Tag Archive for "jools holland" tag

As today marks the birthday of one of the greatest and most soulful guitarists you will ever have the privilege of hearing, have a listen to this…

For those that don’t know, Peter Green replaced Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (no pressure there, then) before forming Fleetwood Mac with the Bluesbreakers’ rhythm section: drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and bassist, John McVie.

Within a short time, they gave the world – and Carlos Santana – ‘Black Magic Woman’, ‘The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Prong Crown)’, ‘Man of the World’, ‘Need Your Love So Bad’ and most famously of all, ‘Albatross’, which you will doubtless recall David exclusively performing for Jools Holland’s Radio 2 show last year (it being one of his favourites and Green one of his influences).

Is there another Peter Green number that you think David could attempt?

As a tribute to an exceptional yet incredibly modest musician, I’d like to hear which you think are his stand-out songs, albums, solos and collaborations today.

And if you’ve recently seen Peter Green and Friends, who have been touring this year, please don’t keep it to yourself.

If you were unable to catch David and the band performing on Later… with Jools Holland back in September, and haven’t discovered the performance anywhere online since, part of the broadcast footage is now available for your guilt-free viewing pleasure over on the ‘Live in GdaÅ„sk’ page.

‘The Blue’ (from ‘On an Island’) can be found there, as well as some chat.

Although it really does seem like only yesterday, this was originally televised on 26 September 2008.

Other performances on the celebrated show, or its New Year’s special, Hootenanny, include appearances with BB King (in December 1997), Paul McCartney (in November 1999) and Mica Paris (in November 2001). Not forgetting, of course, the visit in May during the 2006 tour, where David Crosby and Graham Nash particularly shone.

Have I forgotten any others, and do you have a favourite?

Oh, and if you were hopeful of breaking news about a forthcoming appearance, I do apologise.

Sunday Times critics and NPR listeners alike went for the eponymous debut from Fleet Foxes, while Rolling Stone chose the very awkward-sounding TV on the Radio. (What is it with these hip young things and their clumsy names?)

You might have spotted David enjoying Elbow on Later… with Jools Holland back in September; they won last year’s Mercury Prize for their 2008 release.

Whether your preference is for the most recent offerings from Metallica, Oasis, Sigur Rós or Coldplay (good, honest names, those), or the debuts from Duffy or Bon Iver, I’d like to know which you consider to be the best album released in 2008 without a GdaÅ„sk in its title.

For me, that would have to be Neil Diamond’s very beautiful ‘Home Before Dark’.

I don’t think 2008 was one of music’s finest, do you?

The year’s best songs next week… and a Happy Birthday to Ash.

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the end of The Great War (supposedly the war to end all wars), and is a recognised day of remembrance in many countries – be it known as Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Veterans Day or Poppy Day.

It doesn’t matter who, or what, the many million casualties of war were fighting for, or how we may personally feel about any – or all – military conflict today: we should remember them and what they gave.

So, as we’ve done before for other (lesser) occasions, I’d like to be reminded of the most poignant songs of war and peace, to honour all those who sacrificed so much so that we may enjoy a better life.

Two that spring to mind are ‘Berliners’, by Roy Harper (with the moving stanza from Laurence Binyon’s poem, ‘For The Fallen’), and, of course, Pink Floyd’s ‘When The Tigers Broke Free’, from ‘The Wall’ film.

Comments about David’s performance of ‘Albatross’ to be left here, not here, please.

Thank you.

You won’t want to miss this, I’m sure.

David will perform Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Albatross’ next week: on Jools Holland’s Radio 2 show, Monday 10 November.

He’ll also be chatting about ‘Live in GdaÅ„sk’.

Everyone can listen live online, so set space in your schedule between the hours of 22:30 and 23:30 (UK).

You can listen later, on demand, for one week (courtesy of the BBC iPlayer), but possibly only if you’re in the UK, so do try and catch it live, if you can.

The chatroom has just opened, so feel free to call in. It will be open until 12:00 (UK).

A quick round-up of reminders.

First, the Planet Rock/Guy Pratt interview you were expecting tonight is now on Sunday at 17:00 (UK). Listen online. If you’re in the UK, you can also listen through your TV or DAB digital radio.

Before that, you might be interested in a radio special – which includes an interview – from Belgium, which starts on Sunday morning at 09:00 (CET), on Classic 21.

There’s more from Later… with Jools Holland tonight, as part of a BBC night dedicated to David. That starts at 21:10 (UK) on BBC4 with an hour from the GdaÅ„sk concert, plus the ‘GdaÅ„sk Diary’ DVD extra, followed by another documentary: ‘The Pink Floyd Story…’ (originally broadcast in 1994).

Turn over to BBC2 or BBC HD immediately after that, as David will be performing ‘The Blue’ and ‘Remember a Day’ for Jools, from 23:35 (UK).

The BBC4 programmes are repeated in the early hours of Saturday morning – from 01:30 (UK).

