The Wire: Music Mags for Grown-Ups # 1

The Wire is a beautifully produced monthly magazine, published in London but read around the globe. It grew out of left-field jazz to cover improv, avant garde and art music in numerous niche genres.

Esoteric is an understatement: I rarely recognize more than half a dozen of the names in each issue. If I know more than that, I automatically buy a copy. Over the years, I’ve bought cover isssues on Miles Davis, Van Morrison and The Fall, but most cover subjects are far more recherché than these.

The Wire is an aspirational organ – I aspire to knowing more about more of the music it covers. I’d much rather be challenged in my music reading by mags like The Wire than plough through yet another piece of PR fluff, promoting yet more dubious new product, which is the role of most music mags.


Here’s the contents of the new issue - check out how many names you recognise!



INSIDE THE WIRE 280 (June 2007) (on sale NOW)

Previewed here: http://www.thewire.co.uk/current/

ON THE COVER: Wiley. Grime's self-appointed Eskimo king invites Derek Walmsley into his Roll Deep Studio to explain how his blizzard of beats and rhymes gathers momentum in East London's streets

FEATURES: The Sea And Cake, Invisible Jukebox: Neil Campbell, Kassin + Moreno + Domenico, Cross Platform: Modified Toy Orchestra, Tomas Korber, Jozef van Wissem, Zavoloka

REVIEWS:

SOUNDCHECK: John Abercrombie, Alog, Amp, Badgerlore, Mick Barr, Adam Bohman & Roger Smith, The Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Peter Brötzmann/Marino Pliakas/Michael Wertmüller, Cato Salsa Experience & The Thing with Joe McPhee, The Cherry Blossoms, CJA, Philip Corner, Courtis/The Moglass/Andrey Kiritchenko, Betty Davis, Deadbeat, The Dead C, Daouda Dembele, Jim Denley, Dungen, Max Eastley & Michael Prime, Erikm (Luc Ferrari) & Thomas Lehn, Thomas Fehlmann, The Field, 500mg, Fred Frith & Chris Cutler, Fursaxa, Frank Gratkowski/Thomas Lehn/, Melvyn Poore, Mats Gustafsson & Yoshimi, Hugh Hopper, Islaja, Jazzkammer & Howard Stelzer, Andrey Kiritchenko, KTL, Michel Lambert, Alvin Lucier, Lasse Marhaug, Marhaug Åsheim, Merzbow/Carlos Giffoni/Jim O'Rourke 47, Pekos & Yoro Diallo, Roscoe Mitchell, Chie Mukai, My Cat Is An Alien, Conlon Nancarrow, Luigi Nono, KK Null, Original Silence, William Parker & Hamid Drake, Parts & Labor, Plants, Rahkim, Religious Knives, Stephen Scott, The
Sea And Cake, September Collective, Wally Shoup, Skeletons And The Kings Of All Cities, Chris Smith, Chris Smith & Justin Fuller, Marnie Stern, Strategy, Damo Suzuki & Now, Text Of Light, Tied And Tickled Trio, Tight Meat Duo, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Various Bougouni Yaalali, Various Box Of Dub, Various Hyphy Hitz, Various Soundboy Punishments, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Stephen Vitiello, Von Südenfed, Strountes, David S Ware Quartet, Felix Werder, Wooden Wand, Wraiths and
more...

PRINT RUN: Third Coast: OutKast, Timbaland And How Hip Hop Became A Southern Thing, by Roni Sarig; Footprints: The Life And Work Of Wayne Shorter, by Michelle Mercer; Guitar Army: Rock And Revolution With MC5 And The White Panther Party, by John Sinclair

ON SCREEN: Tim Buckley: A Review And Critique Of The Man And His Music (DVD), Tim Buckley: My Fleeting House (DVD), Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain & El Topo (DVDs)

ON SITE: Kill Your Timid Notion, Dundee, UK; c/o The Velvet Underground, New York, USA; Allora & Calzadilla, London, UK

ON LOCATION: All Tomorrow's Parties, Minehead, UK; Free Noise London, UK; Maerzmusik, Berlin, Germany; BLOC Weekend, Hemsby, UK; Donau Festival, Krems, Austria

PLUS: Epiphanies: Novelist Michel Faber recalls a random encounter with a life-affirming Prog group in Budapest; Global Ear: In San Francisco, Ken Hollings immerses himself in a 360° audiovisual experience at Asphodel's Recombinant Media Labs; Savage Pencil's Trip Or Squeek; Charts; News; and more

http://www.thewire.co.uk/current/



Gerry Smith

Seven Ages Of Rock (again)

The second age in BBC/VH1’s new Seven Ages Of Rock, shown at the weekend, confirmed the suspicion that the disappointing first programme was no fluke.

After the looney call to focus on Jimi Hendrix in the ‘60s programme, the ‘70s chapter concentrated on Pink Floyd.

Gimme a break.

I just can’t wait to see who the remaining five programmes revolve around. U2 in the ‘80s? George Michael in the ‘90s?

According to the new canon being advanced by this missed opportunity of a series, rock’s even less interesting than I thought.


Gerry Smith

Don’t Look Back De Luxe 2DVD edition in short supply

The De Luxe 2DVD version of Don’t Look Back, the film of Dylan's 1965 English tour, is in very short supply. Having been let down by my first choice of supplier (see below), I’ve now also been let down by second choice, cd-wow. (I won’t be using either supplier again for a while, if ever).

Seeking a third choice online supplier, including one or two I wouldn’t touch with a very long bargepole, I found most out of stock – Virgin, HMV, Tesco, Play.com, SpinCD can’t supply either. Fopp has it, and so have some Amazon traders, but I don’t like their prices.

Looks like I’ll have to bite the bullet and scour the High Street. Or wait a year or so for the release of a few million more “limited edition” copies and buy at the £6 discounted price I recently paid for No Direction Home 2DVD at Borders.


Gerry Smith


RELATED ARTICLE:

Don’t Look Back 2DVD – now only £12.99

Don’t Look Back (the De Luxe 2DVD version, Region 0) is on the cd-wow.com website at a bargain £12.99 delivered, easily the cheapest I’ve seen, and just over half the list price. It’s a cd-wow “warehouse sale”, so the offer might be short-lived.

I ordered a copy after cancelling my order with 101cd, as I hadn’t received the goods, or any warning/apology, 17 days after release date, or any reply to my query. Byeeeeeeeeeeee, 101cd. Hello, cd-wow.


Gerry Smith

Scott Walker: the grown-up musician’s grown-up musician

Last week’s BBC TV airing of slabs from the spellbinding new Scott Walker film, 30 Century Man, in its Imagine slot, showed just why Walker is the grown-up musician’s grown-up musician. Top art rockers – Eno, Bowie, Jarvis, Radiohead et al - queued up to praise the artistry of the lugubrious baritone.

Walker’s career has been a succession of highs and lows (sometimes simultaneous), and his discography is patchy. But he’s a vastly underrated musician with at least three albums which should be considered for any grown-up collection: Scott Walker 3, Scott Walker 4, and Tilt. Last year’s The Drift is no slouch, either.

Go on, give Scott Walker’s mature music a chance…



Gerry Smith

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

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


RADIO

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



TV

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Traveling Wilburys release: worth buying?

If, like many Dylan Daily readers, you already have the two Traveling Wilburys albums, should you bother with the new product, due for (UK) release on Monday 11 June?

Well, for £15.25 (delivered), the best price I’ve seen for the De Luxe version, from cd-wow.com, you get four extra audio tracks, five DVD tracks, a 40 page “collectible” book and “certificate of authenticity” (wow!), as well as the packaging. The Dylan content is still minimal, though – just a few tracks.

Worth buying? Maybe. Probably. Just.


Gerry Smith

Dhafer Youssef – roots discovery of 2007

Even when your life is filled with great music, your sound palette occasionally gets a bit jaded. But then, every now and again, you hear something new, by accident, and find yourself exclaiming “who the H*ll is that!?”

Just such a moment hit me last night as I happened to catch Dhafer Youssef, a Tunisian oud player/singer, on a BBC Radio 3 live broadcast from Bath.

Utterly original, utterly captivating soundscape. Must investigate. Watch this space…




Gerry Smith

BBC Four’s music programming - no longer aimed at grown-ups

Up to about 12 months ago, BBC Four music programming was consistently outstanding; I eagerly devoured 80% of it. At least half of my music TV viewing (which is heavy) was BBC Four programming.

Now? I hardly bother to check their schedules any more.

BBC Four programmes praised on www.musicforgrownups.co.uk over the last few years include:

* Ring Cycle
* Charlie Parker
* Mose Allison (and Georgie Fame, his acolyte)
* African RnR Years
* Coppersongs
* Piaf
* Folk Hibernia
* Gillian Welch/Beck/Springsteen/Bowie gigs
* The Fall
* Stiff Records
* some of the Dylan season (but not the smug, self-serving one about BBC wiping the tape)
* Stones - Maysles film.

They were eclectic, engaging, best-in-class. I enjoyed and learned from all these programmes.

The type of BBC Four programming which doesn't focus on best-in-class musicians has included stuff broadcast on lesser lights like Matt Monroe, Alma Cogan, middling niches like Hotel California, Jazz Britannia, Soul Britannia, and almost everything in the last six months.

BBC Four are confusing nostalgia with excellence: just because it's old doesn't mean it's any good. Who'd listen to Matt Monroe ahead of Sinatra, Bennett..., or Alma Cogan ahead of Ella, Billie H, Sarah Vaughan... ? Life's far too short, unless you're into pap nostalgia, but then your needs are already catered for by some dubious radio stations.

Excellence (in any musical genre) was BBC Four’s keynote: but its relentless surge downmarket is undermining its USP. If there's no audience for excellence - in music as in other fields - BBC Four has no purpose and should be closed.

Sure, they could increase their audience with, for example, a series on ‘50s Britpop - Cliff, Marty, Adam... blah, blah. But then they’d also attract bigger audiences by broadcasting porn (or property renovation porn): there's a point beyond which it's not worth going. BBC Four has already passed it.

Pity. Great pity.


Gerry Smith

Seven Ages Of Rock – daft, plain daft

Jimi Hendrix was the key figure in 1960s rock: “Within days of his arrival (in London), Jimi Hendrix would change the face of music… .” Tee hee.

There’s more: “He redefined the whole period in which he existed…”.

That’s if you believe Seven Ages of Rock, the disappointing new BBC/VH1 rock history series which started airing over the weekend.

Bob Dylan, the prime mover in the genesis of rock, was accorded a mere five minute sequence, bowing in the direction of Like A Rolling Stone.

Now, there’s no doubt that Hendrix was a great, and influential, musician – he raised the game in guitar playing in the same way that Coltrane set new benchmarks for the saxophone. But let’s not forget that he was responsible for a massive catalogue of, er, three moderately successful albums still played today.

