Music Television 1.5

John Bishop: In Conversation with Louise Redknapp
She was star spotted in a nightclub at the age of 15, and Polydor's A&R guy led her into Eternal. She had been going to stage school, though. She soon grew tired with Eternal, not having a great relationship with others in the band, so she left, and found herself expected to go solo. After a few albums, she gave that up too, having met and married footballer Jamie Redknapp and had 2 sons. She featured on Strictly Come Dancing last Autumn (the UK version of Dancing With The Stars), and finished 2nd. Now has hopes to return to performing in the West End.

An Evening With Take That!
They've got a new album, Wonderland, out, and they did some tracks from that, and others from their career, climaxing with Never Forget. They seem happy enough.

Dead! : On Record
Upcoming band who've got their debut LP due out sometime soon. It's been a 4 year journey so far, and they've raised their game through touring. They respect that audiences are diversified now. They reckon good songs should be able to transcend industry issues. They've been based in London for a while, and recorded the LP in SoHo. They've got Download to look forward to, and more tours to generate more exposure. They might make it big yet.

The Voice UK - The Winner's Story
The talent show moved from the BBC to ITV, refreshed the judge line-up, and finished up with Mo Adeniran beating Into The Ark to the winner's circle. He has joined the majority of the previous UK winners, in making no chart inroads whatsoever.

Anne-Sophie Mutter - Live From Yellow Lounge
A 2015 gig in Berlin to plug her Neuheimat album, helped by Lambert Orkis on piano. She bashed through works by Vivaldi, Tchaikowsky, Bach, Saint-Saens and so on. Entertaining enough, and probably one of the world's foremost violinists.

Artists Den Presents Alanis Morrisette
from the Judson Memorial Church, Greenwich Village, New York on Jun 9th, 2008, Lil Ms Ironic did a pleasant enough set, had some banter about the falseness of encores, and then ended with You Learn and Thank U. Can't fault that voice, I guess.

Artists Den Presents Sheryl Crow
from the Grand Ballroom, at the Plaza Hotel, New York, sometime in 2014. She spoke about her recent country stylings on an LP, and her health battles. She finished with If It Makes You Happy and Everyday Is A Winding Road. Good stuff.

David Cross Band at Electric Dreams
Dave was apparently the electric violinist in King Crimson, and his band's songs were OK enough.

Passions: Hip Hop and Me, by Nihal
The radio DJ sings the praises of how this music has enriched his life, meeting Chuck D and Lady Leshurr as well as encouraging a schoolboy, Ricky Ramz with his rhymes, meeting Wretch 3 2 and Raleigh Ritchie for advice, ahead of a concert performance of his big song about being bullied. It seems pertinent that the rest of the series has been very much one person's worship of one other person.

Aled Jones - Ny Fhaith Glasurol
The series opener, with Aled back in Wales to visit first Llandegfan, his hometown, and then Bangor, in whose cathedral he took his first steps to fame. The second half saw him in Hamburg, relating the story of Johannes Brahms, who was born there. Brahms didn't think much of Liszt, but knew the Schumanns, and married Clara even though she was 14 years older than him.

Aled Jones - Fy Nhaith Glasurol
His tour brought him to Vienna, where he related the history of Gustav Mahler, from his tough childhood, through 10 years as conductor of the Vienna Opera, becoming artistic director and inventing ideas like dimming the lights for performance, and using his holidays to compose his symphonies. He had a happy marriage and two daughters, but things began to go wrong after he moved to New York in 1907. His wife had an affair, and he returned to Europe within 4 years, and died soon after at the age of 50.

Manic Street Preachers - Escape From History
A protracted Classic Albums-style effort on their 1996 career resurrection LP, "Everything Must Go", from the moment Richey mysteriously disappeared before an American tour, to their creative recovery, recording in Normandy, and seeing "A Design For Life" recognised as a massive hit, though James seemed to feel "Kevin Carter" was as important. It brought them to a wider audience and won several Brit Awards.

Manic Street Preachers - Live at Nynex Arena
From May 24, 1997, and with clips used in the above, this was part of their revival, a solid enough selection of material from their 4 LPs.

Snowbombing 2017: Courteeners
Glad that this turned out to be a short set from the indie rockers with plenty of OK songs like Not Nineteen Forever.

