Astral Weeks - live

Long-time readers might recall that Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks is one of the favourite albums of Music For Grown-Ups.

And regular readers might remember seeing the recent rave review of Astral Weeks Live: Andrew Robertson travelled to the two Hollywood Bowl gigs from his home in Adelaide, South Australia. As he reported here, it was the concert-going experience of his life.

Well, now, aficionados on the US East Coast and in England and Wales get a chance to exult in a live performance of this masterpiece.

Morrison’s Astral Weeks Live moves to MSG in NYC on February 27 and 28; and to Bristol’s Colston Hall on Sat 20 June and Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on Sunday 21 June.

I’ve booked Cardiff: Mama!

The live CD from the Hollywood Bowl gigs is released on Monday 9 February, with a DVD to follow.

Now’s a good time for all those old Morrison fans (frinstance me, babe) who’ve sidelined the Man over the last six or seven years - disappointed by successive album releases and live shows – to celebrate his great art over and over again.

Van Morrison gets an extended profile in my new book, Music For Grown-Ups.



Gerry Smith

Win Music For Grown-Ups book

Your entries continue to pile in.

In addition to artists already mentioned, recent musician Top 5s have included: Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Olivier Messiaen and Beethoven.

Seriously eclectic – like the new book and the web site!

Please keep ‘em coming….



Gerry Smith


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Win Music For Grown-Ups book

Many thanks to readers for all the entries so far.

Lots more musicians who were expected are showing, including Van Morrison, Neil Young and Mark Knopfler.

As well as some unexpected names as diverse as Ali Farka Toure, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Gustav Mahler, Callas and Joan Sutherland.

Keep ‘em coming… Please email your ranked list (1 to 5) to info@musicforgrown-ups.com before the end of January and I’ll compile a readers’ ranking. Please use TOP 5 as your subject header.


Gerry Smith


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Win Music For Grown-Ups book


Many thanks for all the entries so far.

Lots of expected musicians are showing, including John Lennon, Brahms, and Herbie Hancock.

As well as some unexpected names – eg Elvis Costello, Schoenberg and Can.

Keep ‘em coming…

Please email your ranked list (1 to 5) to info@musicforgrown-ups.com before the end of January and I’ll compile a readers’ ranking. Please use TOP 5 as your subject header.


Gerry Smith

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Win a free copy of new book, Music For Grown-Ups

Music For Grown-Ups, my new book, profiles 171 musicians from all genres. If I had to choose a Top 5, there would be some obvious contenders to consider, including: Dylan, Miles Davis, Bach, Mozart, Ella Fitzgerald, Hank Williams, Handel, Coltrane, the Rolling Stones and The Smiths/Morrissey.

But who are YOUR Top 5 Musicians For Grown-Ups - the five you prefer to listen to before all others?

Please email your ranked list (1 to 5) to info@musicforgrown-ups.com before the end of January and I’ll compile a readers’ ranking. Please use TOP 5 as your subject header.

All responding readers will be entered in a free draw and the winner will be selected by lucky dip.

Thanks in advance. And good luck!




Gerry Smith

Top Grown-Up Live Shows of 2008

Thanks to Andrew Robertson:

2008 was another great year for live music, even in little old Adelaide – although my highlight was on the other side of the world, at the Hollywood Bowl.

Trying to select my top five, I came up with:

1. Van Morrison – Astral Weeks live at the Hollywood Bowl (counting both nights as one, as they were both the clear highlights of my life, let alone 2008)

2. Sting – Songs from the Labyrinth at the Sydney Opera House (music from the ages, definitely music for grown ups)

3. The State Opera of South Australia – Turandot at the Adelaide Festival Theatre (our very, very good local opera company, doing a performance that was as good as any opera I’ve seen)

4. Philip Glass – The Book of Longing (Leonard Cohen’s poetry set to music by Philip Glass – deliciously, eclectically grown up – but to be surpassed in 2009 by Leonard Cohen himself who I saw only yesterday)

5. Billy Cobham & Colin Towns, with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra – A Celebration of the Mahavishnu Orchestra (an innovative collaboration between a very good classical symphony orchestra which also loves to stretch out into other genres, and a giant of jazz with Colin Towns as musical director and conductor to harmonise it all into one)

Honourable mentions:

* Ornette Coleman – another jazz giant

* John Mellencamp – my big surprise for 2008, a truly excellent show from an evolving artist

Win Music For Grown-Ups book

Many thanks to readers for all the entries so far.

Lots more musicians who were expected are showing, including Van Morrison, Neil Young and Mark Knopfler.

As well as some unexpected names as diverse as Ali Farka Toure, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Gustav Mahler, Callas and Joan Sutherland.

Keep ‘em coming… Please email your ranked list (1 to 5) to info@musicforgrown-ups.com before the end of January and I’ll compile a readers’ ranking. Please use TOP 5 as your subject header.


Gerry Smith


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Win Music For Grown-Ups book


Many thanks for all the entries so far.

Lots of expected musicians are showing, including John Lennon, Brahms, and Herbie Hancock.

As well as some unexpected names – eg Elvis Costello, Schoenberg and Can.

Keep ‘em coming…

Please email your ranked list (1 to 5) to info@musicforgrown-ups.com before the end of January and I’ll compile a readers’ ranking. Please use TOP 5 as your subject header.


Gerry Smith

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Win a free copy of new book, Music For Grown-Ups

Music For Grown-Ups, my new book, profiles 171 musicians from all genres. If I had to choose a Top 5, there would be some obvious contenders to consider, including: Dylan, Miles Davis, Bach, Mozart, Ella Fitzgerald, Hank Williams, Handel, Coltrane, the Rolling Stones and The Smiths/Morrissey.

But who are YOUR Top 5 Musicians For Grown-Ups - the five you prefer to listen to before all others?

Please email your ranked list (1 to 5) to info@musicforgrown-ups.com before the end of January and I’ll compile a readers’ ranking. Please use TOP 5 as your subject header.

All responding readers will be entered in a free draw and the winner will be selected by lucky dip.

Thanks in advance. And good luck!




Gerry Smith

Folk America: a must-watch/record series

Folk America, the central trio of one-hour documentaries in BBC 4’s timely new series of the same name, are must-watch/record programmes.

If they’re as good as BBC 4’s similar earlier series – Folk… Jazz… (etc)… Britannia they could well be the best documentaries of 2009.

The series starts tonight at 9pm: Folk America - new series exploring the revival of American folk music (Part 1), and is repeated late tonight and on Sunday. Part 2 - Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie et al – airs next Friday at 9pm, with repeats.

As for the rest of the programmes in the series – er, no thanks, not really my cup of tea.

Online access: Some BBC TV programmes are accessible online via iPlayer for a short period after transmission:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer



Gerry Smith


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Folk America on UK TV

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

A feast of viewing is on the horizon for Dylan Daily readers and Grown-Ups everywhere, as follows:

* Friday 23 January 2009 BBC4
8.00 Seasick Steve: Bringing it all back home (documentary about the blues singer)
8.30 Seasick Steve at Reading 2008 (live performance)
9.00 Folk America - new series exploring the revival of American folk music (Part 1)
10.00 Folk America at the Barbican - Hollerers, Stompers and Old Time Ramblers - concert
11.00 Desperate Man blues - profile of Joe Bussard

* Tuesday 27 January 2009 BBC4
11.15 Richie Havens in concert
11.55 Tom Paxton In concert
12.25 Judy Collins in concert
1.00 Joan Baez in concert
1.40 Crosby and Nash in concert

* Wednesday 28 January 2009 BBC4
8.30 - Tonight in Person - Peter Paul and Mary

* Friday 30 January 2009 BBC4
8.00 BBC4 session - Bruce Springsteen at the LSO, his tribute
to Pete Seeger
9.00 Folk America (part 2 - Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie et al)
10.00 Later...folk America (Norah Jones, Johnny Cash,
Emmylou Harris etc)
11.00 Arena Rock Docs - Woody Guthrie


Online access: Some BBC TV programmes are also accessible online via iPlayer for a short period after transmission:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Win new Music For Grown-Ups book

Many thanks for all the entries so far.

Lots of expected musicians are showing, including John Lennon, Brahms, and Herbie Hancock.

As well as some unexpected names – eg Elvis Costello, Schoenberg and Can.

Keep ‘em coming…



xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Win a free copy of new book, Music For Grown-Ups

Music For Grown-Ups, my new book, profiles 171 musicians from all genres. If I had to choose a Top 5, there would be some obvious contenders to consider, including: Dylan, Miles Davis, Bach, Mozart, Ella Fitzgerald, Hank Williams, Handel, Coltrane, the Rolling Stones and The Smiths/Morrissey.

But who are YOUR Top 5 Musicians For Grown-Ups - the five you prefer to listen to before all others?

Please email your ranked list (1 to 5) to info@musicforgrown-ups.com before the end of January and I’ll compile a readers’ ranking. Please use TOP 5 as your subject header.

All responding readers will be entered in a free draw and the winner will be selected by lucky dip.

Thanks in advance. And good luck!




Gerry Smith

Win a free copy of new book, Music For Grown-Ups

Music For Grown-Ups, my new book, profiles 171 musicians from all genres. If I had to choose a Top 5, there would be some obvious contenders to consider, including: Dylan, Miles Davis, Bach, Mozart, Ella Fitzgerald, Hank Williams, Handel, Coltrane, the Rolling Stones and The Smiths/Morrissey.

But who are YOUR Top 5 Musicians For Grown-Ups - the five you prefer to listen to before all others?

Please email your ranked list (1 to 5) to info@musicforgrown-ups.com before the end of January and I’ll compile a readers’ ranking. Please use TOP 5 as your subject header.

All responding readers will be entered in a free draw and the winner will be selected by lucky dip.

Thanks in advance. And good luck!




Gerry Smith

Key artists in your new book, Music For Grown-Ups?

Thanks to Clem Anderson:

“I’m intrigued by your new book, Music For Grown-Ups, and have ordered a copy from your site. Can we assume from the Home Page illustrations that Miles Davis, Dylan and Callas are the key artists?"

Not quite – but you only need to substitute JS Bach for Callas and then you do have my Holy Trinity! For full details, please click on the book cover at the top left of the Home Page of the master website:

www.musicforgrown-ups.com




Gerry Smith

Top gigs of 2008

Thanks to Glen Colegate:

I only went to about 20 last year but the top 10 – if you’re interested – were:

Mark Oliver Everett – St James’ Church, Piccadilly, London – Jan. Twas the day his wonderful book came out and was a one-off acoustic show sans eels

Robert Plant/Alison Krauss – Wembley Arena – Tbone, buddy miller in the band...and front row tickets – perfect

Bob Dylan – Lorca, Spain – hot night, 3or 4 thousand people in a tiny bullring in a Spanish hill top town and Bob well up for it!

