FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days:
Tues 30 Sept
2230, Dazed & Confused: the Led Zeppelin Legacy – BBC Radio 2
2330 Howlin’ Wolf – BBC Radio 2 (rpt) (2/2)
Wed 1 Oct
1200 & 2200 Charles Mingus, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3
(3/5, continues Thurs-Fri)
Thurs 2 Oct
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (rpt) – BBC Radio 2
Fri 3 Oct
2100 Once Upon A Time In New York (hip hop, disco and punk)
– BBC Four
Sun 5 Oct
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (new) – BBC 6 Music
Mon 6 Oct
2315 Dave Holland Sextet, Jazz On 3 - BBC Radio 3
2330 Choo Choo Ch’Boogie: the Louis Jordan Story - BBC Radio 2
Thurs 9 Oct
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (rpt) – BBC Radio 2
Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast online, streamed. Please see the channels’ web sites for details. Archived BBC radio and TV programmes are accessible online for a short period via:
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
And on commercial TV:
Fri 10 Oct
2420 Elvis Presley, All You Need Is Love (part 13), More 4
Gerry Smith
Tuesday 30 September 2008
Monday 29 September 2008
Africa Now! World–class line-up in London in October
London’s Barbican – probably the leading UK venue staging music for grown-ups, from across the spectrum – excels itself next month with AFRICA NOW, featuring giants of African music like Baaba Maal, Oumou Sangare, Amadou & Mariam, Rachid Taha and many more, on 23 October.
It‘s the first time I’ve been aware of so many of Africa's greatest artists performing under one roof. They’ll do solo and ensemble sets.
Tickets: £10-25. Giveaway!
www.barbican.org.uk
Gerry Smith
It‘s the first time I’ve been aware of so many of Africa's greatest artists performing under one roof. They’ll do solo and ensemble sets.
Tickets: £10-25. Giveaway!
www.barbican.org.uk
Gerry Smith
Friday 26 September 2008
Alex Turner: outpacing Dylan?
Thanks to Martin Cowan:
“I'm not sure what readers' stance is on trendy scallywags The Arctic Monkeys, but I find myself somewhat surprisingly commending Monkeys main man Alex Turner's Mercury Prize short-listed side project, The Last Shadow Puppets.
“Turner's way with a word recently led to him rubbing shoulders with such esteemed writers as Cohen, Joni and Dylan himself in the Guardian's Great Lyricists booklet series, and it is a combination of his sharp lyrics and the impeccable classic ‘60s sound textures on the Shadow Puppets' "Age of the Understatement" LP which has set my pulse racing these last few weeks.
“Indeed, perusing the sharp and spiky lyrical twists and turns made me wonder when Dylan, famously held up as the world's greatest lyricist, was able to conjure up such original and poetic word play - not in recent times, I fear.
“This, from the opening title track, is offered as an appetiser for those who might dare to explore further:
"’She's playful/ the boring would warn you/ be careful of her brigade/ in order to tame this relentless marauder/ move away from the parade.
“’She was walking on the tables/ in the glasshouse/ endearingly bedraggled in the wind/ subtle in her method of seduction/ twenty little tragedies begin’."
All lyrics quoted are used for the purpose of criticism or review.
The Last Shadow Puppets, by Alex Turner and Miles Kane, published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd/Deltasonic Music Ltd, Copyright © and (p) Domino Recording Co Ltd 2008.
“I'm not sure what readers' stance is on trendy scallywags The Arctic Monkeys, but I find myself somewhat surprisingly commending Monkeys main man Alex Turner's Mercury Prize short-listed side project, The Last Shadow Puppets.
“Turner's way with a word recently led to him rubbing shoulders with such esteemed writers as Cohen, Joni and Dylan himself in the Guardian's Great Lyricists booklet series, and it is a combination of his sharp lyrics and the impeccable classic ‘60s sound textures on the Shadow Puppets' "Age of the Understatement" LP which has set my pulse racing these last few weeks.
