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CHOO CHOO CHBOOGIE - 1. EPISODE 1 (320kbs-m4a/67mb/29mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 13th June 2017
One of the most extrovert characters in show business history, Louis Jordan with his yard-wide smile, rousing vocals and searing alto saxophone was the bridge from the minstrel show to rock and roll.
He started out with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, and ended up being the main influence on performers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry. In between, he and his Tympany Five created jump-jive music, the feel-good small band sound that bridged the swing era and r'n'b.
Nobody is more steeped in Jordan's life and work than Clarke Peters, who not only wrote, directed and starred in the West End tribute show Five Guys Named Moe, but researched behind the scenes to discover the fascinating stories of Jordan's life - his battles with illness, his perfectionism, his comedy, and his enduring influence on the likes of Bill Haley and Ray Charles.
Pacey, fast moving and packed with good humour, the series is just like a Jordan performance. As we enter his unique sound world, we hear the hits, Saturday Night Fish Fry, Outskirts of Town, Caldonia, and Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens, a string of million-sellers that made his name.
This series was first broadcast in 2008, to coincide with the centenary of Louis Jordan's birth.
Louis Jordan - Choo Choo Ch'boogie [MCA]
Clarke Peters & London Cast - Five Guys Named Moe [First Night]
Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five - Buzz Me [A Touch Of Magic]
Louis Armstrong - When You're Smiling [Columbia]
Louis Armstrong - St James Infirmary [CBS]
Louis Armstrong - Dinah [CBS]
Clarence Williams - I Can't Dance (I Got Ants In My Pants) [Classic Jazz Masters]
Chick Webb And His Orchestra - Rusty Hinge [Proper]
Chick Webb And His Orchestra - There's Frost On The Moon [Proper]
Louis Jordan - Honey In The Bee Ball [JSP]
Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five - At The Swing Cats Ball [Proper]
Louis Jordan - Keep A Knockin' [JSP]
Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five - Choo Choo Ch'boogie [JSP]
Original London Cast - Five Guys Named Moe [Rhythm Safari - First Night]
Louis Jordan - Buzz Me [BDmusic]
Louis Armstrong - When You're Smiling/St. James Infirmary [Bluebird]
Clarence Williams - I Can't Dance I Got Ants In My Pants [Challenge Records International]
Louis Jordan - Rusty Hinge [Pickwick]
Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald - There's Frost On The Moon [Werner Last's Favourites Jazz]
Louis Jordan - Honey In The Bee Ball [JSP]
Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five - At The Swing Cats Ball [Proper]
Louis Jordan - Keep A Knockin' [Proper]
STADIUM ROCK AT 50 (320kbs-m4a/130mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 23rd June 2017
On 15th August 1965, The Beatles played Shea Stadium in New York. It was a pioneering gig, the promoter counted record takings - and the fans had a terrible time. They were penned on a sports field, where the Fab Four seemed miles away and were largely inaudible. For The Beatles, the show turned into a joke, with John Lennon playing a keyboard with his elbows towards the end of the set.
Half a century later, stadium rock is a very serious business. Tremendous advances in sound, lighting, design, video, choreography and computer technology have created a global musical experience unimaginable 50 years ago - the stadium or arena show. And it's become more vital for the balance sheet as recording revenues plummet.
In this 'Archive on 4' music journalist Kate Mossman charts the journey from Shea Stadium to the present - with tales of get-lucky promoters, bands whose imaginations ran riot, the rise of the stadium anthem, and the art of reaching out to tens of thousands of fans.
Producers: Melanie Brown & Paul Kobrak.
THE FIRST TIME WITH... SERIES 15 - 1. R.E.M. (320kbs-m4a/128mb/56mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 21st May 2017
Matt talks to Michael Stipe and Mike Mills of R.E.M. about key first moments in the band's history, including their very first gig, release and TV performance. They reflect on the recording and impact of some of their albums, from the ground-breaking mid-80s releases Murmur and Reckoning, to the albums that sent them onto the world stage; Green, Out of Time and Automatic for the People. They discuss how they dealt with their fame, and the moment they eventually decided to end the band.
