It is with great sadness that I must convey the news of the passing of the Lord Of Loud, Jim Marshall creator of the guitar amp of choice for rock gods and guitar icons. Acton born James Charles Marshall had been a singer and drummer during the war years as his health kept him out of the armed forces. I would go so far as to say that he was one of the most influential Englishmen in the history of rock.
In his drumming and singing days he had built an amplifier that enabled his vocals to be heard above his drums. Later, from around 1960 he opened a music store in Hanwell, West London. The shop initially sold drums and then he expanded his stock to guitars. Ritchie Blackmore and Pete Townshend were among his early customers, both were seeking a much bigger amplifier that would enable them to significantly crank up the volume on their instruments. That is when Marshall had the idea for what became probably the most famous and iconic brand of amplifiers in music. Marshall Amplification was born in 1962.
For me the guitarist most associate with Marshall was Jimi Hendrix, he evene had some of his road crew trained by Marshall at the west London shop. Jim Marshall had many claims to fame, another of these was his time as a drum teacher, his pupils included Mitch Mitchell drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Mickey Waller who played drums for Little Richard.
My thoughts go to Jim’s family, friends and countless fans and users throughout the world. RIP Jim Marshall.
So in memory of the wonderfully talented man how about some music from Hendrix himself, ably supported by one of Jim Marshall’s drum students!
This is a record-breaking but sad kind of story. One of the largest foxes ever found in the UK was shot on a farm in Aberdeen. It wasn’t killed because it was large, but simply because it was allegedly attacking lambs on a farm. At least it was killed by a working farmer and not some bunch of red jacketed toff twats supported by a cast of hundreds and packs of vicious dogs. Click here to read the story on the BBC site.
Anyway what is this story doing on my music blog? Well it gives me a chance to share some of my favourite fox related songs Feel free to submit your own fox songs.
Sorry bunnies, my aim is better now, next time the farmer gets it
Fox On The Run – Manfred Mann – A UK number 5 hit from 1968. The lyrics were from English writer Tony Hazzard who wrote quite a few hits, including another smash from the Manfreds in “Ha Ha Said The Clown”
Fox On The Run – The Sweet – The same title as the Manfred Mann song, but definitely not the same song. This reached number 2 in the UK chart in 1974. It also hit number 5 in the US and was an Australian number one. The song is about groupies as in the women were foxy ladies.
Foxy Lady – Jimi Hendrix – Talking of foxy ladies, this is taken from the Jimi Hendrix Experience album ‘Are You Experienced’ which was released in 1967. The US and Canadian version of the album had the titled incorrectly spelled as “Foxey Lady”
Foxy Foxy – Mott The Hoople – This is one of my favourite songs from this fabulous British band. It reached number 33 in the UK charts in 1974 and never featured on a Mott The Hoople album, other than compilations. It ended a run of 5 top 20 hits in the UK for the band. The group took their name from a Willard Manus novel about someone who worked in a circus freak show.
Reynard The Fox – Julian Cope – This was the opening track from Julian’s 1984 album ‘Fried’. It is apparently a mix of an English folk tale and an incident where Cope had slashed his stomach on stage back in 1983.
I was travelling back to York with Catwoman earlier today after a great weekend with family and friends down south. The drive back is a great opportunity to take in Johnnie Walker‘s excellent ‘Sounds Of The 70s‘ show on BBC Radio 2. The music choice as usual was excellent and as occasionally happens for me Johnnie played one track that I don’t think I’ve heard since the 1970s. It was “Shannon” by Henry Gross. I used to really love this when it had just a small amount of radio play in the UK back in ’76.
The song was written after Henry read about the death of Carl Wilson‘s (off of the Beach Boys) Irish Setter Shannon. I think you can definitely pick up a Beach Boys vibe and influence in the performance and production. The song was a number 6 hit in the US Billboard chart in 1976 and a number one in Canada. It only made number 32 in the UK. Another claim to fame the Henry Gross has is that he was the youngest artist to appear on the main stage at Woodstock in 1969. He was a founding member of Sha Na Na with whom he took to the stage immediately before Jimi Hendrix at Max Yasgur‘s farm some 43 years ago this year.
Henry is still recording and performing. Enjoy “Shannon” below along with a great performance from Sha Na Na;
How cool is that? Henry Gross gets a namecheck in an issue of Spiderman!
Do you receive a regular selection of random e mails from various groups that you have subscribed to over the years? I get loads and often I can’t be bothered to look at them. But for some reason I took a chance and opened one at random. It contained stacks of old pictures. Mostly of different stars together and not necessarily those that had worked together. Here are a few that I really liked and had never seen before. let me know what you think of them.
