Summary of 2011 in Music

The year in music summed up in 12 sentences!

• January: Adele releases "21" which would go on to became the biggest-selling album of the 21st century, overtaking Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black". 

 

• February: The White Stripes announce that they are to break up whilst Adele is again in the spotlight as she steals the show at the BRIT Awards.

 

• March: Alice Cooper, Tom Waits and Neil Diamond are among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.

 

• April: LCD Soundsystem play last ever gig, their final song at Madison Square Gardens being "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down".

 

• May: Azerbaijan win the Eurovision Song Contest while Jedward and Blue finish 8th and 11th respectively. 

 

• June: U2 and Coldplay headline Glastonbury with a surprise gig from a recently reformed Pulp but it's Beyonce who claims the festival with her Sunday night slot. 

 

• July: Amy Winehouse dies at the age of 27 

 

• August: "Video Games" is posted on Youtube. 

 

• September: REM announced via its website that it was "calling it a day as a band" and PJ Harvey becomes the first artist to win the Mercury Prize twice. 

 

• October: The Stone Roses announce they are to reform at the years most entertaining press conference 

 

• November: The Streets play last gig together but luckily Black Sabbath announce they will reform. 

 

• December: Little Mix wins the X-Factor and sells more copies of their cover of Damien Rice's "Cannonball" in one week than Damien has since he wrote the song!

Top 5 Songs of 2011

Well, that's pretty much the end of 2011 then. Not really a great year for music if you ask me. I'll tell you why I think that. This post was going to be called "Top 10 Songs of 2011" but when I had a think about it I couldn't even come up with 10 songs that really blew me away this year. That's terrible isn't it? On a more positive note though, the songs that did impress me were really so good and some unlike anything I had heard before.

The power of Youtube, Facebook and Twitter as music discovery tools was proved to me this year by the fact that I heard three of my top five songs online months before I heard them anywhere else. So here they are................


5. "Someone Like You" - Adele

Hard to have avoided this song in 2011. Her performance at the 2011 BRIT Awards showed what a good song is all about. Here was this girl, backed only by a piano, singing about her heartbreak over an ex-boyfriend whilst that heartbreak was being played out live in front of our very eyes as we watched her deliver a perfect performance on the verge of breaking down. Afterwards she explained why she had cried at the end of the performance saying, "I was really emotional by the end because I'm quite overwhelmed by everything anyway, and then I had a vision of my ex, of him watching me at home and he's going to be laughing at me because he knows I'm crying because of him, with him thinking, 'Yep, she's still wrapped around my finger'. Then everyone stood up, so I was overwhelmed."

4.  "A Real Hero" - College (ft. Electric Youth)

I'm technically cheating with this song because it was actually released in 2009 but I only discovered it this year as I'm sure 99% of the other people who heard it. The reason we all heard the song this year was because of the film "Drive". It soundtracks the final five minutes of the film but stands on it own as a brilliant electro-pop anthem.

3.  "She Loves Me" - Willy Moon

I wrote a bit about Willy Moon earlier in the year and I'm a big fan of his already. The Guardian have his debut song "I Wanna Be Your Man" at No.26 in their top songs of 2011 but it's his follow-up song that I can't get out of my head.

2. "Video Games" - Lana Del Rey


Young Lizzy Grant has split the music-loving Internet down the middle with opinions over her music, her history and her lips flooding every social media avenue in the past four months. However, despite what anyone says, it's hard to deny that this is a genuinely class song. Almost 13 million views since the video was posted on Youtube in August has made Lana Del Rey somewhat of a household name for those with an Internet connection.

 
1. "212" - Azealia Banks (ft. Lazy-Jay)


I heard them play this song last week out the back of the Amersham Arms in New Cross to a packed dance floor and the place went berserk. Credit has to be given to this Lazy-Jay fella for laying the foundations for Miss Banks's potty-mouthed tour de force. I'm going to put my neck on the line here and say that she's going to be a one-hit-wonder. But what a hit.

