Music Television 2

BBC Proms '17: Simon Rattle's Gurrelieder
The London Symphony Orchestra perform Schoenberg's piece with vocal help from Thomas Quasthoff, Simon O'Neill and Karen Cargill among others. Rattle is taking on the LSO though still working with the Berlin Phil, as he has since 2002.

The Phil Wainman Story
Had a rough childhood, but learned the drums, got helpful advice. He was able to join an act and appeared on the same bills as the young Helen Shapiro in Paris, in 1961. He spent time in the Paramounts and widened his knowledge. He met Island Records' Chris Blackwell and was able to back Jimmy Cliff in northern clubs. Slowly turned to the production side, starting with Sweetshop (who became The Sweet). Though he helped them to success, he was eased out, and then worked with Sensational Alex Harvey Band. But after helping them to success, he had a row with their manager, and moved on to Bay City Rollers. They were a tall order to turn into success, but he managed it with the help of tape loops. Then he worked with the Boomtown Rats and helped make a hit out of I Don't Like Mondays, which he sold to Geldof as being an "Alfred Hitchcock record". He certainly packed in the hits.

BBC Proms '17: Classical Music of India & Pakistan
Various musicians performed ragas and other pieces in memory of the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India.

Best Before: Maya Jean Coles Live
Never heard of her, but she kept her audience happy with a steady set.

BBC Proms '17: Big Band Swing w/Clare Teal
BBC DJ led the Guy Barker Big Band and the Winston Rollins Big Band through a celebration of swing greats with guest singers and other musicians. A happy couple of hours followed.

BBC Proms '17: Chineke!
The BME orchestra make their Proms debut, conducted by Kevin John Edusen, with cello whizz Sheku Kanneh-Mason among the guest players.

Live With... Maxi Jazz
Backed by the E-Type Boys, Maxi ran through several lengthy jams, including a cover of his Faithless classic Mass Destruction. Sounds good.

Giggs - Live @ V Festival 2017
The grime star managed to get through several songs during his slot, and the crowd was pleased.

BBC Proms '17: Andras Schiff plays Bach
A single recital of The Well-Tempered Clavier, some kind of musical collection of preludes and fugues. Without knowing where one ended and another began, it perhaps lost some of its achievement.

Emeli Sande - Live @ V Festival 2017
She did more material from her 1st album than her recent 2nd. It also seems odd to sing collaborations with some backing singer filling in for Labrinth or whoever.

Last Night of the Proms 2017
An interesting first half with Sibelius, Wagner, Sargent and others, and then the usual indulgence of the 2nd half. Clips from the accompanying Proms in the Park gigs didn't entirely cut through the cloying self-satisfaction either.

The Agony & The Ecstasy
An impressively comprehensively series about the growth of rave music, its highs and lows, and its evolution through superstar DJs to the current EDM scene in Las Vegas and elsewhere. It even did a top 20 countdown chosen by many of the scene's major players:
20 - Good Life - Inner City
19 - Move Your Body - Xpansions
18 - Anthem - N-Joi
17 - Step On - Happy Mondays
16 - Pump Up The Volume - M/A/R/R/S
15 - Playing With Knives - Bizarre Inc
14 - Voodoo DJ - A Guy Called Gerald
13 - Promised Land - Joe Smooth
12 - Papua New Guinea - Future Sound of London
11 - On A Ragga Tip - SL2
10 - French Kiss - Lil Louis
09 - Out Of Space - The Prodigy
08 - LFO - LFO
07 - Where Love Lives - Alison Limerick
06 - I'll House You - Jungle Brothers
05 - Go - Moby
04 - We Call It Acieed - D-Mob ft Gary Haisman
03 - Sweet Harmony - Liquid
02 - Chime - Orbital
01 - You Got The Love - The Source ft Candi Station (1991 version for my preference)

Best Before : Hot Since 82 - Live in a WW2 Bunker
A steady half hour with tunes from the likes of Soulsearcher and Armand van Helden.

George Ezra - Live @ V Festival 2017
A gentle half hour from Chelmsford mixing big hits and his new single, to crowd satisfaction.

