Sunday, March 16, 2014
Iggy Pop, 6 Music, review
When Jarvis Cocker began his 4-6pm 'Sunday Service' on 6 Music in 2010, he joked that his mission was to "put the boringness back into Sunday". In reality the show was a beguilingly sympathetic blend of music, talk and oddball features; a perfect fit for the oddly directionless - and / or hungover - hours at the end of a weekend. A Sony Rising Star Award, and record-breaking audience figures for the network, soon followed.
This Sunday, the musician Iggy Pop began a 32-week residency in the slot, standing in for Cocker - who has taken a year-long sabbatical in order to revitalise the programme. Pop's appointment came off the back of two rather lovely themed music shows he'd made for 6 Music, broadcast on Christmas Day and New Year's Day; and had been excitedly trailed across the BBC, including by Cocker himself in a documentary aired on Radio 2 on Tuesday.
IGGY POP: Hammersmith Apollo, review
Tuning in, I was curious to hear how the 'godfather of punk' had chosen to fill out such a revered - and difficult - spot in the weekly schedule. Would there be stories? Live sessions? Energetic interaction with the audience, à la his concerts?
The answer, to be blunt, was that he'd put together a straightforward, pre-recorded DJ show better suited to a late-night slot. The broadcast began with his own song I've Got A Right, moved on to a thrashing metal number by the Danish band Iceage that surely had anyone with even the mildest of headaches reaching for the dial. The playlist was themed, he explained, around preachers and seers: "songs...characterising people's ideas about morals, ethics and visions".
It was not without charm. Pop has a wonderful radio voice, deep, weathered and richer than the sediment at the bottom of a barrel of bourbon; and he spoke eloquently about his experiences growing up, the music he loved, his time with the Stooges. There were tracks by Van Morrison and Them, John Lennon, Jeff Beck and a rapturously fine gospel band called The Swan Silvertones, to name a few. Rescheduled in an 11pm slot and it would be just fine.
REVIEW: Van Morrison, Royal Albert Hall
But as it was, with the sun dipping in the sky and memories of Cocker's Sunday Service hard to shake off, the two hours of laconic talk and music rather dragged.
This is, of course, early days for the show, and Pop may yet find a way of tuning it to the timeslot. Nevertheless, the fact that it went out as it is does feel like a rare misstep from a station that is in assuredly confident form.
Moreover, given than only five of the twenty-one regular presenters and DJs on 6 Music are women, it seems doubly odd that they gave this hallowed slot to a 66 year-old man whose gifts may be better suited elsewhere.
Did no-one think to call Patti Smith?
IN PICTURES: Rock music's top 10 icons
Source : http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568414/s/383eeac8/sc/38/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cculture0Ctvandradio0Ctv0Eand0Eradio0Ereviews0C10A69860A50CIggy0EPop0E60EMusic0Ereview0Bhtml/story01.htm