Stay tuned for Johnny Bottles' "Summary of 2011 in 12 Sentences"

5 Legendary Recording Studios

1. Abbey Road - London, UK

Probably the most famous recording studio in the world due, in no small part, to the fact that The Beatles named an album after it. They recorded almost all their albums and singles there between 1962 and 1970 and are synonymous with the studio and it's nearby zebra crossing. But it wasn't just The Beatles who recorded here. Other famous recordings made here include;

• "Living Doll" - Cliff Richard
• "Apache" - The Shadows
• "Ghost Riders In The Sky" - The Scorpions
• "The Dark Side Of The Moon" - Pink Floyd
• "Duran Duran" - Duran Duran
• "The Bends" & "Kid A" - Radiohead

2. Hitsville USA - Detroit, Michigan, USA

In 1959 Berry Gordy bought this former photographer's studio and converted it into the headquarters for his Motown label along with the label's own studio. At it's peak it would stay open 22 hours a day, closing between 8am and 10am for maintenance. The house band known as "The Funk Brothers" are said to have played on more number-one records than The Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys combined. Artists to have recorded here include Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Four Tops, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson.

3. Muscle Shoals - Sheffield, Alabama, USA

Formed in 1969 when legendary session musicians Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, Jimmy Johnson and David Hood, known as "The Swampers" left FAME Studios to create their own studio. Their distinctive accompaniments and arrangements have been heard on a number of legendary recordings, including those from Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Lynyrd Synyrd and more recently, The Black Keys. If you're wondering where you've heard about Muscle Shoals and The Swampers before then have another listen to Sweet Home Alabama

4. Studio One - Kingston, Jamaica

Studio One was founded by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd in the late 1950's and became known as the "Motown of Jamaica". It was hugely responsible for the catapulting of Jamaican music into the world scene. Through innovative producers like Dodd, Prince Buster and Lee "Scratch" Perry the studio oversaw the evolution of Ska to Reggae to Dancehall. Almost every Jamaican musician of note recorded here including The Skatalites, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Burning Spear, Toots & The Maytals, Delroy Wilson and Sugar Minott.


5. Hansa - Berlin, Germany 

Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin became legendary in the 1970's when David Bowie went there to record his album, "Heroes", with the help of Brian Eno. It became known as "Hansa by the Wall" or "The Great Hall by the Wall" in reference to the fact that it was right beside the city's infamous partition. It wasn't long before many of the big names in music flocked there to record. Some of those included Iggy Pop, U2, Nick Cave, Depeche Mode and in more recent years, Snow Patrol, Supergrass and REM.

The Bo Diddley Beat

Bomp, Ba-Bomp-Bomp, Bomp-Bomp!

Following on from my recent review of Willy Moon, who's song "I Wanna Be Your Man" is based on this classic Rock & Roll rhythm, today we're going to learn about "The Bo Diddley Beat"


In 1955 Bo Diddley released a song called, funnily enough, "Bo Diddley". The song was under two minutes long but would go on to shape the music we listen to today. It's hard to comprehend now but when people first heard this song it was unlike anything they had ever heard before. Bo used his electric guitar to play Rock & Roll over an African juba beat. He said he first heard the beat in a church in Chicago. But variations of it were to be found in several places. The children’s game hambone used a similar rhythm, and so did the ditty that goes “shave and a haircut, two bits”. This now distinctive "Bomp, Ba-Bomp-Bomp, Bomp-Bomp" was massively innovative and would be used in countless songs for years to come.

Next time you see Westlife on TV don't change the channel. Take a deep breath and listen until about two thirds of the way into any one of their songs. Up to this point you will have noticed four men in white/black/grey sitting on four evenly place stools in the centre of the stage. Small dark-haired lad singing mostly, tall dark-haired lad doing his bit, two blonde lads looking contemplatively to the side. But any second now we'll see what we've been waiting for. A momentary pause in the music, a single beat of a drum and the four lads with undoubtedly rise in unison from their stools. What you just witnessed was the infamous key change. A musical device adored by pop song writers the world over. The key change creates an excitement in the song through the sense of tension and release. In "Bo Diddley" however, there is no chord change whatsoever. This song gets it's excitement from the rhythm of the drums and guitars. It was so catchy it became known as the Bo Diddley Beat.


On 20th November 1955 Bo Diddley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan wanted Diddley to play a song, "Sixteen Tons," but without telling Mr. Sullivan, Bo played this ground-breaking song anyway, which didn't go over well with the host. Afterward, in an off-camera confrontation, Mr. Sullivan told him that he would never work in television again. Bo Diddley did not play again on a network show for 10 years.


