Enrico Caruso and how the introduction of the LP reduced sound quality

Quizzing an older acquaintance about his musical tastes revealed him as, in his own words, a victim of “Golden Age Syndrome”.

Not only were his musical preferences all opera-based, but they were also restricted to recordings on 78 rpm discs. He asserts that the replacement of 78s by 33 1/3 LP records (never mind CDs or MP3s!) led to a reduction in sound quality.

So his favourite musicians are all, er, historic – many died before I was born:

Top tenors:
1. Caruso
2. Bjorling
3. Gigli
4. Di Stefano

Top sopranos:
1. Rosa Ponselle
2. Louise Tetrazini
3. Eva Turner
4. Callas
5. Renata Tebaldi
6. Elizabeth Schwarzkopf

Having previously avoided “historic recordings” – some of this stuff is over 100 years old! – I gave it a go, and started working through the lists.

Know what? He’s dead right. Caruso and Ponselle, for starters, are from a Golden Age: magnificent musicians. Grown-ups are advised to sample them.


Gerry Smith

Nashville, Solomon Burke’s country album: outstanding

Thanks to Russell Parkinson, in New Zealand:

“I picked up Solomon Burke’s latest album, Nashville. It’s outstanding. Here are some extracts from an (accurate) rave review by John Owen, published last October:

“Burke's latest album is Nashville, a collection of country songs, reinterpreted in his own style. Nashville is studded with talent, including songs by Tom T. Hall, Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch, George Jones, Bruce Springsteen(!), Patty Griffin, Don Willams, and more.

“Highlights (from an album full of highlights) include "Valley of Tears," which is a plaintive and ragged duet with Gillian Welch, the aforementioned saga of misplaced devotion, "That's How I Got To Memphis," the love-gone-bad lament of "Does My Ring Burn Your Finger," written by producer Buddy Miller and his wife Julie…

“Burke's …performances on Nashville are thrilling, and his ability to adapt himself to the style of his duet partners is a welcome treat.”

Miles Davis on Warner – an intro, at last

While many jazz buffs consider the recordings Miles Davis made for Warner, after leaving Columbia, as beneath contempt – “jazzpop” is the usual jibe – there’s a revisionist school (count me in) which regards the Warner legacy as an important part of Davis’s canon.

After neglecting the obvious potential of a sampler of the trumpeter’s work for the label since Miles’s death 16 years ago, Warner are finally to release a compilation CD next week.

The Very Best Of Miles Davis: the Warner Bros Sessions 1985-1991 is a strong compilation, sampling all the label’s releases:

* the three studio albums – Tutu, Amandla, Doo Bop

* the two film scores – Siesta and Dingo, and, pick of the crop,

* the two live albums, Montreux (with Quincy Jones), and, notably, Live Around The World.

The last-named is the best showcase of the art of later Miles. As it retails for about £5, it makes the perfect complement to the new release, also priced at budget level.

The legend of Miles Davis just grows and grows: the new Warner release gives it even more momentum.


Gerry Smith

New Neil Young releases – pricey

For a long-time Neil Young fan’s birthday, I was looking forward to buying two of the recent releases, Living With War: In The Beginning (the stripped-down version), and the Heart Of Gold DVD.

Then I saw the prices at HMV - £18 and £25 respectively. Gimme a break – for that kind of outlay, I’d want a front row seat at Shakey’s next London gig thrown in free.

Someone in the supply chain is getting greedy - or losing touch with the marketplace. I’ll be buying both releases, but only when they’re sensibly priced.


Gerry Smith

Theme Time radio – a weekly delight

I can’t remember the last time I sat down for an hour every week to listen to a radio series, but I’ve been cancelling everything to get into my favourite armchair to hear Theme Time Radio Hour as it’s broadcast.

Dylan’s series, now playing in England on Fridays at 9pm on BBC 6 Music, is a weekly delight. Just as he did with Chronicles, Dylan is displaying his mastery of yet another medium.

Last week’s show, Fathers, was typical of the quality of the series: a delicious setlist which, inter alia: underlined the sheer quality of Hank Williams’ writing and performing; revealed the little-heard country side of the timeless Everly Brothers, and reminded you why John Hiatt was widely regarded as the coming man in the 1980s, when Dylan was still in his least productive period (note to self: dig out Slow Turning, Hiatt’s masterpiece from 1988).