Rock music tends to encourage hyperbole in the early school leavers amongst those who play it and write about it, but this poor first programme set new lows in rockist bullsh*t. You couldn’t fault a commentator like Charles Shaar Murray for his typically incisive comments on Hendrix, but they were swamped in a wrong-headed script which, at times, had me laughing uncontrollably.

The launch programme not only exceeded my worst fears, outlined in a series preview on www.musicforgrownups.co.uk (below) - it went further, by imposing on the 1960s material the big idea that Hendrix was the pivotal figure.

Daft. Plain daft.


Gerry Smith



Series preview, previously posted:

Seven Ages Of Rock – a pessimistic preview

The BBC is pushing the boat out for its major new series, the Seven Ages Of Rock, which launches on Saturday on BBC2 21.10~22.10 - hyping it on chat shows on its missable mainstream radio stations and promoting it with four different collectable covers of Radio (sic) Times, its mass circulation weekly programme guide. (Who on earth would want to collect the Radio Times?)

Without having seen even a trailer or promo clip, I can safely report that:

* as it’s by the same team that produced the brilliant Lost Highway series on country music, Seven Ages will be stylish, informative, intelligent television…

* it will include maybe 20 great musicians for grown-ups

* 95% of its airtime will deal with musicians unworthy of grown-up attention

* the series will be rendered virtually unwatchable by an endless succession of talking boneheads who should have stuck to the day job, stacking supermarket shelves or fixing dodgy old cars.

How do I know this?

Because that’s the nature of rock music - 5% timeless great art (Dylan, Stones, Beck, Bright Eyes, Smiths, Joy Division, Everly Brothers, Bowie…), and 95% dubious glitzy, chemically-enhanced showbiz pap.

I’ll be taping - to race through afterwards, luxuriating in the grown-up bits. (Or to recant, if appropriate.)


Gerry Smith

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

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


RADIO

Monday BBCR3 23.15 ~ 01.00
* Andy Kershaw - The Fat Possum label is chock full of wonderful artists (RL Burnside; Jnr Kimborough) and a refreshingly uncompromising label policy. 68 yr old signing Robert "Wolfman" Belfour is in session tonight.

Tuesday BBCR2 22.30 ~ 23.30
* Talking 'Bout My Remuneration - Witty title for a programme in which poor pop/rock stars who should have taken more care of their legacy and money talk about reforming their bands when they swore blind they never would. Maybe bulti-millionaire Phil Collins will explain why, when the members of Genesis say they don't need the money and it's not their motivation, tickets cost upwards of 70 quid for their forthcoming tour. Maybe professional Geordie Sting will explain why he has ignored his hometown on The Police tour. Or maybe they won't.

Tuesday BBCR2 23.30 ~ 00.30
* Courtney Pine's Jazz Crusade - Contemporary jazz chosen by the legendary British saxophonist.

Wednesday BBCR2 22.00 ~ 00.30
* Swee'Pea: The Billy Strayhorn Story - 2nd programme of a 4-parter.

Wednesday BBCR3 23.15 ~ 01.00
* Late Junction - Everybody's favourite folk guitarist Nic Jones is featured tonight.

Thursday BBCR2 22.00pm ~ 22.30
* In Love With Hank - 2nd of a five-part profile on the Hillbilly Shakespeare, Hank Williams.

Friday BBCR6 21.00 ~ 22.00
* Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan: Coffee – Caffeine-induced show this week.
Friday BBCR3 22.30 ~ 23.30

* Jazz Library ~ Charles Mingus - A selection of the very best Mingus recordings by his biographer, Brian Priestley

Friday BBCR3 10.30 ~ 11.30
* Live from Cheltenham Jazz fest, the Claudia Quintet (ex-Refusniks).


TV

Tuesday BBC1 22.35 ~ 11.35
* Imagine: 30th Century Man - A profile of Scott Walker… 3rd in the depression stakes after Nick Drake and Laughing Lenny and just ahead of Morrissey (ie intelligent music), an acclaimed cinema release from last year.

Friday
* BBC4 has again forsaken its normal music coverage for Friday ~ this is all very worrying. Your only hope tonight is to tape Later with JH (BBC2 23.40) and wind forward to Wilco.

Saturday BBC2 21.10 ~ 22.10
* Seven Ages Of Rock: White Light, White Heat - 2nd of 7 parts, this week Art Rock with the Velvets, Bowie and Roxy Music. Not a great series, most of this has been seen before and anybody with even a small interest in music has a handle on it, but still welcome when you consider the dearth of 'grown-up' music on the box. Put it this way, it's better than Casualty on the other side. (Repeated Sunday on BBC1).

Saturday BBC4 22.05 ~ 23.35
BBC4 Saturday schedules appear to be shadowing the BBC1’s Seven Ages Of Rock series. Here is a 1973 Bowie (not forgetting the brilliant Mick Ronson) concert. Followed by:

Saturday BBC4 23.35 ~ 00.30
* Cracked Actor - A 1974 profile of David Bowie.

Dylanesque/Bryan Ferry’s London Sessions DVD – only £6.75!

Thanks to Nigel Boddy:

“Further to your spotting the `bargain of the year' at cd-wow.com for the Dylan Don't Look Back Special Edition DVD, I've noticed the Bryan Ferry - London Sessions (Dylanesque) DVD is priced at £6.75, delivered. (I know it's not released until late June, but it's a still good saving).”

Seven Ages Of Rock – a pessimistic preview

The BBC is pushing the boat out for its major new series, the Seven Ages Of Rock, which launches on Saturday on BBC2 21.10~22.10 - hyping it on chat shows on its missable mainstream radio stations and promoting it with four different collectable covers of Radio (sic) Times, its mass circulation weekly programme guide. (Who on earth would want to collect the Radio Times?)

Without having seen even a trailer or promo clip, I can safely report that:

* as it’s by the same team that produced the brilliant Lost Highway series on country music, Seven Ages will be stylish, informative, intelligent television…

* it will include maybe 20 great musicians for grown-ups

* 95% of its airtime will deal with musicians unworthy of grown-up attention

* the series will be rendered virtually unwatchable by an endless succession of talking boneheads who should have stuck to the day job, stacking supermarket shelves or fixing dodgy old cars.

How do I know this?

Because that’s the nature of rock music - 5% timeless great art (Dylan, Stones, Beck, Bright Eyes, Smiths, Joy Division, Everly Brothers, Bowie…), and 95% dubious glitzy, chemically-enhanced showbiz pap.

I’ll be taping - to race through afterwards, luxuriating in the grown-up bits. (Or to recant, if appropriate.)


Gerry Smith

NOT Music for Grown-Ups

* Classical Brit Awards on TV last Sunday: a celebration of dumbing down of a great musical tradition. Anna Netrebko… Katherine Jenkins… Awful. I lasted a whole five minutes.

* Van Morrison at London’s Roundhouse, according to Pete Paphides in The Times – “parodically grumpy old man… uninterested and uncommunicative… gang of middle-aged session musicians… hotel-lobby R & B arrangements… listless professionalism…” I know what he means: a former serial Vangig attender (c65 shows), I quit for those kind of reasons about five years ago.

* Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary issue: great design and illuminating Dylan interview apart, a mish-mash of superannuated celebs bullsh*tting for America, the politics of the liberal playground, and the silly underlying philosophy that music changes the world. Kiss mine.



Gerry Smith

Michael Gray on Dylan, the blues and Blind Willie McTell

Thanks to Michael Gray for information on forthcoming talks, and his new book:

* BOB DYLAN & THE POETRY OF THE BLUES DATES

A third date has been added to Michael Gray's very short spring-summer tour of the UK: at Bristol's Arnolfini. Details of the three are now...

Wed May 23, 8pm Bath International Music Festival
The Little Theatre, St. Michael’s Place, Bath BA1 1SF
£9 (concessions £8)
Festival Box Office: 01225-463362

Sat Jun 9, 8pm Jersey Arts Centre
Phillips Street, St. Helier, Jersey JE2 4SW
£9 (students £5)
Box Office: 01534-700444

Sat Jul 7, 7.30pm Bristol Arnolfini
Arnolfini Arts Centre, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA
£6 (concessions £4.50);
Box Office: 0117 917 2300

The flyer for these gigs says this:
BOB DYLAN & THE POETRY OF THE BLUES An Evening With Writer Michael Gray
This is more a one-man show than a talk. The author of The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia and Song & Dance Man III: The Art Of Bob Dylan - definitive studies of Dylan’s 45-year body of work and more - uses a surprising selection of great records and rare footage to show how hugely Dylan has been inspired by the blues and how much of its poetry has been smuggled inside his own writing.

Andrew Motion named Song & Dance Man III as one of the best three books of 2000. It had 5-star reviews in Q and Uncut. Greil Marcus admired ‘Gray’s reach, tone and acuity’ and called its research ‘amazing’. Christopher Ricks called it ‘wonderfully comic and serious and sharp’ and ‘monumentally illuminating’.The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, 2006, was Book of the Week in The Guardian. The Dylan Daily website declared it 'the most important Bob Dylan book, bar none.'

Michael Gray’s events are always lively, spontaneous and acute, using loud music and rare footage in a hugely entertaining, fresh account of Dylan's achievement.

What the British and Irish press says about his performances:
"Michael Gray is a witty, effusive, self-deprecating speaker. A wonderful eye-opener of an evening."
"Clever, funny and fresh."
"A stimulating insight into rock music's premier singer-songwriter."
"Michael Gray is a masterful speaker."


* HAND ME MY TRAVELIN' SHOES: IN SEARCH OF BLIND WILLIE McTELL LAUNCH

Michael's new book Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell (UK hardback first edition, from Bloomsbury, £20) will be launched on publication day, July 2nd, with a talk at the eccentric hour of 11am at what is possibly the world's smallest literary festival.
Details:

Mon July 2, 11am
1st Annual Kirkbymoorside Literary Festival
Hand Me My Travelin’ Shoes: A Talk by Michael Gray
Summit Books, 2 Market Place, Kirkbymoorside, N. Yorks YO62 6BB
Box Office: 01751 430033
[nb. free admission but places must be reserved by phone]

Michael has also created a new blog for the book:

http://handmemytravelinshoes.blogspot.com/



Gerry Smith

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

Introducing a new weekly column… many thanks to compiler Mike Ollier

* Radio

Tuesday BBCR2 22.30 ~ 00.30
* Courtney Pine's Jazz Crusade
Contemporary jazz, chosen by the legendary British saxophonist.

Wednesday BBCR2 22.00 ~ 00.30
* Swee'Pea: The Billy Strayhorn Story
Longtime Duke Ellington collaborator, the pianist and composer is profiled.

