Speechification

Been busy. Sorry. Listen to this, it’s brilliant. MP3 here.

At the end of the Seventies John Cooper Clarke lived in a little house opposite the front gates of my Secondary school in not-very-glamorous-but-not- very-gritty-either Stevenage, which is a new town at the wrong end of Hertfordshire. His presence there (I didn’t imagine it did I? Is there any evidence that he did live there?) was so unlikely and such a mad, peacock-haired challenge to the dreary suburban surroundings that boys I knew used to gather outside his house and throw chip papers and coke cans at him when he came out.

He passed by, implacable and apparently unmoved. Later he’d show up as support at practically every gig I ever attended. In fact I seem to remember thinking he must be resident at The Hammersmith Palais (or was it The Lyceum?). So here’s a lovely half hour about the man from the other reason I cut my hair weird and bought an Oxfam overcoat: Paul Morley (MP3).

Here’s the programme’s web page and here’s its press release, which has some more information.

Thoroughly entertaining memoir of the events of May ‘68 in Paris, London, New York and San Francisco. From David Zane Mairowitz, who was both there and can recall enough of it to vividly conjure it up for us. Some fabulous archive footage, some hilariously frank, half-remembered incidents.

(Bonus points for starting with the beautiful, sparkling tones of ‘Dark Star’, double-bonus for some interstellar Syd-era Pink Floyd in the middle, and triple-bonus points for a raucous splash of Albert Ayler at the end.)

Radio Eye: My 68 [mp3]

Last Word is one of the most eclectic listens on radio. A huge range of people thrown together in the magnificent equality of having recently died. Every week it makes me think it’s a shame that we only pay tribute to these people just after their demise, but I guess ‘People Who Are About To Die’ might be seen as distasteful. This week we have Doug Hayward, tailor to the 60s glitterati, William Frankel, the force behind the Jewish Chronicle, Tristram Cary who created ground-breaking soundtracks like Quatermass and The Pit and Dr Who, and Albert Hofmann who invented LSD. MP3 here.

Extraordinary stuff this; the story of Pannonica Rothschild, eccentric British aristo who ended up embedded in the New York BeBop scene. But don’t let me tell you, look at this huge and comprehensive website devoted to the programme. There’s even an MP3 we can link to for your listening pleasure.

Here’s something first broadcast on Resonance FM - a history of electronic music around the world, made by Ian Helliwell and Simon James. It’s broadcast every Friday evening at 7.30 on Resonance. Or you can get a podcast via Simon’s blog. There are more links at Music Thing and the mp3 is here. Lovely stuff.

After 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.

Radio Three runs a lovely series of fifteen minute ‘cultural talks’ called The Essay. Monday to Thursday at 11pm. This week it was some smart and listenable radio called Maths and Music by trumpter player and mathematician Marcus Du Sautoy. Monday was all about time and counting with Steve Reich and Ewe music from Ghana. Tuesday we had Pythagoras, the music of the spheres and why so many cultures end up with twelve notes in a scale, Wednesday brought us Bach, symmetry, theme and variations and we ended on Thursday with some more twentieth century material and mathematically generated music. Brilliant stuff. Programme One. Two. Three. Four. Incidentally it’s well worth listening right to the end of programme three just to hear the continuity announcer’s way with German. No-one does foreign languages quite like Radio Three.

Here’s a nice long one. Nearly two hours of poetry and music on the theme of the weather from Radio 3: you might consider it a companion to Dan’s much scarier Aussie weather post from a few days ago. You’ll probably think this one’s a bit soporific for your cutting edge tastes but the choice is eclectic enough—from A. A. Milne to Kurt Weill and from Kathleen Ferrier to Steve Reich. I think this would make a great soundtrack to a longish train journey. London to Bristol, say. In the rain.

Here’s the programme’s MP3 and here’s the extensive playlist.

Radio 4 recently ran a new episode of this occasional jem in which John Humphrys introduces 28 acts in 28 minutes. It’s like a contemporary variety evening from the comfort of your own armchair. There’s an impressively complete list of acts on Wikipedia, with links to the various acts. This one, episode three of the second Radio 4 series, was broadcast on Thursday 27th March at 6.30pm. (MP3)

The 28 acts included guitar-playing singers including Tom McRae, Francesca Beard Gwyneth Herbert, Lady Carol of the Moon and Neil Innes, all very enjoyable in their distinct ways. These musical slots serve as a relaxing break from the stand-up comedians who make up the majority of the show. I particularly enjoyed Phil Cornwell - (who plays Greg Dyke in Dead Ringers), Jon Richardson, Danielle Ward pretending to be Andy McNab, John Finnemore being Britain’s silent majority and Will Smith (the comedian rather than the actor). There was also some poetry, a reading from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and even a drum solo.

The stand-out item for me was Liam Mullone, whose standup segment about ‘unexpected item’ in a self-service checkout, had me rolling around the floor.