Jools Holland Show - Still Worth Watching?

[Dave Vader]

Since the demise of any other music show on the beeb, Jools has had a lot of mainstream crap shoe-horned into what used to be a fairly specialist music show. Which is a shame.
Also, since it went LIVE and got a tuesday night slot, the super-commercial-load-of-toss of the week get two songs and everyone else gets a brief glimpse. If you're in on friday, they still haven't fixed the f***-awful live mix, and you get to sit through 3 times as much of the awful toss you didn't like on Tuesday, while the one act you really wanted to see because you have never heard of them before still only does one track.
Bring back TOTP, and then they can stick sh*t like cee-lo green and glasvegas on there, get Scott Walker doing Tilt back on Jools again.

[grahamd]

The format is still valid, it's the programming that sucks. The live scene is in rude health but Laters hit rate is tragically low. Used to love the 'here comes the weekend' vibe of the Tube

[mrtcat]

I just cringe whenever there's a band on with a piano. You just know JH is going to slide onto the stool next to the pianist and play some tedious 12 bar. I think the bands on there these days are pretty dull. I mean KD Lang was sooooooo moany and boring. Lets have something more funky on the show please!

Should say tho that I met JH's session bassist Dave Swift at Olympia and he was such a sound guy he's worth tuning in for if he's on as most of you will already know he's a really good player

[steve-soar]

[quote name='grahamd' post='1206430' date='Apr 20 2011, 09:17 PM']The format is still valid, it's the programming that sucks. The live scene is in rude health but Laters hit rate is tragically low. Used to love the 'here comes the weekend' vibe of the Tube

[/quote]f***ing MAGNIFICENT.

[Doddy]

[quote name='mrtcat' post='1206435' date='Apr 20 2011, 09:21 PM']Lets have something more funky on the show please![/quote]

You mean like this......

[SteveK]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1206472' date='Apr 20 2011, 09:49 PM']You mean like this...... [/quote]
Oh dear!!!! WTF was he thinking???

[chris_b]

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1206390' date='Apr 20 2011, 08:37 PM']....Agree about the sound on Jools....[/quote]
I know that the last time David Bowie was on he used his own touring desk and gave the sound feed to the BBC. I wouldn't be surprised if other bands do the same. I think that main reason for bad sound is the TV set!

[ZMech]

Can I go for option D: I watch it on iPlayer, so I can skip anyone truly awful, e.g. glasvegas.

[mcgraham]

Nope! Not worth watching. I can honestly say I have never been able to watch an entire episode from start to finish. I like a lot of music and have very eclectic tastes, but they get some sheer rubbish on every week. TBH, that is my opinion of the majority of 'mainstream' acts today - sheer rubbish with 1% music and 99% commercialism (I guess that's what it takes to be a commercial act?) and I don't understand why they are popular.

Every so often they get acts I'd love to see for one reason or another (Foo Fighters, Metallica, Bobby McFerrin, a few other but names escape me) but the sound is typically a farce, and those acts are the few and far between.

[Quatschmacher]

Check out this Youtube clip of a recent Jools Holland episode, it is hilarious. Fantastic to see McCoy Tyner on there, check out Jools's face when the musicians run completely over their allotted time.

Edited April 21, 2011 by Quatschmacher

[JTUK]

I'll watch it if I can remember its on but that is about it.

I far prefer Sky Arts 1 so will often check in there as it is on all the time rotating between film and music.

But, I'd prefer not to lose a live show like Later but by the very nature of these things, you need to pick and choose.

[Bilbo]

There is no good music on tv and hasn't been for years because the channels all operate on the assumption that the average attention span of the British public is 3m 48s and not a nano-second longer. As a consequence, you are only ever presented with superficial s****, even if the bands involved have the potential for great things.

I grew up with the OGWT with Whispering Bob and then Annie Nightingale but there was other stuff like Rock Goes To College (remember the Bruford gig with Jeff Berlin, Allan Holdsworth and Dave STewart. The WHOLE GIG, not just a three minute track). Then there were the stream of jazz programmes that have come and gone; the one hosted by Oscar Peterson, the one based at the 606 Club in Lots Rd., Chelsea etc). Great little programmes. Today, as a major music lover, tv (terrestrial or cable) doesn't figure at all on my radar. I know McCoy Tyner was on LWJH. Missed it but heard about the debacle from younger friends. I watch the odd 10 minutes of BBC Guitar Legends type programmes for nostalgia purposes but am invariably disappointed. Waste of 'lectric.

[lowregisterhead]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1206364' date='Apr 20 2011, 08:19 PM']The "cult of personality" is at epidemic levels.

