Marvin Gaye | With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

With Just A Hint Of Mayhem is ten years old! Part 10a (The Albums) February 9, 2019

Filed under: News,Observation,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 6:42 pm
Tags: Beatles, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Johnny Nash, Marvin Gaye, New Radicals, Nick Cave, Radiohead, Sex Pistols, Suede

With Just A Hint Of Mayhem’s birthday celebrations are nearly over. Today is day 10 and it is February 9th which is the official 10th birthday…. WOO HOO, here’s to ten more years! Today you get two top tens in two separate posts this one is my top ten favourite albums and part 10b features my top 10 singles.

Regular readers will know that so far I have shared with you top ten most viewed posts on the blog since it began back in February 2009, the top ten countries that have given With Just A Hint Of Mayhem the most views, rock/ music related books, biographies and autobiographies, my top 10 Bowie songs, my 10 favourite bands of all time, my top ten favourite male artists, the ten greatest gigs that I have been to, my ten favourite music related films and yesterday my top ten favourite female artists. (Click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here to view those again). So this is it for the 10th birthday celebrations but there is, I hope, much more to come from With Just A Hint Of Mayhem in the coming months and years, watch this space!

Don’t forget that you can also find us on Twitter and FaceBook .

So here are my top ten favourite albums of all time, ask me next week and the list may change, although almost certainly not the number 1. I did deliberately ignore David Bowie for this list otherwise he might have occupied three or four places. If you are interested my favourite Bowie album is ‘Diamond Dogs’

1. Live At The Lyceum 1975 – Bob Marley and the Wailers – If I had a time machine I would go back to 1975 and be there for this gig. Probably the finest live album ever.
2. OK Computer – Radiohead – There are still some people out there who don’t like, or maybe don’t get, Radiohead. Why the fuck not? This LP is a work of genius.
3. Dog Man Star – Suede – I loved Suede’s first album but this took them to a whole new level. Were they BritPop? If so then they were one of the best BritPop acts by far.
4. My Merry Go Round – Johnny Nash – This man, for me, has the most beautiful voice that I have ever heard in my life. This album from 1973 has remained among my favourite albums since its release.
5. Skeleton Tree – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – How can anyone put so much emotion, empathy and sadness in a small collection of songs? I have no idea but Nick Cave certainly achieved it with this album.
6. Abbey Road – Beatles – I love many albums from the Fab Four, but this is the one I always come back to.
7. Never Mind The Bollocks – Sex Pistols – An incendiary début from one of the best punk bands ever. What might have happened if they had stayed together? Who knows but an album like this as your legacy is a great thing!
8. Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too – New Radicals – There is not a track I would skip on this album. The band is effectively the genius that is Gregg Alexander who wrote and produced all the songs.
9. What’s Going On? – Marvin Gaye – Probably the best protest and message album in history and one which is sadly still very pertinent today
10. Desire – Bob Dylan – It took me a long while to acquire a taste for Mr Zimmerman, but this album clinched it.

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12 Days To Christmas – Day 5 – Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy and JFK December 17, 2017

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:00 am
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Martin and John, Bobby Kennedy, Dick Holler, Dion, Dion DiMucci, JFK, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Marvin Gaye

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Day five of the Chrimbo countdown and todays historical characters theme brings you a song that includes three iconic figures in the title and another within the lyrics. It is the stunningly beautiful and moving song “Abraham, Martin And John”. The song was written by Dick Holler in 1968 in response to the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. It also refers to Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy (JFK). All for were great advocates for significant social change and all four were gunned down in cold blood.

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The song was originally recorded by Dion and his single was a big US hit. The song has been covered by many artists including Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Ray Charles, Emmylou Harris and Marvin Gaye. It is Marvin Gaye’s version that features as a part of this post. It is my favourite version of this fantastic song. Taken from his 1969 album ‘That’s The Way Love Is’ the song was never issued as a single in the US but reached number 9 in the UK charts that year. Some say it was a precursor to the themes that Marvin explored on his career defining ‘What’s Going On’ album from 1971.

