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Series Two 2007

1 July to 9 September (11 programmes)

9 September

To end the second series, a grab-bag of this and that taken from the following albums:

David Byrne – 'Grown Backwards' (Nonesuch)
Carl Strygg – 'Carl Strygg sings the Classics' (Gold Toast)
Van Morrison – 'The Best of Van Morrison Vol 3' (EMI)
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross – 'The Hottest New Group in Jazz' (Columbia)
Rufus Wainwright – 'Release the Stars' (Dreamworks)
Iwi Hit Disc 23: Tama Waipara singing Leaving Paradise
Kiwi Hit Disc 96: Midge Marsden singing Waiting for Rain
Nellie Lutcher – 'The Best of Nellie Lutcher' (Capitol)
'A Tribute to Joni Mitchell' (Nonesuch): Cassandra Wilson singing For the Roses
Andrew Bird – 'Armchair Apocrypha' (URA)
Steve Earle – 'Washington Square Serenade' (New World)
'Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino' (Vanguard): songs performed by Dr John and Randy Newman

2 September

Life, too, has Surface Noise (Cherry Red Records) - a collection of singles which appeared on John Peel's short-lived Dandelion Records label back in the early 70s. We feature songs by David Bedford and Lol Coxhill, Siren, Clifford T Ward, Bridget St John, Medicine Head and The Yamasukis.

Halcyon Days - Dr Strangely Strange (Hux) - a collection mostly of unreleased material from the Irish avant-garde folk group recorded in 1969-70 but also including a few new tracks: the band is still playing! William also plays a couple of tracks from their 1970 album, Heavy Petting.

The Salvation Blues - Mark Olson (HackTone)

There's a hole in heaven where some sin slips through (Glitterhouse) - a tribute album to the songwriter Townes van Zandt. William features the song Kathleen performed by Tindersticks.

26 August

Two great songwriters:
The Songs of Kurt Weill - Janet Roddick and group (Braille)
A Tribute to Joni Mitchell (Nonesuch)

William also plays a 1940s recording of Lotte Lenya singing Weill's Lost in the Stars with Weill at the piano.

The performers we hear on the Mitchell tribute are James Taylor, Elvis Costello, Björk, Caetano Veloso, Prince and Sufjan Stevens.

19 August

William pays tribute to the songwriter Lee Hazlewood who died earlier this month, mostly through a number of tracks from his recent album 'Cake or Death' (BPX). Also sampled are two tracks from the 2002 tribute album 'Total Lee!' (City Slang) - one by Lambchop and the other by Tindersticks. Plus, a song from Hazlewood's 1965 LP 'The NSVIPs' (we played the LP because it hasn't made it to CD yet!), a couple songs from Nancy Sinatra, and pianist Thomas Adès playing György Kurtag's "Hommage à Nancy Sinatra" which quotes a famous bass-line.

Then he turns his attention to 'The Best of Van Morrison, Volume 3' (EMI) on which we hear The Man collaborating with The Chieftains, Georgie Fame, Tom Jones and Bobby Bland.

12 August

Prompted by the devotion of the magazine The Oxford American to southern culture in its many and various manifestations, William goes south of the Mason-Dixon line for this programme.

You'll hear tracks from the CDs which accompany The Oxford American's special music issues in 1999, 2003 and 2006. Artists featured are: Bob Dylan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Geeshie Wiley, John Prine, Jason Morphew, The Collins Kids, Marshall Chapman, Joe Liggins and his Honeydrippers, Muhammed Ali, The NuGrape Twins, Eartha Kitt and Jeannie C Riley.

Staying down south, William plays contributions by Vic Chestnutt, Caroline Herring, Robert Earl Keen and Greg Brown to a new tribute album for the late Larry Brown: 'Just One More' (Bloodshot).

Finally, there's also a birthday celebration for the 80 year old Porter Wagoner who now shares a label with the younger alt.generation of Tom Waits and Jolie Holland. William plays extracts from Wagoner's new album 'Wagonmaster' (Anti), including a Johnny Cash song written for him some years ago but here receiving its first recording.

5 August

Featured albums:
Wilco: 'Sky Blue Sky' (Nonesuch)
The Youngbloods: 'The Youngbloods'/'Earth Music'/'Elephant Mountain' (BGO Records)

William also spins a few tracks from the earlier Wilco albums, 'Yankee Foxtrot Hotel' and 'A Ghost is Born' (both Nonesuch).

He finishes off with a couple of tracks by alt.folkie Michael Hurley - one from his early-70s album 'Armchairboogie' (the original Warners LP - it's not yet available on CD), and one from the recent tribute to guitarist John Fahey, 'The Great Koonaklaster Speaks' (Table of the Elements). William will return to this album in a later programme. Stay tuned.

29 July

William looks at the song writing of Paul Weller and Neil Finn, in particular in the following featured albums:
The Style Council: Our Favourite Shop - the Deluxe Edition re-release of the 1985 album (Polydor)
Crowded House: Time On Earth (Capitol)

Weller's song writing is also sampled from The Jam boxed set 'Direction, Reaction, Creation' (Polydor) and the earlier Style Council albums 'Introducing the Style Council' and 'Café Bleu' (both Polydor).

Earlier Finn songs are taken from the  Crowded House's self-titled album and 'Recurring Dream: The Very Best of Crowded House' (both Capitol)

22 July

The featured album is Suzanne Vega's latest: Beauty & Crime (Blue Note).

William runs up to this with a survey of Vega's 22-year career, sampling tracks from her albums 'Suzanne Vega', 'Solitude Standing', 'Days of Open Hand', '99.9F°' and 'Songs in Red and Grey' (all A&M). Also included is the DNA mix of her a capella song Tom's Diner taken from her compilation album 'Retrospective' (A&M), and the song Men will be Men which was the B-side of her single 'Blood Makes Noise' (A&M).

15 July

Is it opera? Or pop? William takes a critical look at a new disc from Deutsche Grammophon called 'Welcome to the Voice' with music by Steve Nieve and words by Muriel Teodori.

It features musicians Sting, Barbara Bonney, Elvis Costello, Robert Wyatt and the Brodsky Quartet.

The programme begins with Renata Scotto murdering Leonard Bernstein's Somewhere from the disc 'Opera Stars In Concert Sing Broadway' (IMP) and ends with two tracks from Broadway singer Audra McDonald from her albums 'Way Back to Paradise' and 'Build a Bridge' (both on Nonesuch).

8 July

The featured albums this week are all recent NZ releases:

The Sproutts: 'Plutons' (self-released)
Opshop: 'Second Hand Planet' (Siren)
Hollie Smith: 'Long Player' (EMI)
Lucid 3: 'Dawn Planes' (Capitol/Lupin Music)
The programme finishes off with two singles: Dimmer's You're Only Leaving Hurt and SJD's Beautiful Haze.

1 July

William takes a look at two new releases:
Björk: 'Volta' (One Little Indian/Polydor)
Nico: 'The Frozen Borderline 1968-1970' (a Rhino re-release of two of Nico's solo albums, 'The Marble Index' and 'Desertshore')

In preparation, he makes a survey of several other divas from the north: Caecilie Norby from Denmark, Agnetha Fältskog (ex-Abba) from Sweden, Karin Krog from Norway, and How Many Sisters from Finland.