John Lennon was originally intending to give the name Glass Onion to a band that had been signed to the Beatles Apple record label. That didn’t happen and the band went on to become Badfinger. Oh well no matter….what! Oh and “Glass Onion” went on to become a song on the Beatles’ classic ‘White Album‘ from 1968. The song references at least five other Beatles songs too; “I Am The Walrus”, “Fool On The Hill“, “Fixing A Hole“, “Lady Madonna” and “Strawberry Fields Forever”
I reckon there are plenty of links between the Beatles and Pink Floyd. But here are a couple that I heard lately. The till (or cash register to my chums across the big pond) that you can hear on the Fab Four’s “Yellow Submarine” was the same one that the Floyd used on “Money” from ‘Dark Side Of The Moon‘.
But my favourite relates to the drawing by a very young Julian Lennon that inspired the Beatles’ “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” is now owned by Pink Floyd’s guitar genius, Dave Gilmour!
I once again had the honour of being on the Avalanche Party cheap list. It’s a badge I wear with pride! Anyway there’ll be more about Avalanche Party later.
First up tonight were Blind Eye and I think that it would be more than fair to say they were miles better than the similarly named and now defunct, Beady Eye. This band have funk, rhythm, talent and enthusiasm in equal measures. Their choice of cover versions suggests that they know their rock history or that their parents have great record collections. They played very good versions of Stevie Wonder‘s “Superstition” which was more in line with the Jeff Beck version of the song. They also gave us a storming version of the Beatles “Come Together“. But Blind Eye are more than just a covers band, their own songs are very good too. They seem very young but I think they have great potential. This century’s Cream one day maybe?
Now this blog (i.e. me) has raved about Avalanche Party before and I will continue to do so now. I have a question for promoters, festival organisers and their ilk; why are this band not bigger? Why have you not given them the opportunity to play larger stages? Could they handle that transition? Of course they could! Avalanche Party rock like proverbial fuck! The band was pretty damned good when I saw them last year and now they are even better. A really tight and well rehearsed band with powerful playing and great songs. “Mountain” has classic rock potential and their new single “Money” is superb and has a great lyrical play on some very familiar words from a rock ‘n’ roll standard. Have you seen Avalanche Party yet? If not I want to know why. I don’t want feeble excuses, your reasons for not having seen them should be accompanied by a letter from your parents. I mean you really do need to see them even if it means having to sell your Granny!
Tonight’s head-liners were the Voyeurs who recently signed a deal with Heavenly Records. They are a band who probably would not exist if there had been no Velvet Underground. The keyboard player even sported a Nico T Shirt. They are masters of drone rock and I do mean that in the nicest possible way. They suffered some technical problems with keyboards and the tiny audience would have put off many bands. But the Voyeurs took it in their stride. I don’t smoke dope, but if I did then the Voyeurs would be a great soundtrack for imbibing the herb. I would love to see them on one of the smaller stages at Reading this year. I would definitely enjoy them in that kind of setting. Have any of you seen them?
As regular readers probably know I really can’t be arsed to take video and pictures with my phone at gigs, I prefer to enjoy the experience. This means that none of the pictures or films shown here were shot or taken by me!
I really can’t bear John Lennon’s “Imagine” although I am a big fan of much of what Lennon has recorded solo and with the Beatles. I believe this dislike of “Imagine” puts me in a minority so I was very pleased to come across someone else who doesn’t like it. None other than the brilliant John Cooper-Clarke.
He says ‘I regret ever hearing it in the first place. It’s nausea-inducing. The shallow sentimentality of it is ghastly. When I heard it I thought, maybe he’s just never been any good’. He goes on ‘I love the Beatles and John is one of the great voices, so it’s tragic that he should put his name to such drivel. The fact that it’s Britain’s number one song is suicide-inducing’
Very well said in my opinion Mr Cooper-Clarke. How many you agree or disagree or don’t really give a crap about it?
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!
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.
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?
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.
Today is December 8th and that is exactly 34 years since John Lennon was savagely murdered. So today’s advent blog post in the ABC of British bands series will feature a quirky band that I believe Mr Lennon would have approved of. It’s day 8 and therefore the letter ‘H’ so today I bring you the legendary Half Man Half Biscuit.
The band was formed in Birkenhead, Merseyside in 1984 by friends Neil Crossley and Nigel Blackwell. They were soon joined by Simon Blackwell (Nigel’s brother), Paul Wright and David Lloyd. The band is still performing and recording although Nigel Blackwell and Neil Crossley are the only original members. Their first album has a great title that is a bit of a word play on the Beatles song “Back In The USSR”; it is called ‘Back In The DHSS‘. They broke up in 1986 and then reformed in 1990 with an announcement on the John Peel show. Peelie had always championed the band and they recorded twelve sessions for his show.
