I was reading an article in last weeks NME in which they listed their view of the 50 druggiest albums ever recorded. Most of the usual suspects are included with Primal Scream‘s ‘Screamadelica’ making it to the top of the pile (or the bottom of this reverse order listing of course). The article also included a number of great little pieces of trivia. The one that really amused me was Fleetwood Mac, included at number 29 with their 1979 album ‘Tusk’. Apparently they were so full of coke they agreed that the album title would be the nickname that drummer and founder Mick Fleetwood called his todger. Whilst most normal people use simple terms like willy or cock, Mr Fleetwood prefers to call his manhood Tusk. Is it made of ivory with a sharp point? You have to hope not for any of his girlfriends or wives. So, and I may well regret this, what do you call yours?
As for the list, I’d like to know why the Eagles aren’t included, notably ‘Hotel California’
50 The Libertines – The Libertines
49 Oasis – Be Here Now
48 MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
47 Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks
46 Dr Dre – The Chronic
45 Klaxons – Surfing The Void
44 The Doors – The Doors
43 Brian Jonestown Massacre – Methodrone
42 Missy Elliott – Miss E…So Addictive
41 Guns ‘N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction
40 Royal Trux – Twin Infinitives
39 Tricky – Maxinquaye
38 Jane’s Addiction – Ritual De Lo Habitual
37 The Birthday Party – Junk Yard
36 Pavement – Wowee Zowee
35 13th Floor Elevators – Easter Everywhere
34 Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
33 Neil Young – On the Beach
32 Babyshambles – Down In Albion
31 Bardo Pond – Bufo Alvarius
30 The Chemical Brothers – Exit Planet Dust
29 Fleetwood Mac – Tusk
28 Snoop Doggy Dogg – Doggystyle
27 Lou Reed – Metal Machine Music
26 Butthole Surfers – Locust Abortion Technician
25 Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow
24 Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Nigga Please
23 Spacemen 3 – Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To
22 Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers – L.A.M.F
21 David Bowie – Station To Station
20 Factory Floor – Untitled
19 Happy Mondays – Yes Please!
18 My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
17 Elton John – Madman Across The Water
16 Suede – Dog Man Star
15 The Stooges – Raw Power
14 Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
13 The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy
12 Cypress Hill – Black Sunday
11 Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar
10 Pink Floyd – The Piper At The Gates of Dawn
09 The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?
08 Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
07 Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
06 The Beatles – Revolver
05 Nirvana – In Utero
04 Sly and the Family Stone – There’s A Riot Goin’ On
03 The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat
02 The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St
01 Primal Scream – Screamadelica
An US Research Scientist recently claimed that science is not very far away from being able to record dreams. His name is Dr Moran Cerf which sounds made up to me. You can probably get some good anagrams from it, I tried and came up with DREAM FOR SNR which I interpreted as dream for senior, i.e. dream for older people, i.e. me!
I’m not sure it would be a good thing, it might reveal your innermost thoughts to everyone and frankly it could destroy the porn industry too, everyone could just record their own personal fantasies! It really does take science way into the realms of science fiction. He does however state that the first step is to visualise dreams by a combination of recollection and brain activity. The actual recording is quite some way off. I’m pleased about that, I’m not sure I’d want my dreams available to all! What do you folks think?
On a bizarre footnote as I was typing this WordPress showed the following proposed tags based upon what I had written; Dream, BBC, Neuron, Science Fiction and Brain. All of which make logical sense, but it also added Marilyn Monroe and the Eiffel Tower. Is it reaching into my dreams? I have certainly dreamt about Marilyn before, mostly in my teens! Anyway I deliberately haven’t added them as tags to this post.
As always this is at heart a music blog so please enjoy the following dream related songs and feel free to add your own via the comments facility. I started out expecting to put a top 10 together and appear to have ended up with 20, not all of which I like incidentally, but I’m sure there is at least one person out there that likes them! There is also one hidden dream song, the first person to tell me what it is and where it is in the post via the comments facility may win a prize!
“All I Have To Do Is Dream” – Everly Brothers. Written by famous husband and wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1958, Don and Phil’s version is probably the most well known although it has been covered by many acts. It was most recently used in the 2010 remake of ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street‘ where of course all Freddie Krueger has to do is dream to be able to kill
“Dreaming” – Blondie – Taken from the ‘Eat To The Beat’ album and released in 1979 and reached number 2 in the UK. As with many of Blondie’s hits it was written by Deborah Harry and Chris Stein. It has been covered by the Smashing Pumpkins, the Posies, Yo La Tengo and Jeff Tweedy off of Wilco amongst others.
