With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“Fifteen quid is all she asks for everybody’s got their vice” – Advent day 22 December 22, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:34 am
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number_22Just two more days at work for me before Christmas now. Then it’ll be eight days of over indulging in food and drink before going back to the office in January probably considerably fatter than when I left. December 22nd or day 22 of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem advent posts for 2013. Clearly you know the drill, this means that you get two songs with the number 22 in the title.

Is Bradley that tall? Or is Weller just short?

Is Bradley that tall? Or is Weller just short?

The first of those is from the Modfather, Paul Weller. The song is “22 Dreams“, the title track from Paul’s double LP (single CD) released in 2008. The song was also part of a single coupled with “Sea Spray” from the same album. Sadly it only made it to number 59 in the UK singles chart. The album fared much better though, reaching the number one spot in the UK album chart in 2008. This was Weller’s third solo album to reach the top spot. The song was co-written by Weller and Simon Dine. The latter also plays, cowbell, horns, guitar and bizarrely, siren on the track. It was one of eight tracks on the album that Dine had a hand in writing. Although the album was called ’22 Dreams’ it didn’t quite match that number for tracks. The standard issue of the album has 21 tracks.

funny-boy-iron-man-costume-tutu-maiden-picsThe second of todays songs comes from another iconic British act, Iron Maiden with “22 Acacia Avenue”. The song is taken from the band’s 1982 UK number one album ‘The Number Of The Beast’, but it wasn’t released as a single. Iron Maiden are one of the most succesful heavy metal bands in history with 85 million album sales worldwide. The band were formed back in 1975, appropriately for these posts on Christmas Day. So they are close to their 38th birthday. Steve Harris is credited with choosing the name after he saw a film based on the Alexandre Dumas novel ‘The Man In The Iron Mask‘. The band went through many personnel changes in their early years. Perhaps the best known Maiden vocalist is Bruce Dickinson. He replaced Paul Di’Anno in September 1981. Prior to that Dickinson had been the lead singer for another UK band, Samson.

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“Thug of the family, who could I be?” – Advent day 21 December 21, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 7:33 am
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slide_21_2090656aIt’s the 21st December, we can almost count down to Christmas in hours now. I am guessing that many of you have finished school, college and work for the holidays. I haven’t broken up yet; I am a money grabbing bastard so I’ll be working right up to Christmas Eve! Anyway all this means it’s day 21 of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem advent posts. So by now the regular readers among you will know that today will therefore bring you two songs with the number twenty-one in their title.

so-solid-crewBattersea’s finest hip hop collective, the So Solid Crew kick us off today with their 2001 UK chart topper “21 Seconds”. The song comes from their début album ‘They Don’t Know’ which reached number six in the UK album chart. That album spawned three more UK top 20 hits; “They Don’t Know” UK no. 3), “Haters” (8) and “Ride Wid Us” (19). MC Harvey, MC Romeo and Lisa Maffia  all appeared on ‘The Games’ a Channel 4 reality TV show in 2003, 2004 and 2005 respectively. Lisa and Romeo could only manage a bronze medal from the show. But Harvey bagged himself a gold medal. In 2012 Harvey and Romeo also made an appearance in two separate series of Celebrity Big Brother. Yes there were two series of it in one year; how awful is that? The group have had their fair share of controversy too with their former producer Carl Morgan convicted of murder in 2005. Band member Megaman was also accused but he was cleared after a retrial. The full album version of the song gives everyone at least a couple of lines in this order of appearance; Megaman, Asher D, Mac, Kaish, G-Man, Harvey, Romeo, Lisa Maffia, Face and Skatt D.

king_crim_courtfThe second song of the day is “21st Century Schizoid Man” from King Crimson. Is this the first time ever that So Solid Crew and King Crimson have been mentioned in the same blog post? I’ll take the credit for that if it is! If you thought that So Solid Crew had a lot of members it’s fair to say that the Crimson have had plenty over the years too; 18 band members plus three lyricists. I reckon King Crimson should have sponsored a revolving door manufacturer with that kind of turnover. Robert Fripp is the only band member to have been with them since they began in 1968. “21st Century Schizoid Man” is from King Crimson’s 1969 album ‘In The Court Of The Crimson King‘. The track was released as a single in 1976 which failed to chart. It had been included on a compilation album that year entitled ‘A Young Persons Guide To King Crimson’. Greg Lake off of Emerson, Lake and Palmer played bass and provided the distorted vocal on the song.

 

“I move like a cat, charge like a ram” – Advent day 20 December 20, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:37 am
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number-20-300x256Have you been pestered by teenage carol singers with shite voices yet? I saw some on the way home from work but I think the weather was a tad too inclement for them! But I’m sure the greedy untalented little gits will be back. Greedy, untalented little gits? I could have been talking about the majority of X Factor contestants there couldn’t I? Anyway we really are sliding down the slope towards Christmas now, it’s 20th December! So that means it’s day 20 of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem Advent posts and you know you’ll be getting two songs with twenty in their titles.

