With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“Cleans her teeth ten times a day scrub away scrub away scrub away” Blog Advent Calendar Day 24 December 24, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:04 am
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This is it good people in Blogland, just one more sleep left until the big day. It’s Christmas Eve a.k.a 24th December a.k.a day 24 of this years Advent calendar Blog posts. As this is the last advent post of 2014 from me it will cover the final three letters of the ABC of British bands. So that’ll be ‘X, Y & Z’ then. before I reveal who the lucky bands are let me take this opportunity to wish al of you a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous 2015. If you don’t celebrate Christmas then I hope that you have a very long and very happy life anyway.

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So onto the bands for today; Ladies and Gentlemen please allow me to introduce X-Ray Spex, Yazoo and the Zutons. This won’t be a long post because I will shortly be starting my own festive celebrations. So firstly it’s X-Ray Spex. Lead singer Poly Styrene was born Marianne Joan Elliott-Said and as Marie Elliott she issued a reggae singled called “Silly Billy” in 1976 which sadly failed to chart. The band’s highest charting UK single was “Germ Free Adolescents” which reached number 19 in 1978.

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Sow how about Yazoo? Or you may know them as Yaz in the USA after a spot of legal wrangling with Yazoo Records. Yazoo was made up of soulful vocalist Alison Moyet and Synth Supremo Vince Clarke. Vince’s talents know no bounds and he had hits as part of Yazoo, Depeche Mode, The Assembly and Erasure. Yazoo had four UK top 20 singles from 1982 to 1983. “Don’t Go” took them to number one in Belgium in 1983 and they had three US dance chart number ones from 1982 to 1983. They also won a Best Breakthrough Artist Brit award in 1983.

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And finally those Scouse Scallywags the Zutons. The band took their name from a member of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band; Bill Harkleroad was known as Zoot Horn Rollo, but this was often shortened to Zuton. Many people now see their song “Valerie” as an Amy Winehouse classic, which it is. However it was also the Zutons tenth single release and their joint highest chart position in the UK. It made number 9 in 2006 as did “Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?” in the same year. Winehouse’s version of “Valerie” was recorded with Mark Ronson and reached number two in the UK in 2007.

And finally a special Amy Winehouse bonus 🙂 Happy Christmas!

 

 

 

“Look out! Look out! Your Momma will shout You might as well go home” Blog Advent Calendar Day 23 December 23, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:11 am
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Only two more sleeps, wow that’s gone quick hasn’t it? Winter solstice is over for another year and the days are getting longer again, well in the northern hemisphere at least. Any how that means that it must be December 23rd and day 23 of this years Advent Calendar blog post. Regular readers will have quickly worked out that the 23rd letter of the alphabet is ‘W’. This years subject is the ABC of British bands and for today I have chosen a band who once recorded a true Christmas classic, ladies and gentlemen please welcome Wizzard to this years advent calendar posts!

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Roy Wood, the founder of Wizzard was also a leading light in the Move and co-founder along with Jeff Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the first ELO album Roy was moving apart from jeff Lynne both personally and musically. he left the band to form Wizzard and the The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits says, ‘Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney‘. Given that Jeff Lynne clearly wanted to be in the Beatles maybe there are some parallels.

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The band had six UK top ten hits from 1972 to 1974, including two number ones with “See My Baby Jive” and “Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad)”. Both of those songs hit the top spot in 1973, “See My Baby Jive” was also number one in the Irish chart. Many people probably only know Wizzard for the rather excellent “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” a song which only reached number 4 in the UK on its initial release in 1973. It has re-entered the top 50 ten times since then, obviously every Christmas time. On that Christmas single the band are credited as Wizzard featuring vocal backing by The Suedettes plus The Stockland Green Bilateral School First Year Choir with additional noises by Miss Snob and Class 3C. Whatever happened to Miss Snob?