“Dreaming” – Cliff Richard – The same title as the Blondie song but definitely not the same song! Cliff was never massively succesful in the US. “Devil Woman was a big hit and “Dreaming” also made number 10. Cliff is the only artist to have had UK number one hits in every decade since the UK charts began (50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s). None in the 10s yet though, but I reckon a Christmas team up with an X Factor winner would probably swing it.
“Teenage Dream” – T Rex. Bolan’s chart success had started to wane by the time this was released in 1974, it still made UK number 2 though. It was also the first release that was credited to Marc Bolan and T Rex. It was taken from the wonderfully titled album ‘Zinc Alloy And The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow‘
“Dream Kid” – Sutherland Brothers and Quiver – Gavin and Ian Sutherland started life as a folk rock duo in the late 60s, they joined with Quiver in 1972 and sadly didn’t have massive chart success. But this song from 1973 remains one of my all time favourites.
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” – Crowded House – It was recorded in LA in 1986 and released in January 1987. The song was written by Neil Finn and was the first of the bands two US Top 40 hits. The song featured in the TV adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’. It has been covered by quite a few artists. The Sixpence None The Richer version was very good, the Paul Young version was frankly…..crap!
“Dreams” – Fleetwood Mac – This one’s a true classic from the ‘Rumours’ album and was written by Stevie Nicks. The song was most famously covered by the Corrs and none other than Mick Fleetwood joined them to sing it at the Royal Albert Hall with them in 1998
“Silver Dream Machine” – David Essex – This was recorded for David’s 1980 film ‘Silver Dream Racer‘. Not one of his better hits in my opinion. What do you folks think? (Especially you Ms Topsom!)
“Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” – Green Day – This was taken from the bands excellent ‘American Idiot’ album. Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the song and was rather amusingly criticised by Noel Gallagher off of Oasis for ripping off one of his songs (the chord progression is very similar to “Wonderwall”)
“Dreamer” – Supertramp. This was from the ‘Crime Of The Century’ album and was released in 1975. The B Side was another brilliant song; “Bloody Well Right” which was released as a single in its own right later that year.
“In A Broken Dream” – Python Lee Jackson – Python Lee Jackson were an Australian band during the late 60s. They had a brief stay in the UK where they recorded this song with a then unknown vocalist, Rod Stewart. The single was a flop when it was released in 1968 but became a big success when it was rereleased in 1972.
“I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) – Electric Prunes – Perhaps one of the most fondly remembered psychedelic bands from the 60s. They had a song, “Kyrie Eleison” included on the ‘Easy Rider’ soundtrack. The band reformed in 2001 and are still touring.
“Daydream Believer” – Monkees – The song was written by John Stewart and the lead vocal was sung by Davy Jones. It was an US number 1 but only managed number 5 in the UK. Despite being effectively a manufactured boy band all four members actually played or sang on this song.
“In Dreams” – Roy Orbison – The song was written by Orbison himself and he was able to demonstrate his amazing vocal range, he sings across two octaves. Roy said that the song came to him while he was a sleep and presumably while he was dreaming. David Lynch used the song in his film, ‘Blue Velvet’
“Never Had A Dream Come True” – Stevie Wonder – The song was released in 1970 before Stevie was able to take control of his own career, so it was not one of his own compositions. It was however a co-composition written along with Motown staff writers Henry Cosby and Sylvia Moy. The song was covered by the Jackson 5 for their first album.
“Island Of Dreams” – Springfields – The group formed in 1960 when Mary ‘Dusty’ O’Brien and her brother Dion O’Brien teamed up with Tim Field. They all took on the Springfield. And that dear readers is how Dusty Springfield came to be!
“Teenage Dream” – Katy Perry – The same title as the T Rex song, but not the same at all. It was the second single taken from her 2010 album of the same name, following the worldwide smash that was “California Gurls”. I wonder if she’ll use her married name in future? Actually Katy Brand doesn’t sound bad does it?
“Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) – Eurythmics – This gave the band their only US number one when it was released in 1983. Marilyn Manson recorded an excellent cover of the song in which he changed some of the lyrics, adding lines like “I wanna use you and abuse you/I wanna know what’s inside you.”
