FEATURE: How great is the BBC?

This feature was posted on Drowned in Sound:

DiS was surprised and excited to hear news that the BBC are working on a project to make all their glorious audio and video music content available to download.

The download service being developed by BBC Worldwide will offer streamed and paid download material from it's vast music archives.

This is a very exciting prospect. All the Peel sessions, Led Zeppelin's performance on the Old Grey Whistle Test, grunge hammered out on Top Of The Pops direct to your computer's video library.

With potential to be bigger than the iPlayer, DiS is naturally gagging with excitement. Details of the launch date have not yet been made available but that's not gonna stop us celebrating the news of this new music download service.

So in anticipation we thought we'd raid the YouTube archives and bring you some BBC music highlights that have inspired, awe struck and left DiS generally motived to keep pushing the good musical word.

Have a look below and see what you think of our selection. If you have any better ideas post them below and we'll soon let you know if you're right or wrong.

1. At The Drive 'One Armed Scissor' (Jools Holland 2000)

No-one was expecting At The Drive-In (pictured above) to incorporate a piece of seating furniture so creatively into the performance. This one track set was ground-breaking and sent jazz-grunge shockwaves far beyond television centre. Watching it back again it hasn't lost any of it's aggression and appeal.

2. Blur 'Universal' (Glastonbury 1998)

One of many Glastonbury performances you could pick from the Beeb's extensive annual coverage of the festival. The song's explicit optimism struck a cord with everyone in the audience both in the field and the armchair. This track especially seems to marry the message of every Glasto undeniably well.

3. Nirvana 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' (Top Of The Pops 1991)

Probably one of the funniest clips you'll see in the list. Kurt can already be seen giving fame the cold shoulder here as he refuses to tow the TOTP party live and perform conservatively. He deliberately puts on a Morrissey-esque low voice to either poke fun or entertain. Either way his efforts to fail failed as The Observer newspaper listed the performance as the third greatest in the programme's history. Amazing!

4. David Bowie 'Fame' (Bowie at the Beeb 2000)

The thin white Duke returned to his old stomping ground just days after his incomparable headlining set at Glastonbury 2000. The exclusively recorded intimate gig would be the blueprint for other, more contemporary performances from The Streets and Coldplay's outdoor show at Television Centre (youtube). This was easily the best time to see the most influential man in rock do a unbelievable greatest hits set.

5. The Maccabees 'First Love' & 'Latchmere' (BBC Collective 2007)

Bringing us bang up-to-date and coincidentally with a bunch of lads much loved by DiS are The Maccabees. The band performed in 2007 as part of the BBC Collective Sessions, a culture magazine that was available on the website (bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/). Unfortunately closed now but that doesn't mean we still cannot adore the amazing sound and visual quality of the magazines extensive archives. This is what live music should sound like.

This news story can be found on Drowned in Sound with other pieces by Dean Samways.

Words: Dean Samways

Image: Google

Videos: YouTube

NEWS: U2 Producer Remembers The Early Days

Original U2 producer Steve Lillywhite has spoken of the time he spent with the band recording their monumental first three albums.

In an interview posted on the BBC News website Lillywhite records his experiences mixing the records, socialising with the band and generally witnessing the good musical juices issue forth from Bono & co.

As time went on, and one album followed the last, the Grammy award winner saw the band morph from cocky Irish wannabies to even cockier politically-driven rock stars and creative accountants.

He was also on board for the band’s first number one album War, released in 1983.

Lillywhite’s comments come as U2 release re-mastered special edition issues of those first LPs, as dissected on the Quietus by our very own Andrew Mueller here.

Below are the best bits of what he had to say to the Beeb. For the full story on the BBC website.

Boy
(1980)

Recorded when the band were all still under the age of 21 the title reflected their still innocent nature. Despite this the album was originally going to be mastered by Martin Hannett who is famous for helping develop Joy Division’s sound, a flattering proposition for such a new band.

“I always remember on that first album, I was sitting at the mixing desk with the band behind me and suddenly I heard all this giggling. I turned around and suddenly they all went sheepish, shushing each other like teacher was looking at them.

“I think they would admit that, like all teenage boys, they hadn't lived long enough to acquire a personality… There wasn't much talking in the studio. It was quite serious.”

October
(1981)

A brooding Bono didn’t go down well with the critics as U2’s second offering received mixed reviews. Fears of the music industry being against the band’s religious beliefs and the lose briefcase full of lyrics nearly stopped the band’s progression in its track. Thank God it didn’t.

“U2 could have gone two ways after Boy. They could have broken out and gone bigger - but in fact what they did was they shrunk a little bit. They were a little bit scared of the world, I think.

“Yes, there were Bibles dotted around the room during the recording. There was a fair amount of that. But I was so busy trying to pull teeth - trying to make an album - that it sort of washed over me.

“It was completely chaotic and mad in the studio and, obviously, Bono's lyrics being lost contributed to the atmosphere. I'm not sure whether any of those words would have been used on the album - only he knows that - but certainly it would have been a starting point.”

War
(1983)

The breakthrough album. Knocked Thriller off the top of the charts. ‘Nuf said.

“The band had been questioning whether their beliefs could coincide with their new experiences. And in the end it was their manager Paul McGuinness who sat down and said, ‘don't be so silly, you can have them both’.

“In his sort of matter-of-fact way, he convinced them that the world would be better if they carried on making music.

“But I think we all realised that there'd been a step back with October and that, if we were going to go for it, we had to have the urgency of the first album.

“I remember Bono saying to The Edge, ‘don't be like The Edge. Be like Mick Jones from the Clash’.

“Because Edge is like a scientist. He has the white coat on and pencils in his pocket. And I think what Bono wanted him to do was take off the white coat and put on the star-studded leather jacket.”

And for some classic 1983 U2 click below:

This news story can be found on the Quietus with other pieces by Dean Samways.

Words: Dean Samways

Image: the Quietus