Thursday BBCR2 22.00pm ~ 22.30
* In Love With Hank
First of a five-part profile on the Hillbilly Shakespeare, Hank Williams.

Friday BBCR6 21.00 ~ 22.00
* Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan: Radio
Laughing Bob introduces another surreal show and plays the equally sunny Van Morrison, The Clash and Elvis Costello ~ I think you can guess the tunes!!

Friday BBCR3 10.30 ~ 11.30
* Jazz Library ~ listener recommendations

Friday BBCR3 11.30 ~ 0100
* Jazz on 3 ~ Bernie Maupin Ensemble
Live from Cheltenham Jazz Fest, a set from a one-time member of Miles Davis' bands (he appeared on 'Bitches Brew') and was one of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters.



* TV

Tuesday ITV1 21.00 ~ 00.25
* Ray
Unbelievably stupid programming for an Oscar-winning movie, and as ever split by the news, so it doesn't finish till way after midnight ~ Jamie Foxx does a fair impersonation of Ray Charles in a watered down story.

Friday
* BBC4 has forsaken its normal music coverage tonight with only slight compensation with a repeat of "Tompkinson's Schooldays" from Michael Palin's 'Ripping Yarns' Series. Or, you could tape Jools Holland on BBC2 and rewind it to the Patti Smith section and miss out the rest.

Saturday BBC2 21.10 ~ 22.10
* Seven Ages Of Rock
From the same team that produced the excellent "Soul Deep" and "Lost Highway", a series looking at Rock, starting with the 60s and Hendrix, amongst others.

The Waterboys put smiles on faces in Milton Keynes

Thanks to Paul Blake:

“A 4pm sit-down show on a Sunday doesn’t sound like a very promising set-up to see a rock band, but those turning up for the Waterboys show at the tiny Stables in Wavendon last weekend needn’t have worried – Mike Scott and his crew were in rambunctious form. As the man himself said halfway through the set, ‘here is a band working its balls off for you’.

“For me, it is always interesting to see a musician at work close up (we had tickets in the second row) and watching Mike Scott I was struck by how self-conscious he is with the wild rock ‘n’ roll poet persona he has created for himself. It is both his defence as a human being and his vehicle as a performer, and, if he didn’t quite look comfortable, it still made for compelling theatre. Perhaps it is just his time of life, as my wife mused afterwards.

“Certainly the Book of Lightning album, on which much of the set is based, is dominated by ‘my baby done me wrong’ songs and in a live setting they begin to sound a little like a man protesting too much (are you sure you didn’t contribute just a bit to the break-up, Mike?) - even if the band play them with muscular grace. And there is much to enjoy at a Waterboys gig, not least the violin playing of Steve Wickham, who gives his boss a good run for his money on the charisma stakes.

“The set veers on the side of rock workout – we get Medicine Bow, a compelling Red Army Blues, and a hammered out version of Old England, but little of the gentler side of the Waterboys. Still, there is something life-affirming about seeing Mike Scott up there doing his stuff all these years.

“The audience has aged with him, and it is touching to see long-term partners and parents with young children dancing to Fisherman’s Blues during the encore. It leaves us all with both a sense of community and smiles on our faces. The band leave the stage grinning as well and in Mike Scott’s smile I can finally see the man behind the persona. He looks contented after a job well done. As Gerry Smith said when he saw him last year – he gives good gig.”

Another 100 songs that changed the world: new MOJO cover feature

The new (“June”) MOJO cover feature - 100 songs that changed the world, or some such - seems very familiar.

I respect MOJO (“The Music Magazine”) – it caters for its Dadrock audience far better than they deserve. And it’s beautifully designed. Occasionally, it carries a long sequence of articles on a favoured muso and I buy a copy.

I only buy one issue in 20 or 30, though. Mostly it just ain’t music for grown-ups – delves far too deeply in a rock genre with shallow roots, covering far too many no-hopers; wallows in nostalgia; overplays the importance of music; and has a show biz tone.

The odd issue is a gem, but my musical life’s far too short to read MOJO regularly. There are 100,000+ regular buyers who disagree, but I’d hate to have to live with their CD collections.

Case in point this month: songs change NOTHING - except the bank balances of those involved.



Gerry Smith

McCartney v Bjork, Uncut v les Inrockuptibles

The new issue of Uncut has a Paul McCartney cover: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Another mag I keep an eye on, Les Inrockuptibles, a French weekly with a far more edgy view of contemporary culture, currently has a portrait of Bjork on the cover.

Guess which mag I bought? And guess which singer I regard as suitable for grown-ups? Clue for new readers: she’s not from Liverpool.


Gerry Smith

Barbra Streisand on tour, at £100+ per ticket: no thanks

Barbra Streisand is about to tour Europe, with a London gig on 18 July. Tickets, according to a report in yesterday’s Independent, are priced from £100 to £500 each.

I don’t get the attraction of Ms Streisand. I wouldn’t go to this gig if she paid me £100 and transported me by helicopter to my free front row seat: I’d much rather stay home and toughen up the pit bull terrier or clear the pond of duck weed.

But this isn’t really about Babs. It’s about how ticket prices for Baby Boomer gigs are creeping ever upwards. I once paid £450 for three front row seats at the Royal Opera House and have been sick at the thought of it ever since.

I vowed never again. Now I struggle to justify paying £30 for a gig ticket. Hell, you could buy 5 good albums, or 10 shirts, for that sort of dough! £50 for a Stones show, along with 75,000 other suckers in a football stadium? Non merci.

If I pay over £30 now, it has to be a rarity gig (Leonard Cohen?) in a decent venue. If Lenny charges £40 or plays Wembley Arena, he can stick it - I won’t be helping him rebuild his depleted pension fund.


Gerry Smith

Amy Winehouse in concert in Bristol - magnifico

Amy Winehouse, the first subject in a new series of Vodafone TBA gigs, aired on Sunday night on Channel 4, was filmed in a Bristol church. The exciting new diva – one of the few pop singers to whom that over-used term can be accurately applied – responded with a suitably divine performance. Stone cold sober (see below), she showed just what a strong performer she is.

The TBA series concept is clever marketing – Vodafone txt msgs subscribers to announce a free gig by a hot name, to be held a few hours later. Kids in the area who are up for it presumably register and hurry to the venue (no doubt after texting a few hundred mates).

That said, the Winehouse programme was a disappointment. Its Yoof TV production values restricted clips of the performance to half a dozen three minute songs - in a one hour programme - with the balance taken up by fan vox pops, a presenter loping round scenic Bristol tourist spots, and Amy spouting to camera. Focus on the music, stoopid!




Earlier Music for Grown-Ups feature on Amy Winehouse:

Amy Winehouse live – music for grown-ups, boozing for losers

Amy Winehouse, the exciting young Brit chanteuse, is currently managing the almost impossible - attracting demanding jazz fans, while getting the mass bonehead market to shake its collective ass and persuading 30-something supermarket impulse buyers to throw the new album into the trolley alongside the baked beans and the cat food.

It can’t last forever – at some point, hard artistic choices will have to be made. But, for the moment, Amy Winehouse is setting the popular music agenda in these parts. And producing some great art.

Friday’s screening by BBC 1 of a recent London hotel gig underlined just why she’s making waves – great voice, charismatic on-stage persona, strong material, and a wonderful band.

It also reminded you how it could all end up in tears. Much as a I value non-conformity, the sight of Winehouse clearly under the influence of booze, seeking refuge in a glass throughout the gig, exchanging “f*ck off!s” with a heckler, was dispiriting.

Somebody may be persuading her that playing a foul-mouthed lush is a good career move. Music fans will be praying that wiser counsels prevail. Amy Winehouse is an outstanding young musician; here’s hoping she doesn’t p*ss it all away in show biz excess. Boozing brazenly in public is for losers.


Gerry Smith

New version Don’t Look Back DVD released today

The new version of Don’t Look Back on DVD is finally released today in England. It looks like the product of the year.

While the new standard edition single disc hardly excites – Pennebaker’s masterpiece has been available on DVD for several years - the double disc box (details below) is a must-buy.

But you’d be silly to pay full price (£23). I’ve ordered my copy from 101cd.com, at £15.95 delivered, the best deal I could find - amazon.co.uk were selling at £12.99 but you had to make the order up to £15 to get free del and they were quoting 7 weeks wait when I looked last week.


Earlier article on sister site, The Dylan Daily:

Don’t Look Back on DVD - biggest Dylan event of 2007 to date

The DVD re-release of Don’t Look Back, the classic fly-on-the-wall documentary, looks like being the biggest Dylan event of 2007 to date. Pre-orders on amazon.com have already put it inside the online retailer’s top 10,000 DVD titles.

The film tracks Dylan at his iconic, sneering, imperious peak (as well as his court of jesters) on the 1965 English tour. It has long been a must-have for aficionados.

There’ll be two new DVD versions of Don’t Look Back – a single disc release of the original film, remastered, plus a new 2DVD package:

Disc 1:
* Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back
* Commentary by director D.A. Pennebaker and tour road manager Bob Neuwirth
* Five additional uncut audio tracks
* Alternate version of the Subterranean Homesick Blues cue-card sequence
* Original theatrical trailer
* Pennebaker filmography
* Bob Dylan discography
* Cast and crew biographies

Disc 2:
* Bob Dylan 65 Revisited – new documentary compiled by Pennebaker from over 20 hours of unseen footage
* Commentary by Pennebaker and road manager Bob Neuwirth
* book (168pp) including a complete transcript, over 200 photos, and a new foreword by Pennebaker
* Collectible Subterranean Homesick Blues flipbook

Don’t Look Back on DVD is due for release in N America on 27 February, so presumably in the UK on Mon 26 February or Mon 5 March.

It’s a must-buy, even for those like me who’ve had the VHS and original DVD versions for years – a well-conceived new product, with loads of added value in the new two disc package.


Gerry Smith

Top 10 classical recordings

Thanks to Cecilia Mort who sent the Classic FM Top 10 recordings - voted for by listeners and broadcast in the station’s annual Easter weekend countdown of the top 500.

Grown-up music ratio? On this evidence, about 50%.

1 (3 last year) The Lark Ascending Vaughan Williams
2 (7) Cello Concerto Elgar
3 (2) Piano Concerto No 2 Rachmaninov
4 (1) Clarinet Concerto Mozart
5 (4) Piano Concerto No 5 Beethoven (“Emperor”)
6 (9) Enigma Variations Elgar
7 (5) Violin Concerto No 1 Bruch
8 (6) Symphony No 6 Beethoven (“Pastoral”)
9 (8) Symphony No 9 Beethoven (“Choral”)
10 (11) Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Vaughan Williams


Gerry Smith

The Smiths: a light that will never go out

Let’s be honest, I’d seen the listing in the TV/radio guide and decided naaaah – not even worth recording… it’ll be yet another tedious, glum Manc love-in, blighted by the usual show biz bonehead yap-yap production values of BBC Radio 2.