8MarcBolanFatherChristmas_bT.Rex are first up with the magnificent “20th Century Boy” a UK number 3 hit from 1973. The song hit the top of the charts in Ireland. It was the penultimate single in a run of 11 UK top 4 hits between 1970 and 1973 which included four number ones. In fact Bolan and T Rex never made the UK top 10 after 1973 let alone the top 5. “20th Century Boy” was not taken from a T Rex album but it was included on a reissue of the ‘Tanx’ album which was originally released in 1973. The song was used as the soundtrack to a Levi’s Jeans ad campaign in 1991. It was re-released to accompany that and made it back into the UK chart where it peaked at number 13. Siouxse and the Banshees, Girlschool, Adam Ant, Def Leppard and Placebo have all covered this T Rex classic. Placebo performed the song live at the 1999 Brit Awards with David Bowie.

Eddie_Cochran_VIIIFrom a song featuring the late, great Marc Bolan let me now take you to a song from the late, great Eddie Cochran, “Twenty Flight Rock”. Cochran can be seen performing the song in the 1956 film ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ and it was released as a single in 1957. It was this Cochran song that a 15-year-old Paul McCartney played as part of his audition for John Lennon which led to him becoming one of the Quarrymen. McCartney has said that he thought that what impressed Lennon the most was that he knew all the words. Many artists have covered the song including Robert Gordon, Rolling Stones, the Stray Cats and Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen.

 

“Foreign life forms inventory suspended state of cryogenics” – Advent day 18 December 18, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:07 am
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slide_18_2087138aIt’s the 18th December and by now the regular readers among you will know exactly what that means won’t you? yes it’s day 18 of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem advent calendar posts. So the songs for today both have the number 18 in their title. we are so far down the line now towards Yuletide that my Spiderman Advent Calendar has hardly any chocolate left in it. What Advent Calendar do you have?

wing1The first song for today remains one of my favourite 70s songs. It is “Eighteen With A Bullet” from Pete Wingfield. The bullet in this instance is used to describe a particularly well performing song on the US singles chart. strangely enough the song did enter the US top 20 at number eighteen, presumably with a bullet back in 1975. It reached its peak of number 15 a week after that. In the UK it made the top 10 reaching number 7. Reggae singer Derrick Harriott did a great cover of the song. Wingfield has been quite an active session player and producer. He produced Dexys Midnight Runners first album, ‘Searching For The Young Soul Rebels‘ , the Kane Gang’s first album ‘The Bad And Low Down World Of The Kane Gang’ . Pete also produce “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” and the album ‘Sunshine On Leith’ by the Proclaimers. “Eighteen With A Bullet” can also be found on the soundtrack to Guy Ritchie‘s 1998 film ‘Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels‘. The Pasadenas (who I once saw at a corporate function) biggest hit “Tribute (Right On)” was written by Mr Wingfield too.

1991-hangar_18_fcNext up it’s the mighty, massive, metal Megadeth with “Hangar 18”. The song was released as a single in 1991. It made it to number 26 in the UK and number 25 in the Irish charts. It comes from the band’s album ‘Rust In Peace’, a UK number 8 that was released in 1990. The song relates to alien conspiracy theories involving the 1947 crash at Roswell. Hangar 18 at an US Air Force base near Dayton, Ohio is supposedly where some of the alien remains and the alien spacecraft is stored. The lyrics were written by the band’s drummer Nick Menza with the music coming from frontman Dave Mustaine. Slash jammed with the band at one point and while some people thought that he might join them he decided to stay with Guns ‘N’ Roses.

 

“Spike heels make a hole in a life boat, drifting away when I’m talking and laughing as we float” – Advent day 16 December 16, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:02 am
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16It’s December 16th and therefore day 16 of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem advent posts. I’m enjoying the music in these advent posts and I hope that you are too.  So on to two songs with the number sixteen in their title.

tennesseeeerniefordThe first song for today is from Ernest Jennings Ford who was better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford. The song is about working in a coal mine and it is called “Sixteen Tons” it reached number 1 in the US charts in 1955. The song has been recorded by many artists; including Stevie Wonder, the Redskins, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Bo Diddley, Robbie Williams, Dandy Warhols, Tom Morello and the Eels. Whilst Elvis Presley never recorded the song he did play it live when touring the US in 1955. The Clash had the Ford version of the song played just before they came on stage during their ‘Sixteen Tons’ US tour in 1980.

