So with that in mind I thought I would put together my own list of the glam rock songs that remind me of certain comics, magazines or books.
1. Avengers UK # 28 – March 1974
Ah yes the joys of playing truant from school and buying a comic to read in the bus station while Roll Away the Stone by Mott the Hoople plays on someone's portable radio. (Don’t do it kids, besides I got caught so no pocket money for weeks).
Who could resist the kung fu-tastic Shang-Chi bursting through the comic cover and into my young life. And all for 6p.
2. Shiver and Shake – 1973
Rockin and boppin with Frankie Stein and Sweeny Toddler to Mud’s Rocket.
3. Raven Sword Mistress of Chaos – 1978
The first book didn’t come out until 1978 but it always reminds me of Bowie’s Rock and Roll Suicide from the Ziggy Stardust album.
There’s nothing like a classic Bowie album on the stereogram and a book about a half naked woman with a sword. I was 15; young; hormones and all that. A great cover illustration by Chris Achilleos was a bonus.
4. Look In - 1973 onwards
The classic British TV related picture and story magazine and the Glitter Band’s Angel Face.
5. Spider-Man Comics Weekly UK # 109 – March 1975
Great cover – well worth the wait to see the Black Widow in her new and improved costume. Anyway this always makes me think of the Sweet’s Teenage Rampage.
6. The Three Investigators: The Secret of Terror Castle and others
I bought all this series of books as a kid. My friend Brian and I even tried to set up our own investigating agency. Never quite worked out, The Mystery of the Rickety Gate didn’t have the same ring as the above.
But we enjoyed listening to My Friend Stan by Slade while we were dreaming of becoming great detectives.
"Childhood is a journey through another land, lost to us now, to be found only in memory"
Here are a couple of glam rock instrumentals to check out.
Cozy Powell, was an English rock drummer who made his name with many major rock bands over the years.
Powell stopped playing in other bands long enough to record two singles including "Dance with the Devil" which reached #3 in the UK singles chart during January 1974. The track featured Suzi Quatro on bass.
Cozy Powell died on 5 April 1998 following a car crash while driving his Saab 9000 at 104 mph (167 km/h) in bad weather on the M4 motorway near Bristol.
In 1978, the distinctive drum patterns, march breaks and chants formed the basis of Boney M's disco track "Nightflight to Venus" The chorus melody is taken from Jimi Hendrix's “Third Stone from The Sun” and would also be sampled for Right Said Fred's early Nineties hit "I'm Too Sexy."
After Mud had released "The Cat Crept In" in 1974 they also released another track from their album “Mud Rock”, a cover of "In the Mood". This was released under the name of Dum (Mud spelt backwards), but failed to chart.
The b-side to this was "Watching the Clock". This seemed to be a popular song for Mud who also released slightly different versions as b-sides on their singles ‘Oh Boy’ and ‘The Secrets that you keep’, where it was re-titled as ‘Still Watching the Clock’.
"Morning" is the b-side to "The Cat Crept In". Released in 1974 it reached # 2 in the UK charts. It follows a similar mellow, acoustic sound to "Mr Bagatelle" and is again written by the band.
“Last Tango in London” is a Mike Chapman/Nicky Chinn song written for Mud, that was released on the B-side of “Hypnosis” in June 1973. It reached number 16 in the British charts.
Between 1973 and 1976 Mud were a constant presence in the British charts. Notching up eleven top ten hits, which included three number 1’s. (Tiger Feet, Lonely This Christmas and Oh Boy)
Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman (Chinnichap) after their success with Sweet were looking for another band to write for and manage. That band was Mud (Les Gray, Ray Stiles, Rob Davis and Dave Mount). Mud were signed To Mickie Most’s RAK label and their first Chinnichap penned single ‘Crazy’ was released in January 1973. Eventually reaching number 12 in the charts.
By October 1973 the Chinnichap sound was beginning to make a bigger impact on the charts and in teen magazines. Their third single ‘Dyna-mite’ was released at this time and was the first single of Mud’s that I bought. The following January saw the release of ‘Tiger Feet’ Mud’s most enduring and biggest hit. It spent four weeks at number 1 in February 1974, and became the biggest selling single of the year.
The B-side of ‘Tiger Feet’ was Mr. Bagatelle. Like the Sweet; Mud wrote most of their own B-sides of which this is a good example. It is an acoustic strum that rambles along quite nicely. But again it was a favourite of mine as a kid.
Rob Davis the guitarist in Mud and co-writer of this song eventually went on to bigger and better things. Writing "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" for Spiller in 2000; and "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" for Kylie Minogue in 2001.
In 1975 Mud’s relationship with Chinnichap was coming to an end, and the last Chinnichap song released by the band was ‘Moonshine Sally’. The song had actually been recorded some years earlier but for some reason was kept back until now. It reached number 10.
This blog is here to give a taste of the sights and sounds of the glam rock period. The forgotten A-sides and album tracks that weren't fully appreciated the first time, and the equally forgotten and long lost B-sides that were the flip-side of what glam was all about.The music and videos featured here are for evaluation and reference purposes only. They are only available to promote the music and the artists.If you like what you hear then go and buy the records, CDs, DVDs or any other format you can think of. Most of the songs on this blog are "Vinyl Rips" from my own collection. I have tried to clean them up as best I can so the sound will not be as clear and clean as the CD versions. Some crackles and hissing may still be heard. Anyway, the resulting MP3's are at 128 kbps. Any copyright holders who want me to remove any music/videos/pictures then just contact me and it will be removed immediately.
Posts
.jpg)
