The Weekend Planet

Lau’s studio CD (featured here on 27.10.07) was this young millennium’s most auspicious debut from a British ‘roots music’ group. Lau Live is even better. These two Scots and an Englishman are very creative musicians within a living tradition. Much of their repertoire is brand-new and/or self-penned. Their appetite for interplay and improvisation is still very evident when they interpret ‘traditional’ songs and tunes. Kris Drever sings and plays guitar, Martin Green is the squeezer and Aidan O’Rourke plays the fiddle.

Discover more, here:
www.lau-music.co.uk

Playlist

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Details of each track are presented in the following order:
BROADCAST TIME
TRACK NUMBER AND TITLE
COMPOSER
PUBLISHING AND COPYRIGHT DETAILS
RECORDING COMPANY AND CD NUMBER
( distributor/ source details, in brackets like this, in lower-case)
ARTIST AND CD TITLE
Duration of track
Description of track, in lower-case.
Where relevant, further info links to information, gigs/events/related programs

’THE WEEKEND PLANET’ SAT 2. 8 08

2205
THEME:
(details below, as per the original CD.. This cut is also on these compilations Ketama - ’ Nuevos Medios Coleccion’ - Nuevos Medios NM 15 820
{ in Australia via MGM www.thegroovemerchants.com
worldwide, via: www.flamenco-world.com/noticias/nuevos.htm }
and ’ Jarabi - the best of Toumani Diabate’ (Hannibal 334352 )

CD CUT 1, ’JARABI’
TRAD, ARR TOUMANI DIABATE
HAMILCAR MUSIC LTD
HANNIBAL HNCD 1323
( in Australia, some releases through Stomp Enquiries to: ben@stomp.com.au
worldwide: www.rykodisc.com )
KETAMA, TOUMANI DIABATE, DANNY THOMPSON - ’SONGHAI’
THIRTY SECONDS (EXCERPT)
(retains a stately-Manding air, whilst also embracing flamenco elements. Toumani Diabate’s kora, Danny Thompson’s beautiful double bass and Ketama’ s flamenco guitars )

2208
CD CUT 1, ’STEWARTS’ (AULD STEWART/YOUNG STEWART/ LAST WEEK’S EFFORTS)
MARTIN GREEN
REVEAL PUBLISHING LIMITED
COMPASS RECORDS 74479
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: www.compassrecords.com )
LAU - ’LAU LIVE’
7: 55
(’Live’, with a recognisably Scots accent. The music has its feet in ’tradition’, but is conversationally-inclined, virtuosic and full of this threesome’s improvisatory, ’in-the-moment’ flair. Kris Drever’s ac guitar {he also sings wonderfully, elsewhere on the CD}, Aidan O’Rourke’s fiddle and Martin Green’s accordion. Initially contemplative, finally jubilant )

SEGUE

2216
CD CUT 7, ’HARVEST GYPSIES’
BOO HEWERDINE
PUB NOT SPEC
COMPASS RECORDS 7 4456 2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: www.compassrecords.com
Kris Drever’s site: www.krisdrever.com
NOTE:
in Europe this on a different label - Reveal Records
www.reveal-records.com )
KRIS DREVER - ’BLACK WATER’
3: 19
( poignant but pointed/quietly defiant song in persona of ’seasonal’/’migrant’ fruit-pickers who’re oft-exploited and looked down upon. Kris’ eloquent, recognisably Scots male voice and deft ac guitar with ac bass, accordion, drums, resophonic guitar, fiddle )

2221
CD CUT 7, ’UNQUIET GRAVE’
WORDS ARE TRAD, MUSIC BY KRIS DREVER
WORDS ARE PUBLIC DOMAIN, MUSIC IS REVEAL PUBLISHING LIMITED
COMPASS RECORDS 74479
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: www.compassrecords.com )
LAU - ’LAU LIVE’
5: 10
(stark and dark, ’live’ version of a traditional ’night visiting’ song. The ghost of the departed visits her too-keenly-bereaved beloved, graveside. She instructs him on the necessity of ’letting go’. Kris’s voice and ac guitar, Martin Green’s accordion and Aidan O’Rourke’s fiddle )

