On February 28th 1981 the Who released their first single since the death of drummer, Keith Moon, who died in 1978. Former Faces and Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones, took Moon’s place behind the drums. The song was called “You Better You Bet”. The single peaked at Number 9 in the UK and Number 18 in the US. MTV was launched on 1st August 1981, “You Better You Bet” was the fourth video played on the channel.
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I must confess that National Album Day, which has been running for 7 years, has kind of passed me by. I am much more keen on Record Store Day. It feels like just a chance for the major labels to reissue loads of back catalogue under the guise of a special day. Yes, I know there is an element of that on Record Store Day. But RSD is targetted at independent record stores, not the likes of HMV. On top of that releases are generally quite limited which makes the whole day more interesting in my opinion. It seems that not too many independent labels are involved in National Album Day compared to RSD. The theme of the day today, 19th October is British Groups.
Back in 2019, I celebrated the tenth anniversary of With Just A Hint Of Mayhem, and part of that celebration was a list of my top ten favourite albums. I have extended that to a top 25 and ignored the British Groups theme (although my list does include 8 British Groups). These are simply my favourite albums of all time! What are yours?
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 Diamond Dogs – David Bowie – My favourite Bowie album changes depending on my mood, but more often than not it is the dystopian tale of Halloween Jack and Hunger City 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 The Kick Inside – Kate Bush – Choosing the best Catherine Bush album is very difficult, but I go back to this one regularly. 5 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. 6 What’s Going On? – Marvin Gaye – Probably the best protest and message album in history and one which is sadly still very pertinent today 7 Delilah Bon – Delilah Bon – possibly the finest debut album of the century so far 8 The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill – Lauryn Hill – is a great modern R&B record which makes Beyonce look like an amateur 9 The White Room – KLF – dance, trance, chill, weirdness. This has everything. But they should have paid PP Arnold! 10 24 Carat Diamond Trephine – Avalanche Party – Without a doubt, the greatest living UK band right now 11 Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy – Elton John – In my opinion this autobiographical masterpiece is easily the greatest album Reg Dwight ever made 12 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. 13 Abbey Road – Beatles – I love many albums from the Fab Four, but this is the one I always come back to. 14 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! 15 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. 16 Back To Black – Amy Winehouse – stunning voice, sensational performance, what a sad loss to the world 17 Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morrisette – A wonderful album with not a duff track in sight. She never surpassed this, but how can you beat perfect? 18 Ramones – Ramones – The high point and possibly the birth of punk, certainly in the USA 19 Songs In The Key Of Life – Stevie Wonder – So good I can forgive him for that bloody awful “I Just Called To Say I Love You” 20 Quadrohphenia – The Who – An absolute opus which I believe knocks the pants off Tommy 21 London Calling – The Clash – The album that showed they were not just a punk band 22 Sign O’ The Times – Prince – Forget Purple Rain. This was Prince’s Mona Lisa 23 The Lexicon Of Love – ABC – I often feel that music was really overproduced in the 80s. But this is sublime 24 Grace – Jeff Buckley – another great talent we lost too young. This is a monumental magnum opus 25 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.
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On 14th August in 1976 ‘So It Goes’ by Nick Lowe became the first record released on Stiff Records. The label was set up off the back of a £400 loan. Their marketing and advertising was often very witty describing itself as “The World’s Most Flexible Record Label”. Other slogans were “We came. We saw. We left”, and, my favourite, “If It Ain’t Stiff, It Ain’t Worth a Fuck”.
In 2006, also on 14th August Boy George was sweeping streets in New York as part of a five-day community service sentence. He was moved into a fenced-off area after a short while as the media tried to mob him. The singer had been found guilty of wasting police time earlier that year and was threatened with jail if he failed to complete the court-imposed sentence.
In 1971, on August 14th, the Who released their fifth studio album ‘Who’s Next’. The cover shows a photo of the band apparently having just taken a leak on a large concrete pillar, but according to photographer Ethan Russell, most of the band members were unable to pee, so rainwater was tipped from an empty film canister to achieve the desired effect.
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I know it is hard to believe but With Just A Hint Of Mayhem has been with you for fifteen years. We began on 9th February 2009 with a tiny pffft sound and one day we might make that huge bang! Thank you to every single one of you who has visited, liked, commented, or participated in this endeavor! I thought an appropriate way to celebrate was with fifteen songs with 15 in their title, so without further ado, blow out those 15 candles, get your party trousers on, and feel free to sing me a happy birthday tune of your choice!!!!
