Grown-Up CD buyers who love a bargain will want to check out Forever Ella, last year’s lovely compilation of Fitzgerald classics. It’s now dropping in price – amazon now have it for under £8 (plus del), and Tesco are even cheaper – they’re selling it in the bigger stores I frequent at £7.50.
If you don’t have any Ella recordings, Forever Ella (2007) is a great place to start. I envy you your voyage of discovery.
Gerry Smith
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
New low price for top Dylan and Cohen albums
The major supermarket chains have driven down CD/DVD/book prices just as much the online retailers and digital downloads. Pity the poor specialist music retailers (only joking!)
But I never thought I’d ever see prime Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen albums retailing at £2.50 each!
Tesco are selling a load of Sony 2-fers including boxed sets of Dylan’s Time Out Of Mind and “Love And Theft”, and Leonard Cohen’s Songs Of Leonard Cohen and Songs Of Love And Hate for £5 each – that’s just £2.50 per album. I paid £15 each for some of these albums - when £15 seemed like a lot of money!
Will top albums soon be available at £1 each? I wouldn’t bet against it.
Gerry Smith
But I never thought I’d ever see prime Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen albums retailing at £2.50 each!
Tesco are selling a load of Sony 2-fers including boxed sets of Dylan’s Time Out Of Mind and “Love And Theft”, and Leonard Cohen’s Songs Of Leonard Cohen and Songs Of Love And Hate for £5 each – that’s just £2.50 per album. I paid £15 each for some of these albums - when £15 seemed like a lot of money!
Will top albums soon be available at £1 each? I wouldn’t bet against it.
Gerry Smith
Monday, January 28, 2008
Rock meets jazz: fusion for beginners
Regular readers might recall that In A Silent Way is near the top of Music for Grown-Ups’ favourite albums. Miles Davis’ 1969 masterpiece was the breakthrough work, successfully fusing jazz sensibilities with rock beats – and, most important, finding a huge market while alienating his heritage jazz following.
Fusion flourished for almost a decade, with memorable music from a core of Miles acolytes such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin and Joe Zawinul.
If you want to sample the best of fusion, this is a handy beginner’s guide (from an unexpected source):
www.classicrockmagazine.com/page/classicrock?entry=jazz_rock_buyers_guide
Gerry Smith
Fusion flourished for almost a decade, with memorable music from a core of Miles acolytes such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin and Joe Zawinul.
If you want to sample the best of fusion, this is a handy beginner’s guide (from an unexpected source):
www.classicrockmagazine.com/page/classicrock?entry=jazz_rock_buyers_guide
Gerry Smith
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Morrissey in London – prime pop for grown-ups
Last night’s Morrissey gig at London’s Roundhouse – his third in a six night residency – was prime pop for grown-ups. A delightful show.
The setlist was a mixture of classic, recent and new material, with Irish Blood/English Heart, First Of The Gang To Die and Last Of The Famous International Playboys the standouts. The forthcoming single, That’s How People Grow Up, will justify careful scrutiny.
Mozza’s unique talent is pungent, wittily original lyrics, allied to an unmissable on-stage charisma: very few performers give good gig better than he. His rapport with the faithful is wondrous to behold.
Musically, last night was nothing to get excited about, though. Trenchant lyrics apart, Morrissey’s solo work sounds pedestrian to my ears: too little variety in melody, tempo or dynamics. No variation in delivery. No improv.
So his musos are in a straitjacket to start with. But this crew sounded dull anyway. And the sound, from stage left, 20 metres from the front, was muddy, bassy, and Il Mozzo was too low in the mix.
Morrissey was my first gig at the refurb’d Roundhouse. Very impressive – it easily reclaims its traditional status as London’s premier rockpop venue. Big enough for a 2,000 stand-up audience; small enough for intimate communion.
Pity about the audience. They’ve had to stop smoking (Hallelujah!), but most still yak incessantly, sing along as if they’re in the bath, and shuffle backwards and forwards to the bars all night long, spilling expensive, dubious-looking beer from plastic mugs over innocent bystanders.
All music venues, from the Royal Opera House to Ronnie Scott’s, attract more than their fair share of stiffs. But rockpop gigs are notorious: fully 50% of last night’s Roundhouse crowd were boneheads.
Gerry Smith
The setlist was a mixture of classic, recent and new material, with Irish Blood/English Heart, First Of The Gang To Die and Last Of The Famous International Playboys the standouts. The forthcoming single, That’s How People Grow Up, will justify careful scrutiny.
