I was travelling back to York with Catwoman earlier today after a great weekend with family and friends down south. The drive back is a great opportunity to take in Johnnie Walker‘s excellent ‘Sounds Of The 70s‘ show on BBC Radio 2. The music choice as usual was excellent and as occasionally happens for me Johnnie played one track that I don’t think I’ve heard since the 1970s. It was “Shannon” by Henry Gross. I used to really love this when it had just a small amount of radio play in the UK back in ’76.
The song was written after Henry read about the death of Carl Wilson‘s (off of the Beach Boys) Irish Setter Shannon. I think you can definitely pick up a Beach Boys vibe and influence in the performance and production. The song was a number 6 hit in the US Billboard chart in 1976 and a number one in Canada. It only made number 32 in the UK. Another claim to fame the Henry Gross has is that he was the youngest artist to appear on the main stage at Woodstock in 1969. He was a founding member of Sha Na Na with whom he took to the stage immediately before Jimi Hendrix at Max Yasgur‘s farm some 43 years ago this year.
Henry is still recording and performing. Enjoy “Shannon” below along with a great performance from Sha Na Na;
How cool is that? Henry Gross gets a namecheck in an issue of Spiderman!
Do you receive a regular selection of random e mails from various groups that you have subscribed to over the years? I get loads and often I can’t be bothered to look at them. But for some reason I took a chance and opened one at random. It contained stacks of old pictures. Mostly of different stars together and not necessarily those that had worked together. Here are a few that I really liked and had never seen before. let me know what you think of them.
Bob Marley & the Wailers and the Jackson 5
George Harrison & Bob Marley
Mick Jagger & Jimi Hendrix
Mick Jagger & James Brown
No more words required just listen to some great music by some of those artists while you enjoy the pictures.
I’m sure you’ve heard the sad news of Amy Winehouse’s death aged just 27. As I type this the cause of death given by the police is ‘unexplained’ Unlike some interpretations I doubt there is anything sinister in this. Amy’s drug problems were much publicised and probably helped sell thousands of tabloids here in the UK. Whilst her passing is incredibly sad there is also an air of inevitability about it. At least now the tabloids are nicely chastened they will allow her friends, family and fans to grieve.
I believe that Amy was a truly talented and gifted individual. I remember buying her first album ‘Frank’ in 2003 after hearing some of it on the radio following it featuring as one of the nominees for the Mercury Music prize. It was (and still is) a good album and made me think that there was really something to this young lady. Clearly there was, her follow-up album ‘Back To Black’ remains one of my favourite albums and it’s such a shame there hasn’t been another since that in 2006.
She also recorded some great cover versions, pretty much making the Zutons “Valerie” her own. I really was rooting for her to come back with an amazing album a mega succesful tour and years of new music in front of her. I really wanted to see her in concert but I never got around to it. I’m sure it won’t be long before much of the talk is about the 27 club, which is derived from the age at which a number of talented musicians died; Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain to name a few. Indeed Amy is already included on the 27 Club Wikipedia page. Does that sound like a degree of obscene haste to you?
Billy Bragg mentioned this on Twitter earlier today and made the much more credible point that it wasn’t a specific age that killed any of these people, it was drug abuse. But enough of the salacious elements of Amy’s demise and let’s enjoy some of her wonderful music. My condolences go to her family, friends and fans.
Yet more Gaga news for you today, she certainly knows how to create a media stir for herself doesn’t she. I guess I’m as guilty as the rest too as she does appear here quite a bit. She has become the first celebrity to reach ten million Twitter followers. She tweeted this message to her followers; “10 Million Monsters! I’m speechless, we did it! It’s an illness how I love you. Leaving London smiling”. She was the first to reach nine million in March having overtaken Britney Spears last year. She has 24 million ‘likes’ on Facebook although in terms of celebrities Eminem is ahead of her as is Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.
She also appeared at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Carlisle this weekend. She dedicated a song to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka Wills and Kate) and played a couple of jazz numbers. In her continuing quest to make an entrance unlike any other star she arrived on stage in a coffin. She was dressed in black and apparently wearing a prosthetic pregnancy. Unless of course it was real! Before Gaga’s super injunction takes effect I would like to state categorically that I am not the father! I would like to thank my good friend Nick Horslen for sending me the clip of her stage entrance. Incidentally Nick also categorically denies that he is the father. Nick also came up with a pun to describe the Gaga entrance that is up there with my worst puns. It went something like this ‘Lady Gaga had a bit of a coffin fit I hear…’ keep taking the tablets Nick!