SEGUE

2226
CD CUT 3, ’BENEATH AN EVENING SKY’
RALPH TOWNER
DISTANT HILLS MUSIC (ASCAP)
WHICH WAY MUSIC WWM004
( in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.whichwaymusic.com )
MGT ( MUTHSPIEL, GRIGORYAN, TOWNER) - ’FROM A DREAM’
5: 50
(AUSTRAL PERF: haunting/spacious nocturne for the composer’s 12-string guitar, Slava Grigoryan’s classical guitar and Wolfgang Muthspiel’s atmospheric elec guitar.

MGT AUSTRALIAN TOUR ALERT

See the tracknotes to ’Icarus’ @ 2241, below )

SEGUE

2232
CD CUT 5, ’SEA SEA/ THE LEMON SLICE’
(RESP) AIDAN O’ROURKE AND KRIS DREVER/MARTIN GREEN
REVEAL PUBLISHING LIMITED
COMPASS RECORDS 74479
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: www.compassrecords.com )
LAU - ’LAU LIVE’
6: 12
( ’live’ and restless with lots of shifts and interplay: Kris Drever’s ac guitar, Aidan O’Rourke’s fiddle and Martin Green’s accordion )

2241
CD CUT 8, ’ICARUS’
RALPH TOWNER
DISTANT HILLS MUSIC (ASCAP)
WHICH WAY MUSIC WWM004
( in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.whichwaymusic.com )
MGT ( MUTHSPIEL, GRIGORYAN, TOWNER) - ’FROM A DREAM’
5: 26
(AUSTRAL PERF: New, grandly-spiralling version of the composer’s signature tune: Ralph Towner’s 12-string acoustic, Slava Grigoryan’s classical and Wolfgang Muthspiel’s elec guitar/elec bass.

MGT AUSTRALIAN TOUR ALERT
For any updates, go to:
www.whichwaymusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=51

HOBART
Theatre Royal Thursday 7 August 8pm
Bookings:: 03 6233 2299 www.theatreroyal.com.au or Centertainment: 03 6234 5998

CANBERRA
Tilleys Saturday 9 August, 9pm and Sunday 10 August, 8pm
Bookings:: Canberra Ticketing 02 6275 2700 www.canberraticketing.com.au

SYDNEY
The Basement Tuesday 12 & Wednesday 13 August
Bookings:: 02 9251 2797 www.thebasement.com.au or Moshtix www.moshtix.com.au

BRISBANE
Powerhouse Thursday 14 August, 8pm
Bookings:: 3358 8600 www.brisbanepowerhouse.org

BYRON BAY
Byron Bay Community Centre Friday 15 August, 8PM
Bookings:: 02 6685 6807

DARWIN
Entertainment Centre, Sunday 17 August 5pm
Bookings:INGS: Darwin Entertainment Centre 08 8980 3333 www.darwinentertainment.com.au
www.darwinfestival.org.au

MELBOURNE
The National Theatre, St Kilda Tuesday 19 August, 8pm
Bookings:: 03 9525 4611 Ticketmaster 136 100 www.ticketmaster.com.au

ADELAIDE
Her Majesty’s Theatre Wednesday 20 August, 8pm
Bookings:: BASS 131 246 www.bass.net.au

PERTH
Octagon Theatre, UWA Thursday 21 August 8pm
Bookings: 08 6488 2440 or BOCS 9484 1133 www.bocsticketing.com.au )

SEGUE

2246
CD CUT 11, ’MOTHERLESS CHILDREN’
TRAD, ARR JEEF LANG
SONG IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. ARR IS ORIENT PACIFIC MUSIC
ABC MUSIC/UNIVERSAL MUSIC AUSTRALIA 1777132
( in Australia through Universal.
Available at ABC shops and online: www.abcshop.com.au )
JIM CONWAY - ’MUSIC DELI PRESENTS JIM CONWAY’
9: 37
(AUSTRAL PERF AND ARR: ’live’ and very alive. Jeff Lang’s slide-resophonic guitar {with distort-amplification in latter section} and vocal, Grant Cumerford’s bass and Jim Conway’s harmonica.

