Stewart Copeland on music

[bungeejumper]

Just a quick mention for the new Stewart Copeland music series on BBC4. Watched the first episode (of three) last night, and I like his presenting style. Although his career has been largely in rock music (he was drummer with the Police), he covers a lot of other ground, including the hows and whys of our human affinity with music, and the reasons why we humans need it. He collides head-on with psychologist Stephen Pinker, who thinks music is just superficial "cheesecake" and has no important role to play. (Tell that to the whales, Pinker. )

Deffo worth a catch-up on iPlayer. I expect the Beeb will repeat it in the next few days, but I can't find out any times.

BJ

[BrummieDave]

Just a quick mention for the new Stewart Copeland music series on BBC4. Watched the first episode (of three) last night, and I like his presenting style. Although his career has been largely in rock music (he was drummer with the Police), he covers a lot of other ground, including the hows and whys of our human affinity with music, and the reasons why we humans need it. He collides head-on with psychologist Stephen Pinker, who thinks music is just superficial "cheesecake" and has no important role to play. (Tell that to the whales, Pinker. )

Deffo worth a catch-up on iPlayer. I expect the Beeb will repeat it in the next few days, but I can't find out any times.

BJ

Watched Episode 2 last night and really enjoyed this, thanks BJ...

When I first saw your post last weekend I thought it was referencing a repeat run of this 3 part series from last year, "Guitar, Drum and Bass" which Copeland presented the Drum episode (obvs): https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001y8k

But in fact it is indeed a new 3 part series "Stewart Copeland's Adventures in Music" and well worth watching I agree: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000db8m

Preceding it on BBC4 last night was Neil Brand's latest excellent series, "Sound of Musicals with Neil Brand": https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088n7s9

This one is not to be confused with the very similarly named "The Sound of Movie Musicals with Neil Brand": https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001jgt

Or his best to date (IMHO) history of recorded music "Sound of Song": https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04y4qpt

What I don't quite get is why these aren't all available on iPlayer currently; I thought that was the whole point of it...?

[PhaseThree]

What I don't quite get is why these aren't all available on iPlayer currently; I thought that was the whole point of it...?

If all the BBC output was available on iPlayer they wouldn't be able to charge you £6/month to watch it on BritBox. (https://www.britbox.co.uk/).
How they justify charging a second time for programmes that the license fee paid for is beyond me. Personally I have moved to using get-iplayer and a very large hard disk to hold onto shows I may want to watch again.

(BTW another vote here for the Copland and Brand music series - well worth watching).

[bungeejumper]

But in fact it is indeed a new 3 part series "Stewart Copeland's Adventures in Music" and well worth watching I agree: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000db8m

Yes, I enjoyed the second episode. The bit about how key and tempo are hardwired into our emotions was especially well done. I'm not sure that I can follow him into the realms of rap music, because so much of it seems to be about violence and revenge and misogyny, but otherwise it was pretty well chosen.

One thing that bothers me is how he's managed to get two thirds of the way into American popular music without even mentioning the blues? I sincerely hope he's going to give it the works in episode three?

What I don't quite get is why these aren't all available on iPlayer currently; I thought that was the whole point of it...?

I am a relative newbie to these digital thingies, but I don't think the BBC likes releasing stuff onto iPlayer ahead of its broadcast date. That's not an issue for Netflix or Amazon Prime, which don't have one.

BJ

[BrummieDave]

I don't mean future episodes, I mean why aren't the previous series all available?

The BBC annoy me a great deal!

[bungeejumper]

I don't mean future episodes, I mean why aren't the previous series all available?

I doubt that it's a lack of server space. It's more likely to be that a service that regularly repeats its old series will eventually disappear up its own bumhole if it's simultaneously broadcasting them while they're all still available "for free" on catch-up.

That isn't an immutable rule, evidently. I don't watch a lot of drama, but I notice that iPlayer has chopped most of the Horizon back catalogue, leaving only a few specials, but that pretty well every Attenborough nature documentary is still up there in its entirety.

Then there's the fact that quite a lot of the BBC's programmes are made and owned by private companies that would presumably like to be able to sell them elsewhere for more money, but needs them to be off the iPlayer system first?

For instance, my granddaughter's particularly fond of the excellent Charlie & Lola (CBBC), but iPlayer usually carries only a selection of about eight really fine episodes, which are lightly shuffled from time to time. If that seems unreasonable, consider that Channel 5 will rush you several quid for a single Peppa Pig repeat, and thy're only ten minutes long!

So it's back to my good old DVD recorder to hoover them all up as they get broadcast. Old tech has its uses.

BJ

[bungeejumper]

An odd sort of series in the end. Copeland got through the third and final programme of the series without ever having mentioned the blues at all, apart from uttering the word once during a discussion of gospel music. Nothing about jazz, nothing about the early slaves' trying to connect with their African past, nothing about how the blues expressed the move from the plantations to the urban environment.

Nothing about how ex-slave music shaped up differently in the Caribbean region. Very little about the rhythmic sexuality of the thing.

A great gaping hole, in fact. Which was a shame because so much of the series was superb. Oh well, I'm glad I watched it. Will be sure to catch the repeats. He's a very engaging presenter, that's for sure.

BJ