Playlists
038R Lost in 2017 Remastered
Remastering a Lost In… show is a tricky concept for us, and we did our best to renew the show by offering different tracks in celebration of the lost artists, which ended up extending the show, but making it better. Continue reading
213 John Coltrane
A fine show, and a bit edgy, as Coltrane is not an easy subject and can divide opinion along sharp lines. I’m pleased to say it was well attended and appreciated, up to 24 listeners at one point and over 20 for the whole show. Assembled by Hugh, for one of his favourite musicians, and very well done.
082R Un-covered
The first set of Un-covered tracks that we put together, with some rather fine juxtapositions. 21 listeners at one point, which is a very satisfying statistic.
212 Greenslade
Another show from esteemed collaborator Martin Lewis, this time on a prog rock band who began as a quartet with two keyboards, bass and drums, and no guitarist. Formed out of the ashes of Colosseum, a pioneering prog band, it continued in that direction. A good selection of tracks covering their two periods recorded in studio albums, appreciated by 25 listeners at one point.
081R By The Book, Chapter 2
A refurbished show with a completely new preshow and updated lyrics, sorry, script.
A fun-packed show with a bit more chat than usual. Well, I had the books to write about as well as the tracks…
I did promise during the show to say a bit more about the Mock Turtle. Alice In Wonderland, if you don’t know already, is slotted into the “nonsense” category by many, but it truth it is much more complicated than that. The author, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll is a pen-name) was a mathematics don at Oxford (having achieved a Second in Divinity and a First in Mathematics, and been awarded a Fellowship for life, no mean achievement) and contributed important work in the fields of symbolic logic and what is today known as game theory. The Alice books are full of logical allusions, as well as literary references and puns. The original illustrations for the books were done by celebrated illustrator and cartoonist Sir John Tenniel, to Dodgson’s exacting and profuse directions, and should be considered as part of the story.
So, the Mock Turtle is an allusion to a culinary dish called Mock Turtle soup, which is a dish that tries to replicate the taste of green turtle soup using items more easily available. The main component is a calf’s head, boiled, and the meat recovered for use in the soup, along with oysters and a few other things. Hence Tenniel, under Dodgson’s instructions, made the Mock Turtle have a turtle’s body and front flippers, but a calf’s head, feet and tail. A clever visual joke, sadly lost on today’s audience who have no reason to know what Mock Turtle soup is made out of. The text of the relevant chapter can be found here, and will explain the whole “Fainting in Coils” thing (painting in oils, in case it’s not obvious)
I’ll link to as many helpful pages for the books and songs as I can below.
211 Styx
A favourite band of many of our audience, much bigger in the US than Europe, and one I had never heard before…. in mitigation, I’m a sort-of-reformed jazz fan, via fusion and prog rock, so I’m approaching this sort of thing from a different direction. Edison let slip that, not only was a fan, but that in 1979 he was asked to try out for the band, when Dennis de Young temporarily left after the disagreement following “Babe”… A missed opportunity, or a lucky escape, perhaps.
080R Biting the Hand That Feeds You
Musicians being rude about the music business is not news, but getting their complaints issued on recordings is quite an accomplishment. Max Headroom only managed it on TV for a short while… A great selection, appreciated by a great audience.
210 Un-covered III
A third set of un-covered tracks, that is, tracks that have the same title but are otherwise not connected. It’s been a while since we did one of these, and this one went together very well.
079R Turn it Up!
One of our best shows, well deserving of a rebroadcast, but we were snookered by technical issues on the voice side – the music came through fine, so we carried on. I’m happy to do a repeat on an off day, do suggest a good one… Despite all that, 26 listeners at one point, which is very good by any standards for a niche Internet radio.
209 Larry Coryell and the Eleventh House
A trip to the land of jazz fusion, and one of the great groups that never quite managed to make it into the big time. We had a fine time at the abode of happiness, along with out audience, who were well entertained.