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Bob Harris Saturday Show 22/12/07 - a review by Cherskiy

 
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Cherskiy



Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 3701
Location: near Amble, Northumberland

PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 6:55 pm    Post subject: Bob Harris Saturday Show 22/12/07 - a review by Cherskiy Reply with quote

I managed to tear myself away from the last 30 minutes of Bob’s Thursday “Drivetime” show in order to review last Saturday evening’s show – and very good it was. Obviously Bob had inserted a festive feeling throughout (a rather eclectic selection of Christmas songs, I thought) but there was also plenty of room for the usual cracking mix of tracks we are treated to every weekend. Mike Peters was supposed to provide a session and interview during the middle hour, but Bob went down with flu when it was due to take place – it’s been postponed for a while and in its absence, Beth Rowley substituted.

Parky’s favourite Frank Sinatra got the show off to a good start with his rendition of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” – in the charts exactly 60 years ago to the week. This was lifted from the released-just-in-time-for-Christmas album “The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”, which features famous festive tracks from other big names such as Brenda Lee, Elvis, Tony Bennett and Connie Francis – something my mother would have loved if she’d still been around, I expect.
Over The Rhine have been going for something like 15 years but have only recently popped up on my radar – this Ohio-based husband-and-wife outfit (shrunken down from an original four-piece band) have released boatloads of albums and appear to be carving out quite a niche for themselves on the live circuit in the heartlands. Since I’m a sucker for a great set of lungs, Karen Bergquist’s soulful voice, tipped with a strong yet almost carefree edge, was always going to tempt me – hear it for yourself on “Entertaining Thoughts”, lifted from their summer 2007 release “The Trumpet Child”. Mix it with an arrangement that could almost be at home on a Travelling Wilburys album and I think, ladies and gentlemen, that we’ve got a winner! This album was already on my Amazon wish list but I think I’m going to have to put the back catalogue on too!
Sufjan Stevens might not be the obvious candidate to release a Christmas-flavoured album but when you’ve heard a bit of his ‘normal’ output, you’ll quickly revise this opinion. For several years now he’s actually been recording home-spun EPs of rather witty songs with a festive edge for friends – in his own words, “to help me enjoy Christmas more”. Five of these have been packaged together as a boxed set called “Songs For Christmas” and it’s something I’ve been meaning to buy for a while now as a antidote to the likes of Wham’s “Last Christmas”! “Hey Guys, It’s Christmastime!” typifies what you’re going to find in this collection – whilst his lyrics can be cutting to the extreme, his arrangements have always been upbeat and the melodies enjoyable. This example is no exception – if some songs on the ‘normal’ mainstream Christmas playlist were selected from this boxed set then it would be a vast improvement.
A firm favourite on the weekend show is The Drive By Truckers who are now minus their lead singer, Jason Isbell, who went solo this year. However, on “Aftermath USA”, taken from their 2006 album “A Blessing And A Curse”, he’s still belting out the good stuff, almost sounding like less throaty Rod Stewart but with an ear for a tune. The Truckers themselves back him up to the hilt – pure pedal-to-the-metal country rock.
The Truckers provide the backing band to Bettye Lavette’s latest album “Scene Of The Crime” – another name that’s been recommended to me recently so I was interested in hearing what the album sounded like. “You Don’t Know Me At All” keeps the Truckers firmly in restrained mode, probably quite wisely as they’d otherwise drown out her soulful lyrics – very reminiscent of Tina Turner, right down to the chopped-off ‘waaaas’. Not really my cup of tea (especially as I’m not fond of la Turner!) but I can see where she’s coming from.
Dan Fogelberg attracted some correspondence to the show following his recent passing – Bob played “Same Old Lang Syne” in tribute (from his “Greatest Hits” album”). “It’s going to make you feel sad”, Bob cautioned – and he was right. The song did, however, provide ample proof of the artist’s talent in both the song-writing and performing departments. A song that would equally be at home on Wogan’s breakfast show or Drivetime (if Bob was presenting it!). Bob mentioned he’d also be featuring another track this coming weekend.
Rosanne Cash was always going to have a lot to live up to, but she’s wisely gone her own way and hasn’t intentionally traded on her family name. A clear favourite with Bob and his Thursday crowd, he’s managed to feature her several times on the Saturday show too. “House On The Lake” is taken from her recent album “Black Cadillac”, the latter clearly a tribute to both her late father and her ‘two mothers’ – despite the darker tone of the songs on this release, there’s still plenty to marvel at and enjoy.
Bob is largely responsible for introducing me to the wealth of talent on offer from Canadian musicians in recent years – Mary Gauthier (‘Go-shay’) is just one of them, “Christmas In Paradise” coming from her album “Filth And Fire”. Bob mentioned that this particular track is his favourite Christmas song, and it’s not too hard to work out why. She’s got that gritty-edged vocal down to a ‘t’ here, the song itself rather like something from the stable of fellow countrywoman Kathleen Edwards in terms of lyrics, but with a much more ‘country-fied’ delivery (well, if you ignore the steel band that creeps in slightly during the middle section!). Both singers manage to almost dispense with backing at times as their voices are strong enough to carry off songs on their own, but Mary Gauthier here turns in a splendid performance – definitely a Christmas song with a twist. Sublime.
“The Trials Of Van Occupanther” has to be high on the list of unusual album names last year – but Midlake prove that they can do more than dream up daft names with “Head Home”. It reminds me of something from the mid-1970s – a blend of delicious harmonies and guitars, especially the Fleetwood Mac inspired mid-section - that evokes memories yet is equally at home in the present-day. If I didn’t have over 400 albums already on my want list I’d add this – oh, what the hell – #425!
Quite the weirdest Christmas song I’ve heard this year so far (I haven’t heard Mark Lamarr’s Christmas Day show yet, though) must be Grandaddy’s “Alan Parsons In A Winter Wonderland”, taken from the 2000 indie-collection-of-Christmas-songs “Cool Cool Christmas Album”. Rather strange indeed…. especially when Bob said that ‘Christmas wouldn’t be the same without it”!
Oklahoma-born Foy Vance was a name I hadn’t heard before – “Hope Peace And Love” came from his recently released album “Hope”. This track has been described elsewhere as ‘Led Zeppelin meets Donna Summer groove’, and I can’t really better that – spot on.
Frightened Rabbit was another new name (how could you forget that one?), as was the track title “It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop”. Sounding a little like Nizlopi (‘The JCB Song’) at times before the backing kicked in, I couldn’t really get enthused about the intro or the dreamier mid-section - Scott Hutchinson’s vocals simply grated too much for my liking, just as well they were all but drowned out in places by the rather enthusiastic fiddle and guitars. Poor.
Bob calls The Storys his ‘house band’ – they provide one of the intros for his show (yes, that one!), so it was about time he featured one of their tracks. “Long Hard Road” came from their forthcoming release “Town Beyond The Trees”and features a sound that could be best described as what the Eagles would be like if they’d only started out in the last few years. The band is a six piece with, unusually, four singer-songwriters among their number – each take a turn on lead on their albums, yet together they’re almost unstoppable. Brilliant stuff – and they’re apparently playing live on the show sometime in February…. Get in!

