Joe Boyd's A-Z

[Globaltruth]

I don't even listen to this, but I do like to read your comments and follow up on the music you talk about. I shall miss it when he has worked through the alphabet. Or is he doing the numbers as well?

In which case, he should start here...

http://www.1giantleap.tv/

[Lat-Literal]

Z for Zonky by the excellent McKinney's Cotton Pickers in what could have been an outtake from Brian Rust's 1970s' show. Not that he included Geoff Muldaur or Betty Boop or tied it round to A for Andy Razaf! The great news is Joe will be back with a new A in what will be a fortnightly circular podcast. But what this means is we will have to do the numbers.

http://www.joeboyd.co.uk/podcast-player#z

[johncorrigan]

Z for Zonky by the excellent McKinney's Cotton Pickers in what could have been an outtake from Brian Rust's 1970s' show. Not that he included Geoff Muldaur or Betty Boop or tied it round to A for Andy Razaf! The great news is Joe will be back with a new A in what will be a fortnightly circular podcast. But what this means is we will have to do the numbers.

http://www.joeboyd.co.uk/podcast-player#z

Off to watch a bit of Betty Boop, Lat...delighted that Joe's carrying on...and writing that World Music book. Looking forward to it

[Lat-Literal]

Off to watch a bit of Betty Boop, Lat...delighted that Joe's carrying on...and writing that World Music book. Looking forward to it

Yes indeed.

[johncorrigan]

The glorious 'Autopsy' leads off the new round of the alphabet (AA this time) - all 5/4 time says Joe...Unhalfbricking and then of course 'Tam Lin' and 'Banks of the Nile'. Great to have Joe back adding a spot of delight to a fortnightly Friday.

http://www.acast.com/boydaz/letteraa

[Lat-Literal]

The glorious 'Autopsy' leads off the new round of the alphabet (AA this time) - all 5/4 time says Joe...Unhalfbricking and then of course 'Tam Lin' and 'Banks of the Nile'. Great to have Joe back adding a spot of delight to a fortnightly Friday.
http://www.acast.com/boydaz/letteraa

A very, very nice edition and, of course, it's music of the highest quality. In my case - and I would think for most of my age who know of Sandy Denny and Fairport - it was accessed someway down the line. I don't think they featured much in the singles chart either side of 1970. My preference actually is for the Fotheringay and albums and Denny's solo output because it seems purer and I do like the gentler accompaniments. Also, I feel that the sound reflects that era of music as well as having references to the past.

[johncorrigan]

A very, very nice edition and, of course, it's music of the highest quality. In my case - and I would think for most of my age who know of Sandy Denny and Fairport - it was accessed someway down the line. I don't think they featured much in the singles chart either side of 1970. My preference actually is for the Fotheringay and albums and Denny's solo output because it seems purer and I do like the gentler accompaniments. Also, I feel that the sound reflects that era of music as well as having references to the past.

Not strictly speaking true, Lat. I already had bought 'Meet on the Ledge', and I believe 'Si tu dois partir' managed a play from popicking maestro Freeman. I still have my copy with 'Genesis Hall' on the flip - all pink and Islandy and 7-inch. So 'Liege and Lief' was a staple in our student flat when it appeared.

I recall John Peel saying not long before he died that he was so upset about Sandy breaking up Fairport that he ignored her later output, so angry he was with her. He said it was only a late compilation that had him realise how great that work was. But I get what you're saying, Lat...such a pure sound.

[Lat-Literal]

Not strictly speaking true, Lat. I already had bought 'Meet on the Ledge', and I believe 'Si tu dois partir' managed a play from popicking maestro Freeman. I still have my copy with 'Genesis Hall' on the flip - all pink and Islandy and 7-inch. So 'Liege and Lief' was a staple in our student flat when it appeared.

I recall John Peel saying not long before he died that he was so upset about Sandy breaking up Fairport that he ignored her later output, so angry he was with her. He said it was only a late compilation that had him realise how great that work was. But I get what you're saying, Lat...such a pure sound.

Yes, 'Si tu dois partir' is in my memory banks from that sort of era. I have bits and pieces of the '67, '68 and '69 singles chart and around it "from at that time" but it's only fully comprehensive from 1970! STDP segments well with "Complainte pour Ste Catherine" which we discussed recently. I can also see "Liege and Lief" as a great student album.