“Any Dream Will Do” – Jason Donovan – The song was written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber for their 1968 musical ‘Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat‘ which has gone on to massive success on stages all over the world. At various times it has been sung by everyone from Philip Schofield to Donny Osmond.
“Dreaming Of Me” – Depeche Mode – This was the bands first single and was released in the UK in February 1981, strangely it was never commercially released in the US. It was written by Vince Clarke who went on to form Yazoo and Erasure.
Off to the NME/ Radio tent to kick off our third day at the Reading Festival, where we saw the Joy Formidable and they were indeed a formidable joy, if you’ve not heard them you really should check them out. After that it was back to the BBC Introducing Stage to see another band from Wakefield (remember the Penguins from yesterdays post?) These guys were called the Runaround Kids and I felt that they had a bit of the Undertones about them, the vocalist also has a similar style to Luke from Reading band Steal The Smile. Next up it was Local Natives from Los Angeles and this was their first Reading appearance. I am pretty damned sure that it won’t be the last for these purveyors of great summer pop harmonies. We trundled back to the BBC Introducing Stage again after that for another local band; the Peers. Very much a local band done good, they are a really tight band and seemed incredibly well rehearsed.Los Campesinos have as many personnel as Arcade Fire and are not dissimilar in sound, a very good band indeed.
After our earlier experience in the Comedy Tent (aka Alternative Stage) we returned to see two comics in a row. First up was Charlie Baker from Devon and bears a striking resemblance to Jack Black and he uses this as part of his act, genuinely a funny guy. Secondly we saw Robin Ince; a great ‘leftie’ comedian. We actually hit the comedy tent to get out of the rain, but in spite of that Baker and Ince were bloody hilarious.
The Festival Republic Stage was the next to be graced with our presence, we went there because neither Nick or I could be bothered with Limp Bizkit on the Main Stage. At this point let me tell you Nick’s Limp Bizkit joke; “Do you know that you can now put Viagra in your tea to stop your biscuit going limp?” Boom! Boom! Anyway back to the Festival Republic Stage, the band are from Philadelphia and are called Free Energy. Sadly it was a small crowd, but these guys could work a crowd of almost any size I reckon. The lead singer was very Jaggeresque and came across like Bobby Gillespie with more funk than Primal Scream. In a nutshell an archetypal classic rock band, truly fucking amazing.
Back to the Introducing Stage yet again for the Brilliant Things. The singer appeared to have dressed for the prom or was perhaps a fan of Stevie Nicks‘ (off of Fleetwood Mac) sartorial style. Thanks to Mr H for pointing out that latter suggestion. None of that was meant as negative though, the Brilliant Things are clearly a very good band. Kele off of Bloc Party was next in the NME/ Radio 1 Tent. Electro funk and dance styles really suit him, although I’m not sure the pyjamas did though. But nonetheless he played a storming set and worked his audience really well. Exit International were then on the Introducing Stage. They played screaming hard rock with perhaps too much emphasis on the screaming. It makes you wonder though exactly how the fuck three people can make such noise.
Weezer would easily win the best crowd interaction and comedy awards for the festival if such awards exist. The singer wore a cat hat given to him by someone in the crowd for most of their set. His energy was truly phenomenal and he even found time to fall in the mud while dressed as Lady Gaga. That was during their excellent MGMT cover which had a touch of Gaga thrown in. I am looking forward to seeing them again someday too. Paramore were next, they were very good and had a strong fan base in the crowd. Personally I thought they would have fitted better if they had been on before Weezer. Hayley’s voice was a little too low in the mix for the first couple of songs. The crowd really loved them.
Finally it was time for the last headline band of this years festival and most of us in the crowd had been in position since just before Weezer’s set, those at the front had been there even longer. Yes the stage was set for the return of Blink 182. I had never seen them live before, although I had seen Mark Hoppus with +44 (Travis had a broken arm that tour so didn’t appear, I never had the chance to see Tom Delonge’s Angels And Airwaves. But however good these Blink offshoots were they were surely nowhere near as good as the sum of the original parts. Their stage set, including some strange rabbit animations and a brilliant light show was excellent, but it was the power and camaraderie of the band that really shone through. They played a blistering set, just allowing a few moments of quite amusing toilet humour style banter between songs, including a great dig at Jedward. the crowd were really fired up and everyone I spoke to really loved it.