If you can’t wait for your next fix, here is something from New Zealand’s 3 News, something from today’s Sun newspaper, and, if you haven’t heard it yet, last weekend’s US radio special in full.

The Blog’s now closed for the weekend, but will be back on Monday.

If you haven’t yet seen it, Fender’s microsite for the David Gilmour Stratocaster is now up, so have a butcher’s.

A break from the fine Piotr Tarasewicz GdaÅ„sk shots for today. This one’s another of Frank’s, from Leicester Square last year.

You too could be striking that very same pose with your own black Strat soon (ish). Probably not a good idea to try striking it in Leicester Square, though. You know what crowds are like.

Thanks again, Frank.

Just a reminder that there’s more from Later… with Jools Holland tomorrow night on BBC2, as well as an hour from the GdaÅ„sk gig and a 30-minute documentary (on BBC4).

That might interest a few more of you now that many poor souls are still waiting for their postie to deliver their five-disc bundle of joy. (You’ll have yours before Friday night, I’m sure.)

For those of you thinking of downloading the album from iTunes, now you’ll only get ‘Wot’s…’ if you’re in Europe. (Sorry!)

The word is that the new release date for Poland is Monday. Please take that with a pinch of salt, just in case. It does sound wildly optimistic, no offence to EMI Poland.

Saturday is still the all-important day for Australia, and Monday for France and the vinyl.

By the way, SoundStage Direct’s price for the LPs is now $98.99 (US).

David will still be appearing on Later… with Jools Holland tomorrow night (and also on Friday night). He has changed his songs and will now perform ‘Remember a Day’ and ‘The Blue’ instead. He will also be talking with Jools.

Please see the calendar for times.

‘Remember a Day’ was written and sung by Richard Wright, who died last week. The song features on Pink Floyd’s second album, ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’.

Thank you, Liz, for the lovely portrait.

‘Live in Gdań„sk’ is out today across Europe, and also in Brazil, Israel, Mexico and New Zealand.

Tickets are still available for cinemas in the States tonight, if you want to see the Gdań„sk concert. Go to The Bigger Picture website and click the graphic at the foot of the page. When you see that image full-screen, you should also notice a link for THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES on the left, which will tell you everything you need to know about where this one-night-only event is taking place.

‘Live in Gdań„sk’ is out tomorrow in Argentina, Canada, Uruguay and the US.

Something you may already know about.

David will be performing ‘Astronomy Domine’, ‘Fat Old Sun’ and ‘This Heaven’ for Jools Holland’s ‘Later…’ programme, due for broadcast in the UK on Friday 26 September. He will also perform one song – live and also for ‘Later…’ – on Tuesday 23 September.

If you miss these performances, or just want to see them again and again, you should be able to watch both programmes for a whole week with BBC iPlayer the following week. This service is only available to fans in the UK.

However, sometimes the ‘Later…’ page at MySpace includes video, so keep an eye on that.

If either ‘Later…’ is coming up in your TV listings, do let us know when and where.

BBC4 will also have an hour from the GdaÅ„sk concert on Friday 26 September, plus half an hour from the documentary (one of the DVD extras, nothing that you won’t see if your ‘Live in GdaÅ„sk’ has the concert DVD, don’t worry).

This will also be available in HD.

The last day of 2005 is finally upon us and, as the last day of the year just wouldn’t be complete without Jools Holland shouting “Hootenanny!” in that unique style of his, there could only be one choice for Polly’s Picture of the Day.

Jools Holland (seen sitting on the right, in case you don’t know), is undeniably one of the world’s finest boogie-woogie pianists. He started his career with Squeeze and now tours almost constantly with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, as well as having what is widely considered to be the most diverse live music show on British television, ‘Later… With Jools Holland’, on which David has appeared several times.

Jools received the MBE from the Queen in 2003 – the same time that David received the CBE. You can find more about Jools by visiting his website: www.joolsholland.com.

As it’s time for looking back with fondness – and perhaps a little regret – at the year that’s passed, and thinking ahead with great optimism about the year to come, why not let us know your hopes and dreams for 2006 – and perhaps your New Year’s resolutions as well?

World peace, an end to poverty, Chelsea to slip up in the Premiership… To give up smoking, to be more courteous on the nation’s highways and byways, to stop pestering David to re-unite with the other members of Pink Floyd… Whatever it is, let us know.

But no more shameless plugging of your websites in your messages, please. There’s space for that in the URL field, so please put the address in there and people can more easily visit (merely by clicking on your highlighted name).

2006 promises to be a very good year for fans of David and Pink Floyd, with the release of ‘On An Island’, a tour of Europe and North America and also the ‘P.U.L.S.E.’ concert from 1994 coming out on DVD.

We look forward to hearing about your hopes for the New Year and thank you all once again for helping to make this blog a success with your varied, but almost always interesting, comments. You can expect more exclusive news and pictures in the New Year, so keep checking in as David’s new album and tour draws nearer.

From everyone at www.davidgilmour.com, we wish you a happy and healthy New Year.