Hi all. Welcome one and all pull up a stool and order whatever takes your fancy from the bar that is my blog. Thank you to the brave souls who take the time to read my posts (especially the last one) and the reckless souls who decide to take the path less travelled and follow me. The last blog took longer than expected mainly due to the subject matter being an emotional one, and it always dregs up the old feelings of guilt and how I felt on the day in question. I will be doing a piece about my way of writing which I hope some of you may find illuminating, and again it’s only my opinion and nobody else’s.
Anyway on to lighter things and a list of my favourite groups and/or bands in no particular order. In ‘Do You Hear What I Hear (Part One)’ we looked at my favourite male and female performers. And now in Part Two we look at my favourite bands, a little of their history and my favourite songs by them. If I only like a particular era of a bands existence I will say so. Some song titles may contain bad language, and if you listen to any tracks listed a lot of them contain bad language so you have been warned. The song titles expressed are the bands views and not mine, to me a song is just a song, there are exceptions which I will mention if need be.
So let’s kick this mother squarely in the groove and get rolling…
All About Eve were formed in 1984 when Julianne Regan (former journalist, bass) met with Tim Bricheno (guitarist) and Andy Cousins (bass) in a three piece band called The Swarm which later became All About Eve. After initial early success the band split in 1993 only to reform in 1999 and their last gig was April 30 2004. Although Regan has said never say never she feels that All About Eve are dormant now and everyone has moved on to other projects. The only other release from AAE was the double CD collection entitled ‘Keepsakes’, which consist of the singles, key album tracks, unreleased rarities and newly recorded songs. In total they released 16 albums (4 studio, 7 live and 5 compilations). I became aware of them in 1988 when Regan and Bricheno were being interviewed on the Spence MacDonald Evening Radio Show, I entered the competition and won a copy of their self titled first album, signed by Regan and Bricheno. I then bought their next two albums ‘Scarlet And Other Stories’ and ‘Ultraviolet’. I wasn’t very impressed with ‘Ultraviolet’, apart from the track ‘Mine’, the album was a disappointment compared to their others. My favourite songs are ‘What Kind Of Fool’, ‘More Than The Blues’, and ‘Martha’s Harbour’.
Amateur Transplants was originally Adam Kay and Dr Suman Biswas and in 2002 start creating comedic and sometimes very offensive parodies, contain very strong language of popular songs and putting a medical slant on them (with 10% of the royalties going to McMillan Cancer Research). They shot to prominence in 2005 when their song ‘London Underground’, based on the song ‘Going Underground’ by ‘The Jam’, got large spread exposure on YouTube because of a flash animation video that accompanied it. It has since been downloaded over 4 million times. They have so far released 6 albums (4 studio and 2 live). Suman Biswas has since gone back to working for the NHS as an anaesthetist and released a solo album in 2013 entitled ‘Still Alive After Amateur Transplants’. I became aware of them when I saw a fan video for the song ‘Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin’ loosely based on the tune ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ from the film ‘Mary Poppins’. Adam Kay still tours extensively as Amateur Transplants. My favourite songs are ‘Anaesthetics Hymn’ (based on ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’ by Bonnie Tyler), ‘You’re A Paedophile’ (based on ‘You’re Beautiful’ by James Blunt, and ‘Careless Surgeon’ (based on ‘Careless Whisper’ by George Michael).
The Art Of Noise were an experimental synthpop group formed in 1983 by Gary Langan (engineer/producer), J J Jeczalik (programmer), Anne Dudley (arranger), Trevor Horn (producer), and Paul Morley (music journalist). Various band changes followed, Horn and Morley left in 1985, and Langan left in 1987. Dudley and Jeczalik still performed as the group until finally calling it a day in 1990. Dudley reformed the band in 1998 with Horn, Morley and Lol Creme (guitarist) to record a new album, but officially dissolved again in 2000. The Art of Noise released 16 albums in all (5 studio and 11 compilations). I became aware of them when they released ‘Close To The Edit’ which on the B-side of the 12 inch single had a 25 minute track that included ‘Beat Box’, ‘Moments In Love and ‘Close To The Edit’. They created many collaborations as well ‘Twang’ with Duane Eddy, ‘Paranomia’ with Max Headroom, and ‘Kiss’ with Tom Jones. The best album to cover the Art Of Noise is ‘The Best Of The Art Of Noise’ released in 1988. My favourite tracks by The Art Of Noise are ‘Dragnet ‘88’, ‘Moments In Love’ (the full 10 minute version), and ‘Paranomia’ featuring Max Headroom.