But, three days later, curiosity led me to “Listen Again” via the web to Radio 2’s Salford Lad, the first in a two-part documentary on Morrissey/The Smiths. I am rather partial to The Smiths’ music, after all…

Confounding my prejudices, it was a lovely programme. Most of the motley crew of interviewees, presenter Stuart Maconie included, had something worthwhile to say. Some of them even said it well.

Mixing the voices of key players, especially Morrissey and Marr, with some spectacular music reminded you just how good The Smiths really were.

I won’t be missing the second part, aired on Saturday 28 April at 2000. It covers Morrissey’s solo career, a yawning gap in my musical knowledge.

You can hear the first programme via the web until Saturday, then the second for the following seven days:

www.bbc.co.uk/radio2


Radio 2 billing (with corrections!):

“Saturday 21/28 April 2000-2100
“It is almost twenty years since Morrissey, England’s most thoughtful and enduring lyricist and singer, launched his solo career. Ever since his emergence as front man with the Smiths in the 1980s his songs have been pored over, analysed and quoted.

“In this two part series for BBC Radio 2 Stuart Maconie tells the story of the Manchester lad who became a British icon. We hear from friends, fans, colleagues and fellow musicians including: Richard Boon, Mike Hinc, Jo Slee, Andrew Paresi, Willy Russell, Badly Drawn Boy, Zoe Williams, John Hegley, Preston, Stephen Street, Tony Visconti, Andy Rourke and Suggs.”



Gerry Smith

Forever Ella – fitting tribute to the First Lady of Song

Forever Ella, released in the UK on Monday and readily available as a supermarket sub-£10 impulse buy, is a fitting tribute to mark today’s 90th birthdate of the magnificent First Lady of Song.

The 20 track CD (not to be confused with an equally excellent but very different 1995 compilation of the same name – they share only three tracks) covers Ella’s main bases, with six tracks from the Cole Porter songbook and most of the other tracks from the other songbook projects, plus a couple of Louis Armstrong duets.

If you bought Gold, the wonderful last (2CD) Fitzgerald compilation, you already have half the songs on Forever Ella. On the other hand, collectors are catered for by new orchestral backing by the London Symphony Orchestra on Cry Me A River, and new remixes of the last two tracks.

Verve has developed the attractive cartoon Ella cover artwork which made Gold and the latest Ella/Louis Armstrong compilation stand out on the shelves, though they’ve changed the colour palette from blue to yellow. Gorgeous.

If you don’t possess any Ella Fitzgerald recordings, make Forever Ella your first. It’s a beauty.

Best price I’ve seen: amazon.co.uk (£8.99). If you can wait a few months, you’ll probably be able to pick it up for about £6 with the cat food and cornflakes.


Tracklist
1. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
2. Cry Me A River
3. Manhattan
4. Best Is Yet To Come
5. I Get A Kick Out Of You
6. Cheek To Cheek
7. Don't Fence Me In
8. Get Happy
9. Night And Day
10. Let's Face The Music And Dance
11. Summertime
12. Someone To Watch Over Me
13. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)
14. They Can't Take That Away From Me
15. Let's Fall In Love
16. You Do Something To Me
17. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
18. Fine Romance
19. Wait Till You See Him
20. Angel Eyes



Gerry Smith

The best of early Miles Davis, 1949-61

Jazz Library, the excellent new Friday night series on BBC Radio 3, managed to last about two months without featuring Miles, but eventually succumbed last week with a lovely programme analysing the recordings of Davis, 1949-61.

Presenter Alyn Shipton drew on the innumerable insights of fellow trumpeter Guy Barker for the discussion of the Gil Evans collaborations, and broadcaster Brian Morton for the later material. I’m already looking forward to the inevitable Jazz Library sequels covering later Miles recordings.

The Jazz Library series is a revelation - a fine intro for beginners exploring the best of the back catalogue.

You can hear this fine programme via the web until this Friday:

www.bbc.co.uk/radio3


Running order:
* All Blues
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and John Coltrane

* Boplicity
Album Birth of the Cool

* Blues for Pablo
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and Gil Evans

* Studio Discussion
Artist Miles Davis / Gil Evans
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and Gil Evans

* Springsville (overdub take 1)
Artist Miles Davis / Gil Davis
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and Gil Evans

* Bess You Is My Woman Now
Artist Miles Davis / Gil Evans
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and Gil Evans

* Solea
Artist Miles Davis / Gil Evans
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and Gil Evans

* Diner Au Motel
Album L'Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud

* Straight No Chaser
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and John Coltrane

* Oleo
Artist Miles Davis
Album In Person: Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk Complete

* So What
Artist Miles Davis / Gil Evans Orchestra
Album Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall

* Some Day My Prince Will Come
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and John Coltrane



Gerry Smith

ON AIR this week

Thanks to Mike Ollier for his selection:

RADIO:
This Week's Radio For Grown-Ups, W/E 28/04/07

Tuesday BBCR2 11.30 ~ 12.30
* Courtney Pine's Jazz Crusade

Weds BBCR6 9.30 ~ 10.30
* Earplugs & Eyeliner ~ The Iggy Pop Story
Chrissie Hynde takes time off from worrying McDonald's to recount the tale of the erstwhile Mr James Osterbeg

Friday BBCR6 9.00 ~ 10.00
* Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan: Food
The living legend introduces tracks from Slim Gaillard, The Melodians and Wendy Rene, Cab Calloway, The Rolling Stones and Dizzy Gillespie, amongst others.

Friday BBCR3 10.30 ~ 11.30
* Jazz Library ~ Bud Powell
The legacy of the legendary pianist



TV:
This Week's TV For Grown-Ups, W/E 28/04/07

Friday BBC4 8.30 ~ 9.00
* Joni Mitchell In Concert
A live set from 1970

Friday BBC4 9.00 ~ 10.00
* Originals: Robyn Hitchcock
Former Soft Boy and Egyptian's mainman rehearsing his latest album with John Paul Jones, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Peter Buck and Nick Lowe. Also features footage of an American tour (repeated @ 12.20 and on Saturday @ 1.05).

Friday BBC4 10.00 ~ 11.00
* In Session: Gillian Welch
A stunning set from one of the world's top songwriters and her partner, the guitar genius David Rawlings (repeated @ 1.20).

New tenor - Saimir Pirgu - stars in delightful Gianni Schicchi

Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu, making his Covent Garden debut, announced himself as a young tenor to watch in Puccini’s delightful one act opera, Gianni Schicchi on Saturday.

He was in good company. Bryn Terfel illuminated the title role, as Royal Opera House audiences have come to expect. Dina Kuznetsova impressed: her big moment, O mio babbino caro – one of the best-known arias in the repertoire – stood out, despite an abrupt intro. The support cast sang and acted well. Direction, costume - 1950s Italy – and the one room set were strong, convincing.

Inevitably, with Terfel in the title role, the classic-lite mob was out in force. “Can you understand the Spanish?” I overheard one greying bonehead enquire, in the interval after the equally delightful first piece, Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnol. “I think it’s in French, dear,” came the razor sharp reply.

Royal Opera House: preserve of the London/Home Counties intelligentsia? Doncha believe it.


Gerry Smith

ON AIR: Uncle Bob, Miles, Dinah Washington, Ella

Must-record broadcasts for grown-ups:

Today:
2100 BBC 6Music: Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour
2230 BBC Radio 3: Jazz Library, Miles Davis – first two decades
0010 BBC Four (TV): Dinah Washington profile

Saturday:
1600 BBC Radio 3: Ella Fitzgerald appreciation


Gerry Smith

Elliott Landy exhibition opens next week

Thanks to (rock photographer) Lawrence Kirsch for sending a link to an NME news story of an exhibition of the photography of Elliott Landy, due to open in London next week.

Landy is best known for his Woodstock-period Dylan shoots. His work also adorns the cover of Van Morrison’s Tupelo Honey album, and he photographed many other 1960s/70s rock musicians.


http://www.nme.com/news/27617


I’ll be going!



Gerry Smith

The Doors – stunning new photo exhibition

Thanks to Guy White, Gallery Director, for details of a stunning new exhibition of Joel Brodsky’s iconic photos of The Doors.

Snap Galleries aim to get you to say “WOW!” when you enter their Birmingham exhibition space. I found myself “WOW!”-ing, involuntarily, even as I opened the link below.

The recently deceased Brodsky’s collection is one of the most striking portfolios of photography in music history: Snap’s wonderful exhibition is a fitting showcase.

Details from Guy White, Snap Gallery:
“… your subscribers might be interested in the exhibition of ultra large Jim Morrison / Doors photographs that we are launching at our gallery from this Saturday, 21 April 2007.

“Here's the link to all the info:

http://www.snapgalleries.com/scalinglizardking.html

Snap Galleries Limited
Unit 7 - Ground Floor
Fort Dunlop
Fort Parkway
Birmingham
B24 9FD
Tel 0121 748 3408
info@snapgalleries.com

Well worth a visit if you’re anywhere near.



Gerry Smith

The Best Of Van Morrison, Volume 3 - due in June

The Best Of Van Morrison, Volume 3 will be released in the USA on 19 June. The 2CD album has 31 tracks, dating from the early 1990s to mid-Noughties, including previously unreleased collaborations, as well as duets with greats like John Lee Hooker, B.B. King and Ray Charles.

Disc 1
1. Cry For Home (with Tom Jones) (previously unreleased)
2. Too Long In Exile
3. Gloria (with John Lee Hooker)
4. Help Me with Junior Wells (live)
5. Lonely Avenue / 4 O' Clock In The Morning (with Jimmy Witherspoon, Candy Dulfer & Jim Hunter) (live)
6. Days Like This
7. Ancient Highway
8. Raincheck
9. Moondance
10. Centerpiece (with Georgie Fame & Annie Ross)
11. That's Life (live)
12. Benediction (remix) (with Georgie Fame & Ben Sidran)
13. The Healing Game (re-mix)
14. I Don't Want To Go On Without You (with Jim Hunter)


Disc 2
1. Shenandoah (with The Chieftains)
2. Precious Time
3. Back On Top (remix)
4. When The Leaves Come Falling Down
5. Lost John (with Lonnie Donegan) (live)
6. Tupelo Honey (with Bobby Bland) (previously unreleased)
7. Meet Me In The Indian Summer (orchestral version) (remix)
8. Georgia On My Mind
9. Hey Mr. DJ
10. Steal My Heart Away
11. Crazy Love (with Ray Charles)
12. Once In A Blue Moon
13. Little Village
14. Blue and Green
15. Sitting On Top Of The World (with Carl Perkins)
16. Early In The Morning (with B.B. King)
17. Stranded


Yippee! UK date, and discussion of the release, to follow.




