Bernard - Tracks Of My Years, Radio 2

I mentioned this last Monday in the New Order spotting thread but i thought it was worth posting a thread with the links to each day's interviews.Bernard has been this week's guest on Tracks Of My Years on Ken Bruce's show on Radio 2.The idea of the thing for those not aware of it is each week an artist, songwriter or celebrity picks 2 of their favourite songs each day over a week and talks about the songs.

Something about this photo makes me uncomfortable, maybe the idea of any member of New Order getting cosy with a middle of the road radio show makes me cringe but anyway, some of the interview segments are great - Bernard was in usual humorous mood ,self deprecating in places and he had a bit of a fun dig at Morrissey on Wednesday's show.

I've given the links to each day's show and directions to the actual bit of the show where Bernard talks about his choices.Really enjoyed some of his choices though most of them are pretty much MOR Radio 2 fare.But i did enjoy listening to The Lightning Seeds' 'Sense', bit of a Radio 2 kind of song these days but hadn't heard it for years and was good to hear.And also enjoyed Bernard's choices today - Kraftwerk's 'The Telephone Call' and Lou Reed's ' Sunday Morning'

Monday

The Clash - Rock the Casbah and The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby.For interview bit Go to 2 hours 15 mins here

Tuesday

David Bowie - Sound And Vision and Doves - Kingdom Of Rust.For interview bit Go to 2 hours 13 mins in here

Wednesday

The Smiths - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side and The Lightning Seeds - Sense.For interview bit Go to 2 hours 12 mins in here

Thursday

The Killers - Human and Lloyd Cole And The Commotions - Forest Fire.For interview bit Go to 2 hours 14 mins in here

Friday

Kraftwerk - The Telephone Call and Lou Reed - Sunday Morning. For interview bit Go to 2 hours 11 mins in here

Mmm, I associate Ken Bruce with my parents radio choices. Add me for the uncomfortable vibes for that photo.

So The Clash, Smiths and Kraftwerk are all acceptable Radio 2 fayre now eh? I hate to say this but maybe I need to listen to R2 sometime. Maybe.

Out of all the Kraftwerk tracks he could have chosen, The Telephone Call was a bit of a surprise to me. I love it, but it's not really considered one of their seminal tracks. Then I remembered it's the only Kraftwerk song ever sung by Bernard's friend and collaborator Karl Bartos (I don't believe they've performed it live since he left the group). I figured that was the reason but Bernard didn't mention that fact.

edit: I wonder if Karl's vocal performance was a factor in the shorter version of the track appearing on the reissues. Is Kraftwerk that bitchy?

Radio 2 these days isn't quite the Val Doonican, Barbara Streisand loving snorefest i imagine it once was but shows like Steve Wright in the afternoon are an absolute godawful dogs dinner.I don't tune into the station at home, it's on at work a lot of the time so we have to suffer it.Jeremy Vine's lunchtime show is pretty good sometimes however - topical debate and angry listeners phoning in which can sometimes be hilarious and good entertainment.The music programmer for Vine's show can often mis-time the track schedule with Vine exclaiming "and now here's The Spice Girls with Wannabe!" straight after a debate about funeral costs or such like.Oh dear.

Got the impression Bernard chose The Telephone Call rather than a more revered Kraftwerk classic because he felt it was a great song but less well known and deserved to be played on the radio for once.Agree with you Andy though; you'd think he'd have mentioned that it's his mate Karl Bartos singing on it.

Mrs R. mentioned this to me earlier this week & I tuned in, awaiting the interview (not knowing it would be cast over the whole week) but 5 minutes of Ken Bruces' MOR voice was too much and off it went.

Many thanks to Fotzepolitic for sparing me the arseache.

Another more straightforward way of listening to the whole thing together is if you've got the BBC Radio app on your phone go to it and in search type in Tracks Of My Years and in the results you should see the Bernard Sumner one.You can download the whole thing including all the tracks in full and Bernard's interview snippets.It's about 46 minutes total.

our manager at work decided to change to radio 2 a year or so ago

after thinking it would be rubbish i was proved wrong i think its a good listen and the music they play is very varied

new order are on frequently

Funny, when you listen to the tracks Bernard chose you realise how and where some of his influences could of come from, it all clicks into place. From the synth line in Bowie's Sound And Vision , the synth melodies in Kraftwerk's The Telephone Call to even, at a stretch, the guitar solo in Lloyd Cole And The Commotions' Forest Fire.Hearing Kraftwerk's The Telephone Call again the synth sound and melody instantly reminded me of the synth sound and melody on NO's 1963 .I always thought that synth melody on 1963 was more Kraftwerk than Your Silent Face which is usually mentioned as the one that's Kraftwerk inspire.Kraftwerk used a similar synth melody and sound on Tour De France which was what i was reminded of back when i first heard 1963.

Oh and i've just realised i've listed Sunday Morning as by Lou Reed when really of course it's by The Velvet Underground.Though i guess Lou wrote it, or the lyrics at least.