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Gregory Porter – Harrogate International Centre – Saturday 11th July 2015 July 11, 2015

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:45 pm
Tags: Aaron James, Blackbyrds, Chip Crawford, Donald Byrd, Emanuel Harrold, Gil Scott-Heron, Gregory Porter, Harrogate International Centre, Harrogate International Festival, Liquid Spirit, Marvin Gaye, Mike Garson, Norman Connors, Roy Ayers, Yosuke Sato

The delectable Catwoman and I took ourselves off to see the supremely talented Gregory Porter in Harrogate on Saturday night. Without a doubt he is an incredibly talented singer. If you see him as ‘just’ a jazz singer then you need to think again, yes he is very much in the jazz field but this guy also oozes soul and he can sing gospel and blues. His band is incredible and could easily work as an instrumental band in their own right. But when you add Mr Porter’s voice to the magical sounds the band produce you have a perfect mix.

Until tonight I had only really heard the songs from his ‘Liquid Spirit’ album. I hadn’t appreciated that this was his third album! Gregory is also a very talented songwriter. My particular favourites are “Liquid Spirit”, “Water Under Bridges”, “Hey Laura”, “Free” and “Wolfcry”. The pianist Chip Crawford is an incredible pianist and his playing reminded me at times of Mike Garson. In the extended intro to “Wolfcry” Chip slotted in a piece from ‘Peter And The Wolf’ and the ‘Star Wars Theme‘. Ithink my favourite song of the whole show was “1960 What?” from his first album ‘Water’

Listening to Gregory and his band I was reminded of my days of being a soul boy and heavily into jazz funk in the late 70s. His vocals have a hint of Marvin Gaye about them and the overall sound of Mr Porter and his band was for me reminiscent of Roy Ayers, Norman Connors, the Blackbyrds and especially Gil Scott Heron. I will definitely see Gregory Porter again if the opportunity arises. On top of his immense talent he comes across as a very gracious and humble man. He clearly has great respect for his band; Chip Crawford (piano), Aaron James (double bass), Emanuel Harrold (drums) and Yosuke Sato (Sax). I think the feel-good-factor injected from this gig will stay with me for quite a while.

As often happens I will end this post with a public service announcement. It is probably obvious, but none of the pictures or videos in this post were taken or filmed by me!

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“So I got up on the floor and found someone to choose me” March 14, 2015

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 4:00 pm
Tags: Blurred Lines, Copyright infringement, Got to Give It Up, I Won't Back Down, Marvin Gaye, Oasis, Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke, Sam Smith Tom Petty, Status Quo, Stay With Me, UB40

So it’s now legally official that Robin Thicke and Pharrel’s “Blurred Lines” is the same or incredibly similar to Marvin Gaye‘s classic “Got To Give It Up“. Whilst I think that “Blurred Lines” is pretty shit and a long way from Pharrell William’s usual standards this whole ‘your song sounds like my song so pay me’ stuff is getting ridiculous.

Sam Smith giving Tom Petty a writing credit for “Stay With Me” because it ripped off Tom’s “I Won’t Back Down“; really? Oasis made a career out of it didn’t they? Maybe Status Quo should sue themselves for copying the same song over and over. Frankly the same could be said of much of UB40’s efforts after their first album. In case you’re wondering I am a fan of many artists including Oasis, Marvin Gaye, Tom Petty and Sam Smith, Pharrell Williams and a handful of Quo and UB40 songs. Personally though I think that Robin Thicke is a misogynistic twat! What do you think?

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“There’s nothing left to talk about unless it’s horizontally” January 24, 2015

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 11:27 am
Tags: Billboard, Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, Juicy Fruit, Let's Get It On, Marvin Gaye, Mtume, Olivia Newton John, Physical, Rod Stewart, Steve Kipner

What do you think of Olivia Newton-John‘s “Physical“? For me it was one of the tracks that perhaps summed up the 1980’s and I’m still not sure whether I like the song or not. That 80s gym fashion in the video looks so dated now. But despite that the song was voted the sexiest song of all time in a Billboard poll in 2012. Really?

The song was written by Steve Kipner and did you know that it was originally offered to Rod Stewart? Presumably because of its similarities to Rod’s awful (in my opinion) “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy“. My personal choices for sexiest song ever would be Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” and “Juicy Fruit” from Mtume. What is the sexiest song for you?

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“Brother, brother, brother there’s far too many of you dying” July 11, 2014

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:55 pm
Tags: Berry Gordy, Four Tops, Joan Baez, Marvin Gaye, Motown, Renaldo Obie Benson, What's Going On

Marvin Gaye co-wrote the wonderful “What’s Going On?” with Renaldo ‘Obie’ Benson of the Four Tops. Berry Gordy infamously called it the worst piece of music that he had ever heard. However Obie thought very differently and he offered the song to Joan Baez, but she turned it down.

