Noise and Mayhem

I guess I really should talk a bit about a song that I swear by. . . in that most literal of terms. When I need to make a "s'wounds" sort of swear, I reach for Ali Thomson's "Take A Little Rhythm." Nothing says soft anger like a man muttering "take a little of that sweet sweet music" under his breath in a public space.

But...
Part of me wants to consider this song an anchor point on the tail end of the blandemonium canon. It seems so much a part of the soft rock idiom (the jingly and persistent acoustic paired with vibes and a decidedly grooving rhythm section) while still nodding forward to mid-eighties soft synth pop (it's that damn smooth sax, i guess). Though I still don't know what to do with the vibra slap.
It's just such a weirdly liminal song. It's got equal parts thompson twins AND dave mason.

Anyway, this was one of those songs that kept wanting me to remember it, but it took a trip to the grocery store in 04 to make that happen. That day I stopped dead with a box of boil in bag rice half off the shelf. Now it is a daily driver, if you know what I mean.

It doesn't seem that Ali really did much else. Hell, the poor guy doesn't even have a wikipedia entry. There was this album in '80 (named after the hot hot single that made it all the way to 15 on the billboard charts) and another in 81 called "Deception is An Art" (worth noting that this follow up album featured Stuart Elliott on drums, the session guy who played with another blandemonium mainstay The Alan Parsons Project as well as Kate Bush and Chris DeBurgh). Maybe if I actually buy that presskit on ebay I will know more....

In the meantime, I'll just end with a meditation on the verse:

Seems like madness is everywhere
Only noise and mayhem fill the air
Ooh, you're body's hurting and your mind is slow
Just sit back and let the music flow...

If ever there was a battle cry (albeit a rather long one) for the blandemonium war, this might be in the top 6.