The Martin Heath Story
A livewire who had already started a successful business by the age of 14, and made more through mail-order records, where he came across interviewer Iain McNay at Cherry Red. But he was soon off on his way, starting Rhythm King, a label who had 28 Top 10 hits in a row (S Express, Bomb the Bass and Betty Boo were among his successes). He originated the first gangsta rap LP by Schooly D. But when Sony took over from Rough Trade, the corporate compromises were a challenge. He did well at Arista Records, managing success with computer games and telly shows in his spare time. He gave the Killers their break on Lizard King label, but only their 1st LP. They were rejected everywhere, but he knew Brandon Flowers was a star from watching them live. He was clearly one of the good guys of the business.

Stormzy - Live @ V Festival 2017
A short & steady set from Chelmsford where a perhaps aggressive persona was superbly undercut by the closing Blinded By Your Grace, pt 2, shockingly welcome in its gentleness.

Ludovico Einaudi - Elements Live
The Italian composer played piano at the Royal Festival Hall, on Jul 30, 2016, for a pleasant hour or more.

MTV World Stage: Wiz Khalifa
From the Isle of MTV, Malta, back in Jun 2016, a short blur of material notable for the catchy Black and Yellow, and the overwrought See You Again.

Marc Bolan - Cosmic Dancer
Marking the 40th anniversary of his untimely death, a new summation of the T Rex frontman's career. Notably, whilst he was admired and pitied, his raging ego and faults were given more weight than they usually seem to (any, in fact). Gloria Jones and Tony Visconti were notable, but there was archive of his 1st wife June, friend and DJ legend John Peel, as well as an actor reading Bolan's own words.

Ella Eyre - Live @ V Festival 2017
The perky pop star delighted the Chelmsford crowd with her hits, including her recent comeback smash Came Here For Love, and hopeful follow-up Ego.

Bestival 2017 - Rag N Bone Man
5 songs and a bit of chatter to festival founder Rob da Bank about getting recognised in the supermarket and other things.

Bestival 2017 - The XX
Similar idea, with Rob chatting to Oliver about previous appearances there in 2010 and 2012, the latter setting a record for crowd size, and how it seems at their new location.

Ella Eyre's Mixtape
Her love for Justin Bieber, Tinie Tempah, DJ Fresh, Stormzy, Rudimental, Basement Jaxx, Wiz Khalifa, Sigma and Sigala, and video shoots in Arizona and Mexico.

Craig David - Live @ V Festival 2017
His 2016 comeback seems to have continued to go down well, and he mentions a new LP coming this year.

LSO Collection: Rattle conducts Bruckner & Messaien
Back at the Barbican, with Bruckner's 8th symphony, which frankly goes on too damn long, and Messaien's Colours of the Celestial City, which is more appealing for being shorter and having a quaint plinkety-plonk quality to it.

Raye - Live @ V Festival 2017
She slowly seems to be building a rep, which is hopeful, and she has some good songs too.

Whitney - "Can I Be Me?"
Nick Broomfield looks for answers and finds a druggy who had a very good lesbian friend, but wasn't really helped by marrying Bobby Brown. Her bodyguard tried to warn her family about it in 1995 and got sacked for his troubles. And the rest was inevitable.

MTV Unplugged: Bleachers
The classic 1990s series has been revived, but I don't know who the hell these people are. But they seemed chuffed to be at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park. The songs were OK, and Lorde and Carly Rae Jepsen helped out on some vocals, as they apparently do on the new album. I Wanna Get Better is presumably the big hit, but it ain't crossed the pond...

The Making of Marc Bolan
Another new doc on the life-story of the glam rocker who would have been 70 tomorrow. It wasn't quite as good as the first one, even with Helen Shapiro, who went to the same school and actual Rolan Bolan (who was 42 on Tuesday). He wanted so much to be famous, then he made it, then drink and drugs dulled his talent, and that was the beginning of the end of that.

20,000 Days on Earth
A lengthy doc on Aussie rocker Nick Cave, living in Brighton, recording and gigging, looking back on his younger days, and talking to Ray Winstone and Kylie Minogue along the way. Refreshingly watchable.

Larry King Now: Khalid
He's 19 and from El Paso, and his "American Teen" LP is selling like hot-cakes, whilst Young, Dumb & Broke is not quite a chart hit over here. He won an MTV Award, has parents in the armed forces, admires rappers though he isn't one, met Elton John, had stage nerves at first (only debuted last November), hopes to win Grammys within 5 years. Fair enough.

LSO: Rattle's French Special
A blend of material from Ravel, Dutilleux and Delage, at the Barbican in London, 2016.

