Stuart Maconie and Elizabeth Alker meet up to tell each other extra-ordinary tales from 400 years of musical history.
From a murderous 16th Century madrigal composer to Batley Variety Club - Yorkshire's very own Caesar's Palace... and from the espionage-tinted roots of the theremin to the wild weekend that was the Bickershaw pop festival... Notable has the lot. Produced by Geoff Bird, artwork by Rory Clifford.
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Stuart and Elizabeth are on their travels again for the last episode before the summer hols, this time heading to the glorious Timber Festival in the National Forest.
Elizabeth begins her history of music festivals not with Monterey or the Isle of White but the Panhellenic Games in Ancient Greece - while Stuart's horizons are set even further afield. He regales the audience with the story of the most durable object ever created, The Voyager Golden Record, and the music found upon it - sent into outer space for alien life to get a flavour of some of the highpoints of human culture.
Notable will be away for the Summer and return with more extra-ordinary musical tales in the Autumn.
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28 Jun 2021
Notable: Wendy Carlos& Norman 'Nobby' Pilcher
In the penultimate episode of the series, Elizabeth and Stuart tackle the stories of two very different figures from the illustrious annals of music history. Elizabeth describes how Wendy Carlos shook the classical world to its well-heeled foundations with her extra-ordinary re-workings of Bach in particular, using cutting-edge electronic equipment that she herself was helping to develop. On the other side of the Atlantic, as Stuart will reveal, Nobby Pilcher was fast becoming the most notorious policeman in the history of British pop culture, with his penchant for nicking high profile musicians including John Lennon and Brian Jones.
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21 Jun 2021
Notable: My Boy Lollipop & Basil Kirchin
Another week, another Notable! This time out Stuart and Elizabeth tell two more stories from the annals of musical history, first up the incredible tale of Millie Small and her hugely influential hit 'My Boy Lollipop', which gave Britain its first taste of Jamaican Ska and gave Island Records its first major success. After that we hear about one of the true mavericks of British music, whose too-often neglected career spanned several decades and numerous genres - Basil Kirchin.
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14 Jun 2021
Notable: Albert Ayler & Cecil Sharp
This week Elizabeth and Stuart tell the stories of two highly influential figures from very different sections of music history. First up is the brilliant saxophonist Albert Ayler, a free jazz pioneer whose influence on John Coltrane alone merits him a much wider audience than ever achieved in his lifetime. Then, after a blessedly brief diversion into the backstory of legendary Lancashire songsmiths the Dandelion Adventure, we hear about Cecil Sharp, whose work collecting thousands of traditional songs in the nineteenth century made him a king of folk music; more recently his reputation has become somewhat more complicated, as Elizabeth and Stuart explain.
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7 Jun 2021
Notable: The Wicker Man/Johan Johannsson
Elizabeth and Stuart embark on a by-now near legendary one-show tour with their visit to the Hinterlands Film Festival in Skipton, which celebrates films set in non-urban locations. Before a screening of 'The Wicker Man' at the town's Plaza Cinema, Stuart tells the audience about movie's soundtrack, which he suggests launched its own musical sub-genre. Elizabeth chooses the work of Jóhan Jóannsson, most famous for his astonishing film soundtracks including 'Arrival' and 'The Theory of Everything', and the amazing musical life of his home country, Iceland.
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25 May 2021
Edgard Varèse - David Bowie & 1984
Stuart prompts a startling confession from Elizabeth through his recounting of the story of David Bowie's obsession with 1984. Before that she delves into the remarkable tale of composer Edgard Varèse and the huge influence he had on musicians including Charlie Parker and Frank Zappa. All that and a Notable Exception every bit as tangled as a C90 cassette that's been spat out of the tape player.
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17 May 2021
Notable: O Superman/Ken Colyer
This week Stuart and Elizabeth are set to beguile you with stories about arguably the oddest pop record to ever make the charts - Laurie Anderson's 'O Superman' - and one of the most influential though little-known figures in British music, Ken Colyer. In between times they're arguing about just how hard it is to get to Tennessee and where exactly 'Sprech' and 'Gesang' go their separate ways. Only on Notable, surely.
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10 May 2021
Notable: Wigan Casino/Daphne Oram
Two more tales from the annals of musical history, featuring the nightclub in the ballroom of northern mill town that was voted Billboard's 'Best Disco In The World', and the pioneering genius who did so much to establish electronic music in the UK.
