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Young music fans can like Paul Simon too

Was Radio 1’s Clara Amfo too dismissive of a great star?

David Lister
Wednesday 29 April 2015 15:23 BST
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The veteran broadcaster and former Radio 1 presenter Paul Gambaccini is annoyed with his old station, and in particular its weekly chart show. The number one album at the moment is a greatest hits collection by Paul Simon. It seems that the chart show presenter Clara Amfo mentioning the album, referred to Paul Simon by saying: “Ask your dad about him.”

Gambaccini was not amused, saying: “To me that is an ignorant attitude. You don’t disrespect the No 1 album, regardless of who it’s by.”

I have some sympathy with him, not least because I have just seen Mr Simon in concert with Sting (ask your older brother) and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. And if you look at the current touring and albums scene there’s quite a lot that Ms Amfo would want you to consult parents about. From Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen to relative youngsters Madonna and Blur, there’s no shortage of what record companies now call rather cringingly “heritage acts” either on the road or releasing albums. Certainly, even the youngest of those are well outside the Radio 1 demographic.

Gambaccini is partly right because one of the joys of the charts is that for the simple reason that they reflect sales, they embrace all age groups and all tastes. That is why I have often argued for a return to our TV screens of Top of the Pops. It was the one music show that could be, and was, watched as a family, and involve either amusing or heated exchanges of views and musical tastes.

Though it is often forgotten in what is written and recalled of the sixties, the charts even at the time of the so-called youth revolution still threw up alarming anomalies. The best double A side (ask your dad) ever released, The Beatles’ "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane", was kept off the number one spot in 1967 by Engelbert Humperdinck’s "Please Release Me". In the same year The Rolling Stones double A side "Let’s Spend the Night Together"/"Ruby Tuesday" was blocked from number one by Petula Clark. I’m reading a new biography of Ray Davies (if a parent is still on hand, ask again) and it pointed out that his classic song for The Kinks, "Waterloo Sunset", was kept at number two, also in 1967, by the bubble gum pop of The Tremeloes. The charts have always reflected a broad demographic and broader musical tastes.

But while I understand Paul Gambaccini’s annoyance, I’m not sure that Ms Amfo made such a faux pas.Radio 1’s demographic is unlikely to be downloading a septuagenarian like Paul Simon, just as young fans in the sixties were unlikely to be heard comparing the merits of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. But if they do ask their dads about Paul Simon as Ms Amfo suggests, and listen to the odd track, they may be in for a very pleasant surprise.

Music is a voyage of discovery, and if Ms Amfo has started her listeners on that journey, even with a semi-sarcastic remark, she could unwittingly enrich their lives.

It’s great that we can see Nicole Kidman on stage for a tenner

Nicole Kidman’s appearance on the London stage later this year with the Michael Grandage company is to be welcomed. But exciting as Kidman will be, I’m even more excited by the return of Grandage, a superlative stage director who has been missed while he spent much of the past year making his first movie. Naturally, I welcome too Grandage’s decision to make 25 per cent of tickets for the run of the play £10. Even better, he has insisted that booking fees are subsumed into the £10. So, for once, the price you see on the tickets is the price you pay. Now, let’s see the rest of theatreland match up.

But a pity some pay full price elsewhere to see just half a stage

Last week I wrote that there were hundreds of seats in West End theatres, from which audience members couldn’t see properly. Two readers contacted me to say that the night before reading my column they had been to the Dorfman theatre (one of the National Theatre’s auditoria) and half of the stage couldn’t be seen from their seats. I’d like to see it ma

de a rule that directors should watch their plays in rehearsal from every part of the theatre, so that they know exactly how much of their work can be seen. They might be shocked by the results.

d.lister@independent.co.uk

twitter.com/davidlister1

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