Elvis and Allen on BBC's Later Friday 26 May

Pretty self-explanatory
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Otis Westinghouse
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Elvis and Allen on BBC's Later Friday 26 May

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

The typically excellent current series of Later has, as I was hoping it would, EC and AT this Fri. Yowzer, yowzer, yowzer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/show/index_20060526.shtml

I keep being too knackered/under the influence, though, and falling asleep. Saw an awesome rendition of the fabulous Crazy by Gnarls Barkley last week.
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Post by Neil. »

I'm off to the recording of this tonight, so I'll report back tomorrow. I expect they'll only doing one number at the piano, as the lineup features so many biggies that there can't be room for all of them to do two numbers.
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Post by Neil. »

They did do two numbers after all: Who'll Help Brother Get Further and Ascension Day, Allen at the piano and Elvis (without a guitar) at the mike.

Good stuff! Haven't heard the songs before, apart from a brief clip of 'Brother'. 'Brother' had an immediate impact and got people clapping, especially after the dreary guitar workout foisted on us by Dave Gilmour (am I the only person on the planet who can't see the appeal?) Allen sang the first few verses, in his relaxed, easy manner, with Elvis joining in adding some grit (intentional and unintentional - he had the occasional throat frog).

Later they did Ascension Day, which Elvis introduced in a cryptic manner that I didn't quite catch - something about a bloke with a long beard, I think it was. Good song, but it didn't quite soar and raise goosebumps the way some Elvis ballads can. Lookin' forward to hearing it again though.

I have to say, I was struck by Elvis' presence in the room. He's a big fella you wouldn't wanna mess with, constantly prowling around like a boxer before a fight. Even when he was sitting down, he couldn't keep still, fidgeting a lot, adjusting his tie, scratching his chin, quaffing water etc.

It was great to see that he makes an effort to look like a star though. David Gilmour looked like a technical college lecturer in jeans and a t-shirt, and Paul Simon, also in jeans and t-shirt, looked as though he'd just wandered out of his flat for a pint of milk, and decided to pop in to the studio on his way home.

Elvis was clad in a dark suit with country-style white piping across the breast and cuffs, and wearing dark glasses. He just looked like a proper star. Allen Toussaint wore a dark suit and looked immaculate, and like Morgan Freeman's better-looking brother (and Freeman's already a handsome fella!). Mike Skinner of The Streets was the only other artist trying to make a showbiz splash, in a pink jacket and with a diamante earpiece thingy. Good! I want my stars to look like star, not dads at a back-garden barbecue!

There was no interview with Elvis and Allen - Paul Simon and Mike Skinner got that honour. Simon mentioned that he and Elvis go back a long way. Didn't mention how they met. My mate couldn't help marvelling that this was the man who'd shagged Princess Leia.

Graham Nash and David Crosby were there and did two songs for the following week's show. Elvis went over and talked to them after the song, looking congratulatory. Wonder if they were thinking of the Steven Stills incident as they chatted?
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Post by martinfoyle »

Fascinating, cant wait to see the show. Maybe they will release 'Brother as a single after all, it has SMASH HIT written all over it.
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Nice account, Neil. With you on the star issue. This is showbiz. Nice one Elv!

How did you get tickets? Industry contacts?

Looking forward...
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Post by Neil. »

I work for the Beeb, and normally it's impossible to get in to Jools tapings, but over the past two weeks it's transpired that, amazingly, the Corp don't have the correct entertainment licence to satisfy Hammersmith Council, so no members of the public have been allowed on the premises to be TV audience members, until the matter is sorted next week!

All BBC staff got an email saying that crowds were desperately needed to fill studios for tapings of Top Of The Pops, Jonathan Ross, a Question of Sport etc. - and I was lucky enough to get one for Jools!

Apart from a false start, the show was all done in one take.
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I see. Had heard about TOTP being filled with swinging Beeb employees. Well getting into Later is a perk not to be sniffed at!
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Post by johnfoyle »

Received today -

WELCOME TO THE LATER WITH JOOLS NEWSLETTER, SERIES 27, PROGRAMME 4
NEXT SHOW is this FRIDAY at 11.35PM, BBC2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/

_____________________________________________________

Hello Music Lovers!

It is the ‘stuff of legend’ in the Later studio this week. I’m so
pleased to welcome back to the studio, DAVID GILMOUR. He recently celebrated
his 60th birthday with the release of “On An Islandâ€
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Moz on next week! Yay!

It's a great show, isn't it. God we need it. Long may it last.
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Post by johnfoyle »

Simon mentioned that he and Elvis go back a long way. Didn't mention how they met.
http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/% ... lence.html



How I dread the sound of silence

By Norman Lebrecht / May 26, 2006

( extract)


I’m beginning to see why Simon and Garfunkel split up. Paul Simon, on the instant acquaintance of a 40-minute chat in a back-to-back media tour, does a duet all on his own. Top Paul is urbane, reflective, poetic and outgoing. Bottom Paul, half an octave down, sits tight as a ball of wool in a hotel armchair recoiled as if from rejection - a musician, naked in his vulnerability, transparently aware of sands running out.


Mention Garfunkel today, and Simon’s face shuts down. In a recent remark about the Rolling Stones he said: ‘I don’t think Mick (Jagger) and Keith (Richard) ever liked each other any better than Artie and I did.’ Somehow, after more than half a century of coupledom and many years in psychoanalysis, you get the feeling that Simon is struggling to understand what went on and why it broke down, though when you ask if he has regrets, he says bluntly: ‘I don’t do that.’ I politely refrain from telling him that Garfunkel is coming on a nine-stop European singing tour next month, still trailing Simon after all these years.

