Albums of 2011

Posted on December 11, 2011 by David Spencer
Here are my albums of 2011. What are your thoughts?
1 – ARCTIC MONKEYS – SUCK IT AND SEE
2 – AMOS LEE – MISSION BELL
3 – CHRISTINA PERRI – LOVESTRONG
4 – GAVIN DEGRAW – SWEETER
5 – RON SEXSMITH – LONG PLAYER LATE BLOOMER
6 – PANIC AT THE DISCO! – VICES AND VIRTUES
7 – BRUNO MARS – DOO WOPS & HOOLIGANS
8 – DARIUS RUCKER – CHARLESTON SC 1966
9 – NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS
10 – ADELE – 21
11 – YOU ME AT SIX – SINNER NEVER SLEEP
12 – CIVIL WARS – BARTON HOLLOW
13 – TEDDY THOMPSON – BELLA
14 – JAYHAWKS – MOCKINGBIRD TIME
15 – JOSH BRAY – WHISKEY AND WOOL
16 – FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE – CEREMONIALS
17 – RYAN ADAMS – ASHES AND FIRE
18 -WILL YOUNG – ECHOES
19 – ALEX TURNER – SUBMARINE
20 – WRETCH 32 -BLACK AND WHITE
21 – THE PIERCES – YOU AND I
22 – COWBOY JUNKIES – SING IN MY MEADOW
23 – SEAL – SOUL 2
24 – BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB – A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIX
25 – THEA GILMORE – JOHN WESLEY HARDING
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Radio Writing: Lesson 1

Posted on October 6, 2011 by David Spencer

Radio writing is a skill. There is a balance between keeping scripts tight and clear and also making them engaging.

Lesson 1: SAYS

Too many radio scripts that intro an audio clip, use the word says.

For example. “Prime Minister David Cameron says he can see the changes in policy making a huge difference.”

Often we can use alternatives to says. So in this example THINKS, could be used or BELIEVES.

However the script can be made even tighter, and therefore flow much better by saying:

“Prime Minister David Cameron can see the changes in policy making a huge difference.”

Simple but effective.

Remember if you are using a clip of someone, you do not have to intro with ‘says’.

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Shortening The Football Transfer Window

Posted on July 26, 2011 by David Spencer

As the football season fast approaches there are many fans like me waiting nervously to see which players we will get to see turn out for our clubs – before being sold before the transfer deadline.

Last year, Reading had built a formation around the outstanding youngsters Gylfi Sigurdsson only for the Icelander to leave in August. Whilst the club cannot be falted for taking the huge money offered, the sale left the club listless and struggling to recover for several weeks.

Eventually Reading’s form recovered and manager Brian McDermott found a way to play without the playmaker. But the disruption was huge.

Why is the transfer window open until the end of August and why does it not shut the moment the season kicks off? How many transfers cannot be done before the end of July? Just knowing the deadline was earlier would kick people into action.

It seems ridiculous to me that once the season starts, changes can still be made for a month. Many teams have to change their squads because of being raided during August, and it frustrates fans. If a club sees one of its players get injured there is always the loan system. Shutting the window when the season kicks off seems fairer and more sensible. What are your thoughts?

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Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What

Posted on June 24, 2011 by David Spencer

When interviewed recently Paul Simon talked about the wonders of that song-writing process when you stumble across something magic. He described Bridge Over Troubled Water, for example, as one of those rare moments that some people are lucky enough to get once during a career. His recording work with Art Garfunkel, despite finishing more than three decades ago still, in many ways, defines him.

Since then of course Simon has forged a very successful solo career, and his albums are still greeted with great interest. More than twenty years after Graceland though, that album is still used by many as a benchmark for his solo records. Since then, Simon has moved on significantly, and the process of getting older and thus becoming more reflective is more apparent with every release.

Having said that, the African influences, the rhythms and tricks, that he learned in the mid-eighties have always stayed with Simon. Less so perhaps on previous album Surprise (2006) but here tracks like Dazzling Blue and Rewrite could quite easily have come from 1986. The former is a lovely song describing love as an accident and destinies being true, that Simon fans will lap up

Elsewhere there are trickier moments with The Afterlife a slightly uncomfortable cross between The Obvious Child and Boy In The Bubble, while Love And Hard Times’ delicate vulnerability is a touch too introspective. Opening track Getting Ready For Christmas was released as a single in the States last November, but hearing it in the middle of summer just doesn’t feel right!

Paul Simon is on a growing list of artists that started their careers in the sixties and are into their eight decade. Rock and Roll will were always told is a young person’s game but some of the old guard are still proving that’s definitely not the case.

Rating: 3/5

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Why Play Offs Bring Out Best In Fans

Posted on May 25, 2011 by David Spencer

The play offs are a unique experience for football fans, so much riding on one or two games. Since their inception there is no doubt it has made the football league more exciting. But there are certain fans, certain clubs that have never, and in all likelihood will never, taste the bitter sweet feelings. I am here to tell you why that puts me in a better place than Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool supporters.

