I wrote about three years ago on the poor quality fare being served up on our TV screens here in the UK and I went on to praise the intelligent and entertaining programmes that were coming to our screens from the USA ('The Wire') and Scandinavia ('The Killing' and 'The Bridge').
Not a great deal has changed in those intervening years I'm afraid as far as UK TV is concerned. We still appear to be obsessed with reality programmes many of which deal with the lives of the super-rich or, at the other end of the social spectrum, those on benefits. Or soap operas which all appear to be bloody miserable, and now, to the myriad of cookery programmes we can also add baking. Yes, baking!
Good grief!
Thankfully we still get some great shows from the US and to those I listed last time, I can now add the wonderful 'Breaking Bad'. Possibly the best of all the great dramas to hit us from the states.
Of late, some relief has come in the form of some dramas from various parts of the world under the broad umbrella of 'Walter Presents'. Screened to us via Channel 4, the shows have included 'Deutchland 83', an espionage thriller set in the early 1980's at a time when East and West Germany were still divided and so called Cold War tensions were very high resulting in a strong belief that the nuclear button could be pressed at any time. Also I am currently engrossed in a French political drama that has been given the English title 'Spin'. We are now into Series 2 and it is coming across like a sexier version of 'House of Cards'. Well, it is French, so it would wouldn't it?
Getting in on the act of their Scandinavian neighbours and filling the same Saturday evening slot on BBC4 is the Icelandic crime drama 'Trapped'. It concerns a male torso pulled from the sea and believed to have come from a Danish ferry. The ship with its passengers and crew all have to be detained while an investigation is undertaken. The problem is that the investigating team are stranded in Reykjavik because of adverse weather, leaving the initial enquiries to be made by the overworked local cop. Having only seen the first two episodes I am totally gripped.
Of course it is not all bad in the UK. The BBC are always excellent at period dramas and they have excelled themselves with the twenty part 'Dickensian'. This is a kind of prequel to the great novels of Dickens, most notably 'A Christmas Carol', 'Oliver Twist' and 'Great Expectations'. The whole thing is centered around the murder of Jacob Marley and with just the right amount of tension and humour, and of course, the trademark BBC attention to detail - beautifully recreating the gas-lit, cobbled streets of Victorian London, it just had to be a winner. And it was, If that doesn't encourage more people to read the works of Dickens, then nothing will.
With the BBC adaptation of John le Carre's 'The Night Manager', the second series of 'Breaking Bad' spin-off, 'Better Call Saul' and of course the return after 13 years of 'The X-Files'. things are indeed looking up.
The trouble now is trying to find the time to watch them all.
Saturday 27 February 2016
Wednesday 24 February 2016
Ryley Walker & Danny Thompson at ARC, Stockton-on-Tees
Having joined all and sundry in making the inevitable comparison between Ryley Walker, Bert Jansch and John Martyn, I obviously regarded Walker and Danny Thompson as a perfect fit. The 76 year old Thompson has now added his superb double bass skills to the work of them all - and many more besides. Despite there being a 50 year age difference, Walker also saw that Thompson would be the perfect playing partner and the two agreed to tour together.
I love Walker's last album 'Primrose Green' and since purchasing the record last year, there has been scarcely a week when I have not played it. Consequently I wasted no time in obtaining tickets for this event and was more than happy to make the 75 mile round trip to Stockton and back. It was certainly worth the effort as playing live allows Walker to stretch out his familiar songs.
If I did have one slight concern before the event, it was how the songs would fare when stripped of the wonderful instrumental accompaniment that adorns the album versions. Would I miss those gorgeous vibes and the superb drumming? My concerns were totally unfounded as Walker has an uncanny knack of sounding like two or three guitarists at once. And he makes it all look so damned easy. Throw into the mix, his unique voice which he uses like another instrument, moaning, howling and yelping to flesh out the more usual sound of his vocals and the absence of other instruments became superfluous.
The contrast between the two on stage also worked very well and it is clear that they are forging a respectful friendship while touring together. Walker is all energy and came across at times like an excited puppy while regaling us of tales from the road including his recent introduction to the delights of Yorkshire pudding. Thompson on the other hand conserved his energy for his wonderful playing. Standing or leaning against his stool, he remained almost motionless but made the occasional humourous quip with the timing of a true comedian.
If I had one criticism, it was that the show was a little too short. The pair left the stage after and hour and returned to perform only two songs, so we got only about 75 minutes in total. I could have done with a lot longer but then, I did have a drive of almost an hour ahead of me.