What a great close to a great festival. although when I first saw the line up back in March I thought I’d be disappointed, I even thought this might be my last Reading. Well I wasn’t and it won’t be! Roll on Reading 2011. Who will the headliners be? I don’t know but my guess at the moment is that it could be Linkin Park and maybe Green Day. I’d be happy with either of those. Who would you like to see there next year?
It’s February 2010 (the 16th to be precise) and ‘With just A Hint Of Mayhem’ is coming to you live from the Brit Awards 2010. Well ok almost live and actually not really there but just in front of the telly! Just like last year really, if you want to relive my post from last years Brits click here
This years awards were hosted by the rather spiffingly talented Mr Peter Kay (Garlic Bread?) Interestingly the ad breaks featured a Master Card advert which was the story of last years Outstanding Achievement award winners the Pet Shop Boys doing a concert at someone’s house! Who would you choose to do a gig at your house? I would opt for David Bowie or Kate Bush!
First up to perform was the delectable Lily Allen. She sang “The Fear” with quite a strange cast of dancers; Pram Pushers, Men in Bowler Hats, Suits with no trousers and Union Jack Boxer Shorts and also some Umbrella Parachutists (is that a word?) dressed in pink camouflage gear. truly spectacular indeed! Lily was wearing a black hot pants type outfit, which I rather liked but Catwoman definitely didn’t! Hmmmmmmm I wonder why?
The first award was presented by Page 3 and ‘I’m A Celebrity’ veteran Sam Fox. She was introduced by Peter Kay as Sam Fleetwood, Mick Fox, Sam Fox in reference to the debacle that was the Brits presented by Sam and Mick Fleetwood off of Fleetwood Mac in the late 1980s. She presented the Brits Memorable Performance of the last 30 years. It seemed we were expecting a list of nominees, but there didn’t appear to be one. The award was given to the Spice Girls and was collected by Scary and Ginger or Mel B and Geri Halliwell as they prefer to be known these days
The next award was for Best British Male Artist and was presented by Andy Serkis who played Gollum in Lord Of The Rings and most recently played Ian Dury. The award went to the hugely entertaining Dizzee Rascal, thank god it wasn’t Robbie Williams! After this we endured JLS performing “Beat Again” they arrived on stage on strings, which confirmed my suspicions that these pop muppets are indeed puppets!
Mel B returned to the stage to present the next award to Jay Z or Jason Zed as Peter Kay called him. He won Best International Male Solo Artist. He spoke of his Glastonbury appearance and mentioned (tongue in cheek methinks) how he was influenced by the Spice Girls.
Noddy Holder off of Slade presented the best album of 30 years of the Brits award to Liam Gallagher for the Oasis album What’s The Story Morning Glory. Obviously Liam swore because the sound disappeared and the ‘audio has been muted’ appeared in the corner of the screen. As he left the stage he threw the microphone into the crowd and allegedly also threw the award into the crowd as well. Peter Kay referred to him, rightly so, as a knobhead when he did leave the stage.
Kasabian then played live and for me they were somewhat lacklustre, what did you think. I thought the flames at the front of the stage were more exciting.
The next award, the Breakthrough Act, was presented by Geri Halliwell (was this a Spice Girls take over?). Geri had to apologise for her earlier failure with Mel B to thank the other Spice Girls! It went to, shamefully in my opinion JLS. Pixie Lott, La Roux and Friendly Fires were all also nominated and missed out to the aforementioned muppets!
Courtney Love presented the Critics Choice Award to the delightful Ellie Goulding, I think I may have to download her album very soon.
Next to perform was the fantastic Lady Ga Ga. In my opinion she is a true star and a real mold breaker. She wore a kind of lace mask, fright wig and a body stocking that seemed to reveal more than it covered. A great performance and someone I would love to see in concert. She also dedicated her first song to the late, great and sadly departed Alexander McQueen.
Idris Elba off of London’s Burning (who he?) presented the Best British Group Award to Kasabian. Personally I felt it should have gone to Muse. Incidentally up to this point I had guessed every winner correctly!
Cat Deeley presented the first of Lady GaGa’s awards for International Breakthrough Artist. This was followed by a fantastic and inspired duet from Dizzee Rascal and Florence off of Florence and the Machine. It was the classic and one of my all time favourite songs; “You Got The Love” which was originally by the Source featuring Candi Staton.
There followed a short film clip of Prince Harry extolling the virtues and wonderful charitable work of the Brits Trust. He came across as quite amusing and very human and showed that one is down wiv da kidz! Which coming from someone like me who is very anti royal is big praise indeed.