Mozza’s unique talent is pungent, wittily original lyrics, allied to an unmissable on-stage charisma: very few performers give good gig better than he. His rapport with the faithful is wondrous to behold.
Musically, last night was nothing to get excited about, though. Trenchant lyrics apart, Morrissey’s solo work sounds pedestrian to my ears: too little variety in melody, tempo or dynamics. No variation in delivery. No improv.
So his musos are in a straitjacket to start with. But this crew sounded dull anyway. And the sound, from stage left, 20 metres from the front, was muddy, bassy, and Il Mozzo was too low in the mix.
Morrissey was my first gig at the refurb’d Roundhouse. Very impressive – it easily reclaims its traditional status as London’s premier rockpop venue. Big enough for a 2,000 stand-up audience; small enough for intimate communion.
Pity about the audience. They’ve had to stop smoking (Hallelujah!), but most still yak incessantly, sing along as if they’re in the bath, and shuffle backwards and forwards to the bars all night long, spilling expensive, dubious-looking beer from plastic mugs over innocent bystanders.
All music venues, from the Royal Opera House to Ronnie Scott’s, attract more than their fair share of stiffs. But rockpop gigs are notorious: fully 50% of last night’s Roundhouse crowd were boneheads.
Gerry Smith
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Van the Man – Ireland’s greatest creative artist?
I've just finished reading a challenging new polemic about Music for Grown-Ups fave Van the Man. In the course of celebrating the fortieth anniversary of his masterwork, Astral Weeks, writer Declan Lynch makes the case for Morrison as Ireland’s greatest ever creative artist.
Yes, that’s greater than James Joyce. And Yeats. And the creators of the Book Of Kells.
Convinced? See what you think:
www.vanmorrisonnews.blogspot.com
Morrison's back catalogue is being reissued in batches, from next Monday, and a new album, Keep It Simple, is due in March.
Gerry Smith
Yes, that’s greater than James Joyce. And Yeats. And the creators of the Book Of Kells.
Convinced? See what you think:
www.vanmorrisonnews.blogspot.com
Morrison's back catalogue is being reissued in batches, from next Monday, and a new album, Keep It Simple, is due in March.
Gerry Smith
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Top poprock record labels profiled
For all that they’re widely regarded as robber barons, record labels have been key gatekeepers in the dissemination of music, a filter helping the consumer cope with a manageable array of talent, and promoting/distributing product so that it’s easily available.
Friday’s Independent had an informative profile of most of the leading labels crucial in the development of post-WW2 poprock, including Music for Grown-Ups favourites like Chess, Sun and Rough Trade.
But why, oh why, did they see fit to ignore the greatest label of them all, CBS/Columbia/Sony, which made superstars of talents like Sinatra, Miles Davis and Bob Dylan?
http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/features
Gerry Smith
Friday’s Independent had an informative profile of most of the leading labels crucial in the development of post-WW2 poprock, including Music for Grown-Ups favourites like Chess, Sun and Rough Trade.
But why, oh why, did they see fit to ignore the greatest label of them all, CBS/Columbia/Sony, which made superstars of talents like Sinatra, Miles Davis and Bob Dylan?
http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/features
Gerry Smith
Friday, January 18, 2008
Coming very soon - Morrissey Week in London!
Morrissey, one of the most revered of rockpop artists in his native land, returns to London next week with a six night residency at the recently reopened Roundhouse. Watch this space for the exclusive Music for Grown-Ups concert review - I’m due at the Wednesday gig.
I expect the setlist to include a sizeable selection of the songs on Greatest Hits, Morrissey’s first compilation from his post-1997 releases (tracklist below), due on 11 February. Plus some earlier solo material and the odd Smiths classic.
Greatest Hits tracklist:
1. First Of The Gang To Die
2. In The Future When All's Well
3. I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
4. Irish Blood English Heart
5. You Have Killed Me
6. That's How People Grow Up
7. Everyday Is Like Sunday
8. Redondo Beach
9. Suedehead
10. Youngest Wat The Most Loved
11. Last Of The Famous International Playboys
12. More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get
13. All You Need Is Me
14. Let Me Kiss You
15. I Have Forgiven Jesus
16. Alma Matters
Whooppee! I can hardly wait. Rave on, Mozza!
