With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“Fist in the air in the land of hypocrisy” November 2, 2011

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 11:28 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

One of the subscribers to the blog has reminded me of the plight of  Babar Ahmad, currently in prison for 7 years without charge or evidence. He needed 100,000 signatures on this petition site to trigger a debate in the Commons, and that might free him, or at last restart the justice system for him. I am pleased to say that I just signed and the total now stands at 100,106 (in the time it has taken me to compose this post it has risen to 101,126. But let’s try and push the total even further. The following text is lifted direct from Ben’s e mail. Please read it and more importantly please sign the petition. However you arrived at this site, if you’re a UK citizen please take the time to sign the petition.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/885

Babar Ahmad’s story, widely covered in the Guardian and elsewhere, is a horrifying account of what the ‘war on terror’ has meant in particular for British Muslims.

Baba Ahmad has been in prison for seven years, pending extradition to the US on charges of terrorism for which no evidence has been given. If this petition gains enough signatures there will be a debate on his case in the House of Commons, which could increase his chances of going on trial prior to extradition. A trial would compel the evidence against him — if there is any — to be produced. Whether convicted or cleared, he would at least have had justice.

Babar Ahmad was originally arrested in 2003, assaulted at midnight in his home by several officers from the ‘territorial support group’ (the riot police), and then immediately released. A year later — 5 August 2004 — he was rearrested on an extradition warrant from the US and has been in prison since.

In 2007, the European Court of Human Rights suspended his extradition pending presentation of evidence. Under the Extradition Act 2003, the US does not have to provide evidence when seeking extradition from the UK, including for British citizens (which Ahmad is); there are stirrings of dissatisfaction about this within the current parliament.

In 2009 the Metropolitan Police admitted liability for assault during Ahmad’s first arrest and paid him £60,000 damages. This year, in a separate trial, the officers were found not guilty of assault. Evidence of the officers’ histories of racist assaults was not shared with the jury (see BBC story here, including CCTV footage of Ahmad being brought, injured, into police custody; see also this Guardian account, and this Guardian story; be warned that the accounts of the behaviour of police officers Roderick James-Bowen, Mark Jones, Nigel Cowley, and John Donohue are unpleasant).

Maybe you won’t will take much persuading about this, but anyway I urge you to sign the petition, and to circulate it to anyone who might also support it. The deal with the Number 10 ‘e-petitions’ site is that any petition that gets over 100,000 signatures must be debated in the Commons. The petition currently has 50,000 signatures, and the deadline is 10th November.

If extradited to the US, Baba Ahmad faces life in solitary confinement. He is not the only UK citizen still held in the UK without trial or evidence; he is just the longest-serving.

This is not just about justice for Baba Ahmad; it concerns the moral character of the entire UK legal and political system, and so concerns each of us personally: if it can happen to him, it can happen to me and you.

As I have said many times before, this is a music blog, so here are some appropriate(ish) songs;

 

Tindersticks – York Barbican, Monday 24th October 2011 October 24, 2011

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:01 pm
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Earlier this evening I went to a gig by the Tindersticks at York Barbican. It was probably the most avant-garde show I have ever been to and the quote from John Lennon that kept popping into my head was ‘avant-garde is French for bullshit’. Now in many cases that may well be true, but regarding the Tindersticks it clearly isn’t. The show was based around the soundtracks that the band have recorded for Claire Denis, a French filmmaker. They played live to excerpts of Denis’ movies, which were somewhat weird and provocative. The nearest comparison I have is the short film that was effectively David Bowie’s support on the 1976 ‘Thin White Duke’ tour; ‘Un Chien Andalou’

The show was an 18+ event given the sex and violence in the films. The music really does work with the film though, in a way I wouldn’t have imagined. Perhaps the strangest clip for me was of a couple seemingly having wild sex which then turned into the woman eating the guys face. I mean biting of bits of flesh, it wasn’t a show for the faint hearted or easily offended. But back to the band; instrumentally they were truly amazing. Eight really gifted musicians who are pretty tight together. It was a completely instrumental set as unfortunately lead singer Stuart Staples had laryngitis.