Bad Company: The 40th Anniversary
Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke and Mick Ralphs told the story of how they came together from Free and Mott the Hoople to hit big, until the grind of touring and recording left them no free time to recharge their batteries and record songs. They benefitted from the management of Led Zeppelin's Peter Grant, until the death of John Bonham in 1980 coincided with them being at their own crisis point. A reunion at Grant's funeral didn't go too well, but they tried again later, and with better results.

Belladrum 2016 - Cridhe Tartan - Bombskare
Lively ska-esque part-time band with some good songs of their own, and quirky covers like Toxic and Walk Like An Egyptian.

Lynyrd Skynyrd
From the Florida Theatre, Jacksonville, a homecoming pair of gigs where they performed their 1st album one night, and 2nd album the next night, in 2015. A fun show, even if I only knew a couple of numbers properly beforehand.

Live With... Christina Martin
She's a Canadian singer-songwriter, and has some good tracks like the single Lungs Are Burning.

Jax Jones' Mixtape
He talks of working with Duke Dumont, MNEK, Stefflon Don (bemoaning that collaborations are now largely done by e-mails), Tinie Tempah, Jonas Blue, how he's a South Londoner with a Nigerian step-dad and love for Afrobeat culture.

Anne-Marie - Live @ V Festival 2017
She spoke of it being her hometown, and took the trouble to introduce her band during her set. She's had a great year or two, mostly in collaborations like Rockabye.

LSO: Rattle's European Tour
Still at the Barbican in London, the usual gang did pieces by Webern, Berg, a quirky short one from Ligeti and finally Stravinsky's famous Rite of Spring, from Jan 2015.

Live From Abbey Road: Classics - Primal Scream & The Kooks
Mani sang the band's praises in this 2006 set, whilst Bobby felt the band had got better now than they were in their 1990 breakthrough time.

Dizzee Rascal - Live @ V Festival 2017
A good little set with material new and old, to great crowd approval.

The Last Pirates - Britain's Rebel DJs
The saga of London's secret broadcasters during the 1980s and beyond, as stations like LWR and Kiss fought for their audience, despite government disapproval. Ultimately, they either were able to go legit, or they dwindled, and made way for successor generations.

Belladrum 2016: Cridhe Tartan - Barbara Dickson
She was joined throughout by Nick Holland, and covered material by Gerry Rafferty, Bob Dylan and Willy Russell during a warm and appreciated set.

Classic Artists: Jethro Tull
A lengthy & in-depth career retrospective, from 2008, talking to Ian Anderson and all the surviving band members and even both halves of Chrysalis Records. The name was a muddled solution which they got stuck with, but their US success helped give them the freedom to develop and change line-ups until they hit paydirt with Aqualung and Thick As A Brick. They had less success in the 1980s, apart from a shock Grammy win. Even those who hadn't always enjoyed being in the band had kind words for Ian.

HARDtalk: Wilko Johnson
The wild guitar hero who faced a death sentence in 2013 from incurable pancreatic cancer, but was saved by getting a 2nd opinion. He was a great positive thinker, so even though he was kicked out of Dr Feelgood just at the point they seemed set to make it big, he had pursued his own course and is soon to play the Royal Albert Hall.

Live With... Hue & Cry
The Scots legends have a new album, Pocketful of Stones, and did a good little set culled from it here, topped and tailed by Looking For Linda and Labour of Love. Always reliable.

Live From Abbey Road - Classics - Alanis Morissette
She did a set in May 2008, and this was bracketed with an even shorter turn from Suzanne Vega from October 2007 where she talked about how Tom's Diner became such a success.

Belladrum 2015 - Cridhe Tartan - Prides
A little longer set than some, not a band I really know, but some good songs here.

Jonas Kaufmann - Tenor For The Ages
He's from Munich, performed at Last Night of the Proms in 2015, has recently been troubled by vocal issues, but keeps a punishing schedule and has many fans. He was described as a "thinking man's tenor with a matinee idol delivery" by Sir Antonio Pappano.

James Arthur - Live @ V Festival 2017
The X Factor winner enjoying a 2nd chance, kept the crowd happy with his recent hits. Working with Rudimental hasn't hurt his chances either.

Live From Abbey Road - Classics - Stereophonics
They came in December 2007. Kelly spoke of how seeing the 7/7 train attacks inspired It Means Nothing, and how line-ups were evolving the band. Richard Ashcroft spoke reverently about the history of Abbey Road, and did Bitter Sweet Symphony in December 2006.