Gerry Smith
I expect the setlist to include a sizeable selection of the songs on Greatest Hits, Morrissey’s first compilation from his post-1997 releases (tracklist below), due on 11 February. Plus some earlier solo material and the odd Smiths classic.
Greatest Hits tracklist:
1. First Of The Gang To Die
2. In The Future When All's Well
3. I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
4. Irish Blood English Heart
5. You Have Killed Me
6. That's How People Grow Up
7. Everyday Is Like Sunday
8. Redondo Beach
9. Suedehead
10. Youngest Wat The Most Loved
11. Last Of The Famous International Playboys
12. More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get
13. All You Need Is Me
14. Let Me Kiss You
15. I Have Forgiven Jesus
16. Alma Matters
Whooppee! I can hardly wait. Rave on, Mozza!
Gerry Smith
Thursday, January 17, 2008
New Stones, Morrissey, Morrison releases due soon
Tempting new rockpop releases already announced for 2008 include:
· Rolling Stones - Shine A Light, the soundtrack to the new Martin Scorsese film documenting the last tour, is due in March.
· Morrissey’s Greatest Hits, the first compilation from his post-1997 releases, comes out on 11 February. It will be followed by a new studio album in the autumn.
· Van Morrison’s new CD, Keep It Simple, is due in March. And a programme of (slightly) enhanced back catalogue re-releases starts with seven albums on 28 January.
All will be worth a careful grown-up listen, even if none promises to be exactly Earth-shattering.
Gerry Smith
· Rolling Stones - Shine A Light, the soundtrack to the new Martin Scorsese film documenting the last tour, is due in March.
· Morrissey’s Greatest Hits, the first compilation from his post-1997 releases, comes out on 11 February. It will be followed by a new studio album in the autumn.
· Van Morrison’s new CD, Keep It Simple, is due in March. And a programme of (slightly) enhanced back catalogue re-releases starts with seven albums on 28 January.
All will be worth a careful grown-up listen, even if none promises to be exactly Earth-shattering.
Gerry Smith
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
This Week's Music for Grown-Ups on Radio/TV
Your exclusive listening/watching guide … thanks to compiler Mike Ollier:
Radio For Grown-Ups
Thurs BBCR2 23.00 ~ 23.30
* My Country Jukebox: Nick Barraclough talks to Suzy Bogguss, soon to tour the UK, about her favourite records.
Fri BBCR6 2100 - 2200
* Theme Time With Bob Dylan: Divorce - Tammy Wynette, George Jones and Lefty Frizzell all feature. I'll never get this hour of my life back, but I don't care!
Fri BBCR3 23.30 ~ 01.00
* Jazz On 3: Richard Galliano (accordion) and Michel Portal (clarinet) at the London Jazz Fest
TV For Grown-Ups
The Pop, What Is It Good For season continues on BBC4:
Weds BBC4 19.30 onwards
* Sounds Of The '60s
* Top Of The Pops ~ 1967 Xmas show
* Help ~ Beatles film with the Fab Four larking about on a much bigger budget. Fun
* Pop On Trial ~ Maconie is joined by Bonzo/Python stalwart, Neil Innes
* Chuck Berry In Concert ~ a gig from 1972
* Gimme Shelter ~ The Stones look on shocked at Altamont: a towering doc.
Thurs BBC4 19.30 onwards
* Top Of The Pops ~ 1978 Xmas edition. Warning, it contains Wings. On the brighter side it also has Father Abraham.
* Flame ~ the movie starring Slade … everyone expected a light and fluffy romp but what they got was a pitch black tale from the seamier side of the music industry. A great (hugely underrated) film with two of their greatest songs, Far Far Away and the superb How Does It Feel, on a decent soundtrack. The band sunk like a man in an overcoat with pockets full of house bricks after this, as they tried 'proper' music.
* Pop On Trial ~ more Maconie, the talk is crap but the clips are great.
* The Song Remains The Same ~ Led Zep's ill-judged movie, worth watching for the hilarious 'dream' sequences each of the band came up with. Who'd have thought it eh, Slade's movie better than Zep's?
* Rod The Mod ~ a doc from 1976 when he'd left behind the Faces and the decent solo career.
Fri BBC4 19.30 onwards
* Soweto Strings ~ world music doc from the townships.
* Marc Bolan ~ The Final Word. Again? Profile of the Boppin Elf but, apart from the clips, it's not much cop.
