On now

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

On now

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

Being repeated 12 am, 8.30 am and 3.30 pm.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Jules wrote:
Being repeated 12 am, 8.30 am and 3.30 pm.

Cheers! I have set the tivo to record three of these, two on HD and got the HDD recording as backup.

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

I just got the one on HD, still have chance though biggrin lots of Rats videos. Really refreshing to hear Diamond Smiles, Never in a Million Years etc on TV...

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Jules wrote:
I just got the one on HD, still have chance though lots of Rats videos. Really refreshing to hear Diamond Smiles, Never in a Million Years etc on TV...

It has all been a very ratty in recent weeks for me, seing half the band on stage, getting the Rock Goes To College DVD, buying the US In The Long Grass LP and now this.

Thanks again for putting the post up.

Wes[Wolverhampton] · House on Fire

Watched it this morning an thoroughly enjoyed it.I would have liked to see some of the rest of the band with their opinions on there as well.

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

Yes Ian that would be good and a full one hour show smile

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Haven't seen these. Is it just BG being interviewed (as usual!)or do any of the others get to speak?

Might be a lot more interesting to make a programme about all the band and see what they are up to nowadays- and hear them all tell their tales? Perhaps a good documentary on the band, involving all the members I would have thought would make an interesting film.

Hopefully most of the riffs have been healed at this stage to make such a programme possible.

Wes[Wolverhampton] · House on Fire

Its Bob and a video producer who did a lot of the Rats videos amongst others.There are 6 or 7 rats videos being played whilst they talk about the video age.Several beeps as usual with Bob.Well worth watching.

suss · In the Long Grass

Wes[Wolverhampton] wrote:
Its Bob and a video producer who did a lot of the Rats videos amongst others.There are 6 or 7 rats videos being played whilst they talk about the video age.Several beeps as usual with Bob.Well worth watching.

I recorded the midnight edition, no beeps on that one. Was surprised at just how liberally BG sprinkled the expletives, but it seems in hindsight he's no great fan of the video phenomenon (prob thinks it did kill the radio star) and seemed embarrassed about one or two Rats' efforts, Diamond Smiles in particular. Assume his language increases with his passion, and he did seem to have a passionate dislike at times.

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

Don't get Sky - apart from news

I really like the Diamond Smiles video by the way.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

suss wrote:
...seemed embarrassed about one or two Rats' efforts, Diamond Smiles in particular.

Was it just the video he was embarrased by? I have yet to see the programme, but when I look back on the late seventies/early eighties, the only proper Rats videos I saw at the time were Mondays and Diamond Smiles. As for the rest, I didn't even realise they had videos, as in the pre-MTV world they were rarely shown. Most of the time it was TOTP appearances or when they turfed up on shows like Kenny Everett or Eammon Andrews and mimed. Only when I got the Someone's Looking DVD did I realise they had a video for pretty much every song.

As for radio, it seems remarkably resilient in the face of all the competition. I sill listen to XFM a fair amount, as it seems to have just decided to only playlist songs released between 1990 and 2006, especially Danny Wallace, which is fine by me, and also to BBC Radio 5 Live. Danny Baker's show on Saturday morning is fabulous, and I also like Nicky Campbell's weekday show.

Sometimes I do listen to BBC Radio 6 as well. My wife is always listening to LBC (How gay is that station?), despite the kids insisting on XFM when we are in the car. BBC Radio 1 is not as populist today, with BBC Radio 2 a time warped BBC Radio 1 (Janice Long, Simon Mayo, Steve Wright and Chris Evans). Personally, I still think of it as an old codgers station with Jimmy Young and Terry Wogan as DJs.

Anyway, Geldof wasn't much of a radio star. His stint on XFM is infamous. "The world's worst DJ"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/158799.stm

Wes[Wolverhampton] · House on Fire

He doesnt like Diamond smiles.Interestlingly enough,not one of Simons favourites either.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Wes[Wolverhampton] wrote:
He doesnt like Diamond smiles.Interestlingly enough,not one of Simons favourites either.

They why do both The Rats and Geldof play it live? I don't think it is a bad song, but there are far better songs that deserve an airing. When I look back, I am still puzzled why it was selected as a single before Someone's Looking.

