Thursday 26th April

Well another Thursday rolls around again to yet another half empty pub. But this week there will be no rant. No complaining. No bitterness at the fact no-one gets to hear us sing....again. Why not I hear you ask. Well after watching this little beauty last night it really seemed less important that I would be singing to an empty pub. God Bless Wayne Rooney.



Well that kind of made my week so the fact I was expecting an empty pub it really didn't get me down this week as it was far to hard to come down off the high of watching this match. I just hope that the second leg result goes as well for the team. Anyway back on to the karaoke night.
As you have gathered the pub was again with it's quiet charm that would be ruined if a large number of people turned up to enjoy themselves along with us, so we carried on regardless singing to ourselves!! The genius that is Shaun has found another plaything for us to dabble with on our blog sites, a T-Shirt shop where you can design and sell your own shirts. Needless to say I have opened one as well, and over the next few weeks and months you will no doubt see some of the shirts making appearances up the hotel on Thursday nights as we both have many plan's to bring a bit of light hearted fun to the night. (Beware of any comments you make as they might end up on a shirt!). To look on the sites just clink on the links provided.

Shaun's T-Shirts Shop

Captain Jacks T-Shirt Shop

Please feel free to purchase any of the shirts on display and visit us up at the hotel wearing your high quality merchandise. I'm sure there will be a drink in it for you from us, and at the hotel prices that's probably going to cost us more than the shirt will cost you!

Anyway on to tonight's line up of tracks. This week yet again I had a request put on the blog and, as I'm not one to disappoint, I managed to slot it in. The songs this week were 1. Needles And Pins by The Searchers (LG148-05) 2. Rockaria by E.L.O. (SC8715-15) 3. Free Electric Band by Albert Hammond (SMW866-13) and 4. Let's Get Rocked by Def Leppard (SC816-02).

Needles And Pins by The Searchers

A great way to start the night off tonight. This was another duet with myself and Andy. We looked at doing another new track, and finally chose this sixties classic by The Searchers. The track is probably the bands most well known track and hit number 1 in the charts in 1964. It is another seminal sixties classic 3 minute pop song that band at this time mastered, although not as well as the Beatles did! It's an enjoyable little ditty, very catchy, with some good harmonies for myself and Andy to tinker with. do again rating 5/10


Rockaria by E.L.O.

Another classic track from one of the forgotten bands in rock history. I can't imagine there are many people that do not know or love at least one E.L.O. track in there favourite songs. In the early seventies the band was formed out of the remnants of The Move and quickly went on to release a string of well known hits throughout the seventies and eighties, becoming one of the worlds biggest selling rock band's by the mid-seventies, thanks mainly to the leadership of lead vocalist Jeff Lynne and manager Don Arden (Sharon Osbourne's father no less!). The band used classical elements in there music along with great guitars, one of the best drummers ever in Bev Bevan, and catchy lyrics. Jeff Lynne is regarded by many in the music industry as one of the best lyricists around and you can tell that in all the E.L.O. songs. Really loved this one tonight and is on my all time top ten list. do again rating 10/10

Free Electric Band by Albert Hammond

Another rock classic from the seventies that most people won't remember. This again was a duet for myself and Andy as we both heard it on his backing music a couple of weeks ago and have been itching to have a crack since then. This was a one hit wonder for Hammond in the mid-seventies, but he is probably better known as a songwriter rather than a performer in his own right. He is responsible for writing some absolute classic tracks much better known to us all than this song such as Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now by Starship, One Moment In Time by Whitney Houston ( The 1988 Seoul Olympic Theme), The Air That I Breathe by The Hollies and several hits for Tina Turner. Hammond's son, Albert Hammond Jnr is also in the family business and is better known for being in The Strokes. do again rating 4/10

Let's Get Rocked by Def Leppard

Its request time again, and with many thanks to Tina and Shaun, it's time for a bit of Brit Rock. Oh joy! This one is a proper Brit rock classic by one of the main exponents of Brit Rock, Sheffield's Def Leppard. Now as they are one of my favourite bands ever this was not a problem for me to sing this one for them. The Leps are one of the best bands to come out of Britain ever and 2007 is actually the bands 30th anniversary (see if you can match that Arctic Monkeys). This track was taken from the bands fifth album Adrenalize, which went to number one simultaneously in both the U.S. and the U.K, and the video was also nominated for best video at the 1992 MTV awards. It does have some high notes in it which can be a bit tricky but I think I did it justice tonight. do again rating 9/10

Well there you go folks. Another great bunch of songs that yet again adds to my list of song not sang before this year ( I think I'm up to about 50 now and there is many more for me to have a crack at yet Shaun lol!!!) This week definitely had a bit of a rock element to it apart from Needles and Pins, and next week will be a definite change in pace as, in my drunken state I got everyone to agree to a theme night next Thursday. Several different categories were put into a hat, including Rock, Dance, Male Solo Artists, Beatles but with luck not on mine and Shaun's side we managed to pull out Female solo Artists! No doubt the girls will love this as it is obviously more tricky for the males amongst us, and the girls have already decided to do the only female vocal song Shaun knows! This will provide us with lots of practice this week as I'm sure we will have some belter's lined up for next Thursday. Now as I promised last week I am providing some classic Simpson clips in the lead up to the new film being released so click the link to see on of the movie's trailers. Until next time me old hearties.



"Rock 'n' Roll had become stagnant. `Achy Breaky Heart' was seven years away. Something had to fill the void and that something was barbershop." Homer J Simpson