BBC Proms 2022: Public Service Broadcasting - This New Noise (with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, 30 Aug 2022)

A special commission to mark the centenary of the BBC, This New Noise was composed by "retro-futurist" band Public Service Broadcasting.  Since 2009, they've been creating historical narrative albums like this, and have given a Proms performance before - after which they were approached as the ideal artists to create something for the upcoming 100th anniversary of the BBC in 2022.

So here it is, premiered live with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley.  The 50-minute suite of eight pieces traces the first decade and a half of BBC radio, with spoken word narratives representing those who brought it into existence.  I'm assuming most of these were recreated by voice actors, as the recordings seldom sound 90-100 years old, but the voices mesh well with the orchestra and core trio of the band.  Musically, I'm hearing surface similarities to Max Richter, maybe A Winged Victory For The Sullen, but with more rhythmic drive than either: PSB's motorik-krautrock influences frequently come to the fore.  Folk singer-songwriter Seth Lakeman provides the only sung vocal in a lovely brief cameo.

The visual elements of this performance were also key to the narrative really hitting the mark historically and emotionally - you can hear the radio announcer mention them at the beginning and end of the broadcast.  This made me track down the BBC4 TV broadcast to watch it all, and as this really did add another dimension to a great concert, I've included it (in what I believe is an SGTG first!) as an additional download option.

 

radio broadcast link

TV broadcast link (mp4, 2.3GB)

pw for both: sgtg

Scott Walker - Scott 3 & Scott 4 (1969) plus BBC Proms Tribute 2017

These two classic albums from 1969, plus Scott Walker's wider discography, always find regular rotation in my listening habits in the last couple of months of the year, so here's some long overdue posting of Scott 3 & 4 - with a bonus tribute concert from three years ago.

By the time the 60s entered its final year, the former Walker Brothers idol had released two solo records of increasingly ambitious songwriting and arrangement, his own songs dotted between covers notably by Jacques Brel.  For Scott 3, the three Brel covers were placed right at the end of the album, leaving the rest to his most mature songwriting yet, including timeless classics like Copenhagen and Rosemary.  Wally Stott's string arrangements were still sumptuous and classy, but the dissonant drone at the album's outset pointed to even more ambitious music to come.

Walker released no less than three albums in 1969, the second being a contractual commitment to his TV show - but he was saving his own material for his masterpiece.  Originally released under his birth name of Engel, and probably sinking without trace for that reason on initial release, Scott 4 was Walker's first release of all-original material.

 

And seriously, what to even write about this clutch of ten songs without a single dud among them.  Starting your record with a setting of Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal to a Morricone-eseque arrangement might seem like an audacious move - following it up with nine more perfect songs with slimmed-down arrangements just makes for one of the greatest albums ever made.  If this post happens to be your first encounter with Scott 4, I envy you beyond description.

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker is a longtime Scott Walker champion who'd worked with him in 2001, and had taken part in the "Tilting and Drifting" concert at the London Barbican in 2008.  Cocker therefore must've been an obvious choice for this BBC Proms tribute to the 1967-1970 music of Scott, which took place in July 2017.  

 

For this concert, Jarvis was joined by fellow British artist Richard Hawley, US singer-songwriter John Grant, and Susanne Sundfør from Norway.  Each singer takes two songs in the spotlight, and turn about thereafter, all coming together for the closing Get Behind Me.  Providing the sumptuous backing to seventeen of Walker's finest songs are the Heritage Orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley.

Scott 3 link

Scott 4 link

Proms Tribute link

pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:

Nite Flights

Climate Of Hunter

Tilt

Soused

Anoushka Shankar - Live at BBC Proms, with Manu Delago, Gold Panda, Britten Sinfonia (2020)

Another broadcast from this year's Proms, recorded on Friday 4 September.  In the centenary of Ravi Shankar's birth, this concert showcased how one of his daughters, Anoushka, has brought Indian music and the sound of the sitar into the 21st century.

First up is a half-hour-long collaboration between Anouskha Shankar and a friend of hers, the electronic musician Derwin Shlecker (who performs as Gold Panda).  Based on raga structure, the suite they perform together builds and flows beautifully.  The main part of the concert then introduces percussionist Manu Delago, a regular collaborator of Anoushka's, and also the strings of the Britten Sinfonia.  It was another inspired combination that expanded on Anoushka's compositions in fine style, with a good mix of material both propulsive and reflective (Flight made me think of the title track from Song For Everyone).  Recommended.

link
pw: sgtg

Metropole Orkest - Beneath The Underdog: Charles Mingus Revisited (BBC Proms 2017)

This tribute concert to the legendary composer-bassist-pianist took place on 24th August as part of the Proms, and as I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the broadcast of it, here it is.  The Dutch Metropole Orkest were conducted by Jules Buckley, with great soloists (L-R at front of picture above are Leo Pellegrino, Bart van Lier and Christian Scott) making a more-than-decent fist of 15 Mingus classics in just under two hours.  Boogie Stop Shuffle, IX Love, Gunslinging Bird, Fables Of Faubus, Moanin' to name just a few all sparkle with the invention, wit and irresistible swing that they require, and that's even before mentioning the four vocal pieces.

 

27 year old Kandace Springs was IMO the star of the show - she released her own debut album last year, which I'm now keen to check out.  Her renditions here of Weird Nightmare, Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love and a pair of songs from Joni Mitchell's Mingus collaboration,The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines and God Must Be A Boogie Man are all superb.  The audience were even asked to join in on the chorus of the latter - slightly corny, but it works in the overall celebratory atmosphere.  As the inevitable and Albert Hall-roof-raising finale suggests, you'd Better Git It In Your Soul.

(I lost these files in a Mega blowout in Nov 2018, but got them back thanks to the awesomeness of two commenters - in case anyone wonders what the comments below were about.)

July 2020 update: I've now completely re-done the files for this one, in the style I eventually settled on for these radio broadcasts (track divisions + leaving in radio announcers between songs, etc).
new link
pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG: Oh Yeah