Music Television 6

Lwp - Curadur - Hana Lili
A mix of her own songs, plus turns from Alffa, Mellt and Hanon Ogwen Parry, who was an old pal of Hana's.

Saturday Night w/Hayley Palmer - Kim & Marty Wilde
Hayley met them together, having done Zoom shows with them before. At the time of this 2022 chat, they were prepping for various tours, and reflective of times past. Marty was apparently the first celebrity to get the covid jab, which he was supportive of. He and his wife had spent Christmas 2021 with covid, though. Kim toured in support of Michael Jackson during the late 1980s. Marty wrote for her, and her brother Ricky was also part of what they saw as a family business.

From The Vaults: Christmas
Guy Garvey has another mish-mash, from familiar choices like Elton John, Steeleye Span and the Housemartins, through to oddities like Simon & Garfunkel doing Hazy Shade of Winter, Alison Moyet doing God Bless The Child, and rounding off with the Boomtown Rats doing Do They Know It's Christmas?

Classic FM Live
An annual round up from the Royal Albert Hall, running from familiar favourites like Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights to Tchaikowsky's finale from Swan Lake. The guest contributors ranged from Milos, to The Piano winner Lucy Illingworth.

Songs of Praise - Carols for Christmas Eve
Aled Jones fronted a short effort from Sheffield City Hall, with guest turns from Katharine Jenkins, Michael Ball, Tommy Blaize and the two winners of Young Chorister of the Year.

Mica Paris - A Gospel Christmas
From St Alfege Church in Greenwich, Mica had a choir backing her through some of the less familiar Christmas numbers, but with typical gusto.

Yn Y Lwp
Catrin Hopkins presents her last show of 2023, which I caught for once. Crinc, Angel Hotel, No Good Boyo were among the acts included, plus a round-up of the year and coverage from a festival too.

Ales Jones a Ser y Nadolig
A sort of concert, with Aled linking performances from Brigyn, No Good Boyo, Carly Paoli, Glain Rhys and others.

Disco at the BBC: Volume 3
Another hour of material, from Thelma Houston and Sylvester, through Gonzalez and Eruption, to Patrick Hernandez and Andrea True Connection. Good fun again.

Live from the Barbican - Academy of Ancient Music - Vivaldi's Four Seasons
A programme that actually starts with two pieces from Corelli and one from Grimani, before the lengthy titular main event.

Saturday Night w/Hayley Palmer - Mark Read
He was part of a1, and these days still yours with them. He lives at Portsmouth. a1 released a new album in 2022, The A Game. They toured with other boybands of their era, like Damage and 5ive. He's a strict vegetarian, and enjoys cookery. As this interview was done soon after Meat Loaf's death, Mark talks to meeting him at a telly show (and covering I'd Do Anything For Love). He wrote the theme tune for this show too.

Cliff and the Shadows - The Final Reunion
From back in 2009, a show lasting over 2 hours from the O2 Arena in London, including Shadows' own hits, and plenty of theirs with Cliff, leading to a conclusion of The Young Ones.

Christmas with Katharine Jenkins
She enlivened the Swansea Arena with guests like Jack Savoretti, Wynne Evans, Chloe Flower and Hannah Watkins. They were helped by Ken Buchan conducting the Welsh Pops Orchestra.

MTV Unplugged - A HipHop 50th Celebration of JERSEY'S FINEST
Held at Newark Symphony Hall, introduced by Queen Latifah, and featuring Wyclef Jean, Redman, Lords of the Underground, Treach (of Naughty By Nature), and closing with Sugarhill Gang, it was a show that the crowd appreciated.

African Voices: Changemakers - South African Hip-Hop
Larry Madowo introduced a look at Osmic Menoe, founder of South Africa's HipHop Museum, as well as the Back to the City festival, and also Nasty C, who broke through in 2012 and put out his debut album in 2016.

