R2OK!

Cherskiy

Okay, it’s about time that I started reviewing Bob’s Saturday show again – I’ve managed to devote much more time to listening this week so here goes. This weekend’s guest was Corinne West, who I’ve heard of but never really heard much of, so I was interested to learn more. In fact, there was a cracking line-up lined up for the show – seemed like the reviews had never gone away! Eleven years ago, Bob started the Saturday shows – he’d taken a break for a fortnight just recently and Gideon Coe was sitting in. This unfortunately was the last show that both Bob and Phil Swern would work together on (have done so since 1989) – tonight’s three hours basically was a look at some of the songs that they’d lined up for the listeners over the years.

Bob doesn’t hide his fondness for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Running Down A Dream” being culled from the 1999 “Greatest Hits” CD. He’d last played this back in May 2007 but to me it sounded almost like last week – the racy guitar intro heralding a non-stop roller-coaster ride from one of America’s true contemporary musical heroes. Whilst Tom Petty doesn’t exactly stretch himself too much vocally here, it’s the overall simplicity of the song and the accompanying guitars and drum beat that works so well – infectiously so.
If Bob was fond of Tom Petty, he’s equally (or even more so) keen on the music of Thea Gilmore, whose new album “Liejacker” is released next month. However, tonight we went back to 2005 and “Songs From The Gutter”, which yielded the track “Lip Reading”. This too is something of a roller-coaster ride, vocal and instrumental highs and lows punctuating the song from start to finish. It amply demonstrates her song-writing ability – Thea has often been described as arguably the finest UK lyric writer of the present generation – and has a raw quality that manages to just keep you out of your comfort zone when you’re listening to it. This album is probably her finest to date – originally released as ‘internet only’ back in 2004, it was so popular that a decision was made to release it properly the following year. A wise move….
The Swedish band Oh Laura has featured on the show before – “It Ain’t Enough” was culled from “A Song Inside My Head, A Demon In My Bed”. Stockholm-based Frida Ohrn’s gorgeous, slightly husky vocals (rather reminiscent of Cerys Matthews in some ways) work splendidly here – this is one of those albums that I’ve been meaning to buy for some time now but keep forgetting about – but I’ve since rectified that, putting it on my Amazon wish list as I type! She was in session on Dermot’s show back in January – I would have put up with him just to hear her, she’s that good.
“Walking In Memphis” is one of those songs that should get to you, no matter what kind of music you end up nailing your heart to. “Touch down in the land of the Delta Blues….” Cast your minds back to 1991 and Marc Cohen’s eponymously-titled debut CD – this was the first track and what a song, an epiphany if you like. Cher (no, not me – can you imagine that!) might have murdered it later on but forget her - this is a cracking tune.
Hem is one of those bands that you seem to hear on Bob’s show and practically nowhere else, which is a huge shame. “Rabbit Songs” was this Brooklyn-based folky-pop-acoustic band’s 2000 album; it’s chock full of wonderful little pieces such as “Half Acre”, which Bob played tonight – he must like it, since he’s played it a dozen times at least since 2001! That’s not really surprising, though: Sally Ellyson’s soaring voice harks back to the likes of Sandy Denny et al. Listen to this at your peril – you may just end up falling in love with her delivery.
A staple of the Bob Harris Saturday Show and someone who’s been in session at least twice to my knowledge is the ‘mighty’ Joe Bonamassa. For anyone who is not a particular guitar blues fan – and I have to admit I’ve never really leaned much in that direction – even limited exposure to his output is enough to make you curious. His live sessions are brilliant – stripped down stuff with an acoustic guitar, but give him an instrument plugged into the mains and listen to the sparks fly! “Bridge To Better Days” came from his last-but-one album “You And Me” and features a killer riff combined with simple but really effective piano backup. I really have to buy this CD, if not to leave it in the car for those times when I need waking up on the long journeys back from Wales and northern Scotland….
Almost equally as good in the guitar stakes was “Peace Pipe” from Cry Of Love’s 1993 album “Brother”, soft rock for those who appreciate music with an impact but without the usual trappings. Bob had expected the band to go onto big things, but this didn’t happen – one member ended up with the Black Crowes, another with Texas, etc. A shame, based on this particular track.
New music followed with “Kept On The Sky” from South San Gabriel/Centromatic, their new CD single release from the forthcoming album “Duel Hawks” due out next month. Sounding like a speeded up version of the Decemberists crossed with a toned-down The Travelling Wilburys, this was pleasant enough, violins and all, but I couldn’t help thinking that it meandered a little too much for my liking. I can see it getting airplay in future weekend shows, though – and if they’re a bit more focussed on other songs, I’d be interested in hearing more.
‘Nuff said about REM’s “Losing My Religion” – from their 1991 CD “Out Of Time” (for me their best album), this was probably the first track I’d ever heard from this Georgia-raised outfit. Can’t be many US hit songs that feature a mandolin as prime instrument, though…. If you only ever buy one REM CD, make it this one.
I’d never heard of Devonsquare before, and was surprised that this New England-based band had never popped up on my radar before, especially after learning that they’d been performing together for something like thirty years. Why this sudden interest? Everything – vocals and backing – seemed to gel together wonderfully. Sounding almost like Fleetwood Mac for the folk scene in many ways, the featured track “If You Could See Me Now” was taken from their 1992 album “Bye Bye Route 66”, with Alana MacDonald certainly channelling Stevie Nicks – several ‘double-takes’ were in order throughout the song! Great stuff, and I’ve made a note to look out for this and their other albums.
Can’t say I’ve heard of Jude Cole before – “Start The Car” came from his 1992 album of the same name. Started off pretty well, an expressive set of AOR vocals coupled to some fairly impressive guitar and didn’t really let up from that throughout the next few minutes. Definitely worth another listen, and I’m really surprised I haven’t heard this before – Bob reckoned it was ‘fabulous’.
“The Trials Of Van Occupanther” snatched the prize for daftest album title of 2006, but with “Head Home”, Midlake’s quietly confident slice of effortlessly laid-back pop laced with an infectious guitar drawl, draws parallels with Fleetwood Mac’s 1970s output. I’m not going to buy it, though – my purchasing power is brought to bear elsewhere – but you could do a lot worse than listen to this a few times a month.

