BBC4 goes Stiff

Steve

Bugger i cant get bbc4.

I remember in the mists of my rebellious youth ordering a "If it ain't Stiff it ain't worth a F***" Tshirt. It never arrived, was it a scam?, were Stiff badly organised? What happened to my cheque? Did Malcolm McLaren have anything to do with the Venture?

These are the things that keep me asleep at night.

Altogether now..................

white face, black shirt
white socks, black shoes
black hair, white strat
bled white, died black

sweet gene vincent

Regards

The Skanking Diccus

Diccus
It is possible that said progs might find their way onto a silver disc if anyone really wished to see them. All hush hush - only those who need to know etc. Quite in the spirit of Stiff I suppose if not the BBC!

The Kursaals thing is worth a watch (not that you can oopps!) as well. I remember buying Golden Mile CBS 81622 (1976) Producer: Mike Batt
1. Little Does She Know 2. One Arm Bandit 3. Drinking Socially 4. Two Left Feet 5. Modern Lovers 6. Street Of The Music 7. Radio Romance 8. When The Band's On The Stand 9. Detroit Tin 10. Third Finger, Left Hand 11. Ready To Go

When I was a spotty youth. Still got the vinyl!
Steve

Have you got an email address Stevega

Le Diccus

This is the single biggest reason for me to get digital yet. So far, I'm in the "5 channels of crap, why do I need more channels of crap" side of things, but this program, & maybe film 4 makes me think I should get freeview. I may even start watching telly again.
matt.

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:
Have you got an email address Stevega

Le Diccus

In profile Diccus. Anyone any idea how to send PM's on this site?

quote:

Originally posted by manicatel:
This is the single biggest reason for me to get digital yet. So far, I'm in the "5 channels of crap, why do I need more channels of crap" side of things, but this program, & maybe film 4 makes me think I should get freeview. I may even start watching telly again.
matt.

Has to be said Freeview (or Sky) give you loads of crap with the odd gem. To my feeble mind BBC4 is the best thing out there. Rosanne Cash in concert on next Sunday, PJ Harvey following week

Oh I forgot Artsworld - Weld is on!

I loved the Kursall Flyers prog. Took me back a bit I can tell you! I remember those types of gigs in that era as I was in a band-in-van myself 1979-83. They (KF's) were a great hard working band and I remember seeing Sutherland Brothers & Quiver too at a student union end of year bash that pushed the same buttons. That was a fab programme & I wished now I had recorded it to keep. That was my youth, that was.
Good call Steve, thanks for the pointer.

Few more things I've noticed that might be of interest:

All BBC4

22/09/06
20:30 - 21:00 In Concert Oscar Peterson [Ronnie Scott's 1974]
22:30 - 23:30 BBC Sessions Rosanne Cash (repeated 23rd and 1/10)

30/09/06 00:00 - 00:50 Rock Goes To College (Lena Lovich (repeated 7/10/06)

1/10/06
00:20 - 01:20 BBC Four Sessions P J Harvey

Artsworld
Artsworld repeats progs so often that I have only put the first showing as from today in.
16/09/06 21:00 - 22:25 Elivis Costello & The Imposters Live in Memphis
23/09/06 21:00 - 22:00 REM Road Movie
25/09/06 22:00 - 23:00 Terry Callier In Concert [2004]
30/09/06 21:00 - 22:00 Jimi Hendrix [doc]
02/10/06 17:00 - 19:00 Procol Harum : Live At Union Chapel (I saw this earlier - dreadful but that is IMHO!)

Also worth a mention si Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey on 6/10/06

Almost worth a new thread but not quite!

Steve

Almost forgot - and I doubt this will be of any interest except to me but:

"At long last, I am delighted to be able to tell you that the BBC has scheduled Victor Lewis-Smith's TV documentary on Jake Thackray, Jake on the Box.

The programme's first transmission will be on BBC 4 at 9pm on Friday 6 October and it will be followed immediately by a further 30-minute programme featuring footage of Jake singing songs which are not included in Jake on the Box.

Thanks for the heads up about the late, great Jake Thackray.

quote:

Originally posted by bob mccluckie:
Thanks for the heads up about the late, great Jake Thackray.

Oh another Jacke-ite - I'm going to change my name to Sister Josephine

quote:

Originally posted by SteveGa:

quote:

Originally posted by bob mccluckie:
Thanks for the heads up about the late, great Jake Thackray.

Oh another Jacke-ite - I'm going to change my name to Sister Josephine

I always though Jake was a bit Lah-Di-Dah



Thoroughly recommended.

Great clip BTW - thanks.

What's Jake in a Box like? Seems like the definitive compilation

quote:

Originally posted by SteveGa:
The Kursaals thing is worth a watch (not that you can oopps!) as well. I remember buying Golden Mile CBS 81622 (1976) Producer: Mike Batt

Steve

Kind of makes amends for the Wombles thing.