* Pop Britannia ~ 3rd of 3, it's the mid-'70s and it traces from then to now.
* Tommy ~ that deaf, dumb and blind kid plays pinball. Overblown.
Radio For Grown-Ups
Thurs BBCR2 23.00 ~ 23.30
* My Country Jukebox: Nick Barraclough talks to Suzy Bogguss, soon to tour the UK, about her favourite records.
Fri BBCR6 2100 - 2200
* Theme Time With Bob Dylan: Divorce - Tammy Wynette, George Jones and Lefty Frizzell all feature. I'll never get this hour of my life back, but I don't care!
Fri BBCR3 23.30 ~ 01.00
* Jazz On 3: Richard Galliano (accordion) and Michel Portal (clarinet) at the London Jazz Fest
TV For Grown-Ups
The Pop, What Is It Good For season continues on BBC4:
Weds BBC4 19.30 onwards
* Sounds Of The '60s
* Top Of The Pops ~ 1967 Xmas show
* Help ~ Beatles film with the Fab Four larking about on a much bigger budget. Fun
* Pop On Trial ~ Maconie is joined by Bonzo/Python stalwart, Neil Innes
* Chuck Berry In Concert ~ a gig from 1972
* Gimme Shelter ~ The Stones look on shocked at Altamont: a towering doc.
Thurs BBC4 19.30 onwards
* Top Of The Pops ~ 1978 Xmas edition. Warning, it contains Wings. On the brighter side it also has Father Abraham.
* Flame ~ the movie starring Slade … everyone expected a light and fluffy romp but what they got was a pitch black tale from the seamier side of the music industry. A great (hugely underrated) film with two of their greatest songs, Far Far Away and the superb How Does It Feel, on a decent soundtrack. The band sunk like a man in an overcoat with pockets full of house bricks after this, as they tried 'proper' music.
* Pop On Trial ~ more Maconie, the talk is crap but the clips are great.
* The Song Remains The Same ~ Led Zep's ill-judged movie, worth watching for the hilarious 'dream' sequences each of the band came up with. Who'd have thought it eh, Slade's movie better than Zep's?
* Rod The Mod ~ a doc from 1976 when he'd left behind the Faces and the decent solo career.
Fri BBC4 19.30 onwards
* Soweto Strings ~ world music doc from the townships.
* Marc Bolan ~ The Final Word. Again? Profile of the Boppin Elf but, apart from the clips, it's not much cop.
* Pop Britannia ~ 3rd of 3, it's the mid-'70s and it traces from then to now.
* Tommy ~ that deaf, dumb and blind kid plays pinball. Overblown.
Monday, January 14, 2008
HMV to roll out Fopp format?
Music for Grown-Ups was a supporter of the Fopp mini-chain of CD/DVD/bookshops and was saddened when it went belly up last year.
The Fopp format – quality back catalogue at heavy discounts, and a perception of the soundscape which recognised the yawning gulf between pre- and post-Punk poprock – was a refreshing counterpoint to the heavy hand of the music megastores.
Ironically, megastore-in-chief HMV, whose silly prices lost my custom years ago, rescued two of the Fopp branches I used to frequent most, in London and Cambridge, and restored them to exactly the same pre-failure format. And the Fopp shops seem to be doing good business whenever I’m in.
HMV is such a big company, facing multiple threats to its business – downloads, supermarkets, Amazon … blah … blah – that it can’t be interested in running a handful of small Fopp outlets - unless it has a firm idea of what it wants to do with them.
Prediction: before the end of 2008, HMV will roll out the Fopp chain to at least the size of the original network. That would be welcomed here and by all fans of music for grown-ups.
Gerry Smith
The Fopp format – quality back catalogue at heavy discounts, and a perception of the soundscape which recognised the yawning gulf between pre- and post-Punk poprock – was a refreshing counterpoint to the heavy hand of the music megastores.
Ironically, megastore-in-chief HMV, whose silly prices lost my custom years ago, rescued two of the Fopp branches I used to frequent most, in London and Cambridge, and restored them to exactly the same pre-failure format. And the Fopp shops seem to be doing good business whenever I’m in.
HMV is such a big company, facing multiple threats to its business – downloads, supermarkets, Amazon … blah … blah – that it can’t be interested in running a handful of small Fopp outlets - unless it has a firm idea of what it wants to do with them.
