In this episode my guest is Mark Croft who I describe as a ‘musical scholar’. All my guests have a love and passion for music, but Mark takes that to a different level and to every aspect of music.In a wide-ranging conversation, we explore (amongst other things) the magic of live performance, the importance of shared experience, the joy of playing live, the art of song writing, and the fact that music was around 40.000 years ago in Europe with the bone flute! It’s fair to say that we both believe music really matters and Mark finishes the episode with Nietzsche’s quote:“Without music, life would be a mistake”. In typical style Mark tweaked the format and chose all live performances for his song choices and each day for the next two weeks I will be posting those clips (and some of Mark’s shortlist) on  https://www.facebook.com/musictalkspodHis choices were: 60’s       The Clancy Brothers       The Parting Glass 70’s       Rory Gallagher                    As The Crow Flies 80’s       Talk Talk                                   Living In Another World 90’s       Massive Attack                   Karmacoma00’s       Brandi Carlile                      The Story 10’s       Gillian Welch                       Revelator 20’s       Bob Dylan                             I Contain Multitudes We also talk about the benefits and dangers of streaming technology, and I know Mark has some deep concerns particularly around Spotify and its CEO Daniel Ek. I respect those views and therefore there is no Spotify playlist of songs from this episode. Mark also performs live himself, with Farmer’s Markets being a speciality. You can find some of his recordings at: https://soundcloud.com/markacroft/speed-trap-town?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing .  https://soundcloud.com/markacroft

Music Talks

Episode 62 - Mark Croft - Musical Scholar

My guest today is Roy Sharples, the Founder and CEO of Unknown Origins whose mission is to build a better future by “saving the world from unoriginality by unleashing the power of creativity”. When you start a company with as bold and inspiring a mission as that you must have strong views and a real belief in them. Roy shares a lot of those views and thoughts during our conversation and whilst I don’t necessarily agree with everything, he says to his immense credit he’s never anything less than thought provoking.I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and got real insight and inspiration from it. I hope the same will be true for you.  If you want to dig deeper into Roy’s thinking, then last year he published a book which is the title of the episode ‘Creativity Without Frontiers’. It’s available here: Creativity Without Frontiers: How to make the invisible visible by lighting the way into the future: Sharples, Roy S: 9781736568606: Amazon.com: Booksbut as we discuss in the episode, visiting your local independent bookshop might be preferable ?Also try and take a look at Unknown Origins | Creative Design Studio | Unleash The Power Of CreativityIt was no surprise that Roy’s selections were wide and varied and included music from two film soundtracks. His selections were: ·        70’s      Walk On the Wild Side                                            Lou Reed ·        80’s      What Difference Does It Make?                        The Smiths ·        90’s      Fade Into You                                                                 Mazzy Star·        00’s      Comptine d’un autre été, l’apres-midi             Yann Tiersen ·        10’s      King And Lionheart                                                     Of Monsters and Men ·        20’s      No Time To Die                                                               Billie Eilish Enjoy! 

Episode 61 - Roy Sharples - Creativity Without Frontiers

My guest in this episode is Elisa Doucette a writer, editor, and entrepreneur who currently travels the world looking for great stories to live and interesting tales to share.Elisa was born and grew up in rural Maine, with a strong Scottish and Irish cultural heritage. That was undoubtedly a key influence in words, language and music becoming a lifelong passion and in latter years (after a successful 10-year sojourn into Insurance sales) a writing and editing career. She has travelled and worked extensively across Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe which has included writing assignments in exotic locations such as Bali, Lesvos and Aberdeen. (Yes, this a lady who has fallen in love with Aberdeen!) Her work has been published in numerous prestigious publications including The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Huffington Post. In 2015 Elisa founded the editing and writing coaching agency craftyourcontent.com, where she oversees the acquisition and cultivation of a talented team of word and content geniuses while also encouraging the development of clients’ writing and thought prowess. The title of the episode comes from a Frank O’Hara poem, which in a Music Talks first, Elisa reads and talks us through its connection to her song choice from Norah Jones and the wider subject of creativity. These are Elisa’s song choices: 80’s       Def Leppard                                   -          Pour Some Sugar On Me 90’s       Pearl Jam                                         -          Betterman 00’s       Norah Jones                                   -          Painter Song10’s       Labrinth                                            -           Beneath Your Beautiful (feat.Emile Sande) 20’s       Santana, India-Arie, Yo-Yo Ma    -    While My Guitar Gently Weeps 

