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Rockin’ out with the Beeb

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There’s some good music telly on the Beeb over the coming weekend, kicking off on Friday night with the latest People’s History of Pop with, er, Danny Baker, but don’t let that put you off, as it looks brill. It’s followed by a couple of repeats; Rick Wakeman’s look at concept albums, and a psychedelia clips show.

On Saturday night there’s something called Keith Richards: the Origin of the Species on BBC2, and Sunday brings a Classic Albums on Pet Sounds then an Arena with author Jon Savage on 1966.

Should keep several of us here entertained. Links in the comments.

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  8. The Keith Richards doc is by Julian Temple, he will no doubt ruin it with his trademark insertions of barely relevant dialogue from long forgotten films, shown on the nearest building or something.

  9. Watched the Danny Baker’s People’s History of Pop Pt.2. Pretty good, although it got off to a pedestrian start with the woman giving us a civilian’s guide to Sgt Pepper.

    Things picked up when Danny told his “Marc Bolan gave me his shirt” tale for the millionth time, but it was still a great thing to hear. The Bolan piece in general was pretty good, in fact.

    I was thrilled to see a still photo of One Stop Records at 97-99 Dean Street on the corner of Fareham Street. I bought many records at that store, including the infamous Donovan A Gift From A Flower To A Garden box set which is the subject of a thread elsewhere on this very blog. I think that whole corner of Dean and Fareham Streets has since been swept away during the Crossrail construction.

    The Northern Soul segment was a bit creaky and somewhat alien to non-fans like me but the day was saved by not one, but two very good Bowie pieces.

    Oh and the Isle of Wight 1970 piece was great. I was there, but I sincerely hope I don’t look as old and decrepit as the geezer fronting this item.

    • I enjoyed the woman’s “civilian’s guide” segment. To me that’s what the People’s History of Pop is about, not the same old blokes wittering on with the same old stories or Danny Bloody Baker endlessly showing off and telling us What Is Correct. And JC, over your entire life (which as we all know is veeeery long) did you never get into soul music?

      To your last para, I’d say that as long as you’re not still going about in purple kecks, you’re probably OK.

      • I thought the Sgt Pepper woman didn’t bring much to the table except showing us the sleeve with the cut-out insert sheet and pointing out the lyrics on the back which are pretty self-evident.

        I was a huge Motown/Stax/Atlantic soul fan right through the 60s and on up to the cut-off point where it turned into Disco in the early 70s. But Northern Soul has always been a closed book to me (despite being, unlike Danny, decidedly northern). It all seemed a little mysterious and esoteric, like a secret society. That’s no bad thing in itself of course, but as they said on the show, it wasn’t so much about the records as the dancing, which is the exact opposite way I viewed things.

        The Bolan wannabe guy was good value with the story about the Rolls Royce and blagging Marc’s shoes, but I thought he was more David Essex than Marc Bolan.

  11. OK, now I’ve watched Keith Richards – The Origin of the Species. Like all Julien Temple’s work it was a triumph of style over substance. I mean, it looked great and was beautifully shot, but there was virtually nothing there we didn’t already know.

    And what are we to make of Keith? With each passing year I’m convinced the old boy has lost his few remaining marbles. He talks in boastful, hubristic clichés without a hint of self deprecation which makes him very hard to like. Worst of all is his habit of laughing like a drain at the end of virtually every sentence. And most of the time there’s nothing to laugh at at all. Nobody has said anything funny whatsoever, especially Keith. This is not normal behaviour.

    Before long you are tempted to yell at the screen “Stop laughing and just tell the fucking story!”

      • WARNING – SPOILER ALERT

        The Beano makes an appearance.

        Just to demonstrate how tough young Keith was, the Bash Street Kids are animated in order to show how our boy dealt with school bullies.

        • I should add, one nice surprise in the Keith documentary was a mention of Wizz Jones, along with a short film clip.

          Otherwise, the main thrust of Keith Richards – The Origin of the Species appeared to be: Look at this bloke, in an age where smoking is considered an anathema, he still smokes like a fucking chimney. And we’ve filmed him artistically wreathed in fag smoke throughout, just to show what a unqualified rebel this man is. Look out world, Keith doesn’t play by your petty bourgeoisie rules. He still smokes and everything.