[johncorrigan]

Shows how much I know - never knew that Jimmy Page played on 'Here Comes the Night' and I'd never heard 'Big Time Operator' before. Joe reassesses his views on Van - fascinating and so enjoyable...

spoiler alert!

Letter BB

"Just like way back in the days of old...."
Van Morrison: Big Time Operator /
Isley Brothers: Twist and Shout /
Them: Gloria /
Them: Here Comes The Night /
Van Morrison: Brown-Eyed Girl /
Van Morrison: Come Running /
Van Morrison: Into the Mystic

http://www.acast.com/boydaz/letterbb

CC in a fortnight!

[Lat-Literal]

Shows how much I know - never knew that Jimmy Page played on 'Here Comes the Night' and I'd never heard 'Big Time Operator' before. Joe reassesses his views on Van - fascinating and so enjoyable...

spoiler alert!

Letter BB

"Just like way back in the days of old...."
Van Morrison: Big Time Operator /
Isley Brothers: Twist and Shout /
Them: Gloria /
Them: Here Comes The Night /
Van Morrison: Brown-Eyed Girl /
Van Morrison: Come Running /
Van Morrison: Into the Mystic

http://www.acast.com/boydaz/letterbb

CC in a fortnight!

Yes - I didn't know "Big Time Operator" or about Jimmy Page. There is quite a lot of Van the Man that I still haven't heard. Apart from the slight surprise at Joe's somewhat late conversion, what I thought was most fascinating about this edition was the link to the Brill Building and the comeback in America with "Brown Eyed Girl". That song is in the category "a hit that wasn't actually a hit in the UK". It has been played on the radio so often but only reached number 60 in the singles chart - in 2013!!!

While it's airplay has increased substantially across the decade, I knew it before I took to Van's albums in 1989. Precisely when I heard it first I'm not sure. Certainly it was a long time after its release in 1967 and some years after 1973. Immediately I thought it was what used to be called in the trade a "steal". That is to say there were elements I had heard before. What I didn't realise then was that the copyism was not in that song but rather in what I thought it had copied - Sedaka's "Our Last Song Together".

Only now with this edition from JB does the connection make sense. Sedaka wasn't originally in the Brill Building as such but he was in its virtual equivalent just across the road. That is now largely regarded as part of the Brill scene. Given the mood of that track - and we are essentially talking sha la la's here although also a little bit more - its principal reference point is probably something other than Van and located in the early 1960s. But then they I assume are also a reference point in "Brown Eyed Girl":

From 1973:

Neil Sedaka - Our Last Song Together - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRpG0JPIybs

[johncorrigan]

It's a fortnight on Friday and no joke but Joe's back with CC and I'm sure that you'll love this one, Global - it's all tango and in particular the history and various versions of the great 'La Cumparsita'.

https://www.acast.com/boydaz/lettercc

[Lat-Literal]

It's a fortnight on Friday and no joke but Joe's back with CC and I'm sure that you'll love this one, Global - it's all tango and in particular the history and various versions of the great 'La Cumparsita'.

https://www.acast.com/boydaz/lettercc

I enjoyed it, JC.

Some more tango - from Russia's "King of Tango"!

Pyotr Leshchenko - Wino Lubwi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMXhiTgSzIE

[johncorrigan]

I enjoyed it, JC.

Some more tango - from Russia's "King of Tango"!

Pyotr Leshchenko - Wino Lubwi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMXhiTgSzIE

Very fine indeed, Lat.

Double D Dinah Lee is pushing herself out front in this fortnight's edition of Joe's pod...starting from Ethel Waters it takes us in ten minutes from Django to Bing and the Mills Bros, from Fats to King Benny Nawahi's Red Devils via some Japanese laughing...what's not to like?

https://www.acast.com/boydaz/letterdd

[Lat-Literal]

Very fine indeed, Lat.

Double D Dinah Lee is pushing herself out front in this fortnight's edition of Joe's pod...starting from Ethel Waters it takes us in ten minutes from Django to Bing and the Mills Bros, from Fats to King Benny Nawahi's Red Devils via some Japanese laughing...what's not to like?
https://www.acast.com/boydaz/letterdd

Many thanks JC.

Another interesting edition.

The track by Miss Wakana and Ichiro Hamamatsu was extraordinary.

[johncorrigan]

JB's double E starts with the female Doo wop outfit The Chantels singing 'Every Night' and concentrates in particular on the voice of their leader Charlene Smith. 'Precocious pubescent Passion' as Joe puts it. Great stuff.

https://www.acast.com/boydaz/letteree