Jack White took over the cover of the May 2012 issue of Interview magazine-815282The second for today features an artist that appeared as part of one of his earlier bands on day 7 of my advent posts. It’s Jack White with a track taken from his first solo album, ‘Blunderbuss’ released in 2012. White says that the inspiration for the song came from his daughter. When Jack asked her what she would like as a snack she said sixteen saltine crackers, he said she could have three. The singles B Side was a cover of U2’s “Love Is Blindness“. The single was sadly largely ignored in the UK reaching only number 129 in the UK singles chart. The album went to number one in the UK though and also reached the top in Belgium, Canada, Switzerland and the USA.

 

“Did the cat get your tongue, did your string come undone” – Advent day 15 December 15, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:00 am
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blog-numbers-15Excitement levels are rising, I’ve started to wrap the presents and I have even handed some over to Royal Mail for delivery too. I was out in Leeds for the work Christmas party on Thursday night. Friday night was spent nursing a serious hangover. But clearly I am so hardcore (not!) that I was out again on Saturday for Catwoman’s Christmas do. Both very enjoyable nights, but I’m glad that I have no more party nights lined up for a while!

Gene_promophotoSo we have arrived at what seems a fast pace at December 15th which means as far as the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem Advent posts we have arrived at number 15 so todays two songs both have the number 15 in their titles. First up is a band I really loved from the first time I saw them back in the 90s at the Old Trout in Windsor. It is the fantastic boys of Gene with “Her Fifteen Years”.  I got into Gene thanks to a bloke called Steve Walton who I worked with in the 90s at a large pharmaceutical company near Heathrow. Steve’s brother Daz was in an earlier incarnation of the band when they were known as Spin. Sadly a horrific road accident led to the demise of Spin. Steve if you’re reading this get in touch, it’s been a long while mate. Gene broke up in 2004 and I always hoped that they would get back together but so far they haven’t. However lead singer Martin Rossiter did release an excellent solo album via Pledge Music in 2012 entitled ‘The Defenestration Of St Martin’. You may wish to know that Martin is related to another famous Rossiter; his Great-Uncle was Leonard Rossiter the star of British sitcom ‘Rising Damp‘.

radiohead-luckyThe second song for today comes from Radiohead, it is “15 Step” from the band’s self-released album ‘In Rainbows’. The album was released on-line and fans had the option to pay what they felt the album was worth. “15 Step” was among the songs that were debuted on Radiohead’s 2006 tour. The children that you can hear cheering on the track came from the Matrix Music School & Arts Centre in Oxford. ‘In Rainbows’ went on to become one of Radiohead’s most critically acclaimed albums. At one gig by the band Ed O’Brien‘s Mum was in the audience and she couldn’t see the stage very well. So Ed asked the woman in the seat net to her if she’d swap seats. The woman agreed and that woman was Madonna!

 

“Did it rain or did sunshine attend out first meeting?” – Advent day 14 December 14, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 3:27 am
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advent_14I hope you all got through Friday 13th without any disasters, especially the superstitious among you. Anyway it’s now December 14th which means you are about to get your next helping of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem Advent calendar number themed posts. You will have guessed by now that todays songs include the number fourteen in their titles.

Billy-BraggThe Bard of Barking brings the first song for today with “The Fourteenth Of February”. The track is taken from Billy’s 1996 album ‘William Bloke’ which made it to number 16 in the UK album charts. In 2008 at the NME Awards show Billy duetted with another great English singer songwriter and activist, Kate Nash. They played Kate’s “Foundations” and Billy’s “A New England”. I saw Billy Bragg play live in the 80s and I saw Kate play live in York and at the Reading Festival this year. In York she unleashed her storming support band, the fabulous Tuts!

beck01lgTodays second song is from Beck Hansen and is taken from his fourth studio album ‘One Foot In The Grave’ released in 1994. (Is Beck a Victor Meldrew fan by any chance?). The song is called “Fourteen Rivers, Fourteen Floods”. The album never charted because it preceded his big breakthrough. Beck’s mother Bibbe Hansen was part of Andy Warhol’s circle and she appeared in a few Warhol films. When Beck dropped out of school he took a number of menial jobs which included; Truck Loader and Leaf Blower Operator.

 

“When the ink starts to itch, then the black will turn to red” – Advent day 13 December 13, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 10:45 am
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13-StarWarsFriday 13th December, one step closer to Christmas and a fabulous day unless you are triskaidekaphobic. So on with the show and today that show comes to you courtesy of two iconic music legends. One from the US and one from the UK. One is sadly no longer with us and the other is very much alive.

johnny-cash-022112-doubleFirst up it’s the now departed Man In Black, Johnny Cash. The track I have chosen comes from the first of the albums that Cash recorded with Rick Rubin; ‘American Recordings‘ released in 1994. The song was written for Johnny by Glenn Danzig and it is called “Thirteen”. It took Danzig just twenty minutes to write the song. The album won a Best Contemporary Folk Album award at the 1994 Grammys. Cash joined the US Air Force in 1950 and for a time his role was to intercept morse code messages made by the Russian military. Apparently he was the first US radio operator to learn of the death of Joseph Stalin. The Cash family line could be traced back to 11th century Scotland.