The Bo Diddley Beat became one of Rock & Roll's bedrock rhythms. Some of the more famous uses of the rhythm include;

• "Not Fade Away" - Buddy Holly/The Rolling Stones
• "His Latest Flame" - Elvis Presley
• "Desire" - U2 
• "Faith" - George Michael
• "I Want Candy" - The Strangeloves
• "Black Horse And The Cherry Tree" - KT Tunstall
• "Movin' On Up" - Primal Scream
• "Born To Hand-Jive" (From the musical Grease) - Sha Na Na
• "Mr Brownstone" - Guns 'N' Roses
• "Rudie Can't Fail" - The Clash

 
 

New Music: Willy Moon

I suffer from a terrible  inner conflict when it comes to music. I listen to music from the 50's  and I wish that I was alive back then to be part of that scene. I listen to music from the early days of Rock and Roll and envy people who got to be part of the music and the energy that went along with it. My conflict arises when I realise that people are still making music today, believe it or not. The problem is that music is at it's most exciting when it's new and raw. Music is constantly growing and developing so the energy that teenagers felt at a Chuck Berry concert in 1958 will be extremely diluted if we were to listen to it in a nightclub in 2011. We get our "high" now from the booming hip hop beats and basslines that lie under all of today's floorfillers. If listening to Little Richard on a dance floor nowadays can only really happen at my cousin's wedding how do I get that euphoric feeling that the teenagers of 1958 felt?

The solution to my inner conflict?........Willy Moon.

Willie is one cool cat. He's got the moves, he's got the sharp suit and he's got the voice. His first song, "I Wanna Be Your Man" is to the rhythm of the classic "Bo Diddley Beat" and in true 50's Rock and Roll style it's all over in 1 minute and 49 seconds. For me, what makes Willie Moon stand out from the crowd isn't the fact that he jives and shimmies to a Buddy Holly-esque song, it's the mixing of that classic sound with the ultra-modern production on the track. The song is transformed from a fairly simple surf rock song to a fairly addictive stomper of a song by the backing beat of hip-hop style breaths and claps which give the song a driving rhythm.

His second song, "She Loves Me" continues with juxtaposition of old and new sounds. This song has the surf rock guitars again but now accompanied by an Electronica sound with the vocals cut up synthetically to give the song a great hook on the chorus.

Personally, I'm going to be keeping an eye out for Willy Moon playing live. Should be interesting to see how he gets on. And if it all falls through he can always be a stand in for the lad in Crystal Swing.

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The Magic Formula

Researchers at Goldsmiths University in London have recently published a study they conducted on the "catchy-ness" of certain songs. In their study researchers observed how volunteers reacted when asked to sing along to different songs, and found out that long and detailed musical phrases, multiple pitch changes in the main hook, a male vocalist, and preferably a high pitched male vocalist, all helped make songs catchy. 

Goldsmiths music psychologist Dr Daniel Mullensiefen says "Every musical hit is reliant on maths, science, engineering and technology; from the physics and frequencies of sound that determine pitch and harmony, to the hi-tech digital processors and synthesizers which can add effects to make a song more catchy". 

Of the songs they tested, the top 5 catchiest songs were:

1. "We Are The Champions" - Queen
2. "Y.M.C.A." - The Village People
3. "Fat Lip" - Sum 41
4. "The Final Countdown" - Europe
5. "Monster" - The Automatic

All pretty catchy songs you'd have to agree. I wonder will it lead to finding the magic formula for creating a hit song?

Johnny Bottles has been conducting his own research though and I think I might have cracked it. It's all in the opening guitar riff. Do what you like after that but if you get the start right then you're sorted. 

What guitar riff you ask? Ah, well have a listen to the start of these four songs then get writing!!

"Bohemian Like You" - The Dandy Warhols

 

"Little Bitch" - The Specials

"Brown Sugar" - The Rolling Stones

"Strutter" - Kiss

Bond Songs

Did anyone see Adele on the new "Jonathan Ross Show" the other night. I didn't. I hear that she let it slip that she was recording the next Bond theme tune though.

"I'm going back in the studio in November. Fingers crossed", she said. "Well, this is actually a theme, what I've got to do. Wow, that's really giving something away."

Then when Jonathan Ross stated humming Bond tunes she got a bit flustered over what she had revealed.

 

Sounds like a good choice if you ask me. Big lady with a big voice and all that. Got me thinking about Bond tunes and then I remembered that poor old Amy Winehouse was supposed to be recording the theme for "Quantum Of Solace". Apparantly she began working on the track with her buddy Mark Ronson at his studio in Oxfordshire, but their sessions soon deteriorated due to Winehouses's 

 "erratic behaviour". That's really sad in hindsight because I'd say her voice was made for a Bond song.