T in the Park: Best Bits
Edith Bowman narrates an 8-part best of series marking the 30th anniversary of the festival, with footage of all and sundry, from Franz Ferdinand to Iggy Pop to Primal Scream to Sinead O'Connor to Deacon Blue to Kings Of Leon to Muse to Massive Attack, and many more.

Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution
Major new 3 hour series talking to most of those who might be involved or modern and grateful. The final episode deals with the downsides like "disco sucks" and AIDS, and then segues into house and techno and the modern day, all of which is judged to have evolved from disco. Unless you think it evolved from hip-hop, of course. An engaging and emotional series.

Inside Classical: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Unlike previous examples of this series, this had an all-new musical opus, from presenter Neil Brand, giving incidental backing to a reading of the Conan Doyle classic, acted out on stage by Mark Gatiss as Sherlock Holmes, Sanjeev Bhaskar as Watson, and a few others in the other roles. The music was alright, but very secondary.

National Lottery New Year's Eve Bash
A somewhat all-star variety show, with musical turns from Becky Hill, Jax Jones, Take That, Busted, Cat Burns, Paloma Faith and Malakai among others from shows like The Masked Singer. A reasonable way to fill a few hours.

Michelle McManus - Talent Show Winners
Marking 20 years since she won the 2nd UK series of Pop Idol, Michelle reflected on her journey, then and now, and met other winners or competitors from other reality shows, including the phenomenon that is Susan Boyle, Jai McDowell (who won Britain's Got Talent back in 2011 and this was the first I recall about it), and superstar/friend Robbie Williams, who sympathised with the grief Michelle got from tabloids and so on (Pete Waterman's fury was quite something to soak up). Michelle seems happier these days and still making music.

NEC 1988 International Festival: Gloria Gaynor
A surprising show in which, among very familiar numbers, she covered Tears For Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule The World, which was unexpected.

Radio 2 Piano Room - 2023 round-up
Vernon Kay links just over half an hour of acts appearing with the BBC Concert Orchestra, from James Bay and Madness, to Def Leppard and Noel Gallagher. Most work well with orchestration, some are just a bit too odd.

Raye - Live at the Royal Albert Hall
The most over-rated act of 2023 got this prestige gig, with Tom Richards conducting the Heritage Orchestra as she blurbed through her show, which I didn't really warm to.

The Music of Morecambe & Wise
A 1977 special with chat show host Michael Parkinson talking to the great duo about several of their musical numbers and some of their guests like Diana Rigg, Cliff Richard and Vanessa Redgrave. Eric suggests plans for the future could include "blacking up" for a routine with Gloria Gaynor, which boggles the mind and it's as well it didn't happen (I assume!)

Llwyfan y Maes: Candelas
Welsh rock band in concert at a festival, with some chat bits with presenter Georgia Ruth. Pleasant enough.

Arts Uncovered: Royal Opera House
A short piece from 2020, looking at the role of stage manager, with singer Nicky Spence also giving his thoughts, during a production of Alice's Adventures Underground.

Rick Astley Rocks New Year's Eve
To the Camden Roundhouse for a show of two halves. Rick did more of his own stuff in the first half, since he had a new album out this year. Sharleen Spiteri and Rylan came on to duet at times, and there were a few old school covers in the second half.

Behind The Music: Boyz II Men
This originally aired in 2002 at the time of their 5th album. Amusingly, they came together as teens at school, with the deep-voiced one tagging along, and then being the one who had to leave for his health. When management had greater control over the material, they scored mega #1 successes. When they decided to do things their own way, the wheels fell off. At no point did this seem to register with them, though. They won Grammys, made the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012, and had a Las Vegas residency in 2013. The most recent version of this was from 2022.

Welsh of the West End
A vocal troupe of some sort, they performed show tunes from Welsh shows, and this quite lengthy concert was at the same Eisteddfod as the Candelas gig above.

