CDs/DVDs
CD: Ride - Weather DiariesSaturday, 10 June 2017
In 1990, Ride were in the first wave of the Shoegazing scene to get out of the blocks and into the studio to record their iconic debut EP. Four albums and a sack load of EPs and singles later, however, they called it a day and the four lads from... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: The Naked Civil ServantFriday, 09 June 2017
For those of us still mourning John Hurt, this lovely HD restoration of the actor’s favourite film is a real joy. Made in 1975 for Thames Television, it’s stood the test of time remarkably well. Funny, moving and often cited as a turning point in... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: PrevengeThursday, 08 June 2017
“People think babies are sweet. But this one’s bitter.” So squeaks Alice Lowe’s malevolent unborn daughter in the horror comedy Prevenge, prompting her heavily pregnant host Ruth to embark on a killing spree. Think of it as an unholy blend of... Read more... |
CD: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - The Anarchy AriasWednesday, 07 June 2017
This Anarchy Arias consists of 13 operatic covers of British punk rock classics from the late Seventies and early Eighties, and it’s almost all skin-crawlingly horrific. Clearly, then, this review is going to be a predictable reaction, from a writer... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: My 20th CenturyTuesday, 06 June 2017
Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi’s 1989 debut feature My 20th Century (Az én XX. Századom) opens on a grandiose scene depicting the first public demonstration of Thomas Edison’s electric light-bulb. We see the wonder of onlookers as they ... Read more... |
CD: London Grammar - Truth Is A Beautiful ThingMonday, 05 June 2017
It’s now four years since the release of London Grammar’s debut album If You Wait, with its sublime and sophisticated chill-out tunes, and so their sophomore effort has been a source of some anticipation for a while. Unfortunately, the wait has born... Read more... |
CD: Chuck Berry - ChuckSunday, 04 June 2017
There has been a rush of valedictory ‘last albums’, apparently made in the knowledge that the artist in question’s life was coming to an end: Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, and now Chuck Berry, who left us on 18 March of this year.While the first two... Read more... |
CD: Alt-J - RelaxerSaturday, 03 June 2017
Some say Alt-J represent a paradox, blending, as they do, consummate artsiness with some absurdly catchy tunes. It's precisely this combination of ambition and accessibility that's helped them become one of Britain's most universally acclaimed bands... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: Spotlight On a MurdererFriday, 02 June 2017
After Eyes Without a Face, came this. Georges Franju is largely known for the grisly, surreal horror of his second feature, about a mad surgeon grafting stalked young women’s faces onto his disfigured wife. His all but forgotten follow-up, Spotlight... Read more... |
CD: Roger Waters – Is This the Life We Really Want?Thursday, 01 June 2017
Roger Waters described The Final Cut, the last Pink Floyd album he appeared on, as “a requiem for the post-war dream”. Funnily enough, he could say much the same for Is This the Life We Really Want?, his fourth solo album. (The answer the title... Read more... |
CD: Saint Etienne - Home CountiesWednesday, 31 May 2017
“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life,” said Samuel Johnson. It’s utter balls, of course. When someone’s tired of London, they’re probably just knackered and wouldn’t mind living somewhere with more trees, fewer people and in a house... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: Mulholland DriveTuesday, 30 May 2017
David Lynch’s Hollywood horror film is casually stripped here of what seemed fathomless mystery back in 2001. Former Cahiers du Cinema editor Thierry Jousse kicks off a packed extras disc by using Lynch’s 10 clues on the original DVD case to easily... Read more... |