The band once turned down an appearance on Channel 4’s ‘The Tube’ because it would have meant missing a Tranmere Rovers match. The band have been mentioned in many UK TV shows including Byker Grove, Hollyoaks, Football Focus and Brookside. Mainstream chart success sadly eluded them but they had many UK Indie chart number ones. ‘Back In The DHSS’ went to number one in the Indie album charts in 1985. EP ‘The Trumpton Riots’ hit the top along with “Dickie Davies’ Eyes” in 1986. Their highest UK Singles chart hit was an album track that made it to number 56 in 2010 thanks to downloads. That song was “Joy Division Oven Gloves” It was taken from their 2005 album ‘Achtung Bono‘ and was part of the online campaign to save Radio 6 with a sadly missed target of reaching number 6. So now I would like you to enjoy some music from a band that I saw live at the Reading Festival in 1990.
A man who perhaps should have joined Half Man Half Biscuit; Lionel Rich Tea 🙂
Seven days into December already so that makes it day 7 of this years blog post advent calendar. This year, if you haven’t been following it, is the ABC of British bands. December 7th makes it the letter ‘G’ so today I bring you Genesis.
Phil Collins appeared as a face in the crowd in the Beatles film ‘A Hard Days Night‘ he also played some percussion on George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass‘ album. The band was formed at Charterhouse School and their name was allegedly chosen by kiddy fiddler Jonathan King. He also produced their first album ‘From Genesis To Revelation’.
Genesis were very much an albums band and they have had five UK number one albums. Their first was ‘Duke’ in 1980, which means none of the Peter Gabriel era albums topped the charts. They never had a UK number one single, but they did top the singles charts in Canada and the USA with “Misunderstanding” (1980) and “Invisible Touch” (1986) respectively. Now enjoy a wide selection of Genesis songs, My favourite is “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)”, what is yours?
December 5th has arrived and it’s therefore day 5 of this years advent blog posts. As you know this years theme is the ABC of British bands, which means today we arrive at the fifth letter of the alphabet; ‘E’. My choice for today is the Electric Light Orchestra a.k.a ELO. The band was initially an offshoot of the Move and they set out to combine orchestral sounds with rock music. It may well have been Roy Wood‘s idea but he left early on to form Wizzard. Meanwhile Jeff Lynne made ELO into a world straddling colossus.
The band’s first UK hit was “10538 Overture“. The song was originally a b-side for the Move. Wood, Lynne and Bev Bevan (also off of the Move) added orchestral strings to it. After John Lennon heard one of my favourite ELO songs, “Showdown” he began referring to them as Beatles Junior. The band had number one singles across the world; and “Turn To Stone” and “Shine A Little Love” were number one in Canada and “Living Thing” topped the charts in South Africa. Sadly, in my opinion at least, there only UK number one was the rather dreadful “Xanadu” which also featured Olivia Newton John. That song was also a number one in the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland. The band had 15 UK top ten hits in the UK between 1972 and 1981. This was only bettered by their eighteen top ten hits in France from 1972 to 1986.
So now it’s time for you to enjoy a selection of ELO songs, apologies but I have not included the aforementioned “Xanadu”.
December 2nd and therefore day 2 of this years Christmas blog post advent extravaganza. We are also at the letter B in the ABC of British bands. Who will it be today? I think you can guess can’t you? Yes it’s the Fab Four a.k.a the Moptops a.k.a the Beatles. To be fair the pictures are a big clue aren’t they?
Back in their early days the band produced their own kind of advent thing with a free flexi disc to fan club members that always included the odd Christmas song. Did you also know that the name of the band is not mentioned once in the 1964 film ‘A Hard Days Night‘? Or that the first Beatle to have a solo number one single was George Harrison with “My Sweet Lord“. I already knew a lot of this trivia but I learned a lot that I didn’t on the excellent site beatlestrivia.com you really need to check it out.
Anyway now I hope that you enjoy some of my favourite Beatles songs and one of their Christmas songs.
Weird lyrics are great aren’t they? Often they might be confused with crap lyrics I suppose. Such as Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” contains the line ‘tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak somewhere in this town’. Somewhere? Obviously it will be at the jail won’t it? That for me is a crap lyric. A weird lyric for me comes from Haircut 100’s “Love Plus One” as in ‘where do we go from here, is it down to the lake I fear’. Then of course this little gem from Pharrell William’s wonderful song “Happy”; ‘Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof’. Anyway, maybe there is a very thin line between weird and crap, what do you think? Online music company Blinkbox Music recently undertook a survey to find out the weirdest lyrics. They asked 2,000 people for their opinion and the resulting top 10 weird lyrics were;
Feel free to add your own weird lyric suggestions to the comments section on this post and then vote in the poll below.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 