Saturday Night w/Hayley Palmer - Terry Caldwell
East 17's sole surviving original member is still keen, even if his knees are a bit knackered. He started as just a dancer, and met Brian at school. He and Brian were 4 years younger than Tony and John. He doesn't talk about how the band fractured or reformed or any of that. Just that there was new material, and new shows. He also had movie plans too.

Fuaim Na Feise - Scotland's Festivals
Iain "Spanish" McKay was back to check out the many & varied events which run around Scotland, from T in the Park to Belladrum to RockNess to TRNSMT to Wickerman and many more. He met members of Travis, Clive from Dr & the Medics, The Mary Wallopers, some of The Bluebells, and finally Sigrid. Though the pandemic has had drastic effects, there's still hope for a brighter future.

Angel-Headed Hipster - The Songs of Marc Bolan & T-Rex
A lengthy round-up of the career, partly in relation to the recording of a tribute album with various stars covering his songs, including Nick Cave, Beth Orton, Maria McKee and others. Billy Idol appeared on Marc's fateful final series, getting a nod from the great man, and Idol was clearly proud to pay his respects in return. Ringo Starr, Elton John, Cameron Crowe, Joan Jett and Nena were among other inclusions.

Katherine McPhee - In Session
A short but pleasant set from 2010, though I'm still none the wiser afterwards.

John Williams - The Berlin Concert
From 2021, conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, John did works from films like Star Wars, Harry Potter, the Indiana Jones franchise, and more.

The CNBC Conversation: Sir Bob Geldof
Tania Bryer managed to talk to the out-spoken Irish rocker about his work with the One Young World charity, his involvement with Band Aid, his upbringing, being a voracious reader, how smartphone tech is changing the world, trying to help as a grandparent, and so on.

New Year's Concert 2024
To the Musikverein in Vienna, as Christian Thielemann conducts a program including assorted Strausses, Hellmesberger, Lumbye and a lengthy interlude in tribute to Bruckner, whose big anniversary year this is.

Lwp - Curadur - Y Clwb Cysgu Cwl (The Cool Sleeping Club)
Katie Hall is the linker this time, she being part of the band Chroma. She also talks to Panic Shack, a Cardiff band, The Joy Formidable, a N Wales band of nearly 20 years standing, and designer Mari Phillips. A fun little edition.

The Great Double Bass Race
Back in 1978, the Isle of Man hosted an international competition open to double bass players. This show covered judges, entrants, locals and so on. There was confident talk of a successor competition in 1981, but who knows?

The Pogues - In Paris
Their 30th anniversary show from the Olympia, back in September 2012, and a good repeat given Shane's recent death. They rattled through the numbers in quite a lengthy show.

The Hills are Alive with the Kanneh-Masons
A seasonal special with the musical family off to explore the Sound of Music story, and perform their special new versions of tracks from the film. As plausible a project as any.

Razorlight aux Transmusicales de Rennes
The briefly successful band in concert from 2006. Though they had several hits, the sand closed over them again fairly quickly.

Peat & Diesel - Trying to Find a Way to Make a Living
4 years after their last docs, the trio return, coping with the post-pandemic scene, making a first Irish tour, and their Glastonbury debut, and coping with foot injuries and then cancelling a winter tour to give themselves a break which they clearly need.

Peat & Diesel - Hitch Your Wagon to a Star
Storming it at Celtic Connections, making inroads in Germany, attending the Scottish Music Awards, playing a homecoming gig, and a charity gig to support WIIGA, then playing Belladrum and even headlining at HebCelt. Nice blokes, they deserve it.

Shirley Bassey at the BBC - Volume 2
An hour and a half of more efforts, including a duet with Lulu on "You're the One That I Want", and surprising covers like You'll See and Copacabana.

Lwp - Lleisiau Eraill - Other Voices
Huw Stephens again, with acts this time including Yard Act, Sans Soucis, Cerys Hafana and the Joy Formidable.

