Namesakes #210: Player

That's Gary Player.

Was he a bit of a Player?

Who knows.

But he did sing... who knew that?

Gary Player - Gentle On My Mind

I'm actually wondering whether George will consider that the best thing he hears today. It's pretty slim pickings... I'd thought there would have been more Players out there...

PLAYER #1

Peter Beckett was from Liverpool. At age 16, he formed a band called The Thoughts and recorded a Ray Davies tune. Then he joined Winston G and the Wicked who soon changed their name to Whip. He auditioned for Badfinger, didn't get the job, so joined a prog band called Paladin. Somehow he ended up in LA where he joined the Skyband, before meeting up with the bunch of scallywags who became Player. 

And the rest is history...

Player - Baby Come Back

PLAYER #2

Kelly Groucutt was the bassist in ELO from 1974 - 1982. Unhappy with the money he was getting, he decided to sue Jeff Lynne, so while he made a few bob out of that, his days with the Orchestra were over. In 1986 he released a solo album which sounds very, very much like 80s ELO. Somewhere along the way, a track from that album was released as a single under the moniker Player. Or maybe I dreamt it...

Player - Am I A Dreamer?

 

THE PLAYER #3

Rapper from Michigan, via California, who's been writing his rhymes since he was 8 years old...

The Player - Tether

There were a few bands called The Players, but under George's Strict Rules, I can't include those. Besides, none of them were a patch on Gary Player.

Any worthy of a spin on your record player?

Namesakes #209: The Riot Squad

Often when I select a band name to feature on Namesakes, I do so thinking: "That'll be a nice short one. Probably only two or three and I'll be done." And then the floodgates open.

I predict a riot...

RIOT SQUAD #1

London-based Riot Squad who were kicking around in the mid-60s and managed to rope in a certain young David Jones (aka Bowie) to sing with them for a while in 1967. They covered The Velvet Underground's Waiting For My Man and also recorded this Bowie original... which owes quite a debt to the Velvets itself.

The Riot Squad - Little Toy Soldier

RIOT SQUAD #2

Meanwhile over in Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, around the same time Bowie was rioting through London Town, these nattily dressed young gentlemen were throwing back to the 50s. They also did a cover of Ferry 'Cross The Mersey which I chose not to go looking for.

Riot Squad - Come On, Let's Go

RIOT SQUAD #3

UK-based ska band from the late 70s / early 80s. Eventually they stopped rioting and just became The Squad.

Riot Squad - She's So Fine

RIOT SQUAD #4

Mansfield punks active between '81 and '84, reunited in 2003 under the law that states all old bands (except The Smiths) must get back together in the 21st Century. They have a sentiment that never goes out of date though... 

Riot Squad - Fuck The Tories

Wonder what they make of Reform?

RIOT SQUAD #5

Cape Town punks, making noise around the same time as the guys above... so eventually they changed their name to Riot Squad South Africa to avoid confusion.

Riot Squad - Security System

RIOT SQUAD #6

"One of the hottest and most popular reggae bands in South Florida" when this video was recorded, sometime around 1989. What the hell is going on?

Riot Squad - What the Hell Is Going On?

RIOT SQUAD #7

Texas punks from the 90s who eventually changed their name to The Staggers.

Riot Squad - Nosferatu

RIOT SQUAD #8

Spanish Oi! band from the early 21st century...

Riot Squad - Street Rock n Roll

RIOT SQUAD #9

Belgian punks from around the same time...

Riot Squad - Another Heartbreak

RIOT SQUAD #10

New Jersey punk-metal hip-hopper Rob Gee and his mates, circa 2014. 

In case you're wondering, this "unique blend of Metal and Hardcore makes this track stand out like no others before it". I do like a nice bit of gratuitous hyperbole... even if it does make me rather anxious.

Riot Squad - Anxiety

RIOT SQUAD #11

Also possibly known as Brian Setzer's Riot Squad... or maybe it was just another Setzer solo project that discogs seems to have given a "Riot Squad" label to in 2014. It's hard to tell sometimes.

Riot Squad - Rockabilly Riot

RIOT SQUID #12

Believe it or not, I'm trying to get more selective with this feature, and weed out some of the chaff to save us all a lot of bother. So there were plenty more Riot Squads I threw out this week. But I couldn't resist finishing with these guys, even though they won't get past George... from 2026. What a great year that was, eh?

Riot Squid - Lower Highs

Which ones are a Riot? And which ones are just Rot?

 

Namesakes #208: The Bluetones

Are you feeling Blue, Tone? Shouldn't have lied about those WMDs, I guess.

("Hey, Rol - 2003 is calling. They want their joke back.)

Here are some more Blue Tones...