Gerry Smith

Miles Davis tops poll by new jazz station

Surprise, surprise - So What, from Kind Of Blue, has just topped a poll for best jazz recording. And Miles has two other tunes in the top 10 - All Blues and Blue In Green.

The survey was carried out for new digital radio station theJazz.

Top 10
1 Miles Davis - So What
2 Dave Brubeck - Take Five
3 Louis Armstrong - West End Blues
4 John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
5 Miles Davis - All Blues
6 John Coltrane - My Favourite Things
7 Weather Report - Birdland
8 Jamie Cullum - Twentysomething
9 Duke Ellington - Take The 'A' Train
10 Miles Davis - Blue In Green



Gerry Smith

Neil Young, Live At Massey Hall - a must-buy

Neil Young’s new release, Live At Massey Hall, the famed 1971 acoustic gig in Toronto, doesn’t ring my bell quite as much as the earlier Live At The Fillmore East, backed by a powerful, mighty Crazy Horse.

Young’s Massey Hall performances – vocals, acoustic picking and piano - of his prime early ‘70s balladry are exceptional. They remind you forcefully why Young was such massive box office in those far-off days. And the close-miked sound quality is staggeringly good.

The DVD in the Special Edition’s a beaut, too. And the packaging design, like all the recent Shakey product, is delightful.

Live At Massey Hall: a must-buy.

The sheer quality of the music means that three minor whines pale into insignificance. But let’s have them, anyway:

· Young’s sub-hippy shy boy between-song mumblings. Yeeuuugh!
· The pathetically salivating Canuck crowd, far too high in the mix, roaring over-enthusiastically at the merest mention of “Canada”, “Ontario” and the rest. Provincials!
· Dysfunctional packaging. Both CD and DVD easily fall out of the gatefold sleeve – I had to add a couple of paper disc sleeves to prevent the precious artefacts getting wrecked.



Gerry Smith

Springsteen - Seeger Sessions v The Rising

When Bruce Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions aired on TV last year, I could hardly believe my ears. Having taped, watched once and hastily filed, I thought I’d better give it a second chance. Just in case I’d been unfair.

But no change, I’m afraid: music I find tedious, with performances to match – a wholly alienating experience.

So I had to reassure myself about Springsteen generally and chose to re-listen to The Rising. Thank the Lord: it sounds just as powerfully revelatory as it did when it drove me to write the review below for Music for Grown-Ups.

Whither Bruce? Let’s hope he’s over his Seeger/heritage phase.



The Rising: A Modern Masterpiece

OK. This article is a full eighteen months late. There's a reason. When The Rising was released, in 2002, I collected the (mostly positive) reviews, filed them away, and added the album to my "must-buy" list. But I also decided to delay buying it until all the fuss had died down.

At his best, notably on Darkness on the Edge of Town and Nebraska, Springsteen is one of rock's handful of great creative artists - he's a doggedly original writer who draws convincing, spare vignettes of the urban struggles of oddballs and ordinary people. He's also a fine musician and an exceptional performer (even if his bombastic arena shows are too near to mainstream show biz for my tastes).

But there's another side to Springsteen, which has always tempered my admiration. It's the sing-along-a-Brooce anthemic sloganeering designed for very large crowds - Music for Middle American Males (eagerly adopted by their peers in the rest of the world). Much of this stuff sounds like (and is widely taken as) parochial bluster, regardless of its creator's avowed intentions. Mid-'80s Springsteen is absolutely NOT music for grown-ups.

It was partly a fear that The Rising would be a suffocating Good-ole-USA love-in that decided me to delay buying The Rising. Don't get me wrong, I'm not yet another knee-jerk anti-American. My respect for the US is boundless. It's just that indulgent patriotism - by the nationals of any country - makes me cringe, whether it's the God Bless America variety, or Flower of Scotland, Waltzing Matilda and, especially, the deeply objectionable God Save Our Gracious Queen.

So I was reluctant to pay to torture myself with what I feared might be indulgent parochialism, draped in maudlin Fourth of July/Independence Day/Thanksgiving/High School graduation references - cultural references as alien to me as the totems of Islam, the bhurka or the call to prayer.

And there was a strong suspicion that the enormous tragedy of 9/11 (as I have learned to call it) was far too sensitive an issue for mere entertainers to handle: schmaltzy crocodile tears, bogus sentimentality, inarticulate hearts worn on flashy sleeves are inherently unattractive. As is facile political analysis by people whose views are simply not worth hearing. Neil Young had done a fine job on 9/11 in Are You Passionate? But I wasn't sure Bruce was up to the task.

I shouldn't have worried. The Rising, which I finally listened to - very carefully - over the holidays, is nothing less than a modern masterpiece, a fitting evocation of the wrought emotions of 9/11 and its aftermath. A permanent memorial to the outrage. But it's also so much more.

Springsteen's achievement - 73 minutes of intense emotion, scarcely drawing breath, without even approaching a false note - is appropriately massive. The Rising is a near-perfect suite of 15 linked songs of a quality infrequently encountered; and, a rarity among rock albums - it doesn't have a single weak track.

The standout song, musically and lyrically, is You're Missing. Keening strings and organ showcase poignant lyrics which recite a litany of evidence that the partner won't be returning. Ever. The pathos in the voice is almost palpable.

Popular music has seen few, if any, evocations of pained loss which are even remotely as convincing as this: its direct line to that part of the brain which controls the tear ducts places the song alongside the greatest operatic arias, the ones occurring in the final scenes of the finest operas, when the heroine finally expires.

Into the Fire, with its gospel incantation: "... may your... give us..., may your..." is not far behind. The Rising is equally powerful. Nothing Man sees the tragedy from the point of view of the Ordinary Joe, and is appropriately written and performed. Mary's Place, the only concession to Springsteen's key constituency - 40 year old/middle American/male/trainers-and-blue-jean-wearers - while disguised as an obvious singalongaBrooooce air-punching anthem, complete with mandatory (unnecessary) rock sax, turns out to be a beautifully-crafted study in turn-the-other cheek stoicism.

The two songs which see 9/11 from a different perspective - Worlds Apart, which addresses the problems of star-crossed lovers in Afghanistan, and Paradise, spoken by a suicide bomber just before the final act - save the album from being too USA-centric, adding enormously to its worldview, and its complex evocation of humanist values.

The album's superior lyrics are enriched by the eclectic range of musical styles it employs, which will surprise listeners who associate Bruce only with arena anthems. To hear such powerful lyrics set in such a range of genres is an unexpected bonus. Gospel, blues (often in the same song), anthemic rock, tender balladry, Mid-Eastern devotional inserts, telling pop hooks, and even the effective use of strings, will ensure that this album will still sound fresh and inviting in fifty years.

What elevates The Rising way above contemporary reportage of the unspeakable, diabolic attack on the Twin Towers is the universality of its concerns. Like most great art, it can be read as a general, as well as a particular, statement. The sentiments so authentically explored in The Rising are applicable to any human crisis which evokes suffering, grief, loss, stoicism, anger, bewilderment, courage, resignation, heroism, comfort, and sadness.

Darkness on the Edge of Town revealed Springsteen as a uniquely gifted chronicler of the struggles of proletarian youth in urban America. Thirty years on, The Rising tracks him painting, equally successfully, a much larger canvas - the struggles of Everyman, everywhere.

Because of the scale of its ambition, and the seeming ease with which it realises it, The Rising is great art. It's a triumphant (but absolutely not, note, triumphal) response to a national tragedy, with universal resonance. Not only is it among the artist's finest work, it's one of the highlights of all rock music.

The Rising confirms Springsteen's stature as one of the giants of popular music - as if it was ever in doubt.



Gerry Smith

Bob Dylan’s Top Ten Dylan albums

Bob Dylan’s Top Ten Dylan albums, judging by the set lists of the first ten shows of the Europe 2007 tour, are:

1. Modern Times (2006)
2. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
3. Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
4. "Love and Theft" (2001)
5. Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
6. Blonde on Blonde (1966)
7. John Wesley Harding (1968)
8. Nashville Skyline (1969)
9. Blood on the Tracks (1974)
10. Basement Tapes (1975)


Few surprises there, but ranking the playing of the back catalogue in more detail presents a few:

* Album rank – by different songs played

1. Modern Times (2006) 6
2. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963) 4
3. Highway 61 Revisited (1965) 4
4. "Love and Theft" (2001) 4
5. Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964) 3
6. Blonde on Blonde (1966) 3
7. John Wesley Harding (1968) 2
8. Nashville Skyline (1969) 2
9. Blood on the Tracks (1974) 2
10. Basement Tapes (1975) 2
11. Under the Red Sky (1990) 2
12. Time out of Mind (1997) 2
13. The Times They Are A’Changin’ (1964) 1
14. Bringing it all Back Home (1965) 1
15. Oh Mercy (1989) 1
16. Greatest Hits v2 (1971) 1
17. Best Of v2 (2000) 1


* Album rank – by number of performances

1. Modern Times (2006) 47
2. Highway 61 Revisited (1965) 22
3. "Love and Theft" (2001) 16
4. John Wesley Harding (1968) 12
5. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963) 11
6. Bringing it all Back Home (1965) 10
7. Blonde on Blonde (1966) 8
8. Under the Red Sky (1990) 8
9. Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964) 6
10. Blood on the Tracks (1974) 5
11. Nashville Skyline (1969) 3
12. Basement Tapes (1975) 2
13. Time out of Mind (1997) 2
14. The Times They Are A’Changin’ (1964) 1
15. Oh Mercy (1989) 1
16. Greatest Hits v2 (1971) 1
17. Best Of v2 (2000) 1


* Albums contributing no selections in first 10 shows

Bob Dylan (1962)
Self Portrait (1970)
New Morning (1970)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
Dylan (1973)
Planet Waves (1974)
Desire (1975)
Street-Legal (1978)
Slow Train Coming (1979)
Saved (1980)
Shot of Love (1981)
Infidels (1983)
Empire Burlesque (1985)
Knocked out Loaded (1986)
Down in the Groove (1988)
Good as I Been to You (1992)
World gone Wrong (1993)


Gerry Smith

New jazz radio station – theJazz – launching later this morning

New jazz radio station theJazz starts the second phase of its launch today at 0900 BST, when Helen Mayhew launches a countdown of theJazz 500, compiled from votes cast over the past three month on www.thejazz.com

From 0600 on Tuesday 10 April, the normal programme schedule kicks in. Presenters include Mike Chadwick, David Jensen, Jamie Cullum, Ramsey Lewis, Jacqui Dankworth, Digby Fairweather, Courtney Pine and Campbell Burnap. Hmmm…

Here’s hoping the new station – available online, on DAB Digital and via satellite TV and cable – finds an audience without having to resort to 24 hour jazzpap.