“Indeed, perusing the sharp and spiky lyrical twists and turns made me wonder when Dylan, famously held up as the world's greatest lyricist, was able to conjure up such original and poetic word play - not in recent times, I fear.
“This, from the opening title track, is offered as an appetiser for those who might dare to explore further:
"’She's playful/ the boring would warn you/ be careful of her brigade/ in order to tame this relentless marauder/ move away from the parade.
“’She was walking on the tables/ in the glasshouse/ endearingly bedraggled in the wind/ subtle in her method of seduction/ twenty little tragedies begin’."
All lyrics quoted are used for the purpose of criticism or review.
The Last Shadow Puppets, by Alex Turner and Miles Kane, published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd/Deltasonic Music Ltd, Copyright © and (p) Domino Recording Co Ltd 2008.
Thursday 25 September 2008
Neil Young’s legacy examined in the new issue of WIRE
Thanks to Bryn Wilson:
“I’m excited, like you, by all the new Neil Young stuff. You and your readers might be interested in a lengthy article in the latest issue of WIRE - Adventures in Modern Music, the avant-garde music monthly.
“WIRE #296, October 2008, with the Richie Hawtin cover, has a multi-page feature article in its The Primer slot: The Alternative Neil Young. It’s a comprehensive survey from a WIRE perspective, looking at Young’s discography with an original, leftfield slant – a relief from the normal mainstream entertainment view you get in the heritage rock mags.”
“I’m excited, like you, by all the new Neil Young stuff. You and your readers might be interested in a lengthy article in the latest issue of WIRE - Adventures in Modern Music, the avant-garde music monthly.
“WIRE #296, October 2008, with the Richie Hawtin cover, has a multi-page feature article in its The Primer slot: The Alternative Neil Young. It’s a comprehensive survey from a WIRE perspective, looking at Young’s discography with an original, leftfield slant – a relief from the normal mainstream entertainment view you get in the heritage rock mags.”
Wednesday 24 September 2008
Five new Neil Young products imminent
Like all Neil Young fans still gnashing their teeth at having missed the highly praised European tour earlier this year, I’m looking forward to a slew of new product about to hit the streets, particularly:
* The new release, the oft-bootlegged Sugar Mountain gig, due next Monday
* Don’t Be Denied, a 60-min bio-doc due on BBC Four TV in late October
* The Riverboat, another live gig, from the Archives project, due November
* the multi-disc Archives Volume One, pencilled in for November, but serially delayed.
But I’ll be avoiding the new film chronicling the Living With War tour Young completed in 2006 with CS&N.
Gerry Smith
* The new release, the oft-bootlegged Sugar Mountain gig, due next Monday
* Don’t Be Denied, a 60-min bio-doc due on BBC Four TV in late October
* The Riverboat, another live gig, from the Archives project, due November
* the multi-disc Archives Volume One, pencilled in for November, but serially delayed.
But I’ll be avoiding the new film chronicling the Living With War tour Young completed in 2006 with CS&N.