I love Walker's last album 'Primrose Green' and since purchasing the record last year, there has been scarcely a week when I have not played it. Consequently I wasted no time in obtaining tickets for this event and was more than happy to make the 75 mile round trip to Stockton and back. It was certainly worth the effort as playing live allows Walker to stretch out his familiar songs.
If I did have one slight concern before the event, it was how the songs would fare when stripped of the wonderful instrumental accompaniment that adorns the album versions. Would I miss those gorgeous vibes and the superb drumming? My concerns were totally unfounded as Walker has an uncanny knack of sounding like two or three guitarists at once. And he makes it all look so damned easy. Throw into the mix, his unique voice which he uses like another instrument, moaning, howling and yelping to flesh out the more usual sound of his vocals and the absence of other instruments became superfluous.
The contrast between the two on stage also worked very well and it is clear that they are forging a respectful friendship while touring together. Walker is all energy and came across at times like an excited puppy while regaling us of tales from the road including his recent introduction to the delights of Yorkshire pudding. Thompson on the other hand conserved his energy for his wonderful playing. Standing or leaning against his stool, he remained almost motionless but made the occasional humourous quip with the timing of a true comedian.
If I had one criticism, it was that the show was a little too short. The pair left the stage after and hour and returned to perform only two songs, so we got only about 75 minutes in total. I could have done with a lot longer but then, I did have a drive of almost an hour ahead of me.
Saturday 20 February 2016
Goodbye Harper Lee and arrivederci Umberto Eco
Nelle Harper Lee who died yesterday aged 89 is perhaps proof of the adage that everyone has one book in them. But in the case of Lee, what a book!
'To Kill a Mockingbird' was published in 1960 and the following year won the Pulitzer Prize. Since than, Lee has been bestowed with numerous awards yet she never published another thing. The more recently released prequel 'Go Set a Watchman' has even been revealed to be an early draft of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.
Still if you are only going to leave one work behind, then it might as well be something as majestic as 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. It's a damn sight more than most of us achieve.
Far more prolific was the Italian writer Umberto Eco who also passed away yesterday aged 84. I actually came to his work via the film of his groundbreaking 1980 novel, 'The Name of the Rose'. As is usually the case, I found the book to be far better than the film. I then became immersed in the labyrinthine 'Foucault's Pendulum' which, at the time I read it, appealed to my own interest in conspiracy theories and esoteric organisations such as the the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians and the Cathars. It was light years ahead of Dan Brown's cheesy but far more successful 'The Da Vinci Code', but isn't that usually the way?
Sadly two vastly different but equally brilliant writers have now left us. But what a legacy they leave for us to enjoy.
'To Kill a Mockingbird' was published in 1960 and the following year won the Pulitzer Prize. Since than, Lee has been bestowed with numerous awards yet she never published another thing. The more recently released prequel 'Go Set a Watchman' has even been revealed to be an early draft of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.
Still if you are only going to leave one work behind, then it might as well be something as majestic as 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. It's a damn sight more than most of us achieve.
Far more prolific was the Italian writer Umberto Eco who also passed away yesterday aged 84. I actually came to his work via the film of his groundbreaking 1980 novel, 'The Name of the Rose'. As is usually the case, I found the book to be far better than the film. I then became immersed in the labyrinthine 'Foucault's Pendulum' which, at the time I read it, appealed to my own interest in conspiracy theories and esoteric organisations such as the the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians and the Cathars. It was light years ahead of Dan Brown's cheesy but far more successful 'The Da Vinci Code', but isn't that usually the way?
Sadly two vastly different but equally brilliant writers have now left us. But what a legacy they leave for us to enjoy.
Saturday 13 February 2016
Billie Holiday - Lady in Satin
The recent and widely voiced opinions that 'Blackstar' the final album from David Bowie is his best ever, started me wondering whether people were being influenced by the circumstances surrounding the recording and release of this record. To be honest I even made a similar claim myself in an earlier post, though I would like to think that I was being objective about the quality of the music and not the circumstances of it's release. Whether it is deemed Bowie's finest work will I guess, only be judged in the fullness of time - perhaps in the next five or even ten years.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to speculate on what influences us on the merits of not just music, but all kinds of art. For example, last year I spent a full day in London's National Gallery and was exposed to numerous paintings that I had never seen "in the flesh" so to speak. Some of them had previously left me unmoved, yet when witnessing them in all their glory, while armed with a guide book and the obligatory audio guide, I came to realise why they were so highly regarded. Given an understanding of the background, what the artist was trying to achieve and perhaps what was in the artist's mind at the time, gave me a fuller understanding of those great works.