Californian Corinne West brought out her debut CD “Bound For The Living” back in 2004, full of seemingly wonderful tracks including bluegrass, folk and Americana, complete with mandolin, fiddle and dobro. Corinne sent Bob a copy of this album (classed as a ‘DIY project’ at the time) on spec, and then followed up with a session on his Country Show. Her follow-up “Second Sight” has recently been released, and she played “Cabin Door” first of all – a simply gorgeous few minutes involving an acoustic guitar and Walter Strauss as ‘back-up’ musician (with a hole-less guitar suited more for electrics but able to be played acoustically, by opening the cavity where the pre-amp fits in), her vocals reminiscent of Joni Mitchell in some ways, Lucinda Williams in others. In conversation with Corinne, Bob talked about her originally having a ‘democratic’ band in that the members had equal says in the production of an album, but she ended up deciding it was like ‘chefs trying to work together’ and took control of her own projects – which let her write and perform much more comfortably and led to the albums. Corinne admits she was never much of a busker, but on the strength of “Amelia” (this time from “Bound”), I think she’s being a bit modest – though it’s not necessarily street material. Never mind the Mitchell and Williams references, there’s also a tinge of Saturday Show regulars Mary Gauthier and Sarah Harmer in this particular song – and if you’re compared to them then you’re onto a winner. Comparisons aside, though, Corinne’s delivery is faultless and timeless, strong yet lovely vocals with stripped down backing. If getting airplay on UK radio was just a matter of sending a CD to Bob, it was much more difficult back home in the USA. She found it difficult to find similar people looking out for new material on the regular radio stations, but eventually managed to get a foot in the door via college radio networks and Internet roots radio stations – “Americana is hip now!” Corinne claims she has discovered lots of new music by listening to Bob’s show over the years (presumably via the Internet). Whilst she agrees that the definition of Americana may be a little muddled, Corinne agrees that it’s any music that has roots in traditional or older genres. “Gandy Dancer” (from “Second Sight”) is therefore definitely Americana in that it milks bluegrass for all its worth – a song about a ninety year-old man who spiked her coffee with Irish cream in a bar once, someone who’d worked on the rails in the 1940s. A ‘Gandy Dancer’ was someone who positioned the spikes in the ground, for someone else to hammer them in, in order to hold the rails in place. Great story behind the song, equally great song – you could just envisage the fingers flying at the chords and the train a’ whistling down the track at the same time. The Americana staples of jail, guns and being on the run also manage to creep into the song at the end – a Johnny Cash moment. Bob played the recorded version of “Second Sight” to end the session, which contained a rather enjoyable bluegrass tinge that fairly whipped along at speed, her sweet and clear vocals also having room enough to shine. A cursory look at her tour schedule shows a date at the Band Room in North Yorkshire in a few weeks – that’s not far, I wonder if they’ve got tickets left?

