The last one was more than 4 months ago. Is it done? I had been thinking it had maybe run its course especially after the death of Neil Kulkarni. I hope there’s another episode or 2 but I found the last couple heavy going. Anybody know?
Chart Music Podcast
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I hope they keep going, but they may be short of source material at this stage.
I so miss hearing Neil Kulkarni. Isn’t another problem the apparent censorship of almost all the Saville- era TOTP from the archives, leaving them stuck?
Look at the ones broadcast on BBC4. There are hundreds more available. They haven’t touched any Savile episodes on the podcast but they are out there just not officially on the Beeb.
They have said before that they would get to Saville one day. Regardless, there are still hundreds of episodes left, although they inevitably will start tripping over themselves a lot more in terms of content.
I think the problem with the show is that there were three A-list hosts-Al, Taylor and Neil- and a bunch of C-listers. The magic came in waves, depending on who was on. My advice would be to continue with Taylor as a permanent cohost and maybe reach out a bit with guest hosts.
“Rock expert” David Stubbs C list? I like all of them actually and, to be honest, I found Kulkarni a bit annoying at times.
Taylor is the best.
According to their Patreon page (of which I’ve been a supporter for years) a new show is currently being edited, so hopefully that’ll be with us shortly. But I do think they need to decide what the plan is for the future and stick to it – last year’s relative lack of activity was totally understandable, but whatever is causing the show to take so long now needs addressed. Is there too much content? Should it return to just focussing on the TOTP episode itself? It can be nearly 2 hours in before the show review begins. There seems to always be talk of doing additional things which never really seems to come to fruition, but I’d be happy to just see the shows dropping every couple months again. And personally I’m happy with all the contributors – yes, Taylor is my favourite, but Simon Price is really good and I have a lot of time for Sarah Bee and David Stubbs, and Al is an excellent host.
Yes I would vote for shorter, more frequent episodes. 2 hours say. I am a Patreon supporter too, didn’t check, but Al normally sends out an occasional update
I have to say I like the long format. I break it up into four or five chunks, taking a break between.
I break it up too, but seemingly making every new episode the longest ever is perhaps not the way to go.
I believe Simon Price recently became a first time father in his mid 50s which has to be a challenging! Perhaps not leaving too much time for essentially non paid activities
It’s usually an essential listen, certainly the podcast I have stuck with the longest. I’m firmly in the Al and Taylor camp…Al is a great host and it’s much less fun when Taylor isn’t on. Price and Stubbs are OK, if a bit obvious but for me the shows where Sarah Bee is on are just not funny or witty enough. The fact that she is seemingly too young to have been around for much of the TOTP lifespan probably doesn’t help.
I once had a (very) mild spat with Kulkarni on Twitter and while I obviously wouldn’t wish death on anyone (he was far too young, and a single Dad, which makes it all the worse) I wasn’t really a fan before the spat.
A bonus 4hr episode dropped yesterday, covering The Tube rather than TOTP, but I think it might be Patreon only. Simon Price and David Stubbs joining Al on this one. Saving for an upcoming long journey.
I saw that. Not sure why they are doing this. I forgot about the last bonus episode just before Christmas which I found unlistenable. Will give it a go though.
It’s pretty good, basically doing first episode of The Tube in the same style as TOTP, I wonder if they will stretch out and start routinely including other music based programmes like Old Grey Whistle Test?