Be it Adele, Amy Winehouse or Shirley Bassey, the honour of recording the a Bond theme song is always reserved for the biggest and most talented stars of the moment. Here's the list of films, songs and singers;

1962 - Dr. No  

"James Bond Theme" - John Barry Orchestra

1963 - From Russia With Love  

"From Russia With Love" - Matt Munro

1964 - Goldfinger  

"Goldfinger" - Shirley Bassey

1965 - Thunderball

"Thunderball" - Tom Jones

1967 - You Only Live Twice  

"You Only Live Twice" - Nancy Sinatra

1969 - On Her Majesty's Secret Service 

"We Have All The Time In The World" - Louis Armstrong

1971 - Diamonds Are Forever  

"Diamonds Are Forever" - Shirley Bassey

1973 - Live And Let Die  

"Live And Let Die" - Paul McCartney & Wings

1974 - The Man With The Golden Gun  

"The Man With The Golden Gun" - Lulu

1977 - The Spy Who Loved Me  

"Nobody Does It Better" - Carly Simon

1979 - Moonraker

"Moonraker" - Shirley Bassey

1981 - For Your Eyes Only 

"For Your Eyes Only" - Sheena Easton

1983 - Octopussy 

"All Time High" - Rita Coolige

1985 - A View To A Kill

"A View To A Kill" - Duran Duran

1987 - The Living Daylights

"The Living Daylights" - A-ha

1989 - Licence To Kill 

"Licence To Kill" - Gladys Knight

1995 - Goldeneye 

"Goldeneye" - Tina Turner

1997 - Tomorrow Never Dies 

"Tomorrow Never Dies" - Sheryl Crow

1999 - The World Is Not Enough  

"The World Is Not Enough" - Garbage

2002 - Die Another Day

"Die Another Day" - Madonna

2006 - Casino Royal

"You Know My Name" - Chris Cornell

2008 - Quantum Of Solace
"Another Way To Die" - Alicia Keys & Jack White

Backstage Rider #1 - Van Halen 1982

The backstage rider is a thing of great interest to us mere mortals. A glimpse into the glamorous and excessive lives of the rock stars and pop divas we regard so highly. The rider is a list of requests (and often demands) given to the promoter by the artist's management. It can often be a lengthy document, describing everything from the sound and lighting setup to the security arrangements. But the section we're always most interested in is the Dressing Room Requests.

We might as well start with the most infamous of them all, Van Halen's 1982 Tour Rider. This notorious 53-page document included the famous stipulation that no brown M&Ms were to be allowed into the band's dressing room. 

Media reports would later state that this was the epitome of rock excess and that the band would often use an oversight of this request as an excuse to go on a destructive backstage rampage. However, lead singer David Lee Roth explains in his autobiography that there was a much more practical reason for the request:

"Van Halen was the first band to take huge productions into tertiary, third-level markets. They would pull up with nine eighteen-wheeler trucks, full of gear, where the standard was three trucks, max. And there were many, many technical errors -- whether it was the girders couldn't support the weight, or the flooring would sink in, or the doors weren't big enough to move the gear through. 

The contract rider read like a version of the Chinese Yellow Pages because there was so much equipment, and so many human beings to make it function. So just as a little test, in the technical aspect of the rider, it would say "Article 148: There will be fifteen amperage voltage sockets at twenty-foot spaces, evenly, providing nineteen amperes . . ." This kind of thing. And article number 126, in the middle of nowhere, was: "There will be no brown M&M's in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation." 

So, when they would walk backstage, if they saw a brown M&M in that bowl . . . well, line-check the entire production. Guaranteed you're going to arrive at a technical error. They didn't read the contract. Guaranteed you'd run into a problem. Sometimes it would threaten to just destroy the whole show. Something like, literally, life-threatening."

That's not to say the band weren't excessive. Here's a sample of some of the requests that appeared on the band's rider. (Note the request for no brown M&Ms as well as a request for a large tub of KY Jelly!!). 

