Whether it was Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Later with Jools Holland, BBC Sessions, Ready Steady Go, From the Basement or something called Guitar Heroes at the BBC, the channel was home to some unbelievable musical performances in the 70’s. Commissioned by none other than Sir David Attenborough, who was actually the […]
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Sometimes known as ‘the quiet Beatle’, George Harrison would have been 80 years young today. The Liverpool-born musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer and, oh yeah, lead guitarist of the Beatles passed away in November 2001 of lung cancer at the extraordinarily young age of 58. While most Beatles fans will immediately identify with songs written […]
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For me, Friday, February 7, 1964 will forever occupy a special place in my music history heart as it marked the first ever television appearance of The Kinks (performing “Long Tall Sally”) as part of the Ready Steady Go series in the UK. For most of the rest of the world, however, the date of February 9, […]
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56 years ago today on January 17, 1967, The Beatles finished recording Penny Lane in Studio Two at Abbey Road Studios including David Mason’s famous piccolo trumpet solo. As the story goes, the Beatles began recording Penny Lane on December 29. As time passed, Paul became somewhat dissatisfied at the initial attempts at the song’s instrumentation and […]
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Filmed before a live audience in London on December 11-12, 1968, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was organized by The Rolling Stones and originally conceived as a BBC-TV special. Centering on the original line up of the Rolling Stones — Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman (with Nicky Hopkins […]
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A big TOH to Reid Robinson, Tellyspotting’s intrepid reporter in Richardson, TX who reminded me of one of music’s most controversial moments which occurred at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall in 1966. A heckler branded one of the greatest songwriters of all-time, “Judas” for going electric during a set thus ‘betraying his folk roots’. Reid pointed me in the direction of one Robert Allen Zimmerman and how, over a half century later, he answered one of life’s most sought-after musical questions.
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Unfortunately, there are countless individuals who’s names are unfamiliar to the masses but, in the same breath, you are infinitely familiar with their work. Monty Norman was one such individual. Chances are good that his was not a household name. His work, however, in creating one of the most famous musical movie intros ever will be […]
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On 30 January 1969, the Beatles performed an unannounced concert from the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row, within central London’s office and fashion district. Joined by keyboardist Billy Preston, the band played a 42-minute set before the Metropolitan Police asked them to reduce the volume. Other than those in earshot of Apple Corps […]
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When one thinks of the key elements to any successful British drama series, you immediately talk about the superior writing (think Downton Abbey), the brilliant acting (think Sherlock) and the visually stunning landscape (think Poldark). One other element, however, that goes relatively unnoticed but is equally as important in the creation of an overall success is […]
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From the ‘Department of Who-Knew’ comes today’s post about the singing career of a pre-Grantchester Robson Green. Turns out that in November 1994, in an episode of the UK television drama series Soldier Soldier, actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn performed “Unchained Melody” as an impromptu duo The Unrighteous Brothers after the entertainment failed to appear at a wedding. Their […]
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