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The Mayhem Artist Top 20 artist chart for June 2022 is here. Many of you know that I am a keen user of a site called Obscurify. It claims to tell you how obscure your listening on Spotify is. Compared to the rest of the UK I achieved a level of 97% more obscure than other users in the UK this month, one point up from last month’s 96%. Regular readers will know that it also lists my most obscure artists, which currently are;
Promethium (The British metal titans are back on the list!)
Johnny Nash (Seriously, why is the greatest singer that ever lived listed as obscure?)
Apollo Junction (An absolutely brilliant band from Leeds, very nice lads too)
Vaquelin (One of York’s finest young bands. You will be hearing more about them on this site soon)
Millie Manders and the Shut Up (Fabulous ska-punk outfit, but they are so much more than that. Millie has huge talent and a fantastic band) – Check out the “Not OK” video below
As for the June Top 20, only Dame David remains from the last chart, but this time he climbs from number six back up to the top of the pile. This was probably driven by me being at the David Bowie World Fan Convention in Liverpool a few weeks ago. That wonderful visit also accounts for French artist -M- (at number 10) who the supremely wonderful human being that is Gail Ann Dorsey is working with, the marvellous Donny McCaslin sitting at number six and the late, great Mick Ronson at eleven. There is a good amount of soul this month, including Aretha Franklin, Millie Jackson, and Mel & Tim. Reggae is represented by Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Upsetters, and the Dynamites. Given his history, Johnny Nash could be represented in the soul or reggae camp. There are plenty of classic rock artists including the Beatles, Rolling Stones, T Rex, and the Who. More recent classic acts are well represented by the Wonder Stuff and Suede. Kate Bush is in at number sixteen and I haven’t even seen Stranger Things 4 yet! Half Man Half Biscuit are in there because I went to see them with my mate John at leeds Uni Stylus. Cigarettes After Sex are at number seven. I planned to see them while I was on a business trip to Bologna, but things conspired against me so, sadly I missed them. I would love to hear your thoughts on this chart. Oh and keep your eyes open for the fourth Mayhem Monthly Song Chart, just like an old-school top 20 singles chart! That one includes songs by a few of the artists featured in the June Artist Chart.
1 David Bowie 2 The Wonder Stuff 3 Johnny Nash 4 Aretha Franklin 5 Millie Jackson 6 Donny McCaslin 7 Cigarettes After Sex 8 Suede 9 Half Man Half Biscuit 10 -M- 11 Mick Ronson 12 Bob Marley and the Wailers 13 The Upsetters 14 The Dynamites 15 Mel and Tim 16 Kate Bush 17 Beatles 18 T Rex 19 The Who 20 Rolling Stones
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I once again had the pleasure of attending a gig set up by the fabulous Northern Radar a.k.a Simon Pattinson. It was at the Crescent in York a new community venue that I have not been to before. As usual with Simon’s shows the quality was top-notch. I have been to many gigs arranged by Simon and so far there has not been a bad one. No pressure for next time then Simon! Tonight’s bill featured two bands that I have seen before and two that were new to me. Incidentally it was great to catch up with Jordan Bell off of Avalanche Party, Mike Harrison, Joe Alexander and obviously Mr Pattinson himself.
The proceedings were kicked off by the majestic power trio known as Blind Eye who I have seen before, the boys were fresh from recording their EP at a studio in Manchester. They gave us a couple of new songs that in a few years I am sure will be seen as Blind Eye classics; “Stained Glass Windows” and “Vultures”. Along with some of their older songs they also performed one of their customary covers, this time it was a thunderous run through of the Beatles classic “Come Together”. They even managed to incorporate a few lines of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” into the song. This band is truly fucking awesome, their EP I am sure will be off the scale good.
OK now I want you to imagine a band that is a cross between the Velvet Underground with all of Andy Warhol’s arty-farty stuff removed and then crossed with Nirvana. Can you picture that? Good now think of that band’s drummer being a reincarnated John Bonham (not because they look the same but that they share the same pounding power. Do you have the picture in your mind? Can you imagine the sound that such a band would make? Excellent because that band Ladies and Gentlemen is the Mall Rats. A brilliant band whose closing song “Plunge Pool” was one of the most moshtastic of the whole evening.
The third act on tonight was another York band that I have seen before, the truly stupendous Broken Skulls. These two brothers come across like the Kings Of Leon genetically spliced with Royal Blood and then injected with a massive testosterone booster. How can two people make such a loud but beautiful noise? I really don’t know but they do. Maybe we need to ask them how they do it. Anyway it would be fair to say that they really owned the stage during their set.