This list is for the 4 band members only:

Cold Drinks (on ice)

• 1 x Case of Budweiser (Cans)
• 4 x Cases of Schlitz Malt Liquor
• 1 x Case of Pepsi
• 1 x Case of Coca Cola
• 1 x Case of Country Time Lemonade
• 2 x Cases of 7-Up
• 12 x 1L Bottles of Perrier
• 1 x Gallon of freshly squeezed Orange Juice
• 1 x Gallon of freshly squeezed Grapefruit Juice
• 1 x Carton of Apple Juice
• 1 x Carton of Grape Juice

Drinks (Room Temperature)

• 3 x Bottles of Jack Daniel's Bourbon
• 2 x Bottles of Stolichnaya Vodka
• 1 x Bottle of Southern Comfort
• 2 x Bottles of Blue Nun White Wine

Deli Tray

• Assorted fresh meats, including Turkey (not pressed), Ham, Salami, Roast Beef
• Herring in Sour Cream
• 3 Bean Salad
• Coleslaw
• Baked Potato
• Fresh baked Breads (with knife and cutting board)
• Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise, Butter

Cheese Tray

• Assorted fresh, natural cheeses, including Jack, Muenster, Cheddar, Brie, Mozzarella and Pepper cheese
• Assorted Crackers

Vegetables

• Fresh, cut vegetable platter, including Carrots, Celery, Tomatoes, Scallions, Broccoli and Cauliflower
• Assorted Dips

Fruit

• Fresh fruit platter including Apples, Oranges, Grapes, Pears, Melons, Kiwi Fruit and Whole Bananas

Hot Drinks

• Hot Coffee (brewed, not instant)
• Hot Water (for tea)
• Lipton Tea Bags
• Natural and Herbal Tea Bags (eg. Celestial Seasonings)
• 1 x Jar of Tupelo Honey
• 12 x Fresh Lemons (with knife and cutting board)
• Cream and Sugar

Munchies

• Potato Chips with Assorted Dips
• Nuts
• Pretzels
• M&Ms (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES)
• 12 x Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
• 12 x Assorted Dannon Yogurts (on ice)

Supplies

• 48 x Large, bath-size Cloth Towels
• 100 x Cups for cold drinks
• 50 x Styrofoam Cups for hot drinks
• Plates and Bowels (not paper or plastic)
• Forks, Knives and Spoons (metal, not plastic)
• Serving Utensils, Corkscrew, Bottle and Can Openers
• Salt and Pepper (in shakers)
• Tablecloths
• Napkins (paper)
• 2 x Large Bars of Ivory Soap
• 1 x Large Tub of KY Jelly
• 3 x Packets of Marlboro Cigarettes
• Ashtrays and Matches
• Ice (for use in drinks)
• 2 x Large Garbage Cans with Plastic Liners

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Supergroup #2 - SuperHeavy

This week's Supergroup is a very recent one. So recent in fact that we've only had the chance to hear one of their songs in full so far. This is a group made up of five people from five very different musical genres. This is Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley, Dave Stewart and A.R. Rahmen. This is SuperHeavy.

How in the name of God did these five get together?! I mean, how did they meet? I know the music industry is relatively small but you have to admit that this is an odd bunch to form a band. Well, it didn't all come together quite as organically as most other supergroups. The official SuperHeavy website would have you believe that the group formed quite romantically after a few old musical buddies made some phonecalls to each other in order to get together to "write songs which had meaning". However, in reality, the group was initially conceived to help promote the launch of a new platform being developed by Nokia for entertainment media on their smartphones. The Nokia deal eventually collapsed but they decided to continue, presenting themselves as having formed completely on their own and not as a somewhat prefabricated unit, put together mainly for a communications corporation.

But before we go any further let's have a look at who's in the band. 

• Mick Jagger: Lead singer in The Rolling Stones, this is the first new band Jagger has been part of in 50 years. Because of the presence of 3 other vocalists in SuperHeavy he not only sings but plays guitar and mouth organ in the band.

• Dave Stewart: One half of 80's pop-rock duo, The Eurythmics. The official line is that SuperHeavy was Stewart's idea which came to him when he got "inspired by the sounds washing into his home in St Ann's Bay, Jamaica". His duties in the band include playing guitar as well as most of their songs production.

• Joss Stone: 24 year old English soul singer. She was invited to join SuperHeavy by Dave Stewart who had just finished co-writing and co-producing her latest album, "LP1". 

• Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley: Grammy award-winning reggae/dancehall artist and youngest son of Bob. He brings his distinctive toasting to the band.