Overall I enjoyed the show, but it isn’t the sort of gig I would normally go to. The film with live soundtrack was a very brave and different thing to do and mostly it worked well but on occasions it was a little soporific. I also felt that the auditorium being less than half full had more to do with the competence of the venue rather than the appeal of the band. I doubt that I will go and see a similar show again, but I will download some of the soundtracks I think. If anyone reading this was at the show tonight or any of the others on the tour I would love to know what you thought of it. And finally I should point out that none of the pictures or video included in this post are actually from tonights show.

 

“And somewhere between the time you arrive and the time you go may lie a reason you were alive, but you’ll never know” October 6, 2011

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 10:41 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I know he wasn’t a singer, musician or songwriter but Steve Jobs sure as hell left an incredible mark on the music industry. His genius, foresight and innovation has fundamentally changed the way we buy/ obtain our music and indeed how we listen to it. Are there many households, or even people, in the world that don’t have an Apple product that can play music? iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac even if you have none of those you may have iTunes on your pc. I think that names like iPod will become synonymous with portable music players in the same way that ball point pens are mostly called biros and vacuum cleaners are mostly called Hoovers (although Dyson may take that crown in the long run)

Back in my schooldays inventors and innovators were old, dead or probably wearing a white coat in a secret nondescript lab somewhere in the world. This generation of innovators, inventors and geniuses (or should that be genii?) are much more visible. For example are there any of these names that you don’t recognise; Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg?

His life is also a lesson for those who focus on a formal qualification being the golden ticket to a successful career. Mr Jobs dropped out of college, did that stop him having a great career? I think not! In addition to the music related innovations that he was responsible for he also put a lot of money, time and effort into Pixar. So you could argue that he also helped to save Disney studios, who frankly would have been on their knees without Pixar.

Steve Jobs will be sadly missed. In my opinion whatever you may think of Apple from a corporate perspective it would be very difficult to argue that this wasn’t a truly great man. RIP Steve Jobs.

I have tried to think of the most appropriate music I could with which to mourn his passing and celebrate his life. I have chosen a few tracks from what the previously available Ping function on iTunes revealed as his favourite albums a few years ago. Enjoy and celebrate the life of a great man.

 

“And I Think Of All The Things, What You’re Doing, And In My Head I Paint A Picture” July 31, 2011

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 8:33 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

It was probably quite predictable really, but just like Elvis, John Lennon, Nirvana and Michael Jackson among others, Amy Winehouse’s albums and singles have sold phenomenally well since her sad death last weekend. ‘Back To Black‘ is this weeks UK number one album. It has also climbed to number 8 in the US Billboard album charts.Her first album ‘Frank’ is at number 5 in the UK. In fact with Adele at number 2 and 4 and Beyonce at number 3, the whole top 5 albums in the UK is ruled by women!

Amy also has 5 songs in the UK top 40 singles chart;

“Back To Black” – Number 8

“Tears Dry On Their Own” – Number 27

“Rehab” – Number 29

“Love Is A Losing Game” – Number 33

“You Know I’m No Good” –  Number 37

Sadly it wasn’t enough to keep JLS from the top of the singles chart, but not every cloud has a silver lining. In the meantime let’s enjoy a couple of Amy’s recordings that didn’t make the top 40 this week, including a brilliant festival appearance with the Specials;

 

“I guess nobody ever really done me, ooh like she done me, she done me good” July 18, 2011

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 10:10 pm
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Mike Mitchell, an US photographer was on hand to take plenty of photographs of the Beatles in the so-called ‘invasion’ of the USA in 1964. However most were filed away for nearly 50 years. However they are now about to be auctioned at Christies. The fifty black and white pictures are expected to fetch in the region of £60,000. Click below to view them on the BBC, Yahoo, Christies and an excellent Beatles blog; Beatles Blogger.

