Blood and Fire
April 9th, 2008 by James BridleAfter last month’s rather wonderful The Nun Who Nurtured Reggae came last Saturday’s This Are 2 Tone, which I nearly posted, but didn’t, because it was a bit rubbish. Disappointed not to be able to load Speechification with Reggae-tinged vibes, I was therefore overjoyed to find 6Music rebroadcasting Don Letts’ excellent Radio 2 roots and culture documentary Blood and Fire (Part One and Part Two). It’s quite music-heavy, but it does contain some great cuts, characters and commentary. I particularly love Burning Spear’s epic piece of history-denial, Jah No Dead.
I remain slightly perplexed by 6Music - I know I want a good music station, but this consistently fails to be it, usually thanks to the curse of all radio: over-talkative presenters. Tom Robinson’s evening show is generally OK, but if I wanted to listen to lots of old Peel sessions, Radio 1’s Keeping It Peel has it pretty much sown up. So the daily Play It Again slot (weekdays, 2130), showcasing old music docs, is great, and I’d appreciate it if anyone wants to point out what else I should look out for on the station.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Hey, that’s a real find. Lots of good stuff behind those links. Look at all these shows. Great post, James.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Again with Tom Robinson, Introducing… is worth a listen - although the podcast beats the radio show by exorcising a lot of dross.
I agree with your view on 6 Music - it seems like such a good idea, that it could have been the replacement to XFM, now that is solid dross. But 6 Music is always underwhelming. Aside from Robinson and the weekend daytime comedians (Jon Holmes is a blessed man), I tend to turn the dial to Resonance instead.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Thanks Steve, thanks Andrew. A replacement for Xfm was exactly what I was hoping for. Even though they’ve now reinstated DJs, it’s still rubbish, sadly. Shall look out for the little man, though.
April 13th, 2008 at 8:29 am
I like Stuart Macone’s “Wierd Zone” on six music Sunday nights (5-8) has 3 brilliant hours of psyche, folk, prog, jazz, experimental stuff. A bit like Wire magazine basically. I also like Stephen Merchants show which precedes it. I’m usually making a cake or an apple crumble to it.
Good hat tip for resonance FM. Start with http://resonancefm.com/archives/136 ; “Where’s the Skill in that ?” which is basically Mixing It from Radio 3. Mark Russell and Robert Sandal carrying it on for love after R3 got tired with em. A bit like George Best playing for Fulham in 1974.