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Their first two albums made the UK album top 30 in 1973 and 1974. “Wizzard Brew”, number 29 in 1973 and “Introducing Eddy And The Falcons”, number 19 in 1974. Roy Wood is a multi instrumentalist who plays keyboards, horn, cello, guitar, bass and bagpipes. he also wrote some songs that were dedicated to his one time girlfriend, Lynsey De Paul, one of which, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Winter (Looney’s Tune)” reached number 6 in the UK singles charts.

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“Stepping out from a backdrop poster wishing life wouldn’t be so dull” Blog Advent Calendar Day 22 December 22, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:01 am
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It’s the 22nd December and I reckon some kids can already hear the reindeer pulling hard on the old bearded weird one’s sleigh. That means of course that we are now up to Day 22 of this years advent calendar blog posts. The 22nd letter of the alphabet is ‘V’ so todays entry in the ABC of British bands is Visage.

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Visage were formed in 1978 by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan after the pair had hosted club nights at the Blitz night club in London. They were really keen to find new music to play to their paying punters and finally they opted on producing their own. Egan recruited Midge Ure who he had worked with in the Rich Kids and the three of them recorded a cover of the Zager and Evans one hit wonder from 1969, “In The Year 2525”. The band’s line-up was then enhanced with keyboard player Billy Currie off of Ultravox and three former members of Magazine; John McGeoch, Barry Adamson and Dave Formula.

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Their first album, entitled ‘Visage’ was released in November 1980. It made the top 20 in Austria, France, New Zealand and the UK. It also climbed to the top of the German album charts. The band’s highest charting album in the UK was 1982’s ‘The Anvil’ which reached number 6. “Tar” was their first single and it failed to chart when released in 1979. However the second single was “Fade To Grey” which was a hit across the world. It made the top ten in Austria, France, Italy, Belgium, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK. It hit the number one spot in Germany and Switzerland. None of their other singles have been anywhere near as successful.

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Earlier this month the band released an album called ‘Orchestral’ which has reworkings of their best songs by a symphony orchestra. In 2009 Rusty Egan and Steve Strange appeared in Living TV’s ‘Pop Goes The Band’ where former bands are given a make over and return the favour by undertaking a one-off performance. Strange also appeared in an episode of classic TV series ‘Ashes To ashes’ playing “Fade To Grey” in the Blitz club with Visage II keyboard player Sandrine Gouriou. That episode was set in 1981. Steve can also be seen, along with other Blitz regulars, in the 1980 video for David Bowie’s UK number one, “Ashes To Ashes”. Now it’s time for you to relive those Blitz days and maybe get yourself blitzed with eggnog while listening to Visage.

 

 

“You wanted the best and you got the best” Blog Advent Calendar Day 21 December 21, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:02 am
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The 21st December you say? really? Blimey where did the time go? Anyway I just knew that something good was going to happen now that it is Day 21 in this years Advent calendar blog post series. regular readers will know that the theme this festive period is the ABC of British bands. Some of you may already have guessed who todays band is as I incorporated a clue earlier in this paragraph. Today is the turn of the Utah Saints who despite their name actually come from Leeds.

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The band played live often between 1991 and 2001 although their appearances since then are largely as DJs. Although they are still writing and recording and are supposedly working on their next album at the moment. Jez Willis and Tim Garbutt are the Utah Saints core and they really pioneered the use of sampling in pop music. they met when they were both music promoters and DJs for the Mix nightclub in Harrogate. In his inimitable style Bill Drummond off of the KLF described the Utah Saints as  “the first true stadium house band”. I’m not entirely sure what that means but it sounds good doesn’t it? They also built their own recording studio on the outskirts of Leeds which opened in 2008.

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The band’s first three singles all made the UK top ten from 1991 to 1993. Those releases were; “What Can You Do For Me” (1991), “Something Good” (1992) and “Believe In Me” (1993). Willis and Garbutt described these songs as their vocal sample trilogy. The songs sampled Gwen Guthrie, Eurythmics (“What Can You Do For Me”), Kate Bush (“Something Good”) and the Human League, Crown Heights Affair, Sylvester (“Believe In Me”). Despite persistent press stories these samples were all legally cleared. Kate Bush also let the band use clips from her video for “Cloudbusting” which is where the sample for “Something Good” comes from.

