Sparkle in my life » Memories

The Return of the Worst Album Sleeves Ever!!!

Mike — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:48:20 +0000

!!SPARKLE WARNING YOU MAY FIND SOME OF THESE IMAGES OFFENSIVE!!

Here we go again, as many of you enjoyed the original post, The Worst Album Sleeves Ever!! I thought you would like to see more of the same;

Paddy Roberts, Songs for Gay Dogs

I,ve heard it all now

Christian Crusaders with Al Davies
They were an early influence on Kraftwerks Image.

Quim Barreirds, Reeebi Om Convite A Casa Da Joquina
One of Borats early albums

The Frivolous Five, Sour Cream & Uther Delights
Would you take a rose from any of these ladies?

Bitch Slapped, Breaks
Enough said.

Gary Dee Bradford, Sing for You and You and You
I hope he made enough money from this album to have his eye corrected

The Amazon Twins, Hallelujah!
George Doors early band with brother William Windows

Geraldine and Ricky, Trees Talk Too!
Looks like they have just arrived at Fantasy Island

The Cooper Family, I´m Gods Child
What is the alien from Mars Attack doing with this family

Various, My Pussy Belongs To Daddy
I cant believe the song titles on this album.

Johhny Houston, Makin Bacon
I,m scrapping the barel with this one.

World Cup Songs

Mike — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:24:03 +0000

Foottball songs have been with us for years wheather sang on the terraces , by the latest lad bands or by by footballers them selves- heaven forbid!! and equally some sad old artist still trying to have a hit.

Now the world cup has started and is in full swing- lets hope there are no more hand of cod moments for England- Id like to look at some the songs surounding this years tornament the good and the bad;

Here is the offical world cup song as featured in the opening celebrations,theire are also versions in different languages which is a nice touch.

“Wavin Flag” by K´ naan (Official World Cup Theme Song)

In England we have “Shout For England” fromDizzee Rascal and wanna be comedian James Corden which is a cover of the old Tears For Fears track Shout.

We also have that old chestnut “Three Lions” run out again with Russell Brand and Robbie (im desperate for a hit and ill try anything) Willams.

There is also “This My Dear England”, which I actually quiet like,

Pitbull featuring TKZ ee and Dario G, have released the officail FIFA Mascot song “Game On”

R. Kelly featuring Soweto Gospel Choir, “Sign of Victory “Official FIFA World Cup Anthem

Shakira and Freshlyground, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)”

Official FIFA World Cup Song this is getting confusing now whats official and whats not, but a good song all the same

England World Cup Song FABIO by UKFF Girls featuring The Mighty Mascots. Awfull!! as is the video, but the young lads out there will love it.

And how to spoil a great song in one easy lesson; Chris Martini “When England Rule the World”

I could go on as there are many many more out there but Im sure you get the picture, whats your favourite football song?

Mine is (not strictly a football song but a slab of synth pop ) footballers Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle Diamond Lights.

And as the DJ presenter says at the end of this clip, “not a bad song, but not a good song either” But hey you gotta admire Glen´s mullet!!

The Novelty Single.

Mike — Tue, 25 May 2010 09:06:10 +0000

Novelty songs – you either love them or loathe them, but they have always been a fixture in the charts.
Perhaps you raise a smile on the first listen but then thereafter they wear a little thin and irritate like a bad rash.
So here is my top ten of the worst novelty songs you could say “shad up your face”, I say listen with caution!!

Lilly the Pink, The Scaffold

The Streak, Ray Stevens

Star Trekin, The Firm

The Laughing Gnome, David Bowie

D.I.V.O.R.C.E, Billy Connolly

The Funky Gibbon, The Goodies

Axel F, Crazy, Frog

Tip Toe through the Tulips, Tiny Tim

My Ding A Ling, Chuck Berry

Tie Me Kangaroo down Sport, Rolf Harris

Malcolm McLaren Dies

Mike — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:04:49 +0000

I was sad to hear of the death of Malcolm McLaren who died yesterday in New York aged 64 from cancer. His body is expected to be brought home to be buried in Highgate cemetery London.

Malcolm will probably remembered best as the manager of punk rock group the Sex Pistols.
Among his achievements was the clothes shop he opened with Vivian Westwood called Let It Rock on London’s Kings Road which originally sold Teddy boy gear. In 1975 he renamed the store SEX and sold S&M clothes.

After the Sex Pistols split up Malcolm created Bow Wow Wow which featured a young Annabelle Lwin to promote his and Vivian’s New Romantic fashion lines.

He also forged a solo career and had a number of hit singles including Buffalo Gals, Carmen, Madam Butterfly and his biggest single Double Dutch in 1983.
This is my favourite track by Malcolm the beautiful Madame Butterfly.