The main worry is that it’s run by the people who bring you Classic FM. Now I love classical music, but wouldn’t listen to Classic-Lite FM’s brand of soothing snippets to save my life. It just ain’t music for grown-ups.


www.thejazz.com



Gerry Smith

Ali Farka Toure: twin testaments to a great African musician

Little did we know when witnessing Ali Farka Toure’s great London concert in 2005 (review below) that he would soon be dead (obit below).

I’ve just caught up with his last two releases, In The Heart Of The Moon (with Touamani Diabete, as in the Barbican gig), and Savane. As expected, they’re both magnificent testaments to a very fine musician. Highly recommended.



Ali Farka Toure, leading African musician, RIP

Ali Farka Toure, who died of cancer today, will be long remembered as a great ambassador for African music. His death comes at a time of growing international recognition: a couple of weeks ago he won a Grammy for last year’s duet with Toumani Diabate, In The Heart Of The Moon. An earlier Grammy winner, 1994’s Talking Timbuktu, recorded with Ry Cooder, is the guitarist’s best-known album.

Toure made a rare London appearance last summer. Here’s how Music for Grown-Ups reviewed it:



Ali Farka Toure: still a major player

In his first London gig for over six years, Ali Farka Toure reminded a sold-out Barbican Hall last night that, despite his virtual retirement to rural Mali, he’s still a major player in roots music.

The rapturously received gig – the standing ovation seemed like the only appropriate response – was split into two halves. The opening set, with the support of a virtuoso five piece band, explored the popular end of the Toure spectrum. The two deep blues tunes from his strongest album, Talking Timbuktu, contrasted with earlier, less familiar, less accessible, but equally compelling work.

Throughout, Toure’s keening vocals and exquisite guitar vamps were complemented by some engaging duets with the ngoni player (Malian guitar-type, stringed instrument), and anchored in delicate beats from the magnificently polyrhythmic calabash and congos.

For most of the second half, Toure played the back-up role, setting the groove for some complex improv runs by “La prophete de la kora”, Toumani Diabate, before the band returned. The encore saw Toure switching to a tiny bowed instrument. He excelled on that, too.

World-class musicians at the top of their game. And the mesmerising show underlined some of the central tenets of the Music for Grown-Ups manifesto:

* music is music, wherever and whenever it comes from – Diabate’s kora could easily have been mistaken for a harpsichord playing Bach or Mozart; and Toure’s guitar picking could be used as a master class by any aspiring blue-eyed blues-rock axeman

* music, alone of the arts, has the power to explore the subtle richness of the human experience; capable of going well beyond mere entertainment, it can evoke the whole range of human emotions.

The evening’s sole jarring note was the main man’s insistence on addressing the crowd - many times, and at some length - in French. A small scattering of French speakers – presumably expats or Toure hardcore fans who’d trained in on Eurostar from Paris and Brussels - giggled and clapped on cue, but 95% of the audience listened blankly, slightly embarrassed. Someone needs to have a quiet word – contrary to appearances in West Africa, Whitey/M Leblanc doesn’t normally understand French, especially the accented non-Metropolitan variety. Addressing a London audience in Malian French is a waste of time; it threatened to spoil the flow of a masterful gig.

The divine duets performed by Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate are available on a highly praised new album, just released this week – In The Heart Of The Moon. Very highly recommended.



Ali Farka Toure, great musician, RIP.




Gerry Smith

Dylan in Europe – Copenhagen last night

Thanks to: Mary, Tomas, Christian, Suzanne, Jon, Gustav, Per, Brian, Karl, Sven.

Last night in Copenhagen Dylan broke the run of samey setlists, introducing five new songs to the tour, and raising the number of different songs on the tour to 31, after only five shows - as you’d expect from the man with the most prodigious high quality songbook in the history of music. Highlight: Visions Of Johanna. Lo-light: Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum.


* Setlist - latest show – Copenhagen, Monday 2 April:

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Man In The Long Black Coat
Watching The River Flow
It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
When The Deal Goes Down
Highway 61 Revisited
Visions Of Johanna
Rollin' And Tumblin'
Desolation Row
Spirit On The Water
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
Nettie Moore
Summer Days
Like A Rolling Stone
Thunder On The Mountain
All Along The Watchtower


* Tour debuts in latest show:

Desolation Row
Man In The Long Black Coat
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Visions Of Johanna


* All songs played on the tour so far:

All Along The Watchtower (5)
It's Alright, Ma (5)
Like A Rolling Stone (5)
Rollin' And Tumblin' (5)
Summer Days (5)
Thunder On The Mountain (5)

Highway 61 Revisited (4)
Nettie Moore (4)
Tangled Up In Blue (4)
Watching The River Flow (4)
When The Deal Goes Down (4)

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (3)
Cat's In The Well (3)
Spirit On The Water (3)

Country Pie (2)
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (2)
Girl Of The North Country (2)
Honest With Me (2)

Desolation Row
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
It Ain't Me, Babe
Lay Lady Lay
Man In The Long Black Coat
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
Not Dark Yet
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
Tears Of Rage
To Ramona
Things Have Changed
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Visions Of Johanna


* Different songs (5 shows): 31


* Itinerary:

April:
4 Hamburg
5 Münster
6 Brussels
8 Amsterdam
9 Amsterdam
11 Glasgow
12 Newcastle
14 Sheffield
15 London
16 London
17 Birmingham
19 Düsseldorf
20 Stuttgart
21 Frankfurt
23 Paris
25 Geneva
26 Turin
27 Milan
29 Zürich
30 Mannheim

May:
2 Leipzig
3 Berlin
5 Herning


* Gigs already played
March
27 Stockholm;
28 Stockholm;
30 Oslo
April:
1 Gothenburg
2 Copenhagen



Gerry Smith

The Doors – rock release of 2007

A very strong contender for rock release of 2007 has to be the 40th Anniversary compilation, The Very Best Of The Doors.

There are three versions: a single CD, in the supermarkets now; a better buy is the 2CD version; easily the best buy is the Limited Edition 2CD/DVD/book.

Both of the 2CD versions have virtually everything you need by the Doors:

Disc: 1
1. Break On Through
2. Strange Days
3. Alabama Song
4. Love Me Two Times
5. Light My Fire
6. Spanish Caravan
7. Crystal Ship
8. The Unknown Soldier
9. The End (full version)
10. People Are Strange
11. Back Door Man
12. Moonlight Drive
13. End Of The Night
14. Five To One
15. When The Music's Over


Disc: 2
1. Bird Of Prey
2. Love Her Madly
3. Riders On The Storm
4. Orange County Suite
5. Runnin' Blue
6. Hello I Love You
7. The W.A.S.P. (Texas Radio & The Big Beat)
8. Stoned Immaculate
9. Soul Kitchen
10. Peace Frog
11. L.A. Woman
12. Waiting For The Sun
13. Touch Me
14. The Changeling
15. Wishful, Sinful
16. Love Street
17. The Ghost Song
18. Whiskey, Mystics And Men
19. Roadhouse Blues

The packaging of The Very Best Of The Doors, with a naked torso shot of Mr Mojo Rising pointing at the camera, is stunning. If, like me, you already own all the audio tracks, the Limited Edition is worth buying for the booklet, DVD and the packaging alone. It’s available online for about £16, delivered. Bargain!



Gerry Smith

Dave Holland on tonight’s Jazz Library

BBC Radio 3 has dropped Jazz Legends, its must-listen Friday afternoon series, but - let’s face it - the well was running dry. When a reasonably well-versed jazz fan could no longer recognize half the “Legends”’ names, the series was clearly running out of ideas.

But Radio 3’s jazz missionary activity continues, with an equally strong new series at a more sensible time. Jazz Library, at 2230 on Fridays, is a one-hour series of beginners’ guides. It’s already covered the artistry of: Louis Armstrong, Jan Garbarek, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans and Wayne Shorter.

It continues tonight with the great bassist Dave Holland, and continues in April with:

6 Sarah Vaughan
13 Bessie Smith
20 Miles Davis
21 Bud Powell.

Jazz Library is highly recommended for grown-ups seeking to sample the top names in jazz. I’m recording the lot – it’s that good.

www.bbc.co.uk/radio3


Gerry Smith

Dylan in Europe: a taste of things to come?

In anticipation of 6 weeks of Dylan-mania in Europe, starting tomorrow night in Stockholm, here’s a taster of what a few of the gigs could turn out like – my review of the great London gigs of November 2003, originally published on www.musicforgrownups.co.uk:



London dates underline Dylan's iconic status

The London dates which closed Bob Dylan's 2003 tour reminded English concert-goers that the musician's status is now well above that of mere "legend".

Towering above the competition - in any musical genre - Dylan is now an icon. Like all icons, he's worshipped. At the final London concert, his every statement, every nuance of phrasing, was received with something akin to rapture. In a lifetime of concertgoing, in smoky jazz club and grand opera house, rock stadium and pop arena, you'd be lucky to see a more tumultuous reception than that accorded Dylan on Tuesday night.

The four London shows started with an arena gig (Wembley), continued (after a detour to the Rust Belt) with a small theatre show (Shepherd's Bush Empire) and finished with concerts in two mid-sized theatres (Hammersmith Apollo and Brixton Academy). Each show garnered high praise; the only disagreements among aficionados concerned shades of excellence.

Taken together, the four set lists showcased Dylan's peerless songbook. Two thirds of the 68 songs performed were played only once. Recherche classics (Romance in Durango, Yeah, Heavy..., Jokerman, Blind Willie McTell) were interleaved with 1960s anthems (Like a Rolling Stone, Mr Tambourine Man), and the cream of the ballads, from tender love songs (Boots of Spanish Leather, Girl of the North Country) to hard-edged political tracts (Desolation Row and Hard Rain).

Even the four different versions of Like A Rolling Stone, the classic that the Dylanistas affect to deride, were among the best ever heard - the very pinnacle of rock music, sung with such deliberate gusto by its creator, its smart-ass put-downs never so meanly delivered... a B Minor Mass for the Baby Boomers lucky to be contemporaries of its creator.

The re-workings of songs from “Love And Theft” were revelatory. High Water (For Charley Patton) became an epic, the Hammersmith audience waiting for delivery of each line as if for tablets from on high. Floater, with Freddy Koella on violin and Tony Garnier on acoustic bass - a high risk arrangement - lent a rare jazz tinge to a Dylan gig.