• A.R. Rahmen: World famous Indian musician, composer and producer. Most notable for his Oscar-winning work on "Slumdog Millionaire". Rahmen gives SuperHeavy a taste of Indian music through his keyboard playing and vocals as well as his production skills.

In early 2009 the band met up at Jim Henson Studios in Los Angeles. According to Jagger, they all came with "just ideas, a few guitar riffs and a few snippets of lyrics", which isn't his usual way of writing. It seemed to be a technique that worked however, because in ten days they had recorded some 29 songs, some of which were over an hour long. Stewart revealed that the songwriting process included all five participants and that the songs were born out of extended jams which lasted as long as forty minutes apiece, and includes vocal contributions across the board: “It was like a huge long jam session that went on for months that then slowly turned into structure.”

Their first single, "Miracle Worker" was released on iTunes on 7th July 2011. It's a reggae number with a bluesy kind of vibe thanks to Stone's and Jagger's vocals. The accompanying video is a bit of a visual feast too. I have to hand it to Mick because the song and video really come alive when he comes out in his pink suit to deliver some raspy vocals.

"Miracle Worker" is a pretty good first single. Nothing extraordinary but catchy none the less. Their self-titled album is out on 19th/20th September so we'll have to wait until then to see if this whole crazy experiment really works. 

TableDrum iPhone App

I'd love a drum kit. But they're too expensive, too big, and sometimes too loud. I suppose I could get drum pads? Ah no, sure they're even more expensive. Wait, what's that? TableDrum? It's an app for the iPhone where you bang normal household things that you have on your table and it converts those sounds to the sounds of a drum kit. Now I just have to save up for an iPhone!

Top 5 Bass Playing Lead Singers

#1

Sting (The Police)

His mother christened him Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner but we call him Sting. He got the name "Sting" from a member of one of the many jazz bands he played with in his pre-Police days. One day Sting came to a rehearsal in a black and yellow striped top which led to him being called "Stinger" - which eventually became "Sting." He was a ditch digger, a bus conductor and an English teacher before being invited to join The Police by Stewart Copeland. He's been known to play a fretless bass on occasion but is also the proud owner of a 150 year old upright bass.

#2

Paul McCartney (The Beatles)

Easily the most famous bass player on the list, if not the world, Paul shared lead vocals in The Beatles with John Lennon. It's doubtful that any non-guitar players would have heard of Hofner if it wasn't for his signature use of their 500/1 violin bass which has since become known as a "Beatle Bass". 

#3

Gene Simmons (Kiss)

Kiss's music never was or never will be as famous as their image. Four fully grown men dressed in studded leather and platform shoes with their faces painted to varying degrees of campness (their copyrighted makeup designs include The Starchild and The Catman). So what could Gene Simmons do to counter-balance this effeminacy? He had fake blood pouring out of his mouth and played a bass guitar that was in the shape of a huge axe!

#4

Lemmy (Motorhead)

Facial warts? Mutton chops? Huge Nazi memorabilia collection? Apparently none of these things have stopped Lemmy from sleeping with over 2000 women. As far as I can tell, the trick seems to be playing your bass guitar at the loudest possible levels through your amps which you have named "No Remorse", "Killer" and "Murder One".

#5

Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy)

Have a listen to "Dancing In The Moonlight" below and try tell me that this man wasn't cool. This song completely encompasses everything that this list is about. When everything goes right, you can't get better than a bass-playing singer. In this song we hear one of the all time great opening basslines followed by absolutely perfect vocals. 

Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers - "The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie"

The Beatles started it, then U2, and now Red Hot Chili Peppers have done it. The video for the Chili Peppers new single was released today showing the band playing to the good people of Venice Beach, California from the top of a building overlooking the promenade and the ocean. "The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie" is the first single from their first album in four years, "I'm With You", which will be released on the 29th August.

The band are once again without guitarist John Frusciante who left the band in 2009. He's replaced by the band's touring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer who was also a member of Frusciante's side project, Ataxia, along with Joe Lally of Fugazi. He does a decent enough job on this single but Frusciante's absence is noticeable by the fact that the drum and bass driven verses are the strongest part of the song.

