This Week’s Music for Grown-Ups on Radio/TV

Your new listening/watching guide… thanks to compiler Mike Ollier


RADIO

Monday BBCR2 18.00 ~ 19.00
* Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan # Sleep
Let's face it, either your BBQ is gonna be washed out or you're going to be sitting in a traffic jam. Let His Bobness take away your pain. Cab Calloway, The Rolling Stones, Mingus, The Melodians ~ nothing if not eclectic.

Tuesday BBCR2 23.30 ~ 00.30
* Courtney Pine's Jazz Crusade
Contemporay jazz chosen by the legendary British saxophonist in the penultimate show of this series.

Wednesday BBCR2 22.00 ~ 00.30
* Swee'Pea: The Billy Strayhorn Story
3rd programme of a 4-parter.

Thursday BBCR2 22.00pm ~ 22.30
* In Love With Hank
3rd part of the profile on the Hillbilly Shakespeare, Hank Williams.

Friday BBCR6 ~ all day
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 40th Anniversary
A whole day devoted to one of the most overrated albums ever. Why?

Friday BBCR6 21.00 ~ 22.00
* Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan: Gun
Respite from blanket coverage of the F***ing Beatles. Los Lobos, The Clash and R&L Thompson

Friday BBCR2 19.00 ~ 19.30
* The Music Club Presents ~ Patti Smith on Songwriting
Pshaw! What does she know? Eh? Wot? Oh. The third programme in the series features Laughin' Lenny. But surely the highlight is next week’s guest, Keith Urban. Presumably it's songwriting for idiots that week.

Friday BBCR2 21.15 ~ 21.30
* Chronicles, Volume One: Dylan Signs
Sean Penn reads from THE book. 1st part of 8.

Friday BBCR3 22.30 ~ 23.30
* Jazz Library ~ Tomasz Stanko
Polish trumpeter selects his best recordings.

Friday BBCR3 10.30 ~ 11.30
* Jazz On Three
Gwilym Simcock Big Band in session.



TV

Tuesday BBC2 23.20 ~ 00.00
* The Old Grey Whistle Test
Tape it and flick through for the good bits ie anything not including Whisperin' Bob ~ though his putdown of The New Your Dolls was quite amusing. It would have been even funnier if Arthur 'Killer' Kane had clocked him one, though. Repeated from BBC4.

Friday BBC2 20.30 ~ 21.00
* In Concert: The Eagles
Friday rock scheduling is back… but with the Hell Freezes Over gang, it's country music for people who don't like country music. And it's been on numerous times already.

Friday BBC2 20.30 ~ 21.00
* When The Stranglers Met Roland Rat
A compendium of kids’ TV clips when respected bands had to slum it with hand puppets in the name of promotion. Should be good for a laugh.

Friday BBC2 23.35 ~ 00.40
Later With Jools Holland
Nobody's favourite boogie-woogie piano maestro introduces tonight's 'fast forward' guests The Who, and nu-blues purveyors The White Stripes.

Friday C4 00.40 ~ 01.40 (OK, Saturday morning really)
* 4 Music
More work for your tape player as you miss living cartoon Ozzy Osbourne searching for Modest Mouse with Johnny Marr.

Saturday BBC2 21.10 ~ 22.10
* Seven Ages Of Rock: Blank Generation: Punk Rock
3rd of 7 parts, this week (repeated Sundays) we trawl through punk, both NYC and the English version. All been seen before but still better than nowt, and if it can turn the younger generation (eg my students) into thinking a little bit about music, then it's no bad thing.

Saturday BBC2 21.45 ~ 23.45
* Sgt Pepper ~ It Was 40 Years Ago Today
Modern bands re-create blah blah. Watch, if you must.

Saturday BBC4 22.00 ~ 23.00
* Once Upon A Time In New York
How rap, punk and disco clashed… so, Debbie Harry is to blame for rap then?!!? Repeat from earlier in the year, as is…

Saturday BBC4 23.00 ~ 00.30
* New York At The BBC
A good-ish trawl through New York punks’ appearance on BBC ~ Television, NYDs and Patti Smith etc.

Saturday BBC2 23.45 ~ 01.35
* Tommy
Rock opera with a deaf, dumb and blind Roger Daltrey. It must have been all those drugs.