Two greatest things that happened to me this year, musically speaking, was Mark’s new radio programme and the launch of Spotify in Russia after long years of waiting. Two things collided in sync and so perfectly, that right away I made a whole playlist for The British Grove Broadcast. I had to make my own because all the existing playlists were not up to the quality level that I want. The difference is that my playlist is 100% accurate. Then I made my own jukebox out of my favourite music.
If you said to me when I started listening to Mark’s music, do you want to have this guy talking for hours and recommending you different music that he likes? I’d say − yes, yes, yes! Yes, please. Mark has the astonishing taste in music, and imagine his jukebox colliding with my jukebox, and I’ve collected over a thousand great songs over the years, and this is like a galactic collision really.
One of the hardest things in life for me is finding great music, not just good music, but great music. Usually, it happens by chance, you can hear a great song on the radio, or somebody can recommend it to you. Well, you’re in luck when this “somebody” is Mark Knopfler. Fun fact is that my jukebox is so different compared to Mark’s, we barely have the same tracks in there, and yet I love everything that he’s recommending. So I might as well put everything in my jukebox, but I keep both separated.
So right after the first episode of The British Grove Broadcast I though − I want to read this, this is like a book, or at least a Wikipedia page, and Mark just narrates it. So I desperately wanted to read it instead of hearing it. So after the 21st episode, I finally gave up and just did it.
This is The British Grove Broadcast Transcript − the text version of Mark’s radio show. I put the links to every song on Spotify and on YouTube, because even if you don’t use Spotify, literally everything you can find is on YouTube, and I also added links to my The British Grove Broadcast Spotify Playlist.
I thought that this show is terribly underrated, not only that it’s officially available only in just two countries. Not only that, but so many fans also can’t make out what Mark is saying, not only that not everybody have time and there’s no any fast and easy way to listen to the programme anyway, so the text version really helps. I made it to use for myself first and foremost.
I recommend to have both Premium Spotify and YouTube accounts for the perfect experience, as well as using a dedicated Google Docs app if you’re on mobile. You won't be able to follow almost all the YouTube links, because, well, music is not free. But it works for me because I do use the Premium subscription. Unfortunately, I don't know the way of posting all the music for free, but I believe Spotify offers a free version.
But one more thing… I made all the mentions, song names, album names and such clickable, so it’s more like a Wikipedia page. Say Mark recommends a particular version of a song − and the link gets you straight to this song, or a name, or album. This is the ultimate version of The British Grove Broadcast.
Pavel