Radio 2 – 60s Season
Programmes: June and July
Sgt Pepper's 40th Anniversary
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To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of The Beatles'
legendary album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band some of today's
top bands – including Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Stereophonics, Bryan
Adams, The Fray and Travis – join original multi-award winning audio
engineer Geoff Emerick in the studio to record their interpretation of
one of the famous album tracks.
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Using the original analogue four-track equipment Geoff demonstrates the
innovative techniques employed for the recording at Abbey Road studios
back in 1967. The bands join Geoff to discuss how he first recorded the
album tracks and record their own interpretation.
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The programme hears from the artists about the importance of Sgt
Pepper and listens in on the recording in action to see just how
different the experience is for them.
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Sgt Pepper's 40th Anniversary – Part One
Saturday 2 June 2007, 8.00-9.00pm
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Sgt Pepper's 40th Anniversary – Part Two
Saturday 16 June 2007, 8.00-9.00pm
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Watch performances from this unique event by pressing the red button from any 91Èȱ¬ TV
channel from 7.30pm on 2 June until 9 June.
You can also watch at bbc.co.uk/radio2 from 2 June.
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Mr Simon's Big Trip
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The real story of Paul Simon's British residency, and the part it played
in his creative formation, is uncovered in Mr Simon's Big Trip.
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For years, fascination has surrounded the missing 13 months in the life
and career of Paul Simon preceeding the rise to success in America of
Simon & Garfunkel.
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Simon spent what is probably one of the most famous gap years in music
history travelling around England, writing songs, playing tiny folk club
venues and meeting future legends of the folk scene such as Bert Jansch
and Martin Carthy.
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91Èȱ¬ward Bound was famously penned on Widnes Station,
and many of his most famous lyrics can be traced to British roots.
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The programme includes interviews with musicians Martin Carthy, Brian Protheroe, Al
Stewart and many more and features a hitherto un-heard Paul Simon song, The Northern Line, recorded in an Exeter Folk club in 1965.
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Mr Simon's Big Trip
Tuesday 5 June 2007, 10.30-11.30pm
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Classic Singles
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Glen Campbell and songwriter Jimmy Webb discuss the writing and recording
of their 1968 hit Wichita Lineman in Classic Singles.
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The programme
highlights the social, musical and historical importance of the song,
explaining why it generated such passion and excitement and why it still
has relevance and resonance today.
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Classic Singles
Wednesday 13 June 2007, 11.00-11.30pm
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Monterey Pop Festival
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The original festival – The Monterey Pop Festival – is 40 years old.
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Radio 2 celebrates its birthday with an hour-long documentary featuring
classic performances, and new interviews with festival producer Lou Adler
and festival press officer Jan Wenner.
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Held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California the
festival was planned by producer Lou Adler, John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas and Beatles publicist Derek Taylor. The festival board included
members of The Beatles and The Beach Boys.
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The festival became legendary for the first major US appearance by
Jimi Hendrix (who was booked on the insistence of board member Paul
McCartney) and The Who, and it was the first major public performance for
Janis Joplin and for Otis Redding who died a few months later.
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Monterey Pop Festival
Transmission details to be announced
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The Day John Met Paul
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Sir Paul McCartney gives a new interview in The Day John Met Paul,
celebrating the 50th anniversary of a day that was to change music for
ever.
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Alongside the music and memories of John Lennon's group the Quarrymen,
the programme re-creates the moment when John and Paul met for the first
time at a Quarrymen gig at a sunny garden fete in Woolton, Liverpool on
6 July 1957.
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Made with the help of Colin Hall, custodian of John Lennon's childhood
home Mendips, and with the support of the Liverpool music community,
other contributors to the programme include Paul's brother Mike McCartney, John's first wife Cynthia
Lennon and original members of The Quarrymen.
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The Day John Met Paul
Tuesday 26 June 2007, 10.30-11.30pm
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Who Breaks A Butterfly On A Wheel
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The story of the Rolling Stones' traumatic summer of 1967 is told in Who
Breaks A Butterfly On A Wheel.
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The programme – which takes its name from
a article in The Times, written by its traditionally conservative Editor
William Rees-Mogg – looks at the events and repercussions surrounding a
highly-publicised drug bust on a party held at Redlands, Keith Richards'
Sussex country home.
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William Rees-Mogg questioned the outcome of the court case that saw
Richards and Jagger handed custodial sentences for first-time offences
that were harsher than "any purely anonymous young man" would have
received, due to their celebrity status.
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The programme includes interviews with Lord Rees-Mogg and Andrew Loog
Oldham, former manager of the Stones.
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Who Breaks A Butterfly On A Wheel
Tuesday 3 July 2007, 10.30-11.30pm
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The Thing About Syd
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A year on from Syd Barrett's death, this documentary explores the life,
music, influence and legacy of one of the lost souls of British rock
music and features interviews with members of Pink Floyd.
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The Thing About Syd traces the early beginnings of Pink Floyd and
Barrett's contribution to their pioneering brand of psychedelic pop as well as
the consequences of his exploration of drugs that set Barrett on a tragic
path away from the band to a solo career and eventually life as a virtual
recluse.
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The programme comes up to date with an exploration of Barrett's passing
and the fulsome tributes in the media with comments from editors and
journalists about what made Barrett so special when his entire recorded
output is just three albums.
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Alongside interviews from members of Pink Floyd the programme features
contributions from manager Peter Jenner, Phil Alexander, Editor of Mojo,
Allan Jones, Editor of Uncut, and others.
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The Thing About Syd
Saturday 21 July 2007, 8.00-9.00pm
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Only A Northern Song
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Paul Sexton tells the story of how the two most successful songwriters in
pop history won and then lost control of a billion dollar publishing
empire.
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Northern Songs was set up in 1963 by Dick James and Beatles manager Brian Epstein, solely to publish the songs of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It went public in 1965, and then in 1969, that weighty songbook slipped out of John and Paul's hands, when ATV stepped in and bought Northern Songs without their immediate knowledge or consent.
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The programme describes how the catalogue then came to be bought in the 1980s by Michael Jackson, and how Paul McCartney and the family of the late John Lennon would effectively (but quite legally) be denied their birthright.
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The documentary explains how Northern Songs was bought and sold with the help of eyewitnesses such as songwriters of the day Tony Hatch and Graham Gouldman; Dick's son Stephen James; Northern Songs' lawyer Michael Eaton; Brian Southall, the author of a recent book about the company; and Paul Russell, who worked closely with Michael Jackson at CBS when he bought the catalogue.
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Only A Northern Song
Tuesday 24 July 2007, 10.30-11.30pm
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