The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 23,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 5 Film Festivals
With the Christmas Holidays coming up fast and everyone posting about Christmas albums, I thought I would post my favourite Christmas album of all time. The winner for me is “I Am Santa Claus” by Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio. For those who have never heard of Bob Rivers, he is a radio personality famous for his parodies, especially around Christmas time. “I Am Santa Claus” is the second of three Christmas parody albums by him; the other two are “Twisted Christmas” and “More Twisted Christmas.”
The majority of the tracks on the album, not all of them are songs, always make me hysterical even after all of these years and the ones that don’t send me into hysterics at least bring a smile to my face. There is the track “Walking Round in Women’s Underwear,” not that I have ever done this, that is just hilarious. Then take the title cut, “I Am Santa Claus” sung to the tune of none other than the famous Black Sabbath song “Iron Man.” I can’t help thinking that Ozzy and the lads give a thumbs up to this one.
Black Sabbath
That isn’t the only metallised song on the album. “Jingle Hells Bells” is sung in the form of AC//DC from the Bon Scott era and is a good funny metal song. There is one line from that song that I haven’t ever done and still would love to do. I would love to be “Drinking Jack Daniels while getting a back rub.” Maybe my wife will indulge me at Christmas.
AC/DC
Needless to say there many other amusing tracks which are parodies of Christmas carols like “I Came Upon a Roadkill Deer” and “Teddy the Red Nosed Senator” and although it’s not a song, I do love the “Letter to Santa” in the theme of The Godfather. But the one song that I have always thought was genius was the carol “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” sung to the tune of that famous Animals classic “House of the Rising Sun.”
Track Listing:
1. There’s Another Santa Claus
2. Walking Round in Women’s Underwear
3. I Am Santa Claus
4. Manger 6
5. Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
6. I Came Upon a Roadkill Deer
7. Teddy the Red Nosed Senator
8. Grahbe Yehbalz
9. Letter to Santa Claus
10. Jingle Hells Bells
11. The Kids
12. The Magical Kingdom of Claus
13. What’s It To Ya
14. Didn’t I Get This Last Year
15. The Under the Tree World of Jacques Cousteau
16. Oh Christmas Tree
So if you want something different to listen to this holiday season, have a good listen to “I Am Santa Claus.” I guarantee you will laugh your rear end off. I don’t think I’ll be able to get on here again before Christmas, they got me working a 48 hour shift from the 23rd to Christmas Day and then there’s all the other pre- Christmas stuff that needs to be done. So, I would like to wish everybody reading this a very Merry Christmas and keep rocking on!
Next post: Supertramp- Breakfast in America
To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html
Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London
p.s. It makes a good Christmas present
When I first heard the first single from this great album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Don’t Do Me Like That,” I was convinced that whoever called this band “punk” back in 1978 was a complete and utter moron whose idea of hard rock was probably Hall and Oates. “Damn the Torpedoes” proved to me that they were a good tight rocking outfit, not that there’s anything wrong with punk because there isn’t. I just found the album very enjoyable.
It is true that “Don’t Do Me Like That” was the song that first properly turned my head to this band and this album but “Damn the Torpedoes” does contain my all time favourite song by these guys, “Refugee.” As always, the album isn’t just down to the singles although I do like their third single from this album, “Here Comes My Girl.” There some killer tracks on here as well like “Century City” and “What You Doin’ In My Life” to name just two. All of them have that trademark that made Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers famous.
Track Listing:
1. Refugee
2. Here Comes My Girl
3. Even the Losers
4. Shadow of a Doubt
5. Century City
6. Don’t Do Me Like That
7. You Tell Me
8. What You Doin’ In My Life
9. Louisiana
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty- guitar, lead vocals, harmonica
Mike Campbell- lead and slide guitars, keyboards, accordion
Benmont Tench- piano, organ, harmonium, vocals
Ron Blair- bass
Stan Lynch- drums, vocals
I have always been of the mind that as a unit, the Heartbreakers have been severely underrated as a band. It is true that Tom Petty is the front man and you can’t take anything away from his talents, but the rest of the band seems to have been largely ignored and that to me is a shame. Have a listen to this classic album and you’ll see what I mean.