Joe Cocker: Mad Dog With Soul
The bittersweet story of how the Sheffield gas fitter hit big with an idiosyncratic cover of a Beatles song, which got him a UK #1 single, and how a crap American agent led him to undertake a heavy US tour. He met Leon Russell, who helped organised a band for the tour, which turned into a different kind of difficulty, seemingly treating Cocker like an after-thought. Cocker was fond of drugs and alcohol, and despite big help from guys like Jimmy Webb and A&M's Jerry Moss, he stuttered into the sidings. Despite the occasional high-spot like a cover of You Are So Beautiful, he was still in trouble until Woodstock wizard Michael Lang came into the picture, and he met his wife Pam. He cleaned up his act and performed legendary gigs in East Germany in June 1988 (coincidentally, Billy Joel was a fan). He dropped Lang, though, but soldiered on and got an OBE in 2007. He was diagnosed with lung cancer, and died late in 2014 at the age of 70. Despite his failings, he had a lot of fans.

Artists Den Presents Alabama Shakes
From the Loveless Barn, Nashville, on Sept 24, 2014, with some chatter from Brittany and Steve to break up a lively hour of music.

The Soul Train Life of: New Edition
Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill and Bell Biv DeVoe were all present to ook back at their performances on the show, and how it told the evolution of the band, from Bobby going solo, to the others trying their own luck, too. They all seemed to retain affection for each other, and the band, which was a nice change, and it was intriguing to learn how their story continued after Candy Girl, which is usually all the UK gets to know.

Aled Jones - Fy Nhaith Glasurol
All the way down to Sydney, taking in the Conservatorium of Music, but mainly the world famous Opera House. The winning designer got £5k for his effort, and it took 30 years to finish, with alterations on the way. It also has space for a theatre and smaller opera space. It's undeniably one of the most iconic buildings in the world.

Lee Brennan: My Career in 911
Another of these video compilations, but from a very middling boyband of the late 90s, who had plenty of original material, but only reached the top by covering More Than A Woman and A Little Bit More.

Piers Morgan's Life Stories: Lionel Richie
From 2015, the smooth-talking Commodores frontman talked about his upbringing, his views on racism, his marriages woes, his adopted daughter Nicole's problems, how he doesn't like being called Grandad, how proud he still is of We Are The World, his regret that the infamous Hello head was chucked because it would now be priceless, how Bob Marley put him off drugs, and thinking of himself as "a minister of love and a hopeless romantic".

John Lees' Barclay James Harvest at Electric Dreams
So, not the real thing but with someone who was in the band. It was a decent enough hour or so anyway.

Lee Latchford-Evans: Steps Thru The Years
Perhaps the least celebrated member of the pop band linking their videos together with anecdotes about where they were shit, what themes they tackled, and which were his favourites. The least celebrated but possibly the nicest person.

Live With... Garland Jeffreys
An American soul singer with half a century of career to show off, and some fine songs, including a pretty decent cover of the Beatles' Help!

Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs and Englishmen
The concert tour from 1972, with Joe a willing prisoner of Leon Jackson's ego and band. His interpretations, rather than covers, varied but were worth hearing, and his version of With A Little Help From My Friends was worth catching.

Classic Albums - No Secrets : Carly Simon
Basically, You're So Vain and some other songs. It IS a classic song, to be fair, from Klaus Voormann's intro, through the extravagant rhyme scheme, to the comic sentiment.

Aled Jones - Fy Nhaith Glasurol
Melbourne, birthplace of Percy Grainger, who was a whizz pianist, and later a whizz composer too. He met Klimsch in Frankfurt, he worked with Delius, and met his hero Grieg. He signed to Columbia. He did Troop concerts with Dame Nellie Melba.

Linkin Park - On Record
Matt chatted to Chester and Mike about their new LP which is out tomorrow. They've reacted against their previous record, and stretching their art. They compared themselves to Depeche Mode, which made a change. They've got a song with Stormzy and Pusha T too.

Artists Den Presents The National
From the Drill Hall at the Park Avenue Armoury, New York, a steady show from 2013 with the 4AD Records band who grew up in Cincinatti.

Motorhead - Live at Wacken 2011
A decent enough hour of material from the rock & roll noise machine.

Live With... Eleanor McEvoy
An Irish singer-songwriter. She sang, she played piano, she played guitar, she even played the violin...

Joe Cocker - Fire It Up - Live
From the LanXess Arena, Cologne, April 2013, on what would be his final tour. He's a lot more in control here, and all the better for it. He delivers the expected hits, and plenty of other solid efforts, too, including takes on Cry Me A River and Summer In The City too. A better record than his earlier effort (see above).