Avenged Sevenfold are an American heavy metal or nu metal band formed in 1999. The band, abbreviated to A7X, consisted of M Shadows (lead vocalist), Zacky Vengeance (rhythm guitarist and backing vocals), Synyster Gates (lead guitarist and backing vocals), Johnny Christ (bass guitarist) and Arin Ilejay (drummer). Ilejay replaced long time drummer and founder member James ‘The Rev’ Sullivan who died on December 28 2009 following an overdose of oxycodone, oxymorphone, diazepam, nordiazepam and alcohol. As well as being drummer and providing backing vocals, Sullivan also contributed full songs that he had written for the band. After The Revs death, Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater joined the band to complete their fifth album and tour until Ilejay joined on a permanent basis. Avenged Sevenfold have released 9 albums (6 studio, 2 live and 1 video). I became aware of them when a cousin of mine played me ‘Afterlife’ and a YouTube video for ‘A Little Piece Of Heaven’, after that I was hooked, and have liked them ever since. My favourite tracks by Avenged Sevenfold are ‘Afterlife’, ‘Girl, I Know’ and ‘Seize The Day’.
The Beautiful South was an English pop and rock band formed in 1988 after The Housemartins disbanded. The group was formed by 2 member of the Hull based Housemartins, Paul Heaton, Dave Hemmingway (both who performed lead and backing vocals), Sean Welch (bass), Dave Stead (drums), Dave Rotheray (guitar), and a succession of female vocalists including Briana Corrigan (for 2 albums), Jacqui Abbott (for 4 albums) and Alison Wheeler (for the final 3 albums). The Beautiful South released 15 albums altogether (10 studio and 5 compilations) and sold around 15 million records worldwide up to their split in January 2007 due to musical differences. I became aware of them from their Housemartins days and followed them all the way, and was glad to hear recently that Heaton and Abbott had been writing and recording together in 2013, leading to the release of a new album, and a tour in 2014. My favourite Beautiful South tracks are ‘36D’, ‘Perfect 10’, ‘A Little Time’ and ‘I’ll Sail This Ship Alone’.
Bring Me The Horizon are a metalcore band from Sheffield that were formed in 2004. The current line up is Matt Kean (bass guitar), Lee Malia (lead guitar and backing vocals), Matt Nicholls (drums and precussion), Oliver Sykes (lead vocals, keyboards and programming) and Jordan Fish (keyboards). Jordan joined the band in 2012, Brendan MacDonald (rhythm guitar and backing vocals) who has joined them on tour since 2013. They have two former members Curtis Ward (rhythm guitar) who left in 2009 and Jona Weinhofen (rhythm guitar) who joined in 2009 and left in 2013. They have released 5 albums (4 studio and 1 demo) and before the release of their third album they had reached sales of 200,000 records sold worldwide. I became aware of Bring Me The Horizon in 2007 when I heard ‘Pray For Plagues’ which reminded me of my old thrash metal days in the mid to late 80’s. My favourite tracks of Bring Me The Horizon are ‘Pray For Plagues’, ‘Chelsea Smile’ and ‘Sleepwalking’.
Bullet For My Valentine are a Welsh heavy metal band from Bridgend formed in 1998 when the band was known as Jeff Killed John. BFMV consists of Matthew ‘Matt’ Tuck (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Michael ‘Padge’ Paget (lead guitar and backing vocals), Jason ‘Jay’ James (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Michael ‘Moose’ Thomas (drums). The band have released 4 studio albums and sold over 1.3 million albums in the United States alone and a further 5 million plus albums worldwide and are also the most successful act in the ‘Best British Band’ category in the ‘Kerrang! Awards’ with 3 wins. I became aware of them because I found them while looking for other bands of the same ilke and heard ‘Tears Dont Fall’ (both acoustic and heavy) and was hooked and have listened every since. They mentioned recently on FaceBook that they had lots of songs written for their fifth album and now it was just a matter of choosing which songs were going to make it. My favourite tracks by Bullet For My Valentine are ‘No Easy Way Out’, ‘Tears Don’t Fall’ (acoustic), ‘Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow (What Can I Do)’, ‘All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)’, and ‘The Last Fight’.
Cannibal Corpse are an American death metal band formed in 1988. The original line up of Cannibal Corpse was Paul Mazurkiewicz (drums), Alex Webster (bass guitar), Chris Barnes (lead vocals), Jack Owen (guitars), and Bob Rusay (guitars), Chris Barnes left In 1995 to be replaced by George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher taking over the vocals. Bob Rusay was replaced in 1993 by rhythm guitar player Rob Barrett until 1997, he then left but returned in 2005. Jack Owen left in 2004, to be replaced by guitarist Jeremy Turner who left in 2005 when Rob Barrett returned. Cannibal Corpse have released 18 albums in all (13 studio, 1 live and 4 video), there is also 2 box sets ’15 Year Killing Spree’ and ‘Centuries Of Torment : The First 20 Years’. Cannibal Corpse have been together for 27 years and are still releasing the songs of horror and gore. I became aware of them when thrash metal was at its height, thanks to John Peel and his radio show, but then over the intervening years lost touch with them. I rediscovered them a couple of years ago when I was doing some research on thrash metal bands and their name popped up. My favourite Cannibal Corpse tracks are ‘Blowtorch Slaughter’, ‘Hammer, Smashed Face’ and ‘Meat Hook Sodomy’.