Prediction: before the end of 2008, HMV will roll out the Fopp chain to at least the size of the original network. That would be welcomed here and by all fans of music for grown-ups.
Gerry Smith
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Hidden cost of buying Drawn Blank exhibition catalogue
Since posting the previous article, I’ve discovered that UK buyers of the Drawn Blank exhibition catalogue who order direct from the gallery, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, need to factor in the extra cost of making an international bank payment, which is about £20, to be added to the book’s price and delivery: total c£50.
Apologies to readers outside UK, I don’t know the extra bank cost in your country, but it’s worth finding out before you decide where to buy the book.
UK readers might be better advised to find a copy in the UK - if Amazon/Marketplace suppliers are out of stock, there are some copies in the bookshop system – I saw one in a branch of Waterstone's last weekend; and Foyles had it online recently.
Another option is to wait for further exhibitions (London, New York, LA?) - I can't believe Dylan would have done all that work just for a single show - and then expect the catalogue to become a very visible global best-seller.
Bottom line, though: Bob Dylan – The Drawn Blank Series is one helluva Dylan artefact, a must-have!
Gerry Smith
Apologies to readers outside UK, I don’t know the extra bank cost in your country, but it’s worth finding out before you decide where to buy the book.
UK readers might be better advised to find a copy in the UK - if Amazon/Marketplace suppliers are out of stock, there are some copies in the bookshop system – I saw one in a branch of Waterstone's last weekend; and Foyles had it online recently.
Another option is to wait for further exhibitions (London, New York, LA?) - I can't believe Dylan would have done all that work just for a single show - and then expect the catalogue to become a very visible global best-seller.
Bottom line, though: Bob Dylan – The Drawn Blank Series is one helluva Dylan artefact, a must-have!
Gerry Smith
Hurry - Drawn Blank exhibition in Chemnitz closes soon
If you’re planning to catch The Drawn Blank Series, the outstanding exhibition of Dylan artwork at Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, you’d better hurry, because the show closes on 3 February.
It’s a fine collection. Dylan’s artwork – interiors, urban landscapes, men, women - grabs your attention and demands careful scrutiny. The paintings, in the Expressionist style, would be arresting even if they didn’t carry Dylan’s signature. As you’d expect from its artist, the work is observant, witty and worldly-wise. The surprise is that it’s also technically accomplished – it never fails to evoke an emotional response.
Dylan fans worldwide are indebted to curator Ingrid Mossinger. It’s remarkable that the curator of a city art gallery in a regional centre like Chemnitz should have persuaded Dylan to complete such a substantial body of art, and then made it accessible to a global audience via the striking catalogue, Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series.
Danke schon Chemnitz! Danke schon Frau Mossinger!
The exhibition catalogue is a sumptuous stand-alone coffee table hardback book of 170 striking watercolour/gouache paintings that Dylan recently worked up from drawings originally sketched between 1989 and 1992.
It’s an unusual, beautiful, colourful artefact: aficionados need it - it’s one of the Dylan highlights of recent years, far more important than that new film that’s getting all the media attention.
Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series is available from UK suppliers, but the Chemnitz gallery itself is the prime supplier of the catalogue – they are selling the book at 28 euros (plus 17 euros packing/delivery) via their website – excellent value. Specify if you want the English-language version (the book includes several essays about the exhibition).
Details: Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series, edited by Ingrid Mossinger. Munich, Prestel, large format hardback, 29 Nov 2007, 288pp.
www.chemnitz.de/de/tourismus/tourismus_kultur_17_2.htm
Gerry Smith
It’s a fine collection. Dylan’s artwork – interiors, urban landscapes, men, women - grabs your attention and demands careful scrutiny. The paintings, in the Expressionist style, would be arresting even if they didn’t carry Dylan’s signature. As you’d expect from its artist, the work is observant, witty and worldly-wise. The surprise is that it’s also technically accomplished – it never fails to evoke an emotional response.
Dylan fans worldwide are indebted to curator Ingrid Mossinger. It’s remarkable that the curator of a city art gallery in a regional centre like Chemnitz should have persuaded Dylan to complete such a substantial body of art, and then made it accessible to a global audience via the striking catalogue, Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series.
Danke schon Chemnitz! Danke schon Frau Mossinger!
The exhibition catalogue is a sumptuous stand-alone coffee table hardback book of 170 striking watercolour/gouache paintings that Dylan recently worked up from drawings originally sketched between 1989 and 1992.