Episode 60 - Elisa Doucette - Why I Am Not a Painter

This time of year isn’t just the season of goodwill it’s also the season of “Best Of” lists and it’s part of the musical year that I love. It’s always good to know that things you like are also enjoyed by others but the real joy for me is gaining new insight into albums I’ve enjoyed or discovering albums that I have missed. My hope is that this episode will do some of that for you. As in previous years I am joined by my Podcast pal Steven Routledge and we both talk through our Top 10 albums. A new addition this year is that we also play a short clip from each of them. In this second part we count down from 5 to our respective Favourite Album of the Year. I&apos;d love to hear what you think of these choices and particularly if there is new music you like. You can do that by emailing me at musictalkspod@outlook.com , I really look forward to hearing from you. I hope you had a great Christmas and best wishes for 2022. I look forward to it being another great year for music. If you just wabt to listen to the music Steven and I chose this playlist has all the tracks in the order we discussed them - enjoy https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1kjR6dQHCsmnmPMdyZ9rkj?si=76dbc82a1a6b43c7

Favourite Albums of 2021 - Part 2

This time of year isn’t just the season of goodwill it’s also the season of “Best Of” lists and it’s part of the musical year that I love. It’s always good to know that things you like are also enjoyed by others but the real joy for me is gaining new insight into albums I’ve enjoyed or discovering albums that I have missed. My hope is that this episode will do some of that for you. As in previous years I am joined by my Podcast pal Steven Routledge and we both talk through our Top 10 albums. A new addition this year is that we also play a short clip from each of them. In this part we count down from 10 to 5 and in Part 2 (released in two weeks on 30/12/21) we go from 5 to 1. Please let me know what you think of these choices and particularly if there is new music you like. You can do that by emailing me at musictalkspod@outlook.com , I really look forward to hearing from you. Have a great Christmas and here’s to 2022 being another great year for music. 

Favourite Albums of 2021 - Part 1

My guest in this episode is friend and colleague Stephen Boyle. Stephen was born and grew up in a small fishing town in the Northeast of England called North Shields with the city metropolis of Newcastle only eight miles away. After University in Sheffield and then a time living and working in London, he took the big step in 1995 to move to the US which is where he has lived for almost all of the last 26 years. Most of that time has been spent in Southern California although there were spells in Atlanta and Seattle which is where we met. Today he has the good fortune to live in Carmel in a house he and his wife Kim have spent the last three years building. Stephen clearly still feels a very strong connection to the Northeast of England and that is a theme that runs through his song choices but also his shows in his love of football and Newcastle United in particular. That said he does tell a fascinating story of being a 13-year-old and going over to the dark side for a year when a next-door neighbor moved from Newcastle United to play for fierce local rival Sunderland (and they won the FA Cup!) . In amongst the music, we talk about being born in his Grandparents house and the close relationship Stephen had with them, favourite concert venues in the US and his view of America in 1995 and how that has changed somewhat today. Like a lot of guests David Bowie is a major figure in Stephen’s musical journey and two of his song choices are Bowie songs but in an interesting twist neither are performed by the great man himself. Stephen’s song choices are :·        60’s       - The Animals                    House of the Rising Sun ·        70’s       - Mott The Hoople          All the Young Dudes ·        80’s       - Bruce Springsteen       The River ·        90’s       - Sting                                     Englishman In New York ·        00’s       - U2                                         Beautiful Day ·        10’s       - Nine Inch Nails              I Can’t Give Everything Away ·        00’s       - Devon Gilfillian             The Good LifeEnjoy :-)

Episode 59 - Stephen Boyle - It's A Wonderful Life!