über Knobhead Jonathan Ross presented the Best International Female award to (no surprises here) Lady GaGa. her second of the night so far!
Dame Shirley Bassey presented the Solo British Female award, one which she herself actually won in 1977. It went to one of my current favourite singers, Lily Allen. Lily wore a red wig, which she claimed was to make it hard for the cameras to pick her out for that ‘disappointed’ shot had she not won. Incidentally she clearly seemed surprised and very giggly!
Jay Z and Alicia Keys then duetted on a storming “New York State Of Mind”. Mr Z is my second favourite rapper after Eminem and Alicia possess one of the finest soul voices of her generation.
Mika presented the Best International Album Award to Lady GaGa, her third and final Brit of the night. I believe the new Queen Of The Brits deserved every one of them!
Cheryl Cole then performed “Fight For Your Love” amidst a cast of a thousand dancers. For me the dark glasses and dance moves suggested our Cheryl is something af a Janet Jackson wannabe. I didn’t spot Cashley in the crowd though, perhaps he texted her earlier!
Alan Carr had the honour of giving the Best British Single Award to JLS, well that one was voted for by Sun readers so what do you expect?
Tom Ford (is he a fashion designer?) presented the Best British Album Brit to Florence and the Machine for the brilliant album ‘Lungs’. Florence gave a very gracious acceptance speech. ‘Lungs’ is one of my favourite albums of recent years I also loved her set at last years Reading Festival
Finally the winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award who also had the honour of closing the show was Robbie Bloody Williams. He performed a medley of hits, including a song which I really do not like, “Angels” As regular readers might have guessed the appearance of Robbie was definitely not a highlight for me.
So in summary 3 Brits to Lady GaGa and sadly 2 to JLS and in my opinion that is 2 too many!
Hello once again dear readers, I’m back with another brief post and one which celebrates yet another birthday. Today is January 10th and it is the day that Roderick David Stewart becomes a pensioner, the old fella is 65 today.
Clearly Rod had forgotten to bring his winter clothes on his latest trip to England
My Dad was a bit of a Rod Stewart fan, especially at News Years Eve owing to Rod’s Scottish roots. In fact my Dad insisted that Rod was indeed Scottish and I argued that one with him for years. Actually Rod was born in London although his Dad was a Scot. We also had Rod’s version of “Sailing” played at my Dad’s funeral back in 2001.
OK own up who has hidden my bus pass and pension book?
Rod has always been a keen footballer and played at Centre Half for Middlesex School Boys in the 50s. He also famously spent a short time with Brentford FC. He was once quoted as saying that the only two things he could do were to play football and sing. Along with dating and/ or marrying a string of leggy blonde beauties presumably.
Rod those shades are fooling no one, we know exactly what you're looking at!
During the 60s he played in a number of bands whose personnel included; Ray Davies (later of the Kinks), Long John Baldry, Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green (the latter two went on to form Fleetwood Mac) among others. He began to really make a name for himself when he became lead vocalist with the Jeff Beck Group. It was in Jeff’s group that he first met Ronnie Wood. They both left the Jeff Beck Group in 1969 and went on to join Ian MacLagan, Ronnie Lane and Kenny Jones, the three remaining members of the Small Faces to form the Faces. The rest, as they say, is history.
No Rod I don't think you're sexy and I certainly don't want to get either jiggy or ziggy with you!
So let me finish this brief post to wish Rod a very happy birthday and let’s listen to a few of his greatest moments (in my opinion anyway, so that means definitely no room for “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” or “Baby Jane”)
“The Killing Of Georgie” – Rod Stewart (a live version from 1977). In the original video for this song Rod wore quite a bit of eye shadow and seemed to come across as quite camp. Apparently his Dad made it very clear he didn’t like that look!
