What the critics say: Chris Evans' Radio 2 breakfast show debut

Mark Savage Mark Savage — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:04:20 +0000

Chris Evans has made his first outing as the new host of BBC Radio 2's breakfast show, taking over from Sir Terry Wogan - who presented the show for a total of 27 years.

Evans set the ball rolling with two Beatles songs, All You Need Is Love and Got To Get You Into My Life. He also played out good luck message from Sir Terry himself and was joined by newsreader Moira Stewart, making her return to the BBC.

According to The Telegraph's Gillian Reynolds, it was "a bit stiff to start" but "warmed up nicely".

"The music was carefully chosen not to frighten the oldies. Moira Stuart resisted Evans' flattery and read the news beautifully. Lynne Bowles proved herself the champ of traffic and transport reporters. Jonny Saunders, the sports reporter, let himself be picked on. (In any Evans show there has to be someone he can bully a bit.)"

The normally sedate format of the show was ripped to pieces, according to Chris Campling of The Times, who said Evans "burst upon the stygian gloom of a deep-frozen Monday like a grinning, shouty supernova."

"Two and a half hours passed by in a second, studded with the sort of music to make an old heart glad. He even played Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen. Wogan was great, the message went, but there's a new, 43-year-old kid in town and, to continue the Eagles line, everyone's gonna love him."

However, the Daily Mail's Paul Connolly, was a little disappointed that a "nervous" Evans and his team "played it very straight, some might say too straight."

"Evans, clearly determined to allay fears that he'd radically alter the show's musical content, greeted the end of the song by saying, 'See I told you there was nothing to worry about. However, one bugbear, and something he will have to sort out straight away is his tendency to talk over the end of tracks."

The bloggers have had their say too, with Evan's music choice again being applauded. Media consultant Nik Goodman said: "There really was something for everybody."

"Fats Domino with his 1956 version of Blueberry Hill. Throw in some Sinatra and Beatles and you've got the older end pretty happy... and many of the younger end, too, come to think of it. You can't really go wrong with them. And the currents were catered for as well, with Robbie, Alicia Keys, the new one from Mika... and even a rather good new song from the 'Evans favourites' box - Ocean Colour Scene."

Meanwhile, The Daily Dust said the show was a mixed bag - "nothing earth shattering, the same mix of banter and bands".

"The question now is if the UK will take to the host of what is the biggest morning show in the country."

But what about Sir Terry's faithful listeners - Terry's Old Geezers and Gals, as they were affectionately known? Writing in The Guardian, Lesley Macintosh (one of the "old gals" herself) praised Evans for not "trying to please the Togs". Instead, she wrote, "it was about Chris trying to please his listeners."

"Chris is a completely different person to Terry Wogan. He's upbeat. You can't compare the two. I want to listen to Terry Wogan forever, and if he hadn't left it I would have been delighted, but we're looking forward to his Sunday show. Still, we had to change, and having Chris on now is just fine. He's a lovely person; I wasn't expecting Terry."

Links in full

Gillian Reynolds |Daily Telegraph | Chris Evans's first Radio 2 breakfast show, review
Chris Campling | The Times | Review: Chris Evans kicks off with a bang
Daily Mail | Nervous Chris Evans on his best behaviour as he takes over Sir Terry Wogan's slot on Radio 2
Lesley Macintosh | Guardian | Chris Evans v Terry Wogan: what the Togs say
Music Week | Evans tucks into first R2 breakfast
Nik Goodman | | Chris Evans First Show - Music Review
The Daily Dust | | Evans looks back as he opens Radio 2 Breakfast Show

What the critics say: X Factor chart battle

Mark Savage Mark Savage — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:41:44 +0000

The campaign to stop X Factor winner Joe McElderry from claiming the Christmas number one has divided music critics and fans alike. At the time of writing, Rage Against The Machine's expletive-laden 1992 single Killing In The Name, is ahead by several thousand sales.

But Fraser McAlpine, writing on the BBC Chart Blog, takes issue with the motives behind the campaign, launched on Facebook three weeks ago:

"It strikes me that there is a nasty streak of snobbery to the Rage Against The Machine campaign, because essentially the people behind it not only don't approve of the song the X Factor has made - before they have even heard it, which is always lovely - but they don't like the people who DO like it. They think these people are easily-led. They may use words like 'sheep' or 'masses' or 'plebs' or 'chavs', and they believe themselves to be above such obvious mind-control."

Picking up the baton, NME critic Luke Lewis calls the protest a "huge waste of everyone's time and money" - and goes on to suggest its supporters are trivialising Killing In The Name's political message:

"Rage Against The Machine wrote the song about the racism deeply embedded in American society - the police officers who "burn crosses" are closet members of the Ku Klux Klan. You can't imagine [lead singer] Zack de la Rocha - a man so committed to leftist social activism he has worked closely with Mexico's Zapatista National Liberation Army, and once declared US Presidents should be shot as war criminals - would be too delighted to discover his howl of anti-establishment rage had been co-opted by a bunch of bored Brits on Twitter."

There are better singles to back if you want to strike a blow against Simon Cowell and his record label, SyCo, says Peter Robinson on the Popjustice website. In particular, Fifty Grand For Christmas, a song by former X Factor auditionee Paul Holt:

"In case you've forgotten, when Paul Holt auditioned for the first series of The X Factor Simon Cowell told him that if Holt managed to get a Number One single, he'd hand over fifty thousand pounds. So Holt made a song, 'Fifty Grand For Christmas', about the bet. As the lyrics - and this is one of the greatest opening lines in the history of popular song - explain: 'Simon says he'll pay the sum of fifty thousand pounds if I get to Number One.'"

The Guardian's Tim Jonze disagrees. He says a number one for Rage Against The Machine's 20-year-old protest anthem would be a "triumph for pop":

"The song might be old, but having a fan-powered campaign propel it to the chart summit against the might of an entertainment powerhouse like SyCo would tell you more about the democratised, downloadable and downright free-for-all nature of the pop charts in 2009 than anything else."

But were the festive charts ever a safe haven for musical talent? Not really, says the Telegraph's music critic, Neil McCormick. Before X Factor, he reminds us, the Christmas chart crown went to the likes of Bob The Builder and Mr Blobby:

"For the kind of consumer whose interest in music is so shallow they only invest money buying a single at Christmas, Mr Cowell provides the unique service of reducing their choice to whatever his latest talent show is peddling."

Finally, The Sun has a warning from history for Radio One DJ Reggie Yates when he reveals Rage Against The Machine's final position on the Chart Show this weekend:

"The track is unlikely to get much airplay. On its release in February 1993 then Radio 1 DJ Bruno Brookes bungled by playing an uncensored version of it during his Top 40 countdown show. The BBC were flooded by complaints from listeners stunned by the sheer volume of F-words the track contains."

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See Also - Mark Savage

What the critics say: Chris Evans' Radio 2 breakfast show debut

What the critics say: X Factor chart battle