Keep It Up would have been a better single, but I guess having released a song about a spree killer, it was probably thought a debutant suicide would have similar success.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Regarding videos sometimes we forget that the concept for the video is not necessarily the work of the band, but rather the director/producer and his 'bright' idea of how things should be. The band is likely to go along with his or her vision of the song and I've often found that even in the same video there can be really striking, suitable visuals juxtaposed with crass, embarrassing images. It is a hard medium to get exactly right, and as I've said before the music should be the most important thing. Sometimes a bad video leads people to assume the song is rubbish as well when sometimes the two can be as different as chalk and cheese.

Most of the Rats video's have been pretty good. My least favourite is Drag Me Down with it's silly political point scoring, when the song has nothing to do with coalmines!

I'm not sure if Simon dislikes the song or the video for Diamond Smiles. Maybe dislikes is the wrong word.

Video's are the equivalent, perhaps, of filmed novels. The song works on our imagination with the music and lyrics, putting pictures in our mind by way of having a video can sometimes enhance the whole experience of the song. It hopefully will not be so bad as to detract from the song or to make the video experience seem pretentious or unintentionally funny, or banal or dull.

It would be interesting to know how much input the Rats had in terms of coming up with ideas for the video's. I would think they had almost no input. If Geldof wasn't too gone of video's that is saying something. In summation the video is largely the product of the director so we know who to blame if it is no good!

suss · In the Long Grass

Only watched it once but Bob said something along lines of 'Diamond Smiles was a good song, but I don't think we recorded it very well'.

No suggestion he disliked song itself (on this show at least) but he clearly had/has misgivings about the video - might have been at this point he said 'up our own arses'. Apparently the Busby Berkeley bit was Bob's idea, which he regrets, and also was critical of the video being too busy, with all the hooray henries etc, or words to that effect. Will have to watch again now.

He also mentioned being swept from the deck of a ship into some quasi Japanese room in Never in a Million Years was 'crap', which picks up on Noel's point about some videos being good and bad within seconds.

The overiding message was that Geldof initially favoured exploring the medium, and though KE show was almost revolutionary (my words - can't recall his phrase), but with hindsight he seems to feel the varios options were exhausted very quickly, and that video nowadays is always tedious.

Really must watch again to see if first impressions and memories are accurate.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

The 'Horray Henries' interlude in the Diamond Smiles video is a bit ott and shows that sometimes we don't need to always dramatise everything- leaving things to the imagination is sometimes better. Perhaps more of the band performing would have been the way to go. Wonder how the song should have been recorded if Bob says it wasn't recorded well. I've always liked the song and the recording.

I think the Never In a Million Years video in pretty good.The cutting from the uproarious sea to a 'quasi Japanese room' scene doesn't bother me. It's a bit like a surreal dream-you just accept what comes next. Maybe that was why 'Peter told Pat not to come up on deck' -you may find yourself in a pseudo Japanese room! Have to say I think of Fishermans Friend when I see Geldof is his 'yellows'. Must have learned his sailing from his dad who was in the Dun Loaghaire Yacth Club.

Listening to this song for the first time in a while, I think it sounds excellent and was always on of my favourite Rats songs. What is that reporter taking notes on anyway? It doesn't make sense? Also more pancake make- up used than in a Batman movie!

-- Edited by noelindublin on Friday 7th of October 2011 02:05:57 PM

-- Edited by noelindublin on Friday 7th of October 2011 02:08:38 PM

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

suss wrote:
Only watched it once but Bob said something along lines of 'Diamond Smiles was a good song, but I don't think we recorded it very well'.

Finally got to watch it, and it was a really interesting show. I wonder why Geldof considers the song good yet the recording poor? I thought the song was OK, but never strong enough to be a single, and the untold tale seems to be that someone decided that this song would be the best to make a video of.

When you look at the Million Years video it is truly atrocious. And looking back, it would have been far better if bands simply had live performances of their songs. A massive mistake.

The most interesting videos were those before Mondays and the Someone's Looking with the noughts and crosses stage set from the Surfacing tour. I wonder why there was never a widely available recording from that tour?

