Sunday, May 31, 2015

in 1981 Bill Wyman only had one suit

hello there

not that, for the sake of clarity, the measure of anyone should be in how many suits they have. there are far better people in this world, look you see, that own less suits than i, where are there are people who have probably 100 times as many suits as i do yet they are far worse than i could ever be. Sepp Blatter comes to mind in relation to one of these circumstances, for instance.

the exciting news that a box set of Bill Wyman's four best solo albums is to be released soon brought to mind the very best of those four, the one that was so immediately good that Bill Wyman, for ease of reference, simply called it Bill Wyman.

well, when i say "best", it has two songs on it that have merit. Come Back Suzanne is one of them, as it features the most amazing electro-funk styled echoed bass that any record by someone who was in the Ro££ing $tone$ for more than 25 years but less than 35 years has ever made. also, it features debut, as far as recorded history is concerned, of the line "i can't stand it" in a cockney drawl ("hoi carnt shtaaaand it", if you will), a line and performance which has formed some 40% of the dialogue for EastEnders ever since.

the other song off of it was of course Je Suis Un Rock Star, in which Bill celebrates how he has easy access to sex, travel by Concorde and drugs in his position as the most senior bass player in a rock band.

sadly, the line "Si Si" which Bill regularly sings in the song has not, thus far, been picked up as potential dialogue by soap opera writers as such as yet, but perhaps one day it will.

it is this second song - hence me keeping it for second, i suppose - that came to mind when i pondered my thoughts, feelings and overall ideas around the fact that a Bill Wyman box set will very much be a thing at the end of June. specifically the video came to mind, hence the still from it you see here. although the part of the video that came to mind is not quite so clear in this picture as it could be. yeah, i am talking of the suit.

Bill Wyman by Bill Wyman was released in 1981, as was Tattoo You by the Ro££ing $tone$; an album that would seem to be their last ever truly great record as a whole. and it is a really great album, by the way. so good that, now that i think, i shall brave Apple software and do it as a bus vibes.

the lead single of of the album was Start Me Up, a single that featured one of the most simple yet celebrated promo videos of all time. this still should give you a clue to why this came to mind when news of a Bill Wyman box set broke, although i suppose the title of this post does that anyway.



yes. unless i am very much mistaken, which i could possibly be, Bill Wyman has the same pale blue with light pastel white coloured strides suit on in both of these promotional videos from 1981. actually, it could be the same tie too, but he would appear to have changed his shirt at the least. underpants? i very much doubt that in this era Bill or any member of the $tone$ wore them, in truth. and why would i know or care what sort of socks that Bill or any of them had on ever?

a snippet of the video for Je Suis Un Rock Star? i don't see why not, as it would save you leaving this page to google it. pretty much everything you could want to know of the video is included in these ten or so seconds anyway, but if you don't believe me do feel free to search for it directly.



i suppose i should do a snippet off of Come Back Suzanne to show off the sensational lyric delivery and fantastic bass, but i can't remember what, if any, suit he had on in that one.

this is a bit of a better still from the video, isn't it? that seems to show off the suit, and indeed the tie, a bit better. yes, i am pretty sure they are the same.

i think, in a very bass player out of a rock band way, that's the Thames that Bill is walking along the one bank of, with the pizazz and glamour of battersea power station behind him.

should i make my way down to London any time soon i might well decide to re-enact this scene. i would probably have to get Spiros to record it for me, mind, but it wouldn't be a trip to London without seeing Spiros. i would actually have very little reason or purpose to go to the place other than to see him, really. well, him and any other friend of mine that happened to be there too.

at least i think that is battersea power station. i have heard of it, and i think it no longer functions as such, but i have not actually seen it myself. that i can recall, at the least.

how is it that i was so familiar with these two videos that i could recall the fact that Bill Wyman might have had the same suit on in both of them? both of them got played a lot on TV in Australia in 1981. on Countdown if i recall, with Molly something hosting it. Melldrew or Meldrum, i think.

another still off of the class Start Me Up video for a bit of Bill Wyman suit (and tie) comparison? sure.



and i am all but certain that some of you would like a little bit of video for the video itself of Start Me Up, with Ronnie Wood charging around doing his thing.



i wouldn't want to take too much away from a possible bus vibes post on Tattoo You, but in short it was an album hastily put together in order to justify a tour. who knew that, a mere 30 or so years later, it would be the case that tours would be hastily put together in order to sort out Ronnie Wood's latest divorce bill?

Bill Wyman probably did own more than one suit in 1981, by the way. perhaps he simply made both of these videos on the same day, or the production manager for $tone$ videos just said to Bill that it would be really smart if he wore the same suit in both videos, as people would probably still be talking about it some 34 years later.

if for some reason the subject of how many suits Bill Wyman had in 1981 is a subject you are particularly interested in, i can only assume all of this was of some interest to you. had you come to this blog post not previously concerning yourself with the subject, well, now you have.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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