Showing posts with label The Times. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Times. Show all posts

Tuesday, 14 April 2026

Namesakes #184: The Times


Boo, Rupert Murdoch, right wing rag, etc. etc. 

But unlike the paper, I'm not here to tell you how to think... you can make your own mind up which band called The Times is best.

Have you got The Times for all these? Let's see...


THE TIMES #1


We start this week in Australia, with a three piece beat band on Perth label Clarion Records in 1965.



THE TIMES #2

The Warrington Times, from 1966, featuring Alan Taylor, Gordon Struthers, Kenneth Crank and Malcolm Unsworth. Proper rock star names, all of them. This was their second, and presumably last, single. Where did all the good Times go?



THE TIMES #3


Dennis Burlage and his two brothers (plus a couple of mates) came from Norfolk, Virginia in 1967 and produced this "psychedelic masterpiece" / ripped off The Byrds.



THE TIMES #4


Irish "show band" (not sure what a show band is - presumably a band that plays shows... but don't they all?) from the late 60s and early 70s.

 

THE TIMES #5


I first became aware of Edward Philip Albert Tome Ball when he released the solo track The Mill Hill Self Hate Club, a Brit pop favourite from the glorious year of 1996. It was only later that I realised Ed Ball had been at this pop music lark for quite a while, starting in 1977 when he was a member of Television Personalities. As the 80s arrived, he formed his own band called The Times, featuring a rotating membership of musicians from the Wham! Records label (run by Ed and his mate Dan Treacy). The Times continued to release records on and off for the next 20 years. This tribute to The Prisoner is probably their most fondly-remembered tune...



THE TIMES #6


Also known as The U.S. Times, this Louisiana "dance band" were a'changing with the times in the early 80s.

The Times - Hip Isn't It


TIMES #7


Post-punk electronic band Venus In Furs hailed from Sussex in the early 80s. They started out as a four piece, then came back as a two piece, before eventually becoming a one man solo project. The man behind all these ventures occasionally called himself Jeremy Christ, but most of the time he went simply by the name: Times.

TIMES #8


Good times from Cleveland, Ohio in 1982. 



THE TIMES #9


Knock Three Times! More power pop from 1982 - this time via Nashville.



THE TIMES #10


South African soul group, and part-time jeans models: a sign of the times from 1990.



THE TIMES #11


And finally today, this Malaysian indie rock band were practising their Times tables in the noughties.



Eleven Times to choose from... but do you agree that Even The Bad Times Are Good?


Monday, 1 April 2024

Monday Snapshots #1


As Saturday Snapshots is by far the most popular feature on this blog, I decided to abandon all the other features from now on and extend Snapshots across the whole week. I will try to make it slightly different every day. Watch my clicks soar!

Here are ten photos randomly culled from my hard-drive's picture archive, along with ten songs. But what connects them?




9. Drunk Mums - New Australia
















1. The Westfield Mining Disaster - Greedy Bastards, Save Your Souls!


Answers... when you least expect them. 


Monday, 25 July 2022

Celebrity Jukebox #13: Patrick McGoohan


Number 13 in this series might seem unlucky, unless we go with someone who resolutely refuses to be a number, because he is a free man!

Despite a movie career that includes Ice Station Zebra, Braveheart and Scanners (the one with the exploding heads, kids) Patrick McGoohan will always be better remembered for his TV roles, first as Danger Man, and then as The Prisoner. Despite the fact that the former ran for 86 episodes and the latter only 17, it's Number 6 who became an icon, not John Drake from Danger Man (although some people believe they're one and the same, and that The Prisoner was a continuation of the earlier show... although McGoohan himself has poured cold water on this idea). Let's not go any deeper into all that, otherwise we could be here all day.

The influence of The Prisoner was fell across all genres of popular music, from heavy metal...


...to dance...

  
...to rap...


...to indie...


But what about Patrick McGoohan himself? 

I found three songs that mention him by name, though they're all inextricably connected to The Prisoner.
 
First, try a blast of 90s ska from Brixton...


Do you remember when you used to go bopping
You would sit back down to watch Batman and Robin
All those silly crazy things that you thought you were doing
Coz you used to watch the Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan

Then a little alt-rock from Boston...


And with luck I'll be drugged and dragged to a Village ocean view
Lazy afternoon down on the terrace
Playing chess with sexy Number Two
Maybe I'll present my lighter
and suggest you burn my file
I'll be Patrick McGoohan resigned to Number Six landscaped exile

Both pretty good, but Edward Ball was always going to win this one... with a little help from the Spencer Davis Group, I think. This is from 1982...

The Times - I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape



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