Belladrum 2016 - Cridhe Tartan - Keston Cobblers Club
Still more of these shows slip through (there's dozens apparently, but I've no way of knowing how many I missed). Anyway, KCC are named after something mythically amazing, and they had plenty of good songs. They finished on a cover of The Chain, with the bass break played on a tuba. Heh.

The Vamps - Live @ V Festival 2017
The dreary boyband are apparently onto their 3rd LP, but my interest went long before, and I just think fondly of better boybands of days gone by. They had Zak Abel free to appear and guest on a song, and whose album I see recently entered the chart at #100. Better luck next time, if there is one.

Iggy Pop - Rock en Seine 2016
From the Domaine National de Saint-Cloud park. If I was miffed when the Vamps threw in the odd swear word, that's as nothing to the fact Iggy puts in the f-word inbetween every single fucking song. He seemed to start off at speed with I Wanna Be Your Dog, The Passenger and Lust For Life, and then go backwards to lesser songs, like a man reading a setlist upside down. Oh well, it's a free country.

Live From Abbey Road - Classics - Jamiroquai
Jay dislikes music shows where he's expected to do one song only because he can't work up a vibe. This was from Oct 2006 when he was promoting his High Times compilation. There was also a track from mgmt, from May 2008.

Ceol bho Perthshire Amber - The Paperboys
Another festival, from Perth Concert Hall in 2015, although the titular band shared their time with Martin Carthy and the Maclean Project.

Jacqueline du Pre - A Gift Beyond Words
She died 30 years ago, so this was another lookback over her life, with friends and fans. She was popular, sincere, exuberant, trusting, like a wild mustang. But she got MS. Sad, really.

Live With... Fantastic Negrito
A chap called Xavier, from Oakland in California, with a somewhat forced personality, and some reasonable songs.

Sigala's Mixtape
He came from Norwich, he met Tito Jackson as part of making "Easy Love", he likes colourful, energetic videos (which explains why he gets them all so similar), found it surreal to write with Craig David, has the same manager as Ella Eyre, goes rally driving with John Newman, has respect for DJ Fresh, felt that Clean Bandit revived a 90s sound, loves Ellie Goulding's powerful voice, and reckons Major Lazer's "Lean On" changed a musical mood.

The Fizz - Live at the Water Rats
A mix of old favourites and stuff from their recent album. The replacement Bobby works as a lookalike for the original from a distance. They seem to have a happy combination now.

Lucy Worsley's Nights at the Opera
The historian visited several European cities to talk about 8 significant operas from 8 composers. This inevitably meant Vienna, Venice, Milan, Paris, Dresden and Bayreuth. But some timeless tunes.

XTC - This Is Pop
Andy and the rest of the band talk about how they came together in Swindon, and had a few hit singles and albums, until Andy found fighting Valium addiction was harder than it seemed, and record companies didn't like the sound of a non-touring band. Even the Dukes of Stratosfear side-project wasn't enough. But they endure.

Belladrum 2016 - Cridhe Tartan - Rachel Sermanni
She was making her 5th appearance at the festival, it being the first one she ever went to, back in the day. She was the guitar-playing singer in a 5-piece band. A short set, but I suspect there'll be more to come.

Ball & Boe - Back Together
Michael and Alfie did an album together a year ago, and it sold well, so here's the follow-up. They got special guests Jason Manford and Imelda May on to plug their own albums too. Perhaps the highlight was Mike & Alfie's riff-off, as they sang bits of songs in different genres, like country and rap. I don't doubt there'll be another next year as well.

Joseph Calleja - A Tribute to Mario Lanza
From Vienner, with the Navarra Sinfonia Orquestra conducted by Frederic Chaslin, who run through pieces by several composers, some with Calleja singing, some without. They hold Be My Love back for one of the encores. Somewhat uninspiring, really.

Live From Abbey Road Classics - Snow Patrol
Gary talks of them being gigantic Beatles fans, from their October 2006 turn where they did Chasing Cars and You're All I Have. They'd been going 12 years at this point. They also do Set The Fire To The Third Bar with Martha Wainwright, who came on the show in June 2008 and gets a couple of songs to show for it.