The performances were outstanding. Dylan reinterpreted his canon with striking new emphases. The voice has rarely sounded more convincing - strong, melodious, impassioned. Many, hearing The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, maybe for the hundredth time, will have experienced an involuntary dropping of the jaw as Dylan delivered the key line. Such powerful writing, so skilfully delivered, made the derisory sentence handed out to William Zanzinger sound as outrageous as it did the first time you heard it.

Dylan has always written for his own voice. His talking blues delivery is entirely appropriate for his material, so performing the catalogue doesn't need a technically refined instrument like Pavarotti's, or even a soul voice to match Van Morrison's. OK, you wouldn't cast Dylan as a principal at the Met. But then, Placido Domingo's Desolation Row wouldn't really be worth hearing, either.

Dylan played piano, standing, throughout, while directing the band. He's no McCoy Tyner, but his honky tonk chords added immeasurably to the mix. The piano liberated the singer.

Even the handful of slighter songs which crept into the London shows were beefed up by some soaring, competitive blues-rock riffing by the two virtuoso guitarists, Larry Campbell and Freddy Koella. The magnificent rhythm section, George Recile and Tony Garnier, anchored the shows, as well as contributing many telling passages.

The London shows underlined Dylan's claim to be regarded as one of the great creative forces of the age. It's no longer sufficient to discuss Dylan in the context of other popular musicians. Comparisons with poprock contemporaries - the Beatles, say, or the Stones, or the army of superannuated hoofers still peddling heritage entertainment to eager nostalgics - do Dylan a disservice.

Dylan should be judged, instead, by reference to the musical giants from all genres - Mozart, Bach, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Callas... . And against the great writers, in all media, from all eras - Shakespeare, Joyce, Goethe, Cervantes... .

Bob Dylan's writing and performance art bridge the gap between popular entertainment and high culture. His is quintessential music for grown-ups.



Gerry Smith

New Dylan, Young, Morrison, Mitchell, Cohen product – 1970s re-run for Boomer rock fans

A fevered new release programme is making early 2007 seem like a re-run of the 1970s, with all the big beasts in the rock jungle stirring again:

* Dylan – Don’t Look Back de luxe DVD

* Neil Young – Live At Massey Hall; Archive series due to start

* Van Morrison – At The Movies compilation CD

* Joni Mitchell – new album, Shine, already being touted; remastered de luxe versions of the cream of her mid-‘70s albums set for release

* Leonard Cohen – de luxe versions of early albums imminent.

Music for Grown-Ups doesn’t go in for nostalgia, but even nostalgia has its moments.


Gerry Smith

Three must-try young musicians for grown-ups

Whenever I mention the name Music for Grown-Ups, most people immediately get the intended ambiguity. A few miss it completely, and assume I’m referring to Music for Olde Fartes – ‘60s rock or, even worse, the kind of hoary old pop singles endlessly recycled on Gold radio stations.

No, I patiently explain, Music for Grown-Ups can come from any place, and any time – from 15thC Germany to Omaha yesterday. If it withstands critical scrutiny, it’s in.

There’s a constant stream of young musicians refreshing the grown-up core repertoire. At the moment, I’m listening a lot to three very different twentysomething magicians:

* Amy Winehouse – smokey, soulful torch ballads and funky r’n’b

* Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) – dazzling American singer-songwriter. Just listen to his cover of Dylan’s Girl Of The North Country. My, my, my…

* Jim Moray – nu-folk pioneer, revolutionising the trad English songbook with electronica, and somehow burnishing its core beauty. Moray can’t decide whether he wants to be a folkie or a rock star. Result? Some great art.

All three fulfil all the criteria, especially the major one – they make excellent, original music.


Gerry Smith

Extra Stockholm date - in tiny venue - starts Dylan’s Euro tour a day early

Bob Dylan will play an extra date in Stockholm to start the European tour next week – Tuesday 27 March - at Debaser Medis.

The good news? It’s a tiny venue. The bad news? Booking started Wednesday morning.

www.ema.se/artister/ema/bobdylan/bobdylan.htm

(This item was translated - by me, a non-Swedish speaker - from Swedish. Readers should double check before making any plans based on this Dylan Daily story).


Gerry Smith



Related earlier article:

European Tour 2007: exclusive reviews on The Dylan Daily

Only a week now to the start of Dylan's eagerly anticipated Euro 2007 spring tour.

Several readers have already kindly offered to supply The Dylan Daily with a review. If you're going to a show, and would also like to review it for fellow readers, please get in touch: info@dylandaily.com

Here's a reminder of the itinerary:

March: 28 Stockholm; 30 Oslo.

April: 1 Gothenburg; 2 Copenhagen; 4 Hamburg; 5 Münster; 6 Brussels; 8 and 9 Amsterdam; 11 Glasgow; 12 Newcastle; 14 Sheffield; 15 and 16 London (16 is an extra date); 17 Birmingham; 19 Düsseldorf; 20 Stuttgart; 21 Frankfurt; 23 Paris; 25 Geneva; 26 Turin; 27 Milan; 29 Zürich; 30 Mannheim.

May: 2 Leipzig; 3 Berlin; 5 Herning.

Terry Reid’s two extraordinary albums

Thanks to Paul Blake:


When the UK magazine Q recently selected its top 100 vocalists Robert Plant was in the number eight slot while the man who was Jimmy Page’s first choice for Led Zeppelin’s lead singer was not even listed. Terry Reid turned down the job (as he also did a while later when Deep Purple were looking for a replacement for Rod Evans), put Jimmy in touch with Robert, then headed off to California to follow his own particular muse. He emerged with two extraordinary albums – 1973’s River and 1976’s Seed of Memory – both of which slipped under the critical radar of the time, yet now sound as powerful, as individual and as compelling as Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks or John Martyn’s Solid Air.

River is a good starting point. It is an album of two parts, both driven by Reid’s sublime vocals. Side one is electric, full of striking lyricism and David Lindley’s signature slide guitar, so familiar from Jackson Browne’s early records. It is wild, restless music conceived in the English countryside by a band made up of Lindley, Conrad Isadore (drums), and Lee Miles (bass), road tested over three years and recorded in California where the band finally decamped. The first two songs – Dean and Avenue – sound improvised, off-the-cuff yet defined by Terry Reid’s remarkable vocals, while the third track – Things to Try - starts conventionally enough but then also drifts into another fluid improvisation. The side finishes with Live Life featuring another haunting Reid vocal, full of risks and unexpected twists.

If the first side of River sounds like it was conceived to hold the attention of wayward audiences, to grab them by the scruff of the neck with its invention, side two is a different beast together. Here the band unplug (David Lindley is completely absent) and give Reid to room to breathe and bring in the tropicalismo influences he picked up from his friend, Gilberto Gil. It kicks off with River – a song with some beautiful acoustic guitar and the most tender of vocals. Dreams is another Latin influenced song with a questioning, yearning quality that Reid pulls from the singer/songwriter scene around him and is topped by that amazing soul voice. The original album ends with the ethereal and breathtaking Milestones, which starts with a whistle and ends with the most intimate of vocals. Search for the expanded reissue and you get two additional acoustic tracks – Anyway and Funny – which are just as wonderful as the rest of River.

River was recorded for Atlantic Records, however, the company seemed perplexed at how to market such an indefinable record and released Reid from his contract after the album’s release. Reid continued to tour and write, then urged on by another famous friend, Graham Nash - who promised both to produce and find him a record deal – went back into the studio in 1976 to record Seed of Memory.

Seed of Memory is perhaps a more realised album than River. It is a warm, welcoming record, full of generosity and grace. David Lindley is back on board, as is Lee Miles, while the drums are handled by Soko Richardson and James Gadson. Neil Young associate Ben Keith shares the pedal steel with Al Perkins and the other instrumentalists – playing cello, flute, saxophone, horns and balalaika give a sense of how much wider a palette Seed of Memory occupies compared with River. If River is album of someone on a journey, probing their limits, not quite sure of what they can or can’t pull off, Seed of Memory is the work of someone who has arrived. It is fully formed, and gloriously complete.

The key is Graham Nash’s empathic production. Reid is recorded up close, surrounded by warm harmonies that support his vocal flights without smothering them. Seed of Memory starts with the upbeat Faith To Arise – it has the Latin inflections first explored on River but combines them with pedal steel and a chorus that is pure soul. It shouldn’t work, but it does. Next up is the plaintive Seed of Memory, where Reid’s singing is counter scored by a flute, David Lindley’s slide and some honeyed CSN & Y styled harmonies. Brave Awakening follows, a gorgeous redemptive song with a subtle, almost elastic Reid vocal that is a particular favourite of mine. The mood is continued with To Be Treated Rite, another song where Nash’s production allows Reid the space he needs to nail his expansive vocal lines.

Up to that point Seed of Memory could be extension of side two of River but then the album shifts into another realm. Ooh baby is the most joyful of soul songs with a great horn section, while The Way You Walk is a dirty blues with more powerful Lindley slide and Reid as his R&B best – hollering, imploring, pleading. The Frame is another fabulous soul track, slower than Ooh baby but with just as effective horns and another fantastic Reid vocal performance. Seed of Memory ends for one of Reid’s finest recorded vocals. Fooling You is simple but beautiful soul track that is transformed by Reid into a song of extraordinary yearning. It is a marvellous way to end a marvellous record.

ABC Records, who released Seed of Memory, folded two weeks after its release and the album never had the exposure it deserved. By 1976 the world was moving on. Television, Talking Heads and the Ramones were taking New York by storm, while in Reid’s homeland the punk revolution with the Sex Pistols, the Clash and any number of DIY bands had begun. The shaggy haired Reid smiling beatifically from the cover of Seed of Memory must have seemed out of place and time. Perhaps Seed of Memory simply came too late.

Terry Reid is touring the UK during June-July – details from

www.terryreid.net



Paul Blake is writing a book on remarkable forgotten, mislaid or overlooked albums.

Joni Mitchell radio profile starts tonight

Joni Mitchell continues her English media campaign with the first of a two-part documentary on BBC Radio 2 at 2030 tonight. She’s promoting her forthcoming album, Shine.

Mitchell’s music, especially the later work she thinks is undervalued, is inspirational. More than can be said for dispiriting recent interviews in The Sunday Times, The Guardian and The Word mag, after Elvis Costello’s extensive Mitchell interview in Vanity Fair three years ago.

Roberta Joan: your magnificent music – especially the post-Hejira albums - speaks for itself. Let it.


Gerry Smith

Dylanesque – BBC radio interview, music mag profile and London gig review

You’d have to be pretty careless to have missed the UK release of Dylanesque, Bryan Ferry’s new album of Bob covers. It’s been everywhere - if I’d been doing the PR, I’d be delighted with the album’s exposure.