R.E.M. - The One I Love [ITS]
The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand [Apple]
Les Atomes - Michelle [Capitol]
Tammy Wynette - D.I.V.O.R.C.E. [Polygram TV]
Vaughn Meader - The First Family
Ramones - Rockaway Beach [Rhino]
Pylon - Volume
Gang Of Four - Paralysed
R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe [IRS]
R.E.M. - Superman
R.E.M. - Losing My Religion [Warner Bros]
R.E.M. - Strange Currencies [Polygram TV]
R.E.M. - Electrolite [Warner Bros]
R.E.M. - Departure
David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes
R.E.M. - Man On the Moon
The Viscounts - Harlem Nocturne
THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS - LIVE GLASTONBURY 28.06.97 (320kbs-m4a/132mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 1st July 2017
The Chemical Brothers - Dust-Up Beats
The Chemical Brothers - Loops Of Fury
The Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats
The Chemical Brothers - Leave Home
The Chemical Brothers - Three Little Birdies Down Beats
The Chemical Brothers - It Doesn't Matter
The Chemical Brothers - Electro Bank (Working Title)
The Chemical Brothers - Piku (Working Title)
The Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun
The Chemical Brothers - Chemical Beats
The Chemical Brothers - Song To The Siren
The Chemical Brothers - I Love Techno (Working Title)
GLASTONBURY TALES - 2. INDIE (320kbs-m4a/60mb/26mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 21st June 2017
With tickets for next year's festival about to go on sale and BBC 6 Music celebrating live music, there's another chance to hear this four-part series originally broadcast in 2003 in which Mark Sutherland traces the event's journey from the days of getting free milk with your ticket to the era of superfences and superstars. In this epsiode he explores Indie Glastonbury.
RADIOHEAD - LIVE GLASTONBURY 28.06.97 (320kbs-m4a/137mb/60mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 17th June 2017
Radiohead - Lucky
Radiohead - My Iron Lung
Radiohead - Airbag
Radiohead - Planet Telex
Radiohead - The Bends
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
Radiohead - Karma Police
Radiohead - Creep
Radiohead - Climbing Up The Walls
Radiohead - You
Radiohead - No Surprises
Radiohead - High And Dry
Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)
STEVE LAMACQ'S RADIOHEAD SPECIAL (320kbs-m4a/133mb/58mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 22nd June 2017
Steve revisits a 1997 interview with all five members of Radiohead, recorded as they released their third, critically acclaimed and Grammy Prize-winning album OK Computer.
Thom Yorke, Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Philip Selway talk about the humour in their record, their desire to go off in different creative directions without being willfully obtuse, and to avoid being pigeon-holed as a band. They also reflect on the experience of working in different locations and with their former engineer Nigel Godrich, whose phrase sums up the album, specifically "it doesn't matter how we get there, so long as we get there."
He also catches up with Ed and Phil, as they release OKNOTOK to mark OK Computer's 20th anniversary, and prepare to headline Glastonbury.
Radiohead - Paranoid Android [Parlophone]
Radiohead - Climbing Up The Walls
Radiohead - Karma Police [Columbia]
Radiohead - No Surprises [Parlophone]
Radiohead - Creep
Radiohead - Exit Music (For A Film) [Parlophone]
Radiohead - Fitter Happier [Parlophone]
Radiohead - Lucky [Parlophone]
THE FIRST TIME WITH... SERIES 15 - 6. PHILIP SELWAY (320kbs-m4a/128mb/56mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 2nd July 2017
Radiohead's drummer and occasional 6 Music presenter talks through his musical firsts.
Radiohead - 2 + 2 = 5 [Parlophone]
Radiohead - There, There [Parlophone]
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Spanish Flea [A&M]
Esther & Abi Ofarim - Cinderella Rockefella [Premier]
Tony Sheridan & The Beatles - My Bonnie [Rhino]
The Police - Message In A Bottle [A&M]
U2 - I Will Follow
The Beat - Save It For Later
Joy Division - Atmosphere [Sony BMG]
Radiohead - My Iron Lung [Parlophone]
Radiohead - Lift [XL Recordings]
Radiohead - Kid A [Parlophone]
The Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning [Verve]
Philip Selway - By Some Miracle
Nick Drake - One Of These Things First
Juana Molina - Micael
THE FIRST TIME WITH... SERIES 15 - 5. COLIN GREENWOOD (320kbs-m4a/129mb/56mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 18th June 2017
Radiohead's bassist discusses his musical firsts ahead of their return to Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage.