A track from Bob’s ‘house band’ The Storys popped up next, “Long Hard Road” coming from their latest CD “Town Beyond The Trees”. This Welsh band is clearly influenced by the raft of 1970s and 1980s US groups, with Steve Balsamo’s trans-Atlantic singing voice sounding more like Sacremento than Swansea. The melody might be simple but it’s effective, and behind it lies some multi-layered backing arrangements that blur into a sublime whole.
I had never heard of Nigerian-born but Australian-raised James Reyne before – or at least I thought I hadn’t, but “Take A Giant Step” sounded familiar, and Bob solved the mystery when he said that it had become almost a theme tune to his old overnight shows. This song came from Reyne’s 1991 album “Any Day Above Ground” – and there’s almost a touch of Sting about his delivery here, especially when he changes the emphasis on various words.
If there was one song that epitomised the diversity on display on Bob’s Saturday Show in recent years, it has to be Seasick Steve And The Level Devils’ “It’s All Good”, from the EP of the same name. Steve Wold’s minimalist approach to music – ‘hobo music’ – complete with ‘Mississippi Drum Machine’ (basically a wooden box!) and a simple three-stringed guitar, he seems to work wonders, a uncompromising song lyrically and musically – but still hugely enjoyable.
Whilst The Rembrandts might only be remembered for providing the theme song for a certain rather popular long-running US sitcom, they have been around for a while – “Just The Way It Is” was the first track on their eponymously-titled 1991 debut album. Whilst the intro sounds as though you’re going to be launched into a Crowded House song – and when Danny Wilde’s vocals kick in you, there’s little to dissuade you from this opinion. It’s simple, though and catchy – and it used to be programmed to be shown on MTV at around 5 in the morning so Bob could catch it when he got home from doing the overnight shows back then!
Hadn’t heard of The Afternoons before, either – so “Don’t Turn Back” from their recently-released CD “Sweet Action” came as a bit of a surprise. They’ve apparently been together since 1999 but don’t seem to have made much impact up until now – this song was a former “Radcliffe and Maconie” Record of the Week. It’s a rather simple yet effective few minutes, with lead singer Richard Griffiths (no, not the portly actor) providing quite listenable material.
Dar Williams I have heard of – “The Beauty Of The Rain” was her sixth studio album and Bob played the lovely title track from this 2005 release. Painting poetic musical masterpieces is definitely her forte, her lilting vocals bringing to life ballads that might sound just wishy-washy if entrusted to less accomplished artists. Pity Bob didn’t play her cover of Pink Floyd’s ”Comfortably Numb” (accompanied by Ani DiFranco)….
“A Thousand Kisses” is often described as Patty Griffin’s best-ever album. Tell you the truth, I haven’t heard enough of her other releases to confirm or deny this, but based on “Rain” it’s probably not far from the truth. Emotive voice to the fore, she manages to deliver a quite emotive performance on this particular track, the simple backing adding to the whole. This is quite possibly one of the finest acoustic songs I’ve heard this year so far – definitely an album to add to my ‘wish list’!
What hasn’t been said about Eva Cassidy’s “Songbird” album? I heard her version of Sting’s “Fields Of Gold” shortly before the hype-machine sprang into overdrive (on Bob’s show, who played it first – he mentioned that Terry Wogan claimed to have played it first, but producer Paul Walters used to ‘carry over’ tracks played on Bob’s show that he thought Terry’s audience would appreciate) and thought to myself, ‘who is this woman with the absolutely gorgeous voice?’ A shame she went before her time….
Celtus? Can’t recall this Irish folk-mob before, though “Moonchild” from their 1997 CD seemed vaguely familiar. Almost Clannad-lite in nature, it’s okay stuff but I can’t help thinking I’ve heard it done before (and better), whilst I’m almost expecting Robin Hood and his Merry Men to leap out from behind the flute at any second!
A mate of mine keeps banging on about Martyn Joseph and I’ve heard him in session on Bob’s Saturday Show – he was on just last year, if memory serves. “Vegas” is his latest album, released last autumn, and the track featured tonight was “Things We Have Carried Here”. He’s certainly prolific – my friend seems to have umpteen CDs by him as I’m sure there’s a completely new one in his car each time I’m in it – but this doesn’t appear to have compromised his quality. I should mention I’m not really a particular fan of this artist (I think his vocals sound a little too hollow for my liking) but I appreciate why others go nuts about him – this track sums it all up, an acoustic performance that showcases his writing and playing, his guitar being virtually the only percussion needed. I’ve heard him described as a softer, more truly acoustic version of Billy Bragg, and I’m inclined to agree.
Blues-y guitar rock is never far away from the Saturday Show line-up, so Chris Whitley’s 1991 debut album “Living With The Law” seemed a shoe-in tonight. “Dust Radio” was the fairly restrained, restricted and subdued track on offer, complete with bluegrass stuffing and what seemed like short-wave radio transmissions thrown in at the end for good measure. Somewhat odd, but enjoyable, his guitar slowly building up to the aforementioned additions.
According to Bob, the final track on the ‘Phil Swern Special’ couldn’t be anything else but “Rex Bob Lowenstein” from Mark Germino’s 1987 album “Caught In The Act Of Being Ourselves”. A song that seems timeless (apart from some of the lyrical references), it’s one of those that’s you know you’ve definitely heard of before, can’t place the artist or where you heard it last, and know you’ll never buy the CD – but love it all the same. For those who don’t know the subject of the song, it’s about a mythical DJ with an eclectic taste in music, who is at odds with his station’s rigid playlist policy, and who locks himself into a studio so that he can play what he wants…. Class.
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Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited)