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“Something Good” is their biggest hit to date. It peaked at number 4 in the UK singles chart and made the top 10 in Australia and Ireland. Interestingly it also made it to number seven in both the US Dance Charts and the US Modern Rock charts. does this make them truly genre-defying? I’d like to think so. They have released two albums so far (not including a mix album). The first was ‘Utah Saints’ which reached number 10 in the UK album charts in 1992. The follow-up was rather unimaginatively called ‘Two’. Sadly that one failed to chart when it came out in 2000. Now you can enjoy some of the Utah Saints finest beats and I hope that you enjoy them.

 

 

“It’s the time that every Santa has a ball” Blog Advent Calendar Day 19 December 19, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:10 am
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How excited are you now? Less than a week to the big day. Obviously if you are a turkey and you are reading this I do appreciate your lack of excitement. However if you are an excited turkey then there is no easy way to tell you, but you’re stupid! it is December 19th and day 19 of this years advent calendar blog posts. We have now reached the letter ‘S’ in the ABC of British bands. If I were to tell you that you’ll even get a Christmas song included today would it help you guess who the band is? Well it’s Slade!

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The band all hail from the Black Country in the UK’s West Midlands coming from Wolverhampton and Walsall. In the 60s drummer Don Powell and guitarist Dave Hill were in a band called the ‘N Betweens. They met Noddy Holder while travelling to gigs and invited him to join as guitarist and vocalist. He agreed at the second time of asking and eventually joined around the same time as bass player Jim Lea. That was in 1966 and the band became Ambrose Slade in 1969. It wasn’t long after that (later in 1969) that they became Slade. their massive success followed soon after.

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“Get Down And Get With It” was their first UK top 20 hit reaching number 14 in 1971. Shortly after that they had the first of their six UK number one singles with “Coz I Luv You“. That song started a run of 12 consecutive UK top 5 hits running from 1971 to 1974. They also reached the top of the Irish charts six times. Their 1983 song “My Oh My” might only have hit number 2 in the UK but it went all the way to the top in Norway and Sweden. sadly they never really made it big in the USA. Whilst many people may have seen Slade as a singles band they also climbed to the top of the UK album charts twice; with ‘Slayed’ in 1972 and the with ‘Old, New, Borrowed And Blue‘ in 1974. ‘Sladest’ a compilation album of their biggest hits to date also went to number one in the UK in 1973.

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Most of Slade’s biggest hits were written by Jim Lea and Noddy Holder. Usually Jim provided the melody with Noddy contributing the lyrics. Dave Hill’s Super Yob guitar is now owned by Marco Pirroni off of Adams and the Ants. Perhaps because of his early days as a keen amateur boxer it was Don Powell who took the hat round after early Slade gigs. In December 2000 Noddy Holder made a brief appearance in long-running UK soap opera Coronation Street. He played a character called Stan who was there to replace the cobbles in the street. OK that’s enough trivia and stuff now it’s time to enjoy a pile of Slade smashes!

 

“When I met you you were seventeen not just another teenage queen” Blog Advent Calendar day 18 December 18, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:10 am
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Wow there are now only seven big sleeps until the fat, weird, beardy bastard in red jams himself in your chimney. If that sounds like a double entendre or euphemism it wasn’t supposed to ok. Any it’s December 18th and day 18 of this years ABC of British bands advent calendar blog posts. That means we are at the letter ‘R’, would you like to know what is behind the little cardboard flap today? Okay then I’ll put you out of your misery, it’s Racey!

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The bands was formed in Weston-super-Mare in the mid 70s by Phil Fursdon and Clive Wilson.  Their first single was “Baby It’s You” in 1977 it was written by Chris Norman and Pete Spencer off of Smokie. Racey were signed to Mickie Most‘s RAK Records and their first hit, like many on that label, was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. It was a big hit reaching number 3 in the UK chart, number 2 in Ireland and number 1 in Australia.