Evanescence is an American rock and metal band founded into 1995. The band consisted originally of Amy Lee (lead vocals, piano and keyboards) and Ben Moody (lead guitar and bass guitar). They were joined in 1999 by David Hodges (piano, keyboard, backing vocals and drums) who left in 2002 as he felt he was leading the band down a Christian path that Lee and Moody were not comfortable with. They were joined in 2002 by touring musicians John LeCompt (rhythm guitar and bass guitar) and Rocky Gray (drums). After the departure of LeCompt and Gray in 2003, session musicians Francesco DiCosmo (bass guitar) and Josh Freese (drums). Also in late 2003 John LeCompt rejoined, Will Boyd (bass guitar) and Rocky Gray. Moody left in 2003, citing musical differences, and was replaced by Terry Balsamo (lead guitar). In 2006 Tim McCord (bass guitar) replaced Boyd, and in 2007 Troy McLawhorn (rhythm guitar) replaced LeCompt, and Will Hunt (drums) replaced Gray. In late 2007 Hunt left, only to rejoin in 2010 to finalise the line up we know today: Lee, Balsamo, McLawhorn, McCord and Hunt. Evanescence have only released 4 albums (3 studio and 1 live) to date but have sold more than 25 million records worldwide. I became aware of them after I saw the video to ‘Bring Me To Life’ and I bought their first album ‘Fallen’ one of the best albums I’d ever heard. My favourite Evanescence tracks are ‘Everybody’s Fool’, ‘Call Me When You’re Sober’ and ‘My Immortal’.
Heaven 17 is an English, synthesiser based pop band from Sheffield. They were formed in 1981 as a trio with Martyn Ware (keyboards) and Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) who were initially in The Human League (with Phil Oakey), and Glenn Gregory (vocals). They never thought they would be able to play live because of their sophisticated studio sound and didn’t begin performing live concerts until 1997. Marsh mysteriously disappeared in 2006, then resurfaced in 2007 and said he no longer wanted to perform with Heaven 17. Ware and Gregory had tried on numerous occasions to get Marsh to return but conceded in late 2008 that Marsh was not a member of the band anymore. Since 2011 Berenice Scott has shared keyboard duties with Ware. They have released 16 albums (8 studio and 8 compilations). I got straight into Heaven 17 from the start, I loved them. I also felt privileged that I got a chance to see Heaven 17 perform live before Marsh left. Erasure toured throughout 1997 to promote their album ‘Cowboy’, and had Heaven 17 as support, I was so excited to see them perform live and they didn’t disappoint including a brilliant version of ‘Come Live With Me’. They are my favourite band of all time and I love their music, ‘pinstripe funk’ they were described as being, which I think fits them perfectly. My favourite tracks by Heaven 17 are ‘This Skin I’m In’, ‘And That’s No Lie’, ‘The Best Kept Secret’, ‘Designing Heaven’ and ‘The Heaven 17 Megamix’.
And now a new section for my music blogs, if like me you are all ‘Frozen’d out, and feel like you can never forget ‘Let It Go’ then this section is for you. The brilliant fact is that so many three word phrases fit the tune, and by changing one word you can change the whole meaning of the song. Thank you to parody creators around the world.
Favourite Let It Go Parody At The Moment is the ‘Fxxk It All (Honest Finals Version)’ which is very funny, certainly should not be played while the little Elsa or Anna in your life is within earshot. This version is sung by a German You Tuber called ‘DrunkenSch0k0muffin’. What I like about it is it fits so well with the film part on YouTube. And let’s face it someone was going to do it eventually. The song is basically about a student who decides the revision isn’t working and will just wing the test and hope for the best, knowing that grades never bothered her anyway. If you want to look it up on YouTube ‘Fuck It All Honest Finals Version Full Screen’ ‘Nobrand Cloud’. Well worth a listen. Another one coming soon.
When we meet on this road again we will discuss my style of writing, which may be a short one, who can tell. Then we will look at the other groups/bands that I like. And then interspearsed through other subjects we will look at my favourite songs in different genres. Whether I can or can’t find out the reason a song was written, I will put my own unique spin upon it.
Until we meet again ‘Be nice to yourselves and each other’ (Jerry Springer).
Neil Beattie
weeklywitterings 