BBC, Yahoo, Christies, BeatlesBlogger

Unfortunately I won’t be bidding, but this post does give me the opportunity to listen to my favourite Beatles song, “Don’t Let Me Down”

 

“It Ain’t Nothing But A Heartbreaker, Friend Only To The Undertaker” June 23, 2011

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 9:21 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I may have missed quite a few music related deaths recently, well certainly in regarding to posting on this blog anyway. One of the biggest of those was the late, great Clarence Clemons long time sax player and personality in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. He also played a few tracks with Lady Gaga recently. So whilst much has been said about the passing of such a great man I will not add much to that right now. However if you click here you will be taken to the excellent Barely Awake In Frog Pajamas blog which contains, for me, the best write-up of Clarence Clemons I have read since his sad passing.

 But there was another non music related death last week which I would like to say something about; Brian Haws passed away from cancer aged 62, he spent most of the last 10 years protesting outside the Houses Of Parliament in Westminster. His protest began in June 2001 as a voice against the sanctions imposed on Iraq and gained popularity (although not among some politicians) in a post 9/11 world where Blair cosied up to Bush and took us into a pointless war. I am not religious in any way, shape or form so I wouldn’t agree with Brian Haws Christian beliefs, however I have immense respect, admiration and support for what he did. The law makers of Westminster did their best to move him from his prime Westminster position and failed abysmally. Essentially Haws won his legal argument to remain when his lawyer pointed out that the new law, which was essentially designed to move Brian on, had a clause in it that said such protests were only permitted if the police were informed before the protest started and agreed to let it happen. As Brian started his protest before the law came into being he was exempt. Which begs the question exactly how bright are our politicians and their lawyers? It’s nice to know that the little man still has an opportunity to stick one to ‘the man’

As a footnote I once met Brian Haws, albeit very briefly. I had been to a business meeting in Westminster and as I was walking to the underground station and I was just across the road from Brian’s spot. I had heard that a number of supporters stopped by for a chat and gave him sandwiches and such. I decided that I couldn’t let the opportunity pass so I decided to cross the road and speak to him. It was very brief but I expressed my support for his stance and wished him well. I also gave him a Mars Bar which was all I had on me food wise. I think that was in 2004. Brian Haws RIP I hope that there are many more individuals in the world with that kind of courage of conviction.

As usual I would like to bring this back to music as after all it is a music blog. So enjoy the following songs in the spirit of Brian Haws protest;

 “War” – Bruce Springsteen

“Two Tribes” – Frankie Goes To Hollywood

“Taxi For Mr Blair” – Sicknote

“Give Peace A Chance” – Plastic Ono Band

“War” – Edwin Starr

 

“The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdinck, or the Rare Earth” May 28, 2011

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 5:39 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

News broke earlier today that the immensely talented Gil Scott-Heron passed away yesterday in New York aged just 62. He fell ill after returning from a European trip. He was perhaps more poet than anything else, but was also seen as a pioneer of rap and hip hop with his mainly spoken word recordings. In fact his first album came about after his first book of poetry was published and he suggested to his publisher that it would be a good idea to record a backing for his readings of his words.

He also had a great talent for intelligent and clever protest in his lyrics. Classics of that genre would be songs like “The Revolution Will Not be Televised” which is still quite pertinent today. The first time I ever heard anything by him was when I heard “Johannesburg” on the radio in 1976. That was probably my first experience of what apartheid was all about as well and added to my political views, which were very much shaped by the music I listened to in my formative years; Marvin Gaye, Temptations, Bob Marley, The Clash and John Lennon among others.

He worked regularly with Brian Jackson who helped provide the fusion of soul and jazz that backed a lot of Scott-Heron’s work. After a couple of spells in prison for cocaine possession and alleged parole violation he returned with an excellent new album early last year. The album was ironically titled ‘I’m New Here‘ and received widespread acclaim. A remix of the album retitled ‘We’re New Here’ was done in collaboration with Jamie Smith aka Jamie xx of the band the xx.

He has been described as the Godfather of Rap and the black Bob Dylan. His influence runs very wide and he will be sorely missed. My condolences go to his family, friends and all his fans around the world. Gil Scott-Heron RIP. I would like you to celebrate his life with some of his greatest songs, well my ten favourites at least. Let me know what you thought of Gil’s work.