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2 May 2021
Notable: Scarbrough Fair/ Stalin
It's highly unlikely that you'll find another podcast bringing together the fraught folk wrangling over the bucolic Scarbrough Fair with the influence of despotic dictator Josef Stalin on music - but as you'll hear in this new episode, for Elizabeth and Stuart such bold juxtapositions are mere trifles!
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26 Apr 2021
Notable: Lord of the Rings/Josephine Baker
Having spent lockdown three tirelessly researching some of the best stories from four hundred years of musical history, Elizabeth and Stuart return with Series Two of Notable to share them with you. In this first episode, Elizabeth tells the tale of one of the remarkable cultural figures of the last hundred years - Josephine Baker - who broke down barriers in a wide range of different fields throughout her wildly varied life. Stuart, meanwhile, shares the story of The Beatles' thwarted efforts to bring 'The Lord of the Rings' to the big screen decades before Peter Jackson had the same idea.
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8 Feb 2021
Notable: I predict a riot - with Stravinsky and Bob Dylan.
Stuart and Elizabeth are determined to end season one of Notable with a riot - or two in fact. First up is the tale of the notorious opening night of Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring', followed by the story of the angry reception Bob Dylan received from the folk music militia for having the audacity to go electric.
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1 Feb 2021
Rochdale, Rock City/Quartet for the End of Time
Quite the contrast this week. Elizabeth waxes lyrical about the giddy years when her home town of Rochdale punched above its musical weight, partly thanks to the attentions of John Peel. Stuart, meanwhile, tells the extra-ordinary story of the premiere of one of the great classical pieces of the twentieth century - 'Quatuor Pour le fin du Temps' - which took place in the prisoner of war camp where its composer, Messiaen, was being held captive by the Nazis. Throw in a heated debate about the merits of Mike Harding's multi-coloured poncho and you've all the makings of a classic 'Notable'. .
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25 Jan 2021
Turbojugend/Gesualdo
This week Elizabeth tells the fabulous tale of the global Turbojugend subculture, centring around the death-punk band Turbonegro and built upon progressive ideals and a bold denim aesthetic. Prizes are available to anyone who can guess the warrior names Stuart and Elizabeth anoint themselves with - and of course we've another Notable exception to enjoy. Stuart rounds things off with the story of visionary Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo, whose haunting music will forever be associated with the terrible murder its creator perpetrated.
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18 Jan 2021
Elvis in Scotland/Freud's Musical Influence
Stuart recounts the tale of Elvis Presley's only (or was it?) visit to these Isles, when he landed at Prestwick airport on his way home from serving in the army in Germany. Elizabeth, meanwhile, makes the bold argument that pretty much all music that came after him was influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud - and yes, that does include Jedward.
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11 Jan 2021
Batley Varieties Club/Pierre Henry's Liverpool Mass
Elizabeth and Stuart return with two more tales plundered from music's well-stocked historical attic. First up is Stuart with the incredible story of the variety club in a northern wool town that played host to some of the world's biggest entertainers, then Elizabeth charts the creation of the world's first electronic mass to mark the opening of Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral.
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4 Jan 2021
Is Paul Dead?/The Greatest Year in Jazz
Elizabeth and Stuart return with two more tales from the hinterlands of musical history. Stuart makes the case for 1959 as the highpoint in jazz thanks to a slew of innovative albums from some of the genre's greatest exponents, while Elizabeth wonders how a rumour that Paul McCartney died in the early years of The Beatles ever gained traction. The episode also features the one and only recording of our plucky pair playing music together, appropriately enough introducing the exciting* new 'Notable Exception' feature.
(*mildly diverting)
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21 Dec 2020
Notable: Christmas Special
"Elizabeth, it's Christmas!"
"I know, Stuart, it's brilliant!"
"Yes but we've only had one episode out, we've no business putting out a Christmas Special all about Phil Spector's Christmas album and the history of the Christmas Carol Service."
"You're right Stuart, that would be daft. Shall we do it anyway?"
"Go on then, Elizabeth. Merry Christmas!"
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10 Dec 2020
Notable: Bickershaw and the birth of the Theremin
Elizabeth Alker and Stuart Maconie invite you to prick up your ears and listen to the first in their new podcast series, 'Notable'. In each episode, they'll take turns to tell one another extra-ordinary tales from music history, spanning genres and centuries with wit, charm and effortless ease. Sort of. In this their maiden voyage, Elizabeth regales Stuart with the story of the birth of the Theremin, the unlikely offshoot of the Soviet espionage machine, while he describes for her the wonders of the Bickenshaw Festival, when the likes of Captain Beefheart and The Grateful Dead graced a muddy Lancashire field.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
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