My guest in this episode is writer, editor, and educator Yi Shun Lai. Born in Taiwan, she moved with her parents to the U.S. at the age of four. She grew up in California before moving to New York in her twenties, where she spent a total of 12 years. In her own words she has now “fulfilled her filial duty” by moving back to California where she now lives, and her parents are a mile up the road. Yi Shun has published two books and has a young adult novel “in the works”: ·        Pin Ups, a memoir (Little Bound Books, 2020) ·        Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu (Shade Mountain Press, 2016). You can find out more about Yi Shun’s life and work at Home - The Good DirtIn this episode, in addition to Yi Shun’s musical journey, we talk about: ·        Early memories of Taiwan ·        The bifurcation of being Taiwanese and growing up in the U.S ·        Being an Anglophile and her love of Cornish Pasties ·        Her first, and very unpleasant experience, of  “Born in the USA”·        Our joint love of New York ·        Spending four months studying in Paris ·        Binge watching “Box Sets” ·        The beauty of the American National Parks ·        Some of the positive impacts of Covid ·        Why “Thunder Road” is such a special song Yi Shun’s wide ranging and eclectic song choices were: 70’s       Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes      If You Don’t Know Me by Now           80’s       Neneh Cherry                                              Buffalo Stance 90’s       Ashley MacIssac                                         Sleepy Maggie00’s       Mosquitos                                             Boombox 10’s       Carly Rae Jepson                                        Call Me Maybe 20’s       Alvin & The Chipmunks                           Lunchbox Enjoy :-)

Epsiode 58 - Yi Shun Lai - Pin Ups

My guest in this episode is friend and colleague Phil Atkinson . Like many of my guests he has had a long and successful career in the I.T industry, but as you will hear his route  into that career is far from typical.   In this episode we discuss:  ·        Being born in Barking, East London into very humble beginnings. ·        At age 7, the family move  to Basingstoke  to try and better their situation ·        His lifelong love affair with Liverpool FC. ·        His parents’ divorce and the impact that had both at the time and later in life ·        Leaving school at 16 and going into the Army for 5 years ·        Playing semi-professional football for Basingstoke Town ·        His career as a hairdresser (with distinctions!) ·        His 30 years in the I.T industry including stints at both Apple and Microsoft ·        The challenges of on-line dating and his delight when he met Julia ·        His newfound passion for cycling and his plan to ride from Lands’ End to John o&apos;Groats   Phil made the following song choices   60’s       Jerry and the Pacemakers                You’ll Never Walk Alone 70’s       The Jam                                                        Down in The Tube Station At Midnight 80’s       Duran Duran                                              Save a Prayer  90’s       Soul II Soul                                                   Back to Life 00’s       Coldplay                                                       Clocks 10’s       Mark Ronson (feat. Bruno Mars)    Uptown Funk 20’s       Terence Trent D’Arby                             Dance Little Sister 

Episode 57 - Phil Atkinson - You'll Never Walk Alone

My guest in this episode is Mark Harrison. A friend of a previous guest Dan French, Mark listened to episode 52 and liked it so much he decided he wanted to come on the show, which is a process that always pleases me. In amongst the music we talk about: ·        His Grandfather’s houseboat, Calisto, on the Grand Union Canal ·        Born in West London in 1962 then moving to South Africa as a 10-year-old. ·        Returning from that strict and strait-laced environment four years later to a UK at the   height of the punk era·        Getting his black belt in Kick Boxing at the age of 42 ·        Becoming a mature student and graduating with a BA Hons at the age of 47 ·        Starting a I year contract in the Czech Republic in 2005 and never leaving! ·        Marrying Daria in 2010 ·        Starting his own company (called Calisto) in 2012 ·        The delights of train travel in Europe ·        And last but not least, the joy of Bruce Springsteen and seeing him live in Vienna, Prague  & Berlin. Like myself, Mark doesn’t just listen to Bruce, and he made some great song choices for this episode: 60’s                     The Beatles                     Michelle 70’s                     Pink Floyd                        Wish You Were Here 80’s                     Bruce Springsteen       Hungry Heart 90’s                     Genesis                               I Can’t Dance 00’s                     Kylie Minogue                Can’t Get You Out of My Head 10’s                     Emeli Sande                     Breathing Under Water 20’s                     Texas                                    Mr Haze We also touched on a wide range of artists and songs during our chat , all of whom can be found in this playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/41TCP4zadSAHK8WjVS7cZV?si=c9fb1cff028746d3 Enjoy! 