 

“Good weed, white wine, I come alive in the night time” January 9, 2011

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 11:36 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rihanna rocks a kind of ASBO Bling look

It would appear that UK chart history was made today by Rihanna. She became the first female artist to have a number one single five years in a row. She has almost matched the feat of Elvis Presley who managed a number one in each year from 1957 to 1963, some six years in total. Starting with “All Shook Up” and ending with “Devil In Disguise“. Inevitably the current record is held by the Beatles who had a number one in each year from 1963 to 1969, a 7 year run. Staring with “From Me To You” and ending with “The Ballad Of John And Yoko” I reckon Rihanna has a good chance of overturning both of those records. read about it on the NME site by clicking here.

Rihanna hoovers up yet more chart records

Rihanna’s UK number one singles since 2007 have been;

2007 “Umbrella”

2008 “Take A Bow”

2009 “Run This Town”

2010 “Only Girl (In The World)”

2011 “What’s My Name” featuring Drake

Rihanna was born nearly 20 years after the last of the Beatles run and she is still only 22. She will be 23 in February. She originates from Barbados and plays a big part in the support of the marketing of her homeland. She is now an honorary cultural ambassador. She is also a great philanthropist, setting up her Believe Foundation in 2006. It is a charity which supports terminally ill children.

Is it Grace Jones? Is it Max Wall? No it's Rihanna!

 

“Everyone knows one and one makes two, I’m the one and the other one’s you” December 21, 2010

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:07 am
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sir Cliff laughs in the face of the recent cold snap by keeping his shirt open

After a mammoth Beatles Advent Calendar post yesterday, today, December 21st, brings you another person who has so far had three UK Christmas Number Ones. So let’s open that little cardboard flap and see who it is. You’ll firstly be taken back to Christmas 1960 when I was fast approaching the milestone of two years old. It was the first of Cliff Richard’s UK Christmas Number Ones and on this one he was backed by the Shadows, it is called “I Love You”. Cliff is the only act to have achieved UK Christmas Number ones in three separate decades. The other two were “Mistletoe And Wine” in 1988 and “Saviours Day” in 1990. Thankfully the awful, in my opinion anyway, Cliff’s “Millennium Prayer” didn’t make it to the top at Christmas 1999, however it did get to number one for two weeks and was deposed by Westlife, with “I Have A Dream/ Seasons In The Sun“. Of the two I’m really not sure which was the worst, but a 2004 VH1 poll registered “Millennium Prayer” as the worst number one ever. I presume that makes it officially a pile of number twos!

Sir Cliff prepares to celebrate his first UK Christmas Number One

After Hank and the boys moved on Cliff struggled to play his guitar parts on air guitar

Anyway onto the three songs that made it to that coveted UK Christmas Number One spot for Cliff. Firstly with “I Love You” backed by the Shadows in 1960. The song was written by Bruce Welch off of the Shadows and stayed at the top for just two weeks. John Lennon once said that ‘before Cliff and the Shadows there was nothing worth listening to in British Music’ Whilst Cliff went on to massive success without the Shadows, they too were a very successful band. Cliff has had a total of 14 UK number ones, sadly that record is now equalled by Westlife, which puts him and them just behind the Beatles on 17 and Elvis on 21. The Shadows had three number ones in their own right, including the fabulous “Apache” from 1960, and a further seven backing Cliff.

Sir Cliff's cunning plan to disguise himself as Santa wasn't a great success

Cliff waited 28 years for his next UK Christmas Number One which arrived in 1988, it was called “Mistletoe And Wine”, certainly not one of my favourites, but then, to each their own as they say! The song comes from a 1976 musical adaptation of Han’s Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Match Girl‘. It was Cliff’s 99th UK single, which whether you like him or not is an astonishing record (no pun intended!) It was also his 12th UK number one and the biggest selling single of 1998, it spent 4 weeks at number one. Like many Christmas themed songs it often returns to the UK charts in December.

And there was me thinking that only Freddie Mercury could get away with clothes like that!