Now for some non Gaga news. Last week Roger Waters played a few shows at the O2 Arena in London as part of The Wall tour. I would have loved to have gone but I never got around to booking early enough. But a work friend of mine was there and not only was it a great show, but also for the first time since Live 8 in 2005 the remaining members of Pink Floyd (David Gilmour and Nick Mason) joined Waters on stage. To say that I was envious of my friend Grant would be an understatement, being there for that particular performance is one to tell your grandchildren isn’t it? Click here to check it out on the BBC
And finally time for more mondegreens aka misheard lyrics. These were posted in the Rock Of Ages Yahoo Group and there are some real doozies there!
“I bless the rains down in Africa.” (Toto – Africa)
People sing: “I left my brains down in Africa.”
“Might as well face it, You’re addicted to love” (Robert Palmer – Addicted to love)
“Might as well face it, you’re a dick with a glove.” (some people have suggested that they thought this was about Michael Jackson!
“Body’s aching all the time.” (Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody)
“but he’s naked all the time.”
“And as we wind on down the road.” (Led Zeppelin – Stairway to heaven)
“There’s a wino down the road.”
“And kept her apart from the things that she loved.” (The Beatles – Getting Better)
“And kicked her apartment of things that’s Sheila.”
“Excuse me while I kiss the sky.” (Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze)
“Excuse me while I kiss this guy.”
“See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen” (Abba – Dancing Queen)
” See that girl, watch her scream, kicking the dancing queen.”
“Like a virgin, touched for the very first time” (madonna – Like a Virgin)
“Like a virgin, touched for the thirty-first time”
“We built this city on rock and roll.” (Starship – We built this city)
“We built this city on log and coal.”
“I’ll never be your beast of burden.” (Rolling Stones – Beast of Burden)
“I’ll never leave your pizza burnin’.”
“Here we are now, entertain us.” (Nirvana – Smells like teen spirit)
“Here we are now, in containers.”
“The answer, my friend,
is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.” (Bob Dylan – Blowin’ in the wind)
“The ants are my friends,
they’re blowin’ in the wind
The ants are a-blowin’ in the wind.”
“Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road.” (Green day – Time of your life)
“Another turnip boy, the Ford stuck in the road.”
“Got my mind set on you.” (George Harrison – Got my mind set on you)
“Thought my mom sat on you.”
“There’s a bad moon on the rise.” (Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bad Moon Rising)
“There’s a bathroom on the right.”
Just because I love the song and it doesn’t get played too much here is “Beast Of Burden” by the Stones.
Well there really isn’t a great deal to say about this fantastic album cover animation other than it is truly brilliant. It’s called Battle Of The Bands and it truly is a fight to the death!
If I have noted it correctly it contains album covers from all the following artists, if you see any I have missed just let me know!
Foreigner, Yazoo, Billy Joel, Shaun Cassidy, Violent Femmes, Rick James, Eminem, Joe Jackson, Beastie Boys, 50 Cent, Roxy Music, King Crimson, Scorpions, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Duran Duran, Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Rush, Boston, AC/ DC, Def Leppard, Replacements, Jane’s Addiction, Love And Rockets, Depeche Mode, Ozzy Osbourne, Weezer, B 52s, Dead Kennedys, Van Halen, Dio, Iron Maiden, Night Ranger, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, OMD, Nirvana, Asia, David Lee Roth, Black Flag, Cars, Michael Jackson, Beatles, Journey, Green Day, Hermans Hermits, Madness, Phil Collins, Lou Reed, Madonna, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, Lionel Richie, Devo, Jimi Hendrix, Quiet Riot and Metallica.
My favourites are Michael Jackson and Roxy Music, what are your favourites? Can you find the hidden Ozzy track?
Forbes magazine recently published it’s list of the top earning dead celebrities in the year to October 1st 2010. Unsurprisingly there are a number of dead musicians, singers and a composer in the list. They share the space with authors, actors, a cartoonist, a sports franchise owner, a TV Producer and a scientist!. Obviously I only intend to focus on the musical aspects of the list, but here is the top 13. Why 13? Why not? It also includes their earnings for the year. Only one living celebrity topped Jacko’s earnings and that was Oprah Winfrey. He also earned more than the combined totals of the two biggest living musical earners; U2 and AC/DC. Read about it on the Forbes site here and also on the BBC here.
No. 1 Michael Jackson – $275 million – Here is Michael with the Jackson 5 with the frankly underrated and underplayed “Sugar Daddy”. A truly brilliant slice of Motown magic!
