Mixed music bag – week 18

This will be the final MMB for June. Staying on the letter J for next week though.

This week, I have chosen the English heavy metal band; Judas Priest, which was formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band had struggled with a lack of major commercial success until 1980, when the album ‘British Steel’ brought them notable mainstream attention.

The band’s best-selling album is 1982’s ‘Screaming For Vengeance’, with their most commercially successful line-up featuring Rob Halford (lead vocalist), Glenn Tipton (guitar), K. K. Downing (guitar), Ian Hill (bass) and drummer Dave Holland. Tipton and Hill are the only two of the band to appear on every album. Halford’s operatic vocal style and the twin guitar sound of Downing and Tipton have been a major influence on heavy metal bands. To date, the band have released eighteen studio albums with a new one due for release soon. I remember seeing them live in my city way back in 1977 just before they made it into the ‘big-time’.

There I was completely wasting, out of work and down
All inside it’s so frustrating as I drift from town to town
Feel as though nobody cares if I live or die
So I might as well begin to put some action in my life
You know what it’s called

Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law

So much for the golden future, I can’t even start
I’ve had every promise broken, there’s anger in my heart
You don’t know what it’s like, you don’t have a clue
If you did you’d find yourselves doing the same thing
You doing to me now

Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law

You don’t know what it’s like

Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law

Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Glenn Raymond Tipton / Robert Halford / Kenneth Downing

Breaking the Law lyrics © Ebonytree Ltd, Round Hill Songs Ii

My own little flower show

No sign of my red rose yet but I thought I’d post a few images of the flowers that are in bloom (and some that aren’t!). I’ll post more soon.

For a challenge can you name as many as you can? 🙂

Song Lyric Sunday – New music

The theme of SLS this week is new music. Thanks to Jim & co. for the prompt.

Although Royal blood have been around since they formed in Brighton, England in 2013, this track is taken from the new 2023 album; ‘Mountains At Midnight’. It’s out next month and is the duo’s 4th album so far.

It’s an astonishing sound the two-piece band have created from bass player Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher.

I’m a bruise you soothe
In your dancing shoes
I’m a ticking timebomb hooligan
Come to light your fuse
Twenty-four karat thug
In a velvet glove
Pining for pretty potions
Down those holes you dug

Bouncing off of the walls
Of mountains at midnight
Crawling out of my bones
‘Til the break of the daylight
Another rosy rouse
Another shiver from my spine
Crawling out of my bones
‘Til the break of the daylight

I’m the hidden draw
Of what you were before
A splice then play back reels
From the cutting room floor
And nothing gets me close
To how I wanna feel
Try to suck it up
But I still got no fear

Bouncing off of the walls
Of mountains at midnight
Crawling out of my bones
‘Til the break of the daylight
Another rosy rouse
Another shiver from my spine
Crawling out of my bones
‘Til the break of the daylight

Bouncing off of the walls
Of mountains at midnight

Crawling out of my bones
‘Til the break of the daylight
Another rosy rouse
Another shiver from my spine
Crawling out of my bones
‘Til the break of the daylight

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Ben Thatcher / Michael James Kerr

Mountains at Midnight lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Mixed music bag – week 17

June is flying by. This is the third part of the letter J being the start of band or solo artist.

Joe Jackson’s early years.

David Ian “Joe” Jackson (born 11 August 1954) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Having spent years studying music and playing clubs, he scored a hit with his first release, “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”, in 1979. It was followed by a number of new wave singles, before he moved to more jazz-inflected pop music and had a top 10 hit in 1982 with “Steppin’ Out”. Jackson is associated with the 1980s Second British Invasion of the US. He has also composed classical music. He has recorded over 20 studio albums and received five Grammy Award nominations.

He picked up the nickname “Joe”, based on his early resemblance to the British television puppet character ‘Joe 90’, a genius child spy. Jackson legally changed his name to Joe at age 20. In 1978, a record producer heard Jackson’s demo tape and signed him to A&M Records. The next year the newly formed Joe Jackson Band released their debut album Look Sharp A mix of rock, melodic jazz, and new wave, it mined a vein similar to contemporaries Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. The album enjoyed wide critical success: in 2013, Rolling Stone magazine named Look Sharp! number 98 in a list of the 100 best debut albums of all time (I’d put it slightly higher myself). Some commercial success also followed, as the debut single “Is She Really Going Out With Him” reached the top 40 in five countries, and No. 9 in Canada.

Pretty women out walking with gorillas down my street
From my window I’m staring while my coffee goes cold
Look over there (where?)
There, there’s a lady that I used to know
She’s married now, or engaged, or something, so I am told

Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
‘Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me
There’s something going wrong around here

Tonight’s the night when I go to all the parties down my street
I wash my hair and I kid myself I look real smooth
Look over there (where?)
There, here comes Jeanie with her new boyfriend
They say that looks don’t count for much
If so, there goes your proof

Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
‘Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me
There’s something going wrong around here
Around here

But if looks could kill
There’s a man there who’s more down as dead
‘Cause I’ve had my fill
Listen you, take your hands from her head
I get so mean around this scene
Hey, hey, hey

Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
‘Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me
There’s something going wrong around here
Around here

Something going wrong around here
Something going wrong around here
Something going wrong around here
Something going wrong around

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: David Jackson

Is She Really Going Out With Him? lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Song Lyric Sunday – The British Invasion

The SLS prompt this week is about bands that were involved in the British invasion.

It was a musical movement of the mid-1960s composed of British rock-and-roll (“beat”) groups whose popularity spread rapidly to the United States. The Beatles’ triumphant arrival in New York City on February 7, 1964, opened America’s doors to a wealth of British musical talent. The most famous British Invasion bands helped define the movement’s sound with their hit singles on the American and British charts. Some of the most pivotal bands and performers were:

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, The Zombies and The Dave Clark Five.