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The follow-up was “Some Girls”, a song that was originally written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman for Blondie who were being produced by Mike Chapman at the time. Both songs were produced by Mickie Most. “Some Girls” fared even better than “Lay Your Love On me” reaching number 2 in the UK, number 2 in Ireland and number 1 in both Australia and South Africa. The band had one more UK top 20 hit before they broke up in 1985. That was in 1980 and it was a cover of the classic rock ‘n’ roll tune originally by Dion and the Belmonts; “Runaround Sue”. On their 1979 album ‘Smash And Grab’ the band recorded a Chinn- Chapman composition called “Kitty”. this later went on to be recorded under the title “Mickey” which was a big hit for Toni Basil in 1982. Now take some time to relive the late 70s and early 80s when Racey were at their peak.

 

 

 

“With her went my future, my life is filled with gloom” Blog Advent Calendar Day 17 December 17, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:05 am
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Is it really December 17th? It is? Oh well Christmas will soon be over. But in the meantime we’re at day 17 of this years advent calendar blog posts. this means that we are now at the 17th letter of the alphabet, which as you know is ‘Q’. Can you guess which band will feature under the letter ‘Q’ in my ABC of British bands? Really? Are you sure? I’m thinking that most of you guessed Queen, in which case you’d be wrong. Todays band proudly representing the letter ‘Q’ are the Q-Tips. (Any free advertising here for Q Magazine is purely coincidental and accidental; unless the publishers of that great magazine would like to ply me with money and gifts!).

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The band was formed in 1979 by the remnants of one hit wonders Streetband who hit the charts with “Toast”. Three members of that band stayed together and they were John Gifford (guitar), Mick Pearl (Bass) and Paul Young on vocals. Yes that Paul Young the one with the spiky hair and who layed his hat anywhere he damned well wanted to. They brought in  another guitarist, Dave Laswell and Baz Watts on drums. They then added a brass section consisting of Oscar Stuart Blandamer, Tony Hughes, Richard Blanchchard and Steve Farr. The band was further augmented by keyboard player Ian Kewley. Later in their career Gifford and Blandamer were replaced by Garth Watt Roy and Nick Payne.

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The band was quite short-lived, breaking up in 1982 when  Paul Young signed a solo contract. During their time they were a highly praised live act. They also supported some massive names including the Who, Average White Band, J Geils Band, Bob Marley, The Knack and Thin Lizzy. They began by playing lots of soul music covers but in the end they had a substantial amount of self-penned material as well. The band briefly reformed for some live dates in 1993. In case you were wondering they took their name from a well-known brand of cotton swabs. Now enjoy some rather spiffing tunes from the Q-Tips.

 

 

“How dare I show face When my diction is such a disgrace” Blog Advent Calendar Day 16 December 16, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:11 am
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Today is December 16th and Christmas is getting closer. You certainly don’t need to walk 500 miles to get to the festivities now do you? Have you sent your letter to Santa? Have you sent a letter to America? Last posting dates must be here soon. Anyway it is now day 16 in this years ABC of British bands advent blog posts. We are noon on the letter ‘P’. If you sussed out the clues that I left earlier in this paragraph (and frankly they weren’t difficult) you’ll know that todays band is the Proclaimers. Obviously you may have just looked at the picture too 🙂

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The band is Scottish twins Charlie and Craig Reid who were born on 5th March 1962 in Leith. They later went on to live in Edinburgh, Cornwall and Auchtermuchty. The latter place is where they went to the Bell Baxter High School. The boys were a part of a number of punk bands before eventually forming the Proclaimers in 1983. Their big break came along in 1986 after a fan sent a demo tape to the Housemartins. The boys were then invited to support Hull’s finest on the 1986 UK tour. This exposure led to a slot on Channel 4’s the Tube in early 1987.

