With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

‘The Power’ – Evvol June 10, 2020

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 6:56 am
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Berlin has long been a hotbed for great music and duo Evvol, who recently released their album, ‘The Power’ can be counted as another addition to that trend. Opening track “Help Myself” immediately draws you in with its delicately phased keyboards and saccharine vocals. One of the key components of this album is an intriguing use of rhythm and “Its Ok” demonstrates this ably. “Rope Walk” is a fascinating soundscape leading into the excellent “Old Love” which has a beautiful vocal with a spoken background. “Call Me Back” has a fantastic keyboard sound with vocals slightly reminiscent of Everything But the Girl. The messed up rhythms are also present on this track.

“All I Need” which features just vocals and keyboard reminds me of Laurie Anderson’s work. “W.A.R.” features a lovely keyboard figure and echoing vocals over a neatly worked polyrhythmic background. This is the strongest track on the album and a good club track just crying out for a lengthy remix. “1994” is a short but fascinating track with experimental keyboards and superb vocals. “M29” is another shorter track which I was eager to hear develop further. “Video Tape” has a Pet Shop Boys feel and tonality and is a potential single. “The Well” has an unexpected synth opening which figures throughout the song, building, and fading. “Swallow” closes the album with quirky synth and vocals. Evvol have a plethora of ideas which can take them as far as they want to go and you should look out for what they do next. Trust me it will be interesting.

Written by Paul Bamlett.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jefLPG5KmdE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH5o46krZNw

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“And my old man plays the piano for Christmas” – Advent day 25 December 24, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:54 am
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25-numberWell this is it good people of the blogosphere and the world-wide web. To quote Noddy Holder ‘ It’s CHRISTMAAAASSS!’. The bearded weirdo may have already arrived in your neck of the woods. If he has then I hope that he brought you what you hoped for if he hasn’t then I hope that you’ve been good! This is December 25th, Christmas Day and Day 25 of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem advent posts. That also means it’s my last post in this years advent postings. Thank you very much for reading and normal, non-Yuletide service will be resumed very soon. Above all that have a wonderful Christmas and a 2014 that brings you all the good things that you can handle. In the meantime I still have two songs with the number 25 in their title for you.

Edwin+StarrThe late great Edwin Starr brings you the first of those songs “25 Miles”. The song reached number 6 in the US charts in 1969. Edwin was let down by UK record buyers as the song only reached number 36 here. The song was his second biggest hit in the USA, “War” was his biggest making number one in 1970. “25 Miles” was written by Edwin along with Johnny Bristol and Harvey Fuqua. Legal action saw Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns being given a writing credit as their song “32 Miles Out Of Waycross” was seen to be very similar to “25 Miles”. The Ragovoy and Berns song was recorded by Hoagy Lands and also under a different title (“Mojo Mama”) by Wilson Pickett and Don Varner. A young Michael Jackson once recorded a cover of “25 Miles”.

Everything-But-The-Girl-008The final song in this years advent posts comes from Tracey Thorn’s Christmas Album ‘Tinsel And Lights’ and it is called “25th December”. If you own the UK release of the album you may not have heard the song as it was a bonus track included on the US release. The song is actually credited to Everything But The Girl. “Tinsel And Lights” was released last year, 2012, and is a great album. It’s not strictly a Christmas album as not all the songs relate to Christmas but it is pretty darned good.