Greatest Pop Videos - 1995
Months since the previous episode, and no word on when the next will arrive, but this went well enough. Britpop's high water mark got its due, but there were too many choices included because they were hits, not because they had particularly great videos. Also Michael Jackson's last successful year, and all 3 of his hits included.

Keane - Rock En Seine 2009
A short-ish set from their first 3 albums, but Tim offered what French he could for the crowd's pleasure amidst the music.

Night Music, with Roger Whittaker
A rather half-hearted tribute to the recently deceased musician, but a lot better than nothing. He had Dana as a guest, he sang The Last Farewell... not bad.

MTV World Stage - VMA 2023 Highlights Show 2
It was weeks since part 1, but hey. Doja Cat, Metro Boomin & many pals, Fall Out Boy and Maneskin helped fill time, plus a hip-hop medley which included LL Cool J and Nicki Minaj.

Cyndi Lauper at the BBC
A shorter show than these things often are, and it tells you a lot that her two biggest UK successes are 2 different versions of the same song.

Yn Y Lwp
Catrin Hopkins brings in the first show of the year, which featured 3 acts including Adwaith, and chats with some of them.

Maria Rita - Coracao a Batucar
Now sure what has brought on this run of shows, but it makes a change. This 2014 show sounded OK, though the subtleties of the words were lost on me.

Cymry ar Gynfas: Dafydd Iwan
Don't think I've seen this 2021 show before. Painter Wil Rowlands only had 1 chat and sitting with the singer, but took imagery from a song of his, and produced a cluttered effort over 10 weeks, which Dafydd was complimentary about.

Saturday Night w/Hayley Palmer - Simon Bartholomew
He was in the Brand New Heavies, not a band who crop up for reviewing much. They seem to still be recording and touring, and even spoke of appearing somewhere with Kenny Thomas, who has an even lower profile. He said BNH came from the same part of Ealing as Jamiroquai.

Behind the Music: Jennifer Lopez
An extra-long edition from 2022, mostly culled from a 2010 show, with some modern updates from J-Lo herself. She'll be 55 in the summer, apparently.

1984 at the BBC
A truly half-arsed excuse for entertainment. The inclusion of videos for Purple Rain and Ghostbusters rather showed up the paucity of effort. Acts like Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet were absent, but on the other hand, Evelyn Thomas was a surprise inclusion. Footage of Stevie Wonder and Sister Sledge taken from the 1990s was pretty poor, too.

Omnibus - L.B. - An Portrait of Leonard Bernstein 1918-1990
Hard to say if this was hastily put together to mark his death, or a handy coincidence. He spoke from archive, of course, but other conductors and collaborators were happy to pay homage, from Jose Carreras to Oliver Knussen to Jerome Robbins.

Godsmack - Live at White River Amphitheatre
From Auburn, Washington, 2014, a steady enough run-through of tracks from a band not likely to much trouble the charts.

Mariah Carey - Live at the Tokyo Dome
She went in 1996 and the crowd loved it. She did a cover of Just Be Good To Me which was a welcome surprise, and finished with her bloody Christmas hit.

Reel Stories: Take That
The three remaining members considered their early years of struggle, a rare early track, the exit of Robbie, their struggles before reuniting (Howard's short-lived solo career also surprising), and how Robbie's return left Jason feeling no need to go on. Their recent album seems to mean they feel a proper new unit.

The Ventures - Stars on Guitars
Some amiable blokes who championed surf guitar and inspired generations of acts to follow them, and who eventually made it to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They achieved longevity partly by hitting paydirt in Japan, inspiring more generations there too. A reminder than nice guys can succeed.

Flobots - Live at House of Blues
A fun show from Anaheim in 2008, around their peak success with Handlebars, though Rise, Stand Up and It's Really A Quagmire were also all worth enjoying too.

Tony Bennett Sings... Songs from the Movies
He included Smile, of course, as well as Maybe This Time, and some Gershwin too.