Episode 56 - Mark Harrison - Painkillers & Pasta

This is Part 2. of my fascinating conversation with Mark Spickett and takes us from the 90’s through to the present day. Mark entitled the 90’s “The Roller Coaster Years” and that should tell you that his life continued to be exciting, challenging,  full of change and filled with fantastic stories. Mark also makes a great set of musical choices a three of which were new to me. His choices are : 90’s       Massive Attack                                            Blue Lines 00’s       Federico Aubele                                          Maria Jose (Toy Hernandez Remix) 10’s       Michael Kiwanuka                                      One More Night 20’s       Moby                                                                  Extreme Ways – Reprise Version Bonus   Cesaria Evoria, Ismael Lo                       Africa Nossa In amongst the stories and music Mark talks very movingly about discovering the concept of “Third Culture Kids”. These are people who were raised in a culture other than their parents&apos; or the culture of their country of nationality and who live in a different environment during a significant part of their child development years. This is exactly the experience Mark had and I for one learnt a lot here. I hope you find the same. Enjoy!

Episode 55 (Pt.2) Mark Spickett - Under African Skies

My guest in this episode is Mark Spickett who I have known for over 25 years as both a colleague and friend. in 2019 I had the pleasure of his company for 4 days at the Austin City Limits (ACL) Festival and given the 2021 ACL festival starts today it felt like a good time to have Mark on the show I have known for many years that Mark’s story is an interesting one but as if often the case with Music Talks, I have only now realised exactly HOW interesting that story is, and how many facets there are to it. My goal is always to keep episodes to a maximum of 75 minutes but in Mark’s case there was just too many great stories for me to do that and so this is a two-part episode. In this part one we cover the first three decades of Mark’s life through to the end of the 80’s. In amongst making three great and diverse musical choices Mark talks us through: ·        The story of his remarkable parents Bill and Marian·        Being born in Essex but then growing up, from the age of 2 , in Nigeria. ·        At age 5, seeing a Nigerian soldier put a  rifle to his dad’s head·        Suspicions that his dad was a spy! ·        A family friend who had two company land rovers and two company camels·        Being sent to Boarding School in England as a 10-year-old·        How dealing with that culture shock has impacted him ·        His lifelong passion for flying and almost becoming a BA pilot ·        His 9-month trip around Australia and South Africa with his best friend Mike, where he almost died in a blazing car and was smuggled across a South African Border. And that is only a selection of the stories in this fascinating and compelling episode!  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did, and Part 2 will be out in 7 days’ time on October 7th 

Episode 55 (Pt. 1) - Mark Spickett - Under African Skies

David Breeze has been friends with Steve Beswick (my guest on Episode 45) since they were at Lancaster University together in the early 80’s. David heard Steve’s episode and got in touch to say he would like to be on the show, and I love it when that happens David was born and grew up near Chesterfield in Derbyshire and had an idyllic and very stable childhood. That geographical stability changed when he started his career in the transport sector which has seen him live and work in numerous places in the UK and latterly Europe as well as travelling widely to places such as Macau, Hawaii and Tokyo. After all that movement David and his wife Lyndsey have, for many years, been firmly settled in Farnham Common with their two children Daisy & Zac. David’s lifelong passion has been art and his father-in-law is the esteemed Art Restorer Eric Harding who received the OBE for his work on restoring the “Leonardo Cartoon” which a gunman shot at in 1987. That passion and skill came together in 2015 with the launch of the art business  loveourart.co.uk which Lyndsey has run very successfully since. David’s musical journey has been a long and varied one and his love of music shines through as he talks through each one of his excellent choices which are 60’s       The Beatles                      She Loves You 70’s       Queen                                  It’s Late 80’s       Joy Division                      She’s Lost Control 90’s       Radiohead                         Fake Plastic Trees 00’s       The Strokes                       Last Nite 10’s       Arctic Monkeys               R U Mine 20’s       Fontaines D.C.                 Too Real 