It starts off like a vintage Chili Peppers tune with an extremely catchy bassline from Flea which is undoubtedly the hook in this song. Keidis then delivers his trademark choppy vocals and doesn't break from his signature style of bizarre and seemingly nonsensical lyrics. Chad Smith is as solid as ever on the drums and we even get to hear some cowbell throughout. On first hearing the chorus I thought it was pretty weak but it definitely does grow on you with each listen and I imagine it might become a bit of a sing-along crowd anthem at their stadium gigs.

All in all, it's great to hear the Chilis back again and I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the album in a few weeks.

Watch the official video Here

Michael Jackson Tribute Concert

"It is intended to be the biggest, and the best concert event in the world for many years to come." 

What's all this, a Live Aid for the 21st century? Not quite, but the above quote from Michael's mother Katherine might have you believe that we're in for something a bit special in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on the 8th October. Her announcement to organise a concert in celebration of her son Michael's life has caused a split in the Jackson clan with Jermaine and Randy against the whole idea, saying; 

“While we wholeheartedly support the spirit of a tribute that honours our brother, we find it impossible to support an event that is due to take place during the criminal trial surrounding Michael's death. As everyone knows, those proceedings commence September 20th, and this Michael Forever concert takes place in Cardiff, Wales, on 8 October. In light of this, we feel it is inappropriate to be involved with such an ill-timed event and its promoter, Global Live.”

It seems promising when you see some of the big names on the bill so far, Smokey Robinson, Christina Aguilera, and Cee Lo Green. But then things start going downhill. 

First there's a crowd of talent show contestants:  Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, JLS and Diversity. 

Next comes some of his relations: The Jackson Brothers (obviously not including Jermaine and Randy) and 3T (a band made up of three of Michael's nephews who had a couple of European hits in the mid 90's)

Pixie Lott and Craig David are in there too to make up the numbers, along with Alien Ant Farm, who I can only imagine got in there because they had a hit in 2001 with a cover of Smooth Criminal.

The line-up then received its most bizarre addition when it was announced that Kiss would also play at the concert. Bizarre because their bass player Gene Simmons had previously made these comments about Michael Jackson in an interview with Classic Rock Magazine:

"No matter what my fond memories and fond images of Michael were, with one allegation of paedophilia after another and another and another…Oh dear... The only sexual references ever made about Michael Jackson that were made by anyone, anywhere around the world, have always been made by kids, and specifically males usually 10 to 14 years of age; never females, that age or older, and never grown men."

Apparently, Kanye West has said he might add his name to the bill but Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars and Chris Brown have all turned down the opportunity to play. 

The concert is raising money for two charities, AIDS Project Los Angeles and The Prince's Trust. But a very odd ticketing structure seems to be putting many would-be buyers off. Seats start at £55 but if you want a seat near the front you must also make a donation to one of the charities. Your seat position will then be decided by how much you donated.

Hopefully this will live up to its billing as "the biggest, and the best concert event in the world for many years to come", if only out of respect to the memory of the King of Pop. Although something tells me that it might be promises of greatness but ultimately a massive anti-climax, just like the end of the great performer's life.

Supergroup #1 - The Traveling Wilburys

And so begins the "Johnny Bottles' Supergroup Of The Week" segment.

There's a few of my mum and dad's records that have always stuck in my head since early childhood. "Hey" by Julio Iglesias (Mum), "Brothers In Arm" by Dire Straits (Dad), "Now That's What I Call Music - The Christmas Album" (Both). But the one that I loved the most was Dad's cassette of  "Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1" by The Traveling Wilburys. The first song on the album, "Handle With Care", became the band's biggest hit and was practically on repeat in our living room every Saturday afternoon. I loved it. Loved it to bits. I grew up with that song, that album and that band. It wasn't until we got the internet in my house (12 years after dad bought the album) until I decided to see who The Traveling Wilburys were. Jesus Christ, that's George Harrison! And Bob Dylan! And that fella who sings "Pretty Woman"! Here's what I found out that day....

George Harrison was releasing a single called "This Is Love" and needed a B-side. He co-wrote "This Is Love" with Jeff Lynne of The Electric Light Orchestra and the two of them decided to meet up with Roy Orbison for dinner to ask him if he'd like to help them record the new song. Roy agreed and the studio that they chose to record it in was Bob Dylan's home studio in Malibu. On the way to the studio however, George realised that he had left his guitar in his friend's house. That friend was Tom Petty. He went back for the guitar and ended up bringing it, along with Tom Petty, back to the studio. During the following sessions these five legends of modern music wrote "Handle With Care" as the B-side along with "You Got It" which became Roy Orbison's first hit in 24 years. "Handle With Care" was considered too good by the record company to be used as a B-side and the five enjoyed playing together so much that they decided to record a full album.