It’s an unusual, beautiful, colourful artefact: aficionados need it - it’s one of the Dylan highlights of recent years, far more important than that new film that’s getting all the media attention.
Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series is available from UK suppliers, but the Chemnitz gallery itself is the prime supplier of the catalogue – they are selling the book at 28 euros (plus 17 euros packing/delivery) via their website – excellent value. Specify if you want the English-language version (the book includes several essays about the exhibition).
Details: Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series, edited by Ingrid Mossinger. Munich, Prestel, large format hardback, 29 Nov 2007, 288pp.
www.chemnitz.de/de/tourismus/tourismus_kultur_17_2.htm
Gerry Smith
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Anglo Pop for Grown-Ups
Hot on the heels of praise for Paul Morley as the BBC’s ubiquitous Manchester post-Punk music correspondent, it’s time to praise him again, in a different role, as the BBC’s English pop music correspondent.
Morley’s new one-hour documentary, Pop! What Is It Good For?, broadcast Tuesday on BBC Four, was a stylishly articulate, richly detailed manifesto for the peculiar genre that is Anglo Pop. Sections on The Smiths and Adam Faith were particularly challenging, though my attention wandered when it turned to inessentials such as Kylie, the Kinks and the Sugar Babes.
Morley’s programme was the grown-up highlight so far of BBC Four’s current Anglo Pop series. The other stuff has been re-runs of trashy, ultra-lite series - Juke Box Jury, Top Of The Pops, Old Grey Whistle Test and other such fluff - and weak movies starring actors with the gravitas of Cliff Richard. The first (pre-Beatles) programme in the three-part Pop Britannia series confirmed what we already knew: that ‘50s Britpop was third-rate, a desperate parochial cloning of the exciting US template.
Morley’s engaging doc confirmed, yet again, that music for grown-ups can come from any genre – the Smiths … Everlys … Roxy are as worthy of scrutiny as Puccini or Coleman Hawkins. And that most music, in all genres, especially pop, is unsuitable for grown-up consumption.
You can view Pop! What Is It Good For? online, on the wonderful new BBC iPlayer service.
Recommended (Morley’s programme and new iPlayer service).
Gerry Smith
Morley’s new one-hour documentary, Pop! What Is It Good For?, broadcast Tuesday on BBC Four, was a stylishly articulate, richly detailed manifesto for the peculiar genre that is Anglo Pop. Sections on The Smiths and Adam Faith were particularly challenging, though my attention wandered when it turned to inessentials such as Kylie, the Kinks and the Sugar Babes.
Morley’s programme was the grown-up highlight so far of BBC Four’s current Anglo Pop series. The other stuff has been re-runs of trashy, ultra-lite series - Juke Box Jury, Top Of The Pops, Old Grey Whistle Test and other such fluff - and weak movies starring actors with the gravitas of Cliff Richard. The first (pre-Beatles) programme in the three-part Pop Britannia series confirmed what we already knew: that ‘50s Britpop was third-rate, a desperate parochial cloning of the exciting US template.
Morley’s engaging doc confirmed, yet again, that music for grown-ups can come from any genre – the Smiths … Everlys … Roxy are as worthy of scrutiny as Puccini or Coleman Hawkins. And that most music, in all genres, especially pop, is unsuitable for grown-up consumption.
You can view Pop! What Is It Good For? online, on the wonderful new BBC iPlayer service.
Recommended (Morley’s programme and new iPlayer service).
Gerry Smith
Monday, January 07, 2008
Factory Records celebrated
If, like me, you celebrate the post-Punk musical creativity of Manchester, look out for a repeat of BBC Four’s fine 90-minute documentary, Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to the Happy Mondays, a tribute to the recently-deceased label founder/all-round Mancophile, Anthony J Wilson.
The film has welcome contributions from most of the major players, from Ian Curtis’ Joy Division band-mates to Happy Mondays’ Mr Ryder, and from Paul Morley, the BBC’s ubiquitous (but very welcome) Manc music correspondent, to, most notably, a visibly dying Wilson.
Factory ably documents the early success of the label, based on Joy Division then New Order’s popularity, the subsequent failure of the Hacienda nightclub and then the demise of the label itself.
But, much as I like the Manc music scenesters, I’m glad that this motley crew were only ever in charge of their own money. Ultimately, Factory was a failure: a very popular label and nightclub failed and it didn’t need to happen. Factory Records failed to fulfil its massive potential by not developing its roster – The Smiths, The Fall and The Stone Roses, arguably the finest local talents, were signed by other labels, from right under Factory’s nose.
