BBC4 Friday night viewing

[herbychimp]

Anybody else regularly enjoying the nerd-fest of music related BBC 4 Friday night programming? I watched the Mott the Hoople documentary last night and was struck by just how open and frank Ian Hunter appeared to be (for a 70's rock god) and also just how tasty some of Mick Ralph's lead lines were.. What have you enjoyed from their musical offerings?

[Philly Q]

I loved the programme of '70s British rock performances they had on just before the Mott documentary (which I've seen before but still watched again).

Babe Ruth, Stone the Crows, the Pretty Things, SAHB, Nazareth, the Heavy Metal Kids, Humble Pie.... trying to remember what else there was but it was all good.  :D

[38thBeatle]

I rarely watch tv as there always seems to be something to do and have no idea what is on. But there I times I regret that as I obviously miss good stuff like this. I'll check it out on Ipalyer methinks. Thanks for the heads up.

[PhilKing]

I went to see Ian Hunter in NY a couple of weeks ago and he had a great show.  It helps that one of my friends (Jim Mastro)  plays in his Rant band - so I get to find out where he is playing.  He's well worth going to see and is a nice guy in general.

[richard]

I saw the Hunter/Ronson band and I rate that as one of the best gigs I've ever seen. I see iplayer has also got 'Lemmy - The Movie' which I really enjoyed although I'm not a Motorhead fan.

[Philly Q]

Yeah, I really enjoy music documentaries whether I'm a fan of the band or not (although it probably needs to be a type of music I broadly like).  It's interesting to get an insight into the personalities of those involved.

The London Film Festival normally has at least one good music-related film every year; a few years ago there was the Anvil film (followed by a mini live show!), they also showed the Mott film and last year there was one about Ginger Baker which was fascinating.

[Tellboy]

Thanks for pointing that out - Mrs Tellboy likes to fill the Sky+ box with costume drama recordings so I often miss 'my' programs. :rock:

[AndyR]

Yep, I regularly watch BBC4 on a Friday night now, after we've watched a film on DVD and then the missus goes to bed.

Tends to keep me up too late... Last week I was just about to go to bed when Lemmy The Movie started, not seen it before. "Can't win em all... where would you put em?" and... "Died young, left a lovely corpse, so she seems like the one... but she probably wouldn't have been..."

I'm working at home today, and I've just been listening to my Mott The Hoople CDs because of last Friday. The 70s rock performances grabbed me in a different kind of way - we just fell around laughing at most of them... It was great seeing it, but you can kind of tell why some acts are the ones we remember and others didn't quite do it... (and I started to get a feel for what punk was about!).

Another thing that really got me this time was how "un-live" the studio OGWT clips are. I'd always believed they were live, then the other week I watched the Chas and Dave documentary (superb), and Chas Hodges pointed out that only the vocals were live. Obviously, some OGWT sets were "live", but a lot of those 70s clips were mimed - almost as badly as TOTP :lol:

[Philly Q]

The 70s rock performances grabbed me in a different kind of way - we just fell around laughing at most of them... It was great seeing it, but you can kind of tell why some acts are the ones we remember and others didn't quite do it... (and I started to get a feel for what punk was about!).

Strange, they never make me laugh, despite the (arguably) inherent silliness of the clothes and (some of) the performances.  I know most of them are not great bands - I'm sure if I bought a Pretty Things or Babe Ruth album 80% of the songs would, in the cold light of day, be pretty mediocre. 

But I just love the '70s!  It's the rawness, even sloppiness, of the performances, the way the guitarists all sound different from each other.  It's a million miles away from all the self-conscious, manufactured, auto-tuned dross we have to suffer nowadays.

[blue]

it was the first time i noticed the non-live nature of OGWT too!  i was a little annoyed at that :( 

Like Philly, i love the '70s stuff.  it was kind of like they were willing to try almost anything to see how it looked or sounded.  the british bands back then, and on into punk too, had a life and vigour about them, and were willing to glam it up or just look plain silly.  it all went horribly wrong in the '80s with bands like the Smiths, who i know lots of people love but i just don't get.  both the bands and their music became dull and dour, no life, no glamour.  how is an anorak and a bowl haircut rock'n'roll!?   we've had the odd exciting band since, but usually they get beat down for not being cool enough

[Afghan Dave]

'Lemmy - The Movie' which I really enjoyed although I'm not a Motorhead fan.

+1 Really good film, I watched it twice.