ever to walk on a body that wasn’t earth. Coincidentally he served as a pilot in the US Air Force in Korea in the early 1950s. Which was exactly the same time another of my heroes, my Dad saw active service there in the Royal Navy on board the HMS Belfast. Neil Armstrong RIP.

For this post I thought I’d choose a few space related Bowie songs and one that was produced by him for Lou Reed.