Fleet Foxes – University of London Union (ULU)- couple of weeks before the album came out and the buzz has already started – and they deliver big time

Jenny Lewis – Koko - it’s just like 1972 never happened – indie pin-up and crack band make loud noise - crikey!

Terry Reid – Borderline – didn’t wanna go after god-awful Ronnie Scott’s show a couple of years ago but with a yank stoner band, no booze inside him, a bit of inspiration and kicking off with Ballad of Easy Rider, the voice shows he’s back in the game

Neil Young - Hammersmith Apollo – he saw, he came, he did Ambulance Blues – yep – he did Ambulance Blues

Leonard Cohen – Brighton Centre – arena that only holds four and half thousand seated- much better than the o2 methinks!

Dylan, Haydn, Handel

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days

Hidden among its vast TV and radio output, the BBC broadcasts some magnificent music for grown-ups every week of the year. And it’s all free - well, sort of….

Wed 14 Jan
1200 & 2200 Handel, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3
(3/5, continues Thurs-Fri)

Thurs 15 Jan
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Sun 18 Jan
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC 6Music

Mon 19 Jan
1200 & 2200 Haydn, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3
(1/5, continues Tues-Fri)

Thurs 22 Jan
1400 Handel’s opera Agrippina Acts 1 & 2 – BBC Radio 3
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Friday 23 Jan
1400 Handel’s opera Agrippina Act 3 – BBC Radio 3
2100 Folk America – Birth Of A Nation (1/3) – BBC4

Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast live online - please see the channels’ web sites for details. Some BBC radio and TV programmes are also accessible online via iPlayer for a short period after transmission:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer


And Dylan, Haydn and Handel are profiled in my new book, Music For Grown-Ups, published on 15 Jan 2009.

For full details, please click on the book cover at the top left of the Home Page of the master website:

www.musicforgrown-ups.com




Gerry Smith

Handel: Composer Of The Year, recommended in Music For Grown-Ups, the new book

Handel is one of four Composers Of The Year selected by BBC Radio 3 for 2009.

The major celebration concerns the broadcasting of every one of his 42 operas, which started last week. And this week, Handel’s the subject of the consistently fine Radio 3 series, Composer Of The Week, broadcast at 1200 and 2200 each weekday and online at:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Handel’s also highly recommended in Music For Grown-Ups – the book I’ve been working on while writing this daily column for the past six years – and now available.

Music For Grown-Ups - the book – celebrates 171 musicians from all genres, summarizing their art, recommending their best CDs and explaining why you might wish to give them a try.

Like the website, the book’s coverage is “seriously eclectic”, covering genres from rock to jazz, opera to country, blues to folk and many, many more.

Copies bought directly from the Music For Grown-Ups master website are supplied with an exclusive bonus not available from any retailer.

For full details, please click on the book cover at the top left of the Home Page of the master website:

www.musicforgrown-ups.com




Gerry Smith

Music For Grown-Ups – the brand new book – now available

Music For Grown-Ups – the book I’ve been working on while writing this daily column for the past six years – is now available.

Music For Grown-Ups - the book – celebrates 171 musicians from all genres, summarizing their art, recommending their best CDs and explaining why you might wish to give them a try.

Like the website, the book’s coverage is “seriously eclectic”, covering genres from rock to jazz, opera to country, blues to folk and many, many more.

Copies bought directly from the Music For Grown-Ups master website are supplied with an exclusive bonus not available from any retailer.

For full details, please click on the book cover at the top left of the Home Page of the master website:

www.musicforgrown-ups.com




Gerry Smith

Handel, Dylan, Morrissey

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days

Hidden among its vast TV and radio output, the BBC broadcasts some magnificent music for grown-ups every week of the year. And it’s all free - well, sort of….

Wed 7 Jan
1200 & 2200 Purcell, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3
(3/5, continues Thurs-Fri)

Thurs 8 Jan
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Sat 10 Jan
2300 Roy Orbison, Legends – BBC4
2400 Roy Orbison And Friends: A Black & White Night – BBC4
(2350, Morrissey, new single video – C4)

Sun 11 Jan
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC 6Music

Mon 12 Jan
1200 & 2200 Handel, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3
(1/5, continues Tues-Fri)

Thurs 15 Jan
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 16 Jan
2000 Karajan: Beauty As We See It – BBC4

Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast live online - please see the channels’ web sites for details. Some BBC radio and TV programmes are also accessible online via iPlayer for a short period after transmission:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer


And nearly all of the musicians listed above are profiled in my new book, Music For Grown-Ups, published on 15 Jan 2009 – details at:

www.musicforgrown-ups.com




Gerry Smith

Prog Rock: music for grown-ups? Well, yes, sort of

BBC Four’s suite of programmes on Prog Rock confirmed the view that even Prog has some music for grown-ups.

The genre both attracts and repels this listener. On the positive side:

* Prog encompassed some gifted musicians, notably Robert Fripp, Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman.

* its leading lights were clever innovators; they were creatively courageous in ditching rock’s blues roots; some of their mixing of rock with classical and jazz fusion worked well.

But much Prog is off-putting, mainly because:

* where the music has lyrics, they’re rarely worth listening to.

* even the best musicians veer towards over-indulgence.

* apart from the major players, the bands are so samey that they undermine the genre’s claim to be innovative.

That said, I enjoyed (re)discovering albums like In The Court Of The Crimson King – King Crimson, and The Ultimate Collection - Emerson, Lake & Palmer. I wouldn’t listen to them frequently, but they are engaging, musically interesting and challenge my prejudices.

But I didn’t linger long over The Ultimate Yes or anything by Caravan or Genesis.




Gerry Smith

Prog Rock: music for grown-ups?

It’s a central commandment of this web site that every music genre contains at least some music for grown-ups.

Even Prog Rock? Genesis? ELP? King Crimson?

Well the commandment’s about to be tested to destruction by BBC Four TV’s series of Prog programmes to be broadcast tonight and over the weekend.

You can watch them online:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Let me know whether you agree that Prog – yes, even Prog - has at least some music for grown-ups!



Gerry Smith

Beck, Roberto Alagna, Pentangle: least loved gigs of 2008

Having raved about some great gigs I saw last year, it’s only fair to add that there were a handful which I didn’t enjoy – not one jot.

Notable among them were:

* Beck

* Roberto Alagna

* Pentangle

I’ll resist the temptation to go into detail – preferring to praise great music rather than whine about it when it doesn’t come off – but these three were among the least enjoyable live shows I’ve ever attended. In all three cases, I’m keen on the artists/legacy but was underwhelmed by the performances.



Gerry Smith

Astral Weeks – Live

Fans of Van Morrison will be looking forward to Astral Weeks – Live At The Hollywood Bowl, due for UK release on 9 February.

Regular readers might recall Aussie Andrew Robertson’s rave review of the two historic gigs played by Morrison on 7 and 8 November (check it out in the Music For Grown-Ups Archive).

And readers who’ve been around for a while might also recall that the original Astral Weeks album topped this site’s poll to find readers’ favourite classic rock album:


Favourite Classic Rock Album:

Astral Weeks 35%
Blonde on Blonde 21%
Revolver 15%
Tonight's the Night 14%
Exile on Main Street 13%





Gerry Smith

Purcell, Prog Rock, Michael Brecker

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days

Hidden among its vast TV and radio output, the BBC broadcasts some magnificent music for grown-ups every week of the year. Xmas/New Year is particularly good. And it’s all free - well, sort of….

Thurs 1 Jan
1400 Gounod’s Faust, with Alagna and Gheorghiu – BBC Radio 3
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 2 Jan
2100 Prog at the BBC - BBC Four
2200 Prog Rock Britannia - BBC Four

Sat 3 Jan
1600 Michael Brecker, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3
1800 Puccini’s La Boheme, Live from the Met – BBC Radio 3
2100 Prog Rock - BBC Four

Sun 4 Jan
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC 6Music

Mon 5 Jan
1200 & 2200 Purcell, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3 (1/5, continues Tues-Fri)

Tues 6 Jan
2315 Prog at the BBC - BBC Four

Thurs 8 Jan
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2


Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast live online - please see the channels’ web sites for details. Some BBC radio and TV programmes are also accessible online via iPlayer for a short period after transmission:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer





Gerry Smith

Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and John McLaughlin – top gigs for grown-ups in 2008

The year just ending was a vintage year for live music. From grand opera house to sweaty rock dive, and worthy municipal folk gig to massive arena poprock spectacular, I saw some great musicians for grown-ups performing in 2008.

The five gigs which will linger longest in my memory were:

1. Leonard Cohen – London O2
2. Conor Oberst - Portsmouth
3. John McLaughlin - Barbican
4. Bjork - Plymouth
5. Cecilia Bartoli - Barbican

And the two next best were:
6. Morrissey - Roundhouse
7. Hansel & Gretel – Royal Opera House

What were your top 5 gigs? Please share your list with other readers – please email me at info@musicforgrown-ups.com


Gerry Smith

Gigs in 2008: probably my best year ever of live music

The year just ending was probably my best ever for live music. From grand metropolitan opera house to sweaty rock dive, and worthy municipal folk gig to massive arena poprock spectacular, I’ve seen some great musicians performing in 2008.

It really couldn’t get much better.

Here’s the calendar – be sure call back on Monday for the ranking of the Music For Grown-Ups Top 10 Gigs in 2008:


Jan 23: Morrissey Roundhouse
31: Roschmann - Lieder Musikverein, Vienna

March 8: Salome Royal Opera House (ROH)

April 22: Bjork Plymouth

May 2: Roberto Alagna Barbican
31: John McLaughlin Barbican

June 14: Don Carlo ROH
21: Ariadne ROH
29: Pentangle Royal Festival Hall

July 2: Beck Southampton
17: Leonard Cohen O2
19: Figaro ROH

Aug 26 Conor Oberst Portsmouth

Sept 12: Don Giovanni ROH

Oct 10: Calisto ROH

Nov 8: Elektra ROH
15: Jim Moray Lichfield

Dec 12: Hansel & Gretel ROH
13: Joyce DiDonato Barbican
17: Cecilia Bartoli Barbican





Gerry Smith

Seasonal greetings!