THE BLUETONES #1

We start today in the mid-50s with four very clean cut young men who made up the Seattle Bluetones, led by one Joey Gee.

Joey Gee & The Bluetones – Little Searcher

THE BLUETONES #2

To Canada next, in 1957, for some Blue (gap) Tones, with added Fred Coupland.

The Blue Tones featuring Fred Coupland – Shake Shake

THE BLUE TONES #3

And a couple of years later, we were asked to mind the gap again by New Yorker Blue Tones… 

The Blue Tones – Big Mean Blues

THE BLUETONES #4

Also known as The Royal Teens, these Bluetones were doing and wopping in the mid-60s… and till the end of time.

The Bluetones - I'll Love You (Till The End Of Time)

THE BLUETONES #5

 

Bluesy Bluetones from Rhode Island circa 1989, led by one Raymond Alan Norcia – Sugar Ray to his mates. Still in the go, it seems.

Sugar Ray & The Bluetones – Seeing Is Believing

THE BLUETONES #6

 

Seen as Britpop also-rans by people who still think Oasis have any value beyond their comedy Viz Northern lunkhead stereotypes… although they were the band that knocked (What’s The Story) Morning Glory off the top of the album chart, so history should thank them for that. (Though their biggest hit, Slight Return, was denied a Number One on the singles chart by… Babylon Zoo.) 

I always like Mark Morris and his Hounslow Bluetones. A lot. Saw them live quite a few times back in my gigging heyday and they always put on a good show. More than can be said for the Millionaire Manchester Muppets.

The Bluetones – Marblehead Johnson

ZE BLUETONES #7

 

French Bluetones, active about 20 years ago. Or between 2003 and 2009 for those of us who still think the 80s were about 20 years ago.

The Bluetones – When You Want Some Love

THE BLUE TONES #8

 

And we finish today in Akron, Pennsylvania, with brothers Brian & Chris Harris… two pictures of each of them, I’m guessing to make them look like a four-piece band.

The Blue Tones – Sail Away

Which ones enhance your audio experience... and which ones just leave you blue?

Namesakes #207: Aardvarks

Following on from last week's post where we discovered a number of bands named after an Aardvark (singular), here are a bunch named after more than one of those same delightful creatures...

THE AARDVARKS #1

We kick off today in Minnesota with a group of Aardvarks who would eventually change their name to The He-Toos.

The Aardvarks - Josephine 

THE AARDVARKS #2

To Michigan next in 1966, with a song some over-enthusiastic youtuber calls the "greatest garage single of all time."

The Aardvarks - I'm Higher Than I'm Down

THE AARDVARKS #3

And in Missouri, just a couple of years later, these guys were entering a beauty pageant...

Aardvarks - Subconscious Train Of Thought

AARDVARKS #4

Austrian Aardvarks, from the 80s. "On their debut LP they had a more Teutonic/Krautrock hard-rock type sound akin to Harlis or Kaputter Hamster." This one though, featuring vocalist Anita Rettenwander, comes from a few years later.

(Rol makes a quick note of Kaputter Hamster for a future edition of Namesakes.)

Aardvarks - Don't Wake The Sleeping Dogs!

THE AARDVARKS #5

60s-sounding Aardvarks who actually started out in 1989. This is their debut single, which gets a pass from me because it's named after an old man who invited me to explore his Mysterious World when I was a kid... because things like that weren't frowned on so much in the 80s.

The Aardvarks - Arthur C. Clarke

AARDVARKS #6

Also in 1989, these Aardvarks were rocking a land down under...

Aardvarks - Emma's Gone

Which Aardvarks are AAce?

Namesakes #206: Aardvark

Welcome back to the feature George used to call "Bands With The Same Name".

This week, a creature whose name will always be inextricably linked to ZZ Top (RIP Frank Beard)... the loveable Aardvark. Ain't they cute? Can any of the bands below live up to that level of cuteness? Let's find out...

AARDVARK #1

We begin today in either Wisconsin and Illinois. Nobody knows which. And nobody can tell me when either, but I'm guessing mid-late 60s...

Aardvark - Wish I Could Tell You

AARDVARK #2

Next up, a London-based prog band who arrived on the scene in 1968. Discogs tells us they "recorded just the one album for the Deram Nova label. Aardvark's style was eclectic and combined Canterbury (Egg, Caravan) stylisms along with more eccentric fare in the manner of Gracious, Gnidrolog or Jethro Tull."

(Rol makes a quick note of Gnidrolog for a future edition of Namesakes.)

I actually have this track on my in-car compilation at the moment.

Aardvark - Very Nice Of You To Call

AARDVARK #3

Possibly from either Nashville or Miami, also late 60s, these guys offer "some dischordant distorto-fuzz, and later features liberal doses of wah-wah." Enjoy.