You’d be very hard-pressed to find a more telling introduction to 20thC American popular music than Bob Dylan’s theme Time Radio Hour series.

Dylan’s scripts are so beautifully written - and delivered - that they’re bound to be stitched together, without the music, by hardcore Dylanistas. And the cod-nostalgic production style, replicating (but slyly, in a Dylanesque, Post-Modern way) the style of radio before TV, is inspired.

Theme Time Radio Hour, like the other media in which Dylan has worked (OK, maybe not film), shows a peerless creativity in action. I’ll be surprised to hear of any Dylan aficionado who doesn’t own a complete series of recordings before too long.

This week’s programme tackles the theme of Weddings. Can’t wait!


Gerry Smith

Gig of a lifetime in London on Saturday

If you go to a hundred well-chosen gigs, maybe ten will stand out as life-enhancing. And two or three of these will number among the most emotionally heightened passages of your life.

Saturday’s performance of La Fille du Regiment at London’s Royal Opera House was one of those two or three: a thrilling, near perfect version of Donizetti’s opera comique.

The two leads, French soprano Natalie Dessay and Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez, had a tumultuous reception, the like of which I’ve never before experienced in an opera house: Covent Garden on Saturday went nuts over these two.

Dessay was magnificent - as slapstick comedienne, soaring soprano, and even when delivering spoken recitative. You don’t see better performances than her Marie. And Florez lived up to his billing as the new Pavarotti – he has a higher, smaller voice than the great Italian, but his range, power and subtlety can match anyone on the world stage. Together, they were peerless. The chorus, orchestra and direction were also from the top drawer: opera (hence all music) simply doesn’t get any better than this.

You can hear this great production on BBC Radio 3 on Saturday from 1830, though you’ll obviously miss the visual feast. And it’s a co-production, so is due to travel to Vienna and New York; I’m tempted to book flights now.


Gerry Smith

Van Morrison At The Movies - Soundtrack Hits

As a former Van Morrison obsessive – serial show attender, completist collector, and daily fanlist contributor - I already own every track on the new CD, Van Morrison At The Movies - Soundtrack Hits, set for release on 12 February.

No matter, I’ll still be buying the new release, simply because it’s a fitting tribute to Morrison’s abundant talent, as writer, singer and musician.

Van Morrison of the Noughties might no longer ring my bell (it’s instructive that the tracklist, below, has no recent songs), but this doesn’t diminish my admiration for the sheer majesty of his back catalogue. That his songs have been chosen for the soundtracks of so many movies speaks volumes about his artistry.

Tracklist:

1. Gloria (performed by Them) - from The Outsiders
2. Baby Please Don't Go (performed by Them) - from Wild At Heart
3. Jackie Wilson Said (I’m In Heaven When You Smile) - from Pope Of Greenwich Village
4. Domino (Live) - from Clean & Sober
5. Moondance (Live) - from An American Werewolf In London
6. Queen Of The Slipstream - from Extreme Close-Up
7. Wild Night - from Thelma & Louise
8. Caravan (Live) - from The Last Waltz
9. Wonderful Remark - from King Of Comedy
10. Brown Eyed Girl - from Born On The 4th Of July
11. Days Like This - from As Good As It Gets
12. Into The Mystic (Live) - from Patch Adams
13. Hungry For Your Love - from An Officer And A Gentleman
14. Someone Like You - from French Kiss
15. Bright Side Of The Road - from Fever Pitch
16. Have I Told You Lately - from One Fine Day
17. Real Real Gone - from Donovan Quick
18. Irish Heartbeat - from The Matchmaker
19. Comfortably Numb (Live) (Edit) - from The Departed



Gerry Smith

Only rock ‘n’ roll, but…

Revisiting the Rolling Stones catalogue, checking out the albums I’d bought on release, and then shelved, never to be replayed, I eventually got to It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (Rolling Stones Records/Virgin, October 1974). I could only remember the title track, and then only the chorus. I had no idea what the song was about.

What was I thinking all those years ago? It’s a magnificent slab of classic Stones. No wonder it charted in the US at 1, and the UK at 4 in 1974.

It only has one weak track (9):

1. If You Can’t Rock Me,
2. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,
3. It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It),
4. Till The Next Goodbye,
5. Time Waits For No One,
6. Luxury,
7. Dance Little Sister,
8. If You Really Want To Be My Friend,
9. Short And Curlies,
10. Fingerprint File

If, like me, you made the same mistake in dismissing It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll, try it again. After re-discovering it, I played it non-stop for a couple of weeks. It’s a fine piece of art.