Radio 2 In Concert: Level 42
A fun show from the Hammersmith Odeon in 1985, with a lively crowd and plenty of hits.

Big Night of Musicals 2024, by the National Lottery
To Manchester as Jason Manford MC'd a selection from many shows from Phantom of the Opera to Hamilton to Hadestown. Beverley Knight sang something, Nicole Scherzinger came along to chat to Jason but didn't sing, and the crowd got plenty of variety.

Shirley Bassey at the Royal Albert Hall
A lively show from 1973, in which she bashed her way through familiar favourites like And I Love You So and Without You, but also plenty of less familiar (to me, anyway) tracks like Never Never Never and Where Am I Going.

Ney Matogrosso interpreta Cartola
A quirky tribute concert from 2003, in which someone I've never heard of sang tracks of someone else I've never heard of, in a language I don't speak.

An Audience With Kylie (II)
She had a part-celebrity crowd for this Royal Albert Hall show, which she said was a format she also got to do back in 2001. Anyway, she pushed tracks from her new album, answered soft questions from the likes of Tom Allen and Clara Amfo, and did quite a few classics, though nothing that surprising.

Saturday Night w/Hayley Palmer - Sam Ryder
She spoke to him the week before Christmas, as he desperately tried to come between Wham and destiny (he didn't make it). Not that much chat compared to other shows, so a lot of videos and some performance from someone with only a handful of singles behind him.

Liberace
A special performance show from 1983 at the Wembley Conference Centre. He tended to do extended medleys on themes, but did some banter between-times. He did sing at the end.

Les Eurockeenes de Belfort - Amy Winehouse
She gave them a half-decent effort in 2007, with her curious covers as well as her own successes.

Jethro Tull - Live at Montreux
They were there in 2003, and gave quite a long show with some interesting covers bolstering their own fine material.

Lewis Capaldi - In Concert: Baloise Session 2022
He was already pushing the stuff from his 2nd album, which the crowd seemed to enjoy, and Lewis seemed to be having fun too.

Taith Bywyd - Peredur ap Gwynedd
Guitarist with Pendulum, who spent several years backing Natalie Imbruglia, with his bassist younger brother. He revisited old haunts and largely seemed to enjoy the experience. Natalie did not turn up, though.

Show Tunes at the BBC
Lengthy compilation held together by Elaine Paige, who was included a couple of times, and which breadth of material went a bit wider than just the humdrum for a change.

Celtic Connections '24: Songs of Modern Scotland
John Logan conducted the RCS Symphony Orchestra, with Roddy Hart holding together a line-up that included Justin Currie, Hamish Hawk, Emma Pollock and Eddi Reader, among others, performing recent tracks by Scottish acts, finishing with a collaborative bash at The Whole Of The Moon.

Dirty Pretty Things - Rock en Seine
They were there in 2006, and seemed to go down well with the crowd.

Storyville - Pianoforte
From 2020 or so, as the International Chopin Piano Competition ran for the 18th time in Warsaw. Cameras followed half a dozen of the 87 field, who were whittled down over 4 rounds. One quit before his 2nd round effort, and of the others, one came 2nd and another came 5th. This at least showed they were representative, but as the documentary took pains to establish them all, it felt bad that most fell short.

Behind The Music: P!nk
Originally in 2009, and then 2012, this effort updated her story, which was quite grim at times, but she got a rapid break and made good on it. Record company bods like LA Reid were disenchanted at her ideas, but they largely paid off. And she's got new material out this year.

Tony Bennett Sings... Songs from Broadway
Here he was in 1979, mixing up some Gershwin with plenty of familiar and less familiar stuff.

Lwp - Curadur - Iwan Fon
He grew up in a quiet village which has got quieter since. He's part of the band Kim Hon, and also a project called Y Reu. He revisited his old acting lecturer, Eleri Mai Nefydd, which tells me he also dabbles in acting, perhaps typified by the Yorci project too.

