With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ – Documentary February 10, 2025

Filed under: Film,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:22 pm
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‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ is the first authorised documentary of the globe straddling rock monster that Led Zeppelin became. It ends in 1970 with a triumphant homeland gig at the Royal Albert Hall just a few weeks after the release of ‘Led Zeppelin II’. I suspect that some hardcore fans will likely be disappointed that the film ends then. But in my opinion it stops at the point just before they came the huge rock ‘n’ roll behemoth that flew around the world on the infamous Boeing 720 named the Starship. The film works in a slow building chronological order with some great interview footage with all three remaining members as they are now. There is also some clear and touching audio of a previously unheard interview with John Bonham. The reaction of Page, Jones and Plant as they hear it for the first time is quite moving.

It has some great footage of the band playing live on a Danish TV show on their first tour, this was when they were still called the New Yardbirds. All of the band felt quite good that they were able to develop the Led Zep sound away from the spotlight of the UK music press. Jimmy Page and worked on thousands of sessions for a wide range of artists and some of those were featured. Notably Shirley Bassey with “Goldfinger” and Lulu with “To Sir With Love”. Page also enthused about seeing Lonnie Donegan for the first time and recognising that this was the spark that lit his rock ‘n’ roll flame. Robert Plant was gushing in his praise for Little Richard saying that this was the moment that rock music was injected into him, never to leave.

The making of ‘Led Zeppelin’, the first album was predominantly down to Jimmy Page. Particularly in respect of production and sequencing. Page was accompanied by the band’s manager Peter Grant on a trip to the USA to meet with Jerry Wexler and sign with Atlantic Records. Page was insistent that the band would only make albums and not release singles. They started to take off in the USA when they were picked up by album heavy FM stations who played side one and then after a short message from their sponsors flipped the album and played the whole of side two. The footage from some of the US festivals from 1968 and 1969 is stunning. A lot of the clips are interspersed with news reel to add social commentary that includes the Nigerian civil war, the election of Richard Nixon and the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Some of my favourite parts of the film were Robert Plant speaking about raising his game to become a lyricist. Alongside that is the detail that Jimmy Page goes into when he talks about the creation of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ the opening track on ‘Led Zeppelin II’. The mid section warped psychedelic breakdown and the fading of the instruments, particularly the drums from one speaker to another was not just some clever use of music and the studio. It was also a plan to make it very difficult to release the song as a single. There are plenty of things to take away from this rather wonderful film. If I had to pick one it is being reminded of just how great a drummer John Bonham was. If you are a Led Zeppelin fan you will, I am sure, see this film. But if you are just a fan of great rock music you should definitely find the time to see it. I am not sure it will work as well on a TV screen as it does on the big screen. But however you access it you will enjoy it!

This is not in the film!

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On This Day The Dog With No Name Helped Percy Plant And The Boys Into The Chart! January 15, 2025

Filed under: On This Day — justwilliam1959 @ 5:07 pm
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On January 15th 1972 Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” made its debut on the US singles chart. It was released in December 1971 and eventually reached number 15. The band famously never released singles, certainly not in the UK anyway. Not including promotional singles this was the band’s fourth single. The song’s title refers to a nameless, black Labrador retriever. This dog wandered around the Headley Grange studios during recording. The previous singles were “Good Times, Bad Times” and “Whole Lotta Love” both released in 1969. The latter reached number 4 in the US singles chart. This was their highest placing in the US singles chart. It made it to the top of the pile in Australia, Denmark and Germany. Then came “Immigrant Song” in 1970. All of these releases made it into the lower reaches of the UK chart on import sales.

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“In the bars, with the men who play guitars” August 10, 2017

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 10:45 pm
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Led Zeppelin were never a singles band in the UK during their hey day. But they did drop their standards elsewhere in the world, particularly in the USA. In fact the B Side to the 7″ single release of “Immigrant Song” featured the bands only non-album release when it hit the shops in 1970. It was called “Hey Hey What Can I Do”, and it has seen the light of day on a number of reissues, notably the expanded ‘Coda’.

The band did eventually reach the UK singles chart in 1997 with a reissue of “Whole Lotta Love”. In total, worldwide Zep released 15 singles, the majority of which charted somewhere in the world. The original single release of “Whole Lotta Love” in 1969 made it to number one in both the Australian and German charts. “Immigrant Song” was a top ten hit in Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and on the US Cash Box charts.

