Music Therapy column: Why we keep playing the 'masters'

Tune in from 9pm every Sunday on Tameside Radio 103.6FM to catch up with Michael Taylor and Neil Summers. For now, read their latest column here...

Neil and I had a couple of debates on our show last weekend. When is it right for a dead artist’s archive to be opened and for the material to be released?

We ask because I’d picked Hot Summer, the new single from Prince.

Recorded in 2010 and given only limited play on local radio in his home city of Minneapolis, the single was never formally released.

Obviously, his Purple Highness tragically died in 2016. Should that have been the end of it? Prince was a prolific and experimental musician.

An incredible guitar player - hailed as the best in the world by no lesser an authority than Eric Clapton who legend has it, when he was asked what it felt to be the greatest guitar player in the world replied - ‘ask Prince’.

He also famously battled with his record company over his own image rights and the pressure he was under to release new music, changing his identity to a symbol and for a while being referred to as ‘the artist formerly known as Prince’.

So what are the pressures now from people who made a living out of his talent? I genuinely don’t know what the forces are that have led to this release.

The global academic expert on Prince is Dr Kirsty Fairclough at Manchester Metropolitan University, and she’s been really enjoying it, but as she pointed out to me, it’s had bad reviews.

But Rolling Stone magazine liked it, stating: “Welcome 2 America manages to be as relevant, or maybe even more relevant, today than when it was recorded … confronting themes of racial justice, equality, big tech and just what it means to be human, it feels like the soundtrack for the years since Prince’s untimely death.

“It’s almost as if Prince knew it would mean more in 2021 than it might have when first recorded.”

Then we discussed the abilities of various artists we keep coming back to.

Does this endless fascination with the talents of old rockers steal airtime from new music?

I can see a case for that when the music is rubbish, but the ones who keep smashing it out of the park do so with new levels of innovation and collaboration.

Paul Weller is one who seems to keep getting better and better.

There’s also a new documentary film in cinemas (remember them?) about Sparks, pioneers of electronic music.

We played their standout track Number One Song in Heaven recently and it absolutely got the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

The film, directed by Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) is a real fan film, celebrating an epic span of 25 albums with a galaxy of stars paying humorous tributes to a band that have been around for so little is known about them.

As Wright says: “How can one rock band be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and criminally overlooked all at the same time?”

But one artist who would never be accused of being overlooked is Paul McCartney, and rightly so.

Not only does he keep knocking out amazing music, but he also does so in partnership with real cutting edge artists.

This week we played  Pretty Boys, a new track he’s released with incredible Texan trio Khruangbin, another release from his McCartney III Imagined album, a collection of remixes of tracks from his recent solo album by a slew of artists also including, Anderson Paak, Beck, St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, Damon Albarn, Ed O’Brien, Blood Orange, Josh Homme, and more.

So, we try and keep the balance, because the blend of masters (alive or dead) working with the best new musicians is something magical.

You can listen to Michael Taylor and Neil Summers on Music Therapy on Tameside Radio 103.6FM on Sunday evenings from 9pm to 11pm. Click here to subscribe and catch up on previous shows.

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