On Michael Parkinsons last Sunday a.m. BBC Radio 2 show he wishes luck to his successor but also said that he hoped the musical playist he was allowed to pick and play would be honoured. So did I, his music just fitted snugly into Sunday mornings, Ella, Frank, Swing and Big Band. Plus he bought a plethora of young jazz musicians; Jamie Cullum and Michael Buble et al.

And so we are given Michael Ball, a safe and middle-of-the-road choice who instantly trashes the music policy. He brings soft pop to Sunday mornings and brings it down to the level of mediocrity which would have Parky crying into his Australian beer.

Congratultions BBC for wiping jazz music off the face of the earth in a time spot which was perfect and reached a wide audience. Congratulations for delivering even more musical dross, easily forgettable and depressing in it's relentlessness. Ball's an OK bloke but he's not a natural and I suppose like all your current male presenters, he'll have this Sunday a.m. slot for the next 100 years!

Humphrey Lyttleton - we miss you already. xx

For one who loves music wherever I am, it pains me to write that my car aerial has snapped off! Cut down in it's prime by a stressed driver who has entered their own driveway a thousand times and not once been too close to the hedge. The driver was me, had so much on my mind I carelessley catapualted into my driveway and as my car went forward, my aerial got stuck on a branch in the hedge and did not follow. It gets repaired at I know not what cost ['well, we have to take your wheel off then we have to . . . .']on Wednesday.
So unable to train my ears to an interupted radio signal I put on whatever is to hand from the CD's wedge into my little CD box between the front seats. And I had plenty of time to cover 7 tracks as the Monday traffic did not dissapoint.

The CD is ALVE by Chinese singer Sa Dingding. It took a little while to get use to but it is beautiful in parts and dynamic in others and quite unique. She brings together Chinese folk songs [most of the tracks have a snippet of an original old recording of each song] and Western techno and pop together and it works. Her voice sounds like the typical Chinese stringed instrument of which I have no idea what it's called but she soon hooks you in.

I also have no idea what she is singing about as all the lyrics are in Chinese - which is only correct but the booklet contained in the CD case have high gloss photo's and the lyrics to each song but again in Chinese. Obviously marketed for Western sales, it would have helped to have some translations. So to help you here is one of the songs chorus:

San Go Na Jia No
A GoNa Jia Na
A Na Nei
Sang Go Na Jia No
A Go Na Jia Ja
A Na Yi Yiu Na Yi Yiu

In all seriousness I am going to label this CD a keeper and am already on my 2nd hearing. You may not want to consider this album but you can get a free listening to a lot of it on her impressive website:

www.sadingding.co.uk

Almost a month since I blogged. No real reason, just travel, work and life. Have still been listeneing to music though, that will never change.

Here's my take on Over The Rhine's latest CD:-
Starts engagingly with a New Orleans funeral type band which feels like it's hanging around on the corner, then the piano comes in with the same melody then a female voice sings; 'I don't wanna waste your time with music you don't need'. Which this fab album by husband and wife team Linford Deitweiler and Karen Bergquist certainly does not do - waste your time that is. Don't Wanna Waste Your Time is a come-on song of a lovers declaration that she's in it for the long haul.
Trouble - the track which got me into the album - is divine, catchy, part bar room song, part kitsch with an echo of tango and fun lyrics .. 'if you came to make trouble, make mine a double honey. I think it's fine." Easily the sort of song you imagine you could sing if you had the same guitar and skittle board backing.
The voice turns the simple songs into small theatre with twists on the lyrics where needed, sweetness where necessary and a sliver of a lazy, sexy drawl where most important. A steel guitar introduces Nothing Is Innocent and it's the first track with grown up lyrics and a hint of a Middle Eastern refrain. This isn't a song of love but of government lies and our own complacency. A small, gentle statement of America's changing place in the world. After a couple of listens the refrain makes sense. Strangely compelling to have a gentle, swingy song making a political message.
Into the title track, subdued but builds into an echo of the previous track. A kinf of late night, protest, blues song.
Back to fun with Entertaining Thoughts though it's too catchy and a little bland. They get back on track with their funky and slighty out-of-fashion-but-it-works sound with Who Am I Kiddin' But Me. "..rest your lovely bones and let's just stay at home.." lures us into Let's Spend The Day In Bed. Images of picnics on the sheets, a pyjama holiday and no work only play rhythm, seductive and playable over and over .... 'getting stoned on love', makes this my favourite track.
Desperate For Love takes us back to the baroom/kitsch sound, music that would be playing in the background of a 30's bar but just that little bit too good to not take notice of, it has a cabaret feel to it which is carried over in Don't Wait For Tom - a story spoken by a male voice with Bergquists' singing voice floating in the background, then they meld. Have to be honest I'm not quite sure what this song is about but it's intriguing like a very short novella put to music. Amazing lyrics which beg a few listens.
Then it's all wrapped up with If A Song Could Be President, a song yearning for simplicity and the truth in everyday life with the line 'We'll make Neil Young a Senator, even though he came from Canada'.

An engaging album, deceptive in it's ease but lurking underneath are messages loud and clear but not too pompous to drown out the effective and strangely 'out there' music.

www.overtherhine.com