Annie Nightingale (“the great goth auntie”), choirs on pop records & the music they sent into space

We stuck a coin in this week’s jukebox of news and cranked up the volume and these were the tracks that got played …

… fond memories of Annie Nightingale at Radio One and Whistle Test.

… the delicious melancholy of Sunday night pop radio.

… how David Gilmour writes songs.

… sex, clothes, gangsters: the eternal allure of Bonnie & Clyde.

… how the first Police album (including three hit singles) was recorded by a former doctor in a four-track studio above a dairy in Leatherhead for £1,500, and the band’s touching tribute when he died.

… the British Library hijack hack.

… the fantasy theme of so many ‘60s movies: ‘escape’.

… Ridley Scott’s Hovis ad.

… Blind Willie Johnson, Chuck Berry … Blodwyn Pig? The five tracks you’d send into space to represent life on earth.

… how future wars will be started.

… plus birthday guest Sandra Austin on the best use of choirs on records among them Aretha Franklin’s You’ve Got A Friend, Blur’s Tender, the Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Roy Harper’s When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease.

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