It’s the 29th May 1995 and I am sat at Wembley holding my head in my hands. Reading are two nil up and there’s only 20 minutes gone of the Play Off final against Bolton, with the winners getting a place in the top flight, something never achieved by my hometown club. You would think I’d be jumping and down, but the realization is hitting me that the Royals are just 70 minutes away from mixing it with the big boys. No matter that teams like Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal will, in all probability, have to play us at Loftus Road because Elm Park’s unfit. I really can’t believe it. History is about to be made.

The rest of that afternoon is now Play off folklore, with Archie Lovell’s penalty saved just before half time (don’t let anyone call it a miss) and the late comeback from Bolton Wanderers that eventually sees them win 4-3 after extra time.

The aftermath of the defeat is a blur. I trudged away from the stadium slightly dazed, encountering a crying RFC fan on the tube and driving home from Hillingdon to reflect on what might have been. Pictures of Lovell, distraught on the Wembley pitch afterwards bring me close to tears but the pride I feel for the team is immense. To come so close. Amazing.

The pain slowly fades and Reading eventually made it to the top flight for the first time in their history after a record-breaking season in 2005-06.

Now comes another play off final, again for the right to play in the Premier League. This time it doesn’t mean as much because we’ve been there before BUT the pain of defeat or the joy of winning will still be extraordinary. Fans know no inbetween. It’s win or lose. Pain or glory.

And here comes my main point. Like most fans (I think it’s fair to say) I am a glass half-full person. Football does that to you. But there is real pleasure and pride in seeing my team making headlines. It still gives me a warm glow to see a front page featuring RFC (like the Liverpool or Everton cup wins recently).

To my mind, that sense of attachment, that extra bond is not felt by supporters of the bigger more successful teams. After all success is benchmarked in different ways. Arsenal have failed this season apparently. Despite qualifying for the Champions League, again, getting to a cup final and only losing in Europe to the best side on the planet. Reading finishing 9th in the Championship would have made me happy.

The FA Cup final was more special this year for the change of teams, different sets of fans walking up Wembley way. Ok, Stoke lost and were awful on the day. But those 40 thousand fans will never forget that day. And I bet they are still proud of the players and the club.

Manchester City fans know what it’s like to suffer. That’s why, despite their money. I hope there is further joy next season for the blue half of Manchester. I think City fans have an attachment, emotionally unbreakable, that means appreciation of success is greater. Good luck to United on Saturday, but please those United fans that have only known glory, take a step back and appreciate the success. Drink it in. It won’t go on forever. For some clubs it will be never be tasted at all.

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“He used to manage Slough, he is a Royal now…McDermott”

Posted on May 14, 2011 by David Spencer

Back in the mid-nineties in my role as News and Sport Editor at STAR FM in Berkshire I had the pleasure (if you can call it that) of covering the local football teams, of which Slough Town were the biggest.

Plough Lane was their home and after some turbulent times, they appointed a former Arsenal player as manager, the man who has now led Reading to Championship play offs, Brian McDermott.

As an interviewee – he was always interesting and it has to be slightly awkward, as you had the sense that he knew that I had very limited knowledge about the team and league that I was covering. After all I am a Reading fan and was far more interested in our Division One survival!

On one occasion a show I was recording featured the legend that is Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet. Chatting to Tony after recording our interview we talked football and his love of the Arsenal. I mentioned Brian was manager of the local side and that I was due to see him that day. He then insisted on driving me to the ground to meet the man he’d seen score at Highbury.

Bizarrely Tony at that time had very little money and the old banger we went in was a treat! The driver’s door didn’t open properly and it splattered and splutterd to Plough Lane. But Tony and Brian had a lovely chat!

Years later, while working for 2 Ten I had to interview then Reading manager Alan Pardew, and as I arrived at the training ground in Sonning Brian walked by and shouted ‘Hello David how are you?!’. Remembering an annoying journo from 5 years before was impressive and it has stuck with me.

Brian you are a class act – and win or lose on Monday, Reading and its footy fans should be immensly proud of what you’ve achieved.

Urrrzzz

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BBC should axe Radio 1 and 2