Seasonal greetings to you and yours, dear reader.

Whether you’re celebrating the birth of Christ, the winter solstice, or just a well-earned break from everyday toil, it’s time to slow down, be kind to yourself and reflect.

No blog here tomorrow, 25 Dec, but the site will be back to normal on Friday, 26 December. I hope you’ll be calling in!



Gerry Smith

Handel, Keith Richards, Prog Rock

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days

Hidden among its vast TV and radio output, the BBC broadcasts some magnificent music for grown-ups every week of the year. Xmas/New Year is particularly good. And it’s all free - well, sort of….


Wed 24 Dec
1200 & 2200 Puccini, Composer Of The Week (3/5, continues Thurs-Fri) – BBC Radio 3
1830 Carols from King’s – BBC2
1900 Bach at Christmas (3/3) – BBC Radio 3
2200 Bach, Christmas Oratorio from Weimar (4/6, concludes Thurs) – BBC Four

Thurs 25 Dec
1400 Festival Of Nine Lessons & Carols, from King’s – BBC Radio 3
1500 Hansel und Gretel, from Covent Garden – BBC2
1950 Handel’s Messiah, LSO/Davis, from The Barbican – BBC Four
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 26 Dec
1400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC 6Music
2200 Quincy Jones: The Many Lives Of Q – BBC Four

Sat 27 Dec
2200 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Mon 29 Dec
1200 Berlioz, Composer Of The Week (1/5, continues Tues-Fri) – BBC Radio 3
2400 Keith Richards, My Top Ten (1/2) - BBC 6Music

Tues 30 Dec
2400 Keith Richards, My Top Ten (2/2) - BBC 6Music

Thurs 1 Jan
1400 Gounod’s Faust, with Alagna and Gheorghiu – BBC Radio 3
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 2 Jan
2100 Prog at the BBC - BBC Four
2200 Prog Rock Britannia - BBC Four


Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast live online - please see the channels’ web sites for details. Some BBC radio and TV programmes are also accessible online via iPlayer for a short period after transmission:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer


And on the commercial networks:

Thurs 25 Dec
1810 The Three Tenors – More4

Sun 28 Dec
2400 White Stripes Live In Blackpool – 4Music




Gerry Smith

Roy Orbison profile – good music, weak analysis

Watch out for repeats of the recent one-hour profile of Roy Orbison in BBC Four’s Legends series.

It has lots of inspiring career-spanning footage of the Big O crooning and soaring - from his early Sun days to the Traveling Wilbury sessions in the late 1980s. And clips from several revealing interviews with the man himself.

But the programme suffers from rather too many talking heads: Elvis Costello and Bill Wyman make intelligent contributions; the rest I could do without.

The danger with treating pop music in a grown-up, BBC4-type way is that few interviewees have anything to say that’s worth hearing. Like many of the pop subjects in the admirable Legends series, the Orbison programme suffers from a surfeit of show biz gush and weak analysis.

In show biz, entertainment and pop music, grown-ups are generally in short supply.


Gerry Smith

Bob Dylan's new album, Tell Tale Signs: the verdict

Thanks to Martin Cowan:


I thought now the dust had settled it would be a good time to take a look in detail at the latest volume of Dylan's Bootleg Series.

Having had the opportunity to live with this CD set for the last few months, it seems to me that Sony have wanted their cake and to eat it too. I believe that pickings are too thin to spread across three discs and while there are some gems on Disc 3, it is disgraceful that Sony saw fit to charge such an inflated sum for the 3 disc version.

My view is that there is a cracking 2 disc set here and one can only speculate on what further gems still remain in the archives. If anything, what this set suffers from is uncertainty about what it is.

Is it a collection of unreleased songs? Is it a set of "never ending tour" live versions? Is it a set of "never released before on a Dylan album" songs? Well, some of all these, and that could be the problem.

Funny also that the cover photo recycles an image previously in the deluxe version of Modern Times!


CD1

1) Mississippi #1
The pick of the versions of this song. The lyrics are in place (as heard on the later Love and Theft) but the simplicity of the twin guitar arrangement suits the song perfectly. An intimate vocal which shows how poorly served Dylan was by Lanois' production of his voice on Oh Mercy and Time Out Of Mind. Superb.

2) Most of the Time # 1
Possibly the most radical thing here, Dylan sounds fresh out of the 70s, with heartbreaking harmonica to match. Again, the intimate vocal is superb and it is remarkable to hear this song in an acoustic setting.

3) Dignity
Again, the best version of this admittedly slight, Dylan-by-numbers song. This version gains immensely from the intimate vocal (he sounds like he's in the room with you!) and the solo piano accompaniment.

4) Someday Baby
Hypnotic, with Dylan's older than God vocals. The melody line is flattened to the point of being one note throughout, but as this has a more up to date backing, it hides its origins as Muddy Waters' Trouble No More - the Modern Times version was too much of a straight lift for my liking.

5) Red River Shore # 1
One of the gems of this collection, this is classic Dylan. Again, the vocal is intimate and demonstrates that rumours of the demise of his voice are greatly exaggerated. The arrangement of the songs builds as it progresses and it is hard to find any fault with this at all. It reminds me of Angelina, and again you have to wonder how this didn't find its way onto Time Out Of Mind.

6) Tell Ol Bill
Marvellously out of kilter piano, and a fine, understated vocal. Again, this is an improvement on the previously released version of this song. Lyrically, this is one of the more interesting songs on this collection as it eschews Dylan's recent habit of recycling old blues lyrics.

7) Born In Time
Here is the Under The Red Sky gem dressed up in its Lanois shimmer. Not as good as the previously released version as it has none of that performance's light and shade.

8) Can't Wait
Another of this set's gems, we hear Dylan suggesting they "do it in B flat" before a Dirge-like piano signals the opening of the song. Again, a superb vocal performance from Dylan, naked without Lanois' studio trickery, and a song that makes more sense lyrically than the released version.

9) Everything is Broken
There's not much to recommend the inclusion of this - a slight song in Dylan's canon in any case. The lyrics are not as polished as the Oh Mercy version and much of the backing track sounds the same as the previously released version. Very much a work in progress.

10) Dreamin of You
This kicks off with a snap of snare and a hypnotic piano figure, before Dylan's upfront vocal launches into what clearly sounds like a dry run for the (inferior) Standing In The Doorway which saw the light of day on Time Out Of Mind. This version is head and shoulders above that - Dylan in total control vocally, some fantastic lyrics, and a great production. Superb.

11) Huck's Tune
This sounds like an old folk song - a beautiful melody, a sensitive arrangement, and Dylan's superbly cracked vocals. One of the gems of this set, this song packs a huge emotional punch in the way the wistful lyrics, the folky tune and Dylan's heartfelt vocals all come together.

12) Marchin to the City
Another highlight, this is an early version of Til I Fell In Love With You but is greatly superior to the TOOM version. Shorn of Lanois' production, the vocal is vintage Dylan - up close and in your face - and kicks off like a song from Saved. The lyrics are mysterious and magical and vastly superior to the rather ordinary cliche-ridden Til I Fell In Love With You. Another of Dylan's "why on earth didn't he release this?" moments.

13) High Water
A smoking live version of this “Love And Theft” tune. It takes Dylan a few lines to get going, but once he is warmed up he attacks the lyrics with gusto. A showcase for his live band, 2003 vintage, Dylan leans into the vocals and whoops and hollers in the finest way possible.


CD2

1) Mississippi # 2
Again, lyrically intact, but the arrangement is all over the place here. Dylan seems to be singing in a key which doesn't suit his voice - way too low - this version of what is probably Dylan's last great masterpiece makes you realise why he didn't release it on Time Out Of Mind.

2) 32-20 Blues
A great outtake from World Gone Wrong. Nice to have this at last.

3) Series of Dreams
This is where the pickings start to get slightly slim. This is in every way inferior to the previous Bootleg Series version. In fact, the vocal take sounds to me exactly the same as the Bootleg version (I don't believe Dylan would be able to sing a song the same way twice even if he wanted to.) The only thing this includes is a second verse which was obviously excised from the previously released version.

4) God Knows
As with Born In Time, this is Lanois' version of what became a vastly superior song in the hands of the Was brothers on the criminally underrated Under The Red Sky LP. Forgettable.

5) Can't Escape From You
This kicks off like Can't Help Falling In Love - Dylan growls and croaks in his best Tom Waits fashion, and the lilting melody recalls the folky nature of Huck's Tune. My only reservation about this is that is that he does sound in trouble vocally and there is perhaps one too many verses. But overall, an interesting selection.

6) Dignity
Dreadful rockabilly version of this Dylan-by-numbers song. Horrible rubbery sounding bass, with Dylan sounding like he couldn't care less - a clunker.

7) Ring Them Bells
Dylan's 1992 Supper Club shows have gone down in folklore, especially as the shows were billed as Dylan unplugged (before he recorded his contribution to that franchise) and were allegedly filmed. It was widely hoped that an audio/visual release for these shows would make up a future Bootleg Series release. The fact that this heartfelt version of this song appears here would seem to suggest that this is all we are going to get. Dylan is vocally committed and this performance highlights Bucky Baxter's sympathetic steel guitar. Lovely.

8) Cocaine Blues
A similar version to this has been previously released on the Love Sick CD singles, and this version adds nothing.

9) Ain't Talkin’
Very similar in pace to the Modern Times version, though this has a rockier edge - in fact, the backing track sounds very similar to What Was It You Wanted. Not sure that this adds much to the previously released version.

10) The Girl On the Green Briar Shore
A nice live version. Remember when Dylan would play acoustic guitar on his own? This is a reminder of those days.

11) Lonesome Day Blues
This sounds like a field recording - somewhat tinny - and collectors have already got this version as it used to be available as part of the now sadly defunct performances section of the official Dylan website. That said this is a smoking version of the “Love And Theft” song, with Dylan attacking the vocals and the soaring guitars kicking up a right old racket behind him.

12) Miss the Mississippi
More sessions that have gone down in folklore, those recorded by Dylan with Dave Bromberg in 1992 - before he released Good As I Been To You. This has been available to collectors for some years but is a very good song - nice production and superb singing from Dylan. Not sure where this leaves us for the rest of the Bromberg sessions ever being officially released.

13) The Lonesome River
A nice recording, with Dylan on fine form vocally. However, this has been previously released on a Ralph Stanley album.

