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London
11:00 - 13:00

A deep dive into scenes, record labels and genres from around the world.

2
London
11:00 - 12:00

The British Library’s relationship with WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) is nearly as long as the festival's existence, with a small team from the sound archive attending the festival to record and archive performances since 1985. The concentration of so many diverse and talented musicians in one place allows us to document musical styles from around the world right here on our doorstep. And, after 40 years, we now hold around 2,500 hours of music recorded at WOMAD, backed up digitally for preservation and access. With WOMAD taking a year off in 2025, we thought it would be a good opportunity to revisit some of the recordings we made last Summer. There were too many fantastic performances to choose from, so this is just a small selection of staff highlights, including some debut appearances and memorable moments. All recordings made by the British Library WOMAD 2024 team: Michele Banal, Greg Green, Karl Jenkins, Grace Johnstone, Finlay McIntosh and Gail Tasker. Selection and mix by Finlay McIntosh. Thanks to all the artists for agreeing to have their recordings shared on NTS.

Lazy Smoke

Lazy Smoke

Lazy Smoke has been played over 10 times on NTS, first on 2 August 2017. Lazy Smoke's music has been featured on 14 episodes.

An obscure Massachusetts band of the late 1960s, Lazy Smoke offered a sort of Transatlantic psychedelic sound with roughly equal debts to American and British influences. Their biggest debt was to the Beatles, and although they were hardly exceptional in that regard, the resemblance commanded more attention due to the fairly close similarity of leader/chief songwriter John Pollano's vocals to those of John Lennon. Pollano's compositions bore a heavy Lennon stamp as well, often sounding like callower derivations of Lennon's more sedate White Album-era tunes. They pressed a few hundred copies of one album for the tiny Onyx label in 1969, Corridor of Faces, before splitting. It is higly sought after, and original LP pressings go for over $1,500. Recorded in the summer of '68, it's pop-psych with quite a UK influence (you can definitely hear Beatles in here), though not abandoning the American Psych either, it's soft at times just as it is rock, a true 60's gem. The record has since attained a modest cult following, and was reissued on CD with a dozen bonus demos.

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Lazy Smoke

Lazy Smoke has been played over 10 times on NTS, first on 2 August 2017. Lazy Smoke's music has been featured on 14 episodes.

An obscure Massachusetts band of the late 1960s, Lazy Smoke offered a sort of Transatlantic psychedelic sound with roughly equal debts to American and British influences. Their biggest debt was to the Beatles, and although they were hardly exceptional in that regard, the resemblance commanded more attention due to the fairly close similarity of leader/chief songwriter John Pollano's vocals to those of John Lennon. Pollano's compositions bore a heavy Lennon stamp as well, often sounding like callower derivations of Lennon's more sedate White Album-era tunes. They pressed a few hundred copies of one album for the tiny Onyx label in 1969, Corridor of Faces, before splitting. It is higly sought after, and original LP pressings go for over $1,500. Recorded in the summer of '68, it's pop-psych with quite a UK influence (you can definitely hear Beatles in here), though not abandoning the American Psych either, it's soft at times just as it is rock, a true 60's gem. The record has since attained a modest cult following, and was reissued on CD with a dozen bonus demos.

Original source: Last.fm

Tracks featured on

Most played tracks

Am I Wrong?
Lazy Smoke
Onyx1968
Under Skys
Lazy Smoke
Onyx1968
There Was A Time
Lazy Smoke
Jackpot Records2013
Sarah Saturday
Lazy Smoke
Onyx1968
All These Years
Lazy Smoke
Onyx1968
Salty People
Lazy Smoke
Onyx1968
Jackie-Marie
Lazy Smoke
Onyx1968
How Did You Die?
Lazy Smoke
Onyx1968
There Was A Time
Lazy Smoke
Onyx1968