BeebRock - The BBC4/BBC3/BBC2/BBC1 Music Programmes thread

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

Currently reading the memoirs of Grace Jones called, er, 'I'll Never Write My Memoirs'.

Great read, and quite the life she has led. Her motto when it comes to performance is 'Keep the audience waiting, then make it worth the wait'.

That's the mantra I use when I enter the LLS thread :cool:

I remember Grace Jones appeared at an S4C event in Cardiff called 'Jones Jones Jones', where they broke the World Record for the most people of the same surname in the same room together.

Tom Jones and Catherine Zeta Jones couldn't be arsed turning up but Grace was there, with lots of other Joneses. Fair play to her.

1,224 Joneses attended a Gala Concert in Cardiff featuring performances by Grace Jones, Dame Gwyneth Jones, John Owen-Jones and Tammy Jones, alongside a host of Welsh-speaking singers, actors and celebrities. During the evening, messages of support were shown from Aled Jones, Bryn Terfel, Stephen Jones, Ruth Jones, Rhys Meirion Jones and well wishes from Tom Jones and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The evening was co-presented by Gethin Jones, Gwenllian Jones and Aled Haydn Jones

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Jones_Jones

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Its flipping country dominated again next Friday

Yeah, two weeks in a row is a bit much. Something to do with a Radio 2 Country Series but it's not much use to most of us. Little piece of Punk tucked away on BBC2 the same night to provide a small bit of balance.

Sad news today about Sir George Martin, BBC Four have announced a repeat of the 2011 Arena Doc 'Produced by George Martin' tonight at 10pm

Elsewhere I see he did not one but two episodes of Desert Island Discs, you could download them here and see how his music choices changed between times.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mkj8 (with Roy Plomley in 1982)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0093p2w (with Sue Lawley in 1996)



Wednesday

10pm Produced By George Martin
Profile of record producer Sir George Martin. He began with Nellie the Elephant, 633 Squadron and Peter Sellers, then came the Beatles and then the golden age of rock. Martin recorded the soundtrack of the second half of the 20th century.
This rich and intimate portrait follows Sir George at 85 with his wife Judy, son Giles, Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Cilla Black, Michael Palin and Bernard Cribbins among the many contributors.



Thursday

7.30pm & 12.30am Top Of The Pops 1981 #13
Simon Bates presents the chart show from May 28, 1981, featuring the Polecats, UB40, Hazel O'Connor, Coast to Coast, Tenpole Tudor, Adam and the Ants, and Kim Carnes



Friday

7.30pm & Midnight Top Of The Pops 1981 #14
Richard Skinner introduces performances by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Imagination, Phil Collins, Shakin' Stevens, Squeeze, the Jam, Toyah, and Adam and the Ants. Plus, a dance sequence courtesy from Legs & Co. First shown 4th June 1981

9pm & 12.40am Kenny Rogers: Cards On The Table
Documentary chronicling Rogers' career and the golden era of country music he helped usher in, reflecting on how he rose to become a superstar selling over 120 million albums worldwide. Making use of a candid interview with the performer, the film also looks at his success in other fields, including tennis and photography. Contributors include singer, songwriter and producer Kim Carnes, actor and musician Mickey Jones and long-time friend Lionel Richie

10pm & 2.40am Country Kings At The BBC
A chronological compilation of performances from the BBC archive by male country singers, ranging from the Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis to Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson. Featuring classic songs from studio shows by Glen Campbell, Charley Pride, George Hamilton IV, Kenny Rogers, Clint Black, Johnny Cash and Eric Church

11pm & 1.40am Bob Harris: My Nashville
The presenter explores America's country music capital, and reveals why Nashville became `Music City USA'. He charts the genre's Grand Ole Opry beginnings, through to the threatening onset of rock 'n' roll, to its modern mainstream hits. He also visits the east of the city, where he discovers a rebellious flip-side to the genre, and explains why a nurturing community of songwriters is responsible for country music's enduring success. Featuring interviews with Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Duane Eddy and Dave Stewart, as well as performances by local acts

11pm Artsnight (BBC2)
Thurston Moore: The one-time Sonic Youth guitarist celebrates punk rock's 40th anniversary in the company of Buzzcocks' Pete Shelley, Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde and music video director Julien Temple. Moore, who was in New York in 1976 but developed a passionate interest in British punk, also celebrates one of his all-time favourites bands, X-Ray Spex



