Sunday, September 25, 2016

Maximum Rhythm and Booze...Quadrophenia special with Mark Wingett!




MR&B is back with actor Mark Wignett (aka 'Dave' from Quardrophenia/The Bill), giving us the inside scoop on his days filming the seminal youth cult classic film and his thoughts on the soon-to-be sequel, 'To Be Someone!'

Plus, we get the exclusive first listen to tracks from pop modernist sensations French Boutik's debut album, 'Front Pop,' heard for the first time anywhere!

As if that isn't enough, we bring you the usual barely sober banter and tunes you can expect from MR&B!!







SHOW SETLIST:
1. The Skids - Into the Vally
2. Richard Anthony and the Blue Notes - The Boston Monkey
3. French Boutik - Je Regard les Tigers
4. The Sound of Pop Art - Freedom
5. French Boutik - The Rent
6. The English Beat - Tears of a Clown
7. The Soul Brothers - Train to Skaville
8. Wheedle's Groove & Broham - Everything Good is Bad
9. Le Casse - French Boutik



Monday, September 19, 2016

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week Reviewed

Let me start by saying the following is not a debate. I rarely say this but I’m not interested in your views on The Beatles. I don’t care if you prefer the Stones. If you’re not a fan…I get it. It’s subjective. Just please, this time, "scroll and troll" elsewhere :)
To me The Beatles have shaped who I am. Religion doesn’t cover it. They are in my DNA. I just saw the new Ron Howard documentary ‘The Beatles: Eight Days a Week.’
As a music fan I can tell you it’s up there with the best of the best. As a Beatles fan, I was floored. Not to sound conceited but when it comes to the Fabs, I kind of know it all (the DNA thing, remember). No huge revelations in this film but here were my 5 take-aways to share with other like-minded Beatle people out there in Facebook land:
1. The world was going crazy. We were simply using Beatlemania as our vessel to act out and release whatever pent up angst, frustration, latent repressed sexual energy had built up inside of us as a society, world-wide.
2. The reason they survived that said insanity was because, unlike Elvis in his singularity, they had each other. A band of brothers, sitting alone in the back of a dimly lit Brinks-Mat van post-concert. Sweating in their cold steel cage as it whisked them back to their hotel and wondering WTF was unfolding around them. Nothing like it existed as a reference point before, nothing like it has happened since.
3. I knew their concerts were madness, but the film reminded me of the absolute hurricane of insanity that surrounded every move they made. For four small, pale, working class lads to have moved people with their music, image and entire being the way The Beatles did, I am convinced it was pre-ordained by a higher power and divinely motivated/inspired/guided. Call it God, call it ‘the Force’—The Universe was indeed at play.
4. In their hotel room in 1964 pre-Ed Sullivan appearance, John Lennon is toying with a riff on a Melodica which three years later, became ‘Strawberry Fields.’ I had heard this on an old bootleg clip and spotted it years ago. Very faint. It was brilliant to finally see the video footage.
5. The film reminded me how truly close and soul-connected these four men are. The post-break up bullshit aside, I remember McCartney telling a story of his final visit to George’s hospital bed where, during their conversation, he looked down to see he was holding and gently stroking his friend’s hand the whole time they had been talking. This was real love. The film reminded me of that indelible bond that ran deeper than blood or family. To the spirit.


Music fans, go see it. Beatle fans… a night of bliss awaits you. The enhanced 4K High-Def footage of Shea Stadium with re-mixed audio by Giles Martin is simply beyond words. So too is the fact their harmonies are spot on despite the fact they couldn't hear a thing.The amount of young people at the cinema was as inspirational as it was incredible. A new generation is listening. After the bomb drops, cockroaches and The Beatles— mark my words 



Peace out... xxx

;)

Friday, September 9, 2016

More Silly Style Rules Shat Upon, Part 476

To button or not to button, that is the question.
There are rule makers and rule breakers and I, for the most part, have sided with the latter. Duh.

There seems to be an unwritten rule— although it probably is actually written in one of these silly mod ‘elite’ rule books— that says the top bottom of your Fred Perry should always be buttoned.
Here’s my rule of thumb: Looks great that way on a teen/20 something. If you have a double chin, are larger built, ‘girth’ of the neck, body build or are broad shouldered…in fact, anything other than the lithe frame of an 18-year-old, don’t button. It looks like you’re squeezing into the shirt and is, frankly, ridiculous.
Look in the mirror guys. If your chin or neck cover your top button and the jersey looks like it’s been spray painted onto a body that has no business being spray painted, ABORT!
Now before you throw tomatoes understand this… SOME of you can pull it off. Weller for example. He looks after himself and could go buttoned or unbuttoned, no problem. Wiggo, ditto. You get the idea.



My personal preference is unbuttoned for Fred Perry or Lacoste. Buttoned up for knits. Always has been, even back when I looked like a well-dressed scarecrow wearing a laurel wreath tennis top back when The Style Council were playing ‘Live Aid.’
Final thought- PLEASE. Before you even THINK about getting into this whole ‘vintage Fila’ tennis top thing remember, Bjorn Borg was a god. An athlete in his prime. Save your money. You’ll come off less like ‘Man who looks like Borg’ and more like ‘Man who eats at Borger King’.
If you catch my drift.


xxx WP


Thursday, September 1, 2016

Maximum Rhythm and Booze...with The Beat's Dave Wakeling!





With hits like 'Tears of a Clown,' Hands Off She's Mind' and 'Can't Get Used to Losing You,' The Beat (or The English Beat if you're on the other side of the Atlantic) were at the forefront of the 1980's 2-Tone explosion. On the new MR&B, we talk love, life, music and everything else including the kitchen sink AND bathroom mirror with the mastermind behind it all - Dave Wakeling!

Plus the usual barely sober banter and tunes courtesy of Faz Waltz, Len Price 3, The Most, The Tiaras, Lyn Collins, The Skados, The Beat and more!






SHOW SETLIST:
1. Len Price 3 - Nobody Knows
2. The Beat - Click Click
3. The Most - Do You Wanna Know
4. The Tiaras - Gone With the Wind is My Love
5. Faz Waltz - Looking For a Ghost
6. The Beat - Mirror int he Bathroom
7. General Public - Tenderness
8. The English Beat - Save it For Later
9. Lyn Collins - Think About It
10. Skadows - Apache