“Nobody’s Fault But Mine” kicked off Beth Rowley’s unexpected session – and I was mentally kicking myself since I’d never heard of her before tonight. This is taken from her third EP “Violets”, which has just been released as a prelude to her debut album (“Little Dreamer”) next year (the previous ones being “Beth Rowley” in 2005 and “Sweet Hours” in 2006). Right from the get-go I knew I had to buy this EP. She’s got one of those voices – yes, the ones that tear at your heartstrings until you submit completely and utterly. The sound is almost timeless – Bob simply said ‘Wow’ afterwards, saying she had a voice ‘wise’ beyond her 26 years. “Sweet Hours” continued in the same out-of-kilter vein, a song that in a different world could have been sung by Billie Holiday but sounded as though it was at home on a Martina Sorbara album. This is timeless in the Katie Melua or Eva Cassidy mould – not twee like the former though but as enjoyable as anything the latter recorded. “Oh My Life” ended the live trio but kicked off with a killer sax intro and didn’t stop there, her vocals taking on a harder edge – if her recorded output is anything like as good as her live delivery, it’ll be bloody wonderful. She’s got a residency in Bristol at the moment, and fans have put videos of her gigs up on Youtube – but give her a few years and a couple of break-even albums to pay the bills and I can see her being a ‘name’ on this show, just like Thea Gilmore has become. Bob ended the session by playing the recorded version of “Only One Cloud” from the recent EP, with a real gospel-tinged potboiler of an opening that could have been recorded at virtually any time over the last fifty years. I really enjoyed Beth’s set and look forward to hearing more from her in the coming years – and the album will go on the wish list (#426!).