But I’m surely not alone in tiring of the continual barrage of provincial, solipsistic “Manc is great” propaganda. The grim Northern city’s not-so-subtle attempt to ride on the coat-tails of a handful of great pop musicians is wearing a bit thin: Manchester was a dump before Joy Division; it’s just as big a dump today.
Gerry Smith
The film has welcome contributions from most of the major players, from Ian Curtis’ Joy Division band-mates to Happy Mondays’ Mr Ryder, and from Paul Morley, the BBC’s ubiquitous (but very welcome) Manc music correspondent, to, most notably, a visibly dying Wilson.
Factory ably documents the early success of the label, based on Joy Division then New Order’s popularity, the subsequent failure of the Hacienda nightclub and then the demise of the label itself.
But, much as I like the Manc music scenesters, I’m glad that this motley crew were only ever in charge of their own money. Ultimately, Factory was a failure: a very popular label and nightclub failed and it didn’t need to happen. Factory Records failed to fulfil its massive potential by not developing its roster – The Smiths, The Fall and The Stone Roses, arguably the finest local talents, were signed by other labels, from right under Factory’s nose.
But I’m surely not alone in tiring of the continual barrage of provincial, solipsistic “Manc is great” propaganda. The grim Northern city’s not-so-subtle attempt to ride on the coat-tails of a handful of great pop musicians is wearing a bit thin: Manchester was a dump before Joy Division; it’s just as big a dump today.
Gerry Smith
Friday, January 04, 2008
Dylan, Radiohead, Brian Jones brighten up the January news-stands
New Year issues of rockpop mags - fashionably slim after the ad-led excesses of the Xmas consumption frenzy - are creeping onto the news-stands.
· UNCUT gets top billing with a striking Dylan cover straight from the Nashville Skyline shoot. Bob Dylan: 1968, The Year He Came Back From the Dead, is the cover feature, with extended coverage of John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline. The cover-mounted CD, Drifter’s Escape, has JWH-inspired country rock covers. And UNCUT has a separate photo feature on Blackbushe. Hang on – wasn’t that 1978?
· MOJO has Radiohead on the cover, and a featured interview with Joni Mitchell. Oh dear. I love Mitchell’s music but I lost interest in anything she has to say - about anything - aeons ago. Life’s far too short.
· Record Collector’s cover story is Brian Jones – The Lost Stone.
Gerry Smith
· UNCUT gets top billing with a striking Dylan cover straight from the Nashville Skyline shoot. Bob Dylan: 1968, The Year He Came Back From the Dead, is the cover feature, with extended coverage of John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline. The cover-mounted CD, Drifter’s Escape, has JWH-inspired country rock covers. And UNCUT has a separate photo feature on Blackbushe. Hang on – wasn’t that 1978?
· MOJO has Radiohead on the cover, and a featured interview with Joni Mitchell. Oh dear. I love Mitchell’s music but I lost interest in anything she has to say - about anything - aeons ago. Life’s far too short.
· Record Collector’s cover story is Brian Jones – The Lost Stone.
Gerry Smith
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Seriously good serious music on BBC Radio 3
While regular columnist Mike Ollier rightly bemoans the shortage of grown-up music on Brit TV and radio in recent weeks, he restricts his comments to the popular end of the spectrum.
By comparison, classical/serious/art music has rarely fared better. Recent radio highlights I’ve raved about include:
* Composer Of The Week – Puccini this week, Mozart two weeks ago, a Handel repeat next week. Intelligently written, expertly presented explorations of some of the greatest music for grown-ups, in week-long series of 5 x 1 hour programmes.
* Pavarotti’s career analysed in a five part series in Xmas week.
* Sonny Rollins interviewed and his work dissected in Jazz Library.
All on Radio 3 – the only BBC channel, apart from BBC Four TV, I’ll pay to receive once the anachronism of the hated annual viewing tax is finally denied to the robber barons of the bloated BBC.
Gerry Smith
By comparison, classical/serious/art music has rarely fared better. Recent radio highlights I’ve raved about include:
* Composer Of The Week – Puccini this week, Mozart two weeks ago, a Handel repeat next week. Intelligently written, expertly presented explorations of some of the greatest music for grown-ups, in week-long series of 5 x 1 hour programmes.
