With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

The 12 Days Of Christmas 2021 – Songs Of Hope – Day 5 December 16, 2021

Filed under: Christmas — justwilliam1959 @ 11:07 pm
Tags: , ,

If you have read the posts for the first four days of this series you will know that this year’s 12 Days of Christmas showcases a collection of songs that communicate hope. So far there have been songs from Bill Withers, The Beatles, Johnny Nash, and Bob Marley. At the end of the twelve days, there will be a playlist of all twelve tunes and maybe even some of your choices. These Covid times have been devastating for many and I fear that things may get worse before they get better, I hope in a small way that these song choices brighten your world even just a little. Today it is the turn of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) with “Mr. Blue Sky”. This is a tune that always makes me smile, does it do that for you? Once again let me say, stay strong people, and if you are feeling particularly low talk to someone. I am happy to be here for you if you need me!

If you have enjoyed this article feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

EMail

Are you interested in writing and reviewing for With Just A Hint Of Mayhem? If so then please get in touch.

 

“Robin Hood and William Tell And Ivanhoe and Lancelot” Blog Advent Calendar Day 5 December 5, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:30 am
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

elo-band

December 5th has arrived and it’s therefore day 5 of this years advent blog posts. As you know this years theme is the ABC of British bands, which means today we arrive at the fifth letter of the alphabet; ‘E’. My choice for today is the Electric Light Orchestra a.k.a ELO. The band was initially an offshoot of the Move and they set out to combine orchestral sounds with rock music. It may well have been Roy Wood‘s idea but he left early on to form Wizzard. Meanwhile Jeff Lynne made ELO into a world straddling colossus.

elo07

The band’s first UK hit was “10538 Overture“. The song was originally a b-side for the Move. Wood, Lynne and Bev Bevan (also off of the Move) added orchestral strings to it. After John Lennon heard one of my favourite ELO songs, “Showdown” he began referring to them as Beatles Junior. The band had number one singles across the world; and “Turn To Stone” and “Shine A Little Love” were number one in Canada and “Living Thing” topped the charts in South Africa. Sadly, in my opinion at least, there only UK number one was the rather dreadful “Xanadu” which also featured Olivia Newton John. That song was also a number one in the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland. The band had 15 UK top ten hits in the UK between 1972 and 1981. This was only bettered by their eighteen top ten hits in France from 1972 to 1986.

elo_lineup

So now it’s time for you to enjoy a selection of ELO songs, apologies but I have not included the aforementioned “Xanadu”.

1400602118-elo-logo

 

“Hey you with the pretty face welcome to the human race” October 5, 2012

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 7:26 pm
Tags: , , , , , ,

I am sure that most of you are familiar with the ELO classic “Mr Blue Sky” which reached number 6 in the UK charts in 1978. It was taken from the band’s 1977 double album ‘Out Of The Blue‘. I had always thought that the vocoder part at the end of the song said ‘Mr Blue Sky’s gone’. However as my good friend Stuart O’Hara pointed out, having heard Jeff Lynne interviewed on the One Show on the BBC, it actually says ‘please turn me over’. I can hear you ask why, well the answer is simple. The song was the last track on side one of the second disc of the album and it was an instruction to turn the record over. To those of you who don’t know what records are I would suggest that you ask your parents or your grandparents!

In the meantime enjoy once again an ELO classic and a very happy song indeed!