Hats off to John Wilson at good old BBC Radio 4. His Mastertapes programmes have been excellent over three series but this week he has scaled the heights, Natalie Merchant, one of my favourite singers and songwriters was the guest. The programme focussed on her first solo lp, Tigerlilly released in 1995. Was it really that long ago?
As you would expect from such an erudite interviewer the discussion was fascinating, and Natalie as usual was both funny and disarmingly honest. She sang a number of songs form Tigarlilly and talked about the circumstances in which it was produced.
But there was more than this, the second part of the show included questions from the audience and Natalie singing Verdi Cries... radio does not get any better. How lucky we are to have Radio 4.
I could go on at length about how wonderful this programme was, thankfully I am not going to. Listen to it yourself and find out. You can even down load it! What more could you ask for?
Here's Natalie giving a Ted Talk about her last album.
There are so many amazing Natalie Merchant songs out there. I shall leave you with her singing Motherland
Thank you Radio4.
This takes me back to being in college. It's funny how a sound, song, or a smell takes you back to a specific place in time.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny but I didn't realise that it was 1995, it seems like yesterday. But I know what you mean, it's that Proust idea isn't it-when you are rubberbanded back to some point, but in that second it is so clear.
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ReplyDeleteIt was the highpoint of this series for me by a very long way. So nice to see one of the most underrated albums of all time acknowledged again after all this time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Keith, this was a highlight of what is a very good series. I think Motherland is underrated as well.
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