Greenbelt at 50 – Part 1: The Main Story

Groundbreaking, controversial, distinctive, inclusive, faith-based, life-giving. The Greenbelt Festival has been all of these things. August saw this pioneering event celebrate its fiftieth year – decades which have seen the present festival become barely recognisable from its beginnings.

Greenbelt has carved a unique slot in the Christian summer landscape, one that is a welcome refuge and inspiration for some, but seen as a more harmful agitator to others. Has its positive legacy outshone its more controversial missteps?  

Greenbelt at 50 – Part 2: A (Very) Personal View

With 50 years of programming and so many choices, everyone’s personal highlights of the Greenbelt Festival are bound to be very different.  My 36 (or so) visits to Greenbelt add up to some 125 days, each packed with music, drama, worship, comedy and life-changing thought. How to pick highlights out of all that? Let’s see…

The late and loved Norman Barratt with the Alwyn Wall Band, 1977 (via Greenbelt.org.uk)

Greenbelt at 50 – Part 3: The Compères – “Mucking About in Public”

There are compères who just pop onstage and ask the crowds to give artists a big hand, but there are others who become attractions in their own right.

With so many venues to host over the site and over the years, the Greenbelt Festival has needed plenty of MCs, but finding the right hosts for the mainstage is key – especially when you have to keep a crowd entertained for 45 minutes without warning.

‘The Compères’ is a surprisingly uncreative name for two particularly inventive and popular hosts in the early years. The “pre-Vic-and-Bob” duo of poet-broadcaster Stewart Henderson and U2 show designer Willie Williams tell of their partnership, where they “turned compèring into our very own oddball playground” and their deeper involvement in the festival.

The only-known photo in existence of The Comperes together

The Real King of Rock & Roll is Not Elvis

There’s nothing like dying to make people appreciate your life –and there aren’t many lives as dramatic as Little Richard’s.

A new Dogwoof biopic from Director Lisa Cortés, I am Everything, follows his journey. It shows how ‘The Architect of Rock and Roll’ influenced so many major musicians, but was at one stage virtually penniless. It also highlights his struggle reconciling his queerness with his faith.

The BBC have sat up and taken notice too, their Arena documentary The King and Queen of Rock and Roll, taking a more, well, BBC approach: fewer queer spokespeople, more Ringo Starr and Keith Richards, and a generally sharper production.

But the story is so rich that both biopics necessarily tread a similar path and do a fine job.

Tom Sine – Revisiting his Predictions

Is hindsight a wonderful thing? I’m putting it to the test. This is a reworking of my 2010 interview with futurist Tom Sine. How have the intervening 13 years lived up – or down – to his expectations?

Is Paul Simon Homeward Bound?

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Lennon, Dylan, Alice, Jesus – and Who Else?

Greg Laurie, Salem Books

This read-in-a-day book is very enjoyable, if you are interested in the spiritual side of rock – but be prepared for a highly subjective view.

From the title, I was expecting an in-depth look at the three titular musicians, but no, this “Spiritual Biography of Rock and Roll” hurtles like a train, stopping at key stations as it travels from the gospel roots of the genre in the late ‘fifties, terminating at MC Hammer and Justin Bieber (hmm, are either actually rock and roll?).

Understanding Pope Benedict XVI

In 2010, with Pope Benedict XVI coming to the UK, I interviewed award-winning film-maker Mark Dowd, whose Benedict: Trials of a Pope was being shown on BBC1 and BBC2 in advance of the visit. I wanted to know what he learned from his research in making the film. The interview was originally printed in The Church of England Newspaper and I’m posting a version to mark the Pope’s death today.

If Mark Dowd did not already have respected films behind him, critics in the press may have been gunning for him before they watched his BBC2 film, Benedict: Trials of a Pope, because Dowd is a Catholic.

He recognises the danger, especially given the Pope’s controversial reputation and British Catholics running at under ten per cent of the population, “A lot of people watching this film are not going to want to see a Catholic giving the Church an easy time,” he told me, “but on the other hand, I don’t want to do a hatchet job. So it’s quite tricky finding the right level of questioning and probing that stays on the line of respect, but still gives the audience a sense of, ‘This is an interesting programme’.”

He added, “We don’t want a love-in. If Alex Ferguson had to do a film about Manchester United Football Club, you’d be a bit worried, wouldn’t you? So where do you get the tension in the story?”

Breaking Up Badly – The Banshees of Inisherin

I know that plot is important, but sometimes art’s atmosphere or style draws me in and leaves a bigger impression.

I vividly remember the day in my teens when I discovered the Titus Groan / Gormenghast novels and was hooked from the first few minutes, simply because the author was also an artist and conveyed such a visually striking world through his words. The plot was irrelevant, not least because the eponymous Titus Groan was only seven by the end of the first book in the trilogy.