14) Cross The Green Mountain
Another late-period Dylan gem. Stirring lyrics, sympathetic arrangement, and a superb vocal performance from Dylan. This song exudes the American Civil War from its every pore - emotional, a cinematic tour de force. Superb.


CD3

1) Duncan and Brady
A stonking cover from the Bromberg sessions - has much of the gut-bucket flavour of Under The Red Sky. Loose as a goose vocal from Dylan, great smears of guitar, great fun, fantastic. A superb way to kick off the most expensive disc Dylan has ever released!

2) Cold Irons Bound
A great live version of this Time Out Of Mind classic - Dylan is fully focussed as he attacks the vocals, and the backing from his band swirls and soars like a great rattling stagecoach - fantastic.

3) Mississippi # 3
A dreadful reggae lilt adorns this, the weakest version of this song collected here. Lyrically all over the place, Dylan has yet to focus his late great narrative. One for completists only.

4) Most of the Time # 2
Rather like the version of Series of Dreams over on CD 2, this sounds to me like exactly the same vocal as the released Oh Mercy version. The phrasing and intonation is identical - the only difference is a couple of lyric changes, which were obviously "dropped in" prior to the release of Oh Mercy. In fact, listening again to this, it sounds like the new words are actually "dropped in" to this version. Superfluous.

5) Ring Them Bells # 2
A longer intro, less cluttered, naked vocal from Dylan - this kicks off starting like a superb alternate take. However, we've been had. While the first verse is clearly a different version, the rest of the song is the same vocal track as the officially released Oh Mercy version. Shame.

6) Things Have Changed
I've never been as much of a fan of this song as Dylan obviously is and this version is a case in point. The backing from the band is great, but the vocal is lacklustre - not a great performance, Dylan sounds on autopilot here.

7) Red River Shore # 2
Another version of this masterpiece, more muted than that which appears earlier on CD1. Dylan sounds like he's maybe sung it one time too many, and the arrangement is not as sympathetic as the earlier version.

8) Born In Time
Another Lanois stab at this tune, long available to collectors and inferior in every way to the superb Under The Red Sky version.

9) Trying To Get To Heaven
This is one to get my pulse racing as Dylan does that which he is often accused of - completely reworks a song's melody so it becomes another song. This is Dylan as Sinatra, a lounge version of the Time Out Of Mind masterpiece. Committed vocal, superbly realised alternate tune, he's done to this what he did to I Want You and Tangled Up In Blue during the 1978 tour - magical and heartbreaking.

10) Marchin’ to the City # 2
Kicks off with some Rainy Day Women drums, and bounces along to an organ-driven back beat; not as good as the version that graces CD 1 but intriguing none the less.

11) Can't Wait # 2
Spooky organ intro, spooky Dylan vocal. Mesmerising, this meanders along in mysterious and moving ways. Dylan as supreme blues singer, just great.

12) Mary and the Soldier
Another fantastic and touching performance from the sessions that spawned the superb World Gone Wrong album. Flawless.

Cecilia Bartoli: three world-ranking mezzos #3

Wednesday night’s Cecilia Bartoli gig at London’s Barbican was breathtaking. I knew what to expect from several earlier Bartoli gigs - she gives spectacularly good show. Last night underlined her credentials as the most grown-up of grown-up musicians.

Performing for two hours with only piano accompaniment a repertoire rarely heard – Rossini and other bel canto chansons from mid-19thC Paris salons – she demonstrated her trademark technical mastery and emotional depth time and time again.

Whether in playful coloratura trills or in sombre, doleful ballads she showed why many (f’rinstance me, babe) regard her as the world’s pre-eminent singer, in any genre of music. If I were told I could only ever attend one more gig and asked to choose one musician, it would be Ms Bartoli.

Extraordinarily expressive singer… peerlessly intelligent musician… and a great creative artist - following her own agenda.

It doesn’t get any better than this – you could have guessed that from the full house, the standing ovation and the three encores.



Gerry Smith

Joyce DiDonato: three world-ranking mezzos #2

Of the three world-ranking mezzo-sopranos performing in London this week, the Kansan Joyce DiDonato is the least established.

She’s a fast-rising star, though – I’ve previously enjoyed her 2006 performances in Barber Of Seville, the lovely Rossini opera, at Covent Garden, in a semi-staged Handel opera at the Barbican, and a Wigmore Hall recital.

Saturday’s Barbican gig, backed by chamber orchestra Les Talens Lyriques, was part of a European tour promoting the singer’s new disc, Furore: Handel’s Scenes Of Madness.

The lovely setlist and striking performances cemented DiDonato’s growing reputation. She has a rich, creamy tone, an expressive, intelligent reading of the texts and enviable voice control – her dynamics and legato are always a thrill. She delivered a very enjoyable gig: must buy the album.

But the empty seats in the hall told you that DiDonato isn’t quite yet first division – Bartoli, Gheorghiu, Fleming, for example, are substantially more popular – but I wouldn’t bet against her morphing into a top drawer diva in the next few years.

Another odd Barbican audience! As for Roberto Alagna earlier this year, a mix of the cognoscenti you also encounter at Covent Garden or Vienna’s Musikverein, alongside an overabundance of Classic-Lite seniors who get way too excited (usually over the wrong things).



Gerry Smith

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EARLIER RELATED ARTICLE:

Barber of Seville - another Rossini triumph for Covent Garden

Contrary to some tepid reviews, the new Royal Opera House production of The Barber of Seville, Rossini’s mature comedy, is a delight. While the Financial Times critic thought the staging “tedious, gaudy, boxy, contrived”, I found the production to be thoroughly engaging. And very funny.

Joyce DiDonato’s Rosina was well-nigh perfect. Her rich voice and expressive acting come from the top drawer: DiDonato’s a talent to follow carefully. Ditto George Petean, in the title role.

And, just as they triumphed with last season’s Rossini at Covent Garden, Il Turco, directors Leiser and Caurier presented a colourfully witty feast for the eyes.

Bach, Lou Reed, Count Basie

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days

Hidden among its vast TV and radio output, the BBC broadcasts some magnificent music for grown-ups every week of the year. Xmas week 2008 is spectacularly good. And it’s all free - well, sort of….

Thurs 18 Dec
2100 Louis Armstrong, Omnibus – BBC Four
2210 Louis Armstrong, Show Of The Week – BBC Four
2300 Louis Armstrong, Good Evening Ev’rybody – BBC Four
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 19 Dec
2130 & 0220 The Swing Thing – BBC Four

Sat 20 Dec
1215 Puccini Season, Music Matters – BBC Radio 3
1600 Count Basie, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3


1700 Massenet’s Thais, from the Met, with Renee Fleming – BBC Radio 3
1900 Louis Prima, Legends – BBC Four
2100 Count Basie & His Orchestra – BBC Four
2200 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2
2330 Artie Shaw, Quest For Perfection – BBC Four

Sun 21 Dec
1900 Bach, Christmas Oratorio from Weimar – BBC Four
2230 Oscar Peterson In Concert – BBC Four
2300 Billie Holiday, Reputations – BBC Four
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC 6Music

Mon 22 Dec
1200 & 2200 Puccini, Composer Of The Week
(1/5, continues Tues-Fri) – BBC Radio 3
1900 Bach at Christmas (1/3, continues Tues-Wed) – BBC Radio 3
2200 Bach, Christmas Oratorio from Weimar – BBC Four

Wed 24 Dec
1830 Carols from King’s – BBC2

Thurs 25 Dec
1400 Festival Of Nine Lessons & Carols, from King’s – BBC Radio 3
1500 Hansel und Gretel, from Covent Garden – BBC2
1950 Handel’s Messiah, LSO/Davis, from The Barbican – BBC Four
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 26 Dec
1400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC 6Music
2200 Quincy Jones: The Many Lives Of Q – BBC Four



Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast live online - please see the channels’ web sites for details. Some BBC radio and TV programmes are also accessible online via iPlayer for a short period after transmission:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer



And on the commercial networks:

Tues 23 Dec
0125 Spectacle: Elvis Costello with Lou Reed – C4




Gerry Smith

Angelika Kirschlager: three world-ranking mezzos #1

With a rare chance to compare three world-ranking mezzos in London in the space of five days, I saw the first, Angelika Kirschlager, in Hansel und Gretel at Covent Garden last Friday.

She – and the opera - were magnificent. In her usual “trouser role”, this time playing a youthful country boy, Kirschlager impressed all night long. Her singing was supple yet powerful, her comic and dramatic acting delightful.

Ms Kirschlager wasn’t the only reason for my visit, though - locally revered baritone Thomas Allen was predictably luminous as the confused Father and Diana Damrau is a compelling soprano whose acting eventually matched Kirschlager’s. The house band under Colin Davis was consistently reliable, occasionally moving.

My pre-show doubts about a fairy tale subject written by a one-hit wonder (Humperdinck) were entirely misplaced. This is an engaging version, directed by the Leiser/Caurier duo who’ve been responsible for some outstanding Covent Garden shows in recent years.

You can catch it on BBC Radio 3 tomorrow, Tuesday 16 December, at 1930.



Gerry Smith

Big screens at Bob Dylan’s London O2 show next April: “slim chance”

Thanks to Matthew Zuckerman:


"But if the big screens aren¹t used the Dylan show could be embarrassingly poor."


The chances of Dylan allowing screens to be used at the London O2 gig are slim. How slim? Well, he has insisted that the screens be turned off at just about every festival he has played over the years, so it would be a big turnaround. (Mind you, he did allow cameras at Woodstock 2, and how many of us would have bet their mortgages -- even in the present economic climate -- against the possibility of Bob writing his memoirs, hosting a radio show or advertising ladies underwear . . . right up until the moment when he did it?)

This may be annoying for those in distant seats, particularly if Bob stays behind his keyboard all evening, as he has done most of the time in recent years, but that's the way he works.

That's what he's doing on stage, working, and like every successful worker, he takes the opportunity to arrange his working conditions the way he likes them. And the way he likes them is to have everything conducive to his being able to put maximum concentration into his performance.