Saturday

10.55pm Choice Music Awards (RTE2)
Blathnaid Treacy presents highlights from the annual award ceremony, which took place on Thursday, March 3 in Dublin. The Song of the Year contenders for 2016 were Mullingar-based four-piece The Academic, indie-pop duo All Tvvins, former All Ireland Talent Show contestant Daithi, alt-rock Dubliners Fight Like Apes, grunge-pop outfit Otherkin and Belfast quintet Pleasure Beach. As ever, the show took the form of a live concert featuring performances by all the nominees, along with guests including Gavin James, HamsandwicH, Le Galaxie, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Soak and Villagers

11.40pm Duets At The BBC
Performances of romantic duets from the BBC archives. Among the collaborations are Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, Shirley Bassey and Neil Diamond, Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, and Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. The show also features performances by specialist double acts, including Billy Preston and Syreeta, Peaches and Herb, Sonny and Cher, and Danish folk duo Nina and Frederik

12.40am Sound Of Cinema: The Music That Made The Movies
Pop Goes the Soundtrack Neil Brand explores what makes a great film soundtrack, and reveals that in the second half of the 20th century composers embraced jazz, pop and rock to bring new energy to movie scores. Using the 1960s as an example, he shows how the James Bond features, Italy's spaghetti westerns and Disney's musicals utilised the talents of composers such as John Barry and Ennio Morricone, before the role of a composer changed when directors like Martin Scorsese began to employ carefully chosen pop songs. With contributions from Richard Sherman, Lalo Schifrin and David Arnold

1.40am Top Of The Pops 1981 #13
As Thursday

2.20am Top Of The Pops 1981 #14
As Friday



Sunday

9pm Sinatra: All Or Nothing At All (UTV Ireland)
Part 1 / 5. Five-part examination examination of the life, music and career of legendary entertainer Frank Sinatra, told in his own words in archived interviews, along with commentary from those people closest to him. This first episode focuses on Sinatra's birth to his early years as a roadhouse performer, revealing the influences behind his meteoric rise


10pm Ceol An Chlann (TG4)
The Four of Us: Profile of The Four of Us, revealing how brothers Brendan, Declan and Paul Murphy formed the group in Newry in the 1980s with drummer Peter McKinney, making their breakthrough with hit single Mary




Sky Arts are not shy about repeats either, That Rolling Stones Shine a Light film and lots of their recent Bowie programmes get another airing this weekend.

Last word to Sir George, who made this memorable appearance on Big Train a few years ago

Hi, it's yet another Friday Night of Country on BBC Four, which is enough to make you write a bad Country Song. BBC Two has some bits on Saturday including a new Michael Jackson Doc, and there's some Irishy programmes for the day that's in it. If you like Glen Hansard films, you won't know what to do tonight!


Thursday (St Patrick's Day)
9pm Film: The Commitments (TV3)
A would-be music producer from Dublin believes he can make it big in Ireland by promoting a top-rate soul band, so he trawls a working-class neighbourhood and auditions unlikely singers and musicians to put together as a group. Alan Parker's urban comedy, based on the novel by Roddy Doyle, starring Robert Arkins, Andrew Strong, Michael Aherne, Glen Hansard, Angeline Ball and Maria Doyle Kennedy. Shown as a tribute to Johnny Murphy, who plays trumpet player Joey The Lips


10pm Film: Once (UTV Ireland)
A Dublin vacuum cleaner repairman, with a sideline as a busker, and an immigrant Czech pianist struggling to support her family, discover they are kindred spirits and set out to record an album together. Romantic musical drama, starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who both wrote songs featured in the film. With Geoff Minogue and Hugh Walsh


11.15pm St Patrick's Night Concert (BBC Two NI)
John Toal and Karen Kirby introduce a performance by the Ulster Orchestra at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, with guest appearances by artists including singer-songwriters Paul Brady, Duke Special and Soak and rock band the 4 of Us


Midnight Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story
An insight into the lives of the 1970s pop duo the Carpenters, whose wholesome brother-and-sister image hid a destructive secret. Behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with friends, family and surviving band member Richard, trace the story that ended in the untimely death of Karen Carpenter in 1983


12.15am Later With Jools (TG4)
Paul McCartney performs songs from Band on the Run to celebrate the re-issue of the 1973 album, and singer-songwriter Neil Diamond plays a set containing numbers from his forthcoming release Dreams. Plus, Elvis Costello provides tunes from National Ransom, Ohio-based blues rockers the Black Keys play material from Brothers, and Californian R&B artist Aloe Blacc sings from his Good Things album



Friday
7.30pm & 12.40am Top Of The Pops 1981 #15
Peter Powell introduces musical performances by Linx, Phil Collins, Odyssey, Champaign, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Specials, Imagination and Smokey Robinson. Plus, a dance sequence by Legs & Co. First shown in June 1981.