“Downtown Train” – Rod Stewart. For me Rod is a great songwriter and a great vocalist, but he is also a great interpreter of other peoples songs. This is his excellent version of the great Tom Waits song
“You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything” – Rod Stewart and the Faces. This was the final Faces single and remains my favourite. It signalled the end of a great band way back in 1974 when even I was young. Incidentally the full title for the single is “You Can make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (Even Take the Dog For a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away the Ironing Board, or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings)”
“You Wear It Well” – Rod Stewart – Definitely my favourite of all of Rod’s UK number one singles
“Mandolin Wind” – Rod Stewart – A song that always helps me get mellow
Hi people here is hopefully the first of three probably brief pictureless dispatches from the muddy fields of the Reading Festival. Well not too muddy actually but judging from my drive down from York I reckon Leeds could be very muddy! In fact the whole journey down was a bit of a nightmare thanks to a combination of rain, wind and roadworks. I finally arrived on site around 4.30pm and met up with my good friend Nick. He had already seen quite a few acts, including the excellent Temper Trap who I would have loved to have seen, oh well never mind there really is plenty more on offer. We decided to largely go for quantity today which as it turned out was sometimes at the expense of quality.
First Main Stage band I saw today was the Deftones, I wasn’t overly impressed actually, in fact I didn’t know they were still around. I’ll save the magnificent headliners until last as they were the only other band I saw on the Main Stage.
We were in the NME Radio 1 Tent quite a lot. Nick also caught Little Boots’ set which he said was very good, that was another I missed. But I did see the last part of the Horrors show, I thought it was ok but perhaps a bit derivative of many 70s influences, I felt a big bit of Gary Numan in there somewhere. Although obviously I can’t comment on which bit! Next up in here was the wonderful Jack Penate. A great set that really had the crowd and indeed the tent bouncing! This was followed by Florence and the Machine. She is something else. Supremely talented and very quirky with a great stage presence. How she climbed the stage rig with those heels I’ll never know. Her songs sound like she has listened to Kate Bush and Bjork and mixed that with a significant amount of her own talent. Her wardrobe appeared to look as if someone from Victoria’s Secret had dressed Stevie Nicks off of Fleetwood Mac!. We also saw most of the Friendly Fires set. Amazing band and I think exactly who Wild Cherry were talking about in the 70s when they sang “Play That Funky Music White Boy”. I also like Jamie T of whom we watched a couple of songs, I thought he was ok, he certainly knows how to play the audience.
On the Lock-Up Stage we caught the Bouncing Souls a US punk band that have been around for 20 years but still sound fresh. We saw a couple of songs from Alexisonfire, I wasn’t impressed particularly. Later Anti-Flag were superb, mixing punk and politics in a good way and in a way that hasn’t been done since the Clash!
On the Alternative Stage we took the offer of free 3D glasses and saw 20 minutes of George A Romero’s (it was him wasn’t it?) 3D ‘Night Of The Living Dead’ We also saw one song from Everything Everything on the BBC Introducing Stage, they struck me as the Scissor Sisters meet Indie with a bit of Prog thrown in.
OK and finally we saw the whole of the Kings Of Leon show and never mind if your sex is on fire this band was on fire. I think I’d forgotten how many great songs they have. Probably one of the best headline acts I have seen here in all the years of coming.
On a separate note I reckon the flag ban this year certainly took something away from the atmosphere. What do you folks think?
Oh well now it’s time for a shower, a cup of tea and a leisurely breakfast before Day 2 of the festival starts. Shower? At a festival? I hear you say, well I’m not camping. I don’t do camping 😉 But to all of you who are I hope you were comfortable and that you don’t smell too much!
Hello again people here we are halfway through March, well thereabouts anyway. It’s the 16th so technically it’s slightly over halfway. Anyway enough of that crap let’s get on with the show. Did any of you in the UK get the Sunday Times this week? It came with a free CD of Noel Gallagher’s appearance at the Teenage Cancer Trust Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, I think it was recorded 2007. It’s an excellent CD with acoustic versions of a number of Oasis songs plus an excellent cover of the Smiths “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” . He is also joined by Paul Weller for a version of the Jam’s “Butterfly Collector” and the Beatles “All You Need Is Love”. Do everything in your power to get hold of this CD it’s bloody good! Here are Paul and Noel with the aforementioned “Butterfly Collector”
Noel made Liam promise that he would never try the Superglue on the Tea Cup trick again
Firstly with just the one birthday for today. It’s the 61st birthday of Michael Bruce, guitarist with the original Alice Cooper Group. When the band broke up in 1974 Michael went on to form a band called the ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ named after an Alice Cooper album, a rather good album in fact. The new band were stuck in a legal row over the use of the name and eventually managed to release just one album, “Battleaxe” in 1977. Michael in fact sang lead vocals on a few tracks on the first Alice Cooper album. Here are the Alice Cooper Group with “Billion Dollar Babies”
Alice realised that with the high risk of follow through white was the wrong colour to wear in a curry restaurant
To make up for just one birthday there are three ‘onthisdays’ today. Starting in 1969. ‘Popworld 69’ took place on March 16th some 40 years ago today. The artists appearing at the Empire Pool in Wembley (now known as the Wembley Arena) were; Fleetwood Mac, the Move, Amen Corner, Peter Sarstedt, the Tymes, Geno Washington and Harmony Grass. I’ve never heard of the last one, have you? They do have a mention on Wikipedia though, click here to see it. In the interests of keeping todays post down to the usual length I intend to briefly focus on just one of these acts, the Move.