 

“I’m So Wet” – Avalanche Party May 27, 2017

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 8:11 pm
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Regular readers will have seen me write often about Avalanche Party. Well here’s a bit more while this talented band are strutting their stuff and pumping out their rocking tunes all across Europe at the moment. Very successfully too by all accounts! One song that they will be playing at a gig near you soon will be “I’m So Wet”. It is a mighty powerful slab of soft to loud noise with a total psych crescendo as it heads to it’s end. It has melody, it has great lyrics it has a band that know their stuff and it will grab you by the short and curlies until it is over. Jordan’s vocal is immaculate and Kane’s drumming evokes the spirit of John Bonham.

You will be physically and mentally drained by the time the song has finished, but in a really good way. Personally I reckon that it is their greatest song to date and it deserves your attention. Download it, stream it on Spotify (other streaming services are available), click here to check it out on Soundcloud, but whatever you do listen to it. I will be very, very disappointed if you don’t

 

Black Lagoons, Broken Skulls, Mall Rats & Blind Eye – The Crescent, York – Friday 22nd January 2016 January 23, 2016

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 1:47 am
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I once again had the pleasure of attending a gig set up by the fabulous Northern Radar a.k.a Simon Pattinson. It was at the Crescent in York a new community venue that I have not been to before. As usual with Simon’s shows the quality was top-notch. I have been to many gigs arranged by Simon and so far there has not been a bad one. No pressure for next time then Simon! Tonight’s bill featured two bands that I have seen before and two that were new to me. Incidentally it was great to catch up with Jordan Bell off of Avalanche Party, Mike Harrison, Joe Alexander and obviously Mr Pattinson himself.

blindeye

The proceedings were kicked off by the majestic power trio known as Blind Eye who I have seen before, the boys were fresh from recording their EP at a studio in Manchester. They gave us a couple of new songs that in a few years I am sure will be seen as Blind Eye classics; “Stained Glass Windows” and “Vultures”. Along with some of their older songs they also performed one of their customary covers, this time it was a thunderous run through of the Beatles classic “Come Together”. They even managed to incorporate a few lines of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” into the song. This band is truly fucking awesome, their EP I am sure will be off the scale good.

mallrats

OK now I want you to imagine a band that is a cross between the Velvet Underground with all of Andy Warhol’s arty-farty stuff removed and then crossed with Nirvana. Can you picture that? Good now think of that band’s drummer being a reincarnated John Bonham (not because they look the same but that they share the same pounding power. Do you have the picture in your mind? Can you imagine the sound that such a band would make? Excellent because that band Ladies and Gentlemen is the Mall Rats. A brilliant band whose closing song “Plunge Pool” was one of the most moshtastic of the whole evening.

broken skulls

The third act on tonight was another York band that I have seen before, the truly stupendous Broken Skulls. These two brothers come across like the Kings Of Leon genetically spliced with Royal Blood and then injected with a massive testosterone booster. How can two people make such a loud but beautiful noise? I really don’t know but they do. Maybe we need to ask them how they do it. Anyway it would be fair to say that they really owned the stage during their set.

blacklagoons

I have not had the pleasure of witnessing a show by the Black Lagoons before tonight so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Even more so when I cast my eyes on the band for the first time. The majority of them have probably never seen a razor. Not because they are hirsute with resplendent facial hair but because I don’t believe that some of them have started shaving yet. But don’t let that put you off, for whatever age they are, and frankly I don’t care, they are a stunning live act. What do they sound like? That is a difficult question to answer, but it is almost as though they have invented a new genre of music which I will call Prog Punk (or possibly Punk Prog). These lads can only get better in my opinion and they are very damned good already. I tried to imagine the Queens Of The Stone Age as a school band and that captured a degree of what the Black Lagoons are. On top of that they have a reborn Keith Moon on drums and the coolest, most serious faced bass player since John Entwistle. I recommend that you check out all of tonight’s bands. No wait I don’t recommend that you do it, I order you to do it!

Public Service announcement all the pictures were taken by me and the videos are courtesy of YouTube. However I couldn’t find a Mall Rats video, so if you can send me the link to one then feel free to do so 🙂

 

 

“And whoa the wind won’t blow, we really shouldn’t go” November 26, 2013

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 11:32 pm
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1339709479661_4336881In a recent issue of Record Collector Magazine Bill Harry a former PR man for the mighty Led Zeppelin recalled a story that caused me to laugh out loud. It is a story that proves that whilst in many people’s eyes Robert Plant was a true Rock God he was (and probably still is) very human indeed.

zeppelin-funnyBill Harry said of the Led Zep gig in Holland; ‘The band was on a massive stage and the hall was packed with thousands of kids. The sound was crystal clear. You could hear everything. Suddenly in the middle of a number Robert Plant farted. You could hear it clearly over the PA. It was unbelievable to hear a rock star fart on stage. Everyone stood there stunned, then broke up laughing. And it was totally unrehearsed’

Robert had farted so hard that he blew himself over!

