The site has suffered from a succession of IT problems over the last few months; they’ve prevented me posting new content as frequently as I’d like.
In order to sort out the problems once and for all – and to take the opportunity to upgrade the site – we won’t be carrying any new material for a while. Please accept my apologies for not using any material you may send for the duration.
The site has a considerable following, so we intend to be up and running as soon as possible. Please keep checking back.
Thanks to all contributors and readers for your support over the years.
See you soon.
Gerry Smith, Editor
Thursday 28 January 2010
Wednesday 20 January 2010
New Dylan exhibition: confusion on opening date
Thanks to Gordon Macniven:
“Your readers should treat the "6 February" opening (for the new Dylan art show at the Halcyon Gallery) with a pinch of salt.
“The Halcyon's web gives two different dates for the opening (6 and 8 February) but, when I emailed them for clarification, they came back with 13 February!
“Clear as mud.
“Incidentally do we know how much the Christmas album has raised for the homeless?”
(Halcyon web site main entry and press release say “6 Feb”; best advice is to check with gallery before travelling – Gerry Smith, Editor.)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
New Dylan exhibition – paintings on canvas - opens in London on 6 Feb
Thanks to Johanna:
“I thought this newest exhibition of Bob's artwork might be worth mentioning.
“From my research when I was writing about the Drawn Blank Series, I believe these might include work(s) not included in either of the two hardback catalogues - wondering if they will publish a new brochure for those?”
www.halcyongallery.com/news.php?id=55
“Your readers should treat the "6 February" opening (for the new Dylan art show at the Halcyon Gallery) with a pinch of salt.
“The Halcyon's web gives two different dates for the opening (6 and 8 February) but, when I emailed them for clarification, they came back with 13 February!
“Clear as mud.
“Incidentally do we know how much the Christmas album has raised for the homeless?”
(Halcyon web site main entry and press release say “6 Feb”; best advice is to check with gallery before travelling – Gerry Smith, Editor.)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
New Dylan exhibition – paintings on canvas - opens in London on 6 Feb
Thanks to Johanna:
“I thought this newest exhibition of Bob's artwork might be worth mentioning.
“From my research when I was writing about the Drawn Blank Series, I believe these might include work(s) not included in either of the two hardback catalogues - wondering if they will publish a new brochure for those?”
www.halcyongallery.com/news.php?id=55
Friday 15 January 2010
At last! A classical music chart for grown-ups
Classical music CD charts?
Listeners who lament the dumbing down of music lost interest long ago.
The charts became stuffed to the gills with over-promoted middlebrow warblers who can’t hold a candle to serious singers, sentimental renditions of popular orchestral works, and bizarre compositions by heavily-hyped no-names.
So it’s a welcome step forward to see the development of a new classical music chart, aimed at grown-ups.
Kudos Gramophone, this website’s favourite classical magazine, for starting its “Specialist Classical Chart”
Here’s the Top 10 for last week:
1.Forever Vienna
André Rieu
Decca 5323879
2.Alma Mater - Music from the Vatican
Pope Benedict XVI
Geffen 476 3664
3.The Farewell Concerts
Alfred Brendel, Vienna Philharmonic / Charles Mackerras
Decca 478 2116
4.Goodall - Enchanted Voices
Enchanted Voices
Classic FM CFMD7
5.Goodall - Enchanted Carols
Enchanted Voices
Classic FM CFMD11
6.Fantasie
Nicola Benedetti
DG 476 3399GH
7.Sacrificium
Cecilia Bartoli, Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini
Decca 478 1521
8.Harris - Symphonies Nos 5 & 6
Bournemouth SO / Marin Alsop
Naxos 8 559609
9.Vaughan Williams - Piano Concerto
Ashley Wass, RLPO / James Judd
Naxos 8 572304
10.Jenkins - Stella Natalis
Kate Royal, Alison Balsom, Alice Halstead, Tenebrae
EMI 6886482
Well worth watching!
www.gramophone.co.uk
Gerry Smith
Listeners who lament the dumbing down of music lost interest long ago.
The charts became stuffed to the gills with over-promoted middlebrow warblers who can’t hold a candle to serious singers, sentimental renditions of popular orchestral works, and bizarre compositions by heavily-hyped no-names.
So it’s a welcome step forward to see the development of a new classical music chart, aimed at grown-ups.