No. 2 Elvis Presley – $60 million – Here he is with a classic and probably one of my favourite Elvis songs, “Suspicious Minds” originally recorded in the Memphis sessions in the late 60s
No. 3 J.R.R. Tolkien – $50 million
No. 4 Charles Schultz – $33 million
No. 5 John Lennon – $17 million – I have included loads of Lennon stuff recently so here is an excellent Lennon tribute song from Dan Bull called “Lennononandonandon”
No. 10 Richard Rodgers – $7 million – This is the Richard Rodgers off of Rodgers and Hammerstein and below you can see a rather interesting version of their classic song “The Lady Is A Tramp” sung by the somewhat eccentric Nina Hagen.
No. 11 (tie) Jimi Hendrix – $6 million – Here is Jimi with his classic cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower”. Dylan was so impressed with it that it is now the arrangement he uses when he plays the song live.
Hello once again regular readers and welcome to any new readers, I would love to hear from you via the comments function and also feel free to utilise the ‘rate’ option for each post.
A blue plaque not a blue meanie
A few more bits of music related news for you today. Firstly the house that John and Yoko lived in during 1968 finally gets an English Heritage blue plaque. The Marylebone property (basement and ground floor) was purchased by Ringo Starr in 1965 and before the Lennon’s moved in it was rented out to Paul McCartney and Jimi Hendrix. Read the story on the BBC.
Yoko thanked the builders for converting her former home into the leaning tower of Marylebone
To celebrate take a listen to “Yer Blues” from the Beatles ‘White Album’
Nick Clegg steals food from children as his contribution to the governments spending cuts
Now for some rather disappointing news, well in my opinion anyway. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat Leader and Tory Party muppet appeared on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs show this weekend and chose a book, a luxury item and 8 records (actually it’s 8 pieces of music. Why is that bad news? Well he’s only gone and chosen a David Bowie song hasn’t he. I just feel bad when people I don’t like happen to like people who I do like, does anyone else feel like that? The Bowie song he chose was “Life On Mars”, he also selected songs by Prince, Johnny Cash, Radiohead and Shakira. So begrudgingly I might have to credit him with some taste, I’d still never vote for him again though. Click here to read the report on the BBC. You can watch Mr Bowie performing the song below at the Yahoo Internet Life Music Awards in New York City in 2000, very ably supported by Mike Garson on piano.
Nick Clegg contemplates another luxury item to take to his desert island. Let's hope the cuts aren't too sharp eh Nick? Don't want any problems with inflation do we?
In another piece of Bowie related news Cheery Vanilla his one time squeeze from the 70’s has published her memoirs and the book is enticingly titled ‘Lick Me’, which is actually quite appropriate given her name. She is quoted as saying that if you’re given the chance to sleep with David Bowie you do it, even if you have giant carbuncles on your thighs. I’m not sure whether she did have those carbuncles though. Read about the book by clicking here.
Cherry Vanilla chooses a novel way of promoting her new book
A week or so back Take That revealed the cover to their new album, ‘Progress’. It is yet another take on the Ascent Of Man idea. The worrying thing about it for me is why Gary Barlow is looking up Mark Owen’s backside. Robbie is right in the middle and Jason Orange seems to have been given a real surprise. One which made him leap high. The Guardian analyses the picture here. What do you think of it?
It's a bit camp and a bit yellow isn't it?
Click here to read a list of 10 things that British Sea Power wished they hadn’t done from the drowned in sound website. My favourites are the fans dressed as 10 foot teddy bears and one of the band dressing as some kind of Geordie/ zebra hybrid to commemorate Kevin Keegan‘s appointment as Newcastle United manager.
The British Sea Power Teddy Bear was a bit grizzly that night!
When I started this blog back in February of last year the majority of posts were based around an ‘on this day’ theme. But my more recent posts haven’t covered that at all, however with the date today being 3rd July I felt that I had to revert to that format again, at least for this post anyway. So, why is 3rd July an important date in music? It’s the date the two of the famous quartet of 60s rock stars who died at age 27 passed away. That quartet, who all died within a two-year period at the tail end of the 60s and early 70s were Brian Jones (off of the Rolling Stones), Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison (off of the Doors). Jones died on 3rd July 1969 and Morrison on 3rd July 1971. Hendrix and Joplin both died in 1970 just 16 days apart, 18th September and 4th October respectively.
OK conspiracy theorists, here are Brian and Keef near a swimming pool, so was it Keef wot dun it?
