With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

Eric Clapton Is Not God, and He Never Was December 19, 2021

Filed under: News,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 12:50 am
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In the 60s when Eric Clapton was revered by many as one of the greatest living guitarists. Graffiti stating that “Clapton Is God” was seen in numerous locations in London. When Clapton first saw Jimi Hendrix play he was allegedly truly blown away. Apart from the odd gem with Cream and perhaps “Layla” (although it was Duane Allman who was mostly responsible for that iconic lick), I believe that Clapton’s solo output has been somewhat mediocre. I saw him at the Royal Albert Hall in the 90s and my conclusion then was that he was a good guitar player with an ok voice and not many great songs. Perhaps the nadir arrived earlier this year in his collaboration with fellow Covid anti-vaxxer, or at least vaccine sceptic, Van Morrison. In June under the name Slowhand & Van he released a song called “The Rebels”. It was pretty atrocious in my view. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse they released “This Has Gotta Stop” in September. If you wish to check out more dire recordings search for Van Morrison’s “No More Lockdown”. So that you can see how poor both songs are the videos are included in this post. Yes, I recognise the irony of giving such crap airtime, but I thought it was appropriate for this post. I would be happy to step out from behind my computer screen and debate this.

Clapton has a history of racism, his drunken rant on stage at a UK gig in 1976 where he asked foreigners to put their hands up. He then told them they should leave, stating “Not just leave the hall, leave our country… I don’t want you here, in the room or in my country, The Black w—s and c—s and Arabs and f—ing Jamaicans don’t belong here, we don’t want them here,” This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any Black w—s and c—s living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome.” This racist rant concluded with Clapton calling England a white country made for white people. This rant went some way to help start the whole Rock Against Racism movement. He has addressed this attitude in at least one interview, although to be fair that was with the Daily Mail. He described himself in the ’70s as a “semi-racist” and said that he was “so ashamed of who I was” at the time. He also said that he once dated a Black woman, had Black friends, and said that he “championed Black music.” That old chestnut of racists, “I have black friends” really doesn’t wash Mr. Clapton, particularly 42 years after the original statement. Thanks to Clapton’s Covid related views acclaimed guitarist and decent human being Robert Cray has pulled out of touring with him.

The icing on the cake arrived this week when it was reported that Clapton’s lawyers had sued a woman who was selling a live compilation CD of Clapton playing in the 80s entitled ‘Live USA’ which she said her husband had purchased from a German department store years ago. According to the lawyers it was a bootleg recording. The woman now has to pay legal costs of nearly £3,000 for a CD that she was offering for sale at less than £10. Clapton, through his lawyers, claims that bootlegging is rife and that he has been unable to earn during Covid. Seriously? Wobble your head, Clapton, this woman was really taking nothing from you with a cheap CD of recordings that to my knowledge have never been commercially released. Click here to read the full report in the Guardian. I can no longer bear to listen to Clapton’s music, nor Van Morrison and for that matter Ian Brown and Morrissey too. If Clapton really was God then he has made a shit job of it!

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12 Days To Christmas – Day 4 – Jackie Wilson December 16, 2017

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:00 am
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The 16th December, oh boy the big bearded weirdy in the red coat is not far away now is he? So it is now day four of my blogs twelve days to Christmas post with the theme this year being famous people from history in songs. Today it is a song about Souls and R & B legend, the late, great Jackie Wilson. Wilson was born in Detroit in June 1934 and died in 1984 aged just 49. He had collapsed with a massive heart attack on stage in 1975 and was in a coma for 8 months. He was semi comatose for the rest of his life. He was known as Mr Excitement and had 14 US top 20 hits. His only UK number one was the posthumous re-release of “Reet Petite” from 1957 in 1986.

