28 September 2008
Steve Tilston
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His 1971 debut made clear that Steve Tilston was one of England’s finer acoustic guitarists/songsters. Ziggurat shows he is even better now, in all departments. Ziggurat is a set of new, shrewdly-observant originals, plus lovely new versions of two traditional songs. Tilston’s keen melodic sense is always-evident, as are his guitar skills and good taste. He borrows well, too: ‘One of the best melodies I never wrote’, he says of Chopin’s unwitting contribution to a very beautiful, otherwise-original love song.
Steve Tilston’s site:
www.steve-tilston.co.uk
Playlist
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’ Sun 28. 9. 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 )
2207
CD CUT 9, ’MADAME MUSE’
STEVE TILSTON
HUBRISITY MUSIC
HUBRIS RECORDS HUB004
( no Australian distributor
Available worldwide, direct from www.stevetilston.com )
STEVE TILSTON - ’ZIGGURAT’
5: 02
( Sweetly wry song about ’writer’s block’, written in the wake of the English author having suffered a bout of same. Tilston sings and is the player of both finger-style acoustic and the slide guitars - with Dave Bowie (another one!} on ac bass and percussionist Adam Featherstone )
SEGUE
2212
CD CUT 11, ’SKEGNESS’
STEVE TILSTON
HUBRISITY MUSIC
HUBRIS RECORDS HRCD01
( no Australian distributor
Available worldwide, direct from www.stevetilston.com )
STEVE TILSTON - ’AND SO IT GOES’
2: 20
(Deft, ’folk-baroque’ fingerstyle ac guitar solo, from 1995 - 24 years into Tilston’s ongoing recording career )
SEGUE
2214
CD CUT 8, ’THE SPOILS OF WAR’
STEVE TILSTON
HUBRISITY MUSIC
HUBRIS RECORDS HUB004
( no Australian distributor
Available worldwide, direct from www.stevetilston.com )
STEVE TILSTON - ’ZIGGURAT’
6: 49
(not co-incidentally, the title rhymes with ’shock and awe’: darkly ironic song in faux-naif persona of an Uncle {Sam} musing on the current war in Iraq. The song places it in a longer-term as well as ’present’ context, and is this CD’s de-facto titlepiece. A few of its lines:
Oh my son, what was that? You say that you want to come home.
You just zapped a ziggurat? That’s nothing but an old pile of stones.
Go get some freedom fries, go get a coke, go extra large.
The future looks bright, now that the righteous are in charge )
2224
CD CUT 4, ’SUKUN AL-LAYL FI BAGHDAD’ (A QUIET NIGHT IN BAGHDAD)
NASEER SHAMMA
PUB NOT SPEC
INSTITUT DU MONDE ARABE 321 009
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution:
www.savd.com.au
www.imarabe.org )
NASEER SHAMMA - ’THE BAGHDAD LUTE’
8: 35
(’live’, solo and refined. The composer/ oud {fretless, Aarbic lute} virtuoso has incredible technical skill and great sensitivity. As he notes, the nocturnal calm which this piece evokes is no longer an aspect of Baghdad)
SEGUE
2233
CD CUT 13, ’THE FISHER LAD OF WHITBY’
TRAD, ARR STEVE TILSTON
SONG IS PUBLIC DOMAIN, ARR IS HUBRISITY
HUBRIS RECORDS HUB004
( no Australian distributor
Available worldwide, direct from www.stevetilston.com )
STEVE TILSTON - ’ZIGGURAT’
4: 35
(melodious, gently-treated: Steve’s English male voice and deft finger-style ac guitar with discreet, just-right accordion from Chris Parkinson. A traditional song from Yorkshire, in persona of a young woman whose beloved was nabbed by the press gang. She believes he’s since been slain in naval battle )
SEGUE
2237
CD CUT 6, ’JOY AFTER SORROW’
TRAD, VIA JOHN PLAYFORD (17TH CENTURY)
PUBLIC DOMAIN, ARR HOUSE BAND
TOPIC RECORDS (MUSIC) LTD
GREEN LINNET GLCD 1132
( This CD may or may not still be available. If so:
In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: www.greenlinnet.com )
THE HOUSE BAND - ’GROUNDWORK’
3: 03
(English, sweetly-formal, poignant dance, first published in 1728 in Vol 2 of 4th Edition of John Playford’s ’The Dancing Master’. Probably written for lute and still has a ’lute-tune’ flavour, here; Ged Foley’s ac guitar and John Skelton’s flute to fore, supported by Brian Brooks’ bouzouki and accordionist Chris Parkinson’s melodeon. The House Band in 1987 )