LIKE TO KNOW WHEN AND WHERE JIM CONWAY PERFORMS?

Upcoming gigs are posted well in advance, here:
www.jimconway.com.au/News.htm )

2258
CD CUT 2, ’IN STRIDE’
RALPH TOWNER
DISTANT HILLS MUSIC (ASCAP)
WHICH WAY MUSIC WWM004
( in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.whichwaymusic.com )
MGT ( MUTHSPIEL, GRIGORYAN, TOWNER) - ’FROM A DREAM’
1: 10 (excerpt)
(AUSTRAL PERF: elegantly playful exchanges between the composer’s classical guitar, Slava Grigoryan’s bairtone guitar and Wolfgang Muthspeil’s elec guitar.

MGT AUSTRALIAN TOUR ALERT

See the tracknotes to ’Icarus’ @ 2238, above )

----
11 PM NEWS
----

2305
CD CUT 7, ’PINK-O BOOGIE’
RY COODER
HI-LO SHAG MUSIC ( BMI )
NONESUCH 7559-79900-5
( in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
RY COODER - ’I, FLATHEAD’’
3: 03
( not a million miles from ’Get Rhythm’.. but here the irresistible groove { with Ry’s ripe elec slide guitar, his son Joachim’s timbales and Jim Keltner’s drum-kit prominent} comes with a very funny lyric in persona of a lustful, 1950’s petrol-head. Set in context of McCarthy-ist era USA. Our hero is in search of good times at the Commie-sponsored hop: ’Pink-o-boogie’s got the thing you republicans just ain’t got.’)

2310
CD CUT 6, ’THE LANG SET’(THE DOG AND THE RABBIT/ A DOG CALLED BRAN/ SOUTER CREEK/ ALYTH’S/ MUCKLE MOOSE ON THE MUIN’
FIRST AND LAST TUNES ARE BY KRIS DREVER. THE MIDDLE THREE ARE BY AIDAN O’ROURKE
REVEAL PUBLISHING LIMITED
COMPASS RECORDS 74479
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: www.compassrecords.com )
LAU - ’LAU LIVE’
14: 31
(’Live’ and wide-ranging, but the mega-medley has a recognisably Scots accent. The music has its feet in ’tradition’, but is conversationally-inclined, virtuosic and full of this threesome’s improvisatory, ’in-the-moment’ flair. Kris Drever’s ac guitar {he also sings wonderfully, elsewhere on the CD}, Aidan O’Rourke’s fiddle and Martin Green’s accordion - sometimes the accordion is processed through a Leslie system { more usually deployed by Hammond organists} . The very lyrical ’Ályth’s’ refers to the singer Alyth McCormack - see cut-following)

SEGUE

2325
CD CUT 1, ’MHICSHIRIDH’
TRAD/ARR: MCCORMACK.SUTHERLAND MCPS/PRS
VERTICAL RECORDS VERTCD 054
( no current Australian distributor
worldwide: www.verticalrecords.co.uk )
Alyth site: www.alyth.net )
ALYTH MCCORMACK - ’AN LOMALL’ (THE EDGE)
2: 48
(Haunting solo female vocal in Scots Gaelic.. plus some discreet processing/sampling/over-dubbing, derived from the vocal itself. In persona of one lamenting the death of her brother, drowned at sea:
’I am sad to think of your hair
Entwined in the drifting seaweed’

LIKE TO SEE THE FULL LYRIC IN BOTH GAELIC AND ENGLISH?
It is here:
www.geocities.com/celticlyricscorner/mccormack/mhicshiridh.htm )

