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Martha, my dear: Rufus Wainwright with his beloved fellow singer sister
Deep affection, solidarity, loyalty, but also a variety of bittersweet melanges, this week, after a tsunami of perceptive suggestions, guest of the week George Boyland picks songs of deep emotion and variety that sing out for the sister
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Chet Baker: in search of the ideal
Days, nights or settings, love, relationships, words, compliments or phrasing, sounds, singing and so much more, guest of the week Loud Atlas comes up with all the aces with series of immaculate playlist choices reflecting last week’s perfect topic
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Evolution’s purest clickbait: kitten in field
Nothing’s ideal, no one’s impeccable, nothing’s completely pure, but this week it’s time to search for the beautifully formed, the perfectly pitched, the adorably flawless and more as the lyrical focus. Or that’s the plan …
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In living Memorex …
Lyrics that refer to listening methods: gramophones to turntables and records, radio, cassettes and reel-to-reels, CDs to MP3s, iPods to the internet cloud and streaming platforms. When it comes to revolutions, there’s always a revival …
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Trust your senses: Björk
intuition to the unexplained, new realms of perception to deja vu, telepathy and the astral plane, all this and more in a pair of perceptive playlists picked by guest of the week Suzi from the most recent topic
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Cross my palm with song suggestions, and I see a future where there will be wonderful new playlists …
Do we have one, or is it fake? Both. But either way, this week’s theme, inspired by approaching the Song Bar’s Sixth Birthday as all about intuition, a gut instinct, a feeling in your bones, notions of unknown source, sensing something without knowing why
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Time to wake …
Songs to get your up and motivated, or songs that are also about the morning? Don’t be alarmed, it’s all covered in this special two-parter, picked by guest of the week DiscoMonster from a huge dawn chorus of nominations from the past week
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The flurry of first light
Morning always comes, but how might you start it musically? This is a topic not about the morning and everything that goes with it, although those details may figure, but is one more about complementary mood, style, feeling and pace
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Harvesting hope: The Isley Brothers
Chosen from a vast number of suggestions from last week’s topic, from the 1930s to the past year, jazz, soul, reggae, pop and more, guest playlister DiscoMonster reaps a harvest of uplifting songs to put a spring in your step
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From 1920s speakeasy …
Even in the face of despair, it’s something in our DNA, focusing on the unknown immediate or distant future, where there's a feeling, a desire, a belief, or confidence that something good might happen that can be expressed in all sorts of lyrics and stories
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Forever falling upwards down MC Escher’s stairs
How to we capture or express it? Through love, art, death, heaven, hell or other forms? Particularly song. This week’s largely lyrical topic ponders on the forever, the permanent, the endless and goes to infinity and beyond …
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Evelyn Glennie in action. She makes an even younger arrival on this week’s lists …
Marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, balafon and more, from 1930s jazz heyday to the present, from full fusion to bare bones tradition and across every imaginable genre, guest Nilpferd feels the vibes with a wonderful range of playlists picked from last week’s topic
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Marimba or xylophone vibes? Name that instrument ….
What ideas strike you? Let’s explore the prominent playing of hand hammer- or mallet-hit idiophones, metallophones and chordophones, from xylophones, vibraphones, glockenspiels, balafons, marimbas, including hammered dulcimers and steel drums
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Earth, Wind, Fire and a whole lot more to be thankful for …
A truly upbeat and positive way to start off 2022, a deliciously mix of disco, funk and pop, folk and more from Detroit to Scotland, Chile to Africa and beyond, picked by guest DJ PopOff! from last week’s many song suggestions
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This week it’s half full
From formal politeness and etiquette to the deeply unexpressed and private, it’s time to find all forms of thankfulness in song form, covering a range of subject matter, from the self to others, simplicity in nature to wider society
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What’s eating you, eh? “Uh-oh, here we go again,” says the ouroboros
This week it’s time to look back at 2021, and with a wry introduction here, various events, stories, and experiences, and so to share favourite music that came out, was newly discovered, topics enjoyed and thoughts on 2022
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British and German troops buck tradition, but also honour it, during the Christmas Day truce of 1914, to play football instead of war
Ancient religions to strange festivals, drinking rituals to counting sheep to chasing cheeses, small slices of history to long formed social behaviour, enjoy wonderful stories and playlists picked by guest Marco den Ouden from last week’s topic
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The Unthanks
Canny! Champion! Famous sons and daughters of Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and beyond bring a beautiful, humorous and moving portrait of this charismatic region, picked with a huge write-up, rich in historical and musical reference, by guest playlister Alaricmc
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Central Newcastle with the Gateshead Sage music venue on the left
Songs that capture the character and style, landmarks, culture, people and history for the area that’s defined by the likes of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Durham, Darlington, Northumberland and more
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La Foule: Edith Piaf sings to an enraptured gathering in 1951
Forming an orderly queue or going mob-handed in an unruly bunch, it’s time to join the throng in enjoying these fabulous selections by guest Loud Atlas, picked from an even bigger crowd of numbers from last week’s topic
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