Brian Jones was found dead in the swimming pool of his home in Hartfield, Sussex. It was the former home of A. A. Milne the creator of Winnie The Pooh. Jim Morrison was found dead in his apartment in Paris. Conspiracy theories have grown up around both deaths. There have been allegations that Jones was murdered put forward on numerous occasions, although given that he had recently been sacked from the band he helped create, the Rolling Stones, and his history with drug intake, that strikes me as unlikely. Jim Morrison supposedly died of heart failure supposedly brought on by a number of years of drug abuse. But as no autopsy was performed and allegedly only his girlfriend identified his body rumours abound that he faked his death. I love conspiracy theories but I personally don’t believe many of them at all. I know that the Apollo moon landings took place, I saw them on the TV! I would love to hear your views on conspiracy theories, especially those that are music related
Jim always took a power nap during the bands extended drum, guitar and organ solos and jams
There is much mythology built up around the magic 27 club, indeed this was reignited when Kurt Cobain (off of Nirvana) blew himself away in 1994. Personally I see the first four as having some kind of death of the 60s link, perhaps along with Altamont, but apart from purely his age I don’t see Cobain as really fitting in that group. However if you’d like to read more about the 27 club there is a Wikipedia page dedicated to the five I have already mentioned and many other musicians who also died aged just 27, click here to see it.
So to round off today’s little post here are a couple of clips of Brian Jones and Jim Morrison (and a sneaky audio clip of Jimi Hendrix with Brian Jones).
I'm not sure if that sign is a statement or an instruction
Today I had the iPod on shuffle and up popped the wonderfully talented Scroobius Pip aided and abetted by Dan Le Sac. I am a big fan of Messrs Pip and Sac. The song in question was “Thou Shalt Always Kill” It got me thinking that a post addressing all the Pip commandments might be quite fun. So firstly apologies to Dave Gorman who once did a live show which analysed all the parts of Ian Dury’s “Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3”, indeed Catwoman actually saw it (and to be fair he probably did it far, far better than I am about to with Pip and Sac). So on with the song!
Thou Shalt Always Kill – Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip
(Feat. Pos Plug Won)
Thou shalt not steal if there is a direct victim; I totally agree with this one, so I guess this makes it ok to steal from banks right? Maybe some office stationery too
Thou shalt not worship pop idols or follow lost prophets; Who the hell would want to worship bloody pop idols anyway, that’d be like ‘All Hail Gareth Gates’ or more fitting with his current life maybe ‘Our Server who art in McDonalds’. As for the Lost Prophets they weren’t a bad band, ok they are Welsh, but that’s not their fault is it?
Thou shalt not take the names of Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Johnny Hartman, Desmond Dekker, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix or Syd Barret in vain; I totally agree, but who the hell is Johnny Hartman?
Thou shalt not think that any male over 30 that plays with a child that is not their own is a paedophile, some people are just nice; I am way over 30, I love kids and I’m not a paedo, so I guess that makes me nice, doesn’t it? Incidentally isn’t it strange that those awful swimming trunks are called Speedos? Phonetically just one letter away from Peedo.
Thou shalt not read NME; Nope, can’t agree with this one at all, I’ve been reading NME since I was a young lad, from 1971 to be precise
Thou shalt not stop liking a band just because they have become popular; How very true, people they are not YOUR band just because you liked them before 99% of the population. Tom, it is ok for you to continue to like the Kings Of Leon!
Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry; Yes, because Mr Fry has a brain the size of a planet and has more intellect in his belly button fluff than the collective intelligence of the England Football team
Thou shalt not judge a book by its cover; True, well unless it’s the Playboy Annual or something similar, equally any book with Robbie Williams on the front must, by definition, be rubbish!
Thou shalt not judge Lethal Weapon by Danny Glover; So that must mean you judge it by Mel Gibson, but I’m confused, does that make it better or worse?
Thou shalt not buy Coca Cola products; Absolutely, all that sugar has to be bad for you. Mind you I do like the odd Coca Cola Christmas bauble, so that would be another Pip commandment I have broken
Thou shalt not buy nestle products; Well I can live with this, apart from the fact that my good friend Karen McP works there, but personally I prefer Cadburys anyway
Thou shalt not go into the woods with your boyfriend best friend, take drugs and cheat on him; Well I am completely exempt from this as I don’t take drugs, oh and I don’t have a boyfriend either!