Kudos Gramophone, this website’s favourite classical magazine, for starting its “Specialist Classical Chart”
Here’s the Top 10 for last week:
1.Forever Vienna
André Rieu
Decca 5323879
2.Alma Mater - Music from the Vatican
Pope Benedict XVI
Geffen 476 3664
3.The Farewell Concerts
Alfred Brendel, Vienna Philharmonic / Charles Mackerras
Decca 478 2116
4.Goodall - Enchanted Voices
Enchanted Voices
Classic FM CFMD7
5.Goodall - Enchanted Carols
Enchanted Voices
Classic FM CFMD11
6.Fantasie
Nicola Benedetti
DG 476 3399GH
7.Sacrificium
Cecilia Bartoli, Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini
Decca 478 1521
8.Harris - Symphonies Nos 5 & 6
Bournemouth SO / Marin Alsop
Naxos 8 559609
9.Vaughan Williams - Piano Concerto
Ashley Wass, RLPO / James Judd
Naxos 8 572304
10.Jenkins - Stella Natalis
Kate Royal, Alison Balsom, Alice Halstead, Tenebrae
EMI 6886482
Well worth watching!
www.gramophone.co.uk
Gerry Smith
Wednesday 13 January 2010
New Dylan exhibition – paintings on canvas - opens in London on 6 Feb
Thanks to Johanna:
“I thought this newest exhibition of Bob's artwork might be worth mentioning.
“From my research when I was writing about the Drawn Blank Series, I believe these might include work(s) not included in either of the two hardback catalogues - wondering if they will publish a new brochure for those?”
www.halcyongallery.com/news.php?id=55
“I thought this newest exhibition of Bob's artwork might be worth mentioning.
“From my research when I was writing about the Drawn Blank Series, I believe these might include work(s) not included in either of the two hardback catalogues - wondering if they will publish a new brochure for those?”
www.halcyongallery.com/news.php?id=55
Monday 11 January 2010
Johnny Rotten, ex-Sex Pistol: closet Mozart fan!
Key popular musicians tend to have eclectic tastes – few share the narrow focus of many of their fans.
The latest poprocker to reveal wider-than-expected tastes is John Lydon, leader of PiL, aka Johnny Rotten, ex-Sex Pistol.
Interviewed for a Culture Show Special just shown on BBC4 TV, Lydon, an influential player in contemporary poprock, admitted that he’s a closet Mozart fan, particularly fond of the Requiem.
As articulate and refreshingly challenging as ever, Lydon also revealed an enviable intimacy with the work of Shakespeare and Dickens.
Eclectic, grown-up… Lydon’s an important creative artist and a deeply impressive human being.
If you don’t know them, check out the PiL albums, as well as Never Mind The Bollocks.
Gerry Smith
The latest poprocker to reveal wider-than-expected tastes is John Lydon, leader of PiL, aka Johnny Rotten, ex-Sex Pistol.
Interviewed for a Culture Show Special just shown on BBC4 TV, Lydon, an influential player in contemporary poprock, admitted that he’s a closet Mozart fan, particularly fond of the Requiem.
As articulate and refreshingly challenging as ever, Lydon also revealed an enviable intimacy with the work of Shakespeare and Dickens.
Eclectic, grown-up… Lydon’s an important creative artist and a deeply impressive human being.
If you don’t know them, check out the PiL albums, as well as Never Mind The Bollocks.
Gerry Smith
Friday 8 January 2010
Classic English rock albums celebrated on new postage stamps
A new range of postage stamps, launched yesterday, celebrates classic English rock albums.
And, surprisingly, half of the album covers selected are worthy of the attention of readers of this website – they’re must-haves in any half decent rock collection:
* Stones – Let It Bleed
* Led Zep - IV
* Primal Scream - Screamadelica
* Bowie – Ziggy Stardust
* Clash – London Calling.
They’re available as single first class stamps and in a variety of packaged sets, making them collectables.
If the idea of losing the will to live while queueing for ages to be served by a surly, unhelpful jobsworth (my experience of most Post Offices I’ve ever used) fills you with dread, you can buy them online from Royal Mail.
It hurts to plug Royal Mail, the company that has the monopoly on delivering (aka losing) my post. As for its retail chain of Post Offices, well, they’ve failed and should all be closed down.
Gerry Smith
And, surprisingly, half of the album covers selected are worthy of the attention of readers of this website – they’re must-haves in any half decent rock collection:
* Stones – Let It Bleed
* Led Zep - IV
* Primal Scream - Screamadelica
* Bowie – Ziggy Stardust
* Clash – London Calling.
They’re available as single first class stamps and in a variety of packaged sets, making them collectables.
If the idea of losing the will to live while queueing for ages to be served by a surly, unhelpful jobsworth (my experience of most Post Offices I’ve ever used) fills you with dread, you can buy them online from Royal Mail.
It hurts to plug Royal Mail, the company that has the monopoly on delivering (aka losing) my post. As for its retail chain of Post Offices, well, they’ve failed and should all be closed down.
Gerry Smith
Thursday 7 January 2010
Is Bob Dylan a closet Handel fan?