2242
CD CUT 3, ’THE PRISMATICS OF DISQUIET’
ACHILLES YIANGOULII, NICK TSIAVOS, ANTHONY SCHULZ
ANAN 006
( www.anankemusic.com
The trio’s CDs are available worldwide via www.indie-cds.com )
ANANKE - ’MAPS FOR LOSING ONESELF’
13: 34
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: An unusual instrumental trio: improvising freely, although not jazzily, with a definitely-Greek accent. Achilles Yiangoulli plays the bouzouki, Nick Tsiavos is the { bow-specialist } double-bassist, Anthony Schulz the accordionist. ’The trio’s name - ’Ananke’ - means ’necessity’ in Greek )
2256
CD CUT 2, ’WALTZING TO MONGOLIA’
TRAD RUSSIAN, ARR ROSS BOLLETER
PIECE IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. PRESUMABLY, THE ARR IS APRA
SUNSET OSTRICH SO 02
( available worldwide, direct via Ross’s site: www.warpsmusic.com )
ROSS BOLLETER - ’CAFE SOPHIA’
2: 30 ( not quite complete )
(AUSTRAL PERF AND ARR: a wistful Russian waltz, played on a rare Italian accordion, solo )
----
11 PM NEWS
----
2305
CD CUT 3, ’MANHA DE CARNAVAL’
LUIZ BONFA, ARR ROSS BOLLETER (WITH A SOLO PIANO INTRO VIA ROBERT SCHUMANN’S ’DICHTERLIEBE’)
PUB NOT SPEC
SUNSET OSTRICH SO 02
( available worldwide, direct via Ross’s site: www.warpsmusic.com )
ROSS BOLLETER - ’CAFE SOPHIA’
4: 53
(AUSTRAL PERF: tender Schuman-quoting piano solo intro, then a tender and spacious duo {piano and piano accordion - both played by Ross } instrumental treatment of ’that Brazilian song’ from the film ’Black Orpheus’. In English, the song is known as ’morning of the Carnival’ )
2312
CD CUT 14, ’ARCHIPELAGO’
WORDS BY STEVE TILSTON., SET TO A MELODY BY FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
(PRELUDE IN A FLAT MAJOR, OPUS 28 NO 17 )
MUSIC IS PUBLIC DOMAIN, LYRIC AND ARR HUBRISITY MUSIC
HUBRIS RECORDS HUB004
( no Australian distributor
Available worldwide, direct from www.stevetilston.com )
STEVE TILSTON - ’ZIGGURAT’
3: 27
( A much better borrower from Chopin than Neil Sedaka! A beautifully written, tender love-song to Tilston’s wife. He borrowed its melody - with acknowledgment, saying ’one of the best melodies I never wrote’- from Chopin’s prelude number 17 in a flat major, opus 28. If the lyric is literally true, Tilston wrote this when she was in Europe and he was in Australia. Solo - male English voice and very deft ac guitar )
SEGUE
2315
CD CUT 1,’CHOPIN: PRELUDE IN E MINOR’
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN, ARR JESÚS ’CHUCHO’ VALDÉS
PUB NOT SPEC
BLUE NOTE 7243 5 57189 2 1
( Through EMI
www.bluenote.com )
CHUCHO VALDÉS - ’FANTASIA CUBANA’
4: 27
(Cuban piano master improvises upon Chopin, solo. He does not discard the music’s delicacy, but adds more thunder )
SEGUE
2319
CD CUT 12, ’DEVIL MAY CARE’
STEVE TILSTON
HUBRISITY MUSIC
HUBRIS RECORDS HUB004
( no Australian distributor
Available worldwide, direct from www.stevetilston.com )
STEVE TILSTON - ’ZIGGURAT’
4: 22
( introspective: this wonders what has become of a formerly-close friend with whom he’s lost contact. It muses on how durable are friendships - and those who make/break them. The author’s deft { 12-string } ac guitar with Dave Bowie {another one} on ac bass and Chris Parkinson’s discreetly excellent organ )
2326
CD CUT 16, ’STILLEWEG’
ARVE HENRIKSEN
PUB NOT SPEC
ECM 2027/ 174 5277
( in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.ecmrecords.com )
MARILYN CRISPELL - ’VIGNETTES’
6: 15
( lyrical-tender solo piano. Her version of a piece penned by a Norwegian trumpeter. She usually plays her own compositions or improvises freely. One of the finest living improvising pianists, Crispell covers a lot of territory. This album is a mostly-very-lyrical set of piano solos, dedicated to her father.
LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MARILYN CRISPELL?
Her official site: www.marilyncrispell.com )
SEGUE
2332
CD CUT 9, ’SWEDEN’
MARILYN CRISPELL
PUB NOT SPEC
ECM 2027/ 174 5277
( in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.ecmrecords.com )
MARILYN CRISPELL - ’VIGNETTES’
7: 01
( solo piano - initially spare, then more rhapsodic/dramatic. Probably improvised spontaneously. In any event, it is beautifully played, on a superb piano. Simultaneously wide open/ lyrical and intimate/expansive )
2342
CD CUT 2, ’A PRETTY PENNY’
STEVE TILSTON
HUBRISTY MUSIC
HUBRIS RECORDS HUB004
( no Australian distributor
Available worldwide, direct from www.stevetilston.com )
STEVE TILSTON - ’ZIGGURAT’
3: 44
( faux-jaunty song with the author’s voice and bouncing 12-string guitar prominent. Its depicts/attacks ’a modern kind of coiner’ - 21st century money men for whom no gallows-bells toll, but whose schemes net them rather more { and bleed the poor very much more} than did any 18th century coiners’ efforts.. see cut immediately-following this )
SEGUE
2345
CD CUT 3, ’THE KING OF THE COINERS’
STEVE TILSTON
HUBRISTY MUSIC
HUBRIS RECORDS HUB004
( no Australian distributor
Available worldwide, direct from www.stevetilston.com )
STEVE TILSTON - ’ZIGGURAT’
5: 44
( The author’s male voice and very deft finger-picked steel-string ac guitar, plus Richard Curran’s viola. Superbly crafted song which tells the amazing true life-and-death story of a remarkable 18th century English criminal. Some see/saw ’King David’ - David Hartley - as a ’Robin Hood’ and others as just a robbin’ hood. The most celebrated/notorious ’coiner’ was executed on May 1st, 1770. The low-quality/non-standard-sized coinage then in circulation enabled ’Coiners’ to make themselves very rich. The ’coiners clipped/shaved real coins and then melted down and re-coined their shavings.
LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT THE REAL ’KING DAVID’?
Go to:
www.mytholmroyd.net/features/coiners.html
For a more detailed account, see the script of a BBC documentary, here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20000917/ai_n14341214 )
2354
CD CUT 2, ’SEEING RED’
JIM KELLY
QUIRKY IDEAS 2008
NASHUA ROAD NRRS0108
( CD currently available via Jim, direct
Email: jimandjules@aapt.netau
Website: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=177561619 )
JIM KELLY/ MATT SMITH GUITAR DUO - ’ONWARDS AND SIDEWAYS’
5: 00 ( not quite complete )
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: Jim plays nylon-stringed ac guitar, elec guitar and mandocello. Young guitar hero Matt is playing the beefier, Strat-style electric. Busy-dramatic piece with rock, flamenco, jazz and post-Miles elements. All instruments are Australian, hand-made )
Presenter
Doug Spencer
Producer
Doug Spencer