Bob Marley & the Wailers and the Jackson 5
George Harrison & Bob Marley
Mick Jagger & Jimi Hendrix
Mick Jagger & James Brown
No more words required just listen to some great music by some of those artists while you enjoy the pictures.
I’m sure you’ve heard the sad news of Amy Winehouse’s death aged just 27. As I type this the cause of death given by the police is ‘unexplained’ Unlike some interpretations I doubt there is anything sinister in this. Amy’s drug problems were much publicised and probably helped sell thousands of tabloids here in the UK. Whilst her passing is incredibly sad there is also an air of inevitability about it. At least now the tabloids are nicely chastened they will allow her friends, family and fans to grieve.
I believe that Amy was a truly talented and gifted individual. I remember buying her first album ‘Frank’ in 2003 after hearing some of it on the radio following it featuring as one of the nominees for the Mercury Music prize. It was (and still is) a good album and made me think that there was really something to this young lady. Clearly there was, her follow-up album ‘Back To Black’ remains one of my favourite albums and it’s such a shame there hasn’t been another since that in 2006.
She also recorded some great cover versions, pretty much making the Zutons “Valerie” her own. I really was rooting for her to come back with an amazing album a mega succesful tour and years of new music in front of her. I really wanted to see her in concert but I never got around to it. I’m sure it won’t be long before much of the talk is about the 27 club, which is derived from the age at which a number of talented musicians died; Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain to name a few. Indeed Amy is already included on the 27 Club Wikipedia page. Does that sound like a degree of obscene haste to you?
Billy Bragg mentioned this on Twitter earlier today and made the much more credible point that it wasn’t a specific age that killed any of these people, it was drug abuse. But enough of the salacious elements of Amy’s demise and let’s enjoy some of her wonderful music. My condolences go to her family, friends and fans.
Yet more Gaga news for you today, she certainly knows how to create a media stir for herself doesn’t she. I guess I’m as guilty as the rest too as she does appear here quite a bit. She has become the first celebrity to reach ten million Twitter followers. She tweeted this message to her followers; “10 Million Monsters! I’m speechless, we did it! It’s an illness how I love you. Leaving London smiling”. She was the first to reach nine million in March having overtaken Britney Spears last year. She has 24 million ‘likes’ on Facebook although in terms of celebrities Eminem is ahead of her as is Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.
She also appeared at Radio 1′s Big Weekend in Carlisle this weekend. She dedicated a song to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka Wills and Kate) and played a couple of jazz numbers. In her continuing quest to make an entrance unlike any other star she arrived on stage in a coffin. She was dressed in black and apparently wearing a prosthetic pregnancy. Unless of course it was real! Before Gaga’s super injunction takes effect I would like to state categorically that I am not the father! I would like to thank my good friend Nick Horslen for sending me the clip of her stage entrance. Incidentally Nick also categorically denies that he is the father. Nick also came up with a pun to describe the Gaga entrance that is up there with my worst puns. It went something like this ‘Lady Gaga had a bit of a coffin fit I hear…’ keep taking the tablets Nick!
Now for some non Gaga news. Last week Roger Waters played a few shows at the O2 Arena in London as part of The Wall tour. I would have loved to have gone but I never got around to booking early enough. But a work friend of mine was there and not only was it a great show, but also for the first time since Live 8 in 2005 the remaining members of Pink Floyd (David Gilmour and Nick Mason) joined Waters on stage. To say that I was envious of my friend Grant would be an understatement, being there for that particular performance is one to tell your grandchildren isn’t it? Click here to check it out on the BBC
And finally time for more mondegreens aka misheard lyrics. These were posted in the Rock Of Ages Yahoo Group and there are some real doozies there!
“I bless the rains down in Africa.” (Toto – Africa)
People sing: “I left my brains down in Africa.”
“Might as well face it, You’re addicted to love” (Robert Palmer – Addicted to love)
“Might as well face it, you’re a dick with a glove.” (some people have suggested that they thought this was about Michael Jackson!
“Body’s aching all the time.” (Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody)
“but he’s naked all the time.”
“And as we wind on down the road.” (Led Zeppelin – Stairway to heaven)
“There’s a wino down the road.”
“And kept her apart from the things that she loved.” (The Beatles – Getting Better)
“And kicked her apartment of things that’s Sheila.”
“Excuse me while I kiss the sky.” (Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze)
“Excuse me while I kiss this guy.”