All five sang, all five wrote and all five produced. The resulting album was my dad's beloved "Traveling Wilburys - Vol.1". George and Jeff had been calling studio equipment (limiters, equalizers) "Wilburys." So first they named their fivesome "The Trembling Wilburys". Jeff suggested "Traveling" instead. Everyone agreed. Each of the members chose a pseudonym and pretended to be half-brothers and sons of a fictional Charles Truscott Wilbury, Sr.

• George Harrison - Nelson Wilbury

• Roy Orbison - Lefty Wilbury

• Bob Dylan - Lucky Wilbury

• Jeff Lynne - Otis Wilbury

• Tom Petty - Charlie T. Wilbury Jr.

The album sold over five million copies and went triple-platinum in America as well as winning a Grammy in 1989. On the 6th of December 1988 however, Roy Orbison died at the age of 52 of a heart attack and although the remaining members went on to record a second album, it never quite seemed the same without Roy. Unfortunately, we'll never get to see the Wilburys play live as George has also gone to join Roy in the big Green Room in the sky but as far as I know, Dad still has that album on cassette and it can still be heard drifting around my house on a Saturday afternoon.

Barbershop Illusion

This blog is about music, yeah? And music is made of sounds, yeah? So people interested in music should be interested in how sound works I'd say. Here is an auditory illusion that is absolutely amazing. It shows how your ears and brain work together to figure out where a sound is coming from.

Don't start listening to this until you have some headphones on or you'll regret it. Turn the volume up a bit too!

Sound Tracks Festival

I don't know a whole lot about the line up for this but as a daily user of the London Overground I can't wait for it. For those of you who have never been on one of these trains, don't expect it to be anything like the tube. Brand new wide carriages with no doors between them so you can look down the whole train and see it snaking around corners. Bands will be playing on the train as you move between the venues in Dalston, Shoreditch and New Cross. Should be something different if nothing else. Tickets are £12.50 or £8.50 for an early bird. Worth the money even just to see what happens the bands when the ticket inspectors get on mid-song.


Sound Tracks Festival

Music Reviews

If there's any bands out there, signed or unsigned, who want there music reviewed honestly by a real music lover then email me your link or send it to my Dropbox in the left-hand column. It can be anything from a demo to an EP to a full album. All genres are welcome too!

Top 5 Songs For The London Riots Of 2011

No.1 
"April 29, 1992" - Sublime

This is one from the point of view of the looters. It's got real police radio transmissions, they list off the shops they've done over, and they're even "screamin' 187 on a mother fuckin' cop". Hard to get that little "Let it burn.." bit out of your head once it's finished. Just a pity Bradley got the date wrong!

No.2 
"Rubber Bullets" - 10cc

There was alot of talk about whether rubber bullets and water cannons would be used in England for the first time. In this song 10cc sing about what really would have happened at the Jailhouse Rock.

No.3 
"Ghost Town" - The Specials

Written about the St. Paul's Riot in Bristol in 1980 but became a hit in '81 around the time of the Brixton Riots. Not a whole lot has changed in 30 years it would seem. It felt like a ghost town in most of London with all the shops closing early. Wouldn't have fancied driving around Hackney in a Vauxhall Cresta with six other lads this time though.

No.4 
"Violence" - Bocs Social

This Irish band have the mood captured perfectly in their homage to The Clash. 

No.5 
Almost everything they recorded - The Clash

And speaking of The Clash, these fellas would have made "Fireflies" a song to riot to if they got there before Owl City. Almost any song that they recorded seems made for kicking in a window of JD Sports. "White Riot", "London's Burning", "Police And Thieves", "Guns Of Brixton", "I Fought The Law" and, dare I say it, "Lost In The Supermarket"? Anyone have an urge to burn down a Greggs yet?

Highly Commended:

All these songs could have been on the list but were just too obvious......

"Anarchy In The UK" - The Sex Pistols

"I Predict A Riot" - Kaiser Chiefs

"Shoplifters Of The World Unite" - The Smiths

"There's A Riot Goin' On" - Sly And The Family Stone

"Teenage Riot" - Sonic Youth

"Youth Gone Wild" - Skid Row

“Fuck Tha Police” - NWA