And so it can be with music.
For example, last week I listened for the first time to the Billie Holiday LP, 'Lady in Satin'. I was less than impressed and found myself agreeing with many of the contemporary commentators of 1958 (the year of it's release), that Holiday had lost much of the upper range of her voice and that she was just a shadow of her former self. Such comments were of course quite factual. Holiday had endured many years of addiction to hard drugs and alcohol and had even served a spell in prison for possession of drugs. Her lifestyle had adversely affected her health and of course her voice.
My mistake however, was in listening to the record unemotionally with only my ears.
Later, while listening again, I also read the informative notes that accompany my copy of the record. I then learned the real background to this recording.
Having heard an album called 'Ellis in Wonderland' by conductor and arranger, Ray Ellis, Billie Holiday declared an interest in making a recording with him backed by an orchestra with string section. This was something Holiday had not done before but Ellis was delighted and after agreeing which songs would be recorded, he set about arranging them. The recordings took place at late night sessions (to suit Holiday's lifestyle) at Columbia Studios in New York over three consecutive days beginning on 19th February 1958. At the first session, four songs were recorded beginning with the Gene DePaul / Don Raye classic 'You Don't Know What Love Is'. Upon arrival, Holiday had seemed nervous and unsure of herself having never recorded in this format before. Nevertheless, fortified with neat gin she sang her heart out and the recordings were deemed successful.
It was on the second session, during the recording of a further four tracks that cracks appeared as Holiday arrived in an already intoxicated state with a bottle of gin in one hand. She was totally unfamiliar with the arrangements and Ellis became angry with her and described the session as a complete mess. In his own words; "I had broken my back to create the arrangements, trying to imagine how she'd sing the pieces and she wasn't able to sing them the way I'd conceived the tunes - and for that I hated her."
What Ellis (and many others) overlooked at the time was the fact that Holiday had carefully selected these songs not because she was familiar with singing them but because the lyrics reflected her own personal life. She had recently published her autobiography 'The Lady Sings The Blues' a candid account of her life written in collaboration with William Dufty. That process caused her to reflect on her own tragic life and consequently she chose to record songs that were lyrically almost personal to her.
One of the songs recorded at that second session was 'I'm a Fool to Want You'. The words had been written in 1951 by Frank Sinatra on the subject of his tumultuous marriage to Ava Gardner, but during this performance, Holiday managed to make the song her own. Upon listening to the playback with Holiday present, Ray Ellis later confessed, "I would say that was the most emotional moment. There were tears in her eyes." Later Ellis listened to the whole album himself and only then realised just how great her performance really was.
Opinions about the merits of this album are still divided. True, the voice of Billie Holiday is not what it once had been but her phrasing is sublime and throughout she sings from the heart. The album may be correctly classified as jazz, yet Holiday reveals a blues sensibility. After all is singing from the heart not what the blues is all about? So, thanks to becoming more aware of the background to this recording, I can now listen not only with my ears but also with my heart and doing so has transformed my listening experience. Certainly there is pain within this recording, but there is also great, emotional beauty.
Have a listen to the opening track 'I'm a Fool to Want You' and judge for yourself.
'Lady in Satin' was to be Holiday's penultimate record and the last to be released during her lifetime. She died aged 44 on 17 July 1959.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to speculate on what influences us on the merits of not just music, but all kinds of art. For example, last year I spent a full day in London's National Gallery and was exposed to numerous paintings that I had never seen "in the flesh" so to speak. Some of them had previously left me unmoved, yet when witnessing them in all their glory, while armed with a guide book and the obligatory audio guide, I came to realise why they were so highly regarded. Given an understanding of the background, what the artist was trying to achieve and perhaps what was in the artist's mind at the time, gave me a fuller understanding of those great works.
And so it can be with music.
My mistake however, was in listening to the record unemotionally with only my ears.
Later, while listening again, I also read the informative notes that accompany my copy of the record. I then learned the real background to this recording.
Having heard an album called 'Ellis in Wonderland' by conductor and arranger, Ray Ellis, Billie Holiday declared an interest in making a recording with him backed by an orchestra with string section. This was something Holiday had not done before but Ellis was delighted and after agreeing which songs would be recorded, he set about arranging them. The recordings took place at late night sessions (to suit Holiday's lifestyle) at Columbia Studios in New York over three consecutive days beginning on 19th February 1958. At the first session, four songs were recorded beginning with the Gene DePaul / Don Raye classic 'You Don't Know What Love Is'. Upon arrival, Holiday had seemed nervous and unsure of herself having never recorded in this format before. Nevertheless, fortified with neat gin she sang her heart out and the recordings were deemed successful.