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“Show the colour of your crimson suspenders” November 15, 2013

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:25 am
Tags: Easy Money, Emmanuelle, John Wetton, King Crimson, Larks Tongues In Aspic, Larks Tongues In Aspic (Part 2), Leicester Square, Let's Get It On, Marvin Gaye, Robert Fripp, Sylvia Kristel

As rock films go I have never really considered soft porn classic ‘Emanuelle’ to be among the best. In fact I have never even considered it to be a rock film! However I recently learnt that part PDF yet he score was inadvertently supplied by King Crimson from a piece written by Robert Fripp. The film’s producers plagiarised the last track on the original album, “Larks Tongues In Aspic (Part 2)”. One of the first people to let Fripp know was King Crimson bass player John Wetton.

Robert then went off to see the film in Leicester Square. He said that he found the film ‘rather boring’ but noticed that every sex scene was soundtracked with “Larks Tongues In Aspic (Part 2)”. The composers of the film’s soundtrack claimed to have worked on the music for six months but seemed to have completed their work just a week after Crimson performed the track on French TV. Fripp successfully sued the film makers and composers. According to a recent interview Fripp says ‘I still get pitiful amounts of money from reshowings of ‘Emanuelle’ around the world’ That must be the only money shot that keeps on coming; right? Personally I’d rather have sex to Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On‘ album than “Larks Tongues In Aspic (Part 2)”. How about you dear readers?

Anyway I can’t use my usual trick of taking a line of lyric from the song I am posting about as it’s an instrumental, so I have included the link and a lyric from “Easy Money” which is on the ‘Larks Tongues In Aspic’ album.

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“I want to know who the men in the shadows are,I want to hear somebody asking them why” June 12, 2013

Filed under: Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 10:28 pm
Tags: Amnesty International, Barrett Strong, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Lives In The Balance, Macklemore, Marvin Gaye, Message From A Black Man, Nick Horslen, Norman Whitfield, Protest song, Puzzle People, Rattle And Hum, Ryan Lewis, Same Love, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Temptations, Tom Robinson Band

This is not the first time I have posted about protest songs and I doubt that it will be the last. If you’d like to read my last protest post click here. My good friend Nick Horslen switched me on to the excellent work that one.org do; In particular a superb recent piece providing an extensive playlist of protest songs which range from the classic to the obscure. There are also some very interesting cover versions included. Click here for the protest playlist

The protest song has been around for many years but for this post I’d like to focus on protest songs from the sixties onwards. The song in this genre that most people know is probably Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind”. The song has been covered by many people and remains a standard for buskers all over the world. The lyrics are essentially a set of questions which I am sad to say are still pertinent today. I recently watched the U2 documentary film, ‘Rattle And Hum‘ and was reminded of how powerful the song “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is. There is a heartfelt speech from Bono during that version where he berates Irish terrorists. This was filmed on the day the IRA murdered 11 innocent people at a remembrance day service in the town of Enniskillen in 1987.

Whilst the early songs of the rock era, including Dylan, were rooted in folk music the fight for many causes has subsequently been taken up by almost every genre from rap to reggae and from soul to punk. I would like to focus on a few of my favourites in particular some that don’t get played too often and currently are not included in the one.org Agit 8 playlist. But before that I should mention two protest songs that I return to often; Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”

I believe that Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, who wrote many classic Temptations songs for Motown were never recognised widely enough for their protest songs; The Temptations recorded “War” before Edwin Starr had a global hit with it. Whitfield and Strong also wrote “Ball Of Confusion” and “Take A Look Around”. But perhaps one of the bravest given when it was released was “Message From A Black Man” from their 1969 album ‘Puzzle People’

Many singer songwriters from Guthrie, Seeger and Dylan through to Neil Young, Billy Bragg and more recently Frank Turner have written and recorded some very strong protest songs. One of my favourites of that type is Jackson Browne‘s “Lives In The Balance”. In my opinion he was one of too few voices that were constantly critical of the Reagan regime in the 80s. This particular song focuses on America’s ongoing involvement in foreign wars which frankly they should not have been anywhere near!

My last song choice for this post is the very topical “Same Love” from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. A slow hip hop style song about being gay. In my opinion this is one of the finest rap protest songs that has been released for some time. It also helps to prove that rap can handle gay issues. It is a long way removed from the Tom Robinson Band‘s late 70s gay anthem “Glad To Be Gay” but no less powerful. If any budding songwriters are reading this and you have a protest song you’d like me to air, you know where I am. I would also love to hear from you with your own protest song suggestions.