Aardvark - Salty Dog

AARDVARK #4

A folky Scottish Aardvark, formed in 1970, though it doesn't look like their album was released till 2024.

Aardvark - Walking Out Into The Day

AARDVARK #5

Potential winner this week for me, this New Zealand Aardvark "wrote about the loss of houses due to the building of an urban motorway" in 1973...

Aardvark - Motorway Madness

HARDVARK #6

It was inevitable I'd find at least one Hardvark - surprised there weren't more. A rather loud indie band making Illinois in the early 90s.

Hardvark - Fawn

AARDVARK #7

David Edward Hedger was the man behind this "4am hypno-stomper" in 1992...

Aardvark - The Apostle (The Feeding Of The 5000)

AARDVARK' #8

Italian prog act from 2006 who differentiate themselves from other Aardvarks by sticking a completely unnecessary comma apostrophe on the end of their name. English teachers despair.

Aardvark - Palava Maailma

AARDVARK #9

And finally today, an Aussie metal band from 2023... although from looking at them, they could have come from 50 years earlier...

Aardvark - Tough Love

This post was originally much longer as it also included bands called The Aardvarks. However, due to popular demand complaints from Portugal, I have decided to split the post in two. So tune in next week for more Aardvarks (plural). 

Which Aardvark is AAwesome? 

Namesakes #205: Magazine

Remember the humble magazine, that thing we all used to read before some bozo invented the interweb? Here are some bands that remember it...

MAGAZINE #1

When Howard Devoto left The Buzzcocks in 1977, he went all arty. Actually, iffypedia says "Devoto decided to create a more progressive rock band"... but I'm not sure you could really call Magazine "prog", could you? Post-punk, certainly. Art rock, definitely. Prog? I'll let George be the judge of that...

Magazine - Shot By Both Sides

MAGAZINE #2

Next, a Brazilian new wave Magazine from 1983... as seen on "Mofo TV".

Magazine - Sou Boy

MAGAZINE #3

Followed by an Italian electro-pop group from 1988 who had one single in 1988 named after an Italian TV show about the lives of English miners in the 1920s. I couldn't find the track online, so here's an episode of the TV show. I expect George to watch the whole thing and give me his feedback.

E Le Stelle Stanno A Guardare

MAGAZINES #4

Possibly of minor interest to Ernie, some Kenyan Magazines, also known as The Magazines Band, from 1997...

Magazines - Chico Cha Tzawe

THE MAGAZINES #5

These guys came from Des Moines, Iowa, in 2009. They are included today because I liked the opening line of this song... a message to everyone voting on this feature today.

The Magazines - Tomorrow

MAGAZINE #6

Abstract, experimental, ambient Dub Techno from Germany in 2011... although the song title sounds a bit Yorkshire to me.

Magazine - Happen Nearly

MAGAZINES #7

Philly-based Magazines, though they were singing about New Jersey in 2013...

Magazines - New Jersey, Keep Me Safe

MAGAZINES #8

Also in 2013, these Magazines are "the son of Lucille (née Collins), a mail room clerk, and Edward Joseph II, a lumber salesman."

Magazines - Kansas City

MAGAZINES #9

Some Dublin-based lo-fi indie Magazines from 2020...

Magazines - Pink And Blue

MAGAZINES #10

From last year, here are some Belgian Magazines. "With a high-energy sound full of attitude, they channel the same youthful freedom that once lived in CDs, comics and magazines; a form of escapism where anything feels possible."

Magazines - Hollywood

MAGAZINES #11

And finally, couple of weirdoes (and I mean that as a compliment) from Massachusetts, from the year they'll call 2026...

Magazines - The Beast Is Right Behind You

 

Which ones will you be asking your local newsagent to stock up on?

Namesakes #204: The Cult

Yes, I said The Cult. Should've gone to Specsavers.

There's comes a point in all our lives when we have to seriously consider joining a cult.

Here are a few you might want to choose from...

THE CULT #1

We kick off with an Aussie Cult from 1965. Check your playing needle. A damaged stylus can ruin this recording.

The Cult - You're Just My Kind

THE CULT #2

One year later in the US of A, this Cult were making a stand...

The Cult - Here I Stand

THE CULT #3

As we arrive in 1975, we discover a Vegas-based funk and soul Cult dedicated to protecting postal workers... 

The Cult - The Mail Must Go Through

THE CULT #4

Originally known as Death Cult, until they mended their ways, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy formed their own Cult in Bradford* back in 1983... and they're still going strong.

*They live in LA now though. Can't imagine why.

The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary

THE CULT #5

And we close back in Australia with a live recording from the Sedition Festival at Sydney's Trade Union Club in April 1983...

The Cult - Special Boy Legal Man

Which Cult makes you want to drink the Kool Aid?