I have a story which relates to a cover version of the Move’s song “Fire Brigade”. This is one you will never find on the internet or indeed anywhere else. I was in my last year at Primary school and aged just 11. I got together with my four best friends and we decided that we would form a band for the final school assembly. The fact that none of us could play an instrument wasn’t going to stand in our way either! It was 1970 and we had that punk ethos way before anyone else, does that mean history needs to reflect that we indeed invented punk? Somehow I don’t think so. Anyway on the big day after at least three rehearsals we were ready. Deano on vocals, Duffy (not the current female one) on his brothers guitar, Billy D on a very rudimentary drumkit (cake tins mainly!), Terry on Bongoes and me Billy A on tambourine, backing vocals and record player. Yes to beef up our amazing sound we played the 45 of the Move single! I would love to say that we sounded great, to us it felt like it, but the benefit of hindsight and a conversation with my old headmaster a few years later I can confirm that we definitely sounded crap. I would also love to say that all of us went on to glittering musical careers, but we didn’t unless I can count my time as a Mobile DJ? All bookings considered by the way, but unless you’re in reasonable driving distance of York in the UK then the travel charge may be a little prohibitive!
My old school (1965 -1970)
As for the real band they formed in the 60s. Many of their 60’s and early 70s hits were written by Roy Wood, although Carl Wayne was the lead singer on many hits. Jeff Lynne had joined the band by the time they broke up around 1973 and went on to form the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) with Roy Wood. Roy left ELO and went on to record some excellent stuff with Wizzard, but their success was somewhat eclipsed by the levels that Jeff Lynne took ELO. The Move had the honour of having the first single ever to be played on Radio 1 in the UK when it began broadcasting on 30th September 1967. The single which was spun by Tony Blackburn was “Flowers In The Rain”. The song was written by Roy Wood and neither he nor the band have ever received any royalties for it. When it was originally released their management in order to promote it produced a postcard of then UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson in bed with his secretary Marcia Williams. He was alleged to have been having an affair with her. Wilson sued for libel and the band paid all court costs and the royalties for the song went (and indeed still go) to a charity of Wilson’s choice. This has continued even after Wilson’s death. Here are the Move boys with “Flowers In The Rain”
The band were longing for the day when the audience members would outnumber the band members
This day in 1970 was a very sad occasion, it saw the death of the wonderfully talented Tammi Terrell from a brain tumour aged just 24. She was born in Philadelphia as Thomasina Winifred Montgomery. Many of you will remember her for the excellent duets that she recorded with Marvin Gaye. One of the first public signs of her illness was when she collapsed in Marvin’s arms while the two were performing together on October 14th 1967. This was one of the events in Marvin’s life that had a profound effect on him and ultimately led to him recording the landmark album “What’s Going On”. The environmental message of this album still, sadly, rings true today almost 40 years later. It has often been thought that the Jean Terrell who was at one time a member of the Supremes was Tammi’s sister, this is not the case, Jean was the sister of WBA Boxing Champion Ernie Terrell who once fought Cassius Clay. This is Tammi duetting with Marvin on the classic “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” this knocks spots of the Diana Ross version I reckon, how about you?
Tammi Terrell - I think she was gorgeous!
And finally on this day in 1973 David Cassidy played the first of six sold out shows at the Empire Pool Wembley. Cassidy first came to prominence as Keith Partridge in the TV sitcom the Partridge Family. His mother was played by Shirley Jones who coincidentally was also his Stepmother in real life. In an attempt to break away from his clean cut image David posed nude for a Rolling Stone Magazine photo shoot by Annie Leibowitz. I liked some of his songs but when he was a teen idol in the early 70s it really wasn’t cool for me to like him 😉 Watch David singing “Rock Me Baby” here.
David thought it had been a good idea to pose nude, but he hadn't really considered where the staples would go.........ouch!
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 