Episode 54 - David Breeze - Art For Art's Sake

Nick was born the year AC/DC were formed (1973)) in the historically significant town of Hastings, which by then was more than a little tired. His parents John and Chrissie later moved the family up the coast to Bexhill-on- Sea, which Nick brilliantly sums up as a place where the main industry is care homes, London is the North and ambition is modest.   At University something clicked for Nick and with that came a desire for "MORE" and he was in a hurry to get it. In Nick&apos;s own inimitable words in the 90&apos;s he became a "fully loaded sales dick" and a successful one at that.   The first half of the 00&apos;s on the other hand was an incredibly challenging time for Nick and was in many ways life changing, as was the arrival in his life of Vicki who he married in 2011.   When we recorded this episode Nick and Vicki were preparing to move themselves and their three children Ben, Noah & Matilda to a new home and a new life in the French Alps. This is a plan and a move that has been in train for several years, and they are now in their new home.   I wish them every possible success in this brave and inspirational endeavour, and I look forward to having Vicki on the show in a years’ time to tell us how it’s going and share her story.   Nick&apos;s musical journey has had as many turns as his personal journey and he came up with a great set of song selections: 70’s     Kenny Rogers                                                                                             The Gambler 80’s     Guns N’Roses                                                                                You Could Be Mine 90’s     Sisters of Mercy                                                                                                         More00’s     Foo Fighters                                                                                               The Pretender10’s     Pete Tong/Jules Buckley/Maxi Jazz                                                          Insomnia 20’s     Jackie Wilson                    (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher  These selections and a song from every artist mentioned is included in this Spotify Playlist. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4LGLLlIg3V802CAOBLl1oY?si=c5bc8bff90fd48e4

Episode 53 - Nick Sheppard - Lucky and Happy

My guest in this episode is Dan French. As is often the case with my guests there is a work connection however in this case Dan worked with my brother Jim in the 90’s, not with myself. His name has come up regularly since that time and I am delighted he came on the show. To say Dan is an avid consumer of music is an understatement. This episode is a veritable Cook’s tour of the last six decades of music and in this 75-minute episode we manage to reference a 124 artists and songs spanning a whole range of genres and trends. Somehow Dan managed to whittle that down to these seven great choices 60’s       The Beatles                                                     Revolution70’s        Derek & The Dominos                             Layla 80’s       Joan Armatrading                                       All the Way from America 90’s       Jeff Buckley                                                     Hallelujah 00’s       The Magic Numbers                                   Forever Lost10’s       Adele                                                                    Someone Like You 20’s       Live Lounge All Stars                                   Times Like These In amongst all that music Dan has some fascinating stories including: ·        An extended road trip to the US and Canada in the early 80’s ·        Moving a Buick Regal Sedan from Seattle to San Bernadino on a motorcycle licence ·        Working with  big  names in I.T including James Martin & Tom Gruber (creator of Siri) ·        The journey to becoming CEO and owner of Consider Solutions·        Making his daughters late for school by taking them to the IOW Festival ·        Forming the band Bromma Plan and playing in Amsterdam, Vienna, Ibiza, and Edinburgh Dan is the proud father of two wonderful daughters, Hannah and Amy and now lives in Weybridge with his partner Georgia and her children Raff and Sienna. Here is the link to the hit packed 123 songs on Dan&apos;s Playlist. Just cut and paste into your browser and enjoy :-) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2AZVM8UnRatkxStyI8kxSA?si=3a6ddb728cd445a8

Episode 52 - Dan French - Times Like These

My guest today is a dear friend I met whilst living in Seattle. Ben is a likeable, larger than life character with a strong social conscience and we bonded over beer, bars, sport and most importantly music. Born and raised in Utrecht Ben’s working life started with four  years in the Dutch Navy followed by a long career in I.T with Cap Gemini and then Microsoft. He is now happily retired and living in Spain with his wife Illonka and their son Joe who will shortly be returning to university in Canada. Ben is a self-confessed Anglophile and this shows through in his musical choices, his dress sense and his unstinting devotion to Paul Weller and “The Arsenal” . Despite the latter he really is a nice guy ? and he has a raft of stories along with some great song choices, all of which are of course from the UK: 60’s                 The Rolling Stones               Street Fighting Man 70’s                 The Jam                                       In The City 80’s                 Elvis Costello                           Tramp the Dirt Down 90’s                 Oasis                                             Champagne Supernova 00’s                 Arctic Monkeys                      From The Ritz To The Rubble 10’s                 Stereophonics                          C’est La Vie 20’s                 Parklife                                         Blur Enjoy !  

Episode 51 - Ben Jansen van Jorksveld - Vorsprung durch Technik

Guests choose a song from each decade of their lives and tell me how they went about making their choices and why these songs mean so much to them . Episodes are published every second Tuesday

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Music Talks

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