Spotify. All the music, all of the time. That's got to be a good thing, right? Not everyone agrees. In this episode, we'll take a look at:

- Does Spotify pay artists fairly?
- Does it provide access to bands that didn't exist before?
- Has it encouraged disposability in music listening?
- Has it created a musical echo chamber for listeners?
- Has it created a new world of haves and have-nots in music?

Join us for a discussion on the rights and wrongs of the world's most popular streaming platform.

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

Back in 1985 Band Aid and Live Aid raised over 100 million pounds for famine relief in Ethiopia. Few question that it saved many thousands of lives. So, job done, case closed?

The reality is more nuanced.

In this episode we ask the questions:

- What are the problems with the song "Do they know it's Christmas?" (the clue is in the title)
- Where were the African artists at Live Aid? Was "fame" really the only thing that mattered in choosing the performers?
- Did all the aid go where it should or did some fall into the wrong hands? Does that matter?
- Far from helping Africa, did the Live Aid phenomenon create a Frankenstein? A view of Africa as broken and helpless? And with the west who caused the problem in the first place happy to pose as white saviours?

Lots to chew over. Join us for an entirely reasonable discussion.

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

Curious about jazz and blues but don't know where to begin? Join aficionado Tony Bishop, legendary jazz and blues singer and harmonica player on the London circuit, who will give you a whirlwind expert briefing to hold down your end of the coffee machine conversation with the annoying boffin from accounts.

Tony glides effortlessly through a short history of the genres as they emerged from their sleazy New Orleans origins early in the last century; the creation of Bluenote and Chess records; the great rupture in jazz around about 1959; some more modern developments; and then finally his picks of porky prime cuts to start us on our journeys.

Tony's choices were:

Blues

Death letter, Son Hous
Drop down mama, Sleepy John Estes
29 ways, Willie Dixon
Juke, Little Walter
Hellhound on my trail, Robert Johnson

Jazz

Kind of blue, Miles Davis
Time out, Dave Brubeck
My favourite things, John Coltrane
Watermelon man, Herbie Hancock
Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Duke Ellington Songbook
View with a room, Julian Lage

Here's a Spotify playlist of Tony's "First XI".

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4pVruox3Yo0xr7HCbWW6PR?si=50bdcfffa6d043d4

To get the download on why these bubbled to the top, tune into the episode. Thanks, Tony!

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.