Later ... With Jools Holland: 30 Years of Music, Magic and Mayhem

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If you're coming to Coles by car, why not take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at Sainsbury's Pioneer Square - just follow the signs for Pioneer Square as you drive into Bicester and park in the multi-storey car park above the supermarket. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. You don't need to shop in Sainsbury's to get the free parking! Where to Find Us In October 1992, a music programme debuted on BBC Two entitled Later…. It was presented by the musician and raconteur Jools Holland and featured an unprecedented range of musical talent. Thirty years on, the 60th season is unfolding on Saturday nights. This impressive book details what amounts to 30 years of musical history. It is written by Mark Cooper, who cocreated the show in 1992 and was its producer for 26 years. His unique perspective shows how many of the key contributors were chosen. The result is engrossing, elegantly written and cleverly constructed. Now, after leaving his job as head of music television, BBC Studios, where he led BBC TV’s coverage of Glastonbury and executive produced more than 250 music documentaries, Cooper has written a book, Later… with Jools Holland: 30 Years of Music, Magic and Mayhem. It takes us behind the screen from the beginnings of Later… as a segment in BBC Two’s arts and media showcase The Late Show, to its latest incarnation, which is recorded in its new home at Alexandra Palace.

Jools doesn’t do that. He’s quite bumbly, often very funny, and sometimes a bit awkward. He humanises that environment, which I think is well suited to a music show.” Mark is the co-creator and founding producer of the show and of the annual Hootenanny, booking and shaping both for 26 years without missing a single recording. So we hear all about it’s creation to it’s build into a musical and TV institution…. and so many stories of appearances and collaborations from our podcast subject – Paul Weller…Janet’s aesthetic of shooting in the round was very hard to realise. As a director, she had to grow into that, and the crew had to learn how to do Later…. My podcast guest on Episode 144 has a completely unique story from music journalist in the time of The Jam to co-creator of a music TV show that has featured Paul Weller more than any other artist. Jools doesn’t have that desire to be perfect or to be completely in control,” he says. “In fact, he rather likes it when things go slightly wrong. That’s a very good attitude for a music show, because I think there’s something about music that wants something a bit looser than most TV, which is usually trying to keep a perfect surface. I’m a sad bastard,” he reflects. “There’s a point you get to when you’ve done so many that the idea of missing one would be heartbreaking and numerically sad.”

As a Foo Fighters fan, I found chapter 12 rather poignant. The book was being finished off in May 2022 (as you find out in the very last part), and it did make me pause for a moment to read the mention of "the late Taylor Hawkins", then shortly afterwards to see his signature printed alongside (most of) his bandmates beneath the piece written by Dave Grohl. It does explain that the autographs at the end of artist testimonies are taken from the show's guest book, but that did put a lump in my throat. That and seeing him and Dave sat next to each other in the photo of the 25th anniversary line-up, with Taylor looking a bit like he's sitting for a school photo, hands neatly on his knees, even as he's distracted, looking off to the side. Bless him. Of course, this eclecticism is what has made Later… what it is, less a TV show than a BBC institution, a place where music legends such as Van Morrison can hang out in the same studio as a new artist who has still to make their first recording. Icon or newbie, the performer is likely to receive the same welcoming patter from Jools Holland, whose mix of nonchalance and enthusiasm puts even the biggest egos at ease. It doesn’t try to be too cool for school and isn’t a trend show or a generational show and isn’t aimed at a particular demographic.

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To what, then, does Cooper ascribe Later’s longevity? “The secret of the show is its aesthetic. It found – and finds – a way to bring out the best in musicians on TV. Completing the line-up, Jools chats to Madness frontman Suggs about the band’s first new album in seven years called Theatre of the Absurd presents C’est La Vie. It sees Madness reunited, re-energised and reinvigorated, resulting in their most harmonious recording experience to date. By contrast, Later’s approach is based on appealing to “the musically curious” and building its aesthetic on “taste”. This determination not to chase a particular audience or a particular cultural moment has, he argues, helped it to endure over the decades.

From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada: Cooper co-created Later… with director Janet Fraser Crook, whose idea it was to film the show in the round, itself something of a revolution in studio craft. “Ultimately, TV is what you do with it. It’s a tool – the studio, the cameras, the lights. What really matters is what you want to say with them…Making their debut, Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations are a group led by the prolific and revered producer, who has worked with the likes of Adele, Amy Winehouse and Jessie Ware and previously fronted The Invisible (nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2009). His latest critically-acclaimed album I Came From Love sees him collaborate with the likes of Grace Jones, Kwabs and ESKA, who performs with him tonight. What, then, does the future hold for Later…? The consumption of music has changed radically since 1992. Recognising this, the BBC makes Later… clips available online. Reading the book, one learns right away that Cooper is a man who has lived his life immersed in music. He is equally at home writing about Johnny Cash as he is about Jay-Z or a more left-field performer such as Oumou Sangaré, the Grammy-award winning Malian singer and composer.