“See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen” (Abba – Dancing Queen)
” See that girl, watch her scream, kicking the dancing queen.”
“Like a virgin, touched for the very first time” (madonna – Like a Virgin)
“Like a virgin, touched for the thirty-first time”
“We built this city on rock and roll.” (Starship – We built this city)
“We built this city on log and coal.”
“I’ll never be your beast of burden.” (Rolling Stones – Beast of Burden)
“I’ll never leave your pizza burnin’.”
“Here we are now, entertain us.” (Nirvana – Smells like teen spirit)
“Here we are now, in containers.”
“The answer, my friend,
is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.” (Bob Dylan – Blowin’ in the wind)
“The ants are my friends,
they’re blowin’ in the wind
The ants are a-blowin’ in the wind.”
“Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road.” (Green day – Time of your life)
“Another turnip boy, the Ford stuck in the road.”
“Got my mind set on you.” (George Harrison – Got my mind set on you)
“Thought my mom sat on you.”
“There’s a bad moon on the rise.” (Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bad Moon Rising)
“There’s a bathroom on the right.”
Just because I love the song and it doesn’t get played too much here is “Beast Of Burden” by the Stones.
Well there really isn’t a great deal to say about this fantastic album cover animation other than it is truly brilliant. It’s called Battle Of The Bands and it truly is a fight to the death!
If I have noted it correctly it contains album covers from all the following artists, if you see any I have missed just let me know!
Foreigner, Yazoo, Billy Joel, Shaun Cassidy, Violent Femmes, Rick James, Eminem, Joe Jackson, Beastie Boys, 50 Cent, Roxy Music, King Crimson, Scorpions, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Duran Duran, Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Rush, Boston, AC/ DC, Def Leppard, Replacements, Jane’s Addiction, Love And Rockets, Depeche Mode, Ozzy Osbourne, Weezer, B 52s, Dead Kennedys, Van Halen, Dio, Iron Maiden, Night Ranger, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, OMD, Nirvana, Asia, David Lee Roth, Black Flag, Cars, Michael Jackson, Beatles, Journey, Green Day, Hermans Hermits, Madness, Phil Collins, Lou Reed, Madonna, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, Lionel Richie, Devo, Jimi Hendrix, Quiet Riot and Metallica.
My favourites are Michael Jackson and Roxy Music, what are your favourites? Can you find the hidden Ozzy track?
Forbes magazine recently published it’s list of the top earning dead celebrities in the year to October 1st 2010. Unsurprisingly there are a number of dead musicians, singers and a composer in the list. They share the space with authors, actors, a cartoonist, a sports franchise owner, a TV Producer and a scientist!. Obviously I only intend to focus on the musical aspects of the list, but here is the top 13. Why 13? Why not? It also includes their earnings for the year. Only one living celebrity topped Jacko’s earnings and that was Oprah Winfrey. He also earned more than the combined totals of the two biggest living musical earners; U2 and AC/DC. Read about it on the Forbes site here and also on the BBC here.
No. 1 Michael Jackson – $275 million – Here is Michael with the Jackson 5 with the frankly underrated and underplayed “Sugar Daddy”. A truly brilliant slice of Motown magic!
No. 2 Elvis Presley – $60 million – Here he is with a classic and probably one of my favourite Elvis songs, “Suspicious Minds” originally recorded in the Memphis sessions in the late 60s
No. 3 J.R.R. Tolkien – $50 million
No. 4 Charles Schultz – $33 million
No. 5 John Lennon – $17 million – I have included loads of Lennon stuff recently so here is an excellent Lennon tribute song from Dan Bull called “Lennononandonandon“
No. 10 Richard Rodgers – $7 million – This is the Richard Rodgers off of Rodgers and Hammerstein and below you can see a rather interesting version of their classic song “The Lady Is A Tramp” sung by the somewhat eccentric Nina Hagen.
No. 11 (tie) Jimi Hendrix - $6 million – Here is Jimi with his classic cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower”. Dylan was so impressed with it that it is now the arrangement he uses when he plays the song live.
Hello once again regular readers and welcome to any new readers, I would love to hear from you via the comments function and also feel free to utilise the ‘rate’ option for each post.
A blue plaque not a blue meanie
A few more bits of music related news for you today. Firstly the house that John and Yoko lived in during 1968 finally gets an English Heritage blue plaque. The Marylebone property (basement and ground floor) was purchased by Ringo Starr in 1965 and before the Lennon’s moved in it was rented out to Paul McCartney and Jimi Hendrix. Read the story on the BBC.