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The opening track on Van Morrison’s 1972 album ‘Saint Dominic’s Preview’ honoured Wilson and was called “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile)”. Morrison often noted the influence of Wilson on his vocal styling. It has been covered by many other artists, notably Dexy’s Midnight Runners for their 1982 album ‘Too-Rye-Ay’. It was released as a single by the band and made it to number 5 in the UK singles chart in 1982. It remains the band’s last top 10 hit in the UK to date and it was the follow up to their worldwide smash hit “Come On Eileen”

 

Martha Reeves & the Vandellas – Fibbers, York – Tuesday 13th December 2016 December 21, 2016

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:47 pm
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I last saw Martha Reeves many years ago, maybe late 70s or early 80s I guess. Probably in some cheesy nightclub in Luton or Dunstable. No doubt it was accompanied by chicken in a basket. While my memory of that night is not too clear I do recall that her singing voice was superb. So the opportunity to see her again in my adopted home town was not one that I was going to miss, especially at Fibbers which is a fantastic little venue. But before I talk about the magnificent Miss Martha Reeves let me tell you about the very talented support act. Eve Simpson is a singer songwriter from Newcastle with a collection of heartfelt, heartwarming and powerful songs. She sang them beautifully accompanied just by her acoustic guitar. I was captivated by this exceptionally bright performer. She put on a great show in spite of some of the audience being more interested in talking throughout her set. I always find it strange when people ignore a support act, but hey to each their own. Those talkers missed a treat! I was lucky enough to speak to Eve and her Mum and they are both lovely ladies. I bought a copy of Eve’s EP ‘Shelter’ and I have played it at least a dozen times already. You really need to check out Eve.

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Anyway so the main event is clearly what everyone was here for Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Martha was making music from around the time that I was born and had their first chart action when I was still only four years old. If I have half the energy that Martha has when I am 75 I will be ecstatic. She was on stage for around 90 minutes, with the Vandellas who are now made up of two of her sisters; Lois and Delphine Reeves. The band was a really tight and skilled unit too. Martha really knows how to work an audience and her between song chat was highly entertaining.

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All the classic Motown hits were on show including; “Come And Get These Memories” and “Nowhere To Run”. My particular highlight was a stunning version of my favourite Martha and the Vandellas song, “(Love Is Like A) Heatwave”. But “Dancing In The Street” was a very close second. To hear Martha sing that song live really exposes how embarrassing the Bowie and Jagger version was in 1985. The audience pretty much danced the whole night long, I certainly did, spending most of my time right in front of the stage. The song that brought out the best ‘dance like nobody is watching’ moment in me was definitely “Jimmy Mack” and their superb run through of the Jackie Wilson classic “Higher And Higher”. Their version of Marvin Gaye’s gorgeous “What’s Going On” was beautiful in its extended jazz jam style too. The most emotional point was, I think, the stunning and soulful “No One There” which was written by Johnny Bristol.

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At the end of the show Martha, Lois and Delphine came out to meet the fans and sign some photographs and CDs. Obviously I wasn’t going to miss that. I had them all sign the two CDs and group picture that I bought. I was also able to have a little chat with Martha herself. I thanked her for the show and told her how impressed I was that she was drinking a pint of Guinness. I also told her that I have always felt that her version of Van Morrison‘s “Wild Night” is in my opinion the best ever cover of a Van Morrison song. She gave me a big smile for that! I for one will definitely being going to see Martha the next time she tours in the UK and I suggest that you do the same. You will not be disappointed!

 

“I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon” November 29, 2012

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 8:31 pm
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Based upon information released recently it is alleged that the US Government had planned to blow up the moon in the late 50s as a means of intimidating their nemesis in the Cold War, the Soviet Union. After the Russians effectively took the lead in the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik in 1957 it was apparently believed that a show of strength like blowing up the moon would really scare the Russians. Apparently it was called ‘A Study of Lunar Research Flights’ or ‘Project A119‘. Even that sounds a little James Bond like doesn’t it?

It really does seem like a crackpot scheme and it is unlikely at the time that anyone possessed enough in their nuclear arsenal to actually complete the task. At best it might have left the man in the moon looking more like the elephant Man and the satellite’s surface covered in high levels of radiation. In addition any debris that fell to earth would almost certainly have been radioactive as well.

I wonder if this idea came from the same think tank that thought of the idea of using an explosive cigar to blow up Fidel Castro or to rig the voting in Florida in 2000 in favour of Dubya. Ooops wait a minute that second one was true wasn’t it? had it happened then Neil Armstrong probably wouldn’t have been there to utter his famous ‘one step for man’ line. But then again maybe it did happen and didn’t work very well other than to make the moon radioactive. That would certainly give more credence to those people who believe the moon landings were faked and took place in a film studio directed by Stanley Kubrick.

