With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

The Mayhem Charts – May 2025 June 19, 2025

Filed under: Mayhem Monthly Chart,Mayhem Top 20 Chart — justwilliam1959 @ 7:48 pm
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Here is the Mayhem chart for May 2025, rather late (just like last month) I know, but better late than never right? Regular readers know the chart is based on my streaming listening habits. These are gathered over the last month by obscurify.com. My taste in music remains 99% more obscure than the rest of the UK! The chart remains contemporary-ish (but if a classic artist releases something new they might feature in the chart). However, last month’s top three “Legacy” artists were David Bowie, the Sweet and the Wombles! What? The Wombles I hear you say. Well yes I interacted with the legendary Mike Batt via his autobiography and an interview. Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to for March and they are Ace Hansel Jr, Dead Rat Society and Kindelan. Bowie, Dead Rat Society and Kindelan have retained their positions from last month.

Dead Rat Society are the top artist for May up from number four in April. Dead Rat Society are one of four acts that remain in the artist chart from last month, along with Millie Manders and the Shutup, Lexi Jones and Greentea Peng. Four artists feature in both the artist chart and the song chart; Dead Rat Society (#1 Artist, #1 and #5 Song), Sparks (#2 Artist and #2 Song), Getdown Services (#3 Artist, #3 Song) and Bruce Springsteen #6 Artist, #4 Song). Robbie Williams makes his first ever appearance in the Mayhem Chart at number 7 in the artist chart. Yes I am now finally a fan! So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the Spotify link below to listen to the famous (or infamous) five! Twenty one minutes of great music!

Mayhem Artist Chart May 2025

1 Dead Rat Society
2 Sparks
3 Getdown Services
4 Greentea Peng
5 Ace Hansel Jr.
6 Bruce Springsteen
7 Robbie Williams
8 Millie Manders and the Shutup
9 Kindelan
10 Lexi Jones

Mayhem Song Chart May 2025

1 Come With Me On A Spaceship – Dead Rat Society
2 A Little Bit Of Light Banter – Sparks
3 Chrysalis – Getdown Services
4 Land Of Hope And Dreams (Live In Manchester) – Bruce Springsteen
5 The Night – Dead Rat Society

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The WJAHOM Interview Podcast – Mike Batt June 3, 2025

Filed under: Interview — justwilliam1959 @ 7:29 pm
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I recently read and reviewed Mike Batt‘s autobiography ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy‘. Mike has had a career full of stellar highs and Stygian lows and he has come through it all and continues to produce some great music. I am sure that many casual music fans will think of Mike as the bloke behind the Wombles incredible collection of hit songs. They would be right, however he has achieved so much more than that. He has worked with such a talented range of people in the rock and pop world, including David Essex, Art Garfunkel, Family, Roger Daltrey, Cliff Richard, Captain Sensible, Hawkwind, Olly Murs, Justin Hayward and the Kursaal Flyers.

I had the privilege of chatting with Mike about the book and his musical career and life journey. Click here to take a listen to the interview. You should check out Mike’s social media presence too, it is always entertaining and incredibly informative.

Facebook, Twitter/ X, YouTube, Threads, Instagram, TikTok and Substack.

You can order a signed copy of the book from Mike’s website, just click here, or from Amazon.

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‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’ – Mike Batt June 1, 2025

Filed under: Book,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 9:44 pm
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I love a good music related autobiography, but I love a great one even more. Mike Batt‘s autobiography, ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy – My Life Of Musical Adventures’, is out now in paperback and it is a truly great read. I put this up there with my favourite musical tale of life ‘Rod : The Autobiography’. Mike Batt has had a career full of stellar highs and Stygian lows and he has come through it all and continues to produce some great music. I am sure that many casual music fans will think of Mike as the bloke behind the Wombles incredible collection of hit songs. They would be right, however he has achieved so much more than that. He has worked with such a talented range of people in the rock and pop world, including David Essex, Art Garfunkel, Family, Roger Daltrey, Cliff Richard, Captain Sensible, Hawkwind, Olly Murs, Justin Hayward and the Kursaal Flyers.

His song writing credits would come close to filling a book in their own right. How about “Bright Eyes” (Art Garfunkel) and “A Winter’s Tale” (David Essex) for starters. He also produced one of my all time favourite singles, “Little Does She Know” by the Kursaal Flyers. But it doesn’t stop there he is a renowned classical conductor and composer who has worked with some of the world’s biggest and most respected orchestras. He has helped break Vanessa Mae and Katie Melua into the mainstream, effectively launching their careers.

He is the man who created a fabulous musical odyssey from Lewis Carroll’s nonsense long poem “The Hunting Of The Snark”. The recording of these songs from the 80s have stood the test of time perfectly, and if it wasn’t for the perhaps jealous bunch of bastards that call themselves theatre critics the stage musical version might well have been a huge success. For me what shines through in this book is Mike’s positivity, even in the face of adversity. Although he has faced some incredibly hard times dealing with the black dog of depression. Now in his eighth decade he is showing no signs of slowing down either.