The third and so far final UK Christmas UK Number One from Cliff was “Saviours Day” in 1990. The video for the song was filmed in Dorset. It is one of only three UK Christmas Number Ones to remain at the top for just one week. An honour it shares with “Goodbye” from the Spice Girls in 1998 and “Killing In The Name” from Rage Against The Machine in 2009. At the time of writing Matt Cardle’s “When We Collide” has been at the chart summit for less than a week, but I expect that it will remain for a bit longer yet. I find it pretty sad that once again the X Factor gets the Christmas Number One slot. We must do better next year people, let’s make sure it doesn’t happen. We need another Rage Against The Machine moment, let’s start a Facebook campaign now!

Madonna, Amy Winehouse and Sir Cliff Richard in Lego..... a strange trio if you ask me!

 

“Try to see it my way, only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong” December 20, 2010

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:31 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s December 20th and now we’re at day 20 of my UK Christmas Number Ones Advent Calendar posts. Behind the cardboard door today there is a real treat in store for you. We’re going back to the 60s to take a look at the only act to have had four Christmas number ones in the UK. It’s not Cliff Richard, he’s only had three, the Spice Girls also had three in a row in the 90s. But so far no one has matched the UK Christmas Number One success of this UK band. They had the UK Christmas Number One in 1963, 1964, 1965 and again in 1967. I’m sure you will not be too surprised to hear that I’m talking about the Beatles.

As a special pre-Christmas treat I will be giving you all four of their Christmas Number ones later in this post. The songs that made the Yuletide top spot for the Fab Four were; “I Want To Hold Your Hand” (1963), “I Feel Fine” (1964), “Day Tripper/ We Can Work It Out” (1965) and “Hello Goodbye” (1967). At Christmas 1963 the Beatles also held the number two spot with “She Loves You“. Their sequence was broken in 1966 by Tom Jones with “Green, Green Grass Of Home“. In Christmas 1963, 1964 and 1965 the Mop Tops stayed at the top of the charts for five weeks each year and in 1967 it was seven weeks.

“I Want To Hold Your Hand” was also the Beatles first US number one where it stayed for 7 weeks. It  was also at number four in the US on April 4th 1964 when the Beatles had the whole of the Top 5. Up until 1964 the Beatles hadn’t had massive success in the US and manager Brian Epstein suggested to John Lennon and Paul McCartney that they should write a song that would appeal in the US. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was the result of that request. It was also the first song the band recorded using the new technology of four track recording.

The bands second UK Christmas Number One, “I Feel Fine” was their eighth UK single. In 1964 it was the first US number one in a sequence of six Beatles songs in a row. It displaced the Rolling Stones “Little Red Rooster” at the top of the UK charts, possibly preventing the Stones from achieving what would have been their only UK Christmas Number One. Apparently Paul McCartney has said that the drum sound on the song was inspired by the Ray Charles song “What I’d Say“.

The third of the Beatles UK Christmas Number Ones was a double-A  side, something the CD and download era has made pretty much redundant. The two songs remain classics, for the price of one 7 inch single you got “Day Tripper” and “We Can Work It Out”. The songs were recorded during the ‘Rubber Soul’ sessions and were hurried along in order to provide the band with a Christmas release. Apparently Brian Epstein felt that a lack of releases or a lack of visibility would bring an end to the band’s success. When deciding which song to release John Lennon argued strongly for “Day Tripper” while the Paul, George and Ringo went for “We Can Work It Out”, hence it became the first commercial double-A side release. Noel Gallagher off of Oasis has referred to “We Can Work It Out” as the song that defines the Beatles (with the Beatles obviously being the band that defined Oasis!)

The last of the Beatles UK Christmas Number Ones, “Hello Goodbye” was at the top during Christmas 1967. It was also a US number one. The band filmed three promotional clips for the song, which were never aired in the UK at the time because of the Musicians Union embargo on miming. In an interview at the time of the songs release, Paul McCartney was quoted as saying the following when explaining the meaning of the song; “The answer to everything is simple. It’s a song about everything and nothing. If you have black you have to have white. That’s the amazing thing about life”.

So now go ahead and enjoy the five songs that make up the Beatles four UK Christmas Number Ones and at the end there is a special Beatle Christmas treat for you all! Enjoy!