FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER 2011

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b016fr40)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Elgar: The Man Behind the Mask (b00vv0zx)
The composer of Land of Hope and Glory is often regarded as the quintessential English gentleman, but Edward Elgar's image of hearty nobility was deliberately contrived. In reality, he was the son of a shopkeeper, who was awkward, nervous, self-pitying and often rude, while his marriage to his devoted wife Alice was complicated by romantic entanglements which fired his creative energy.

In this revelatory portrait of a musical genius, John Bridcut explores the secret conflicts in Elgar's nature which produced some of Britain's greatest music.


FRI 21:00 Upside Down: The Creation Story (b016myqs)
Millions of sales on both sides of the Atlantic, near bankruptcy, pills, thrills, spats, prats, successes, excesses, pick-me-ups and breakdowns - all spiralled together to create some of the most defining music of the 20th century.

This is the definitive and fully-authorised documentary of the highs and lows of the UK's most inspired and dissolute independent record label - Creation Records. Over 25 years after Creation's first records, it follows the story from the days of the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Primal Scream and Teenage Fanclub to the Boo Radleys, the Super Furry Animals and of course Oasis, among many, many more.

The label's enigmatic founder Alan McGee talks candidly of the trail which led from humble beginnings in Glasgow, via drink and drug dependency to being wined and dined at No 10 Downing Street by Tony Blair.


FRI 22:40 Creation at the BBC (b016myqv)
A trip through the BBC archives from programmes such as Whistle Test, the Oxford Road Show, Top of the Pops and Later with Jools Holland to find some rare and some familiar footage of the bands who were on one of the UK's most seminal and important record labels, Creation Records.

Founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green and Jo Foster, Creation Records was started off as a cottage industry producing 7" singles from a bedroom and went on to sign the one of the biggest bands in the world - Oasis.

From East Kilbride the Reid brothers, Jim and William, bandmate Douglas Hart and drummer Bobby Gillespie exploded onto the scene as the Jesus and Mary Chain on Whistle Test in 1985, and from the same year a rare piece of footage from Peter Astor's band The Loft on the Oxford Road Show. The Loft morphed into his next project the Weather Prophets, who we see on the Whistle Test later that year.

My Bloody Valentine nearly bankrupted Creation but produced one of the label's flagship albums, Isn't Anything, while Slowdive were front runners in the 'shoegazing' scene. The 1990s heralded the halcyon days of Creation with the release of Primal Scream's zeitgeist album Screamadelica and arguably the most important band of the decade, Oasis, signing to the label in 1993. Thus followed a string of chart successes for Creation with Ride, the Boo Radleys, Super Furry Animals, Teenage Fanclub and, of course, Oasis.

The label disintegrated in 1999, but undoubtedly produced some of the most important records of the late 1980s and 1990s.


FRI 23:40 Omnibus (b007bf0l)
Alan McGee - The Man Who Discovered Oasis

A rollercoaster ride through the life and times of the man who has lived the rock 'n' roll dream. Alan McGee almost burned himself out with drugs and drink before finding the biggest band of the 90s, Oasis, and making a million in the process. Abrasive and honest, this is a no-holds-barred portrait of one of the most influential figures in popular music.


FRI 00:30 Do it Yourself: The Story of Rough Trade (b00j4dx5)
The Rough Trade story begins more than thirty years ago on 20th February 1976. Britain was in the grip of an IRA bombing campaign; a future prime minister was beginning to make her mark on a middle England in which punk was yet to run amok; and a young Cambridge graduate called Geoff Travis opened a new shop at 202 Kensington Park Road, just off Ladbroke Grove in west London. The Rough Trade shop sold obscure and challenging records by bands like American art-rockers Pere Ubu, offering an alternative to the middle-of-the-road rock music that dominated the music business.

In January 1977, when a record by Manchester punk band Buzzcocks appeared in the shop, Rough Trade found itself in the right place at the right time to make an impact far beyond that of a neighbourhood music store. When Spiral Scratch was released in 1977, the idea of putting out a single without the support of an established record company was incredible. But Rough Trade was to become the headquarters of a revolt against this corporate monopoly - it was stocking records by bands inspired by the idea that they could do it themselves.

But selling a few independent records over the counter was not going to change the world. Early independent labels had to hand over their distribution to the likes of EMI or CBS. But one man at Rough Trade challenged that monopoly. Richard Scott joined Rough Trade in 1977 and became the architect of a grand scheme that was nothing short of revolutionary: independent nationwide distribution.

The shop could now offer experimental musicians the chance to sell records nationwide and so it was inevitable that Rough Trade became a record label in its own right. In 1978 the Rough Trade label was born and by the end of the year it had released a dozen singles by an eclectic mix of post-punk artists and become not just an alternative ideological force, but genuine competitors in the commercial music world.


FRI 02:00 Creation at the BBC (b016myqv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:40 today]


FRI 03:00 Upside Down: The Creation Story (b016myqs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]