The second of two tracks from ‘house band’(!) The Storys’ album “Town Beyond The Trees” was “Trouble Deep”, another sublime performance from a band that arguably sounds more like the Eagles than the Eagles ever did.
Mike Peters was supposed to provide the music during the middle hour but Bob made up for his absence by playing “It’s Alright/It’s OK” by The Alarm from the limited edition album “Under Attack” that was released at the beginning of last year. Forget the dodgy mullets, remember classics such as “68 Guns” and “Spirit of 76” – they’re definitely back and trying to recapture that old spark – but whilst this track almost takes me back to those heady days in places, it just falls short.
Ian Dury And The Blockheads’ album “New Boots and Panties” yielded “Sweet Gene Vincent” – I remember it more for the track “Billericay Dickie” but this is Dury in a more mellow frame of mind, whilst the Blockheads come across as almost a lounge house band. Well, that lasts for about 30 seconds, then you’re pitched into the more recognisable sound the band were known for. Brilliant…
I have the Steve Miller Band’s version of “Gangster Of Love” on CD at home but it was refreshing to hear Johnny Guitar Watson’s original on a new release called “Untouchable”. Tell the truth, there’s not a lot to choose between them – both versions are excellent.
New Yorker Sarabeth Tucek was another unknown name for me, “Something For You” coming from her eponymously-titled debut album which has just been released in the States and will hit these shores in February. My first impressions were of her extremely clear vocals and a decidedly folky-sound, almost like Julie Fowlis singing in English instead of Gaelic. Rather wonderful, and I’ve made a note to check her Myspace site out to hear some of her other tracks.
One artist she did sound a lot like was Rosie Thomas, who has featured on this show numerous times before, and it was still pleasing to hear Bob playing “Wedding Day” from her 2002 album “When We Were Small”. I still haven’t got around to buying this CD yet, but I know it’s great – she’s got a rather beautiful voice that sounds so pure, one that is completely at odds with her stand-up comedienne alter-ego. It’s a pity she’s not more widely known – I never tire of hearing Rosie Thomas sing.
Bob returned to the festive theme with ‘his New York correspondent’ Marah, who sang “New York Is A Christmas Kind Of Town”, which was lifted from the compilation album “Oh Santa! – New And Used Holiday Classics From Yep Roc” – can’t say I’ve ever heard of this before but it has to be one of the more enjoyable Christmas songs I’ve heard in years. An extremely jaunty song coming from the Yep Roc stable that Bob tends to feature on both his Saturday and Thursday shows.
The Packway Handle Band were another new band for me – when the bluegrass banjos kicked off “Earl The Duck” I knew this was going to be a winner. Taken from their eponymously-titled album, the vocalist almost sounded like Elmer Fudd without the lisp but that was part of the charm – a true ol’time sound with some wonderful lyrics, especially the bit about ‘the lady duck being a boy’…. As Bob said, “Isn’t this simply the best thing you’ve ever heard?” - absolutely brilliant.
The compilation album “A Very Acoustic Christmas” was released back in 2003 to raise funds for the Special Olympics, and featured a fairly stellar line up performing festive tunes, including Tift Merritt, Willie Nelson, Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss and Rhonda Vincent. Also among the names was Patty Loveless who sang “O Come All Ye Faithful” in a distinctly country fashion, complete with bluegrass-tinged banjos. Hadn’t heard this version before – wouldn’t mind picking up a copy of this as I like the ‘alternative’ sounding Christmas songs.
Another of Bob’s favourite artists is Lizanne Knott, so he couldn’t really do a festive show without including her rendition of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” – which was specially sent to Bob for the programme. Not available anywhere else – a pity, since she really did the song justice in the pure and simple style she’s favoured for on her ‘normal’ releases.
Perry Keyes is a name I’m seeing more and more featured on the Fish Records mailer I get every few weeks – his recent album “The Last Ghost Train Home” features the track played tonight, “Kids Day”. Sounding something like the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen delivered in the style of a mellow Billy Joel but with the quirkiness of Sufjan Stevens, he’s clearly got a big future on the acoustic circuit if the rest of the album sounds as good as this.
Couldn’t get away with Anais Mitchell when I heard her first some years back, but it took a live session on Bob’s show earlier this year for me to recognise that she did offer something worth listening to. It may therefore just be the recorded versions that do my head in, since I couldn’t help thinking I was listening to a slightly more melodic version of Cyndi Lauper when she was singing “Song Of The Magi”, taken from her album “The Brightness” which was released this year. Live, fine – can’t get past the ‘little girl’ voice on CD, though.

Really enjoyed putting this together - it was an enjoyable three hours to listen to again. Cheers, Bob.... Very Happy
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Barkingbiker



Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 2313
Location: Lincolnshire

PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 8:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cheers Cherskiy, great review as always, I did listen, all the way through Saturday night, but why do I appear to miss so much? Anyway it's been like a dog with 2 tails and lots of bones this week, quadruple set of shows from Bob. Am looking forward to tomorrow nights show and would like to wish you and all our fellow posters a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Razz

BB Twisted Evil
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Cherskiy



Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 3701
Location: near Amble, Northumberland

PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 10:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, BB - thought you'd be tuning in and enjoying Bob's shows this week like I am - even managed to get home in time from work today to hear the start. Thought about phoning in a request but would have asked for something more in tune from his weekend selections than the usual mainstream fare that pitches up on Drivetime (I would have asked for something by Gina Villalobos, Thea Gilmore or Laura Veirs, probably - doubt these would have been readily to hand.

Echoing your sentiments re New Year - here's wishing everyone a wonderful 2008.... Very Happy
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Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
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Briant



Joined: 02 Jun 2007
Posts: 964
Location: Liverpool England UK

PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:01 pm    Post subject: YsabellaBrave... Reply with quote

Has anyone here heard of YsabellaBrave? She is on youtube if you care to check her out . Type in her name and 'Just like a woman' on that site. She has built up a huge following, and I am definitely a fan! Laughing
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