This means:

1) No cameras flashing in his eyes [There are countless mobile phones
pointed at him, to be sure, but they don't flash -- at least, not with the strength of a professional photographer's camera -- and they are far enough away to be ignored]

2) No cameramen dressed in black creeping around his stage on the periphery of his vision, cameras Quasimodo-like on their shoulders [I hear that he likes as few people as possible around the stage, and even insisted that the likes of Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard cleared the backstage area when he was touring with them a few years ago]

3) No distracting chatter with the audience [Just one 'thank you' and the names of the band members, plus a smattering of words every dozen or so concerts if there's something he really wants to say -- eg on election night]

4) No eye contact with the audience [This is, I would guess, one of the reasons he likes to stay behind the keyboard, on the side of the stage and angled away from the audience. A few times a concert he might come to centre stage or look out at us, but he can choose the times and curtail them whenever he wants]

Now if you are stuck at the back of Earl's Court, the NEC or the O2 arena, the gig will be a whole lot less affecting than if you were lucky enough to get a seat up front, but that's the way the man works.

Would it be better if he played smaller venues and left the arenas to the Rolling Stones, U2 and -- since he is at ease with the cameras and with reaching out to large crowds -- Leonard Cohen? As long as you can get a ticket it would be, but if Dylan stopped playing arenas, ticket demand would be fierce and many would be left with nothing at all. (He can hardly double the number of shows to compensate!)

I have seen Dylan at Portsmouth Guildhall and the Urawa Bunka Centre just outside Tokyo, both small halls, as well as his residency at the Brixton Academy, and the performances have been wonderful. But no more wonderful than his 2005 performance at the cavernous NEC in Birmingham, possibly the finest of the 50 or so shows I have witnessed.

P.S. I know I am a bit of a Luddite (I prefer vinyl to digital and shellac to vinyl, for example), but when I saw the Rolling Stones at Tokyo Stadium in 1994 I had an excellent seat about 10 rows from the front, and yet still found myself drawn to watch the giant close-ups of the screens. The result? It might have been a great cinematic show, but it was not the kind of 'live' performance that I would expect from a Dylan concert. In order to achieve a standardized attractive appearance, supermarket produce often sacrifices the true flavour of the fruit and we are frequently in danger of doing the same with music. If you're looking at a screen, something in your mind tells you that this is cinema or a TV programme, and you become less present in the moment. Enjoy being in the same room as Bob, even if you are at the back of the room.

Kirschlager, DiDonato and Bartoli: three world-ranking mezzos play London

In the space of the next five days, I’m due to see Angelika Kirschlager, Joyce DiDonato and Cecilia Bartoli, three world-ranking mezzo-sopranos, singing at three different London gigs:

· Kirschlager in Hansel und Gretel at Covent Garden tomorrow,

· DiDonato singing Handel repertoire at the Barbican on Saturday,

· and Bartoli in a Rossini recital, also at the Barbican, next Wednesday.

Music for Grown-Ups Heaven!

Having seen all three before, several times each, my expectations are astronomically high: three of the greatest female voices on the planet - on show in one city at virtually the same time. It’ll be instructive, if invidious, to compare and contrast. Watch Music For Grown-Ups for reviews.




Gerry Smith

Louis Armstrong, The Police, Angelika Kirschlager

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days

Hidden among its vast TV and radio output, the BBC broadcasts some magnificent music for grown-ups. Every week of the year. And it’s all free - well, sort of… .

Wed 10 Dec
1200 & 2200 Robert Schumann, Composer Of The Week
(3/5, continues Thurs-Fri) – BBC Radio 3

Thurs 11 Dec
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 12 Dec
2100 Roy Orbison, Legends – BBC Four
2200 Roy Sings Orbison – BBC Four

Sun 14 Dec
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC 6 Music

Tues 16 Dec
1930 Hansel und Gretel, featuring Angelika Kirschlager,
live from Covent Garden – BBC Radio 3

Thurs 18 Dec
2100 Louis Armstrong, Omnibus – BBC Four
2210 Louis Armstrong, Show Of The Week – BBC Four
2300 Louis Armstrong, Good Evening Ev’rybody – BBC Four
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 19 Dec
2130 & 0220 The Swing Thing – BBC Four



Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast live online - please see the channels’ web sites for details. Some BBC radio and TV programmes are also accessible online via iPlayer for a short period after transmission:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer


And on the commercial networks:

Mon 15 Dec
2405 Spectacle: Elvis Costello with The Police - C4




Gerry Smith

“New” Neil Young live album – and then there were ten

I’ll be buying Sugar Mountain, the new Neil Young live album, later this week. But I’ll be buying it – the tenth live album by Young - only through force of habit, the need to keep the Shakey collection complete.

Hell, I already have nine live albums, and I only ever listen to the top three - Live Rust, Weld and Unplugged. Young’s a great live performer, but do I really need ten gigs?

I’ve been swayed because Sugar Mountain was recorded very early – Nov 1968, just before the release of the disappointing eponymous first album – and it could repay careful scrutiny.

The other Young live albums are:

Live At the Fillmore East (1971>2006)
Live At Massey Hall (1971>2007)
Time Fades Away (1973)
Live Rust (1979)
Weld (1991)
Arc (1991)
Unplugged (1993)
Year of the Horse (1997)
Road Rock vol 1 (2001)




Gerry Smith

Music for grown-ups on the mag racks: two new Miles, one new Dylan cover

Key musicians for grown-ups Miles Davis and Bob Dylan feature prominently on the magazine racks this month.

Promoting the sooopah-dooopah new Kind Of Blue box, my two favourite jazz mags both have Miles cover features. Jazzwise (Dec/Jan) uses one of the iconic Sony photos for its eight-page feature.

Jazz Magazine (Paris) uses a less familiar shot of Miles on the evocative cover of its Dec issue to trail a multi-part feature.

They nicely complement the striking portrait used by Jazziz for its September issue.

www.jazzwise.com

www.jazzmagazine.com

www.jazziz.com

The new issue (1066, 27 Nov) of the redesigned Rolling Stone has a mid-‘60s Dylan photo on its cover (he’s one of four different collectors’ covers) announcing its Special Issue – The 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time.

Dylan manages seventh place in the top 100, which was compiled by polling a couple of hundred celebs/music bizzers. I didn’t bother reading any of the short articles on the “great singers” (Dylan’s praises are sung by Bono), but the issue is a lovely addition to the collection of Dylan cover issues.

Surprisingly, there’s no place in the top 100 for tenors like Pavarotti, sopranos like Callas or lounge greats like Sinatra and Ella. Rolling Stone must have run out of space to insert the qualifying adjectives “Baby Boomer-plus rockpop” between “Greatest” and “Singers Of All Time”. Without them, the title of the otherwise admirable 40-page feature is laughable.

www.rollingstone.com




Gerry Smith

Sting sings Dowland in Sydney: encore

Thanks to Jerry Crew:

“Enjoyed reading the review from Andrew Robertson. For those who would like to hear/see/learn more about this phase of Sting’s career, you can pick up the excellent CD/DVD combo pack titled “The Journey & The Labyrinth: The Music of John Dowland”.

“It contains excerpts from a performance by Sting and Edin Karamazov at St. Luke’s in London, which sounds to be similar to the Sydney performance.”

Herbie Hancock, Roy Orbison, Robert Schumann

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days

Hidden among its vast TV and radio output, the BBC broadcasts some magnificent music for grown-ups. Every week of the year. And it’s all free - well, sort of… .


Wed 3 Dec
1200 & 2200 Olivier Messiaen, Composer Of The Week
(3/5, continues Thurs-Fri) – BBC Radio 3

Thurs 4 Dec
2300 Salif Keita, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 5 Dec
2315 fRoots magazine’s Album of the Year, World On 3 – BBC Radio 3

Sun 7 Dec
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC 6 Music

Mon 8 Dec
1200 & 2200 Robert Schumann, Composer Of The Week
(1/5, continues Tues-Fri) – BBC Radio 3
2315 Herbie Hancock At The London Jazz Festival – BBC Radio 3

Thurs 11 Dec
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 12 Dec
2100 Roy Orbison, Legends – BBC Four
2200 Roy Sings Orbison – BBC Four


Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast live online - please see the channels’ web sites for details. Some BBC radio and TV programmes are also accessible online via iPlayer for a short period after transmission:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer




Gerry Smith

Sting sings Dowland in Sydney

Thanks to Andrew Robertson (in Adelaide)


Why, if a person who plays the flute is a flautist, is a person who plays the lute a lutenist?

On Sunday night, we saw Sting playing his “lute concert” at the Sydney Opera House, the day after the architect who had designed the Sydney Opera House, Joern Utzon, had died. Before the concert started the boss of the Opera House came out and spoke warmly about Utzon, although the history of Utzon and his Opera House was controversial. He hadn’t been appreciated and acknowledged appropriately at the time, and the project went way over budget. As a result, Utzon had never actually seen the finished building and I believe felt some bitterness about it right to the end. Maybe there are people who know more about this than me?

Sting then spoke about his excitement and pride of playing in such an iconic venue, particularly at this poignant time. He said he’d been coming to Australia for 30 years and had never thought he’d be playing at the Opera House.

And in a world where the word “iconic” has lost some of its currency through over-use, there is no doubt that the Sydney Opera House is an icon. Catching a ferry across the harbour framed by the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House is one of the world’s great travel experiences – no matter how often you do it, it can still take your breath away.

So to the concert, and what a thoroughly charming evening it was.

I was asked what were the other differences between the flute and the lute, apart from the names of those who play them, and I said the way they are played – one is played with the lips and the other with the fingers. I was informed, with a glint in her eye, that this is a big and important difference indeed! I wonder what she meant…

The concert opened with a trio comprising grand piano, cello and classical guitar playing original music (written by the pianist) which was warm and inviting, somehow contemporary in style but also with a sense of timelessness, as great classical music is. Was this great music? I am not sure, as I am probably not qualified to judge, but it was a great experience sitting there listening to it.

Then after a short interval where champagne was obligatory as we stepped outside the Opera House to look across the water at the Bridge in lights, out came Sting, accompanied initially only by Edin Karamazov, a man who I am sure is the finest lutenist in history. As the concert continued, in some songs they were accompanied by an 8 piece choir, 4 male and 4 female voices, with all of the right mixes of baritone, tenor and the rest – beautiful, although possibly slightly under-utilised as they seemed to be really only providing the harmonies when I’m sure they were capable of more. But when you have a voice like Sting’s, what more do you need?

Having heard Sting in his own jazz-inflected band back in the early ‘90s (around the time he was pursuing South America influences to create some really wonderful music) and also more recently in the Police reunion tour, I didn’t realize how good his voice really is. In the pop/rock/jazz idioms the vocal is often competing for space against all of the other instruments, and also against the sheer volume of the sounds, but against a musical backdrop of the lute, the whole lute and nothing but the lute, the voice was on full display. I am not musically literate enough to know how describe it, but I am sure it is a classical voice of rare quality.