Gerry Smith

New Joni Mitchell releases – the three original albums revisited

Gearing up for next week’s release of “Remastered and Expanded” double disc versions of three of Joni Mitchell’s great albums, from the mid-1970s – Court & Spark, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, and Hejira (see yesterday’s post), I’ve ripped the original albums to iTunes and have been hammering the Playlist on random for hours.

It’s marvellous music – the start of Mitchell’s grown-up music, following the callow warbling of her early years. Perceptive writing… lovely singing… rich, varied instrumentation… .

Recommended.

As a reminder, here are the tracklists of the original albums:

Court And Spark (Asylum, 1974)
Court And Spark, Help Me, Free Man In Paris, People’s Parties, Same Situation, Car On A Hill, Down To You, Just Like This Train, Raised On Robbery, Trouble Child, Twisted

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns (Asylum, 1975)
In France They Kiss On Main Street, The Jungle Line, Edith And The Kingpin, Don't Interrupt The Sorrow, Shades Of Scarlet Conquering, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, The Boho Dance, Harry's House/Centrepiece, Sweet Bird, Shadows And Light

Hejira (Asylum, 1976)
Coyote, Amelia, Furry Sings The Blues, A Strange Boy, Hejira, Song For Sharon, Black Crow, Blue Motel Room, Refuge Of The Roads.

A trio from the very top of the rockpile!



Gerry Smith

New Joni Mitchell releases – burnishing the legacy

Thanks to careful nurturing of the legacy, Joni Mitchell is now getting her due as one of the most important musicians of the last 50 years.

The legacy will be further burnished with next week’s Rhino release of “Remastered and Expanded” double disc versions of three of her great albums, from the mid-1970s –Court & Spark, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, and Hejira.

Alongside the various finely judged compilations, the box set and the orchestral reworkings and standards of the last few years, the new releases help to showcase a catalogue with very little competition in rock music.



Gerry Smith

Hotel California – music for grown-ups, and the rest

Hotel California, this week’s BBC Four TV documentary, like Barney Hoskyns’ commendable book with the same title, was a revealing survey of the folk/country-tinged rock music which transformed LA into capital of the pop world for a decade from the mid-1960s.

West Coast poprock illustrates perfectly a key belief of the Music for Grown-Ups Manifesto:

“only a small, variable proportion of music in any genre is suitable for grown-ups”.

That small proportion in Hotel California was music by Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne. Eagles……? Borderline.

Very few of the other musicians who appeared, though commercially successful, even got close to creating music for grown-ups.


Gerry Smith

Joni Mitchell In Concert, from 1971

BBC Four TV’s intermittently interesting California season reached its pinnacle last night, with a repeat of Joni Mitchell In Concert, from 1971.

Seeing it again after all these years was a telling reminder of the potency of the writing of the fast-maturing Mitchell – she’d left behind the vapid folkie stuff and was writing more mature, more accessible songs – such as those here from Blue - for her contemporaries. And the occasionally unruly youthful voice had been transformed into a fine, subtle, controlled soprano instrument.

If only she’d had a more assertive hairdresser! The shoulder-length thin mane, dragged tightly across the scalp, did her few favours, and probably marginalized her by leading potential listeners to dismiss her great musicianship as the warbling of a hippy.



Gerry Smith

Best of 2006 (5): Gerry Smith gigs

My gig attendance in 2006 was a bit lower than for many years.

All gigged out? No. Bored? Naaah. Just tired of crappy arenas/stadia. And of paying silly money – two people can now fly by Ryanair to any European city and stay in a 4 star hotel for the weekend for the same price as attending many gigs just up the road.

The music biz is getting too greedy – ticket prices for gigs are rising fast, while the cost of CDs, travel, books and just about everything else I spend my leisure pound on, is plummeting. So ignoring overpriced gigs, especially those in dreadful venues, is a no-brainer.