Robert had farted so hard that he blew himself over!

I have always felt that the day fart jokes, fart stories and farts themselves were no longer funny to me then I would be mature. I am pleased to report that based on that assumption I am definitely not mature yet.

 

Little Comets – Fibbers, York 17th March 2009 March 18, 2009

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 8:49 pm
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OK it’s nearly a month since my last gig review so I thought I’d better get back out there again. Gigs at Fibbers are usually well worth it and tonight was no exception, four bands for £5 that’s a real bargain especially as they were all pretty good or better. Fibbers is a good venue but when will they move into this century and start accepting plastic over the bar? OK rant over and let’s move on to those all important bands, in order of appearance of course!

The Waking Hours

As usual and like many before me I often see a band and try and work out their influences and sometimes just what or who they might sound like. For me these guys have elements of 60’s Garage Rock, some early Van Morrison in his Them days, indie (although I admit that is such a wide description nowadays) and one of their songs seemed to have a very U2ish sound with it’s ‘edge-like’ guitars. Overall a great sound from an excellent band. I would also like to give a special mention to their drummer, one of the best I’ve seen in quite a while. Shades of John Bonham (although perhaps not quite as loud) and Animal from the Muppets (and I do mean that in a nice way). remember that Animals licks were provided by a very experienced drummer. Anyway click here to check out the band on their MySpace page

Swimwear Juniors

Tonight’s bands were all nicely different which is always a good thing I think. The Juniors (am I allowed to refer to them like that? After all everyone knows the Grateful Dead as the Dead!). They seem to be a real fun almost party band, like the Pigeon Detectives if they weren’t so automated and actually had a personality. Unlike the PDs the Juniors have oodles of personality and come across like a band cloned from the best bits of the Arctic Monkeys and the Housemartins with a special extra added secret ingredient (and before you ask I don’t know what that ingredient is ok). They also had the wit and personality to pull off something that many of their peers wouldn’t dream of, a few bars of the Wurzels “Combine Harvester” between songs. Thankfully not the whole of that ‘classic’ song though! Overall an excellent set from Swimwear Juniors (I thought I’d be polite and use their full name for the final sentence!). OK so click here to check these guys out now and I mean RIGHT now on MySpace!

Soft Toy Emergency

This is the second time I’ve seen Soft Toy Emergency and oh boy what a great band, absolutely awesome, no I’ll correct that they were truly fucking awesome! If these guys are not playing mega gigs by 2010 then it will only be because the sun has gone supernova and turned into a black hole (ok my science is poor but who cares?). They are a genre defying band, you can’t label this excellent combination of fun, danceability, punk spirit and pop sensibility. They would blow most of the dull indie kids away at festivals like the Carling at Reading and Leeds. If this band appears near you and you do not go and see them I will personally ensure that you are forced to listen to nothing but Westlife for the rest of your days! So if you really aren’t keen on that kind of punishment check out this superb Liverpool band on MySpace by clicking here……… well, what are you waiting for….. DO IT NOW

Little Comets

Personally I would not have fancied taking the stage after a band like Soft Toy Emergency, it would take an excellent band to make a good job of it. These boys from Newcastle made more than just a good job of it, they were bloody good. In fact don’t let the name fool you these guys are bloody great big bright comets. They have some excellent songs and know how to work their audience. For me the nearest comparison I could come up with would be a bit like Vampire Weekend with extra added funk and English sensibility. I will definitely go and see them again! You MUST check them out on MySpace and also their excellent band site too. When I say MUST I bloody mean MUST ok!

OK that’s the review over and so far I haven’t reviewed a shit band, although I’m sure that day will come! I’d also like to give a special mention to two special ladies; Catwoman and Charlie who did the most amusing drunken dancing during the Little Comets set. Another special mention goes to Simon P who managed to get me a Soft Toy Emergency CD which I missed out on last month. And finally a special thank you to the doorman for asking me if I had any ID, you made this old bloke very happy ta very much!