Fulfilling a long-held ambition, in 2009 I attended London concerts of three of the major works in the sacred music repertoire – Bach’s St Matthew and St John Passions and Handel’s Messiah.
(I’m an eclectic music lover, not a practising Christian.)
Towards the end of Messiah, I was startled out of my slumber – it wasn’t the most engaging performance – by a line which struck me as Dylanesque:
“we shall all be chang’d”
Followed by another verse starting:
“The trumpet shall sound”.
It reminded me, of course, of Ye Shall Be Changed, the Slow Train Coming out-take which saw daylight on The Bootleg Series volume 3, and which also mentions a trumpet in the chorus.
How do we explain the striking similarities? Several possibilities:
* Dylan is a closet Handel fan, or at least he’s familiar with Messiah.
* Dylan, like Handel (or, more accurately, Charles Jennens, who assembled the libretto for Messiah), is familiar with 1 Corinthians 15, vv. 51-52, the New Testament source.
* pure coincidence.
If you’re a Bible scholar and are aware of any other Dylan-Handel links, please enlighten the rest of us!
Gerry Smith
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More on Dylan/Handel
Thanks to “arja & john”:
“There is one Dylan/Handel connection that came rather belatedly to my mind, and one that comes just a few minutes before the Behold, I tell you a mystery/ The trumpet shall sound passage in the Messiah that you refer to.
“The women’s vocals in the unfinished ‘Hallelujah’ (1981 – on the Between Saved and Shot bootleg) are clearly using Handel’s rhythm for the word ‘Hallelujah’ from the Hallelujah Chorus, even if the notes and chords (minor key) are very different.
“Not that it takes a very intimate acquaintance with Handel’s output to reference the Hallelujah Chorus, and on balance the second of your options (Dylan… is familiar with 1 Corinthians 15, vv. 51-52, the New Testament source) is the most likely.
“This chapter is a key passage in the writings of St Paul (readily accessible online via sites such as biblegateway.com), where Paul talks about Jesus’ resurrection, and the resurrection that awaits his followers.
“Part 3 of Handel’s ‘Messiah’(Part 1 is basically the Christmas story, Part 2 uses primarily Old Testament prophecies to tell the story of Jesus’ suffering, death and eventual victory) turns its focus to the glories that await the believer, and is largely based on this chapter (verses 20-2 and 51-7).
“A lot of Dylan’s writing 1979-81 seems to come directly or indirectly from Paul – examples include Pressing on (from Philippians), the ‘fiery darts’ from What can I do for you? (from Ephesians); and Watered- down love is of course based on the ‘faith, hope and love’ chapter, 1 Corinthians 13.
“The times they are a-changin’ has obviously been a very important point of reference for Dylan for much of his career, often where the sentiments of the original are being challenged (the 1981 performances at e.g. Drammen and New Orleans, or the succession of important ‘change’ songs – Gonna change my way of thinking, Things have changed, I feel a change comin’ on): Ye shall be changed possibly stands in this tradition.
“The lyrics of the born-again albums are much more self-aware and self-referential than I remember noticing at the time – examples include the ‘don’t look back’ line in Pressing on, or the end-of-line ‘conceal’ in When He returns.
“Ye shall be changed (great song, by the way) is following the Slow train coming/Saved pattern of presenting beliefs founded on Biblical texts whilst taking a swipe at his past work.
“There’s no reason why Dylan shouldn’t be familiar with Handel’s work, and Messiah is a masterpiece, with musical and spiritual depths way beyond its most famous chorus.
“I hope you didn’t sleep through I know that my redeemer liveth.
“Thanks as always for a highly entertaining and informative daily contribution to the Dylan world.”
(I’m an eclectic music lover, not a practising Christian.)
Towards the end of Messiah, I was startled out of my slumber – it wasn’t the most engaging performance – by a line which struck me as Dylanesque:
“we shall all be chang’d”
Followed by another verse starting:
“The trumpet shall sound”.
It reminded me, of course, of Ye Shall Be Changed, the Slow Train Coming out-take which saw daylight on The Bootleg Series volume 3, and which also mentions a trumpet in the chorus.
How do we explain the striking similarities? Several possibilities:
* Dylan is a closet Handel fan, or at least he’s familiar with Messiah.
* Dylan, like Handel (or, more accurately, Charles Jennens, who assembled the libretto for Messiah), is familiar with 1 Corinthians 15, vv. 51-52, the New Testament source.
* pure coincidence.
If you’re a Bible scholar and are aware of any other Dylan-Handel links, please enlighten the rest of us!
Gerry Smith
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More on Dylan/Handel
Thanks to “arja & john”:
“There is one Dylan/Handel connection that came rather belatedly to my mind, and one that comes just a few minutes before the Behold, I tell you a mystery/ The trumpet shall sound passage in the Messiah that you refer to.