Gerry Smith
Tuesday 23 September 2008
Led Zep to Mingus, Howlin’ Wolf to Jacqueline du Pre and June Tabor to Bob Dylan
FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days:
Wed 24 Sept
1200 & 2200 Brahms, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3
(3/5, continues Thurs-Fri)
Thurs 25 Sept
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (rpt) – BBC Radio 2
Fri 26 Sept
1930 Jacqueline du Pre/Elgar Cello Concerto – BBC Four
2335 Roots Manuva, Elbow, Later… - BBC2
Sat 27 Sept
1600 Betty Carter, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3
2400 Duke Ellington 1940-1974, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3
Sun 28 Sept
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (s2) – BBC 6 Music
0140 Masked And Anonymous (Dylan – film, with music) – BBC2
Mon 29 September
1200 & 2200 Charles Mingus, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3
(1/5, continues Tues-Fri)
Tues 30 Sept
2230, Dazed & Confused: the Led Zeppelin Legacy – BBC Radio 2
2330 Howlin’ Wolf – BBC Radio 2 (rpt) (2/2)
Thurs 2 Oct
2255 June Tabor, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (rpt) – BBC Radio 2
Fri 3 Oct
2100 Once Upon A Time In New York (hip hop, disco and punk)
– BBC Four
Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast online, streamed. Please see the channels’ web sites for details. Archived BBC radio and TV programmes are accessible online for a short period via:
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
Gerry Smith
Wed 24 Sept
1200 & 2200 Brahms, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3
(3/5, continues Thurs-Fri)
Thurs 25 Sept
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (rpt) – BBC Radio 2
Fri 26 Sept
1930 Jacqueline du Pre/Elgar Cello Concerto – BBC Four
2335 Roots Manuva, Elbow, Later… - BBC2
Sat 27 Sept
1600 Betty Carter, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3
2400 Duke Ellington 1940-1974, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3
Sun 28 Sept
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (s2) – BBC 6 Music
0140 Masked And Anonymous (Dylan – film, with music) – BBC2
Mon 29 September
1200 & 2200 Charles Mingus, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3
(1/5, continues Tues-Fri)
Tues 30 Sept
2230, Dazed & Confused: the Led Zeppelin Legacy – BBC Radio 2
2330 Howlin’ Wolf – BBC Radio 2 (rpt) (2/2)
Thurs 2 Oct
2255 June Tabor, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (rpt) – BBC Radio 2
Fri 3 Oct
2100 Once Upon A Time In New York (hip hop, disco and punk)
– BBC Four
Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast online, streamed. Please see the channels’ web sites for details. Archived BBC radio and TV programmes are accessible online for a short period via:
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
Gerry Smith
Monday 22 September 2008
Jazz Magazine: if only…
Jazz rings my bell. Especially classic jazz from the USA, released between 1945 and 1975… Miles, Coltrane, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, Charlie Parker are at the core of my collection.
Now I like a lot of London-based musos and have paid to see many deliver engaging gigs – Stan Tracy, Andy Sheppard, Alec Dankworth, Guy Barker, Alan Skidmore and the like are all very fine musicians but I don’t think even they would claim to be world-class.
I buy music mags and have tried the various London jazz monthlies. Jazzwise comes nearest to satisfying my needs, but I baulk at its bias towards Anglo jazzers. Countries tend to excel in different musics. England for the best in poprock.
Germany for the best classical. Italy for opera. And America, not England, for jazz.
I am, though, deeply impressed by Jazz Magazine, published monthly in Paris: it focuses on the postwar US giants with a healthy leavening of contemporary European artists. The current issue has a Wayne Shorter cover, and recent months have seen Zappa and Hendrix, as well as Miles, Keith Jarrett and Steve Coleman on the cover: a very agreeable mix.
If I lived in France, I’d pick up most issues from my local papetiere, j’en suis sur!
www.jazzmagazine.com
Gerry Smith
Now I like a lot of London-based musos and have paid to see many deliver engaging gigs – Stan Tracy, Andy Sheppard, Alec Dankworth, Guy Barker, Alan Skidmore and the like are all very fine musicians but I don’t think even they would claim to be world-class.
I buy music mags and have tried the various London jazz monthlies. Jazzwise comes nearest to satisfying my needs, but I baulk at its bias towards Anglo jazzers. Countries tend to excel in different musics. England for the best in poprock.
Germany for the best classical. Italy for opera. And America, not England, for jazz.
I am, though, deeply impressed by Jazz Magazine, published monthly in Paris: it focuses on the postwar US giants with a healthy leavening of contemporary European artists. The current issue has a Wayne Shorter cover, and recent months have seen Zappa and Hendrix, as well as Miles, Keith Jarrett and Steve Coleman on the cover: a very agreeable mix.
If I lived in France, I’d pick up most issues from my local papetiere, j’en suis sur!
www.jazzmagazine.com
Gerry Smith
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