2329
CD CUT 3, ’FRANK AND FLO’S/ AN TOBAR’
(RESP) MARTIN GREEN/ AIDAN O’ROURKE
REVEAL PUBLISHING LIMITED
COMPASS RECORDS 74479
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: www.compassrecords.com )
LAU - ’LAU LIVE’
4: 59
( ’live’and cheerful pair of tunes for Kris Drever’s ac guitar {he also sings wonderfully, elsewhere on the CD - e.g. cut-following}, Aidan O’Rourke’s fiddle and Martin Green’s accordion )

SEGUE
(SAME-DISC, CONTINUOUS)

2334
CD CUT 4, ’THE BUTCHER BOY’
TRAD/ KRIS DREVER
ORIGINAL IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. KRIS’S RE-WORKING { INCLUDES SOME NEW WORDS AS WELL AS MUSIC} IS REVEAL PUBLISHING LIMITED
COMPASS RECORDS 74479
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: www.compassrecords.com )
LAU - ’LAU LIVE’
4: 14
( Stark and dark song in persona of the jilted one: Kris’s Scots voice and ac guitar, Aidan O’Rourke’s fiddle and Martin Green’s accordion )

2340
CD CUT 10, ’FILIPINO DANCE HALL GIRL’
RY COODER
HI-LO SHAG MUSIC ( BMI )
NONESUCH 7559-79900-5
( in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
RY COODER - ’I, FLATHEAD’’
3: 52
( wryly but sweetly smoocheroso, with a mix of faux-Mariachi, Hawaiian-esque and jazz elements. Ry croons and plays some gorgeous syncopated ac guitar {and mandolin and laud} with son Joachim on percussion. Flaco Jimenez plays accordion )

SEGUE

2344
CD CUT 6, ’WHEN YOU’RE IN MY ARMS’
JOHNNY GRIFFIN
FRANCIS DREYFUS MUSIC
DISQUES DREYFUS FDM 36610-2
( Just maybe available In Australia through Newmarket: www.newmarketmusic.com
worldwide: www.dreyfusrecords.com )
JOHNNY GRIFFIN, MARTIAL SOLAL - ’IN & OUT’
6: 37
(Easy-paced balladic duet for Solal’s piano and Griffin’s tenor sax, Their high level of empathy and nuance is unmissable. . They allude - I think - to Billy Strayhorn’s ’Chelsea Bridge.’ Griffin was 71 at the time. He died, aged 80, on 25th July 2008.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE LATE-GREAT JOHNNY GRIFFIN?

A good obituary is here:
www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jul/26/jazz )

2352
CD CUT 8, ’FERNANDO SEZ’
RY COODER
HI-LO SHAG MUSIC ( BMI )
NONESUCH 7559-79900-5
( in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
RY COODER - ’I, FLATHEAD’’
4: 40
( great grooves, with horns, steel and other guitars, funko-polka-ish bassline, horns - primarily, but not exclusive Mex-ish. Has a very wry funny/sad plotline as the ’wetback’ mechanic gets the better of the clapped-out, white petrol-head/muso whose 1950/60s persona the whole album inhabits. Ry sings/talks as ’Kash Buck’ and Fernando Ruleas speaks as ’himself’)

2358
CD CUT 1, ’HINBA’ (HINBA/ FUNNY WEATHER)
(RESP) AIDAN O’ROURKE/ MARTIN GREEN
MCPS/PRS
COMPASS RECORDS 7 4558-2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: www.compassrecords.com
NOTE:
in Europe this on a different label - Reveal Records
www.reveal-records.com )
LAU - ’LIGHTWEIGHTS AND GENTLEMEN’
0: 50 ( excerpt )
(recognisably ’Scots’ but with lots of quirk, many shifts and muchos oomph. Very ’alive’ and ’fresh’ - has all the energy of the proverbial ’pub session’ but a lot more imagination than those generally exhibit. The second part is indeed a salute to Scotland’s unpredictable weather. Martin Green is the accordionist, Kris Drever the guitarist and Aidan O’Rourke the fiddler )

Presenter

Doug Spencer

Producer

Doug Spencer