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Old 15th Feb 2017, 1:56 pm   #41
stitch1
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

Sound of the 60s started on R2 in '83 maybe it should be replaced with Sound of the 90's now?

John
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Old 15th Feb 2017, 2:18 pm   #42
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

There's a very good early music show on Radio 3 on Sunday afternoons - Sounds of the 1660s?
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Old 15th Feb 2017, 3:54 pm   #43
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

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Sound of the 60s started on R2 in '83 maybe it should be replaced with Sound of the 90's now?
Noooooooooooooooo

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Old 15th Feb 2017, 4:43 pm   #44
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

It illustrates the problem, though. The 60s had only been ended fourteen years when the show started. Take fourteen away from 2017 - well you do the math!

This August it will be fifty years since the Marine, Etc., Broadcasting Offences Act put an end to sixties 'British' offshore pirates. I suddenly feel very old...

In an era where 'gold' of some sort is a staple of nearly every station other than those for the kids Brian Matthew did a very good job digging out some unusual 1960s sides.
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Old 15th Feb 2017, 6:13 pm   #45
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

The trouble with your "math" is, the 60s was a veritable pop explosion, a true 'one off', it's not a linear thing. So it's not just a question of deducting a certain amount of years from now and saying we should be listening to such and such an era now. The 60s was a very special time in the history of pop music, how it drove and shaped radio, and so in many peoples' eyes it deserves a special place on radio even now. I have nothing against a '90s' programme or whatever, but the 60s should be seen as a special case, it was the dawn of pop music. And great music it was too.
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Old 15th Feb 2017, 6:25 pm   #46
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

Hi. I still enjoy the programme. It has the potential to bring out many rarities that should have been hits if only people would be aware of them. My favorites have always included instrumentals of that decade (highly under-rated). They were wrongly described as "mickey-mouse" music by some musicians, and yet tracks like "Telstar" inspired later electronic music plus the theme for Doctor Who. I always enjoy hearing rarities.
There is another good show on BBC Radio Tees on Friday nights that is as good that incorporates 70's tracks.
Cheers
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Old 15th Feb 2017, 6:39 pm   #47
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

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The 60s was a very special time in the history of pop music, how it drove and shaped radio, and so in many peoples' eyes it deserves a special place on radio even now.
the 60s should be seen as a special case, it was the dawn of pop music.
I think pop music is much older than the 60's, for me it started in the middle 50's and was tailing off in the second half of the 60's. My parents would see it as an earlier date. My children now in their middle 40's are more interested in the 80's music.
It would be dull if we all listened to the same.

I did listen sometimes to sound of the 60's and enjoyed Brian Mathews, always professional and knowledgeable, I wish him as happy retirement.

Frank
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Old 15th Feb 2017, 7:45 pm   #48
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

The answer to why "Independent Production Companies" are used is that it was made compulsory by the government of the day (some 20-odd years ago) that a certain percentage of programmes had to be. I seem to recall that percentage has been steadily increased. There would be lower costs from keeping things in-house, of course, but external pressures on the Beeb push things the other way.

I have many hours of Brian's programmes archived. On CD so I can dip into them easily for pleasant listening in the car on long journeys. Not when Mrs Llama is present however. She thinks Brian's voice is unbearable (I secretly think she thinks he sounds like my late father...).

6 a.m. slightly less convenient for me - I always PVR the shows before committing to CD.

O'Leary (Dermo as Wogan called him, with good reason) is an instant switch-off for me.

Tim Rice got rather good at SOTS - I'd have been very happy for him to remain but he probably doesn't need it.