We are talking friends and contemporaries – Paul is first-naming Bob (Dylan), Bruce (Springsteen) and Paul (McCartney) – when he reveals an unexpected affinity with the London-born Elvis Costello, ‘because his father was a musician, just like mine.’ Simon’s father, Louis, a pre-War violinist on Hungarian radio, made his living playing bass in New York bands until, at 50, he put himself through college and took a doctorate in linguistics, specialising in remedial teaching. ‘My father said to me, I wish I had done this earlier, I wish I hadn’t spent so much of my life as a musician. But I liked him as a musician, and I liked his musician friends. It’s part of the reason I was able to go into faraway cultures and collaborate with people - not as a foreigner, but as a musician among musicians.’
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Paul may have issues with lots of things, but he's still got greatness about him. First song was fum, second song was lovely, and Graceland was stunning. Nice to see Steve Gadd in action, too. Elvis was very visible listening in to the interview.

Really enjoyed EC and AT. the latter really is a bona fide piano genius, is he not? It's like he's talking through the piano. Thye warmth and depth and richness are a marvel. Looking forward to the record, seems like a good move.

Enjoyed your comments about the clothing even more after seeing the show, Neil! Could you be spotted on camera? Agree that Gilmour is a bore, despite the great guitar sounds etc. Thought the sound of Nash and Crosby doing vocal harmonies was fabulous. Looking forward to seeing their songs.

Enjoyed the Brazilians - great use of braz rhythms. And The Streets came across well live, too. Great show, and Moz next week!
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Post by oldhamer »

I'm not a Pink Floyd fan, so thought Dave Gilmour was a bit boring. He also can't sing, which is a problem. I don't find guitar solos impressing - another reason to be turned off by him. I did like Paul Simon, especially his second song. I missed his third song - a pity, especially if it was the best as Otis says. As for the Streets, I used to like them until my flatmate played them for three days on the trot. They did, however, play "Never Went to Church", one of their best songs imho. The other blokes didn't inspire. Can't even remember their names :oops:

I was impressed by Elvis and Allen. He certainly is a wizard on the piano. It just looks like he's bashing his hands tone-deaf style, but beautiful piano work comes out. Amazing stuff. Probably won't sell any more copies of the album, but that's life!
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Post by migdd »

A very kind member of this board sent me an advance copy of this album as an early birthday present.

This is indeed a very special album. By far the best collaboration EC has ever taken part in (and he's had a couple of pretty good collaborations!) and one of his very best albums, period!! It's amazing how EC and Allen's voices mess so well. The Imposters just keep proving how incredibly versatile they are.

A great album!!
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Post by martinfoyle »

The shows being torrented here, here are mp3s of the EC songs

Ascension Day

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... 6009EDE3F8

Who'll Help Brother Get Further?

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... 082205B750
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

oldhamer wrote:I missed his third song - a pity, especially if it was the best as Otis says.
Graceland. Never owned that record, but am keen to hear it properly. You Can Call Me Al put me off. The guitarist with the plain wood guitar was fabulous, and the overall delicacy and subtlety were fantastic. Great rendition of a superb song. I like it al the more for having seen it on one of those 'making of great albums' programmes where Simon was sitting in reverie listening to it and saying 'this is my greatest moment, my best work'. I love that slightly glazed, lost boy look he gets on his face in such moments. He may have sme questionable characteristics, but he's got a great body of work behind him.
oldhamer wrote:I was impressed by Elvis and Allen. He certainly is a wizard on the piano. It just looks like he's bashing his hands tone-deaf style, but beautiful piano work comes out. Amazing stuff. Probably won't sell any more copies of the album, but that's life!
I'm sure people will take note. I bet a lot of CDs are sold as a direct result of Later. It's great exposure with a strong following. IO can imagine non-EC fans thinking 'check it out!'
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Post by oldhamer »

Certainly Jools was espousing the marvellousness of the River In Reverse. I hope I'm wrong, and the programme helps shift a few more copies. I'm sceptical. The album's only at 153 in the amazon charts, but would that increase when the album's officially released? I don't know how it works.
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Post by ReadyToHearTheWorst »

oldhamer wrote:I hope I'm wrong, and the programme helps shift a few more copies.
Later must have sales influence, apparently it's responsible for Corinne Bailey Ray's success.
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Post by sweetest punch »

oldhamer wrote:Certainly Jools was espousing the marvellousness of he River In Reverse. I hope I'm wrong, and the programme helps shift a few more copies. I'm sceptical. The album's only at 153 in the amazon charts, but would that increase when the album's officially released? I don't know how it works.
None of Elvis's albums have been big sellers (with the exception maybe of 'Spike'). Now he's is living in the USA, because there the people and press are more interested in 'older' artists than in the UK. So, with only the little promotion of Later and a few radio-interviews, don't expect that the album will sell that well in the UK.
Hopefully, this will be a little different in the USA. Because Allen is a big name there and they will do more promotion and a (festival) tour. With previous salesfigures in mind (When I Was Cruel sold 192.000 copies in the US in the first year after it's release and North only 85.000), we know a little bit what to expect.
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Post by Neil. »

You can watch the entire Jools show here, until 2nd June.

Don't know if it's available outside the UK, as the site is funded by the UK licence fee payers, so it may not be available worldwide.
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Post by Neil. »

Sorry, meant to say you can see the show here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/programmes/?id=later

No, Otis, you cannae see me in the crowd - I'm at the back!
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Post by johnfoyle »

From the same link -

Image
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I wonder if Elvis and Mike Skinner had a chat. He was quite positive about A Grand Don't... when it came out. Perhaps they compared suits.
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Post by verbal gymnastics »

Perhaps Elvis could get Mike a pair of the silver boots which would go well with the pink suit!
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