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Column 16: BBC’s Drive Experiment Crashes & Burns

November 5, 2014

When I was a kid, I remember trying to explore everything my computer could do. A personal computer was still an exciting new technology and I had so many fresh tools at my disposal. But of all these tools I had to use, I enjoyed messing with none more than Windows Movie Maker. I still have fond memories of taking popular shows or movies I watched and crudely mashing them up with some of my favorite songs. I share this not to revel in nostalgia, but because that’s what BBC’s latest experiment reminded me of. In the last week, famous BBC radio DJ, Zane Lowe, premiered his rescored version of Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2009 film, Drive. The project overseen by Lowe earned the blessing of the film’s director and collected some of the UK’s biggest indie & electronic acts to create original music for the film. The original was already[...]

Various Artists – “God Only Knows”

October 8, 2014

Yesterday, the BBC released the video for their tribute to The Beach Boys legendary 1966 single “God Only Knows” featuring Brian Wilson and a tremendous all star cast of musicians, and it is beyond sublime. The Pet Sounds classic and “teenage symphony to God” got the deluxe treatment to raise money for the BBC’s Children In Need charity telethon, assembling a preposterous galaxy of talent to join Brian on the single: Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Dave Grohl, Brian May, Chrissie Hynde, Kylie Minogue, Chris Martin, Lorde, Florence Welch, Pharrell, Sam Smith, Emile Sande, Paloma Faith and a variety of other UK talent plus the BBC Orchestra and the Tees Valley Youth Choir. The brilliantly surreal video also features cameos by such BBC music luminaries as Jools Holland, Zane Lowe, and Lauren Laverne, and in true Brian Wilson (and Phil Spector) fashion, it still clocks in under 3 minutes. Only the BBC and[...]