Latest sightings include:

* Mark Radcliffe (Ferry fan and the brightest button on BBC Radio) interviews the enigmatic Byron about Dylanesque in tomorrow night’s show, Tuesday 2230 GMT, BBC Radio 2. You can listen on the web as it’s broadcast (and for seven days thereafter).

www.bbc.co.uk/radio2



* Observer Music Monthly profile: Thanks to Martin Cowan: “More from Bryan Ferry in yesterday's Observer Music Monthly:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,2033516,00.html



* And Ferry’s well-received promo tour reached London with a sell-out at London’s Albert Hall. Review from The Independent here:

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article2369594.ece


Gerry Smith

John Martyn’s Grace and Danger reissue: “essential”

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“I just wanted to bring to your attention the rather fine reissue of John Martyn's superb ‘Grace and Danger’ album from 1980.

“The reissue has been given the Deluxe two-disc treatment by Island Records and adds live tracks, out-takes and alternate versions to the heart-rending original nine songs.

“Essential listening.”

Wilco’s new album, Blue Sky Blue – leaked tracks

Thanks to James Ketchell:

“Wilco’s seventh album Blue Sky Blue is just around the corner with a May 23rd release date. It is the first album that singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy has written since his stint in rehab just after their previous album A Ghost is Born was recorded. In many respects this has influenced these new songs with a more ‘mellow’ mood. In fact many commentators have described the album as a rock-soul record or even (gasp!) A.O.R.

“The album has surfaced online in poor quality thanks to the band streaming a preview of the album on their website last week. I’ve only heard three songs: ‘Either Way’, ‘You Are My Face’ and ‘Walken’ and first impressions are that these three tracks sound very different to anything the band have done in the past.

“‘Either Way’, the first song on Blue Sky Blue is a simple love song which starts with the most optimistic statement from Tweedy ever, “Maybe the sun will shine today”. The song becomes a lament to a lover who may or may not still be in love with him, but either way, it is fine.

“‘You Are My Face’ is perhaps one of the most lyrically ambiguous songs that Tweedy has ever written. But whatever the real meaning, it is pure poetic bliss. I cannot find another word to describe it. The song starts off in a similar vein to ‘Either Way’ – mellow, soft, tender – until the guitars kick in a very Wilco-esque manner, building the song thanks to guitarist Nels Cline’s ability to force through angular guitar riffs. Despite the song’s lyrical beauty, it still feels as if it is a sketch, or a work in progress. I can’t wait to hear this one live and see how Wilco elaborate on it.

“‘Walken’ sounds like a Wilco interpretation of a Randy Newman song. It is the loudest of the three songs and is probably best described as a mid-tempo rocker. The song then descends into a chorus of repetitive guitar riffs and loud drums. Brilliant stuff.

“Although it is difficult to fully assess an album on three, poor quality recordings of songs, it appears as if Wilco have done it again and produced a startling record unlike any of their previous.

“If there is a more inventive, interesting and musically challenging modern band than Wilco then I’d like to hear them. With my ticket for their London gig already booked and the release of Blue Sky Blue, May cannot come quickly enough as far as I am concerned.”

Neil Young Archives - finally slated for 2007 launch

Many fans, like me, will have feared that the Fillmore East and Massey Hall albums, fine though they are, might be substitutes for the full Neil Young Archives project –promised for years, but repeatedly postponed.

But now it looks as if Shakey and Warner are finally about to hit the streets with the first proper volume of the Archives - a bumper package of 8 CDs, 2DVDs, and a book - later this year.

Hallelujah! Greendale, Living With War – begone.

Exult in this great news for grown-up music fans here:

http://www.repriserecords.com/neilarchives/



Gerry Smith

MUSIC for GROWN-UPs Newsletter, March 2007

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

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

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

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


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

* Joss Stone slammed
* Amy Winehouse live - music for grown-ups, boozing for losers
* Gillian Welch to support Bright Eyes: a magical pairing
* Joni Mitchell cover graces new issue of The Word
* Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Joe Zawinul, Rickie Lee Jones et al

* New(ish) Dylan, Young, Morrison DVDs - all at bargain prices
* Jan Garbarek, Charlie Parker - jazz for beginners
* Barbican - world-class music for grown-ups
* Re-releases of Leonard Cohen's great first three albums set to disappoint
* Louis Armstrong for beginners

* Another (different) TV gig of Bryan Ferry promoting Dylanesque
* Bryan Ferry excels in Dylan covers gig: review/setlist/video link
* Neil Young new product prices - encore
* The Bible and Bob Dylan
* Amy Winehouse: music for grown-ups

* At The Movies - notable omission from fine new Van Morrison release
* New Neil Young product - and why HMV is getting less of my music spend
* Bryan Ferry, premier contemporary crooner, to play TV gig
* Grown-up gig bookings for 2007
* HMV and Fopp: all change in music retailing

* New Joni "not yet ready for gardening" Mitchell album
* Il Trovatore in London last night: lame
* A feast of John Coltrane
* At last - three vital Ella Fitzgerald Songbook compilations
* New issue of UNCUT - encore

* The Smiths grace new (March) issue of Uncut
* Exciting new releases by favoured musicians for grown-ups
* Ernesto Caruso: how the introduction of the LP reduced sound quality
* Nashville, Solomon Burke's country album: outstanding
* Miles Davis on Warner - an intro, at last

* New Neil Young releases - pricey
* Dylan's Theme Time radio - a weekly delight
* Gig of a lifetime in London on Saturday
* Van Morrison At The Movies - Soundtrack Hits
* Only rock 'n' roll, but...

* New Joni Mitchell releases - the three original albums revisited
* New Joni Mitchell releases - burnishing the legacy
* Hotel California - music for grown-ups, and the rest
* Joni Mitchell In Concert, from 1971
* Best of 2006 (5): Gerry Smith's gigs

* New Bryan Ferry album of Dylan songs
* Best of 2006 (4)
* London's new Carmen: mediocre
* The Old Grey Whistle Test: encore
* The Old Grey Whistle Test: no thanks



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

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

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

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

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

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


ADMIN

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(c) Music for Grown-Ups Ltd 2007

Joss Stone slammed

Let’s be honest. I can’t stand Joss Stone’s music. Or any of her supermarket popster contemporaries – Norah Jones, Katie Melua, Jamie Cullum. Or those earnest young men who drone on from the same hymn sheet.

Why? Because what they offer has been done before, many times over. And it has been done far, far better.

So I was intrigued to see Joss Stone’s new album/gigs slammed in the press. “Big voice, little to say” was the message. Which had been exactly my own reaction when she was being praised to the skies at launch a few years ago.

But to single out Stone for such criticism is very unfair. Hell, all the big soul singers are guilty of the same sin – over-excitable, inappropriate vocals, limited content, poorly expressed. Haven’t the critics currently slamming Stone ever listened carefully to Aretha Franklin or Tina Turner?



Gerry Smith

Amy Winehouse live – music for grown-ups, boozing for losers

Amy Winehouse, the exciting young Brit chanteuse, is currently managing the almost impossible - attracting demanding jazz fans, while getting the mass bonehead market to shake its collective ass and persuading 30-something supermarket impulse buyers to throw the new album into the trolley alongside the baked beans and the cat food.

It can’t last forever – at some point, hard artistic choices will have to be made. But, for the moment, Amy Winehouse is setting the popular music agenda in these parts. And producing some great art.

Friday’s screening by BBC 1 of a recent London hotel gig underlined just why she’s making waves – great voice, charismatic on-stage persona, strong material, and a wonderful band.

It also reminded you how it could all end up in tears. Much as a I value non-conformity, the sight of Winehouse clearly under the influence of booze, seeking refuge in a glass throughout the gig, exchanging “f*ck off!s” with a heckler, was dispiriting.

Somebody may be persuading her that playing a foul-mouthed lush is a good career move. Music fans will be praying that wiser counsels prevail. Amy Winehouse is an outstanding young musician; here’s hoping she doesn’t p*ss it all away in show biz excess. Boozing brazenly in public is for losers.




Gerry Smith

Gillian Welch to support Bright Eyes: a magical pairing

Gillian Welch, poignant interpreter/curator of the best of Americana and Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) are two of the most brilliant stars in the grown-up musical firmament.

Outstanding, wholly original abums, staggeringly strong gigs... you get the picture.

Now they plan to do a series of double-header concerts in the US in April/May, culminating in a seven night run in New York’s fabled Town Hall on 25 May-1 June.

Oh to be in Manhattan in early summer!


Gerry Smith

Joni Mitchell cover graces new issue of The Word

The new (“April”) issue of The Word, the London-based Uncle-rockpop monthly, has a cover feature announcing the return of Joni Mitchell. (As did The Sunday Times a couple of weeks ago.)

Remember Joni Mitchell? The Canadian pop soprano? She retired, in high dudgeon, in 2002, after promoting her masterpiece, Travelogue!

Presumably Ms M’s promoting the new album, with the working title Shine, or maybe the re-mastered, expanded 2CD reissues of Court And Spark, Hissing Of Summer Lawns, and Hejira - rumoured a couple of months ago, though there’s no sign of them yet where I shop.

Any of the four releases will be warmly welcomed by Music for Grown-Ups: Ms Mitchell is revered in these parts – particularly in her grown-up, post-Hejira mode.

And kudos to The Word magazine – this is their second Mitchell cover in two years. I can’t remember competitors MOJO and Uncut using a single cover featuring Saskatoon’s finest chanteuse. Ever.

The Word is the youngest/smallest circulation of the three London Dadrockpop monthlies – MOJO, the first, has the biggest circulation; Uncut sits in the middle.



Gerry Smith

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Joe Zawinul, Rickie Lee Jones et al

Though it long veered away from jazz as we know it, London’s Jazz Café is a must-check grown-up music venue. The tiny stand-up (or dine on the small balcony) venue in Camden is the perfect place to see favoured musicians strutting their stuff.

The new programme, received today, has a richly eclectic list of acts, new and old, notably:

· Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry
· Joe Zawinul
· Rickie Lee Jones
· Acoustic Alchemy
· The Zombies
· Bo Diddley
· Easy Star All Stars
· Roy Ayers…

Deeply impressive. If you’re planning to visit London, it’s always worth checking out who’s on at this fine venue:

www.jazzcafe.co.uk



Gerry Smith

New(ish) Dylan, Young, Morrison DVDs - all at bargain prices

Prices for music product continue to tumble. I’ve just picked up three must-have double DVDs by major league rock artists at knock-down prices:

* Bob Dylan - No Direction Home: £6 at my local Borders

* Live At Montreux – Van Morrison: £8.50 via amazon.co.uk

* Heart Of Gold – Neil Young: £5 (sic), ditto.

Buying these at high street music chains would have cost about £55! Mamma mia! If only over-inflated, rapidly escalating gig prices would head in the same direction, I might get out of the house more.


Gerry Smith