Buddy Holly - Rave On
Yet another retelling of this story, notable for the sheer number of people interviewed, ranging from his brother Larry who bought him his first guitar, and his widow Maria Elena who still regrets not being there to persuade him not to take his fateful flight, plus his drummer Jerry Allison, through contemporaries like Dion, Don Everly and Paul Anka (the latter writing 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore'), and so many others paying homage, whether Hank Marvin and Duane Eddy, through Brian May and Robert Wyatt, down to Don McLean talking about American Pie. Elvis might have drawn in the girls, but Buddy seems to have drawn a lot of lads to rock and roll music. It was notable how much he was an interpreter of others' songs as a writer himself. He turned Oh Boy and Rave On into definitive versions.

Aled Jones - Fy Nhaith Glasurol
To Helsinki this time to tell the tale of Jean Sibelius, who became a staunch nationalist, and helped with Finland's independence campaign from Russia. He was also a womanizer and an alcoholic, suffered depression and spent freely. Yet he lived to be 91, and his wife survived him for 12 years, dying at 98.
Tacked on like an afterthought and with much less airtime was a spot in Bergen, to relate the saga of Edvard Grieg, infamous now for his Piano Concerto and helping Henrik Ibsen with Peer Gynt.

Artist Den Presents Jason Mraz
From UCLA's Royce Hall, with support from all-girl folk rockers Raining Jane, Mraz rattled through the material to a warm crowd, and closing with I'm Yours, inevitably.

Andy Fairweather-Low: Live at the Water Rats
The Welsh singer from Amen Corner is still delighting fans, here with an hour or so of solo material, a few judicious covers, and even some Amen Corner hits (High in the Sky was welcome), and some patter for the crowd such as why he wouldn't stand a chance on shows like The Voice.

Artists Den Presents Damien Rice
From the Greenpoint Loft, Brooklyn, on November 24, 2014, the shouty folk guitarist worked through an hour or so of songs, none of which attracted me at all.

Incubus: On Record
Matt Stocks talking to Jose and Brandon about their new album, 8. It's 20 years since their breakout album Science, when they were contemporaries with Deftones and System of a Down. These two lads have known each other for 26 years. Though 6 years since their previous LP, they had been busy with touring and this new LP had a lengthy gestation. They're touring the US this summer, and might get to go UK dates early in 2018. They had help from Skrillex in giving these latest songs a tweak. They hope to play India and Africa, having not yet done so.

Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto #2 in C Minor, op.18
Kirill Gerstein handles the piano, while Semyon Dychkov conducts the orchestra at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. If you're not familiar with this tune, parts of it will be familiar from Eric Carmen's All By Myself. Kirill did a short encore of a left-handed piece from Blumenfeld.

Sputnik: Matt Johnson
A political chat show usually features all sorts of guests, but this week, The The's frontman got a turn, talking about a new film, The Inertia Variations, and a new single, We Can't Stop What's Coming, his first new material in 15 years. The The formed in 1979, and Matt has clearly been a political animal from the off. Though he recognised the greater empowerment for musicians from the digital world, he did still express support for cassettes and the analog world, too.

The Strawbs at Electric Dreams
Another hour of electro-synth rather than folk-prog if you ask me, from the same event as so many others. They finished with an old favourite, Lay Down.

Stone Sour: On Record
Their new album is out at the end of June, so Corey and Josh talked to Matt Stocks about where they're at, where they've been, and where they're going. I've always been fond of their song Through Glass. This record is looser than some of their other. They did a festival in Dubai where they were kept awake by Toto doing encores. Been a few years since any UK gigs, so expectations for some in the next 12 months.

Sibelius 5
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard conducts Sibelius' 5th Symphony in E Flat Major, op.32, at the Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, from 2011. It was OK.

Aled Jones - Fy Nhaith Glasurol
Continuing his cosmopolitan trek, he first drops in on Haworth to talk about the Bronte sisters, not that they have anything to do with classical music, and then on to Bradford, where the Delius family moved from Bielefeld in the 1840s, and where young Fritz was born in 1862. He liked pastoral walks but went to live in France. During WW1, he changed his forename to Frederick (although I might have thought that wasn't less Germanic than Fritz, really). He studied at Leipzig, befriended Edward Grieg, Percy Grainger and Sir Thomas Beecham. He died in June 1934, and was buried in Surrey.
Again, the show tacked on a short look at another composer, this time George Butterworth. Unlike Delius, he did serve in WW1, was awarded the MC during the Somme, and was killed soon after.

Kings of Leon - Live @ Radio 1 Big Weekend
This year the annual beano came from City of Culture Hull, and the Followill Family ran through an hour or so, mainly from the recent WALLS album, but they included On Call and Radioactive, so that's alright, then.