Cuirm @ Celtic - Rant and Julie Fowlis
Short sets from the 2014 Celtic Connections festival. Rant were an instrumental prospect, and therefore scored over the Gaelic singing Fowlis.

Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky, op.78
A new series of classical concerts, heh, with Valery Gergiev conducting the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in St Petersburg, marking the 125th anniversary of Prokofiev. Anyway, this was pleasant.

Belladrum 2016 - Cridhe Tartan - Rachel Sermanni
Unlike the previous show she did, this was a backstage set, short and sweet.

MTV Unplugged: Shawn Mendes
Unlike his twin Charlie Puth, Mendes has some songs I can bear to hear, so this was a pleasant enough set.

Lanza - The Best of Everything
A lengthy career piece about how a child prodigy had his talent spotted in the US army, got married and signed to MGM, but began a lifelong battle with weight and good living. He scored big in a film biopic about Enrico Caruso, and had big selling hits, and then a spat with a film director knocked him back a while. His manager lost his money, and he got slagged by purists for not doing opera properly. His health fluctuated, and he died aged just 37. But his legacy lives on.

Prokofiev - Seven, they are 7, op.30
Another burst of the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, this time in Moscow.

Larry King Now - Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins
The TLC star has her book "A Sick Life" out, and discussed it with Larry. She's had sickle cell anaemia since birth, and was told she wouldn't live past 30. But she's 47. She and Chili recently released the first new TLC LP for 15 years. She was starstruck when meeting Michael Jackson, who told her she was his fave in the group, which was his fave group. Hmm. She also spoke of her cousin getting shot 18 times by cops, on Sep 20

Belladrum 2016 - Cridhe Tartan - Alabama 3
An acoustic backstage burst, notable for them doing "Woke Up This Morning", which I believe has been a big success for them.

Prokofiev - Ivan the Terrible, op.116
A lengthy effort, notable for the use of narration mixing in with the music.

Live With... Jakki Graham
Described as "Wolverhampton's finest", the 80s soul star mixed her own material with covers of Motown stuff like I Say A Little Prayer or For Once In My Life.

Prokofiev - Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, op.74
Cunningly scheduled for broadcast here during the 100th anniversary, this was otherwise the usual stuff from the usual gang.

Noisey: Seoul
Zach Goldbaum again investigating the world's musical sub-sects, here looking at K-Pop, a government scheme using ersatz hi-nrg stuff, where acts are groomed in factories and wannabes feel sure they have a serious chance of using the system to work for them, rather than the other way around. All this in the shadow of their northern neighbours, too. Pretty depressing, if you ask me.

Free To Rock
A steady hour looking at the way that the Soviet Union slowly thawed to the siren song of rock and roll. Even Mikhail Gorbachev recognised it appealed to kids. Many other Russian rockers were present, and Billy Joel and a couple of Beach Boys were present to recount their own contributions, and I was surprised to learn about Elton John's acoustic Moscow tour in the late 1970s. The Scorpions got their due, and no mention at all of David Hasslehoff.

Prokofiev - Symphony #1 in D Major, op.25
This time in Moscow, but otherwise as the others.

Camilla Cabello's Mixtape
She's #1, so here she was talking about people she's met, worked with or admired, from Bruno Mars and Shawn Mendes, to Machine Gun Kelly and J Balvin, and Major Lazer, Sia and Rihanna. No talk about Fifth Harmony at all.

The Glory of Russia - The Sights and Sounds of St Petersburg
Well, they're big news, what with the centenary and all. Here Renee Fleming talked about the history of Russian music, and the number of famous composers buried in St Petersburg. Oh, and she sang, sometimes with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and with Constantin Orbelian conducting the State Hermitage Orchestra.

Sheridan
Actress Sheridan Smith bows to the inevitable and makes a show to plug her 1st album, and is interviewed by Alexander Armstrong, on much the same circuit. The gloss has come off her story a bit in the past few years, and singing Crazy just reminds you that Petula Clark already did that. She might win awards and have a great voice, but it all feels a bit unnecessary.

Prokofiev - Symphony #2 in D Minor, op.40
Still in Moscow here, in April 2016.

The Great Songwriters - Rickie Lee Jones
How to get an hour out of one notable hit (and being sampled by the Orb). She started song-writing young, and her parents taught her different styles of songs. She worked as an act singing covers, progressed from there, was signed to a contract soon after being made homeless, had to deal with tough times and addictions, but clearly still sings happily enough.