I have not had the pleasure of witnessing a show by the Black Lagoons before tonight so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Even more so when I cast my eyes on the band for the first time. The majority of them have probably never seen a razor. Not because they are hirsute with resplendent facial hair but because I don’t believe that some of them have started shaving yet. But don’t let that put you off, for whatever age they are, and frankly I don’t care, they are a stunning live act. What do they sound like? That is a difficult question to answer, but it is almost as though they have invented a new genre of music which I will call Prog Punk (or possibly Punk Prog). These lads can only get better in my opinion and they are very damned good already. I tried to imagine the Queens Of The Stone Age as a school band and that captured a degree of what the Black Lagoons are. On top of that they have a reborn Keith Moon on drums and the coolest, most serious faced bass player since John Entwistle. I recommend that you check out all of tonight’s bands. No wait I don’t recommend that you do it, I order you to do it!
Public Service announcement all the pictures were taken by me and the videos are courtesy of YouTube. However I couldn’t find a Mall Rats video, so if you can send me the link to one then feel free to do so 🙂
December 11th, what a kinky day this is going to be. It is day 11 in this years advent calendar blog post series which regular readers will know is the ABC of British bands. The 11th letter of the alphabet is ‘K’ so todays band is the Kinks and that is why it is a Kinky day!
Brothers Ray and Dave Davies along with friend Pete Quaife formed the band in Muswell Hill, London in 1963. In spite of the sometimes acrimonious relationship between the Davies brothers the band kept going for more than 30 years before finally calling it a day in 1996. The band had their first UK chart hit in 1964 with “You Really Got Me” which went to number one. This song is often credited with being the first heavy metal riff. (Although the phrase ‘heavy metal’ was allegedly first heard a few years later in the lyrics of Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild”). The Kinks had two further UK number one singles; “Tired Of Waiting” in 1965 and “Sunny Afternoon” in 1966. They also climbed to the top of the singles charts in Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Belgium and New Zealand. I can only assume that the band were a little too English for the Americans. Their first US singles chart hit came in 1981.
Ray and Dave Davies were the 7th and 8th children in their family, the first six were all girls. Their sister Rene died on Ray’s 13th birthday. She had given him his first guitar as a present that day. The band took their name after hearing the word kinky used in British 1960s TV show ‘The Avengers’. Pete Townshend off of the Who once said that Ray Davies was his favourite songwriter of all time. Whilst Marianne Faithfull said that Ray was ‘Very Gothic, creepy and silent. Uptight and fearful of everyone’. Either way I am definitely a fan of the Kinks and I would like you to take some time out to enjoy a selection of their best songs.
I finally got to see the Who play live on Tuesday 2nd December 2014 at the First Direct Arena in Leeds. I have always been a little reluctant to see them given that two key members; John Entwistle and Keith Moon are no longer with us. But my good friend John Williams convinced me to go by describing the band as one of the greatest bands to see before they die! The Standard Lamps filled the support slot very well. Clearly an accomplished band that sound retro with touches of perhaps the Jam and Ocean Colour Scene.
The Who started as they clearly meant to go on with “I Can’t Explain” followed by “Substitute”. This was a set list overloaded with Who classics including many of my favourites; “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, “Behind Blue Eyes”, “Pinball Wizard”, “Magic Bus”, “Who Are You” and “Baba O’Riley”. For me the peak was “5:15” which is my favourite ever Who song from 1973’s classic album ‘Quadrophenia’. There were even outings for the somewhat underplayed “Join Together” and “Squeeze Box” among many, many more.
There was an amazing film clip of John Entwistle’s magnificent bass playing and film and vocals of Keith Moon’s “Bell Boy” again from ‘Quadrophenia’. There was even time for a live rendition of the mini rock opera “A Quick One While He’s Away“. The band was on stage for well over two hours and the band very ably supported Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. For me the stand out players were Pino Palladino on bass and Zak Starkey who was truly magnificent on drums.
Daltrey was having a few problems with his ear monitors. I don’t know if that resulted in the lack of an encore or whether one wasn’t planned. So we had no “My Generation”. But that really made no difference to what was an amazing show. I am certainly glad that I went.
Please note that none of the pictures or video used in this blog was taken by me.
Unfortunately I was unable to attend last years Apollo Festival so I was quite excited about this one. On another unfortunate note for various reasons I ended up having to miss the set from Reverend and the Makers who headlined the day. But I did get to see absolutely loads of great music and I do hope to be back next year. This time for the full day!
