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The beauty of simplicity
Smoke on the Water was featured and dissected on the recent episode of BBC Radio 4 show Add to playlist that was on the air on May 30, 2025. The premise of the show is to introduce several pieces of music and find links between them.
Composer Gavin Higgins and soprano Claire Booth take us from a massive Wembley chant to a ground-breaking early rap by a famous white rock group as they join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add five more tracks to the playlist.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna PhoebeThe five tracks in this week’s playlist:
Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond
The Alien by Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow
Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple
In a Foolish Dream by Stravinsky
Rapture by Blondie
The episode can be heard on BBC Sounds in the UK and BBC Audio outside. For the impatient, the Smoke bit starts at around 20’40” into the show.
Thanks to Marcus Streets for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
“Rhis is a documentary song.” 😂
Not bad their analysis: Claire detects the riff to be offbeat in places and Gavin knows what a blue note is and that it crept into the SOTW riff as note #6.
I like Sweet Caroline by ole Neil just as much as SOTW.
https://youtu.be/utBKv9ZMojM
That dramatic “hands … touching hands …” bridge gives me goose bumps to this day. And he had a great voice.
It’s a friggin’ classic.
https://youtu.be/VrchgrNcSTY
I saw him live once in Cologne in the Lanxess Arena, it was lovely. His voice was mixed so loud to band and orchestra, you could hear his nostril hairs vibrating. 👃👂👀
June 7th, 2025 at 04:28I was pleasantly surprised that they played a bit from Jon’s solo on the MIJ version of SOTW, and that the soprano was aware that some of his solos were (slightly) Bach-influenced. (I wonder whether the producers tipped her off.) Also, what a charming idea for a radio show for those with catholic musical tastes.
June 8th, 2025 at 02:15Those Neil Diamond songs were very much a part of my early musical journey. He was a very good songwriter and he did have a wonderful voice. He always had a good band behind him too. Many memories there Uwe. The Jon Lord interview with Rick Wakeman and Jon talking about being put on the phone to Diamond, when they were trying to work out Kentucky Woman to record it. Those were the days. Cheers.
June 8th, 2025 at 22:14I prefer Neil’s brother King’s music more then Neil’s, just my view 🤘🏻
June 10th, 2025 at 11:53I tell y’all a secret, when Rob Halford switches off his banshee wail, you notice some Neil’ish influences of the Diamond type, you can simply not unhear it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyqUaiAI79U&list=PLZFusbWPDnYq9Ow3JvFElCTPCbAbDtB7V&index=6&pp=iAQB8AUB
June 10th, 2025 at 16:00I hear you, o brothers of the Purple Cult. Neil Diamond has more than something to him and yes, as strange as it may seem, Sweet Caroline and SOTW have something in common.
June 10th, 2025 at 19:42@6
“Sweet Caroline and SOTW have something in common.”
– to quote David Coverdale: Say What?
Please explain 😊
June 11th, 2025 at 04:23Re the talk whether AC/DC is a popband or not, here is another evidence for my assertion that AC/DC indeed is the epitome of pop:
Enjoy 🤩
https://youtu.be/l7-bIFDMSFA?si=AM526fbJDZ3KF1fz
June 14th, 2025 at 18:50