Tony Blackburn will be doing it live rather than recorded so there's the danger of taxi-driver tweets and phone-ins and his tight presentation might make snaffling some of the rarer tracks much harder. Good DJ though and he was there (from the mid-'60s onwards).
Just my thoughts.
Graham
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Old 15th Feb 2017, 7:57 pm   #49
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

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Originally Posted by stevehertz View Post
The trouble with your "math" is, the 60s was a veritable pop explosion, a true 'one off', it's not a linear thing. So it's not just a question of deducting a certain amount of years from now and saying we should be listening to such and such an era now. The 60s was a very special time in the history of pop music, how it drove and shaped radio, and so in many peoples' eyes it deserves a special place on radio even now. I have nothing against a '90s' programme or whatever, but the 60s should be seen as a special case, it was the dawn of pop music. And great music it was too.
I agree. However, those graduating from Radio 1 probably find SOTS as I alien as I did Al Bowlly or Henry Hall when I abandoned Radio 1 (and that was a long long time ago )
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Old 15th Feb 2017, 9:29 pm   #50
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

Is 60s music really so different? Same as any other decade it produced as much dross as it did fine music, as SOTS demonstrates. As someone who wasn't there the music of the 50s is just as interesting, just as evolutionary, because the benefit of collective hindsight has largely sieved out the dross.
The special time in music for me was 1976-82, and I'm still finding new exciting gems from the period. I'm biased obviously, but I'd say it was a time of great creativity every bit a rival to the 1960s. The fact that so much of is still obscure does not seem to have lessened its influence, you'll hear as much new wave in today's pop as there is faux 60s motown.
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Old 15th Feb 2017, 9:31 pm   #51
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

I was a radio 1 refugee when they booted out the "smashie and nicey" type DJ's (that I quite liked) , went for the "yoof" audience (and decimated their viewing figures )

I'm happy to listen to the 70s and 80s stuff that I used to listen to on R1, but I also listen to quite a bit of 60s stuff (not so keen on the 50s or stuff more recent than the early 90s). At the same time, I've developed a liking for Big Band Swing and Jazz, that I would never have listened to when I was younger.

Probably my favourite presenter on R2 is Liza Tarbuck - she plays a really broad array of music and occasionally plays something out of the blue I haven't heard for decades. Paul O'Grady frequently has me in stitches as well - he coincides well with Sunday "Workshop time"
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Old 15th Feb 2017, 11:55 pm   #52
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

Brian Matthew makes the music the most important factor; not the ego of the DJ.
Brian never speaks over records, his vocal input is 'just enough' to inform, entertain, and draw the listener in. The net is cast far and wide, to include The Beatles, The Stones, Dylan, etc etc. as you would expect, plus lesser known tracks and artists; I wasn't around in the 60s, so this is an aspect I enjoy.

Blackburn's delivery is cheesy, cringey, and outdated; mind you, at 6AM, I guess he'll mostly be talking to himself. I suspect most Avids; myself included, won't be bothering to set an alarm.

We have now gone full-circle; back to Smashey and Nicey; closely followed by Dermot O'Dreary. Yawn.

And a woof-woof to Arnold.
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Old 16th Feb 2017, 1:07 am   #53
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

Going back to JB Nick's comment in post 25, this has reminded me that I got my first cassette machine [a semi pro one as it happened] in 1980. I recorded a lot of material and one of my first was an edition of Round Midnight with BM presenting. He covered the the startling new story about the Enfield Poltergeist, which in recent years was the subject of a film starring Timothy Spall. This is one of the most convincing examples of psychic phenomena that I've ever come across although then "I knew nothing" as Manuel would have said.

Now [setting the scene] it's one in the morning, totally quiet, I'm alone in a large cold Victorian house and Brian's calm voice is taking us through the story of the Poltergeist activity. He promises a special item which is a recording of the events. They had been related to a former tenant of the house called William [can't recall the surname] whose grave was in a nearby church yard. Suddenly a gravelly and disturbing voice is on the tape saying "I'm Bill". I couldn't have been more disturbed if I'd been in that room in Enfield. Truly unnerving!