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“You can turn this world around and bring back all of those happy days” February 8, 2012

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 8:32 pm
Tags: Glastonbury, Haus of Gaga, Holiday, Just Dance, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Marvin Gaye, Super Bowl, Twitter, You Sure Love To Ball

Madonna announced her new world tour shortly after her triumphant appearance at the Super Bowl on Sunday. It’s currently 50 dates including two in the UK and kicking off in Israel in May. Interestingly the supposed pretender to her Madgness’s throne HRH Lady Gaga published details of the stage set for her world tour on Twitter shortly afterwards. Was this part of the grand design, pure chance or was it just dance?

The Gaga set seems to feature a large castle with plenty of walkways into the audience. She also describes an area surrounded by those walkways as the monster pit. This is where her most ardent followers, those she calls her little monsters will want to head for. Particularly as some of those will be specially selected by Haus of Gaga to come backstage later to meet HRH Gaga in person. But the monster pit will only be for those fans who have ‘arrived first, waited all night, + dressed to ‘ball”.

Would I want to be penned in with all those who have waited all night? Maybe not, it could be a bit smelly couldn’t it, especially if any of her little monsters decide to copy her meat dress. But then again at least there would be plenty to snack on. As for being dressed to ball; is it just me or does that suggest a sexual interaction? The phrase to ‘ball’ was a 70s phrase for sex wasn’t it? There was even a track on Marvin Gaye‘s classic album ‘Let’s Get It On‘ called “You Sure Love To Ball”

So let me rethink. Do I want to spend a couple of hours hemmed in close to a Gaga fanatic (they were the first to arrive don’t forget) dressed in rotting flesh and ready for sex? Well I suppose that just depends on who it is doesn’t it. Are you listening Catwoman? Will you be wearing the ham and bacon when I get home? I hope so, but don’t do anything rash(er) though.

Click here to read about Madonna’s tour and click here to read about Lady Gaga’s tour.

And to finish here’s a little Billy bonus…………”You Sure Love To Ball” from the late, great Marvin Gaye.

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“With your bonuses and expenses you shovelled down your throat. Now you bit the hand that fed you Dear God I hope you choke” January 3, 2012

I’d like to thank my friend Stuart O’Hara for suggesting the theme of this post. Edwyn Collins once said ‘too many protest singers, not enough protest songs’. Strangely that was a lyric from his 90s hit “A Girl Like You” which doesn’t seem to be a protest song itself. That dear reader is the thrust of this blog post; where are all the protest singers and protest songs? The world economy is collapsing, riot and revolution is rife, wars and indiscriminate bombings are commonplace and UK politics is at best inept and the USA is trillions of dollars in debt and dancing with the idea of electing an idiotic republican candidate far more stupid than even Dubya was. So where are all the protests from the music world?

Aside from the fact that a legitimate protest song would probably not get played on mainstream radio and would need to ‘go viral’ on-line, where the hell are they? Where are this generation’s Woody Guthries, Pete Seegers, Bob Dylans and Billy Braggs? OK I know there have been a few good attempts since the Specials summed up Britain in song in 1981 with “Ghost Town”. Notably “Killing In The Name Of” from Rage Against The Machine and perhaps “American Idiot” from Green Day. But what happened to the establishment/ ‘the man’ being scared of rock music? It’s all become too corporate and bland.

U2 and Coldplay have tried to use their muscle to protest against various wrongs in the world, but frankly are their hearts really in it? Radiohead have supported the free Tibet campaign amongst others, but could they do more? Dylan is getting too old, Bragg doesn’t have the fanbase size required (but is still flying the flag), Springsteen and Weller have been quiet of late on the protest front and Marvin Gaye, Marley, Lennon and Strummer are sadly no longer with us.

The environment must be right for a new movement to shake up the old order just like punk did in the 70s and rave and grunge did in the 80s and 90s. The charts are stuffed full of manipulated, impresario created pop muppets; Little Mix, Matt Cardle, Olly Murs etc. It is time to stand up and be counted good people of the blogosphere. We need some strong protest songs to unite all those fighting for freedom and change. Let’s shake up that complacent bunch of career politicians in Westminster and political ivory towers across the world. Frank Turner, Show Of Hands, Neil Young you can do this we need you now! Will somebody please step forward?