Oct-Mir 33The second song for today comes from that spikey, scouse minstrel Declan McManus who most of you know as Elvis Costello. The title of that song is “Thirteen Steps Lead Down” it is taken from 1994′ s ‘Brutal Youth‘ album. This was the first album that Elvis had recorded with the Attractions for eight years. The song was released as the lead track of an EP; the “Thirteen Steps Lead Down EP” which included three other tracks. Those were, “We Despise You”, “Basement Kiss” and “Puppet Girl”. Did you know that the backing band on Costello’s first album ‘My Aim Is True’ were called Clover and that they went on to form the nucleus of Huey Lewis and the News? Well you do now. I had the pleasure of seeing Mr Costello play live in June this year and he was brilliant.

 

“You ask how much I need you, must I explain?” – Advent day 12 December 12, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 6:26 am
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5978003639_50e93ae9fbI’m getting just a little bit more excited now it is the 12th of December after all. In keeping with this years With Just A Hint Of Mayhem advent posts I have two diametrically opposed songs for you today. But obviously two that have the number twelve in their titles.

250px-Johnny_NashFirst up is the timeless song “Twelfth Of Never” which was initially recorded by Johnny Mathis in 1957. He apparently didn’t like the song and it was demoted to the B Side of “Chances Are”. The song has been recorded by many, many artists since then. The Mathis version made it to number 9 in the US charts and Donny Osmond took it to number one in the UK and number 8 in the USA in 1973. The list of cover versions is almost endless and includes; Nina Simone, Barry Gibb, Cliff Richard, Tammy Wynette, Chi-Lites, Glen Campbell, Cher, Dolly Parton, Roger Whittaker, Barry Manilow, Andy Williams, Olivia Newton John, Hank Marvin and Jeff Buckley. Jeff’s version can be found on the Legacy edition of ‘Live At The Sin E’ and remains very faithful to the Nina Simone version of the song. The regular readers among you will know that I am a big fan of Texan crooner Johnny Nash. In fact I would go as far as saying that his singing voice is my favourite voice ever. Anyway I haven’t posted about Mr Nash for quite a while so I thought I would use his version of the “Twelfth Of Never” taken from his 1968 album ‘Soul Folk’.

strokesThe second song today flows from the Julian Casablancas post from yesterday. It is “12:51” by the band that Julian is a big part of; the Strokes. The song was written by Mr Casablancas and was the first single released from the bands second album ‘Room On Fire’ in 2003. The song made it to number 7 in the UK and reached the top 40 in Ireland, Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden. The songs original title was “Supernova”. The video for the song was directed by Roman Ford Coppola, the son of Francis Ford Coppola and the cousin of Nicolas Cage. It has a theme that is very reminiscent of the ‘Tron’ the 1982 movie. When the band played a number of Japanese dates to support the release of the ‘Room On Fire’ album in 2003 they included a cover of the Frank Sinatra classic written by Paul Anka “My Way”, only they sang it with Japanese lyrics!

 

“But don’t you dare get to the top and not know what to do” – Advent day 11 December 11, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 6:24 am
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advent-day-11_2078894aCan you believe it’s the 11th December already? Where the hell is the time going. Still I am very close to being in the smug zone; I’ve bought all my presents now it’s just a case of wrapping them, posting some of them and hiding the rest! Have you done all your Christmas shopping or will you be waiting until the turbo kicks in on 24th December? Anyway enough of all that, it is of course day 11 in the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem advent posts which means you get two songs with the number 11 in their title.

funny-celebrity-pictures-how-thoughtful-of-uFirst up it’s U2 with “11 O’clock Tick Tock” which is the band’s second single released in May 1980. It was a non-album release produced by Martin Hannett who had previously produced Joy Division among others. There is also a great version of the song on the mini live album ‘Under A Blood Red Sky‘. In their early days the band often played the song twice during their set because they didn’t have much material. An earlier version of the song had different lyrics and was called “Silver Lining”

Julian-julian-casablancas-16833737-667-1000Second tune for today is from Julian Casablancas off of the Strokes; it is called “11th Dimension”. Casablancas is the lead singer of the Strokes and “11th Dimension” is so far his only hit outside the band. It was taken from his 2009 solo album ‘Phrazes For The Young‘. Describing the song as a hit is a little loose; it only charted in Japan where it reached number 48 in 2009. One of Casablancas’ most recent recordings was the vocal on “Instant Crush” from Daft Punk’s planet-conquering album, ‘Random Access Memories’. He has also inspired someone to write a song about him. Notably Courtney Love who included a song called “But Julian, I’m A Little Bit Older Than You” on her first solo album, ‘America’s Sweetheart’ in 2004.

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