UKNY For January 30

Tonight's UKNY at 11 delves more deeply into scathing and/or soothing new albums from Savages, Money and Oh Wonder. Also, a farewell to Black's Colin Vearncombe, the Liverpool-born, Cork-based singer and songwriter who passed away earlier this week at the too-young age of 53.

Also, a second look at David Bowie's everlasting fondness for the music of Belgian composer, songwriter and singer Jacques Brel—and the impact of Mort Shuman and Eric Blau's influential 1968 musical revue and translation of Brel's songs, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, on Bowie's own music.

In a 2003 Vanity Fair list of his 25 favorite albums, Bowie chose the original cast album of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris and wrote : "In the mid-'60s, I was having an on-again, off-again thing with a wonderful singer-songwriter who had previously been the girlfriend of Scott Walker. Much to my chagrin, Walker’s music played in her apartment night and day. I sadly lost contact with her, but unexpectedly kept a fond and hugely admiring love for Walker’s work. One of the writers he covered on an early album was Jacques Brel. That was enough to take me to the theater to catch the above-named production when it came to London in 1968. By the time the cast, led by the earthy translator and Brooklynite Mort Shuman, had gotten to the song that dealt with guys lining up for their syphilis shots (“Next”), I was completely won over. By way of Brel, I discovered French chanson a revelation. Here was a popular song form wherein poems by the likes of Sartre, Cocteau, Verlaine, and Baudelaire were known and embraced by the general populace. No flinching, please."

Out late or in bed early? You can catch up to UKNY on demand as of Monday in the FUV weekend archives up to two weeks after broadcast.

Songs played:

1. Money, “I’m Not Here,” Suicide Songs
2. Savages, “Sad Person,” Adore Life
3. The Pretenders, “Precious,” The Pretenders
4. PJ Harvey, “The Wheel,” The Hope Six Demolition Project
5. Black, “Womanly Panther,” Blind Faith
6. Meilyr Jones, “Featured Artist,” 2013
7. Emmy the Great, “Algorithm,” Second Love
8. Black, “Wonderful Life,” Any Colour You Like
9. David Bowie, “Rock and Roll Suicide,” The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
10. Elly Stone, “You’re Not Alone (Jef),” Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (original cast album)
11. David Bowie and the Tony Visconti Trio, “Port of Amsterdam,” Bowie at the Beeb
12. Jacques Brel, “La Mort,” Les bourgeois/La valse a mille temps
13. Commonwealth Cut (Sydney, Australia): High Highs, “London, After the Rain,” Cascades
14. Oh Wonder, “Technicolour Beat,” Oh Wonder