He commented that after playing to audiences of 20-30,000 people that it was a bit intimidating to play to a small audience where he could actually see everyone’s face. The Opera House has a number of auditoriums, and this concert hall was quite small – at a guess, not more than 2,000 people, possibly less. We were close, and it was wonderfully intimate. If he was intimidated, it didn’t show – he was in command, it was very definitely his show, but in a way that expressed confidence rather than arrogance. It was also very honest – here he was doing something heartfelt, following his own musical journey and arguably risking much in terms of his reputation and audience.

The music was the songs of John Dowland from 16th century England – but songs which resonated today. Musically Sting had been quoted as saying that these songs had a direct lineage through to the Beatles, and in the encore when he played In My Life it was as if to demonstrate that. The encore also included Fields of Gold and Message In A Bottle, both of which worked beautifully in this context.

Prior to the concert I had wondered what other accompaniment he would have, other than the lutenist Karamazov. I was surprised that there was none other – but it didn’t need any more, the lute was such a rich accompaniment on its own. Particularly played the way Edin Karamazov played it. Sting also played the lute, in about half the songs, possibly more – he was good, but kind of like the rhythm lutenist to Karamazov’s lead.

Sting was very generous in his appreciation of Karamazov, and also the backing choir. Again, he came across as very human and very likeable.

In a world in which I think experiences are more valuable than things, this was a priceless experience.

Dylan in London, 1962/63

If you missed Bob’s Big Freeze, Tuesday’s one-hour Radio 2 documentary on Dylan in London in 1962/63, you can still catch it online - until next Tuesday, 2 Dec (2230 GMT).

It’s a richly detailed account of Dylan’s first trip outside North America. Martin Carthy claims the trip was vital in Dylan’s development as a writer, exposing him to sources which inspired some of the big early anthems like Spanish Boots, Girl From The North Country and Bob Dylan’s Dream. The first masterpiece LP, Freewheelin’, followed in mid-1963.

Strengths? Apart from the evocative music clips, it’s a well-researched feature - as you’d expect from a co-production by long-time Dylan scribe Patrick Humphries. The number and variety of eye witness accounts is impressive.

And don’t be put off by the extraneous noises in the first few minutes of the playback – Nigel Ogden on the organ, and a trail for another Radio 2 show.

Bob’s Big Freeze: recommended.


www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer



Gerry Smith

Maria Callas: favourite female opera singer

Maria Callas receives the same level of media attention as Bob Dylan or Miles Davis. It’s easy to see why; she’s Music for Grown-Ups readers’ clear favourite female opera singer, as our poll a couple of years ago established.


Favourite female opera singer: results

Maria Callas 46.8%
Cecilia Bartoli 28.1%
Anna Netrebko 9.3%
Magdalena Kozena 9.3%
Renee Fleming 6.2%
Angela Gheorghiu 0%


Gerry Smith

Roy Orbison: readers’ favourite ‘50s rocker

Gearing up for the start of In Dreams: Roy Orbison, the four part series starting on BBC Radio 2 next Monday (1 Dec) at 2330, I dug out the poll conducted here a few years ago which showed Orbison to be even more popular among readers than Elvis!

Favourite ‘50s rockers:

Roy Orbison 26%
Elvis Presley 24.6%
Chuck Berry 21.9%
Buddy Holly 17.8%
Everly Brothers 9.5%
Little Richard 0%

Much as I rate the Big-O, I’d personally rank him after Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers.


Gerry Smith

Roy Orbison, Charlie Parker, Olivier Messiaen

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days:

Hidden among its vast TV and radio output, the BBC broadcasts some magnificent music for grown-ups. Every week of the year. And it’s all free - well, sort of… .

Thurs 27 Nov
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2
2300 Georgie Fame, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four
2400 Van Morrison, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four

Fri 28 Nov
1930 Mahler’s 2nd Symphony – BBC Four
2100 The Clash: Westway To The World – BBC Four
2200 The Clash Live – Revolution Rock – BBC Four

Sat 29 Nov
1600 Charlie Christian, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3
1730 Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust (from the Met) – BBC Radio 3
2400 Charlie Parker, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3

Sun 30 Nov
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC 6 Music

Mon 1 Dec
1200 & 2200 Olivier Messiaen, Composer Of The Week
(1/5, continues Tues-Fri) – BBC Radio 3
2330 Roy Orbison, In Dreams (1/4) – BBC Radio 2

Thurs 4 Nov
2300 Salif Keita, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four

Fri 5 Dec
2315 fRoots magazine’s Album of the Year, World On 3 – BBC Radio 3


Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast live online - please see the channels’ web sites for details. Some BBC radio and TV programmes are also accessible online via iPlayer for a short period after transmission:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer




Gerry Smith

More Rolling Stones pictures and striking Oasis artwork

Rock and roll art is really taking off, with new shows following each other in rapid succession.

Smart Gallery, in Harrogate, North Yorks, is now selling a set of Stones photographs from 1963. Rolling Stones – 1st Photo Sessions by Philip Townsend comprises six images retailing as a giclee signed limited edition boxed set of mounted images (£895) or individually framed at £275 each.

www.smartgallery.co.uk


Meanwhile, Snap Galleries, which mounts an exciting programme of rock photography exhibitions at its Birmingham HQ, is showing the London-centric art market just what it’s missing with a temporary taster exhibition in the basement of a clothes retailer in London’s Covent Garden.

In the run-up to Xmas, Snap/Covent Garden has a lovely show of Oasis artwork with Michael Spencer Jones’s portfolio of album and singles cover photography.

While Oasis are not really musicians for grown-ups, the Out Of The Blue collection, on sale as limited edition photographs, box sets and a beautiful limited edition book, are striking artifacts which will excite many younger rock music lovers.

www.snapgalleries.com



Gerry Smith

Lucinda Williams – channelling Van Morrison?

On Sweet Honey, her new album, Lucinda Williams seems to be channelling Van Morrison. Her new song The Knowing (track 9), sounds eerily like a Van Morrison song from his mid-‘80s Beautiful Vision period. (It isn’t.)

From the vaguely New Age lyrics to the smouldering vocal delivery, from the mantra-like repetition to the quietly impassioned humming (where else have you heard Williams humming on record?), from the tempo to the instrumentation, the similarities are legion.

I’d lay good money that Lucinda Williams had been hearing a fair bit of vintage VanMan music while she was writing Sweet Honey.



Gerry Smith

The Clash, Mahler and Georgie Fame

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days:

Hidden among its vast output, BBC TV and radio has some magnificent music for grown-ups - every week of the year. And it’s all free - well, sort of… .


Sat 22 Nov
2400 Art Tatum, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3

Sun 23 Nov
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC 6 Music

Thurs 27 Nov
2300 Georgie Fame, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2

Fri 28 Nov
1930 Mahler’s 2nd Symphony – BBC Four
2100 The Clash: Westway To The World – BBC Four
2200 The Clash Live – Revolution Rock – BBC Four


Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast online, streamed. Please see the channels’ web sites for details. Some BBC radio and TV programmes are also accessible online for a short period after transmission via:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer




Gerry Smith

Leonard Cohen – in depth – on UNCUT magazine’s website

UNCUT magazine has a Leonard Cohen feature although, unlike the current MOJO, Lenny doesn’t grace the cover (Paul Weller does).

Stealing a march on its great rival, UNCUT has cleverly used the out-takes from the interviews with Cohen associates for a series of traffic-building bonus articles on its website.

Recommended.

www.uncut.co.uk



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EARLIER RELATED ARTICLE:

Leonard Cohen celebrated in new MOJO

As Leonard Cohen prepares for the next leg of his triumphant world tour, the new (“December”) issue of MOJO, the London-based heritage rock monthly, has an impressive 11-page feature on the great poet-musician. Recommended.

Most of it’s taken up by a probing new interview and a buyer’s guide to the Cohen discography, both by Sylvie Simmons.

MOJO also has a Lenny cover – a recent portrait complete with grey goatee beard and rakish peaked cap – and a free CD of new covers of Cohen songs.

(The US edition apparently has a Metallica cover, lending support to the line peddled here that the US doesn’t really get Laughing Len as much as Europe – or Canada.)



Gerry Smith

Music for grown-ups in a tiny town in deepest England

On Saturday I travelled 100 miles up the A5 to see a gig. The A5 used to be the major road linking London with Birmingham. The Romans built it, as Watling Street, but the opening of the M1 in the mid-‘60s made it redundant. So now it’s a lovely, empty, winding country road linking historic coaching towns like Towcester and Tamworth.

My journey was to see a performance in Lichfield by Jim Moray, nu-folk innovator oft lauded on musicforgrown-ups.com.

It was my first visit to Lichfield and I had no idea what to expect. It turned out to be a delightful little place, an oasis from a bygone era – apart, that is, from welcome modern innovations like clusters of friendly skateboarders, handy fast food joints and the welcoming smoke-free pubs offering shelter from the persistent drizzle (and live football).

What made Lichfield particularly enjoyable was the sandstone medieval cathedral, surely one of the loveliest, if lowest profile, churches in Europe.

Inside, away from the rain, Saturday’s visitors were treated to a rehearsal by a Heavenly choir, preparing for an evening gig. I’d loved to have made the concert, but it clashed with the Moray show (review to follow).

But what an impressive cultural offering! In a tiny town in deepest England you never hear about, the locals had a choice of world-class music for grown-ups: Jim Moray at the Guildhall or Gaudeamus Omnes, a programme of celestial music by Taverner, Byrd and Palestrina, by the Lichfield Cathedral Chamber Choir.

What riches!




Gerry Smith

Van Morrison’s Astral Weekend at Hollywood Bowl

Thanks to Andrew Robertson in Adelaide


If ever I was going to fly to the other side of the world for a weekend to see a concert - make that two concerts - November 7th and 8th at Hollywood Bowl was the time to do it.

In a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Van Morrison played Astral Weeks - arguably the greatest album in contemporary music - live both nights to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release in 1968.

