CDs/DVDs
DVD/Blu-ray: Letter to BrezhnevSunday, 30 April 2017
Letter to Brezhnev, released in 1985, was a delightful curio with sharp edges. A trans-cultural riff on Romeo and Juliet, it told of the sudden romance that erupts between a Kirkby girl and a visiting Soviet sailor one night on the tiles in... Read more... |
CD: Blondie - PollinatorSaturday, 29 April 2017
Instead of resting on the laurels of the great music they made some 40 years ago, Blondie - still led by original members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein - are back with an album that tries to channel their past chart-toppers while also keeping in... Read more... |
CD: Mary J Blige - Strength of a WomanFriday, 28 April 2017
Mary J Blige has a voice that was built to age gracefully. Gutsy, churchy, sometimes rough, it was miles away from the over-trained melismatics of the Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston imitators of the Nineties, or the velvet-toned ingenues that... Read more... |
CD: Willie Nelson - God's Problem ChildThursday, 27 April 2017
He’s in his ninth decade, but with no signs of slowing down on stage or in studio, and the good news is that, while God's Problem Child may be no essential release, it remains hugely enjoyable – and that’s mainly down to the lucky seven new... Read more... |
CD: John Mellencamp - Sad Clowns & HillbilliesWednesday, 26 April 2017
The 23rd studio album from the artist formerly known as John Cougar was originally destined to be a religious album, but the songs he and Carlene Carter wrote turned out to be not quite so God-fearing as all that, though there’s certainly a... Read more... |
DVD: DancerTuesday, 25 April 2017
For decades, but especially since the turn of the millennium, the arts have fretted over how to appeal to a younger audience. For ballet, this has meant playing down the notion of “men in tights” in favour of “dancers train harder than footballers... Read more... |
CD: Bonnie Prince Billy - Best TroubadourMonday, 24 April 2017
Best Troubadour is Bonnie Prince Billy's musical tribute to his "forever hero", country singer Merle Haggard. Haggard was best known for his song "Okie from Muskogee", a wry homage to small-town Southern values. Students of country... Read more... |
DVD: Martin Scorsese - Two Early FilmsSunday, 23 April 2017
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More was Ellen Burstyn’s baby. Determined to use her clout after The Exorcist to make a film from a woman’s viewpoint, she offered Robert Getchell’s script to a director who confessed he knew nothing about women. “But,”... Read more... |
CD: Gorillaz - HumanzSaturday, 22 April 2017
For some of us Blur were an irritant during the 1990s rather than one of the decade’s premier bands. However, once Gorillaz arrived it was impossible to ignore Damon Albarn’s outrageous talent any longer. His golden touch ensured his cartoon group... Read more... |
CD: Kasai Allstars & Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste - Around FélicitéFriday, 21 April 2017
This is a bit of a curiosity. Kasai Allstars were bought to our attention by producer Vincent Kenis almost a decade ago, after he’d had great success with those masters of the amplified thumb piano cacophony, Konono 1. Though the Allstars also have... Read more... |
CD: Trombone Shorty - Parking Lot SymphonyThursday, 20 April 2017
Known to his mum as Troy Andrews, singer and instrumental virtuoso Trombone Shorty has been steadily accumulating rave reviews for his live performances for years. His profile has now reached a point where his fourth studio album will be released on... Read more... |
CD: Ray Davies - AmericanaWednesday, 19 April 2017
From Muswell Hillbilly to Beverly Hillbilly, Ray Davies – Sir Ray – has long been infatuated with America and it must have been a great disappointment when the Kinks were banned from touring there in the mid-1960s. Then in the 1970s and Eighties... Read more... |
