Entertainment For Lively Minds
Music radio
Yep, I'm a bit gob-smacked too, but there's a radio station on my DAB radio called 'Absolute 60s' (presumably something to do with Branson?), which does exactly what it does on the tin, and it is worth listening to.....that hasn't happened since Radio London!!!
Only caught about four hours (two bouts of painting the hall wall) but so far.....Beatles, Stones, Hendrix (all LP tracks), loads of Motown, and even 'Whole Lotta Love' (bizarrely a 45!) sounded good in its natural habitat.
I just hope that they throw in, every six songs of so, a curve-ball by an obscure act (Kiki, Sharon Tandy, The Action, The Seeds etc.) to keep it fresh. There's no excuse not to.
Mention has been made of documentaries at the week-end on 'Smile' and 'The Velvet Underground' which sounded like old Radio 1 docs. but, hey, I suspect I haven't heard either for at least ten years.
Most pleasing of all they even had a jingle that slagged off the 1980s.
Result!
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My 5yo Son
Has just burst through the door "Dad, that's some pretty cool music!".
Let me know
when Cliff comes on.
The stuff that puts Cliff on the top table.....
.....was, alas, from '58 and '59.
Or maybe it's because Cliff's (not) gay
and sold more records than Paul McCartney (if you don't count all of Macca's sales)
According to their website
they have an anti-Cliff policy;
"And if you want to hear Gerry and the Pacemakers or Cliff Richard, you won't be hearing them here."
Result!
Both Cliff and Gerry...
...were responsible for some of the best singles from the best year in pop music - 1963.
*runs for cover...*
Is Absolute what Virgin was?
I remember tuning in one morning on the way to work back in the 90s - it wasn't bad, they played a single by the Cars, one by the Beautiful South, neither of which I'd heard for years. Heard them both again on the way home - different presenter, obv.
I enjoy Frank Skinner's podcasts but have noticed him 'back-announcing' the same records on a few occasions.
I have to say, what I've heard of Absolute 80s
is briliant. Songs you never hear on the radio anymore and songs you've not even thought of for 20 years or more.
I thought it would be all Luther Vandross and nasty soul stuff, like the repetitive, narrow worst of Capital Radio from that era, but actually it's a really broad range of stuff and really pleasant to have on while you're pottering. If you like the 80s, that is.
I've not heard too many repeats, but it is perhaps best dipped into than have on constantly.
Absolute 60s...
...came on air last Tuesday, and Absolute 70s yesterday (29th), hot on the heels of Absolute 80s being announced as the most-listened to commercial digital-only station (Q3 2011), with a very respectable 1.02 million listeners. Meanwhile, listenership of the 90s & 00s versions are plummeting, discuss...
The 80s revival starts here! (Grabs tin hat, runs for cover...)
Any Radio Paradise fans?
Any Radio Paradise fans?
me sir!
I am and excellent it is too
All I need is 15 minutes of music
- no talking, no ads - at 5.45am. I found it with Absolute 90s.
Tried Absolute 80s first, expecting it to be "my era" but kept getting those "shoulder pad flash backs". Turns out Britpop and its cousins are really what I'm up for first thing in the morning. Plus there are enough curve balls to keep me on my toes and send me fumbling for my phone, trying to launch Soundhound to find out "what the hell's that?".
Even better, as soon as Christian O'Connell starts wittering, I know it's time to hit reset on the alarm and dive out of bed.
Nothing infuriates me more....
Nothing infuriates me more than pigeonholing music based on the last-but-one digit of the year it was released in.
It's not as if everything changed dramatically when midnight struck on Jan 1st 1970, is it?
Suffice to say I won't be listening.
I've found it really interesting
to be reminded of the range of what "the 90s" were all about, musically. They do seem to cover a broader selection than the stereotype that you might get in a single programme. (Though I wouldn't listen either if it were just a lazy excuse for Blur & Oasis on rotation.)
JDW....
....well, yes it did actually.
OK, I concede we have to get the ready reckoner out to get the specific date (IMO the Stones' tongue logo appearing on a poster in 1970) but at least this way you don't have to wade through Madonna, the king of pap, and (even worse) worthy, worthy indie to get to the songs I heard yesterday.....
'Both Sides Now' - Joni
'Lovely Rita' HJHs
'Crosstown Traffic' - Jimi
'Little Wing' - Jimi
'Under My Thumb' - Stones
'Come See About Me' - Supremes
'I'm Free' - The Who etc. etc.
absolutely typical
must be a London only thing. It's not on DAB it the backwaters of the West Midlands
Can you listen online?
We have an excellent Internet radio which we got because FM is terrible where we are. It was about £60, cheapest one in Argos at the time. Works really well.
Branson?
I don't think there's anything about Absolute that is connected with Branson anymore. Presumably the name change was the point that the Virgin ties were completely severed and even then, I think it had been a while since any formal connection.
Whole lotta love on 45...
"even 'Whole Lotta Love' (bizarrely a 45!)"
It's out there - I have a copy on 7" I'm fairly certain. Think I paid a few quid for it around 20 years back.
Zep's albums-only policy...
... was pretty much a UK-only thing - WLL was a huge single in the US, and was also released across Europe, so it's hardly that "bizarre" that Absolute 70's would have a vinyl version...