* Pavarotti’s career analysed in a five part series in Xmas week.
* Sonny Rollins interviewed and his work dissected in Jazz Library.
All on Radio 3 – the only BBC channel, apart from BBC Four TV, I’ll pay to receive once the anachronism of the hated annual viewing tax is finally denied to the robber barons of the bloated BBC.
Gerry Smith
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Met Opera Live, in English cinemas: overpriced
News that the Met’s April production of Donizetti’s La Fille Du Regiment will be broadcast live from New York onto cinema screens across England caused a flicker of excitement, particularly as the star is the wonderful French soprano Natalie Dessay in her signature role.
But, checking out the detail of the London screening, at the Barbican, I felt my excitement dissipating rapidly. The Barbican, like the other dozen or so Brit cinemas, is selling tickets for the gig at £25 each.
I’m not tempted. Not in the slightest.
Why? Well, I paid less than half that to see the same production - live, in the flesh - at the Royal Opera House in January 2007. And I have the tape of the TV broadcast from BBC Four last week. And the Radio 3 broadcast from earlier in the year. And the Met’s version will probably be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, too.
I hope to be proved wrong, but I don’t see the Met Opera Live launch season creating queues round the block. Not at those prices.
All power to the Met, and the other world-class opera houses, rolling out great product to a global audience, but they’ll probably need to revise their pricing before they get it right.
Gerry Smith
But, checking out the detail of the London screening, at the Barbican, I felt my excitement dissipating rapidly. The Barbican, like the other dozen or so Brit cinemas, is selling tickets for the gig at £25 each.
I’m not tempted. Not in the slightest.
Why? Well, I paid less than half that to see the same production - live, in the flesh - at the Royal Opera House in January 2007. And I have the tape of the TV broadcast from BBC Four last week. And the Radio 3 broadcast from earlier in the year. And the Met’s version will probably be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, too.
I hope to be proved wrong, but I don’t see the Met Opera Live launch season creating queues round the block. Not at those prices.
All power to the Met, and the other world-class opera houses, rolling out great product to a global audience, but they’ll probably need to revise their pricing before they get it right.
Gerry Smith
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Amazon’s music recommendations – spectacularly wrong
Amazon automatically suggests product you might wish to buy, based on previous transactions/searches. Sometimes it works, selling you stuff you hadn’t thought of buying.
But mostly, in my case, the predictions are risible – the clever software suggests stuff I wouldn’t have in the house even if it was free.
Amazon’s latest suggestions made me laugh out loud – it’s as if some darkly comic software has been programmed to suggest music guaranteed to make me contemplate suicide:
Hello, Mr Smith, Amazon.co.uk has new recommendations for you based on items you purchased or told us you own. We recommended the items because you purchased or rated:
› Van Morrison - Live At Montreux 1974/1980
› Bob Dylan - Don't Look Back (65 Tour Deluxe Edition) [1965]
(Amazon suggestions)
· Chrome Dreams II: +DVD
· The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (Limited Edition) (3CD)
· In Concert November 1975 by Richard and Linda Thompson
· I'm Not There (OST)
· Just Roll Tape: 26 Apr 1968/Studio Demos by Stephen Stills
· Live At The BBC by Sandy Denny
· Under the Blacklight by Rilo Kiley
Crikey! A more laughable wants list would be difficult to compile for me.
Gerry Smith
But mostly, in my case, the predictions are risible – the clever software suggests stuff I wouldn’t have in the house even if it was free.
Amazon’s latest suggestions made me laugh out loud – it’s as if some darkly comic software has been programmed to suggest music guaranteed to make me contemplate suicide:
Hello, Mr Smith, Amazon.co.uk has new recommendations for you based on items you purchased or told us you own. We recommended the items because you purchased or rated:
› Van Morrison - Live At Montreux 1974/1980
› Bob Dylan - Don't Look Back (65 Tour Deluxe Edition) [1965]
(Amazon suggestions)
· Chrome Dreams II: +DVD
· The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (Limited Edition) (3CD)
· In Concert November 1975 by Richard and Linda Thompson
· I'm Not There (OST)
· Just Roll Tape: 26 Apr 1968/Studio Demos by Stephen Stills
· Live At The BBC by Sandy Denny
· Under the Blacklight by Rilo Kiley
Crikey! A more laughable wants list would be difficult to compile for me.
Gerry Smith
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