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Old 16th Feb 2017, 12:44 pm   #54
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

This thread reminds me of an aritcle written by Steve Race in the World Record Club magazine in around 1969 or 1970 ( I still have the article somewhere, but would have to search for it!)in which he said that 'the 40year old housewive of today doesn't wan't to hear things like 'The Chocolate Sodier', but rather the music of Glenn Miller, Harry James, etc., because that is the music of her youth', implying that the BBC was 30 or more years behind the times with it's choice of music. Some might say that is still true today. If so, Radio 2 should be playing music from the 80s & 90s, not the 50s & 60s. I hasten to add that I don't subscribe to that theory, and would rather hear the music of 45-60 years ago, bueing in my 70s, that is the music of my youth. No doubt others on this forum feel the same! I also like the music of the 30s & 40s, and other genres besides 'pop', btw!!
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Old 16th Feb 2017, 1:57 pm   #55
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

The basic problem is that Radio 2's remit is far too wide. My father who was a Radio 2 listener for years, and others I know of his generation, began to complain that there was nothing to listen to. Not just the pop (R2 always carried some 'easier' pop) but the style of delivery was a problem too. Ed Stewart was okay, he wouldn't listen to Steve Wright. Fortunately Saga FM came along but that was then washed away by the takeover that became Smooth.

It also doesn't account for changing tastes. I grew up with Beatle mania and the pirates - Caroline South was my main choice and as a young adult RNI, the reborn Caroline and Radio 1. Later I enjoyed the AM oldies stations Xtra AM - and GEM AM which although out of area I could hear. These days I don't bother with pop (oldies) stations - I'm bored with them and the shouty style of delivery and inane prattle, and I'm not interested in celebs. I've gained a taste for music I would have scorned in my youth (because it was for 'old folk') and enjoy big band and jazz. I'm lucky - I have a broad taste - I listen a lot to Radio 3 - and can see the merit in genres of music from before 1500 to today.

There actually needs to be another station that delivers a range of content for grown up adults but in the current economic climate that's wishful thinking. Thank goodness for the internet. There is a US NPR specialist music station with erudite presenters and no ads that I enjoy and to which I have just renewed my membership. I often wonder if that model would work over here. $60 - that's less than a quid a week.
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Old 16th Feb 2017, 2:33 pm   #56
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

Just adding my bit in here I've always detested Tony Blackburn, and being one who has to get up early I also still mourn the loss of Alex Lester from 3am weekdays, I found his silly ideas just right for when I was doing battle with one of the trunk roads early in the morning. All those lorries with 'slap my top' written in the dirt on the back and most people having no idea what it meant....
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Old 16th Feb 2017, 2:45 pm   #57
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

Interesting. Although I was a reenager during the '60s, and loved the music up to about 1969, my first exposure to popular music was from the wind-up gramophone and box of 78s that I had as an 8th birthday present. Hence I tend to default to the likes of Henry Hall and Roy Fox, and I'm still a big Spike Jones fan! I also love the music of Eric Coates and later 'light music' popularised by the likes of the Queens Hall Light Orchestra.

Through listening to Radio Dismuke online I've also discovered the likes of Fred Hall, Harry Reser and Ted Weems. I couldn't tell you much about music since 1975 though, apart from Mike Oldfield.
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Old 16th Feb 2017, 5:43 pm   #58
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

I can just about cope with the Tony Blackburn humour, but Brian Matthew's advantage is the sheer nostalgia of his voice from those late 50s /early 60s pop shows on the Light Programme.

I well recall the clash between our much-resented Saturday morning school and the new fangled 'Saturday Club' presented by Brian Matthew. The solution for a group of us was that I built a pocket-sized 4-transistor (germanium) regenerative TRF. This, working from a single cell, was pretty sensitive and produced good volume into a cheap magnetic earpiece.

Our classroom desks were (of course) fitted with inkwells (disused by then) and I found that positioning the earpiece just inside the inkwell provided sufficient acoustic boost for a small group of us reprobates to keep in touch with Saturday Club whilst the teacher remained unaware of our private distraction.

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Old 16th Feb 2017, 6:37 pm   #59
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

That's a good story Martin and one I'm sure Brian himself would appreciate - he having attended a school (Bablake) which also had Saturday morning classes. Some of us in Cov avoided that problem...
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Old 16th Feb 2017, 8:51 pm   #60
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Default Re: Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

Eric Coate,s music Phil,a lot was used as test card music.Very easy listening.There is of course a Light Music Society.
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