Set lists:

Friday 7th November

Wavelength
Saint Dominic's Preview
And The Healing Has Begun
It's All In The Game >> You Know What They're Writing About
Troubadours
Angeliou
Moondance
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

Astral Weeks
Beside You
Slime Slow Slider
Sweet Thing
The Way That Young Lovers Do
Cyprus Avenue
Ballerina
Madame George

Listen To The Lion


Saturday 8th November

Wavelength
Saint Dominic's Preview
Caravan
It's All In The Game >> You Know What They're Writing About
Here Comes The Night
And The Healing Has Begun
Summertime In England
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

Astral Weeks
Beside You
Slime Slow Slider
Sweet Thing
The Way That Young Lovers Do
Cyprus Avenue
Ballerina
Madame George

Listen To The Lion


When the first night started with Wavelength, Saint Dominic's Preview and And The Healing Has Begun, I knew we were in for a totally magical experience. You would hardly get a better encore than that, let alone an opening sequence. I have to admit to tears in Healing, I was simply taken!

My own assessment was confirmed by this online review of the Friday night concert in the LA Weekly website on Saturday: “Sell the rest of your portfolio. Forgo fancy dinners for the rest of November. Break your lame date and call your soul mate. Do what you have to do, I swear, to get a ticket to tonight's Van Morrison show at the Hollywood Bowl. If you at all have ever been moved by a Morrison song, if you've wondered whether age has worn his voice, tore away at his heart or passion, you should make a pilgrimage.”

It is seriously impossible to describe these concerts - as an Aussie, I've only seen Van live a handful of times, but the Van faithful from all over the world who were there, many of whom had seen him countless times, all agreed that this was the high water mark.

For me, this weekend was about Van's musical legacy. There have been some people questioning why he would be doing Astral Weeks again and how it might be about money, and getting some rights back from Warner Brothers, and so on. But I don't think so - if he had wanted to make money, I'm not sure that Astral Weeks was the most astute business decision - more likely Van Morrison "At the Movies" live at Hollywood Bowl would have been more popular.

In an emailed interview with Van, published in the Los Angeles Times, he made one comment that really struck me: "But I prefer writing and crafting the spiritual-leaning songs the most." And for most of us Vanatics, those are the songs that resonate - but those are the songs that have been (mostly) absent from the last few albums.

So this “Astral Weekend” was about Van reclaiming some of what made him Van Morrison - I think it was a very personal journey for him. But one that he couldn't help sharing, even though sharing doesn't (apparently) come easily to him.

Others have said they were worried that he couldn't do justice to Astral Weeks now after all these years. But he did - it wasn't a repeat version, but it was a very faithful re-creation, true to the original, but informed by the 40 years in between. Nobody complained about the It’s Too Late To Stop Now version of Listen to the Lion starting with a piano intro, rather than guitar as on the original studio version, so why would there be a problem with Van changing the instrumentation and arrangements in the live versions of the Astral Weeks songs - as long as they were true to the spirit of the originals. Which they were!

To the concerts...

Anyone familiar with Van’s canon will recognise those set lists as extraordinary. To get All In the Game, Troubadours and Angeliou was completely beyond my wildest imaginings – it meant we got the whole of Side 2 of Into The Music, plus Troubadours, in addition to the whole of Astral Weeks!

Angeliou was exceptional, especially when he told the story that had no words - as only Van can, with those vocal sounds that come from who knows where (did you dig that sound?).

Closing out the first half with Moondance, Brown Eyed Girl and Gloria didn't even seem to disappoint those who've heard them 100 times before, I think because the arrangements were so good. Moondance was so crisp and clean, and Van's sax playing was great. Gloria was a stunner, morphing into Who Do You Love, and having a really bluesy grunt to it. And BEG was, well, just the perfect pop song delivered perfectly.

Then the second half started, Astral Weeks - this was very hard to believe, that there we were, and it was happening. It was 1972 when I first heard Astral Weeks, it blew me away then, it has continued to blow me away ever since, and it blew me away on Friday night.

I think the Friday night highlight was an astonishing Slim Slow Slider in which Van was attacking his acoustic guitar, again and again and again and again, with wild bursts of the most frenetic strumming you've ever seen, and singing BOTH that he was breaking down AND that he mustn't break down.

If proof was still needed that this was about the music, Slim Slow Slider was it - if it was just a money-making exercise, he didn't have to drive himself into such a frenzied state. He was, at once, breaking down and not breaking down, casting such an emotional spell you couldn't help but be drawn into it. But like Astral Weeks (the album) has always done, it reveals the depths of pain while also opening the door to redemption. Beside You the same. Ballerina the same. Not so Astral Weeks itself (the song), which I've always found to be full of inspiration and hope - to be born again, to be born again.

Running Sweet Thing and Young Lovers in sequence seemed just right, and brought joy back to the stage after the depths of Beside You and Slim Slow Slider (not that listening to those two wasn't a joyous experience, of course).

Then running Cyprus Avenue, Ballerina and Madame George together made for another inspired sequence and closed out the album, I mean concert, beautifully. Only to be followed by Listen to the Lion, which I had hoped would close out the first half because I really didn't expect an encore after Astral Weeks (an encore after Madame George?!!). The tears were back in Lion - after all, it is my funeral song, and it is the one, out of all of his songs, that I so wanted him to play! And he did.

On Saturday night, after opening with Wavelength again, things went to a whole new level with an inspired Saint Dominic's Preview – lines like "Warner Brothers have paid out for the wine" and "when you're in the phoney state you're in" and "snipers on the rooftops" suggested that there was fire burning in that belly tonight!

I didn't expect Caravan - and while he wasn't kicking, the arm thrusts were straight out of The Last Waltz and the band suddenly became the Caledonia Soul Orchestra. And what was Van doing, BOTH turning up AND turning down that radio. He was just going for it - tonight was his night, no doubt.

Then Game took off - if Saint Dominic was taken to another level, Game went to another galaxy, and it just went on and on, and took us all with it. Tinges of disappointment that we weren't going to get Healing again - but we did, and again, I had shivers up and down my spine when I heard those first few guitar chords. Healing was very, very special for me, both nights.

Here Comes The Night was a personal treat – as a kid I used to take a transistor radio to bed, under the covers so my parents couldn't hear, and Here Comes The Night and Mystic Eyes, along with Gloria, began my lifetime relationship with Van (even if I didn't know it at the time).

But was Summertime in England the biggest surprise of all? It was agreed by everyone I spoke to at the “Van fan” gatherings that there would NOT be a SIE at these shows - even though it would have been first choice for many. Again, not a song that Van would have chosen if he was being guided by commercial interests. But what a surprising version - it started at the end and even though I kept thinking he'll come back to the beginning with a very soft, taken right down "would you meet me in the country in the summertime in England..." it didn't happen. Nevertheless, a magical highlight and perfect as it was.

Astral Weeks (the album, not just the song) on Saturday night also, in my opinion, went to another level. I was trying to describe to someone after the show what the difference was - and even though I couldn't really find the right words to explain it, it seemed to me that he differentiated the songs more clearly. On Friday night, there was a bit of a sameness about his vocal delivery (excluding the extraordinary bits, scatting, etc) whereas on Saturday night each song took on its own personality. For example, Beside You was delivered more like on the album, much starker vocal delivery, almost harsh, but in a way that befits the song.

The highlight (if it's possible to pick one) on Saturday night was Ballerina - after which he got a standing ovation from a crowd that knew Madame George and (hopefully) Listen to the Lion was still to come.

Speaking of standing ovations, on Friday night the crowd just clapped and cheered for what seemed like 10 minutes before the house lights came up. Yes we wanted more, but it was more than that - it was a genuinely enthusiastic acknowledgment of what we had witnessed. And this included people in the audience who were not Vanatics. I was really hoping that Van hadn't left straight after the show because I thought it would have done wonders for his soul to have heard such heartfelt appreciation.

On Saturday night, my tears happened in Madame George - not sure if it was just the occasion, or whether it was the song, but certainly Madame George on Saturday night was as good as it gets. On a weekend that was better than it ever gets.

Emmett Till: Bob Dylan’s weakest song?

(A recent thread from The Dylan Daily.)

Emmett Till: Bob Dylan’s weakest song?

The Dylan Daily celebrates the art of its subject – and writing is the very core of Dylan’s art.

The deeper and longer I delve, the more I find to respect Dylan’s achievement as a wordsmith. I’m still hearing exciting new things in Dylan 45 years after first raving about that new American folkie.

So stumbling across a weak Dylan composition always comes as a surprise. But there are a few poor songs. I’ve long loathed John Brown – an interminable shaggy dog story. But I’d forgotten until I re-heard it a few days ago the awful The Death Of Emmett Till.

Dylan would eventually work the same theme into a masterpiece, Hattie Carroll. But Emmett Till shows what happens when an artist gets it wrong. It was a good call to leave it on the cutting room floor – it would have spoiled Freewheelin’, a near-perfect album.

Emmett Till - Dylan’s weakest song - surely?


Gerry Smith


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Dylan’s weakest song #2

Thanks to Skip Johns:

“Like you, I loathe The Death Of Emmett Till. It makes me cringe. But there are a few even bigger shaggy dog stories in Dylan’s songbook. Two in particular – Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands and Highlands.

“I must have tried a hundred times, but I’ve never yet managed to listen to either song to the end.

“Let’s put it in context, though – weak Dylan songs are a tiny proportion among hundreds of timeless compositions.”


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Dylan’s weakest song #3

Thanks to Peter Truin:

“I think Emmett Till is a good song, with its very powerful message about the racism that was prevalent in the US at the time. Musically, it may be a little like House of the Rising Sun, but it sounds good to me. I am sure there are many later songs (and a few early ones) much more worthy of the epithet "Dylan's weakest song".

“As for Skip Johns' choice, well I couldn't be further away from his views, as Sad Eyed Lady is in my opinion the best Dylan song, and Highlands is also one of my favourites.

“Although we all like Dylan, as there are so many "sides of Bob Dylan" it's probably not surprising that we can have such differing views of what is good and what is not.

“However, surely there must be more chance of a concensus if we look at some of the songs on "Knocked out Loaded" or "Under the Red Sky". How about "Wiggle Wiggle" or "They Killed Him" as my nominations?

“There may well be others I like even less, but I really don't want to listen to the songs I know I don't like very much, just to decide which one I think is the worst ... there's no fun in that, is there?”


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Dylan’s weakest song #4

Thanks to Jeff Whitely:

“Dylan’s weakest song? Take your pick from most of “Love And Theft”. Top contenders: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Summer Days or Floater.

“Whenever any of them pops up in a gig, they kill the vibe Bob’s just created with a run of masterpieces. Dreadful.”