Colin talks to Matt Everitt about how he and his brother, and band-mate, Jonny started playing music, his early passion for Joy Division and The Fall, his deep passion for soul and the bonds that brought Radiohead together back when they formed in 1985. The pair also talk about Radiohead's first release, The Drill EP, how the band's sound evolved, the public's perception of the group and their upcoming Glastonbury festival appearance. Colin also selects a heap of music, including Fleetwood Mac, Alice Coltrane, Sam Cooke and Kid Creole & The Coconuts.
Radiohead - Lotus Flower [Ticker Tape Ltd.]
Radiohead - Where I End And You Begin [Parlophone]
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water [Columbia]
New Order - Procession [Factory]
Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Annie I'm Not Your Daddy [Columbia]
Otis Redding - Try A Little Tenderness [Warner E.S.P.]
Radiohead - Prove Yourself [Parlophone]
Fleetwood Mac - Oh Well (Parts 1 & 2) [CBS]
Radiohead - Airbag [Parlophone]
Radiohead - Morning Bell [Parlophone]
Radiohead - Bloom [Ticker Tape Ltd.]
Alice Coltrane - Journey In Satchidananda
Radiohead - Nude [XL]
Al Green - How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?
Scorpions - Wind Of Change [Vertigo]
Sam Cooke - That's Heaven To Me
THE FIRST TIME WITH... SERIES 12 - 1. JONNY GREENWOOD (320kbs-m4a/128mb/56mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 16th June 2017
In a worldwide radio exclusive Radiohead's guitarist, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood speaks to Matt Everitt about his musical life, his influences, Radiohead's history and the band's new album A Moon Shaped Pool - the first time anyone from Radiohead has spoken to radio or press about the release.
Radiohead are one of, if not the most important band in the world right now - a band who have shifted the parameters of what a rock band is capable of, who in their 30 year career have continually pushed themselves into new musical directions and produced some of best albums of all time.
Jonny Greenwood is a hugely respected and innovative composer in his own right, performing around the world with the BBC Concert, Australian Chamber and London Contemporary Orchestras, and has created award winning scores for films including There Will Be Blood and The Master. He talks about the varied music that obsessed him growing up - from The Fall and New Order to classical composers like Krzysztof Penderecki who still impact on his work today. He looks back to Radiohead's early days and how they coped with the huge success that followed 1997's OK Computer, and their creative processes in the recording studio.
He also discusses his acclaimed film soundtracks, working with director Paul Thomas Anderson, how Radiohead missed out on doing a James Bond theme and the writing and recording of their new album A Moon Shaped Pool.
Radiohead - Burn The Witch [XL Recordings]
Radiohead - Everything In Its Right Place [Parlophone]
Unknown - The Sound Of Silence
Rodgers & Hammerstein - Flower Drum Song
The Beat - Psychedelic Rocker
New Order - Everything's Gone Green [Factory]
The Fall - Wrong Place, Right Time
Pixies - Dead
Radiohead - Subterranean Homesick Alien [Parlophone]
Magazine - Because You're Frightened
X-O-Dus - English Black Boys
Radiohead - My Iron Lung [Parlophone]
Radiohead - Lucky (Glastonbury 2003)
Krzysztof Penderecki - Unknown
Radiohead - Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box [Parlophone]
Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood
Radiohead - Spectre [Ticker Tape Ltd]
Radiohead - Daydreaming
Radiohead - Desert Island Disk
Sleaford Mods - No One's Bothered [Cargo]
THE FIRST TIME WITH... SERIES 13 - 4. ED O'BRIEN (320kbs-m4a/133mb/58mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 15th June 2017
Matt talks to Ed O'Brien from Radiohead about the first key musical moments in his career to date.
He tells how his childhood was dominated by the pop charts and his early passion for the more unusual guitar heroes that emerge after punk, and his first impressions of meeting the schoolfriends who would go on to become Radiohead. He discusses the band's early musical insecurities, their unusual route to recognition, and their reaction to the attention that followed. Ed also looks back at the band's back catalogue, how The Bends was a reaction to being called one hit wonders, the wonder of the OK Computer sessions, and how the group transformed their whole approach to creating music with Kid A and Amnesiac. Matt also asks about his love for Brazilian music, his plans for a solo album and Glastonbury 2017.