8pm John Williams at the BBC
Performances featuring the guitarist, from a BBC archive spanning 15 years. The programme includes classical masterworks, the prog rock of Sky and comedy with Eric Sykes. There are also duets with fellow guitar maestro Julian Bream


9pm & 1.15am Arena: Loretta Lynn - Still a Mountain Girl New!
The veteran country music singer-songwriter looks back at her life from being born a coal miner's daughter in Kentucky, to selling over 45 million albums worldwide and to receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2013. Contributors include Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks, Jack White and Sissy Spacek


10.30pm & 2.45am Country Queens at The BBC
A compilation of archive performances by female country-music stars from a variety of BBC studio shows. Featured acts include Bobbie Gentry, Anne Murray, Emmylou Harris, Taylor Swift, Crystal Gayle, Tammy Wynette, Billie Jo Spears, and Lucinda Williams with Mary Chapin Carpenter


11.30pm Dolly Parton @ Glastonbury 2014
The complete set by the `queen of country music' in front of one of the biggest crowds the festival's Pyramid stage has ever seen. Featuring self-penned classics such as Jolene, Coat of Many Colours, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream and I Will Always Love You



Saturday
9pm Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall (BBC Two)New!
Spike Lee's documentary charting the path of the King of Pop's career through to the release of Off the Wall, the 1979 project that broke records, and propelled Michael to international stardom. Lee's investigation begins in the early days of Jackson's time in the limelight, from his work with his brothers and his solo outings, and details how the Jackson boys' success led them to leave Motown. Includes contributions by Berry Gordy, Questlove, and Philly International Records founders Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who produced the Jackson brothers' first two non-Motown albums, resulting in their first platinum single



10.30pm Pop Goes BBC Two (BBC Two)
Documentary exploring popular music since 1964 through a selection of 50 moments from BBC Two, featuring key live performances, excerpts from documentaries and iconic presenters in action on the channel. Including Joy Division's appearance on Something Else, the Stone Roses suffering a power failure mid-song on The Late Show, John Lennon reciting poetry with Dudley Moore on Not Only... But Also, Jools Holland chatting to Amy Winehouse on Later and Patti Smith performing Horses on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1976. Plus, clips from The Beat Room, Colour Me Pop, Ebony and Def II, as well as Glastonbury festivals over the years


Midnight Bee Gees at The BBC and Beyond
A compilation of classic performances by the legendary pop trio from the BBC archive. Including renditions of the brothers' most popular hits, 1960s appearances on European television performing I Started a Joke, footage from a Top of the Pops staging of World, and some later concerts from the 1990s


1am The Joy of The Bee Gees
A profile of the pop group, following their journey from child stars on the Australian variety circuit to UK pop chart competitors of the Beatles in the late 1960s. The documentary analyses the highlights of the three Gibb brothers' careers, including the success of the Saturday Night Fever album, the creation of their `medallion man' trademark look, their triumphant 1987 comeback, and their work with famed fellow performers such as Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross. Featuring interviews with Barry Gibb, John Lydon, Guy Chambers, Mykaell Riley, Alexis Petridis and Ana Matronic


2am Sound of Cinema: The Music that made The Movies
New Frontiers Neil Brand looks at how developing technology has taken film soundtracks in new directions and changed perceptions on how they should be made. He tries his hand at playing a theremin, the early Russian instrument that Miklos Rozsa used to evoke a sense of psychological disturbance in Alfred Hitchcock's movies and talks to Vangelis, who shares his inspiration for the Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner scores. The presenter also interviews Walter Murch and Carter Burwell, before Clint Mansell explains how electronic technology allowed him to become an acclaimed composer despite his lack of formal musical training. Last in the series


3am Top Of The Pops 1981
As Friday


3am Messiah at The Foundling Hospital (BBC Two)
Handel's Messiah is one of the most popular choral pieces in Western music, yet few people know the story of how this much-loved work came to public attention or helped save the lives of tens of thousands of children. Historian Amanda Vickery and Radio 3 presenter Tom Service present this docu-drama that recreates the performance of Messiah at London's Foundling Hospital in 1750 and reveals how this special fundraising concert helped maintain the institution and heralded a golden age of philanthropy


There you go. As Harry Palmr was saying an increasing amount of the BBC Music programmes are imports from America these days. Ah well.

