LATER...with Jools Holland (09/05/2008 - Series 32, Show 6)

A very good show (or shows) this week with some real legends of music performing.

Tuesday 6/5

• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)
• The Fratellis - Mistress Mabel
• Santogold - Les Artiste
• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (Chat with JH)
• Emmylou Harris - Gold
• Chris Difford (Chat with JH)
• Spiritualized - Soul On Fire
• The Fratellis - My Friend John
• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - One Woman Man

Friday 9/5

• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)
• The Fratellis - Mistress Mabel
• Spiritualized - Soul On Fire
• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss with T-Bone Burnett (Chat with JH)
• Chris Difford - Battersea Boys
• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Killing The Blues
• Santogold - Les Artiste
• Spiritualized - Sweet Talk
• Emmylou Harris (Chat with JH)
• The Fratellis - A Heady Tale
• Emmylou Harris with Buddy Miller - How She Could Sing The Wildwood Flower
• Spiritualized - You Cheat You Lie
• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Rich Women
• The Fratellis - My Friend John

A deceptive Tuesday show which implied a three song set from Santogold. Thankfully this did not happen on Friday, the mighty Spiritualized performing three songs instead. But the headline act, and rightfully so, is Robert Plant and Alison Krauss with their ‘Raiding Sand’ band including musician/producer T-Bone Burnett. They performed the bluesy rock of Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On), the bluesy Killing The Blues and the…er…bluesy Rich Women. They closed the Friday show with One Woman Man which was a bit too country. Both Krauss and Plant were superb and the vocal balance was perfect. The Tuesday interview about touring and the chemistry between them was repeated on Friday when the duo was joined by T-Bone Burnett. He got to talk about touring and then Plant, who did not seem interested in anything about Led Zeppelin, professed that the duo are in fact a band and there is a lot of history in their music. Plant did reveal that the only instrument he plays LZ songs on now is the handcuffs. Hmmm.

The Fratellis are a great live band even if they do lack decent song writing ability. They previewed three new tracks from their new album, the best being Mistress Mabel. The energy and dynamic they create from a live show is incredible. Even more engaging are Spiritualized - Jay Spaceman and friends, including two other guitarists, a string quartet and four piece gospel choir, are back with a new album and doing the rounds on just about everything. It all sounds great including the messy guitar ending of the noisy You Cheat You Lie. Soul On Fire and Sweet Talk bring together the trail vocals and huge orchestra sound JS is well known for.

So Santogold only had one song, performed on each show. Les Artist seems to be the only decent song showcased at the moment. It would have been good to see more of her but in a show were even Emmylou Harris only got to perform two songs, the competition was tough. Alos relegated to the sidelines was Chris Difford. He is such an engaging storyteller who continues to write amazing songs but there is clearly still some tension between him and ex-Squeeze band member JH, who now has the upper hand.

Some great music this week. Not much variation in the music with too much guitar on show but much better performances than last week.