Beartooth: Live in Columbus
A homecoming gig for the rockers, here at Express Live! on November 11, 2016, and an hour or so of songs, with some backstage stuff from the individual guys.

Anne-Sophie Mutter plays Sibelius & Shostakovich
In fact, she plays a Sibelius Violin Concerto, with an encore of a Bach Gigue, but the rest of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra play Shostakovich's 10th Symphony, at their usual place in Amsterdam, 2015.

Brahms Piano Concerto No 1 & No 2
The Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and with Daniel Barenboim on the piano as they run through both pieces, which each last nearly an hour. Very accomplished work.

Rag n Bone Man: A Day in the Life
The day between April 20th, as he did the 2nd of 2 shows at Shepherds Bush Empire. His dad has clearly been a big supporter, and the first skit saw them go to the Fender shop where he bought he did a new Stratocaster for his birthday (and a Telecaster for himself). He later when to New Era to help design an exclusive baseball cap with his logo on it. He's proud to be Uckfield's biggest star, but is unnerved by people staring and uncomfortable posing for photos (though he does it). His support act were Rum Committee, a collective he emerged from. Time will tell how far he gets.

The BET Life of Brandy
Over 20 years of clips from various shows such as 106 & Park, or Awards shows. Her bad blood with Monica over "The Boy is Mine", her work with brother Ray J, and her Whitney Houston tribute in 2012 were probably the high-spots for an artist who isn't really considered big news over here.

Nielsen 3
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard, bash through Carl Nielsen's 3rd Symphony, op. 27, "Sinfonia Espansiva", at the Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, in 2011.

Brahms & Szymanowski - Symphony #1
The first in a series with Valery Gergiev conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, firstly on Szymanowski's 1st Violin Concerto (with Janine Jansen on violin) and 1st Symphony, before doing the Brahms 1st Symphony, at the Barbican Hall, London, on Oct 11, 2012.

Top of the Pops - The Story of 1984
These repeats seem to be accelerating. Some stories were told, some were ignored, some were told by the wrong people & so on. Trevor Horn gleefully took credit for Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and Holly Johnson was nowhere to be seen. Better, Ian Levine came forth to take credit for his song "High Energy", which Horn clearly felt owed its success to Relax (though Levine preferred to say he ripped it off In The Navy). There was talk about jazz-esque acts like Sade coming through, the studio control of Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, and the hair-raising antics of Nena, before the charity efforts of Free Nelson Mandela and Do They Know It's Christmas? Quite a mad old year.

Top of the Pops - 1984 Big Hits
An accompanying hour with the Smiths, Miami Sound Machine, Black Lace, Echo and the Bunnymen, Alison Moyet and George Michael, who were largely absent from the above.

Brahms & Szymanowski Symphony 2
As above, Val Gergiev conducts the London Symphony Orchestra through the 2nd symphonies of these two composers, plus Brahms' Tragic Overture to kick things off, at the Barbican in London, on Oct 13, 2012.

Electric Dreams - The Interviews - David Cross
Not that they're stringing these out or anything, Nicky Horne chats briefly to the former King Crimson star who is now a Senior University Lecturer, who owns his own label, Noisy Records, even though it's commercially unviable. Pleased that prog continues to appeal, both to the old and the young.

Royal Blood: On Record
They've a new album out, their 2nd. Ben and Mike spoke modestly about how they didn't really expect to make an LP, never mind a successful one. They have wide influences, and are happy as a duo. They plan to tour festivals this summer, and headline an arena tour later in the year.

Brahms & Szymanowski - Symphony 3
The same gang as before, in the same place, but on Dec 18, 2012, with the 3rd Symphonies by both these composers, together with a Brahms piece called Variations on a Theme by Haydn, op.56a. Pleasant enough.

Nicola Benedetti's Indian Serenade
The violin whizz joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on their tour of India, in 2014. They visit Delhi and Mumbai, consider the difference between the musical traditions of India in contrast to the 'western' model, the tricks of stage clothes, visiting an ordinary school and a proper music school, too. Good stuff.

Lemmy - In His Own Words
A short effort culled from assorted telly shows, some funnier than others, where he talked about taking on the bass, suffering acid blindness, making no plans, job satisfaction, long hair, life on the road, stage fright, and an expectation of pool tables in Hell. Still much missed.

Three Stars in Munich
A concert with the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra of Ostrava, conducted by Claudio Vandelki. The titular stars with Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kauffman and Thomas Hempson, although amusingly they were supplanted by Elena Zhidkova and Ildar Abdrazakov. They ran through Verdi works in the 1st half, before turning to Puccini and others in the 2nd. Solid enough entertainment.