Despite this whine, I still made it to see numerous delightful, reasonably priced, shows (all venues in London, except where stated):

Jan: Barber of Seville, Royal Opera,

Feb: Rodelinda, Barbican; Figaro, Royal Opera

March: Hercules, Barbican

April: Eugene Onegin (Villazon), Royal Opera; Gotterdammerung, Royal Opera; Jim Moray, Mme Jojo’s

June: Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Royal Opera; Tosca, Royal Opera

July: Waterboys, Alban Arena, St Albans

August: Shostakovich 13, Proms

September: The Fall; Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, Royal Opera; Villazon/Netrebko, Barbican

Nov: Lucinda Williams (guest: Bruce Springsteen), Shepherds Bush Empire


Highlights:

1. Waterboys

2. Barber of Seville

3. Gotterdammerung

4. The Fall

5. Jim Moray

6. Shostakovich 13


Disappointments: the two big opera names – Netrebko, Gheorghiu.

So, 2006 was another very enjoyable, eclectic (if a bit opera-heavy, jazz/rock-light) year. And a reminder that London is a remarkable city for live music for grown-ups. Long may it continue.



Gerry Smith

New Bryan Ferry album of Dylan songs

Bryan Ferry - last seen as a model in ads for Marks & Spencer clothing – is set to release Dylanesque, a CD of 11 songs written by Bob Dylan, on the Virgin label in early March.

The tracklist includes Dylan classics like:

All Along The Watchtower
All I Really Want To Do
If Not For You
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Positively 4th Street
Knocking On Heaven's Door
Simple Twist Of Fate

The album will be a must-buy for all fans of Ferry/Roxy Music and many in Dylan’s fanbase (count me in, twice over). Although the cognoscenti regard all the Ferry solo releases as inferior to all the Roxy Music albums, his cover versions - including Dylan’s A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall on his first solo album, in 1973 – generally garner high praise.

Ferry’s 1999 album, As Time Goes By, a collection of standards by the great Broadway writers such as Cole Porter, is a beautiful CD. It’ll be instructive to see how Dylan’s work sounds alongside The Great American Songbook.

The re-invigorated Ferry will also be appearing on the first new Roxy Music studio album for a quarter of a century, due later this year. He’s also touring the UK this spring.



Gerry Smith

Best of 2006 (4)

Thanks to Mark Hall for his extensive “best of 2006”:

“Musically speaking, I think that '06 was a pretty decent year for us grown-ups. My personal Top Ten is a mish-mash of CDs, live shows, DVDs, radio, and the re-discovery of vinyl:

1) Bob Dylan. While I think "Love And Theft" is a stronger album overall, "Modern Times" has Ain't Talkin', which is the best single piece of writing from Dylan since Every Grain of Sand.

1, part II) Bob Dylan at the Sears Centre, October 27 & 28. Gerry, like you I had vowed that I would no longer shell out cash for arena shows; we all know what they were built for and it certainly isn't music.

That said, this new, smallish (9000 capacity) arena sprouted up in a Chicago suburb this past fall. Dylan took the inaugural weekend honors; opening night, Thursday, Oct 25th, went to Duran Duran (fine by me; let them work out the sound bugs on them). Anyway, Dylan's sound mix was fantastic. I was on the floor, but I took a walk around and was impressed by the clarity throughout the venue. I realize this venue is half the size of those you're looking at.

Also, the Sears Centre was only half full the first night and maybe three quarters the second; I'm sure he's more of a draw overseas. My advice is to damn the stupidity of those who handle these decisions for Bob (we know HE's notorious for not giving a damn about a lot of things) and go see him. My philosophy now is "just get me the cheapest seat in the house and I'll take if from there". The shows I saw each had moments of brilliance that I was able to reside in for weeks following.

2) New York Doll (2005, '06 DVD release). Even if you're not a fan of The New York Dolls (they hold only nominal interest for me), you should still see this. I showed it to several friends who had never even heard of the Dolls and they were all captivated. Not just a great music film, but a great documentary, period.

3) XM Satellite Radio. I signed on to get Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, but I got tons more in the bargain. There are solid jazz, classical, folk, and alt-country stations, as well as Deep Tracks, which replicates the great free-form FM stations that died off in the late 70's when the conglomerates started taking over.

4) Pitchfork Music Festival (July 29 & 30, Union Park, Chicago, IL). Fifteen thousand folks paid thirty dollars apiece to gather in sweltering heat and catch forty bands over two days; that averages to about seventy five cents a band, so a return on investment was fairly assured.

Art Brut gave off energy and humour, coming off a bit like The Stranglers, say c. 1980. Worth the thirty bucks alone was Mission of Burma, whose album "The Obliterati" is my second favorite LP of '06. Many of the acts on the two day bill were barely out of the womb back in 1982 when M.O.B. released their first album. No matter, these three forty-somethings showed the youngsters how it's done.