          • Thought it was dreadfully poor. Barely anything of interest and Keith’s inane cackling took up about half the movie. Nearly a full house of Keith Bullshit Bingo though, with the obligatory mentions of ‘gypsies, criminals, rebels, outlaws, knives, guns, robbery’ and so on, ad nauseam.
            I just wish, for once, someone would have the guts to take a tougher line and quiz him on some of the more unsavoury, repellent aspects of his personality.

            • Yes, that constant laughing at his own boastful comments went beyond annoying very quickly.

              And wasn’t long before we heard that hoary old chestnut about “rock and roll saved me from a life of crime” (see also Roger Daltrey). I’m sure we can all relate to that.

              • Funny, maybe I caught it in a good mood (Sunday morning, at about 6.30 a.m.), but I really enjoyed it.

                Surely, the fact that it focused on 1943 to c. 1961 meant that the over familiar stories (woke up with Satisfaction, Redlands bust, jail sentence, did Street Fightin’ Man on a cassette player, Brian’s death, Altamont) were largely avoided.

                Better to see it as an excellent, which I think it was, overview of that period of British history.
                Keith was almost an add-on.

                    • And how many times have we heard that story about Keith’s grandpa Gus and the guitar on top of the piano? “If you can reach it, you can play it” teased Gus.

                      Then one day young Keith figured out that with the aid of a chair he could, in fact, reach the guitar. No shit Sherlock.

              • To be fair, Roger Daltery was the real deal. Hard nut, sheet metal worker, not an art school ex-choirboy, and he comes across in interviews as genuine and a decent bloke. This doc, well shot as it was, just confirms to me what a narcissistic, egotistical poser Keith Richards is. At least it was over a lot quicker than his woeful autobiography.

                • Agree with your comments about Daltrey, rob. Met him once backstage at someone else’s gig and had a wonderfully entertaining couple of hours chatting with him, one to one. Genuine, nice and down to earth bloke.
                  Keef is about 5 foot 5 and a manorexic 100 lb weakling and loves to surround himself with hired muscle and seedy crims.

                  • I managed about ten minutes of that Keith Richards programme and yes, I got annoyed as hell to. And I am now thinking that yes, a decent Daltrey programme would be brilliant. Townsend is always the go to guy with The Who isn’t he? I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Daltrey talking in depth about anything, but he seems to have that Rick Wakeman “everyman” quality.

                    • Also, I have not read Keith’s autobiography but recently I did read Paul Trynka’s biography of Brian Jones. Anyone else done that? I thought it was excellent. Not a soft soap at all, Jones was blatantly sometimes a bit of a nasty piece of work, but he was a talent and this book was a definate corrective to how he’s been portrayed by the surviving Stones (specifically Keith) and a reminder of how important he was in the early days…

                    • The trouble with Daltrey was that fallow early 70s period he had with those solo albums. He’s not a writer you see and fell in with Adam Gaith, Leo Sayer and other lightweights for a while

                  • I can imagine Ian. I bought a like new second hand dvd of the remastered ‘The Kid Are Alright’ (best Rock doc ever) and in the bonus material there’s a 1/2 interview with Roger and he comes across like that – a genuinely nice, intelligent bloke. A rarity in that world I should imagine.

                    ps: Imagine my delight when I found the dvd had been signed by both Pete and Roger, probably from a promo signing. Didn’t know that when I bought it 🙂

                    • Thing about Brian Jones is that yes he could be very unpleasant at times, in no way all, and clearly had psychological problems exacerbated by drug and alcohol use, but nonetheless he was genuinely loved as person by many he knew him. Keith Richards’ comments in his book are needlessly heartless, spiteful and jeering in tone when referring to the man who he owes his entire career to, and who died young in tragic circumstances. How charming.

                    • Not a songwriter, agreed, but to Pete’s right when he insists that he’s much more than just their singer. He interprets the songs brilliantly. No one else could do it like him, especially after his confidence grew after Tommy. Also, by his own admission, being the straight one, he was vital to keeping the band from going completely off the rails. I also think he would have supported Moon successfully through rehab and beyond as they had grown much closer, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be.

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