It was on the second session, during the recording of a further four tracks that cracks appeared as Holiday arrived in an already intoxicated state with a bottle of gin in one hand. She was totally unfamiliar with the arrangements and Ellis became angry with her and described the session as a complete mess. In his own words; "I had broken my back to create the arrangements, trying to imagine how she'd sing the pieces and she wasn't able to sing them the way I'd conceived the tunes - and for that I hated her."
What Ellis (and many others) overlooked at the time was the fact that Holiday had carefully selected these songs not because she was familiar with singing them but because the lyrics reflected her own personal life. She had recently published her autobiography 'The Lady Sings The Blues' a candid account of her life written in collaboration with William Dufty. That process caused her to reflect on her own tragic life and consequently she chose to record songs that were lyrically almost personal to her.
One of the songs recorded at that second session was 'I'm a Fool to Want You'. The words had been written in 1951 by Frank Sinatra on the subject of his tumultuous marriage to Ava Gardner, but during this performance, Holiday managed to make the song her own. Upon listening to the playback with Holiday present, Ray Ellis later confessed, "I would say that was the most emotional moment. There were tears in her eyes." Later Ellis listened to the whole album himself and only then realised just how great her performance really was.
Opinions about the merits of this album are still divided. True, the voice of Billie Holiday is not what it once had been but her phrasing is sublime and throughout she sings from the heart. The album may be correctly classified as jazz, yet Holiday reveals a blues sensibility. After all is singing from the heart not what the blues is all about? So, thanks to becoming more aware of the background to this recording, I can now listen not only with my ears but also with my heart and doing so has transformed my listening experience. Certainly there is pain within this recording, but there is also great, emotional beauty.
Have a listen to the opening track 'I'm a Fool to Want You' and judge for yourself.
'Lady in Satin' was to be Holiday's penultimate record and the last to be released during her lifetime. She died aged 44 on 17 July 1959.
Sunday 7 February 2016
Books #19 - Chasin' That Devil Music by Gayle Dean Wardlow
I was given this book by my son for my birthday last June and I have been reading it ever since. It's not that the book is particularly long (288 pages) or difficult to read, it's just that it is the kind of book that makes you pause to listen to the music that is being referred to within the text. Helpfully the book comes with a 19 track CD which includes some of that music by various artists and also some interesting clips from interviews conducted by the author Gayle Dean Wardlow during his extensive research.
So, the book has taken me seven months to finish but it has been an enjoyable and worthwhile experience and I have learned a lot about many of the singers and musicians whose music has brought me much pleasure in recent years. Of course some of those names are very well known to us, such as Charley Patton, Robert Johnson and Tommy Johnson, but other characters are possibly less well known. For example among my favourite blues recordings are 'Future Blues' by Willie Brown, 'Cottonfield Blues' by Garfield Akers (accompanied by Joe Callicott), 'Woman Woman Blues' by Ishmon Bracey and 'Outside Woman Blues' by Blind Joe Reynolds. All are written about extensively in this book AND are included on the CD.
The subtitle of the book is 'Searching for the Blues' and it is clear that the research conducted by Wardlow in tracking down the story behind these elusive and often mysterious figures, has been long and painstaking but the results are always interesting and he clearly has an extensive knowledge and deep love of this musical genre.
Much of the material in the book has been previously published in blues magazines such as 'Blues Unlimited' and '78 Quarterly' but it is nice to have all of this information brought together in one volume. I should add that the book is also lavishly illustrated with photographs and documents, many coming from Wardlow's own personal collection.
If you are interested in the blues and wish to learn more about some of the almost forgotten Delta bluesmen, then I highly recommend this book.
For a taste of the music included, here is a link to Willie Brown's Future Blues
So, the book has taken me seven months to finish but it has been an enjoyable and worthwhile experience and I have learned a lot about many of the singers and musicians whose music has brought me much pleasure in recent years. Of course some of those names are very well known to us, such as Charley Patton, Robert Johnson and Tommy Johnson, but other characters are possibly less well known. For example among my favourite blues recordings are 'Future Blues' by Willie Brown, 'Cottonfield Blues' by Garfield Akers (accompanied by Joe Callicott), 'Woman Woman Blues' by Ishmon Bracey and 'Outside Woman Blues' by Blind Joe Reynolds. All are written about extensively in this book AND are included on the CD.
The subtitle of the book is 'Searching for the Blues' and it is clear that the research conducted by Wardlow in tracking down the story behind these elusive and often mysterious figures, has been long and painstaking but the results are always interesting and he clearly has an extensive knowledge and deep love of this musical genre.