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Later that year their second single, “Letter From America” went to number three in the UK singles chart and number two in Ireland. This was the first of their six UK top 40 hits. Their biggest chart success came with a re-recording of 1988’s “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” in 2007. It was in aid of Comic Relief and the video involved many celebrities including Peter Kay and Matt Lucas. The song helped raise millions for Comic Relief that year. The original version of that song is their only US hit to date and it reached number 8 in the US Rock chart in 1988. The band have released 9 studio albums so far since 1987. Six of those made it to the UK top 50. 1988’s “Sunshine On Leith” reached number 6 in the UK chart and almost made it to the top in Australia, sadly stalling at number two. ‘The Best Of The Proclaimers‘, a 2002 compilation is their highest charting UK album making it to number 5 that year.

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Charlie and Craig are fans of Hibernian Football Club and their song “Sunshine On Leith” has become something of an anthem at the club’s home games. They are also keen supporters of Scottish independence. For me the Proclaimers are something of a Marmite act in that you either love them or hate them. Personally I love them, perhaps that is because I am half Scots. Either way you can now take some time to love or hate a selection of the Proclaimers best tunes.

 

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“And the only things I see are emptiness and loneliness and an unlit Christmas tree” Blog Advent Calendar Day 13 December 13, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:08 am
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Are you excited yet? You must be right? There are only 12 more big sleeps to the big day. Have you bought all your presents? What did you get for me? I hope that it was something expensive. Anyway it’s December 13th a.k.a Day 13 a.k.a the letter ‘M’ of this years advent blog post. Regular readers will know that this year it is the ABC of British bands. If you’re not a regular reader please feel free to waste an hour catching up on the letters ‘A’ to ‘L’.

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In the meantime though let’s get back to todays band; it’s Mud. That’s neat, that’s neat, that’s neat, that’s neat isn’t it? Although the band formed in 1966 they didn’t have their first chart hit until 1973 with “Crazy”. That kicked off a run of UK 10 UK top 20 hits lasting up until 1975. This included three UK number one hits; “Tiger Feet“, “Lonely This Christmas” and a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Oh Boy”. Ellie Hope off of Liquid Gold who had a big hit with “Dance Yourself Dizzy” in 1980 sang backing vocals on Mud’s version of “Oh Boy”.

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Band members were Rob Davis (guitar), Ray Stiles (bass), Dave Mount (drums) and Les Gray on vocals. Sadly Les and Dave are no longer with us having passed away in 2004 and 2006 respectively. The last time the four of them played together was at Dave Mount’s wedding in 1990. Rob Davis has had a lot of success as a songwriter in recent years co-writing hits for Kylie Minogue (“Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”) and Spiller (“Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)”) among others. But enough of the recent activity, take yourself back to the 70s and enjoy some Mud classics.

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“What you touch you don’t feel do not know what you steal” Blog Advent Calendar Day 12 December 12, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:30 am
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Only thirteen more big sleeps before Satan comes down your chimney. Whoops did I say Satan? Obviously I meant Santa. They both have the same letters in their name after all don’t they. Anyway it’s 12th December and therefore Day 12 of this years advent calendar blog posts. If you haven’t been reading them yet let me tell you that this years subject is the ABC of British bands and today it’s the turn of the letter ‘L’. That letter will be represented by super synth-poppers Ladytron.

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Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo, Reuben Woo and Daniel Hunt formed the band in Liverpool in 1999. Their name comes from the Roxy Music song entitled “Ladytron”. I bet you didn’t guess that did you? As well as releasing their own music they have also been arch-remixers. They have remixed tracks for many artists including Blondie, Nine Inch Nails and Christina Aguilera. As a band they have released five albums between 2001 and 2011. The first time that I saw the band was at the Reading Festival in 2001 and I recall that they were bloody good. The band also had a track on the soundtrack of the computer game ‘FIFA 11‘. It is called “Ace Of Hz”. They have also provided four songs for the Sims game soundtracks.

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Four of their five albums reached the top ten of the US Dance chart. Sadly their highest charting UK single was “Destroy Everything You Touch” which reached number 42 in 2005 and was taken from their third album ‘Witching Hour’. In 2001 they recorded a rather good cover of the Human League‘s “Open Your Heart”. Now I urge you to open your heart (and your ears) and listen to some classy tracks from Ladytron.

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