Next post: My favourite Christmas album
To buy Rock and Roll Children, go to http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html
Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London
In the late part of the 70’s, we had Bob Dylan go electric with his “Hard Rain” and “Street Legal” albums. In late 1979, he went gospel with “Slow Train Coming.” This album was born out of his conversion to Christianity in early 1979. All of the tracks have some form of religious or moral message in them. The fact is listening to the album, the music is still pretty good. I know that many people can’t stomach “Jesus lyrics” and let that put them off listening to what could be a good album. Before this album, Christian Rock was more on the fringe and Dylan, with “Slow Train Coming,” made it more accessible to the masses.
The most notable song on the album is “Gotta Serve Somebody,” which got a lot of airplay on radio and I saw it on many a juke box in bars and restaurants at the time. I also like the tracks, “Precious Angel” and “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking.” As I mentioned earlier, this album celebrates his conversion to Christianity but is nonetheless, a pretty good album.
Track Listing:
1. Gotta Serve Somebody
2. Precious Angel
3. I Believe in You
4. Slow Train
5. Gonna Change My Way of Thinking
6. Do Right to Me Baby (Do Unto Others)
7. When You Wake Up
8. Man Gave Names to All the Animals
9. When He Returns
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan- guitar, vocals
Barry Beckett- keyboards, percussion
Mickey Buckins- percussion
Carolyn Dennis- background vocals
Tim Drummond- bass
Regina Havis- background vocals
Mark Knopfler- lead guitar
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio- horns
Helena Springs- backing vocals
Pick Withers- drums
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that bands like Stryper partly owe their success to Bob Dylan and this album especially. Listening to “Slow Train Coming” proved that you could listen to gospel rock and not have an urge to read the bible while still enjoying the music. Bob Dylan brought Christian rock into the mainstream and I think many Christian acts secretly know this.
Next post: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers- Damn the Torpedoes
To buy Rock and Roll Children, go to http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html
Also available on Amazon, Barnes & noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London
Like with Aerosmith’s “Night in the Ruts” album, 1979 featured an album from Blue Oyster Cult, which doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. When most people think of albums by this iconic band, the ones they will usually point out are “Agents of Fortune,” “Fire of Unknown Origin” and “Extra Terrestrial Live.” These are all great classic albums and I am in no way taking anything away from them, it just seems unfortunate that “Mirrors” doesn’t seem to get any mention at all. This is a shame because for me, it is a damn fine album.
I knew the opening track, “Dr Music,” from the live album mentioned above. When I refamiliarized myself with the album, this song came back to me straight away and has stuck in my head to the point that I’m still singing the chorus two days later. Of course, “Dr Music” isn’t the only good track on “Mirrors.” The tracks “The Great Sun Jester,” “I Am the Storm” and “The Vigil” also stand out for me too. This doesn’t take away from the rest of the album as it is a good hard rocking album that typifies what you would expect when you hear Blue Oyster Cult.
Track Listing:
1. Dr Music
2. The Great Sun Jester
3. In Thee
4. Mirrors
5. Moon Crazy
6. The Vigil
7. I Am The Storm
8. You’re Not the One
9. Lonely Teardrops
Blue Oyster Cult
Eric Bloom- stun guitar, lead vocals
Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser- lead guitar, lead vocals
Alan Lanier- keyboards, guitar
Joe Bouchard- bass, lead vocal on “Moon Crazy”
Albert Bouchard- drums, lead vocal on “You’re Not the One”
It has been said that the reason for the lack of success of “Mirrors” is that they tried a more glossy, commercial sound with this album. Yes, I do admit that its sound isn’t as dark as many of their other albums but I think it is still a good listen and definitely underrated.
Next post: Bob Dylan- Slow Train Coming
To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html
Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Store in London
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