Amy MacDonald - Main Square Festival
She was there in 2009, and did covers of Mr Brightside and Dancing In The Dark, among many fine songs of her own.

Parkinson - Michael Crawford / Liberace
Michael chatted for the first 2/5 of the show, and there were a couple of musical clips, including doing Put On Your Sunday Clothes from Hello, Dolly. Liberace is less familiar to listen to, but he had plenty of tales to tell, and finished off on the piano with a Christmas-themed medley, this being from the 1973 Christmas show.

Joan Sutherland
Bernard Levin profiled the Aussie legend in 1973, how she came to singing, how she came to London, and how she impressed audiences and found love. They spoke at her home in Montreux. 

Hits That Missed... at the BBC
Another tenuous, if lengthy, round-up of familiar clips, on the premise that they weren't hits in some way, even if hugely familiar (eg Dolly Parton's 9 to 5, or the Eagles' Take It Easy).

BBC Proms '15: Leonard Bernstein - Stage and Screen
The John Wilson Orchestra ran through a lengthy tribute to the great conductor-composer, with tunes from West Side Story, Candide and others.

African Voices: Changemakers - Eddy Kenzo
Larry Madowo went to Kampala to meet a man billed as Uganda's first Grammy-nominated artist. Eddy is also a dancer who spent most of his childhood on the streets after his mother died. He got on his feet thanks to football, and started singing professionally in 2010. His breakthrough track was "Stamina". He set up a foundation in 2015, and hopes to work with Davido sometime.

Aaron Neville - My True Story
From 2018, a decent performance hour, with guests of the calibre of Joan Osborne and Paul Simon.

Arena presents Tales of Rock n Roll - Peggy Sue
This 1993 series was repeated to mark the 65th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death. The real Peggy Sue was friends with the real Donna, about whom Richie Valens wrote a song too. PS grew up in Lubbock and met Jerry Allison, Buddy's drummer (also interviewed here) first.

Chris Mann In Concert - A Mann For All Seasons
The blurb suggested he won S2 of the US Voice, though when I happened to check, he came 4th. This 2012 show was okay, save the sound quality which was really rotten on his vocals.

Home For Christmas - The Chris Mann Christmas Special
A shorter round-up from 2013, but also hampered by the same sound issue. Odd.

Yo! MTV Raps : Public Enemy Week
A repeat from 1991, which had Flavor Flav larking in the studio before Chuck arrived to do Can't Truss It. Elsewhere there was a short clip from Leaders of the New School, which included Busta Rhymes.

Barclay James Harvest presents A Concert for the People
From August 1990 in front of the Reichstag in Berlin. They did a decent enough show, they don't crop up on these things very often.

Saturday Night w/Hayley Palmer - George Brown
He was the drummer and co-founder of Kool and the Gang, who talked on Zoom to Hayley in 2021 from his home in Woodland Hills. He seemed positive for the future, so it was melancholic to see this show was being repeated because he died toward the end of 2023.

Ledisi - In Session Soundcheck 2011
Short but worthwhile showcase from around the time of her Pieces Of Me album, she did half a dozen tracks and then a bit of chatter about her career and where she was at.

Tango: Cafe de los Maestros & Friends
From El Palacio, Buenos Aires, a few different groups did various tunes, from 2015, whilst some were the background for dancers. Something a bit different for once.

Berlin Live: Bloc Party
They went on in 2016, and there was some backstage chatter from frontman Kele too.

Yn Y Lwp
Catrin presented the latest stuff from Mared and Francis Rees, a special piece for Welsh Language Day from Cerys Hafana, and a final joint effort from Eddie Ladd and Iwan Fon.

Radio 2 In Concert: Supertramp
They came to Sheffield in 1997, reported for the first time in 20 years. They had a new album out to push, but they did ample big old favourites like The Logical Song and Breakfast In America.