5) Howe Gelb. "Sno' Angel Like You" (Thrill Jockey, 2006) has the Giant Sand frontman joining with The Voices of Praise, a gospel choir from Canada, for what might be called the most upbeat Lou Reed album that Lou Reed never recorded.

5, part II). Howe Gelb and The Voices of Praise at The Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL, May 28. The encore included an abbreviated (i.e. 'cleaned up') version of Walk on the Wild Side.

6) Townes Van Zandt - Be Here To Love Me (2004, '06 DVD release). Shows why you should always trust the tale, and never the teller. Van Zandt was always more appreciated by his peers than by the general public, but there's no denying the sweet sadness that infused much of his work. A fitting tribute.

7) Neko Case. Forty years ago the big voice that Ms. Case brings to "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood" (anti-, 2006) would have probably made her a smash in Nashville and beyond; hell, she'd have probably shown up doing background vocals on "Blonde On Blonde". As it is, she'll have to settle for the satisfaction of cutting one of the best alt-country albums of the past five years.

7, part II). Neko Case at The Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL, March 31. Great venue, great band, and fairly abundant cursing between songs (another reason why she'll never be invited to the Grand Ole Opry).

8) Etienne De Rocher (debut CD on Fog City, 2006). A California singer-songwriter I caught on XM. One song was all I heard, but it was enough to compel an immediate purchase. Mr. De Rocher was apparently dissed by Beck, took it sort of hard, then wrote a song about it that comes off sounding a lot like Beck.

9) Chris Hillman at the Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL, September 30. Just Hillman and one of his pals, Larry Park, doing an acoustic run-through of highlights from Hillman's long career. His stories between songs lent the evening a feel of sitting in on a back-porch session.

10) My Turntable. I've had this thing for five years, but rarely used it. Then I upgraded my system last year, which included the purchase of a phone pre-amp. Eureka! I'm fortunate to be in a city that has plenty of small record shops that carry both new and used vinyl. My most recent spins include a new copy of Coltrane's Giant Steps and a used, but almost mint, copy of The Best of Jim Reeves (in glorious Mono).

That's it for the 2006 highlights. There were some disappointments as well, but I'll save those for next week.

A side note: The Old Town School of Folk Music built new facilities several years ago that included an intimate 300-seat concert venue (with all-reserved seating). It's been voted Chicago's best concert venue a few years running, but its size obviously limits who you're likely to see there. Their inaugural act was Joni Mitchell, who did a fund-raiser at $5000 a ticket. Yes, for the rich only, but all the proceeds went to the school, so I wasn't upset that I was excluded. Now, if they'd only book Dylan there for a week of shows and charge a hundred bucks a ticket . . . well, I can dream.”

London’s new Carmen: mediocre

Ever since I got into opera, about 15 years ago, I’ve been trying to catch a good Carmen. I love the Callas highlights disc, and some of Bizet’s toons are among the best-known outside the ranks of opera fans. And the setting – Seville – offers endless possibilities.

But, just like earlier Carmens I’ve seen, Saturday’s Covent Garden performance just left me cold – unengaging, episodic, occasionally risible (the chorus, t*ts flashing in the breeze, extolling the virtues of smoking… the horse… the donkey…). In a word, mediocre.

It wasn’t the singing – Jonas Kaufmann (Don Jose) was outstanding, in a generally strong cast. The chorus was super, especially the kids. Pappano’s band was its usual excellent self. The sets/costumes were a delight.

So why was this Carmen no more than mediocre? It took a while for the penny to drop, but it gradually dawned on me.

Carmen’s a weak opera. It lacks dramatic structure. Its main characters are unsympathetic – a gypsy trollop, a weak-willed soldier, and a cipher of a girl friend: in other words, a bunch of losers. After enduring them for a couple of minutes, you’ve lost all interest in their fates.

Carmen comes across to me like shallow music hall entertainment. In my book, opera has to have more ambition than a providing a vehicle for a series of rousing show tunes. I won’t be sampling any more Carmens: it’s not music for grown-ups.

Returning home, I put Abba Gold on the CD player. Mamma Mia! Far superior.


Gerry Smith

The Old Grey Whistle Test: encore

Like a moth to a flame, I found myself watching the second pair of OGWT clip programmes tonight, from the mid-1970s.