Malcolm McLaren died Aged 64, 8th April 2010.

The Worst Haircuts Of the 80´s

Mike — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 11:05:27 +0000

As the 80´s music is so in vogue at the moment I thought I´d look back at the haircuts of the time, there were some awful mistakes going on with the New Romantics and Synth-pop stars of the day.
Here is my list of the worst; I´d like to hear of any I´ve missed.

Number 1, A Flock Of Seagulls, Mike Score.

You won’t be surprised to learn that Mike was a former hairdresser-enough said! You may be pleased to hear Mike now has a shaven head-sweet justice.
Then

Now

Number 2 , Kajagoogoo´s Limahl.

It looks like Limahl has had a flock of seagulls flying overhead! This haircut seemed to be a Never Ending Story with Limahl as he used to don a wig in this style when he was doing Pa´s in the early 90´s. Now the original band are back together he has gone for a more grown up look.
Then

Now

Number 3, Howard Jones.

Howard Jones used to have this weird guy dancing round him with chains and a painted bald head doing an impression of a bad mime artist. I don’t know about a New Song I think a new haircut would have made a better act.
Then

Now

Number 4, Bananarma

Bananarama, always looked like they had been dragged through a corn field backwards. They didn’t look very ladylike at the beginning of their career, but time has treated them well; they look gorgeous and glamorous today and scored a number 44 hit single this year with Love Comes.
Then

Now

Number 5, Tik & Tok

Tik & Tok started off as a mime dance group as Shock, then made their own music under the name Tik & Tok. They were more famous for their robotic dancing in the early 80´s than their music and even appeared in the Star Wars film Return Of The Jedi .They also supported Gary Numan on his Warriors tour.
Then

Now

It´s interesting to note that all these artists are still working today and releasing new material, must be something in the hair!

Bands Reunited

Mike — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:01:43 +0000

What do you think about all the bands that have, and are about to, reunite? Are they in just for the money? Is it an ego thing trying to capture their former glory years? Or is it for artistic reasons?

I have my own thoughts on this subject. I feel a band has to have some original members and must have the original singer.
But you could argue – say the singer has died and if you were an original member of the band and you wrote the material surely you have the right to perform your material?

I would agree but don’t use the original band’s name or at least tie your name together with the band’s name e.g. Queen & Paul Rodgers works, you know exactly who you are seeing.
I wouldn’t be pleased say if I´d bought tickets to see ABBA and Frida & Agnetha weren’t the lead vocalists!

Many 70´s & 80´s bands are reuniting just for concert tours. Recently we have had The Police, Yazoo (would loved to have seen Alison and Vince together again) Led Zeppelin, Spandau Ballet, Ultravox, The Motels, Mott The Hoople, Kajagoogoo and many more…

From left to right clockwise, Led Zeppelin, Mott The Hoople, Kajagoogoo, Yazoo, Spandau Ballet and Ultravox.

Some of the bands have released new material. Spandau Ballet have a new album with a couple of new songs and reworked some of their older material-to varying results.The Motels have also released a new album which is actually very good.

Vh1 have run a show called Bands Reunited and they follow a band and try to reform them for a one off concert. Some bands reformed, A Flock of Seagulls, Berlin and Haircut 100; some bands didn’t – Frankie Goes To Hollywood -Holly Johnson declined and Squeeze – Glen Tilbrook and Jools Holland expressed reservations.

So where do you stand on bands reuniting and what bands would you like to see reform?
Me I´d love to see obscure 80´s synth duo Eddie & Sunshine and 70´s art rock band Deaf School and for a more main stream act I’d like to see Adam and the Ants.

Lady Gaga, they’ve got her covered.

Mike — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:55:05 +0000

The covering of songs isn’t new and over recent years it has become cool to cover high profile pop songs.
The excellent Radio 1 live lounge series features many artists you wouldn’t expect to hear give their own take on either a pop or rock song. Who can forget The Future Heads covering Kate Bush´s Hounds of Love, Biffy Clyro doing Rhianna´s Umbrella, Sam Sparro´s American Boy cover and Arctic Monkeys version of Girls Aloud´s Love Machine?

You also have the reverse; pop stars covering the respected bands, Sugababes with Spiralling , originally by Keane , Alicia Dixon, Sex On Fire –Kings of Leon and Busted doing the Black Eyed Peas Where Is The Love.
With Lady Gaga ´s profile so high at the moment artists are loving covering her songs, some good some bad. Poker Face seems to be the artist’s song of choice.

Here is a list of artists who have covered Lady Gaga

Chris Daughtry, Poker Face, my favourite of these covers.

Maximo Park, Just Dance. A really good version.

We the Kings Paparazzi. Not a great acoustic version.