Radiohead - Decks Dark [XL Recordings]
Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place [XL Recordings]
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water [Columbia]
Lonnie Donegan - Rock Island Line [Old Gold]
Andy Cameron - Ally's Tartan Army
The Beatles - Kansas City
The Police - Walking On The Moon [A&M]
The Smiths - This Charming Man [WEA]
Radiohead - Prove Yourself
Radiohead - Bones [Parlophone]
Massive Attack - Karmacoma [Polygram TV]
Radiohead - No Surprises [Parlophone]
Radiohead - Let Down [Parlophone]
Jorge Ben - Take It Easy My Brother Charles
Radiohead - Treefingers [Parlophone]
Radiohead - All I Need
Radiohead - Desert Island Disk
Yarbrough & Peoples - Don't Stop The Music [BBR]
THE FIRST TIME WITH... SERIES 15 - 4. THOM YORKE (320kbs-m4a/134mb/58mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 11th June 2017
The Radiohead frontman talks through his musical firsts in an exclusive interview ahead of their return to the Glastonbury Pyramid Stage. Music featured comes from R.E.M., Aphex Twin, and James Holden.
Radiohead headline Glastonbury 20 years after their legendary 1997 headline set. The band didn't enjoy it but it has gone down in Glastonbury folklore as one of the best sets the Festival has ever since.
This time Radiohead return off the back of the re-release of their seminal album OK Computer with four unreleased tracks including 'Lift' which has a cult like status amongst Radiohead fans.
Radiohead - Spectre [Ticker Tape Ltd]
Radiohead - The National Anthem [Parlophone]
Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime [Old Gold]
AC/DC - Back In Black [Epic]
Joan Armatrading - Love And Affection [A&M]
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Happy House [Polydor]
Radiohead - Planet Telex [Parlophone]
Can - Future Days
Radiohead - No Surprises [Parlophone]
Radiohead - I Promise [XL Recordings]
Radiohead - Paranoid Android [Parlophone]
Radiohead - Paranoid Android (Glastonbury 2007)
Squarepusher & AFX - Freeman Hardy & Willis Acid [Warp]
Radiohead - Burn The Witch [XL Recordings]
Radiohead - The Numbers
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
SOUND OF CINEMA: 173. 1977 (320kbs-m4a/135mb/59mins)
BBC Radio 3 broadcast: 27th May 2017
Forty years ago this week cinema audiences were introduced to the Galactic Empire, Death Star and Tatooine as the very first Star Wars film - A New Hope - opened in the US. With its Academy Award winning score by John Williams it heralded a new era in music for the movies.
Today Matthew Sweet celebrates its 40th birthday and explores what other scores were making waves in 1977; the year that saw James Bond save the world from Karl Stromberg and his toothy henchman Jaws, Alvy Singer woo Annie Hall, and Tony Manero disco dance his way through his Saturday nights.
John Addison - A Bridge Too Far (1977) - March Of The Paratroopers [Rykodisc]
John Cacavas - Airport '77 (1977) - Main Theme
John Barry - The Deep (1977) - Main Theme [Silva Screen]
John Williams - Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) - Resolution / End Title [Alhambra]
David Gates - The Goodbye Girl (1977) - Title Song [Elektra]
Jerry Fielding - Demon Seed (1977) - End Credits
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett - Equus (1977) - Main Theme [Rykodisc]
Goblin - Suspiria (1977) - Main Theme [EMI]
John Williams - Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) - Princess Leia's Theme / Throne Room [RCA]
Carly Simon - The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Nobody Does It Better
RADCLIFFE AND MACONIE - LIVE FROM LIVERPOOL 15.06.17 (320kbs-m4a/395mbs/2hrs52mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 15th June 2017
As part of BBC Music Day, 6 Music's Radcliffe & Maconie Show broadcast a special show live from Liverpool, celebrating the city's musical legacy from the Beatles' era to present day.
As the city celebrates the 50th anniversary of the iconic Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Mark & Stuart explore the influence of Liverpool's music over the last five decades.