Thank you, Lord, for Punk!

I’d be hard-pressed to compile a selection of clips of musicians I’d rather avoid than many of those highlighted in these two programmes – John Lennon, Billy Joel (beaut ‘tache, Bill), Richard and Linda Thompson (fetching head gear, guys), Lynyrd Skynryd, Little Feat, Ronnie Lane, Grahame Nash… it goes on and on. And on…

The token musicians for grown-ups hidden among dozens of men urgently in need of an appointment with a barber were Chick Corea and Jackson Browne.

Didn’t OGWT know about Dylan? The Stones? Led Zep?

No more from me on The Olde Grey Fartes Test, a wretched reminder of the very worst of the bad old days.


Gerry Smith



Thanks to Mike Ollier for his comment that:

“I thought it rather amusing that said talking heads espoused this bastion of live music and then the first clip was of a clearly miming Lindisfarne ~ unless Rod Clements was managing to play the bass part on his fiddle as well as the solo!

“These shows have been on BBC Four before, the only new thing was the ‘history of...’ programme preceding them.”

The Old Grey Whistle Test: no thanks

The Old Grey Whistle Test was the Brit rockfan’s weekly dose of music considered “hip” (aka “cool”) for all of the 1970s and half of the 1980s. (By whom, ferChrisesakes?)

Required viewing in its early days, it very soon nose-dived. A succession of ageing long-hairs peddling hippy culture drowned out the few genuine musical talents. In the dark days before video recorders, life was far too short to watch BS like OGWT.

Mining the archive, the BBC released a set of highlights DVDs a couple of years ago. They’re now broadcasting (narrowcasting?) them on the occasionally inspired, if scarcely watched, digital channel, BBC Four, in a series of 13 programmes.

Tonight’s introductory documentary was a laudable summation of the programme’s history. It relied heavily on talking heads - normally a turn-off, but in this case a good call, because all of the heads housed brains. Take a bow, Messrs Murray, Morley and, especially, Radcliffe.

But tonight’s first two highlights shows gave the game away – incandescent brilliance (Bowie) bookended by drosspop (Lindisfarne, Average White Band). It’s simply not worth sitting through hours of indulgent Olde Farte ramblings for the odd gem like the legendary first, 1973, set by the Wailers, one of the highlights of all popular music on TV – and almost bound to be on You Tube.

The Old Grey Whistle Test: music for grown-ups? You kidding?


Gerry Smith

The MUSIC for GROWN-UPs Newsletter - 2 January 2007

(New issue of the Newsletter - emailed to subscribers yesterday. To ensure you receive your own free copy of future issues, please subscribe using the box in the left column of the Music for Grown-Ups web site - www.musicforgrownups.co.uk)



The MUSIC for GROWN-UPs Newsletter

MUSIC for GROWN-UPs - celebrating the great musicians - from Sinatra to the Stones, Miles to Mozart, Dylan to David Bowie, Beck to Bjork, and Coltrane to Cole Porter.

Exclusive news and views, emailed to registered subscribers.
Editor: Gerry Smith (email: editorial@musicforgrownups.co.uk)

Please log on to the web site http://www.musicforgrownups.co.uk to read the full text of all the articles listed in this newsletter.

*** Please forward this issue to anyone who might be interested ***


NEW ARTICLES ON MUSIC for GROWN-UPs - http://www.musicforgrownups.co.uk

* English rockpop renaissance
* Tickets for Dylan Brit shows still on sale
* Blues, jazz and country - according to Robert Crumb
* ABBA: giants among pygmies
* Best of 2006 (3)

* Best of 2006 (2)
* Sampling new music: Chris Ward and Simon Stewart
* Best of 2006 (1)
* The Doors – a fitting tribute
* Major release from the vaults of John Lee Hooker, blues master

* Satanic Stones - maybe, but rather less than majestic
* Jackie Leven – take 2
* Two cheers for theJazz, new digital radio station
* Dylan, Stones, Jackie Leven and The Pirates
* Best ever value for grown-up music buyers

* Magnificent new Ella Fitzgerald sampler
* Dylan/Stones’ Like A Rolling Stone: rock’s highest peak
* Live Licks from the Rolling Stones
* Oasis v Beatles
* Bjork – 10 recommended downloads

* Joan Sutherland celebrations
* Themes/playlists for the Dylan-as-DJ series on BBC radio


