I remember Squeeze’s debut single “Take Me I’m Yours” and recall buying “Goodbye Girl” in a 3D picture sleeve (from Woolworths I think). Little did I realise how Jools would go on to shape mine and now my daughter’s musical libraries!
I recall hearing Seasick Steve, GoGo Penguin and more recently Lady Blackbird for the first time on his shows all of which are part of my library. Jools’ shows are like an old school Roon Discovery feature…and then there are the household names like Adele who had one of their first appearances on his show.
I also recall being blown away by the Artic Monkeys on one of his shows (and dare I say Jessie J).
Far too many great performances to list but the stand out remains At The Drive-In performing One Armed Scissor. Just an outrageous’f*ck you’ rock’n’roll performance with nothing held back. The icing on the cake is the look on Robbie William’s face realising that he somehow has to follow this.
My favourite JH discovery was actually how short he was and how amicable he appeared.
I went to a show recording at the BBC many moons ago as one of the audience.
On the roster was Scissor Sisters, who were phenomenal to be honest…Eric Bibb… incredible, The Good The Bad and The Queen, who were dreadful and Tony Bennett…need I say more.
Great experience seeing how the show worked and was recorded and Jules was a gent.
On the way out met Jake Shears outside the gents…
I saw Scissor Sisters live at the O2 at the height of their fame and they were just brilliant. Their cover of ‘Comfortably Numb’ is still one of the best ever covers (IMO)
Remember seeing Seasick Steve on the hootenanny one year and thought he stole the show, theres usually one or two finds each series that provoke further exploration.
Another vote for Seasick Steve and Paul Weller. The former I’d not heard before and the latter never really connected with until watching a performance on “Later”.
Triggered the purchase of a lot of CDs a while back.
Saw Joy Crookes on his New Year show this year, which encouraged me to go back to her recent album and give it another go. Pleased I did, as I’m really enjoying it.
As an aside we booked Jools and his band for a Uni function when I was at Nottingham in about 1986. He was just the nicest man. He played one set then with a short break just played on for hours including requests etc. By the end the band had more or less packed up and it was just him with a piano. He then sent us a letter saying he’d had a great night and enclosed a handful of complimentary tickets to be in the audience of ‘The Tube’.
He does seem to be a very genuine and affable guy, probably why he manages to get so many great acts on his show (OK, I guess he doesn’t actually book the acts, but you know what I mean).
I am afraid I have to add another vote for Seasick Steve!! That said many other great discoveries have been made. A brilliant show for hearing new music and artists.
The low point…it has to be “Vic Reeves” (Jim Moir). What the hell was that all about on the 2021/2022 Hootananny - or am I just missing the point??
