songwriters
Interview: 10 Questions for Daryl HallSaturday, 14 July 2012
When he joined up with John Oates, Daryl Hall became half of one of the most successful duos in pop history, which has sold upwards of 60 million albums. From the mid-Seventies to the late Eighties, the pair notched six platinum albums and posted a... Read more... |
Searching For Summertime, BBC FourThursday, 24 November 2011
It’s a song which hangs in the air like pollen or reefer smoke, before gradually rising like a never-to-be-answered prayer. It began life as a lullaby but grew up to be a protest song, a scream of existential angst and even a purred invitation to... Read more... |
Imagine: Simon and Garfunkel - The Harmony Game, BBC OneWednesday, 09 November 2011
“It’s very deep, very private and full of love,” said Art Garfunkel of his relationship with Paul Simon. So private that for this examination of their swansong 1970 album Bridge Over Troubled Water the pair were interviewed apart, despite both... Read more... |
What I'm Reading: Musician Justin AdamsTuesday, 13 September 2011
Justin Adams is considered to be one of the UK’s most original guitarists and record producers and is an extremely versatile collaborator. He was brought up in the Middle East - his father was a British diplomat in Jordan and Egypt - and his music... Read more... |
London’s South Bank to be engulfed by the pastTuesday, 12 July 2011
The weekend of 29 to 31 July will see London's Festival Hall transformed into what the venue describes as a “multi–venue vintage playground”. Vintage, founded by Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway, comes to London for the first time to celebrate the... Read more... |
Secrets of the Pop Song, BBC TwoSaturday, 02 July 2011
This hugely entertaining first instalment of a three-part investigation into what makes pop songs tick took as its theme "The Ballad", perhaps the most bomb-proof of pop's traditional forms. Mind you, the programme's definition of a ballad was... Read more... |
CD: Eddie Vedder - Ukulele SongsSunday, 29 May 2011
The story goes that Eddie Vedder first picked up a ukulele in Hawaii in the mid-Nineties, since when the instrument has become his constant travelling companion and a handy songwriting tool. A whole album's worth of songs written on the funny little... Read more... |
Villagers, Liquid Room, EdinburghMonday, 23 May 2011
Last week Villager-in-Chief Conor J O’Brien was awarded an Ivor Novello award (Best Song Musically and Lyrically, in case you’re curious) for the title track of his Mercury Prize-nominated debut album Becoming a Jackal. Several questions arise from... Read more... |
Opinion: Who says music isn’t good any more?Sunday, 22 May 2011
The former Bee Gee Robin Gibb unveiled a plaque at the London home of Dusty Springfield a couple of weeks ago. At the ceremony he commented, “There’s been no one to match her. This includes the United States as well – they can’t come close to her.... Read more... |
CD: Steve Earle - I'll Never Get Out of This World AliveSunday, 01 May 2011
This is Earle's first collection of new material since 2007's Washington Square Serenade, since when he has made a disappointing tribute album to Townes van Zandt, taken a role as a street musician in HBO's New Orleans series Treme, and written a... Read more... |
Jesca Hoop, Hoxton Square Bar and KitchenFriday, 01 April 2011
Of all the unlikely musical pairings in recent times, Jesca Hoop and Guy Garvey deserve special mention. The genial Elbow frontman, all northern charm and indie anthems, is like a favourite bitter. Hoop, on the other hand, former nanny to Tom Waits'... Read more... |
Iron & Wine, RoundhouseWednesday, 09 March 2011
Beards, beards, beards: at the Roundhouse, they seemed to be everywhere, sprouting from the chins of hundreds of chaps in the audience. Perhaps, though, I was just looking out for them, what with the luxuriant growth on the face of the man they... Read more... |