Much of the material in the book has been previously published in blues magazines such as 'Blues Unlimited' and '78 Quarterly' but it is nice to have all of this information brought together in one volume. I should add that the book is also lavishly illustrated with photographs and documents, many coming from Wardlow's own personal collection.
If you are interested in the blues and wish to learn more about some of the almost forgotten Delta bluesmen, then I highly recommend this book.
For a taste of the music included, here is a link to Willie Brown's Future Blues
Monday 1 February 2016
Steven Wilson at Newcastle City Hall.
My own blog reminds me that it was in October 2013 that I last saw Steven Wilson at this very same venue. On that occasion he was promoting his great album 'The Raven That Refused to Sing...And Other Stories'. I decided there and then that if the opportunity presented itself, I would return to see him perform live again. This decision was reinforced by the fact that he is currently promoting the even more ambitious work 'Hand. Cannot. Erase' which was one of my favourite albums of 2015.
Once again upon entering Newcastle's City Hall on Saturday evening, I was transported back to my teenage years when I was a regular at that venue, seeing the likes of Jethro Tull, Family, Terry Reid, Savoy Brown, Ginger Baker's Airforce and Yes. The venue still retains a certain aura for me and although I cannot claim to be a regular visitor these days, I am always enthralled to enter, take my seat and just soak up the atmosphere of the place.
The show began as last time out with a video showing on the giant screen at the back of the stage. Slowly the band took to the stage in pairs and launched into the opening of the album 'Hand. Cannot. Erase'. They then performed the album in it's entirety before taking a 15 minute break.
When they returned we were treated to a selection of older songs including three from Wilson's most recent project 'Four & a Half' which as he explained is a mini album of songs which didn't fit into any of his past projects. He went on to say that he hates the term mini album but explained that it was only 37 minutes long, which just happened to be the average length of an full album when he was growing up. He also during the evening made reference to David Bowie who of course has a great song 'Lazarus' on his current album. By way of tribute, Wilson performed his own song of the same title.
I won't document the whole setlist here, as there are other ways for you to find such information. However I should mention particular highlights for me which included 'My Book of Regrets' and the Porcupine Tree song 'Don't Hate Me'.
Throughout the whole show, the performances were superb as one would expect from such a fine set of musicians. I am loathe to single out any individual but I was particularly impressed with Nick Beggs who played bass guitar, Chapman Stick, keyboards and sang backing vocals. And yes, it is the same Nick Beggs who hit number one in 1983 as part of Kajagoogoo.
To finish, Wilson performed another Porcupine Tree song, 'The Sound of Muzak' followed by what he regards as his finest song, 'The Raven that Refused to Sing'. I wholeheartedly agree with him. It was a great ending to a great night.
Once again upon entering Newcastle's City Hall on Saturday evening, I was transported back to my teenage years when I was a regular at that venue, seeing the likes of Jethro Tull, Family, Terry Reid, Savoy Brown, Ginger Baker's Airforce and Yes. The venue still retains a certain aura for me and although I cannot claim to be a regular visitor these days, I am always enthralled to enter, take my seat and just soak up the atmosphere of the place.
The show began as last time out with a video showing on the giant screen at the back of the stage. Slowly the band took to the stage in pairs and launched into the opening of the album 'Hand. Cannot. Erase'. They then performed the album in it's entirety before taking a 15 minute break.When they returned we were treated to a selection of older songs including three from Wilson's most recent project 'Four & a Half' which as he explained is a mini album of songs which didn't fit into any of his past projects. He went on to say that he hates the term mini album but explained that it was only 37 minutes long, which just happened to be the average length of an full album when he was growing up. He also during the evening made reference to David Bowie who of course has a great song 'Lazarus' on his current album. By way of tribute, Wilson performed his own song of the same title.
I won't document the whole setlist here, as there are other ways for you to find such information. However I should mention particular highlights for me which included 'My Book of Regrets' and the Porcupine Tree song 'Don't Hate Me'.
Throughout the whole show, the performances were superb as one would expect from such a fine set of musicians. I am loathe to single out any individual but I was particularly impressed with Nick Beggs who played bass guitar, Chapman Stick, keyboards and sang backing vocals. And yes, it is the same Nick Beggs who hit number one in 1983 as part of Kajagoogoo.
To finish, Wilson performed another Porcupine Tree song, 'The Sound of Muzak' followed by what he regards as his finest song, 'The Raven that Refused to Sing'. I wholeheartedly agree with him. It was a great ending to a great night.
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