I’d love to know what you think of this incredibly stupid, yet potentially real plan of  Eisenhower’s government. Bearing in mind that his Vice President was Tricky Dicky Nixon, maybe it isn’t surprising! Anyway as I have said many times before so here are a few songs that may not have happened or certainly wouldn’t have been the same had the moon been blown to smithereens, feel free to add your own moon related songs.

Apologies but there are two kiddie fiddlers for the price of one on this next one!

And finally a special Billy Bonus, my favourite track from Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark side Of The Moon’; “Brain Damage”

 

“And you know I’m so wired up I don’t need any more tea in my cup” July 30, 2012

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 9:06 pm
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This post is my 501st, so I thought to myself what can I do to celebrate such a milestone? Actually the 500th post would have been a better one to celebrate but I missed that with all the excitement of the Olympics clouding my view. So is the number 501 meaningful in any way? well yes it is; it’s the score that most darts matches count down from. So does that help me come up with a theme for a celebratory 501st post on this blog? A darts theme on a music blog? Is it possible? Can it be done? Will this idiot stop rambling and get on with it? Well indeed I will. Welcome to my special darts themed post to celebrate issue 501! Let me add that when I say darts-themed I do mean that in the loosest sense possible!

So I thought I’d choose three darts related songs, one to represent each of three darts used in every turn at the oche. With the first dart I have hit, rather obviously, Darts the group. This band had quite a bit of chart action in the late 70s. They had a run of seven consecutive UK top 20 hits from 1977 to 1979. This included three that stalled at number two, sadly this meant they never reached the top spot. Those nearly number ones were; “Come Back My Love”, “The Boy From New York City” and “It’s Raining”, all from 1977. Their cover of the classic “Duke Of Earl” was produced by none other than Roy Wood off of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. Another glam period connection is that Rob Davis the guitarist from Mud was briefly a Dart. That was before he went on to reach amazing heights as a songwriter including song such as Kylie’s “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”. The song I have chosen from Darts is one that also sums up summer so far in the UK this year; “It’s Raining”

For my second dart I am selecting Franz Ferdinand, the band as opposed to the famous Archduke. Their first single was released in 2003 and was called “Darts Of Pleasure“. Interestingly it was released on the Domino label, another popular pub game. Alex Kapranos of the band has said in interviews that the song is actually about seduction and that the darts of pleasure that hit you are in fact words. It was written by Kapranos and band colleague Nick McCarthy. The single peaked at number 44 in the UK charts in 2003. however their follow-up, the festival friendly “Take Me Out” was a smash. It was their biggest UK hit reaching the heady heights of number three. It also made the top twenty in Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, along with a creditable number 66 on the US Billboard chart. So now you can enjoy “Darts Of Pleasure”

For my last dart I had no other option in my opinion other than Dexys Midnight Runners. In 1982 the band released a cover version of Van Morrison’s song in praise of the late, great Jackie Wilson; “Jackie Wilson Said” (I’m In Heaven When You Smile)” The song reached number 5 in the UK charts, Morrison’s version was never a hit in the UK but did make the US top 75. Dexys played the song on the BBC’s Top Of The Pops show in 1982 and the screen behind them displayed a picture of darts player Jocky Wilson rather than supreme soul singer Jackie Wilson. For many years it was thought that this was a cock-up on the part of the Top Of The Pops production team. However Kevin Rowland has subsequently revealed that it was the band who asked for a picture of Jocky Wilson. Apparently they often referred to the song as Jocky and if this is true it just goes to prove that underneath that supposedly serious demeanour Mr Rowland has a damned good sense of humour! So here is my final dart, hitting a double top to win with a classic from Dexys!

 

“You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it” October 2, 2011

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 10:37 pm
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Apparently Queen‘s “We Are The Champions” is the catchiest song ever according to researchers from Goldsmiths University and the University of York (my hometown folks!). Now that sounds like a cushy job to me. Anyway the researchers observed a large number of people singing various songs and determined that there are four key components that make a catchy song; Long and detailed musical phrases, multiple pitch changes in a song’s ‘hook’, male vocalists, and higher male voices making a noticeable vocal effort. So bad news for all the great female singers then and whatever happened to a song being catchy if you heard your milkman or postman whistling it?

The rest of the top 10 looked like this;

2 “YMCA” – Village People – a song I really dislike

3 “Fat Lip” – Sum 41 – good song, but I’m surprised it made the top 3

4 “The Final Countdown” – Europe – another one of my least favourite songs

5 “Monster” – The Automatic – yep can’t disagree with that one!