With special guests and live music, the show is broadcast from The British Music Experience in the city's historic Cunard Building - one of the three graces - overlooking the Mersey, in front of a live audience. Among the guests chatting to Mark & Stuart are The Coral's frontman James Skelly, local singer-songwriting folk hero Mick Head of Shack and - fresh from an appearance at Liverpool's Positive Vibrations Reggae Festival - The Selecter's Pauline Black. With live music from legendary Merseyside electronic pioneers 'Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark' and local indie psych-pop four-piece 'She Drew The Gun'.
The Real Thing - Can You Feel Feel The Force
DJ Shadow Feat. Nas - Systematic
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [Parlophone]
The Farm - Hearts And Minds
Little Dragon - Sweet [Because Music]
The Coral - Who's Gonna Find Me [Deltasonic]
Big In Japan - Nothing Special
Baltic Fleet - The Dear One
Stealing Sheep - Genevieve [Heavenly]
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes
The National - The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness [4AD]
The Selecter - Three Minute Hero [Two-Tone]
Nick Drake - Pink Moon [Island]
Dusty Springfield - Little By Little [Philips]
Hooton Tennis Club - Bootcut Jimmy [Heavenly]
Songhoy Blues - Bamako [Transgressive]
She Drew The Gun - Pit Pony (6 Music Session, 15th June 2017)
She Drew The Gun - No Hole In My Head (6 Music Session, 15th June 2017)
Small Faces - Whatcha Gonna Do About It [Deram]
The Pale Fountains - Thank You
Fleet Foxes - Fool's Errand [Nonesuch]
Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - Josephine
Roger Waters - Bird In A Gale
Goldie - Castaway [Metalheadz/Cooking Vinyl]
Candie Payne - I Wish I Could Have Loved You More [Deltasonic]
The La’s - There She Goes [Go! Discs]
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay (6 Music Session, 15th June 2017)
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Isotype (6 Music Session, 15th June 2017)
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Electricity (6 Music Session, 15th June 2017)
The Teardrop Explodes - Reward [Island]
HENDRIX ON THE RADIO - 2. EPISODE 2 (320kbs-m4a/65mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 9th June 2017
Mark Lamarr continues his look back at the BBC sessions recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Wild Thing
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Bold As Love
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Day Tripper
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along The Watchtower
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Jimi Hendrix - Star Spangled Banner
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe
HENDRIX ON THE RADIO - 1. EPISODE 1 (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 8th June 2017
Mark Lamarr looks back at the BBC sessions recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Sunshine Of Your Love
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Crosstown Traffic
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Radio One You're The One For Me
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Driving South
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Killing Floor
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Stone Free
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Foxey Lady
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Purple Haze
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Manic Depression
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - The Wind Cries Mary
JIMI HENDRIX: MADE IN LONDON - 2. EPISODE 2 (320kbs-m4a/64mb/27mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 7th June 2017
Johnnie Walker examines the nine months that Jimi Hendrix spent in London from September 1966 - a time of transformation that turned him from an unknown into a world rock superstar.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Stone Free
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Foxey Lady
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Third Stone From The Sun
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Little Wing
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Third Stone From The Sun
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Red House
JIMI HENDRIX: MADE IN LONDON - 1. EPISODE 1 (320kbs-m4a/69mb/30mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 6th June 2017
Johnnie Walker examines the nine months that Jimi Hendrix spent in London from September 1966 - a time of transformation that turned him from an unknown into a world rock superstar.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Purple Haze [Polydor]
Jimi Hendrix - Catfish Blues [Experience Hendrix]
King Curtis - Slow Drag [Capitol]
Little Richard - Keep A Knockin' [Fan/Speciality]
Tim Rose - Hey Joe [CBS]
Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe [MCA]
Jimi Hendrix - May This Be Love [Polydor]
Cream - Strange Brew [Connoisseur Collection]
Jimi Hendrix - Killing Floor [Experience Hendrix]
Jimi Hendrix - Drivin' South (Take 2) [Essential]
Jimi Hendrix - Crosstown Traffic [Polydor]
Jimi Hendrix - Burning Of The Midnight Lamp [Polydor]
CAN ROBOTS BE TRULY INTELLIGENT? (96kbs-m4a/19mb/26mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 6th June 2017
From Skynet and the Terminator franchise, through Wargames and Ava in Ex Machina, artificial intelligences pervade our cinematic experiences. But AIs are already in the real world, answering our questions on our phones and making diagnoses about our health. Adam Rutherford asks if we are ready for AI, when fiction becomes reality, and we create thinking machines.