The vast majority of people are sheep, willing slaves. Money needs to be circulated, trends are therefore geared towards lowest common denominators of entertainment. It's been this way since mass communication and with globalization reaching a zenith it will saturate and feed upon itself until weird and strange forms emegre, the like of which we can't imagine.[/quote]

Quite. And after seeing Jools Holland very ungraciously bundle the hapless Justin Lee Collins and his film crew out of a rehearsal studio for daring to collar Gilson Lavis (former drummer with Squeeze, now in Jools's "Rhythm & Blues Orchestra") to ask if he fancied re-forming with Difford and Tilbrook for a one-off gig, I came to the conclusion that Mr Holland must be a huge cult...

[yorks5stringer]

I work on the basis that I'll enjoy one band/artist out of the programme, any more is a bonus. That said, it must be difficult putting together a line-up that everyone likes!

[lowregisterhead]

[quote name='spongebob' post='1206150' date='Apr 20 2011, 05:29 PM']The addition of Hugh Lawrie to this week's later is an all-time low for me.[/quote]

It was poor... shades of Steve Martin and his banjo a year or two back - interesting for a moment or two in a car-crash sort of way, but not worthy of inclusion on a live music TV programme. As for the rest of the bands... Fleet Foxes were pretty good, and Vintage Trouble were briefly entertaining, but ultimately just yet another victory of style over content.

As for KD Lang - what a voice! - and her band put an wonderfully shambolic rocked-out twist on Constant Craving. I was holding my breath expecting it all to fall apart! Jools Holland still scores a 10 on the Punchometer for me though...

[SteveK]

How has Jools Holland managed to get away with it for so long? He always looks so ill at ease. The guy manages to make each appearance on telly look like his first. He is incoherent and got the interviewing skills of Katie Price. As a consequence I don't watch as much as, perhaps, I should.
Like the format though.

[lowregisterhead]

[quote name='SteveK' post='1206876' date='Apr 21 2011, 11:19 AM']How has Jools Holland managed to get away with it for so long? He always looks so ill at ease. The guy manages to make each appearance on telly look like his first. He is incoherent and got the interviewing skills of Katie Price. As a consequence I don't watch as much as, perhaps, I should.
Like the format though.[/quote]

He was exactly the same back in the days of The Tube, although the smarm quotient has increased somewhat. What the programme needs is a co-host like Paula Yates who didn't give a f*ck, even when they came back to air unexpectedly after an ad break and the mic picked her up talking about some guy with a 12" d*ck... anyone remember that?? Quality viewing!

[thisnameistaken]

The Word usually had some good live music too. Shame there wasn't more performances really because the bands and audiences always looked so up for it.

I suppose on Jools you've got a seated audience. Who wants to play to a seated audience who are half a mile away? What's the point?

[ras52]

Another recorder-and-fast-forwarder here. Although I didn't FF through Glasvegas last week, as their performance was compelling... but not in a good way, more of a I-can't-believe-it's-this-bad type way.

Edited April 21, 2011 by ras52

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='Quatschmacher' post='1206795' date='Apr 21 2011, 10:02 AM']Check out this Youtube clip of a [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZCBW-Ukhs8"]recent Jools Holland episode[/url], it is hilarious. Fantastic to see McCoy Tyner on there, check out Jools's face when the musicians run completely over their allotted time.

BTW How do you embed a Youtube clip in the post?[/quote]

Hardly suprising they ran over, he's got four people in his trio, so if they told him he'd got 5 minutes.......

And your right about his face -- all the better for punching

[KevB]

The basic premis about having a good mix of established with less mainstream or up and coming acts is still valid. I think the actual show itself is starting to look tired though and could do with a bit of a makeover, starting with a new presenter. It's difficult because it's become an institution. Thus they'd probably rather scrap it altogether than revamp it in what might be a more watchable show. Strictly record, sample & hold the bits I'm interested in these days for me.

Edited April 21, 2011 by KevB

[Alfie]

This type of thread is becoming a Basschat cliche. Things are sh*t, it was much better when I was younger, when you get to my age etc.

Having a bit of live music, in whatever format, is better than having none at all. I will generally buy a handful of albums each year based purely on listening to Later. More than that, I can remember some really brilliant performances over the past couple of years.

[Bilbo]

[quote name='Alfie' post='1207034' date='Apr 21 2011, 01:17 PM']This type of thread is becoming a Basschat cliche. Things are sh*t, it was much better when I was younger, when you get to my age etc.[/quote]

You'll see.....

[WalMan]

[quote name='Alfie' post='1207034' date='Apr 21 2011, 01:17 PM']This type of thread is becoming a Basschat cliche. Things are sh*t, it was much better when I was younger, when you get to my age etc.

Having a bit of live music, in whatever format, is better than having none at all. I will generally buy a handful of albums each year based purely on listening to Later. More than that, I can remember some really brilliant performances over the past couple of years.[/quote]
Trouble is they are becoming fewer and farther in between

[flyfisher]

Isn't it the point of Later to be an eclectic music programme?

Eclectic, pretty much by definition, means not everyone will like everything on it. So a few people moaning about Hugh Laurie merely reinforces the fact that Later is doing its job.

I'm just surprised there's not more jazz on the show.