With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

With Just A Hint Of Mayhem is ten years old! Part 8 February 7, 2019

Filed under: Film,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 10:43 pm
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Well nearly all the candles are blown out on the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 10th birthday cake. Today is day 8 and I am giving you a list of my ten favourite music related films.

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 and yesterday the ten greatest gigs that I have been to. (Click here, here, here, here, here, here and here to view those again). Stay tuned, there are only two top tens to come after this! What will they be? Well sign up, follow or just check out this site regularly to find out! I can tell you that the remaining top tens will be my favourite female artists, my favourite albums and my favourite singles. Yes I know that makes eleven in total, but you’ll get a double whammy on the actually birthday itself 🙂

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

The list of films is not in any order of preference, simply chronological. What is your favourite music related film?

Let It Be (1970) worth it just for the footage of the last live show on the roof of the Apple building
American Graffiti (1973) maybe not really a music film as such, but it evokes a feeling of the early days of rock ‘n’ roll with a soundtrack to die for
Phantom Of The Paradise (1974) Directed by Brian De Palma and scored by Paul Williams. Very underrated in my opinion, it is a rock take on the Phantom Of The Opera
Tommy (1975) Ken Russell goes full wacko in this fabulous cinematic adaptation of the Who’s great opus
The Last Waltz (1978) An epic documentary showcasing the Band’s last concert
Quadrophenia (1979) One of my favourite Who albums turned into a full on story of mods, rockers, clothes, drugs and life
This Is Spinal Tap (1984) The definitive rock mockumentary and still funny even 35 years down the line……. smell the glove!
Almost Famous (2000) If I lived my life again I would do anything that I could to write for Rolling Stone or even the NME
The Filth And The Fury (2000) Julien Temple’s stunning documentary of the rise and fall of the Sex Pistols
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) I really did not want to like this, but I bloody love it!

 

“She used to be a girl of simple pleasures, a breath of spring to chase your blues away” Blog Advent Calendar Day 14 December 14, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:01 am
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Ladies and gentlemen and those that aren’t quite sure it is now December 14th and that means that my Christmas advent blog posts for 2014 have reached Day 14 which in turn means that we are at the letter ‘N’. With that in mind I have decided to pick a band from Scotland for todays ABC of British bands entry. Please allow me to welcome the mighty Nazareth to this post.

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The band formed in 1968 and the original members were Manny Charlton (guitar), Pete Agnew (bass), Darrell Sweet (drums) and Dan McCafferty (tonsil-shredding vocals). The band still tours although Pete Agnew is the only one of the original members still with the band. There are no middle east or biblical overtones to the band’s name. They are named after a town that is mentioned in the classic song “The Weight” from the Band. That town is Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The line is “I pulled in to Nazareth, I was feeling about half past dead”

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The band was probably at its commercial peak in the early 70s when they had three UK top 20 albums from 1973 to 1974. I used to own two of those on vinyl; ‘Razamanaz’ and ‘Loud ‘N’ Proud‘. They also reached the top 20 of the album charts in Norway six times between 1980 and 1989. Their latest album ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Telephone’ has charted in four countries this year; Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Austria. This is probably the last Nazareth album to feature McCafferty’s vocals as he retired due to ill-health last year.

nazareth-website

 

Their biggest success in the UK singles chart was with “Broken Down Angel” which peaked at number 9 in 1973. Their cover of Joni Mitchell‘s “This Flight Tonight” made it to number one in Germany that same year. In 1975 they released a cover version of the classic ballad “Love Hurts” it made it to the top of the charts in Canada and South Africa. Dan McCafferty has released a few solo recordings over the years and his cover of the Rolling Stones “Out Of Time” almost made the UK top 40 in 1975, stalling at number 41, I used to have a vinyl copy of that too. In 1994 Guns ‘N’ Roses covered Nazareth’s “Hair Of The Dog” on their covers album ‘The Spaghetti Incident’. Supposedly Nazareth had previously turned down an invite to play at Axl Rose‘s wedding. They might not have entertained guests at Mr Rose’s wedding, but you can enjoy Nazareth now.

 

“I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin’ about half past dead” October 20, 2013

Filed under: Observation,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 11:33 am
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Apparently Aretha Franklin’s excellent cover of the Band’s equally excellent song “The Weight” featured Duane Allman on slide guitar. The song was recorded at the world-famous Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama. But what I found most interesting is that Duane played slide using an empty bottle of decongestant pills. Personally I thought he was hooked to harder stuff than that!

Is that Vicks that Duane is rubbing in?

Is that Vicks that Duane is rubbing in?

I also feel that a major pharmaceutical marketing opportunity has been passed by. I think rock songs could be used to advertise prescription and over-the-counter products. Imagine that folks, rock music involved with the promotion of drugs! No one will believe that will they? Anyway I thought I’d kick things off with a request for Department S to reform and re-record their big hit “Is Vic There?” as “Is Vicks There?” Or maybe the Belle Stars could record “Sign Of The Times” as “Sinex Of The Times”. What do you think? I would love to hear your ideas for pharmaceutical promotion.

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“If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now” April 26, 2010

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:24 pm
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The book is way better than the film!

As many of you know I am somewhat of a fan of lists, very much like the protagonist in Nick Hornby’s excellent book ‘High Fidelity’ Although I was pretty disappointed that the film was set in the US, were you? So back to those lists, there have been a couple published recently that you might be interested in. I certainly was! 

The first is from UK Radio Station Absolute Classic Rock whose listeners have voted in a poll to identify Britain’s favourite rock songs. I was a little surprised at some of the entries; The Beatles only song in the top ten is “Revolution” and only seven different acts appear in the Top 10. Led Zeppelin get three entries and the Who get two. Obviously I was incredibly disappointed that there was nothing from David Bowie in the final ten. Here is the top 10 and you can click here to go to the Absolute Classic Rock Radio website 

Dangerous Dave representing Freddie and the boys at number three, which is exactly where I hope he is after the election. Another One Bites The Dust perhaps?

1. Led Zeppelin – Stairway To Heaven
2. The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again
3. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
4. Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta love
5. Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water
6. The Who – Baba O’ Reilly
7. Led Zeppelin – Rock n ’ Roll
8. Free – All Right Now
9. The Beatles – Revolution
10. The Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter 

The second of the lists is much more US centric and covers the best debut albums. These were selected by Dave White at About.com:Classic Rock 

‘Are You Experienced’ – Jimi Hendrix Experience 

‘Boston’ – Boston 

‘Can’t Buy A Thrill’ – Steely Dan – actually this is one of my favourite albums of all time as well 

‘The Doors’ – Doors 

‘Eagles’ – Eagles 

‘England’s Newest Hitmakers’ – Rolling Stones 

‘Led Zeppelin’ – Led Zeppelin 

‘Music From Big Pink’ – The Band 

‘Please Please Me’ – Beatles 

‘(pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd’ – Lynyrd Skynrd 

You can click here to see more details about the albums on the list. But where are the Clash and the Pistols? What was your favourite debut album? On reflection mine is probably ‘Grace’ from the late, great Jeff Buckley. Add a comment to let me know your choices