ROBOTS - MORE HUMAN THAN HUMAN? (96kbs-m4a/19mb/26mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 30th May 2017
Robots are becoming present in our lives, as companions, carers and as workers. Adam Rutherford explores our relationship with these machines. Have we made them to be merely more dextrous versions of us? Why do we want to make replicas of ourselves? Should we be worried that they could replace us at work? Is it a good idea that robots are becoming carers for the elderly?
Adam Rutherford meets some of the latest robots and their researchers and explores how the current reality has been influenced by fictional robots from films. He discusses the need for robots to be human like with Dr Ben Russell, curator of the current exhibition of robots at the Science Museum in London. In the Bristol Robotics Laboratory Adam meets Pepper, a robot that is being programmed to look after the elderly by Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly. He also interacts with Kaspar, a robot that Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn at the University of Hertfordshire has developed to help children with autism learn how to communicate better.
Cultural commentator Matthew Sweet considers the role of robots in films from Robbie in Forbidden Planet to the replicants in Blade Runner. Dr Kate Devlin of Goldsmiths, University of London, talks about sex robots, in the past and now. And Alan Winfield, Professor of Robot Ethics at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, looks ahead to a future when robots may be taking jobs from us.
Image; BBC ©
HISTORY OF THE RISE OF THE ROBOTS (96kbs-m4a/18mb/26mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 22nd May 2017
The idea of robots goes back to the Ancient Greeks. In myths Hephaestus, the god of fire, created robots to assist in his workshop. In the medieval period the wealthy showed off their automata. In France in the 15th century a Duke of Burgundy had his chateau filled with automata that played practical tricks on his guests, such as spraying water at them. By the 18th century craftsmen were making life like performing robots. In 1738 in Paris people queued to see the amazing flute playing automaton, designed and built by Jacques Vaucanson.
With the industrial revolution the idea of automata became intertwined with that of human workers. The word robot first appears in a 1921 play, Rossum's Universal Robots, by Czech author Carel Chapek.
Drawing on examples from fact and fiction, Adam Rutherford explores the role of robots in past societies and discovers they were nearly always made in our image, and inspired both fear and wonder in their audiences. He talks to Dr Elly Truitt of Bryn Mawr College in the US about ancient and medieval robots, to Simon Shaffer, Professor of History of Science at Cambridge University and to Dr Andrew Nahum of the Science Museum about !8th century automata, and to Dr Ben Russell of the Science Museum about robots and workers in the 20th century. And Matthew Sweet provides the cultural context.
Picture credit: BBC
HOW TO MAKE AN ARCHIVE ON 4 (320kbs-m4a/130mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 3rd June 2017
Ever wondered how to make an Archive on 4? Here's your chance to find out!
Alan Dein enters the strange world of instructional records where you can teach yourself just about anything - from yodelling to training your budgie to talk.
It all started in 1901 when Polish émigré Jacques Roston harnessed the new technology of sound recording to teach foreign languages, signing up such luminaries as George Bernard Shaw and JRR Tolkien to lend their support.
By the 50s and 60s you could buy LPs on how to do just about anything - from keep fit to playing a musical instrument, relaxation and passing your driving test.
Perhaps the most surprising are those which help you to train your pet budgerigar to talk - with help from Sparkie, Britain's favourite budgie, who supposedly had a vocabulary of over 500 words.
With help from Sparkie, Alan Dein tells the story of instructional records and, along the way, reveals a few of the secrets of how to make an Archive on 4.
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
ARCHIVE ON 4: GLORIA AND ME (320kbs-m4a/130mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 3rd June 2017
Growing up in Belfast, the writer Glenn Patterson assumed that everything that moved him musically came from afar. To begin with, it was England and Glam Rock, but gradually strange sounds began to infiltrate from even further afield. A school friend introduced him to Patti Smith. Patti Smith introduced him to 'Gloria'. It was a convoluted route by which the song finally reached him - only a couple of miles from where it was written.
At a gig in the USA in 1988, Bruce Springsteen shouted "lets take it back to where it all started" as he launched into a version of Gloria. It's a song that's been covered by everyone from Simple Minds to Ricky Lee Jones to The Doors.