6. ‘Ruby’, The Kaiser Chiefs – very catchy indeed
7. ‘I’m Always Here’, Jimi Jamison – wtf?

8. ‘Brown Eyed Girl‘, Van Morrison – a worthy choice

9. ‘Teenage Dirtbag‘, Wheatus  – I always sing along to this
10. ‘Livin’ on a Prayer‘, Bon Jovi – and this too

What do you think that the catchiest song ever is?

 

Little Comets – Fibbers, York 17th March 2009 March 18, 2009

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 8:49 pm
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OK it’s nearly a month since my last gig review so I thought I’d better get back out there again. Gigs at Fibbers are usually well worth it and tonight was no exception, four bands for £5 that’s a real bargain especially as they were all pretty good or better. Fibbers is a good venue but when will they move into this century and start accepting plastic over the bar? OK rant over and let’s move on to those all important bands, in order of appearance of course!

The Waking Hours

As usual and like many before me I often see a band and try and work out their influences and sometimes just what or who they might sound like. For me these guys have elements of 60’s Garage Rock, some early Van Morrison in his Them days, indie (although I admit that is such a wide description nowadays) and one of their songs seemed to have a very U2ish sound with it’s ‘edge-like’ guitars. Overall a great sound from an excellent band. I would also like to give a special mention to their drummer, one of the best I’ve seen in quite a while. Shades of John Bonham (although perhaps not quite as loud) and Animal from the Muppets (and I do mean that in a nice way). remember that Animals licks were provided by a very experienced drummer. Anyway click here to check out the band on their MySpace page

Swimwear Juniors

Tonight’s bands were all nicely different which is always a good thing I think. The Juniors (am I allowed to refer to them like that? After all everyone knows the Grateful Dead as the Dead!). They seem to be a real fun almost party band, like the Pigeon Detectives if they weren’t so automated and actually had a personality. Unlike the PDs the Juniors have oodles of personality and come across like a band cloned from the best bits of the Arctic Monkeys and the Housemartins with a special extra added secret ingredient (and before you ask I don’t know what that ingredient is ok). They also had the wit and personality to pull off something that many of their peers wouldn’t dream of, a few bars of the Wurzels “Combine Harvester” between songs. Thankfully not the whole of that ‘classic’ song though! Overall an excellent set from Swimwear Juniors (I thought I’d be polite and use their full name for the final sentence!). OK so click here to check these guys out now and I mean RIGHT now on MySpace!

Soft Toy Emergency

This is the second time I’ve seen Soft Toy Emergency and oh boy what a great band, absolutely awesome, no I’ll correct that they were truly fucking awesome! If these guys are not playing mega gigs by 2010 then it will only be because the sun has gone supernova and turned into a black hole (ok my science is poor but who cares?). They are a genre defying band, you can’t label this excellent combination of fun, danceability, punk spirit and pop sensibility. They would blow most of the dull indie kids away at festivals like the Carling at Reading and Leeds. If this band appears near you and you do not go and see them I will personally ensure that you are forced to listen to nothing but Westlife for the rest of your days! So if you really aren’t keen on that kind of punishment check out this superb Liverpool band on MySpace by clicking here……… well, what are you waiting for….. DO IT NOW

Little Comets

Personally I would not have fancied taking the stage after a band like Soft Toy Emergency, it would take an excellent band to make a good job of it. These boys from Newcastle made more than just a good job of it, they were bloody good. In fact don’t let the name fool you these guys are bloody great big bright comets. They have some excellent songs and know how to work their audience. For me the nearest comparison I could come up with would be a bit like Vampire Weekend with extra added funk and English sensibility. I will definitely go and see them again! You MUST check them out on MySpace and also their excellent band site too. When I say MUST I bloody mean MUST ok!

OK that’s the review over and so far I haven’t reviewed a shit band, although I’m sure that day will come! I’d also like to give a special mention to two special ladies; Catwoman and Charlie who did the most amusing drunken dancing during the Little Comets set. Another special mention goes to Simon P who managed to get me a Soft Toy Emergency CD which I missed out on last month. And finally a special thank you to the doorman for asking me if I had any ID, you made this old bloke very happy ta very much!

 

 
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