The father of my best friend across the road from me in the mid '70's was the manager of the Wombles and I still have memories of the human sized things milling about in their lounge around the time of the successful charting of the songs.

Jono

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF: What's Jake in a Box like? Seems like the definitive compilation

The Guardian said:

"This is exactly the kind of lovingly appointed reissue package that acolytes of the unjustly forgotten dream of: four CDs with a wealth of unreleased material. Born and raised in a gritty suburb of Leeds, Thackray got his big break on a forerunner of That's Life in the late 60s. Somewhere between chansonnier Georges Brassens (his idol) and the similarly owlish Tony Hancock, he sang in a deliciously foggy hoot and looked every inch the handsome rake. Revelling in breathtakingly deft wordplay, he was also a subtle, sophisticated guitarist. A song like the riotous Lah-di-dah harpoons a particular parochial Englishness, but does so with real heart, and it's marvellous to finally have The Black Swan, an exquisitely-orchestrated melancholy break-up song, on CD. Ribald, lovelorn or vicious, Thackray's genius, long ill-served by budget compilations, can finally be celebrated as offering something immeasurably richer than the diversions of light entertainment." It is actually a collection of his 4 EMI studio albums, The Last Will & Testament, Jake's Progress, Bantam Cock and On Again! On Again! with previously unreleased studio recordings, a mono acoustic version of his first LP, singles (including one in French), demos and alternate versions. So I guess one for the complete-ist. I like him live this is excellent :

Disc: 1
1. Family Tree
2. Little Black Foal
3. Worried Brown Eyes
4. Hole
5. Salvation Army Girl
6. Isobel
7. Isabella
8. One Eyed Isaac
9. Miss World
10. Caroline Diggeby Pratte
11. Pass Milord The Rooster Juice
12. Remember Bethlehem
13. Ladies Basic Freedoms Polka
14. Mrs Murphy
15. Nurse

Disc: 2
1. Cactus
2. Lah Di Dah
3. Personal Column
4. Black Swan
5. Leopold Alcocks
6. Ulysses
7. Country Bus
8. Castleford Ladies Magic Circle
9. Blacksmith And The Toffee Maker
10. Lodger
11. Sophie
12. Last Will And Testament Of Jake Thackray
13. Grandad
14. Romance

I am a little suprised to be discussing JT on this forum but as I am (and for those who might not know him):

I love a good bum on a woman, it makes my day.
To me it is palpable proof of God's existence, a posteriori.
Also I love breasts and arms and ankles, elbows, knees;
It's the tongue, the tongue, the tongue on a woman that spoils the job for me.
Please understand I respect and admire the frailer sex
And I honour them every bit as much as the next misogynist.
But give some women the ghost of a chance to talk and thereupon
They go on again, on again, on again, on again, on again, on again, on.

I fell in love with a woman with wonderful thighs and hips
And a sensational belly. I just never noticed her lips were always moving.
Only when we got to the altar and she had to say "I do"
And she folded her arms and gathered herself and took in a breath and I knew
She could have gone on again, on again, on again till the entire
Congregation passed out and the vicar passed on and the choirboys passed through puberty.
At the reception I gloomily noted her family's jubilant mood,
Their maniacal laughter and their ghastly gratitude.

She talks to me when I go for a shave or a sleep or a swim.
She talks to me on a Sunday when I go singing hymns and drinking heavily.
When I go mending my chimney pot she's down there in the street,
And at ninety-five on my motorbike she's on the pillion seat
Wittering on again, on again, on and again and again.
When I'm eating or drinking or reading or thinking or when I'm saying my rosary.
She will never stop talking to me; she is one of those women who
Will never use three or four words when a couple of thousand will easily do!

She also talks without stopping to me in our bed of a night;
Throughout the sweetest of our intimate delights she never gives over.
Not even stopping while we go hammer and tongs towards the peak -
Except maybe for a sigh and a groan and one perfunctory shriek.
Then she goes on again, on again, on again on and I must
Assume that she has never noticed that she's just been interrupted.
Totally unruffled she is, and as far as I can see
I might just as well have been posting a letter or stirring up the tea!

She will not take a hint, not once she's made a start.
I can yawn or belch or bleed or faint or fart - she'll not drop a syllable.
I could stand in front of her grimly sharpening up an axe,
I could sprinkle her with paraffin, and ask her for a match -
She'd just go on again, on again, on again even more.
The hind leg of a donkey is peanuts for her, she can bore the balls off a buffalo.
"Mother of God," I cried one day, "Oh, let your kingdom come
"And in the meantime, Mother, could you strike this bugger dumb?"