Posted on March 26, 2011 by David Spencer

Commercial radio’s recent shrinking of station identities and staff has come with a branding exercise criticised by traditionalists. And rightly so. The loss of previously great names like Fox and 2 Ten is a sad and worrying example of where the new more corporate world of radio is.
The move to bring Heart and the Capital brand to a wide audience is not without merits, but to extinguish in one quick move, well known names that have taken years to build within their communities is short-termist.
The reason for this change, or at least one of the reasons, is the need to implement cost-effective cross-station advertising and staffing. One station name, across a number of areas makes more sense than 20 different identities. Plus it allows big names (I use the term loosely) like Toby Anstis and Nick Snaith to appear across wider areas, to listeners who might not otherwise have access to them.
17 stations now carry the Heart brand – effectively covering England and Wales. So why not have a Heart national station instead? Because there’s no room, no licence and at the moment no commercial viability.
But what if there was no Radio 1 or 2?
At last year’s Radio Festival Global’s Ashley Tabor said Radio 1 should concentrate on breaking new British music and that Radio 2 was “too young”.
Like me, he believes the stations should provide what the commercial sector can’t. Two national commercial music stations on FM would be viable, as long as Radio 1 or 2 didn’t exist. At the moment there just isn’t a fair playing field.
The commercial sector should worry about playlists and audience research, the BBC should provide choice. Like 6 Music for example. Radio 1’s evening and nighttime line-up swapped into the day recently for a one-off. Zane Lowe at breakfast, playing new and interesting music is what the BBC should be doing.
As the BBC looks to save money, there is talk of axing some BBC2 content. Well that’s exactly the sort of programming it should do with our money. Not mass audience programmes like Strictly Come Dancing. Axe Radio 1 and Radio 2 and the BBC saves millions. Just from the two breakfast Chrises alone!
If the government was brave it could encourage commercial radio to be far more inventive and creative than it currently is, by reducing the BBC’s overwhelming competitive advantage. Axe Radio 1 and 2 and hand over the frequencies to the commercial sector. By doing so, those local stations that are Hearts could return to local content and not worry about being part of a money making machine. Listeners deserve choice.

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Mike Marlin album review

Posted on March 9, 2011 by David Spencer

Mike Marlin seems to have waited a very long time before releasing his first record, with his biog jumping 25 years from early experiences as a musical journeyman to releasing this record. Whatever happened in the intervening decades Marlin’s retained an energy to succeed that is admirable.

Having already played on the HMV Next Big Thing tour, Marlin seems to have started 2011 with some zeal, and it is with some interest that we explore this debut release. The first impression is his striking baritone, which is a cross between David Bowie and Damon Albarn, and like those two, this music is very British. No other country would produce this type of material.

Inspired by the likes of Elvis Costello and Paul Weller, Marlin’s old enough to have more to write about than meeting girls and going clubbing; “Am I writing my obituary as a spreadsheet or a eulogy?” he asks on the pained ‘Undercover Genius”. Even his press release has a lovely quote about wasting years fixing the holes in his alibis.

The songs are steeped in traditional pop-rock, but Marlin knows that simple isn’t always good, and there are some lovely production tricks, courtesy of James Durrant. For example, the lovely ‘No Place Like Home’ could have been a standard acoustic strum, but instead it has a lovely pitter-patter rhythm and some delicate keyboard splashes.

‘Second Son’, with it’s touching father-son story (“you shook my hand and sent me away, remember the day”) and ‘Iceberg’ are other tender moments alongside the edgier guitar driven tracks like the very Bowie-esc ‘Hit That Button’ and ‘Play That Game’. Marlin’s supporting The Stranglers on their tour of the UK in March, and I would imagine that he’d go down very well. An interesting debut, just a shame it took so long.

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James Blunt at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo

Posted on March 8, 2011 by admin

James Blunt is probably the most unlikely pop star of the last decade, with fame thrust upon him in a literal flash. When You’re Beautiful dominated charts and airwaves for seemingly years in the mid noughties, it strangely derailed the former soldier’s new career move. Not in terms of success of course, but creatively. Tonight at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo though, he seems much more comfortable.

Having changed venue size dramatically following those extraordinary months of 2005 and 2006 (even making it to the O2), Blunt is now playing to audiences that suit him and his music far more. The stage set up is impressive, with his backing band elevated on small stages behind the singer but kept anonymous by their uniform dark outfits.

The tour is named after his third album Some Kind of Trouble, a much stronger set than his last release in 2007, and the opening is dominated by a selection from it and from his debut, the mega-selling Back to Bedlam. The likes of Dangerous, These Are the Words and the opening So Far Gone slip the audience into a 70s pop groove smoothly. However it’s the early material that shines the most, with the terrific Wiseman (possibly his best song) and an outstanding performance of Goodbye My Lover.

There’s little time for talk as he rattles through 21 tracks, although when he does speak he amusingly wonders why his fans love the sadder material more; “I have a lot of miserable songs to get through….not sure why you get off on it”. But it’s probably because that’s what he does best. If Time Is All I Have, for example, sounds much better live than the dreary album track on Some Kind of Trouble.

The surprise of the night is that You’re Beautiful isn’t saved for the encore. In fact it’s performed a little before the end. It’s a clever move. We’ve all heard it enough times but you can’t leave it out. It’s a sign of Blunt’s maturity as an artist. Tonight he’s happy in his surroundings and with his smaller, less mass market audience (his recent single didn’t even make the top 20). Only a comedy trip after jumping off a speaker spoils a polished performance. But then it’s quite fitting from someone who sounds like the really posh father of Frank Spencer!

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