Yoko thanked the builders for converting her former home into the leaning tower of Marylebone
To celebrate take a listen to “Yer Blues” from the Beatles ‘White Album’
Nick Clegg steals food from children as his contribution to the governments spending cuts
Now for some rather disappointing news, well in my opinion anyway. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat Leader and Tory Party muppet appeared on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs show this weekend and chose a book, a luxury item and 8 records (actually it’s 8 pieces of music. Why is that bad news? Well he’s only gone and chosen a David Bowie song hasn’t he. I just feel bad when people I don’t like happen to like people who I do like, does anyone else feel like that? The Bowie song he chose was “Life On Mars”, he also selected songs by Prince, Johnny Cash, Radiohead and Shakira. So begrudgingly I might have to credit him with some taste, I’d still never vote for him again though. Click here to read the report on the BBC. You can watch Mr Bowie performing the song below at the Yahoo Internet Life Music Awards in New York City in 2000, very ably supported by Mike Garson on piano.
Nick Clegg contemplates another luxury item to take to his desert island. Let's hope the cuts aren't too sharp eh Nick? Don't want any problems with inflation do we?
In another piece of Bowie related news Cheery Vanilla his one time squeeze from the 70′s has published her memoirs and the book is enticingly titled ‘Lick Me’, which is actually quite appropriate given her name. She is quoted as saying that if you’re given the chance to sleep with David Bowie you do it, even if you have giant carbuncles on your thighs. I’m not sure whether she did have those carbuncles though. Read about the book by clicking here.
Cherry Vanilla chooses a novel way of promoting her new book
A week or so back Take That revealed the cover to their new album, ‘Progress’. It is yet another take on the Ascent Of Man idea. The worrying thing about it for me is why Gary Barlow is looking up Mark Owen’s backside. Robbie is right in the middle and Jason Orange seems to have been given a real surprise. One which made him leap high. The Guardian analyses the picture here. What do you think of it?
It's a bit camp and a bit yellow isn't it?
Click here to read a list of 10 things that British Sea Power wished they hadn’t done from the drowned in sound website. My favourites are the fans dressed as 10 foot teddy bears and one of the band dressing as some kind of Geordie/ zebra hybrid to commemorate Kevin Keegan‘s appointment as Newcastle United manager.
The British Sea Power Teddy Bear was a bit grizzly that night!
When I started this blog back in February of last year the majority of posts were based around an ‘on this day’ theme. But my more recent posts haven’t covered that at all, however with the date today being 3rd July I felt that I had to revert to that format again, at least for this post anyway. So, why is 3rd July an important date in music? It’s the date the two of the famous quartet of 60s rock stars who died at age 27 passed away. That quartet, who all died within a two-year period at the tail end of the 60s and early 70s were Brian Jones (off of the Rolling Stones), Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison (off of the Doors). Jones died on 3rd July 1969 and Morrison on 3rd July 1971. Hendrix and Joplin both died in 1970 just 16 days apart, 18th September and 4th October respectively.
OK conspiracy theorists, here are Brian and Keef near a swimming pool, so was it Keef wot dun it?
Brian Jones was found dead in the swimming pool of his home in Hartfield, Sussex. It was the former home of A. A. Milne the creator of Winnie The Pooh. Jim Morrison was found dead in his apartment in Paris. Conspiracy theories have grown up around both deaths. There have been allegations that Jones was murdered put forward on numerous occasions, although given that he had recently been sacked from the band he helped create, the Rolling Stones, and his history with drug intake, that strikes me as unlikely. Jim Morrison supposedly died of heart failure supposedly brought on by a number of years of drug abuse. But as no autopsy was performed and allegedly only his girlfriend identified his body rumours abound that he faked his death. I love conspiracy theories but I personally don’t believe many of them at all. I know that the Apollo moon landings took place, I saw them on the TV! I would love to hear your views on conspiracy theories, especially those that are music related
Jim always took a power nap during the bands extended drum, guitar and organ solos and jams
There is much mythology built up around the magic 27 club, indeed this was reignited when Kurt Cobain (off of Nirvana) blew himself away in 1994. Personally I see the first four as having some kind of death of the 60s link, perhaps along with Altamont, but apart from purely his age I don’t see Cobain as really fitting in that group. However if you’d like to read more about the 27 club there is a Wikipedia page dedicated to the five I have already mentioned and many other musicians who also died aged just 27, click here to see it.
So to round off today’s little post here are a couple of clips of Brian Jones and Jim Morrison (and a sneaky audio clip of Jimi Hendrix with Brian Jones).
Feel free to submit your own fox songs.
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