PREVIOUSLY ON MUSIC for GROWN-UPs - http://www.musicforgrownups.co.uk

* Bryan Ferry tour? Naah!
* Springsteen in the Rustbelt
* Catch this: music for grown-ups highlights on radio this week
* Top 100 albums – a grown-up free zone
* Sunken Treasure - Jeff Tweedy live in the Pacific Northwest

* Neil Young – Phoenix rising from the ashes
* Lucinda Williams – aided by a very special guest - lights up London
* Digital radio – little music for grown-ups
* New Waterboys album (and label)
* New hits compilations filling the supermarket shelves

* Roger McGuinn’s mesmerising London gig
* Anna Netrebko, continued
* Tonight’s Netrebko/Villazon London gig: big mistake
* James Hunter – overnight sensation!
* Bob Dylan - the Musical

* An (almost) ideal free intro to the genius of Miles Davis
* Nailed at last: the recorded legacy of the Rolling Stones
* The Waterboys – The Platinum Collection: underwhelming
* Marvellous Miles Davis series on radio this week
* Five hours of Miles Davis on radio next week

* New Beck, Sting, Mozart, Sinatra – cures for the autumn-time blues
* Rough Guide To Bob Dylan - competition winners
* Stones, Herbie, Shostakovich fending off the autumn-time blues
* Dylan’s support to include Raconteurs
* The Rolling Stones in the Noughties – a wealth of new product

* Top Dadrockers Young and Morrison to release heritage live recordings
* Boots of Spanish plastic?
* Van the Man in Spain
* Free copy of the new Rough Guide to Bob Dylan
* Win a free copy of the new Rough Guide to Bob Dylan

* Trilogy box sets from Warner now heavily discounted
* Beck celebrated on BBC 6Music
* A superlative Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
* Viva Bryan Ferry
* At last! Van Morrison on DVD

* Electric Mud – another prime Muddy Waters set
* The Byrds and Free reissues: why?
* Magnificent Mozart – must-hear new CDs
* Black pop music - then and now
* Prime Muddy Waters box - at a bargain price

* The Fall for Beginners
* Post-Punk under the microscope in recommended new book
* The Fall – finally, the penny drops
* High praise for the new Rough Guide to Bob Dylan
* Tupac’s hip-hop legacy

* Buddy Holly’s genius commemorated
* Viva Roxy! Roxy Music re-discovered


ADMIN
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(c) Music for Grown-Ups Ltd 2007

English rockpop renaissance

Intentionally or not, the New Year’s Eve TV broadcast of Jools Holland’s Hootenanny showed English rockpop in rude health, demonstrating just why 2006 is regarded in some quarters as an annus mirabilis.

Leading the parade with some emotive soul singing was Amy Winehouse, in best trollop mode. Her duetting with Modfather Paul Weller was a rare bonus. Lily Allen, Marc Almond and The Zutons were pretty exciting, too, though La Winehouse stole the show - what a diva!

Even the vacuous celeb interviews, and the pretence that it was a live gig (when everyone knows it’s a built programme, probably recorded in early December) couldn’t take the shine off a fine celebration of the English rockpop renaissance.


Gerry Smith

Tickets for Dylan Brit shows still on sale

I was surprised to see the UK shows on Bob Dylan’s spring 2007 tour advertised in today’s Sunday Times.

The tickets – for five April shows (11 Glasgow, 12 Newcastle, 14 Sheffield, 15 London, and 17 Birmingham) – went on sale on Friday 8 December. With Dylan reaching unprecedented levels of popularity in England in 2006, I had expected all five venues to sell out rapidly.

Admittedly, they’re all arena venues for 15-20,000 audiences; maybe venues that size always take several weeks to sell out?

But I wonder - just wonder - whether the Bob shows are starting to come up against consumer resistance? I’d expect the generic rock fans, those recently enrolled on the Dylan bandwagon, and newbies curious to check out what all the fuss is about, to be buying tickets in droves.

But I wonder whether some hardcore fans are beginning to opt out of the Never Ending Tour? I am, and I know a few others who will be.

Why? Quite simple: unsuitable venues. I used to shell out silly money to see shows in venues not fit for serious musical enjoyment. Not any more. Henceforth, Dylan, and anyone else, will need to play decent venues to get my gig dollar. If they play arenas, they’ll be doing it without little old me.



Gerry Smith