Well, no one told me about her, the way she lied
Well, no one told me about her, how many people cried
But it’s too late to say you’re sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don’t bother tryin’ to find her
She’s not there

Well, let me tell you ’bout the way she looked
The way she’d act and the colour of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she’s not there

Well, no one told me about her, what could I do?
Well, no one told me about her, though they all knew
But it’s too late to say you’re sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don’t bother tryin’ to find her
She’s not there

Well, let me tell you ’bout the way she looked
The way she’d act and the colour of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she’s not there

But it’s too late to say you’re sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don’t bother tryin’ to find her
She’s not there

Well, let me tell you ’bout the way she looked
The way she’d act and the colour of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she’s not there

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Rodney Terence Argent

She’s Not There lyrics © Marquis Music Co. Ltd., Marquis Music Co Ltd

Mixed music bag – week 16

The letter J will be on the menu each week for the MMB theme for a while. This week I have chosen a band that I’ve seen live three times and was really gutted when they broke up. The name of this band is The Jam.

The Jam were an English mod revival/punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. Paul Weller (vocals/guitar), Bruce Foxton (bass guitar/vocals), Rick Butler (drums), were the line-up that released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1982, including four number one hits. Shortly after the band’s break-up, Weller went on to form The Style Council, before embarking on a solo career and releasing his first studio album, which was self-titled in 1992. He has continued to have a very successful career as a solo artist. Bass player, Foxton is now playing in a band called…’From The Jam’ but he has also released solo albums and singles.

‘Town Called Malice’ was the hit that gave The Jam their most world-wide success and is the only one to break the top fifty U.S. dance charts in 1982. The song is basically about Weller’s discontent for his hometown. 

Better stop dreaming of the quiet life
‘Cause it’s the one we’ll never know
And quit running for that runaway bus
‘Cause those rosy days are few
And stop apologizing for the things you’ve never done
‘Cause time is short and life is cruel but it’s up to us to change

This town called Malice

Rows and rows of disused milk floats
Stand dying in the dairy yard
And a hundred lonely housewives clutch empty milk
Bottles to their hearts
Hanging out their old love letters on the line to dry
It’s enough to make you stop believing when tears come fast and furious

In a town called Malice, yeah

Struggle after struggle, year after year
The atmosphere’s a fine blend of ice I’m almost stone cold dead
In a town called Malice, ooh yeah

A whole street’s belief in Sunday’s roast beef
Gets dashed against the Co-op
To either cut down on beer or the kids new gear
It’s a big decision in a town called Malice, ooh yeah

The ghost of a steam train echoes down my track
It’s at the moment bound for nowhere just going round and round
Playground kids and creaking swings
Lost laughter in the breeze
Could go on for hours and I probably will
But I’d sooner put some joy back in this town called Malice, yeah ooh
In this town called Malice, yeah
In this town called Malice, ooh yeah

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul Weller

A Town Called Malice lyrics © Stylist Music Ltd.

Song Lyric Sunday – British music

The theme of SLS this week is British music. This was a tough choice to make but I eventually chose a typically English song by The Kinks.

This video captures the people, places and fashion of the 60’s in swinging London (I just hope you are able to view it).

They seek him here, they seek him there
His clothes are loud, but never square
It will make or break him so he’s got to buy the best
‘Cause he’s a dedicated follower of fashion

And when he does his little rounds
‘Round the boutiques of London town
Eagerly pursuing all the latest fads and trends
‘Cause he’s a dedicated follower of fashion

Oh, yes, he is (oh, yes he is)
Oh, yes, he is (oh, yes he is)
He thinks he is a flower to be looked at
And when he pulls his frilly nylon panties right up tight
He feels a dedicated follower of fashion

Oh, yes, he is (oh, yes he is)
Oh, yes, he is (oh, yes he is)
There’s one thing that he loves and that is flattery
One week he’s in polka-dots, the next week he is in stripes
‘Cause he’s a dedicated follower of fashion

They seek him here, they seek him there
In Regent Street and Leicester Square
Everywhere the Carnabetian army marches on
Each one an dedicated follower of fashion

Oh, yes, he is (oh, yes he is)
Oh, yes, he is (oh, yes he is)
His world is built ’round discoteques and parties
This pleasure-seeking individual always looks his best
‘Cause he’s a dedicated follower of fashion

Oh, yes, he is (oh, yes he is)
Oh, yes, he is (oh, yes he is)
He flits from shop to shop, just like a butterfly
In matters of the cloth he is as fickle as can be
‘Cause he’s a dedicated follower of fashion

He’s a dedicated follower of fashion
He’s a dedicated follower of fashion

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Ray Davies

Dedicated Follower of Fashion lyrics © Davray Music Ltd.

Mixed music bag – week 15

It’s June already, that means the MMB theme for this month (and next month) will be a solo artist or band starting with the letter J.

Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford, greater Manchester in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, lead guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.

Their debut album Unknown Pleasures, recorded with producer Martin Hannett, was released in 1979. Frontman Curtis struggled with personal problems including a failing marriage, depression, and epilepsy. As the band’s popularity grew, Curtis’s health condition made it increasingly difficult for him to perform; he occasionally experienced seizures on stage. He died by suicide on the eve of what would have been the band’s first North American tour in May 1980, aged 23. Joy Division’s second and final album, Closer, was released two months later; it and the single “Love Will Tear Us Apart” became their highest-charting releases.

Song Lyric Sunday – The Blues

The theme of SLS this week is The Blues. Prompted once again by Jim.

This one is from the late Irish singer/songwriter Rory Gallagher, who was a guitarist extraordinaire. He played a number of original and also his own blues based songs on record and on stage as well as other styles.