Thou shalt not fall in love so easily; That is easy to say but bloody difficult to do
Thou shalt not use poetry, art or music to get into girls pants……use it to get into their heads; ok, just as long as I can be forgiven for my teenage years, where I confess I did use music in the former regard quite a lot and the latter regard quite a little. Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” always worked for me
Thou shalt not watch Hollyoaks; Nor any Aussie soaps either in my opinion
Thou shalt not attend an open mic and then leave as soon as you have done your shitty little poem or song you self-righteous prick; Well I think that one speaks for itself really!
Thou shalt not return to the same club or bar week in & week out just because you once saw a girl there that you fancied that you’re never going to talk to anyway; Guilty as charged, but only in my teenage years and only a couple of times and on the second occasion I did get to speak to her, but she did make it very clear she wasn’t interested. Just rearrange these letters to understand what two-word phrase she used. kfcfuof, did you work it out?
Thou shalt not put musicians and recording artists on ridiculous pedestals no matter how great they are or were; I did this with David Bowie back in the 70s, but then he recorded in the 80s and that made me see the error of my ways
The Beatles.
Were just a band.
Led Zeppelin
Just a band.
The Beach Boys.
Just a band
Sex Pistols.
Just a band.
The Clash.
Just a band.
Crass.
Just a band
Minor Threat.
Just a band.
The Cure
Just a band.
The Smiths
Just a band.
Nirvana.
Just a band.
The Pixies
Just a band
Oasis.
Just a band
Radiohead.
Just a band.
Bloc Party.
Just a band.
Arctic Monkeys.
Just a band.
The next big thing
Just a band.I can agree with almost all of the above, except for the Clash, these guys were way more than just a band to me
Thou shalt give equal worth to tragedies that occur in non-english speaking countries as to those that occur in english speaking countries; Too true, how many times has the news reported an earthquake somewhere like Mexico and had it low down the running order because no British people were hurt?
Thou shalt remember that guns, bitches and bling where never part of the four elements and never will be; I love rap, but this is sadly so very true
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music;
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music;
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music;
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music; I suspect that this relates to dance music and the Government’s attack on the rave generation, but it could equally apply to the bland crap produced by almost anyone of Simon Cowell’s identikit pop muppets
Thou shalt not pimp my ride; But I assume that it is ok for me to pimp my man-bag though, right?
Thou shalt not scream if you wanna go faster; nor indeed listen to Geri Halliwell whilst in a sober state
Thou shalt not move to the sound of the wickedness; well ok, but sometimes that is a really good feeling!
Thou shalt not make some noise for Detroit; or any other city or town, but then again I am sure that later this year at Reading my good friend Nick H and me will make some noise for Reading
When I say “hey” thou shalt not say “ho”; Say Gabba Gabba instead, in honour of the Ramones
When I say “hip” thou shalt not say “hop”; Say replacement instead
When I say, he say, she say, we say “make some noise”…..kill me; ok then, seeing as you asked nicely
Thou shalt not quote me happy; or like the Go Compare advert
Thou shalt not shake it like a Polaroid picture; Well that’s how I dance bro’ – live with it!
Thou shalt not wish your girlfriend was a freak like me; my girlfriend is all the freak I need thank you very much
Thou shalt spell the word phoenix : P-H-E-O-N-I-X not P-H-O-E-N-I-X regardless of what the Oxford English dictionary tells you; Now as far as this one goes I really don’t care
Thou shalt not express your shock at the fact that Sharon got off with Brad at the club last night by saying “is it?”; very true, the correct statement is ‘innit’ innit?
Thou shalt think for yourselves; I hope everyone does this already
And thou shalt ALWAYS kill. I certainly can’t agree with this, although Catwoman and I do tend to regularly kill all the plants in the back yard, usually by neglect
The song says that ‘Football’s coming home’ but after England’s performance yesterday it’s more likely that England will be coming home early. Their performance against the USA was pretty poor overall. Sure we suffered from the keeper Rob Green’s awful fumble (see below), but frankly we really weren’t up to the job. If we get far enough in the competition to play the likes of Italy, Spain, Brazil or Germany and we play like we did yesterday we will be slaughtered!
As for the commentary team, were they watching the same match? They kept saying how well the Gerrard and Lampard partnership was working. Most of the time I didn’t even realise that Lampard was on the pitch. For me he is the epitome of overrated and overpaid. It can only get better against Slovenia and Algeria, can’t it?
This has been a brief post match analysis of yesterdays England game against the USA in the FIFA World Cup 2010. But as I have said so many times before this is a music blog, so here are a few appropriate songs
“Fuckin’ Up” – Neil Young with Pearl Jam. Especially for Robert Green
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 