I spent the day with my wonderful wife Catherine (regular readers will know her as Catwoman and our good friends Caron and John and their beautiful daughter Amelia. Catwoman and me are Odd parents to Amelia. the first stage we visited was the Access To Music Stage. Ruby was playing when we arrived, she looked very young, but she was also very, very good. Her own material had some very mature lyrics for someone so young and she even made an Olly Murs song sound good when she covered “Troublemaker”. We stayed in place to see the next act; Laura. Does nobody bother with surnames any more? Laura has an excellent voice and some great songs of her own. She also played two well-chosen and extremely well done covers. The first was the Beatles “Blackbird” and she finished her set with a storming acoustic cover of the Gnarls Barkley modern classic “Crazy”.
We wandered over to the Main Stage next where we saw We Could Be Astronauts last song. It was a pity that we weren’t able to see more because these guys sound bloody good! Redstar from Huddersfield were next and it would be difficult to find any fault with this superb band. Their playing is on the button and really tight. The vocalist has all the traits of a great front man and he backs that up with a great rock voice. Their songs are pretty damned good too. I reckon there may be some Kasabianesque influences in there and they made me think of what Beady Eye could have been had Liam retained any talent. But that is small stuff, they are very much their own band. The free CD album they handed out to us punters is brilliant and has been on heavy rotation in my car since the show. Chris Helme former singer of John Squire‘s first post Stone Roses project the Seahorses was next. he is clearly a talented bloke with a good voice but I found him a little dull.
It was back to the Access To Music Stage next where we saw the fabulous Barcode Zebra. probably the funkiest band of the day. A truly stupendous rhythm section and a vocalist for whom a description of awesome might not be quite enough. They are playing in York at a launch of their new EP in July and sadly I will be away that weekend. I would definitely pay to see this band again. also if you’re reading this good people of Barcode Zebra I would love to do an interview with you for this blog!
The Entertainment Co Stage was our next port of call where we found it impossible not to dance and sing along to the curators of that stage; The Entertainment Company! They don’t just play cover versions they own them! Are they the best party band ever? Very probably! shall we book them for Catwoman’s 50th birthday party (yes she doesn’t look even close to 50 does she)? I hope they do private party bookings because I’d love them to play for us in September 2016!
After that it was a return to the Main Stage where we saw the Black Delta Movement. We didn’t catch their whole set but they come across as very accomplished rockers with a swampy blues rock feel. Not bad at all. Former Bluetones frontman the ‘Legendary’ Mark Morriss was on next with a rather brilliant acoustic set. He is wonderfully self-deprecating and even his new songs have an air of classics about them.
Next it was a quick jog back to the Entertainment Co Stage where we were hoping to see the highly recommended And The Hangnails (thank you Mr Pattinson). before they took to the stage those wonderful people from the Entertainment Company had allowed a young singer from LA to play a few songs. His name is Ben Caron and he is soulful and funky. A bit like Bruno Mars but with more of an R & B edge. He has a truly great voice with which he wowed the all too small crowd. I bought his album, a steal at £7 and he struck me as a really good bloke too. You really should check him out. And The Hangails came on the stage and it is fair to say that for just two people they make a massive noise. I don’t mean that in a negative way either, this pair know how to rock. I sensed some influence from the likes of the White Stripes, the Black Keys and the Strokes. Would I pay to see this mighty duo again? Hell yeah!
Target By Numbers were next on the Access To Music Stage. Good musicians and some ok songs, but they really didn’t do it for me. The last band we saw on the day was the Supermodels on the Main Stage. They are a covers band, but to simply say that really doesn’t do them justice. They cover some classic rock songs with such verve and talent that you could almost imagine you were listening to the real thing if your eyes were shut. Their cover of the Who’s “Baba O’Riley” would give Daltrey and Townshend a run for their money. I really want to see them play again. Sadly we had to leave just before the Supermodels left the stage. But although we missed the headliners we had a fantastic day! well done to the organisers and for all the money raised for an excellent cause; the Smiley Riley Fund!
Now the North Korean authorities have decreed that everyone must get a hair cut exactly like their supreme leader Kim Jong-Un, (Actually just male undergradutes to begin with). Really? I know it might sound a little rich coming from a bald bloke like me, but Mr Jong-Un has a shit haircut doesn’t he? Will North Korean women also have to have the same haircut too?
Imagine if every country had that rule I would have worn a wig for years, including a Thatcher syrup (that’s cockney rhyming slang for the benefit of my overseas readers). Nowadays I’d have to seek out a nondescript Cameron cut.
Anyway let’s celebrate this ridiculous news with a haircut themed post. While you are listening click here to read the story on the BBC site.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 