Briant · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:17 pm Post subject:

'By the way thanks for playing 'Moon River' last night!'

'Ask why he plays Madonna after George Jones!'

A couple of lines I recall from 'Rex Bob Lowenstein,' Cherskiy! Thanks as ever for the fine review of the show! Laughing

Is Phil Swern leaving Radio 2?

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

We'll have to see who produces Sounds Of The 60s and Pick Of The Pops. Phil Swern produces both of those.
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Lord Evan Elpuss, Your ideal job is a Lumberjack.

Barkingbiker · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 2313 Location: Lincolnshire

Great to read your excellent review Cherskiy, I am not sure if this was not a recorded show, never the less an excellent show Bob. I listened to most of it Saturday evening and asked for a mention for Diana when he played Eva Cassidy's interpretation of Sting's wonderful "Field's of Gold". Won't catch tonites show live, but will listen thru the week.

BB Twisted Evil

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Old Bikers Never Die, our leathers just get tighter!

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

What makes me wonder whether or not these are recorded is: A) Apart from a couple of weeks since his sick absence, the webcam shows an empty Sarah Kennedy / Ken Bruce studio. Mind you, it was also empty when Gideon Coe sat in for those couple of weeks.
B) Bob used to credit those others who were working on his show. Remember hearing the likes of 'Windmill Bob', 'Vinyl Mick' & 'Rocking Routemaster Rod' named at the start of the show? To name three that spring to mind. I don't think this has happened since his return from sick leave.
I'm not sure if he gives out the E-mail address or not these days.
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Lord Evan Elpuss, Your ideal job is a Lumberjack.

Clive55 · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 1336

Havn't listened for a while.
But i'm at home tight so I'll tune in. Probably fall asleep listening to it
Make a change from The Famouse Five by enid Blyton! Razz

Spanners · Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 169 Location: Lincolnshire

Hi, missed last night's show because I had family up from Brighton, but will listen through the week. Have tried to contact him on several occasions recently and have just received the standard reply message, even though one was personally addressed to him, with comments I felt he would respond to. Maybe they are not live! Rolling Eyes

Spanners

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Cherskiy · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 10:36 am Post subject:

I've had personal replies from Bob before (and messages completely out of the blue) but he doesn't reply to each e-mail I've sent to him over the years. He's a busy chap.... Smile

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Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited)

Briant · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:01 am Post subject: No reply.....

I too have had replies from Bob about various artists he has played on his programmes. My favourite reply though was from John Peel, who sent me a photo of himself shaking hands with Elvis Presley. Elvis was looking away as if to say 'who is this guy?' Very droll and typical of John! Laughing

Cherskiy · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:41 am Post subject:

Simon Mayo's just played Mark Germino's version of "Rex Bob Lowenstein"! Class.... Very Happy

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Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited)

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

It was great to hear it. That track about sums up all that's gone wrong with radio in the last 20 years or so. It was a different take on it to what Bob usually plays. This sounded like the Mark Germino & The Sluggers version which is much more 'rocky' & uptempo than the more basic acoustic version that Bob plays.
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Lord Evan Elpuss, Your ideal job is a Lumberjack.