The other thing that gets me with Geldof these days is his looking for the new Punk (whatever that is). The thing is that Rock 'n' Roll (in its many variants) is now the music of the establishment, and since Nirvana in 1991, it's hard to think of rock music making the sort of imprint it had prior to that.

If anything is the new punk right, it comes from urban music, along with possibly social networking and computer games. Angry Birds are definitely punk! The idea of four skinny teenage white blokes changing the world is obsolete. Personally I think its a good thing. These days in rock music, the music comes ahead of the hype.

But the show was good. More like it wouldn't go amiss!

noelindublin · Loudmouth

I rather like the Never In a Million Years video, except for the dancing poodles interlude, which is a bit silly so I wouldn't call it atrocious. Ok it may not be a classic but most videos by most bands are not classics. The song is the most important thing and that's what I always care about.

Geldof playing the saxophone on the Rat Trap video some might consider a bit naff and stupid- others may see it as the Rats 'most interesting videos' period. Go figure. My overall assessment is that most of the Rats videos were fairly ok with some really good ones. Banana Republic is one of my favourite videos by the Rats. Pop videos largely are just chewing gum for the eyes, and shouldn't be taken too seriously- they are not meant to be high art, granted that sometimes really wonderful videos are produced.

Re Recording do you mean recording of the Surfacing tour on video or audio? Might have been a good idea to release a live Rats album of the Surfacing tour but at that time the had a good following and it wouldn't have made much of a difference- most likely would have given the NME another chance to vent their vitriol at Geldof and co. To misquote Morrissey it would have been a case of 'we hate it when our former writers become successful! '

I totally agree with you about rock 'n' roll as being the music of the establishment and it had been for a long time. Most modern rock music 'rebellion' seems to me cringeworthy, full of cliches and almost embarrassing-everything is being recycled over and over. Listening to the Vaccines album What Did You Expect? if that is the most noteworthy album in ages then things are seriously going downhill? Its got about three good songs - compare that with Tonic For Troops is the difference between night and day.

I'm trying to imagine Bob Geldof playing computer games lol.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
Re Recording do you mean recording of the Surfacing tour on video or audio?
I totally agree with you about rock 'n' roll as being the music of the establishment and it had been for a long time. Most modern rock music 'rebellion' seems to me cringeworthy, full of cliches and almost embarrassing-everything is being recycled over and over.
I'm trying to imagine Bob Geldof playing computer games lol.

A video recording is a surprising omission given that the tour was pretty big. There are two proper recordings of the Tonic tour, yet none when they were quite possibly the biggest band in the British Isles.

Post-Nirvana, there has been nothing "punk" about rock 'n' roll. I struggle to think of any true rebels. I think there have been a lot of great albums/acts since 1990. And quite possibly the reason is that the music is more important than the posturing.

I'm sure Geldof's kids have him playing Guitar Hero on the wii at Christmas. Geldof plays the technophobe card a lot, but remember he started deckchair.com, has a company that tracks truants and is a big proponent of cloud computing...

He's more of an IT geek than me.

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/373473/cloud_computing_f_ing_brilliant_says_bob_geldof/

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Re Geldof and technology and business formation it seems to me from what I've read that Geldof comes up with a basic 'why can't we?' type idea, and with his associates who are more technically qualified goes on to develop that idea or technology if it is marketable.

I like his distancing himself from a lot of social media hype. It doesn't necessarily mean he's against new technology he's much more of a face to face type person and probably can't see why he should have a blog.

In a world of gushing praise for all sorts of new technology and the constant false needs created by inventing and developing new gadgets its nice to see someone a bit old fashioned and detached, like Geldof.

Idea for computer game - Giant rats take over london and must be stopped by any means possible!

BTR · Tonight

I didn't get to see the Sky Arts show - can I download it?

Bobi G · Banana Republic

BTR wrote:
I didn't get to see the Sky Arts show - can I download it?

Iz will see wot Iz kan do. Iz only haz da non censored verzion.

Bobi G · Banana Republic

Bobi G wrote:
BTR wrote:
I didn't get to see the Sky Arts show - can I download it?
Iz will see wot Iz kan do. Iz only haz da non censored verzion.


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4QGGUFOW An ISO 4 youse