John Cooper Clarke
Date of birth
25th January, 1949
Occupation
Poet
Sex
Male
Field Day 2017 - Festival Review
By Max Cussons in Music Reviews on 05 June 2017
Field Day is a yearly London festival, which is on its 10th year now. The festival specialises in electronic music, hip-hop, pop, indie and some other things here and there. This year the festival has some of the best artists from yesteryear, some of the best artists of recent years and some newbies who have all the potential to be greats. Naturally today was a great time.
Watching Abra feels like watching a star in the making. Despite only being second on the bill on one of today's smaller stages, there's a ton of people filling this tent up, dancing and singing along to her lush, bare and honest alternative R&B. Abra herself has shining stage presence, pulling funky moves and having a blast to her jams just like anyone else.
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John Cooper Clarke at the launch of Stella McCartney's 2017 menswear showcase held at Abbey Road Studios, London, United Kingdom - Thursday 10th November 2016
Song Reader: Beck Plays Album Of Sheet Music At London's Barbican
By Michael West in Music / Festivals on 08 July 2013
Beck's Song Reader might be a stroke of genius.
It is perhaps Beck's strangest album. Song Reader - the record made up entirely of sheet music - was played in full at London's Barbican Theatre on Sunday (July 7, 2013), with a huge cast of musicians including Jarvis Cocker, Franz Ferdinand and Beth Orton. This potentially had disaster written all over it, though reviews suggest the album was perfectly realised in the historic setting.
Song Reader contains twenty new songs, all publishing on song sheets. The tracks are scored for keys, guitar and voice though Beck's intention was for fans to elaborate and change the songs to their liking. As noted by the Financial Times' Ludovic Hunter-Tilney in his review, songwriter Ed Harcourt was given that job on the piano. He was accompanied by flugelhorns, ukuleles, drums and guitars. The veteran punk poet John Cooper Clarke read prose between songs while female vocal trio The Staves helped out on vocals.
David Smyth of the Evening Standard suggested the concert will have encouraged fans to have a go themselves, writing, "The songs Beck performed himself sounded the most predictable, with acoustic guitar to the fore, though a jazzy, catchy Do We, We Do would have stood out regardless of the singer. For those buying the book in the lobby, it was a case of do try this at home."
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Beck Summons An Army To Help Him Turn 'Song Reader' Into Music
By Lauren James in Music / Festivals on 05 July 2013
A little help from my friends: Beck performs his latest 'Song Reader' album during an evening that saw performances from Franz Ferdinand, Jarvis Cocker, The Mighty Boosh, Beth Orton and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Depending on the way you look at it, Beck's decision to release his last album in the form of sheet music was either incredibly innovative or unforgivably pretentious. Released in December 2012, Song Reader comprised of twenty songs in sheet music form as well as over one hundred pages of art. The idea behind the unusual decision was to let the fan become the composer, with many interpretations quickly surfacing online showing the versatility of the pieces.
Song Reader live.This was all very well if you're a Beck fan with some degree of musical talent but for those hungering for the white rap of Odelay, the pop experimentation of Midnite Vultures or the sweet melancholy of Sea Change were left feeling a little bemused and perhaps even cheated.
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Field Day Festival 2013 New Acts Announced
Posted on01 March 2013
Bestival Line Up And Ticket Information - 5-8th September 2013
Posted on31 January 2013