Sunday, December 16, 2007

Weller living on an Island

Paul Weller popped up on Desert Island Discs this week, choosing The Small Faces above all else, and - unsurprisingly - going with Absolute Beginners as his book. The Daily Mail has jumped on his claim that he enjoyed every minute of his lost drug years, although more notable is their description of his resurrection:

The iconic lead singer of The Jam and The Style Council had been dropped by his record label in 1990, but his career revived soon after forging close links with notorious Britpop bands Oasis and Blur.

"Notorious"?

For reasons which we've never had convincingly explained to us, despite the annoying inability of the programme to play any track in full, the show is still not even available on Listen Again, much less a podcast, but you can catch it on Radio 4 next Friday. Meanwhile, here's Weller's choices in full:

1. Tin Soldier
Performer The Small Faces
Composer Marriott, Lane
CD Title 1967 THE SOUNDTRACK
Track CD2 trk 25
Label CASTLE MUSIC
Rec No CMEDD707

2. September in the Rain
Performer Dinah Washington
Composer Dubin, Warren
CD Title The Best of Dinah Washington: Mad About the Boy
Track 6
Label MERCURY
Rec No 5122142

3. Better Get Hit in Yo’ Soul
Performer Charles Mingus
Composer Charles Mingus
CD Title Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus Impulse
Track 5
Label MCA
Rec No MCAD 39119

4. Don’t Be a Drop Out
Performer James Brown
Composer Brown, Jones
CD Title Don’t Be a Drop Out/Tell Me That You Love Me
Track Side 1, Trk 1
Label PYE
Rec No 7N 25394

5. Arabesque No 1
Performer Branford Marsalis with the English Chamber Orchestra
Composer Debussy
CD Title Romances for Saxophone: Branford Marsalis
Track 3
Label CBS
Rec No CD42122

6. Galileo (Someone Like You)
Performer Declan O’Rourke
Composer Declan O’Rourke
CD Title Since Kyabram
Track 3
Label V2 MUSIC
Rec No VVR1036392

7. River Man
Performer Nick Drake
Composer Nick Drake
CD Title Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left
Track 2
Label ISLAND
Rec No IMCD8

8. That’s Enough
Performer Roscoe
Composer Wildroot
CD Title That’s Enough/One More time
Track 1
Label Wand
Rec No WN 27

Record: Tin Soldier
Book: Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes
Luxury: A settee to sit on


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

And if you like that selection you can pay a mere £11.48 for the Weller compiled Under the Influence:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Under-Influence-Paul-Weller/dp/B0000E6608/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1197841850&sr=8-1

Except that it, err, contains none of those songs and one only artist (Mingus) gets the nod twice.

Anonymous said...

The non-appearance of Desert Island Discs on Listen Again is down to unresolved disputes between the BBC and the estate of Roy Plomley, who own the programme's format and feel it has diverged overtly from Plomley's original idea.

Anonymous said...

still, at least you can get jo whiley on listen again eh?

Anonymous said...

If you ask her nicely, she might even let you listen to the tape of her show before it goes out, phone-ins included.

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