One film which was very much made in Britain was Quadrophenia (ITV4 Tonight. 12.15am)

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Was I?, What I deffo said was that an increasing amount of the programmes are crap!

Anyone got the e-mail for BBC Four? I'll write a letter

Ah yeah Harry, something like that anyway

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Dismal night again. With the BBC under the kosh of the kulture secretary you'd have to wonder if we'll see many more new docs unless they are brought in. Certainly it'll be good news for Neil Sedaka if things carry on like this :mad:

Maybe Bill Gates or someone similar will donate a few hundred million to BBC Four to make some new programmes. If you are reading this Bill, you know it makes sense! Maybe put in a condition that if they accept the donation they never ever show any more Neil you know who again. Ever.

Speaking of BBC Music programmes, they issued a long Press Release last week with details of some coming attractions. They include:


Tom Jones’ 1950s: The Decade That Made Me (working title) on BBC Two
"is the first of four unique documentaries which will air on the channel across the year. Each will be fronted by a great musician looking back at the decade which defined them. The film is a chronicle of Sir Tom’s observational insights and his unique journey through the decade that formed him. It illuminates both him and the decade in which modern Britain began." (No Transmission Date Yet)


Episode one of the previously announced four-part BBC Four series People's History Of Pop will be presented by Sixties fashion icon Twiggy (to be broadcast on Friday 15 April). The series charts the UK’s popular music heritage from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s - over 40 years of incredible British music - through the eyes of music fans. Independently produced by 7Wonder, uniquely, the series is based on memorabilia and memories crowd-sourced since summer 2015 from music fans across the country. Episode one covers 1956-1966 and will be presented by the face of the 1960s, Twiggy. The programme will celebrate the decade in which we created our very own pop culture. It hears from skiffle players, fans of The Shadows, Liverpudlians who frequented the Cavern at the height of Merseybeat, Beatles devotees, dancers on Ready, Steady, Go!, mods, lovers of ska, bluebeat and Millie Small, and fans of The Rolling Stones.


The second, third and fourth parts of The People’s History Of Pop and the BBC Two series will be broadcast in July, September and November 2016, with each episode spanning a subsequent decade. The presenters of these shows will be announced later this year.


On BBC Four is a 90-minute film called Billy Fury: The Sound Of Fury (broadcast on Friday 22 April) which recounts the story of Billy Fury and the birth of British popular music. He became an overnight sensation in the 1950s and his first album, The Sound Of Fury (released in 1960), has become a landmark record in British rock ‘n’ roll history. Independently produced by A2B Media in association with 400 Television, this new film is shot entirely in HD with unique, unseen archive and photos. It highlights Fury’s contribution to popular music and the reason why Britain’s original teen idol had more Top 40 hits than The Beatles during the Sixties. It features exclusive home movie footage and interviews with Lord Puttnam, Mark Kermode, Amanda Barrie, Vince Eager, Imelda May, Ray Connolly, Spencer Leigh, Clem Cattini, Len Goodman, Boz Boorer, Billy’s mum Jean Wycherley, and many more.


Also on BBC Four is The Everly Brothers - Harmonies From Heaven (broadcast on Friday 22 April) with Don Everly himself telling their incredible story, giving viewers his own unique perspective on the brothers’ music, life and success. Don and Phil, arguably the greatest harmony singers of all time, began as childhood musicians performing hymns and country songs as part of The Everly Family on their father’s radio shows in Shenandoah, Iowa. Following their move to Nashville, the film looks at the important relationships they had with publishers Acuff-Rose, Archie Bleyer of influential label Cadence Records, and husband and wife writing team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who gave The Everly Brothers their first million-seller with Bye Bye Love.

And BBC Four will be broadcasting classic film Rock Around The Clock, plus previous BBC programmes Rock ‘n’ Roll Britannia and the Rock ‘n’ Roll America series. (Again)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2016/bbc-music-my-generation