“The women’s vocals in the unfinished ‘Hallelujah’ (1981 – on the Between Saved and Shot bootleg) are clearly using Handel’s rhythm for the word ‘Hallelujah’ from the Hallelujah Chorus, even if the notes and chords (minor key) are very different.
“Not that it takes a very intimate acquaintance with Handel’s output to reference the Hallelujah Chorus, and on balance the second of your options (Dylan… is familiar with 1 Corinthians 15, vv. 51-52, the New Testament source) is the most likely.
“This chapter is a key passage in the writings of St Paul (readily accessible online via sites such as biblegateway.com), where Paul talks about Jesus’ resurrection, and the resurrection that awaits his followers.
“Part 3 of Handel’s ‘Messiah’(Part 1 is basically the Christmas story, Part 2 uses primarily Old Testament prophecies to tell the story of Jesus’ suffering, death and eventual victory) turns its focus to the glories that await the believer, and is largely based on this chapter (verses 20-2 and 51-7).
“A lot of Dylan’s writing 1979-81 seems to come directly or indirectly from Paul – examples include Pressing on (from Philippians), the ‘fiery darts’ from What can I do for you? (from Ephesians); and Watered- down love is of course based on the ‘faith, hope and love’ chapter, 1 Corinthians 13.
“The times they are a-changin’ has obviously been a very important point of reference for Dylan for much of his career, often where the sentiments of the original are being challenged (the 1981 performances at e.g. Drammen and New Orleans, or the succession of important ‘change’ songs – Gonna change my way of thinking, Things have changed, I feel a change comin’ on): Ye shall be changed possibly stands in this tradition.
“The lyrics of the born-again albums are much more self-aware and self-referential than I remember noticing at the time – examples include the ‘don’t look back’ line in Pressing on, or the end-of-line ‘conceal’ in When He returns.
“Ye shall be changed (great song, by the way) is following the Slow train coming/Saved pattern of presenting beliefs founded on Biblical texts whilst taking a swipe at his past work.
“There’s no reason why Dylan shouldn’t be familiar with Handel’s work, and Messiah is a masterpiece, with musical and spiritual depths way beyond its most famous chorus.
“I hope you didn’t sleep through I know that my redeemer liveth.
“Thanks as always for a highly entertaining and informative daily contribution to the Dylan world.”
Wednesday 6 January 2010
Magnificent Miles Davis exhibition in Paris: only 10 days left
If you want to catch WE WANT MILES, the magnificent Miles Davis exhibition, which has been running in Paris since 16 October, you’d better hurry – it closes on 17 January.
I went soon after the opening and was deeply impressed by the breadth and depth of the exhibits, the quality of the presentation and the nearness you felt to a peerless body of art. For me, it was well worth a special visit to the French capital, from London.
The venue, Cite de la Musique, about 3 miles NE of Notre Dame, is well served by Metro.
If you’re a Miles fan and can’t make it, the catalogue – a thick coffee table paperback (in French) - is a gem.
www.citedelamusique.fr
Gerry Smith
I went soon after the opening and was deeply impressed by the breadth and depth of the exhibits, the quality of the presentation and the nearness you felt to a peerless body of art. For me, it was well worth a special visit to the French capital, from London.
The venue, Cite de la Musique, about 3 miles NE of Notre Dame, is well served by Metro.
If you’re a Miles fan and can’t make it, the catalogue – a thick coffee table paperback (in French) - is a gem.
www.citedelamusique.fr
Gerry Smith
Tuesday 5 January 2010
Bach and Beethoven, Dylan and Van the Man, and Brad Mehldau: the pick of my 09 gigs
I saw rather more gigs in 2009 than is good for the wallet.
The most enjoyable were:
* St Matthew Passion, at the Barbican
* the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra playing Beethoven at the Barbican
* Dylan at the London O2 Arena
* Van the Man in Cardiff, WMC
* Brad Mehldau/Joshua Redman, at Wigmore Hall
There were also some disappointments.
And some big disappointments – watch this space…
Gerry Smith
The most enjoyable were:
* St Matthew Passion, at the Barbican
* the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra playing Beethoven at the Barbican
* Dylan at the London O2 Arena
* Van the Man in Cardiff, WMC
* Brad Mehldau/Joshua Redman, at Wigmore Hall
There were also some disappointments.
And some big disappointments – watch this space…
Gerry Smith
Friday 1 January 2010
ElvisFest about to hit BBC
Thanks to Martin Cowan:
It seems that to mark The King's 75th birthday, the BBC have an Elvis festival coming up over the next week or so.
Full details here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/elvis-night/
It seems that to mark The King's 75th birthday, the BBC have an Elvis festival coming up over the next week or so.
Full details here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/elvis-night/
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