Glenn talks to Mickey Bradley, bass player with the Undertones, who remembers Gloria being one of the first songs the band learned to play. The simple three chord structure makes it deceptively straightforward - although Glenn's attempt to learn it might disprove that theory - but the song has always held a strange magic for him. Even now, he says, he would fight his corner to say it's one of the best songs Van Morrison has ever written.
Mickey and his fellow Undertones were learning to play Gloria while listening to Nuggets, an album of garage rock highlights put together by Patti Smith's guitarist, Lenny Kaye. His relationship with Gloria starts with the Patti Smith band and both he and Patti talk about why they picked this song to re-work.
And Glenn unearths a rare recording of the famously taciturn Van Morrison discussing the song, with a young Rolling Stone journalist, Cameron Crowe.
Produced by Rachel Hooper
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Four.
PAUL MERTON'S BEATLES - 4. THE ALBUM THE BEATLES NEVER MADE (320kbs-m4a/127mb/56mins)
BBC Radio 2 broadcast: 19th June 2017
The year is 1974. Labour's Harold Wilson is Britain's Prime Minister, and Richard Nixon is in the White House. Abba win Eurovision, Germany win the World Cup and a new writer called Stephen King publishes his first novel.
After 5 years of tension, ill feeling and fraught negotiation the four Beatles have buried their individual hatchets and are moving tentatively towards a full scale reunion, hopefully culminating in their first new album since 1969.
As a warm up for the recording sessions, the Beatles - and some of their famous friends - have come together once more for a surprise concert, their first time live on stage since 1966 when they gave up live appearances after a show at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
Join Paul Merton on the commentator's microphone as the Fab Four take to the boards once more....
Well, kind of. Well, all right, not at all. Not really.
Like all of us, Paul Merton is a huge Beatles fan and like all Beatle fans his mind often turns to the "What if's..." of their career.
What if they'd never broken up? What if they were still playing live? What if they made another album?
This four part series is Paul's attempt to answer those questions, and to put forward a fantastical version of Beatle history.
Based on the known facts, and using the recordings available, he imagines the concert that the Beatles could have given, and follows it up with the album that they could have made.
The result is a fascinating look into an alternative reality, but also a clear eyed examination of the strengths and of the forces that drove - and drove apart - the greatest band of all time.
It never happened, but it could have. Couldn't it?
George Harrison - If You Believe [Dark Horse]
Paul McCartney - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive [Mercury]
Ringo Starr - Have You Seen My Baby? (Hold On) [Apple]
John Lennon - Rip It Up/Ready Teddy [Apple]
Paul McCartney - Twenty Flight Rock [Мелодия]
John Lennon - Peggy Sue [Apple]
Wings - Love Is Strange [Apple]
John Lennon & Yoko Ono - I'm Losing You [Capitol]
Ringo Starr - Devil Woman [Apple]
George Harrison - Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea [Parlophone]
George Harrison - Soft-Hearted Hana [Dark Horse]
The Fireman - Fluid [Hydra]
George Harrison - When We Was Fab [Warner Bros]
PAUL MERTON'S BEATLES - 3. AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW OF BEATLE HISTORY (320kbs-m4a/128mb/56mins)
BBC Radio 2 broadcast: 12th June 2017
In this week's episode, Paul imagines the return of the Beatles to the recording studio, and plays us the first half of this imaginary album, which he calls...."All Made Up"!
Paul McCartney - Be What You See [Parlophone]
John Lennon - I Don't Wanna Face It [Capitol]
George Harrison - Cockamamie Business [Warner Bros]
Paul McCartney - Ram On [Apple]
Ringo Starr - Step Lightly [Apple]
John Lennon - Ain't That A Shame [Apple]
Paul McCartney - No Other Baby [Parlophone]
Ringo Starr - Fading In Fading Out [CNR International]
John Lennon - Steel & Glass [Apple]
Wings - Hi Hi Hi [Parlophone]
George Harrison - Horse To The Water (Feat. Jools Holland) [Warner Special Projects]
John Lennon - #9 Dream [Parlophone]
Wings - Morse Moose & The Grey Goose [MPL]
John Lennon - Oh My Love [Apple]