As a teenager I felt that the Wombles songs just weren’t cool enough for me, but as I got older I realised that I probably wasn’t cool enough for the Wombles. Every Wombles hit has aged incredibly well in my opinion. Particularly “Remember You’re A Womble”. That one sits perfectly in any glam rock playlist from 73-74. I have listened to a massive range of Mike’s work while reading the book. The Wombles of course, but also ‘The Hunting Of The Snark’ and his solo work, I loved delving back into his early solo albums ‘Schizophonia’ (1977) and ‘Caravans’ (1979).

He is a man who once said no to the Queen and still received a very special honour from her. You will find more details of those escapades in the book! He has been a board member on the BPI, the PRS and the Ivors. The world of music is most definitely better off with people like Mike Batt in it. This book is testament to his grit, determination, creativity and talent.

I have followed some of Mike’s activities on social media and as in the book his sense of humour shines through there too. His profile description on Twitter is classy and amusing. “Artist/Singer/Songwriter/Producer/Composer/Director etc. I’ve conducted more orchestras than you can shake a stick at“. There are way too many wonderful anecdotes in the book to mention. But a couple of Womble ones spring to mind. His Mum hand made all the Wombles costumes and he and his wife once dressed as wombles to go to a party at Rod Stewart’s where they serenaded the guests with Christmas carols. Also the piece about not knowing how to do coke at another Rod Stewart party made me chuckle out loud.

If you read just one autobiography this year I strongly recommend that you make it Mike’s book ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’. You will not regret it! It is an easy read and I finished it in two days, so I suppose Mike can add writer to his long list of credits now! You can order the book from Amazon, just click here! Also I had a wonderful chat with Mike about the book earlier today. The audio of that conversation will be appearing here very soon!

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Mayhem’s Unsung Heroes – Betty the Tea Lady at Wessex Studios March 12, 2019

Filed under: Mayhem Unsung Heroes — justwilliam1959 @ 2:32 am
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Betty the lady that made Big Tea with the Boyz That Made Big Noize

This is the first in what I hope will be a reasonably regular feature to give some airtime to those unsung folks that played an important part in music history. Back in July 2017 I posted an article about the recording of the Queen classic “We Will Rock You” after reading a piece in Classic Rock magazine. Click here to read that post. The band and Producer Mike Stone (Edited 25/8/2020 following comment from Sebastian. I had originally stated that Roy Thomas Baker was the producer, he wasn’t) wanted to get a full and powerful stomp to back it up. Everyone in the studio was rounded up to provide that now familiar stomping and clapping refrain, essentially everyone stamped their feet twice and clapped their hands on the offbeat. Incidentally no drums were used on the track. Now not only was everyone in the studio involved but so was Betty the Tea Lady. No one remembers much about her other than her name was Betty, she made the tea at Wessex Sound Studios in North London and that she lived next door to the studio. Well after adding a plea for information about Betty I have heard from two of her five children. Sadly, Betty passed away eleven years ago. However, I had a long and delightful telephone conversation with Betty’s daughter Rosemary. It was Rosemary that drew the short straw and was nominated to do the interview on behalf of herself and her four siblings (a.k.a. “The Other Four”). She walked me through a wonderful potted history of her mother.

Mike Batt at Wessex Studios with the Kursaal Flyers

The studio itself used to be a Sunday School and one of the main recording areas used to be a classroom. It first became a studio in the 1960s and at various times it was owned by Bill Price, songwriter Les Reed, Chrysalis Records and George Martin was a director for a time. Betty worked at Wessex Studios for 27 years after replying to an advert that was posted on a tree. Many famous and successful bands and singers recorded at Wessex including the Sex Pistols, King Crimson, the Clash, Theatre of Hate, XTC, Slade, Queen, Talk Talk, the Rolling Stones, Pete Townshend and The Damned. Betty, who in addition to carrying out the tea lady duties, also covered the reception desk and met many of them. She got on particularly well with King Crimson. There was always a picture of Queen on the serving hatch. According to her daughter Betty was one of those sadly too rare people who have an innate ability to get on with anyone. Betty and her family, she had five kids including one set of triplets, lived in a flat very close to the studio.

Never Mind The Sex Pistols Here’s the Lapsang Souchong

Rosemary said that she sometimes went to the studio to help her Mum and on one occasion Betty asked her to take a tray of tea to the Sex Pistols. Apparently, Rosemary really wasn’t impressed by the band and told her Mum. Betty’s response was that in her experience the Sex Pistols were always very polite and always behaved respectfully towards her. Betty was invited to many award ceremonies as a part of the studio team and to all the studio parties. For one fancy dress party Betty dressed as a punk in bin liners and safety pins. British comedy legend Roy Kinnear filmed some film scenes in Betty’s flat. On another occasion Mike Batt could be found watching The Wombles on the TV in Betty’s flat. Mike, a big cricket fan, bought one of Betty’s sons a cricket bat. People who worked or recorded at the studio really loved Betty. The Singing Nun of “Dominique” fame sang at Rosemary’s wedding. Many of the acts who recorded at Wessex gave Betty a thank you credit on their albums. Slade even named their 1987 album ‘You Boyz Make Big Noize’ after Betty had heard them and uttered that very phrase, albeit probably not spelled the Slade way. Betty loved music and particularly loved to dance. In her younger days she would often visit the Palais. I am sure that Wessex Studios would not have been the same without Betty, she truly is an unsung music history hero!

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