RetroBlog: Rockschool 1983

 

Way back in 1983 the BBC aired a series, Rockschool, which taught the basics of performing rock music and its various genres. It featured Geoff Nicholls on drums, Henry Thomas on Bass and Dierdre Cartwright (above) on lead guitar, along with interviews with leading musicians from the various genres covered.

There were nine episodes in the first series:

1. Introduction
2. Tuning
3. Technique
4. R&B and Blues
5. Heavy Metal
6. Funk
7. Reggae
8. Future
9. Special (Questions and Answers)

The BBC went on to produce a second series, which aired a few years later, and added a keyboard player (Alastair Gavin, I think). But it is the first series for which I had fondest memories.

If you want to check out the series a user on YouTube has uploaded the whole thing. http://www.youtube.com/user/joeeyeless

You may find that the first section of the episode on Heavy Metal is blocked. I think it’s the bit that has a clip of Motörhead. Well they did say that if they moved in next door your lawn would die!

tUnE-YaRDs – BiRd-BrAiNs

Track listing:

1. For You
2. Sunlight
3. Lions
4. Hatari
5. News
6. Jamaican
7. Jumping Jack
8. Little Tiger
9. Safety
10. Fiya
11. Synonynonym
12. Want Me To (bonus track)
13. Real Live Flesh (bonus track)

BiRd-BrAiNs was entirely self-produced and recorded using a digital voice recorder and shareware mixing software. tUnE-YaRdS’ Merril Garbus gets creative with a mashup of lo-fi R&B, voices, sound effects, drum machine, keyboards fuzz, looping and layering.

Reviewed at:

Drowned In Sound – http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14883/reviews/4138426

musicOMH.com – http://www.musicomh.com/albums/tune-yards_1109.htm

The Guardian – http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/nov/13/tune-yards-bird-brains-review

cokemachineglow – http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/4786/tuneyards-birdbrains-2009

PopMatters – http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/94744-tune-yards-bird-brains/

Pitchfork – http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12851-bird-brains/