Jemblog

Please Let it Be

Terry Wogan had the first play of 'Let it be' from Let it Be-Naked this morning. Even he muttered afterwards that it wasn't that different. In fact its distinct from the virtually Acoustic Anthology 3 version by being heavy on the Billy Preston organ and none the worse for that. The reviews are starting to roll in and I suppose its another excuse for the monthlies to do a Beatles 'special' (again) which of course I don't mind at all. The new Observer Music Monthly rolls in first with John Harris getting quite carried away.

What remains is a 35-minute, 11-track album that a) sounds like a coherent work rather than a patched-up postscript, and b) stays true to McCartney's original idea of abandoning the studio alchemy that had so defined the psychedelic Beatles and re-emphasising the fact that they were a four-piece rock group (often augmented here by Billy Preston on keyboards).

The cover is terrible btw. The 'official site' is worse. An absolute disgrace. Honestly.

Google and the BBC Brand

Owen Gibson in yesterdays Guardian

Although obviously funded very differently, Google's closest cousin in terms of brand sentiment is probably the BBC. This is a remarkable achievement for Google, a business that began life in a Californian garage on begged and borrowed servers just five years ago. That success brings power, but also responsibility.

Future of the BBC

Patricia Hodgson's New Statesman ITC lecture 'Has TV got news for you ? Government, Business and Regulation' isn't really about the future of broadcast journalism. In fact its another weighty piece about the future of the BBC. All mostly discussed elsewhere...whats interesting is she floats an idea for a public service BBC Worldwide using 'digital delivery'.

'The BBC would be well advised to put its own compelling ideas on the table....(and) at this stage in my career I can afford to suggest some for consideration...
Fifth..collaboration. One of the principal reasons for a robust BBC is access to and promotion of the best of Britain's intellectual and cultural creativity. The BBC has a history of delivering initiatives to meet the needs of the time. In the 1930s it was the World Service, in the 1960s it was the Open University. Now is the moment to focus collaboration not competition; to use digital delivery and the BBC's international profile to meet a global appetite for the best of Britain's intellectual capital. Alongside Worldwide there's room for a BBC Public Trust with a duty to exploit the UK's intellectual property for those theatres, museums, universities, orchestras and so on that wish to benefit from the scale, connections and promotional power of the BBC. What could be more important in a world increasingly polarised between competing cultures'.

Annoyingly the whole lecture seems to be freely available from the New Statesman site but is currently a 404.

500 channels and nothing on

At 12.30am this morning BBC TWO, ITV1 and Sky One were all showing The X Files. ITV1 had nabbed the 1998 movie and the BBC/Sky had old TV episodes. These days of course I just get a kick that archive Keith Floyd is occasionally shared between Sky Travel Plus and UK Food.

Are you up for Portillo ?

One of the finest reinventions since Kylie. and just as calculated. The part time member for Kensington and Chelsea now spends the early hours of Thursday/Friday on a sofa chuckling away to Andrew Neil and my old MP Diane Abbott. Now in its 2nd season; This Week (no BBC site unfortunately) is the best politics magazine show since Channel Four's A Week in Politics was in its prime. (The Hanna/Rawnsley doubleheaders of the late 80s/early 90s..although the early Sunday Surgeries with Fi Glover/Whelan/Pierce runs them close.)

Andrew Neil doing what he does best (ie: talking rather than spending the Barclay brothers money) Abbott attacking the government from the left and the star of the show: Portillo attacking IDS (and Blair) in the safe knowledge of being the only electable Tory leader who of course the Tories stand no chance of electing.

The show also has a clever doubleheads feature; Bill and Benn; featuring Hague and Tony which isn't bad. The guests aren't always from the obvious hack pool. Recent weeks have featured insanely youthful historian Tristram Hunt on Blair/Brown and Mark Kermode on Arnie. (both good).

Tucked away after Question Time, it of course doesn't get much of an audience and don't let the fact that Amanda Platell thinks its the best politics show on TV put you off. And if the first 2 episodes off the new Clive Anderson/Ten Alps effort are anything to go by then its seen off The Sharp End with ease. (Gina Yashere I ask you.)

There's not much that can provide comfort for the loss of Eddie Mair from Broadcasting House but belatedly discovering This Week will do for now.

Get Back properly

Appalling Macca centric coverage of this. BBC weren't the worse but headlines like "Let It Be... Naked returns the album to Sir Paul McCartney's original plans" are nonsense. He didn't have any plans which is why it was given to engineer Glyn Johns to try and salvage. Which he couldn't. The planned sleeve (above) was the best idea they had. And calling it 'Let it be - Naked'. And Ringo colluding with it. And it was all on Anthology 3 anyway. Grrrrrrrrrr.