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Dylan’s weakest song #5

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“Just a thought to add to the debate - my own personal view is that "Sad Eyed Lady..." is one of the greatest songs in his canon. Great lyrics, a haunting melody, a late-night vibe - just fantastic.

“Mind you, I do think critics have poured unjust praise on some songs just because they are long - I have never been convinced of the merits of "Brownsville Girl" or "Highlands".

“Meanwhile, "Under The Red Sky" is in my top five Dylan albums, and I don't really see any difference between something like "Wiggle Wiggle" and something like "Yea Heavy and a Bottle of Bread".

Miles Davis exhibition in NYC

The Genius Of Miles Davis: The Columbia Years, an exhibition of photographs from the Sony archive, opens on Friday 21 November at New York’s Morrison Hotel Gallery.

Featuring rare and unseen work by Sony staff photographers shot between 1965 and 1985, sixteen 30 x40 prints will be on show and available for sale in limited editions.

The exhibition marks another stage in the development of Sony’s new ICON Collectibles division as a profit centre set up to exploit the record company’s rich photographic archive of over one million images, including major musicians for grown-ups like Miles, Dylan, Ella, Tony Bennett and Johnny Cash.


www.morrisonhotelgallery.com





Gerry Smith

Exquisite Rolling Stones exhibition

Fans of the Rolling Stones, especially the masterpiece album Beggars Banquet, will want to catch the exhibition currently showing at Blink Gallery, 11 Poland St., London W1.

It has full-size iconic colour shots from Michael Joseph’s two-day photo-shoot in London (interiors) and Derbyshire (exteriors). A few of the photos were used the Beggars Banquet LP artwork.

There are a dozen large format interior shots – exquisite, varied tableaux of signature Stones louche debauchery - plus six from the outside shots, including the most chemically enhanced game of cricket ever staged.

All the work is for sale in limited editions of 20 (interiors) and 30 (outside shots), with prices ranging from £1700 to £5500 + VAT.

This fine exhibition runs to 6 December. Highly recommended.


Gerry Smith

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EARLER RELATED ARTICLE

Classic rock photographs in London gallery

I must have walked within 50 yards of Blink Gallery, at 11 Poland St London W1, a thousand times without ever realising it was there. Then, for some reason last week, I headed down Poland St, south off Oxford Street, opposite HMV Oxford Circus branch, for the first time.

And there it was – a fabulous small gallery of two floors of framed, signed limited edition rock musician photos.

Pride of place goes to two Dylan pics by Jerry Schatzberg:

* Bob Dylan Pliers 1965 5/20 £2k + VAT 16” x 20” Silver Gelatin print, and

* Bob Dylan 1965 8/30 £2k + VAT 16” x 20” Silver Gelatin print.

Most readers would recognise both from the Blonde On Blonde cover shoot.

The Dylan pics are surrounded by other iconic shots documenting the best of Brit rock, from the Stones to Paul Weller. My favourite is is a wonderful tableau from the Beggars Banquet shoot, and there’s Hendrix, Oasis, Bob Marley et al, if jokey Stones debauchery isn’t your bag.

If you’re in London’s West End with a spare fifteen minutes, a visit to Blink Gallery is highly recommended. It’s free to look, and if you have a couple of thousand pounds to spare, you can buy, too.

(aficionados of soft porn: please brace yourself for a pleasant surprise after clicking the link below)


www.blinkgallery.com




Gerry Smith

Youssou N’Dour, Herbie Hancock and Joni Mitchell

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days:

Hidden among its vast output, BBC TV and radio has some magnificent music for grown-ups - every week of the year. And it’s all free - well, sort of… .

Thurs 13 Nov
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (rpt) – BBC Radio 2
0030 Youssou N’Dour, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four

Fri 14 Nov
2100 Paul Weller: Into Tomorrow – BBC Four
2230 Paul Weller, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four

Sat 15 Nov
1600 Herbie Hancock, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3
1900 Come In From The Cold: The Return Of Joni Mitchell –
BBC Radio 2 (1/2)
2230 Stockhausen, Hear and Now – BBC Radio 3
2400 Lee Konitz, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3

Sun 16 Nov
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (new) – BBC 6 Music

Tues 18 Nov
2230 Come In From The Cold: The Return Of Joni Mitchell –
BBC Radio 2 (2/2)
2315 Esbjorn Svensson (a 2006 gig), Late Junction - BBC Radio 3

Thurs 20 Nov
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (rpt) – BBC Radio 2
2355 Mariza, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four



Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast online, streamed. Please see the channels’ web sites for details. Many archived BBC radio and TV programmes are accessible online for a short period via:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer




Gerry Smith

Powerful new Elektra at Covent Garden

I went along to the opening night of Covent Garden’s new revival of Elektra with an open mind, expecting to be challenged, perhaps disappointed. After all, Salome, Elektra’s precursor and the last Richard Strauss opera I saw in London, had been a let-down.

No need to worry. This was a powerful performance, with a forceful score, stirringly played by the ever reliable house band under Mark Elder, and a finely chiselled libretto by Viennese Wunderkind Hugo von Hofmannsthal which had me gasping in delight more than once.

Elektra, the lead soprano role, is unusually demanding, both vocally and emotionally – the troubled heroine (?) is on stage for the entire 110-minute performance. Susan Bullock was equal to the task, engaging you throughout with her singing and acting.

Anne Schwanewilms, playing Chrysothemis, her rather less bloodthirsty sister, was a revelation. I’ve rarely heard such a convincing big soprano voice. Her’s is enormous. But a delight, too.

Elektra’s a modern opera, so you don’t get much melody, and no pretty arias and duets a la Puccini or Mozart. But no matter - its strength lies in the power of the writing and the subtle portrayal of character under stress.

This new Elektra is richly stimulating, demanding yet rewarding.

And recommended.



Gerry Smith

Jazz issue of Guardian music weekly

Today’s issue of London newspaper The Guardian has turned its weekly film/music supplement into The jazz issue, to mark the start of the London Jazz Festival next week.

It’s a refreshingly original compilation of articles, including an interview with pianist Herbie Hancock and features on the jazz vocabulary, jazz and classical musicians, jazz re-workings of a Radiohead tune, celebs drooling over Kind Of Blue (yawn…) and the paper’s pop critic’s diary of his attempts to get into the music.

A stimulating weekend read - recommended:

www.guardian.co.uk



Gerry Smith


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EARLIER RELATED ARTICLE

London Jazz Festival - delights in store

The annual London Jazz Festival, which runs in a multitude of venues from to 14 to 23 November, has delights in store for lovers of improv music, especially:

15 Nov – Herbie Hancock Sextet
15 Nov - Bill Frisell
19 Nov - Herbie Hancock Sextet
23 Nov – Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Kenny Garrett et al.

www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk

Classic Miles Davis albums - at a giveaway price

As copyrights expire, under the 50-year rule, more and more great albums are starting to enter the public domain. You’ve been able to pick up dirt cheap reissues of 1940s greats – Sinatra, Ella and the like – for years, but mid-1950s masterpieces are now being reissued on el cheapo labels.

Elvis Presley’s 1956 recordings were the first to get the £2 supermarket treatment: the floodgates have opened.

The best deal I’ve seen so far is a new reissue of classic 1950s albums by Miles Davis’s first great quintet, including Coltrane, for three different labels – Prestige, CBS and Philips.

Last week, I bought Miles Away (3CD box, on the Not Now label) at Fopp for £5. Worth a punt, I mused – though it’s probably crappy off-air live recordings.

Not at all. It contains remastered versions of no fewer than six original must-have Miles albums: Cookin’, Relaxin’, Steamin’, Round about Midnight, Miles Ahead and l’Ascenseur pour l’Echafaud. A wonderful package.

If you’ve been thinking of sampling Miles Davis, but have put it off – now’s the time.

Classic Miles albums at 83 pence each? Whatever next?


Gerry Smith

Neil Young on BBC FOUR TV: a mixed bag

Last Friday’s welcome Neil Young Night on BBC FOUR was a mixed bag.

In Concert: Neil Young – the 1971 BBC gig, showcasing songs from Harvest – will have been familiar to most Young fans. If you could get beyond NY’s faux bashful hippy façade (I could) it was a wonderful performance.

The new documentary, Neil Young - Don't Be Denied, tracing the Canadian’s evolution through interviews and unseen performance footage, was generally excellent, a must-add to any decent Shakey collection.

Strengths? The two probing interviews with Young. Weakness? It spent too much time on the 1970s, only covering the last quarter century in about 20 minutes. Some of us regard Neil Young as an important contemporary musician, not a museum piece!

I found CSNY/Déjà Vu - a record of the 2006 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young Freedom of Speech tour, built around Young's Living with War album – simply unwatchable. I dislike the material; the people don’t interest me.



Gerry Smith

John McLaughlin to Dvorak, Beck to Chick Corea, Paul Weller to Youssou N’Dour

FREE! Music for grown-ups on the BBC in the next 10 days:

Hidden among its vast output, BBC TV and radio has some magnificent music for grown-ups - every week of the year. And it’s all free - well, sort of… .

Wed 5 Nov
1200 & 2200 Dvorak, Composer Of The Week – BBC Radio 3
(3/5, continues Thurs-Fri)

Thurs 6 Nov
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (rpt) – BBC Radio 2
2355 Beck, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four

Fri 7 Nov
2355, Randy Newman, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four

Sat 8 Nov
1600 John McLaughlin, Jazz Library (part 2) – BBC Radio 3
2400 Chick Corea, Jazz Library – BBC Radio 3

Sun 9 Nov
2400 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (new) – BBC 6 Music

Thurs 13 Nov
2300 Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour (rpt) – BBC Radio 2
0030 Youssou N’Dour, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four

Fri 14 Nov
2100 Paul Weller: Into Tomorrow – BBC Four
2230 Paul Weller, BBC Four Sessions – BBC Four


Online access: many BBC radio programmes are broadcast online, streamed. Please see the channels’ web sites for details. Archived BBC radio and TV programmes are accessible online for a short period via:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer




Gerry Smith

Celebrating Astral Weeks, Van Morrison’s masterpiece

This is a big week for Van Morrison fans, as the Ulsterman celebrates Astral Weeks, his masterpiece, with live performances over two nights at the Hollywood Bowl.

Here’s all you need to know - online streaming arrangements, preview features, archival reviews, and a new Morrison interview - on John Gilligan’s invaluable web site:

http://vanmorrisonnews.blogspot.com

Thanks to Bernard McGuinn for the tip.



Gerry Smith