Film can similarly succeed through style, but also doing the show-not-tell. The excellent The Banshees of Inisherin does both. You could pretty much cover the plot in two lines, but it is thoroughly Irish (a pitch for this would never be considered in Hollywood) and makes a bold statement about relationships, stubborn pride and loneliness that burns in the soul long after the credits roll.

Cliff Reminds us of the Heart of Christmas

Cliff begins his new Christmas album with “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” – something he should know about, as it’s been peak sales time for him since the ‘80s.

The superb “Little Town” scratched at the door of the top ten; “Mistletoe and Wine”, “Saviour’s Day” and “Millennium Prayer” all topped the chart; “21^st Century Christmas” missed that spot by only one place; and “Whenever God Shines his Light” – a duet with Van Morrison – made the top 20.

Steve Hackett – Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out

Seconds Out: You could probably guess the sound and quality of this album with some 95% accuracy, even if you haven’t heard it. Hackett has spent a quarter century specialising in recreating the best of his former band Genesis’ songs, and doing so with unerring accuracy, as if they are perfect museum specimens looked after by specialists. And as this is a recreation of Genesis’ own best live album Seconds Out, stuffed full of classics, Hackett has already covered them many times. So little will surprise anyone here.

Held by Trees – Finding Solace

Over my life, I’ve witnessed the evolution of how people reproduce other’s music. When young, it was either orchestras playing classical pieces or choirs singing popular songs, often from musicals. As I began to buy records, the cheap copies came in – session musicians attempting chart songs to make pre-‘NOW’ compilations, but with none of that innate drive that made the originals so popular. Soon after that came tribute bands, as cheap entertainment for Abba fans and the like. Again, it was always going to be second best.

But that changed as the original bands split or stopped touring. Like a modern-day version of classical music, rock acts are now copied for the fans that love the music and want to experience it being performed. Sometimes – like the Australian Pink Floyd – they will have the blessing of the original artists and might even own some genuine band equipment.

Now Held by Trees have come along with yet another variation, taking the inspiration of original artists – in this case, largely Talk Talk, including original collaborators – but adding the freshness of original compositions and improvisations. It works.

John Smith on Hillsong: Money, Sex and Power. Part 1: Prosperity Gospel.

It’s a very ordinary name for an extraordinary man. Rev Dr John Smith, Founder-in-Chief of God’s Squad Christian Motorcycle Club, was a one-off. Likened to John Wesley on a bike, he was a minister to the marginalised – but he still got a message from Bono at this funeral service in 2019, which was attended by well over a thousand, including some rival biker gangs.

Although Smith has sadly left us, his words about the prosperity gospel – born of his first-hand experience of the early days of the Hillsong phenomenon – are (also sadly) still very much needed.

This piece is a re-working of my still-relevant interview with Smith from 2004.

Via http://www.eternitynews.com.au

Hillsong is a global mega-church for celebrities (Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Chris Pratt and Vanessa Hudgens are among those have attended) and their vibrant image is a huge attraction. But Aussie Smith knew the leadership and the tactics they have employed to court the wealthy. So when he likened the brand to cancer, it was a serious and informed accusation.

John Smith on Hillsong: Money, Sex and Power. Part 2: Body of Influence

In Part 1, I looked at Hillsong Church’s love of money. Here – at a time when the organisation is ‘rocked by scandals’ – I cover Smith’s insider-view of Hillsong’s approach to sex and power (adding a smattering of Delirious?) from my 2004 interview. Yes, the warning signs were there over a decade ago.

Brian and Bobbie Houston (from Instagram)

Solace – a Place to Unwind

This ambient, instrumental album, brilliantly-pitched as a successor to Mark Hollis’s latter Talk Talk work, is far more than a tribute.

If hedging your bets were a sport, this one would be a medal contender.

Dave Bainbridge – To the Far Away

One thing you can guarantee with Bainbridge is that the sound will be rich, layered and succulent. He treats ears like Cordon Bleu chefs treat taste buds. Feast on the details.

Yes- The Quest

The pioneering prog rockers’ first new album in seven years stands above much of their later work. This is a subtle reinvention and a worthwhile addition to the canon.

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh – the Sea Maiden

This is the way to do traditional Irish music. The 28-minute EP Thar Toinn/ Seaborne shows a wonderful sense of restraint, and its simplicity means that there are no distractions from its key features: Nic Amhlaoibh’s voice, the strongly Celtic setting and the tremendous focus on melody throughout.

I’d put some wellies on love, you’ll catch your death like that.

A Trip Down ‘Memory Lain’ with Caravan

Releasing a 37-disc box set is a brave affair: the fans will already have a lot of the best albums, while those who do not know the band are unlikely to splash out several hundred pounds to buy it. But Caravan’s Who Do You Think We Are? has some very tasty contents that should tempt any prog-lover.