Well, believe it or not, she appeared to me then and there:
The Blessed Virgin herself, in answer to my prayer, despite the vulgarity,
Shimmering softly, dressed in blue and holding up a hand.
I cocked a pious ear as the Mother of God began.
Well she went on again, on again, on again, on, and I
Will have to state how very much I sympathise with the rest of the family.
Give some women the ghost of a chance to talk and thereupon
They go on again, on again, on again, on again,
And again, and again, and again, and again
They will go on again, on again, on again, on again, on again, on again, on.

A word of warning for anyone new to JT - he is very much of his time (think Noel Coward) so don't expect a modern performance he is a man a guitar but he ain't James Blunt!

"In fact, if Jake Thackray had been French he would surely have received the Legion d'Honneur and become a national treasure."

Steve

quote:

I am a little suprised to be discussing JT on this forum

Steve - why so?

As I'm someobody who loves HMHB and most folk music and Tom Lehrer and many similar styles, I think it is inevitable that I should enjoy Jake T.

I am very pleased he is nothing like James Blunt - I only wish James Blunt was nothing like James Blunt.

Well I don't wish to offend anyone but I made the comment becuase there is a level of levity in the groups we are discussing. Whilst I have no doubt many people enjoy HMHB, JT or Lehrer there are not too many on the forums discussing the more humourous side of music - maybe there should be more

On to





Steve

I was a contemporary of Mike Harding's at teacher training college.

My highlights from the stiff progs:

* Brinsley Schwartz! Amazingly tight funky sound, twin-rhodes attack and the adorable Nick Lowe upfront - fantastic
* blockheads doing sex and drugs and rocknroll live - P Funk! Utterly awesome steamroller of a groove
* Elvis C live from 1978 - operatic intensity

Me and the wife absolutely loved thos programmes...

On the Stiff programmes, I liked the intro best with ELP playing Fanfare For The Common Man - whoops, I don't think that was the idea, was it?

Oh well, nice to see Dave Stewart, who played in Egg, National Health, Arzachel and the wonderful Hatfield and the North too.

Yeah, OK, I also liked the Damned, Costello and some of the other acts. Hadn't realised that Jona Lewie was a member of Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs.

Down on the coast way past the town of Crawley;
Where the breeze blows and the air tastes of the sea. - Sea Side Shuffle

quote:

Hadn't realised that Jona Lewie was a member of Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs.

Or Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts as they are better known around hear.

Diccus - all safely onto the Hard Disk!

RE claims to fame (see Mike Harding) I went to Uni with one of the guys who put the programme together. A sad statement (for both of us but true).

No one mentioned how good it was to see the Feelgoods. What a band! Saw them live a few times, once with Wilko Johnson (anyone going to see him and John Otway on The Mad, The Bad & The Dangerous tour?). Lee Brilleaux made off with my towel after the last gig - small price to pay I suppose. If only they were around now they could teach a few bands to really kick ar*e.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by bob mccluckie:
Thanks for the heads up about the late, great Jake Thackray.

Blimey!! That takes me back. I'd forgotten about him. Had a vocal delivery not unlike Mr Bean, IIRC.

quote:

Originally posted by munch:
did not no about the tour will look into it .i love john otway live ,hes mad in a good way. regards munch

Wilko Johnson gig's:

24 UK BRISTOL THE FLEECE
25 UK TAVISTOCK WHARF
26 UK WORCESTER THE MARRS BAR
27 UK MANSFIELD THE TOWN MILL
28 UK COLNE BLUES FESTIVAL
OCT 6 UK LONDON 100 CLUB
7 UK SOUTHEND RIGA MUSIC BAR
13 UK GILLINGHAM BEACON COURT TAVERN
14 UK NEWPORT TJ'S BAR
20 FRANCE ABBEVILLE THEATRE MUNICIPAL
27 UK STRATFORD-UPON-AVON COX'S YARD
28 UK COVENTRY ALBANY CLUB
29 UK SHEFFIELD THE BOARDWALK
NOV 17 UK WALTHAMSTOW THE STANDARD
18 UK LONDON HALFMOON PUTNEY
24 UK REDHILL THE HARLEQUIN THEATRE
DEC 2 UK CAMBRIDGE CORN EXCHANGE The Mad the Bad and the Dangerous
8 UK LONDON THE SPITZ
9 UK FROME CHEESE & GRAIN The Mad the Bad and the Dangerous
16 UK STEVENAGE WALKERN SPORTS CENTRE
20 UK LEEDS IRISH CENTRE The Mad the Bad and the Dangerous
21 UK LINCOLN DRILL HALL The Mad the Bad and the Dangerous

The Mad the Bad and the Dangerous are Wilko, Otway and The Hamsters (DVD available via EBay)

Steve