Given Bernard's newfound acceptance by the old fart radio stations at the BBC it must surely be only a matter of time before he's a guest on Desert Island Discs

Fotzepolitic wrote: Hearing Kraftwerk's The Telephone Call again the synth sound and melody instantly reminded me of the synth sound and melody on NO's 1963 .

It's strange you said that because when I started reading this thread a moment ago, I was just going to say the same thing but about how the tone of the drums and overall rhythm and mood sound very alike.

Andy wrote: Out of all the Kraftwerk tracks he could have chosen, The Telephone Call was a bit of a surprise to me. I love it, but it's not really considered one of their seminal tracks. Then I remembered it's the only Kraftwerk song ever sung by Bernard's friend and collaborator Karl Bartos (I don't believe they've performed it live since he left the group). I figured that was the reason but Bernard didn't mention that fact.

edit: I wonder if Karl's vocal performance was a factor in the shorter version of the track appearing on the reissues. Is Kraftwerk that bitchy?

They have played it live in recent years, as part of their 8 'Catalogue' shows, done instrumentally each time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXu4XunFer8

Moderne Decay wrote:

Fotzepolitic wrote: Hearing Kraftwerk's The Telephone Call again the synth sound and melody instantly reminded me of the synth sound and melody on NO's 1963 .

It's strange you said that because when I started reading this thread a moment ago, I was just going to say the same thing but about how the tone of the drums and overall rhythm and mood sound very alike.

Ah i can see where you coming from now you mention it.Yeah, similar drum sound and rhythm.Have had to dig out and give a spin to Kraftwerk's Electric Cafe album after hearing The Telephone Call.Not their greatest album but still some good stuff on there.

Sense is an awesome choice. Before the Youtube free-for-all I bought the Lighning Seeds' compilation just for that track and it was worth it. (Bet you never thought I'd say something positive eh? And I'm not even being sarcastic.) (Posted 14 minutes ago.)

I'm hardly an expert on LS but enjoy what I've heard. Sense manages to be achingly romantic without lapsing into sentimentality. By a curious coincidence, they were compared to Electronic, but it wasn't a compliment! http://www.feeleverybeat.co.uk/albums/voxaugust1996.jpg (I was a total trainspotter nerd back then so I remembered.)

It is amazing that Bernard likes Sense or at least an amazing coincidence. I still have my copy of this album on tape and "Sense" was easily my favourite song on that album.

Think i'd previously dismissed Lightning Seeds' Sense when it was originally released ( did it come out in the midst of Britpop in 95-96 or was it earlier than that, maybe 92ish? Can't recall now ) as being quite derivative, generic and shallow but as i said earlier in the thread i really enjoyed hearing it again the other day.Really upbeat and inspiring kind of song and not as shallow as i'd originally thought.

Pure was also a great song and at the risk of sounding sickly sentimental it always reminds me of the long hot summer of 1989 and young and carefree weekends away with mates at such exotic locations as Rhyl and Barry Island.

Three Lions was great for a few weeks in summer 96 as England progressed (with a bit of help from the referee in the quarter final against Spain and which is also the only time England have ever won a penalty shoot out) to the semi final of Euro 96 but as far as football songs go i'd much rather hear Vindaloo these days.

There was some story back when about Ian Broudie being mistaken for David Baddiel around the time Three Lions was big in the charts.Some punter confronting "Baddiel" at a gig or something and having a rant at him about his political persuasions and opinions, not realising he'd targeted the wrong bloke.

i can't believe you lot like the lightning seeds i think they're terrible

far too sickly sweet for me

lee wrote: i can't believe you lot like the lightning seeds i think they're terrible

far too sickly sweet for me

Yeah i know what you mean.It does go against the usual good taste of New Order fans but maybe some of us are going soft in our old age.It's just a minor blip and normal service will be resumed soon.

to be fair to you i was defending radio 2 earlier in the thread so who am i to comment on peoples music taste!

Ha LS a fave band of mine for yonks since getting Cloudcuckooland in 1989. And Sense is such a great title, not dissimilar either, to a NO song from Movement.

"I’ve had a bellyful of faces drawn in sadness / i wanna jump deep into tides of loving madness" I always thought this was directed at Joy Division and the Goths/Anarchists (so called) who played their music mainly in those days at least where I lived … It wasn't Radio 1 fare, ex for John Peel, let alone R2. Didn’t Bernard say something similar once, about finding JD a bit heavy these days, but I can't remember where or when, perhaps it was on NewOrderStory? Not Star Test anyway, just checked.

On Joy, “can’t you feel the pressure drop” - I wondered if the album title Raise the Pressure was a nod in his (Ian Broudie's) direction?

Anyway, just (imaginary) lyrical games.

Titan lost

Resurrecting an old thread, but did anyone download these 'tracks of my years'?

If so, any chance of a copy? I missed them first time around and would like to hear them.