Disco Curtis, Just Dance. I kinda like this one.

The Soundtrack, Just Dance, not bad.

Pixie Lott, Poker Face, nice acoustic piece

Of Mice and Men, Poker Face. Awful!

Alphabeat, Telephone/Bad Romance (Alpha monster mash up) yeah ok.

Weezer, Kids/Poker Face , Good version mixed with MGMT´s Kids.

Absent Elk, Poker Face, excellent version, love this one.

Eric Cartman, Poker Face you know you´ve made it when you get covered by Southpark

Faith No More, Poker Face, live version, strange voice.

Not to be out done, Lady Gaga also did an excellent cover of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, where her voice sounds wonderful although she did forget some of the words. It just shows that she is in fact human.

The Worst Album Sleeves Ever!!

Mike — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:42:32 +0000

As I have already shared with you some of the most iconic album sleeves I thought it would be fun to see some of the worst ever!

My Top Ten

Kevin Rowland, My Beauty.

What were you thinking Kevin, a covers album and he also appeared live in those suspenders.

Joyce.Joyce.

I think Dustin Hoffman may have had this album in his collection.

Mille Jackson, Back To the S**t

Not very Lady like, Millie has released more than 20 albums since 1973. Never gaining mainstream acceptance-perhaps the lewd album covers put the record buying public off.

ManOwar, Anthology

I´m not sure who they were trying to attract with this image in fact any of their albums could be on this list, for this greased up Metal act.

Cher, Take Me Home

Mmm not her greatest look.

Heino,Liebe Mutter…

I kind of like this thunderbird puppet look-something about his eyes- but I can’t imagine what the album sounds like.

Country Church, Country Church.

Very strange looking bunch, looks like a bit of a tank top cult going on, I sure wouldn’t be praying at their church.

Mike Terry Live At The Pavilion Vol 2

Mike looks like he´s having fun wearing Gary Glitter´s cast offs.
It would be interesting to see what Vol 1 looked like, it couldn’t be any worse.

Boned Up At The Crack

A band who base their sound on rockers AC-DC, released their debut album with a less than subtle sleeve.

Joan Armatrading, Track Record

I never got this album sleeve, whoever said to Joan “stand on the piano as if your about to compete in a race” must have been mad, but worse still Joan did it!

This Is Not A Love Song!

Mike — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:00:42 +0000

As it´s Valentine’s Day soon I thought I´d reminisce about the time I put together a collection of love songs for my then partner (no it didn’t last).

I wish there had been online dating back in the day.
We all must have done this at some point, whether it’s for Valentine’s Day or just because we’re so loved up we want to share our musical tastes with our new found lover.
Now there are a couple of ways you can go about this, you can choose the standard classic love songs which everyone knows or you can go for something more obscure. I went for the latter.
Here is my collection which I put on a C60 cassette tape – remember those?

Side 1
This Is Not a Love Song, Pil
Love Is the Answer, Utopia
Laser Love, After the Fire

Flaming Desire, Bill Nelson
Get Your Love, Roger Daltrey
Automatic Lover, Dee D Jackson
A Lover Spurned, Marc Almond

Side Two
Bizarre Love Triangle, New Order
I Believe Love’s A Prima Donna, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

Love Action (I Believe In), the Human League
I Need a Lover, John Cougar
Love Is Like Oxygen, the Sweet
Misplaced Love, Rupert Hine

Well I don’t think they were too impressed with my choice of songs to say the least and the relationship ended soon after.
Now you’ve seen my songs from many years ago, what are you favorite five love songs? I would be interested to hear what makes your heart skip a beat.

My Favourite Singles of the last Decade

Mike — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:14:16 +0000

These are the singles that I remember sticking in my mind and loving over the last ten years; some you will remember others maybe not. I found this so hard to pick my favourites and I´m sure many of you have your own. Drop me a line; I´d like to hear what your favourite songs of the last decade were.

Sparkle in my life » Memories

The Return of the Worst Album Sleeves Ever!!!

World Cup Songs

The Novelty Single.

Malcolm McLaren Dies

The Worst Haircuts Of the 80´s

Bands Reunited

Lady Gaga, they’ve got her covered.

The Worst Album Sleeves Ever!!

This Is Not A Love Song!

My Favourite Singles of the last Decade

2000

Eminem (ft Dido), Stan

2001

Kylie Minogue, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head

2002

Coldplay, Clocks

2003

Beyonce, Crazy In Love

2004

Modest Mouse, Float On

2005

Gorillaz, Feel Good Inc

2006

Amy Winehouse, Rehab

2007

Rihanna(ft Jay-Z), Umbrella

2008

Hercules and Love Affair, Blind

2009

Kasabian, Where Did All The Love Go?