New Music Reviews
Sparks, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire review - age does not wither themFriday, 29 September 2017
It’s more than 40 years since Sparks appeared on Top of the Pops with “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us”, one of a handful of hits from the brothers Mael, Ron and Russell, who grew up in 1950s and ‘60s LA detesting... Read more... |
Norah Jones, Ronnie Scott's review - heartfelt music that transcends blandThursday, 28 September 2017
When we were at peak Norah a decade ago, she looked rather intimidated by the large crowds at venues like the Forum. Having been suddenly catapulted into the limelight she looked nervous, lacked any real stage charisma and her so-so band looked like the kind of musicians you’d find in an average bar in Brooklyn, competent rather than anything remarkable. Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 32: OMD, Twin Peaks, Bicep, Sisters of Mercy and moreMonday, 25 September 2017
September and October see a deluge of new releases. Everybody and their aunt puts out an album as autumn hits, so theartsdesk on Vinyl appears this month (and next) in a slightly expanded edition. As ever, the fare on offer is as diverse as possible, from black metal to Afro-funk via film and TV soundtracks. All musical life is here, ripe and waiting. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Ducks DeluxeSunday, 24 September 2017
That this year is the 40th anniversary of 1977, the year punk rock went mainstream, shouldn’t obscure the pub rock foundations underpinning much of what was supposedly new. The Clash’s Joe Strummer had fronted pub circuit regulars The 101’ers. In 1976, the Sex Pistols regularly played West London pub The Nashville Rooms. Read more... |
Neil Sedaka, Royal Albert Hall review - sparkly veteran defies the decadesWednesday, 20 September 2017
As pretty much everything but a plague of locusts is visited upon this grim old world, an evening in the company of Neil Sedaka is the greatest of pick-me-ups. At the Royal Albert Hall on Monday, as his UK tour drew to a close, the capacity audience clearly felt uplifted, borne aloft on a raft of enduring songs and the evident enjoyment of the man who wrote them. Sixty years ago... Read more... |
Mads Mathias, Pizza Express Jazz Club - honeyed yet preciseTuesday, 19 September 2017
Caressing the microphone, and gazing into the audience with winsome, soulful sincerity, tousled auburn locks glistening in the stage light, Mads Mathias looks like nothing so much as Ed Sheeran’s more handsome older brother. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Take What You Need - UK Covers of Bob Dylan Songs 1964-69Sunday, 17 September 2017
In February 1965, Melody Maker asked John Lennon about his personal enthusiasm for Bob Dylan material and Dylan interpretations. “I just felt like going that way,” he said about the new acoustic guitar-based material The Beatles were then recording at Abbey Road. Read more... |
Bridgewater Hall 21st Birthday review - from voice and guitar to four pianosMonday, 11 September 2017
Every 21st birthday deserves a party, and the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester celebrated the anniversary of its opening with a weekend of fun and "access" events, ending with a recital by four pianists on its four Steinway pianos – playing them all at once, in eight-hand arrangements. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: FJ McMahonSunday, 10 September 2017
Once heard, 1969’s Spirit of the Golden Juice is not forgotten. F. J. McMahon’s sole album is imbued with the heavy air of desolation. Its nine country tinged songs are also melodic and as good as those by Tim Hardin and Fred Neil, with whom McMahon is most often compared. Unlike them, McMahon had not steered a path through the folk circuit to achieve recognition. Read more... |
The Psychedelic Furs, Concorde 2, Brighton review - classy new wave pop ruined by bad soundSaturday, 09 September 2017
This is, in many ways, an underwhelming evening, but the fault does not primarily lie with The Psychedelic Furs. Things start well with support act Lene Lovich who gives a lively performance, in a black’n’red ensemble with striped sleeves and a gigantic, beribboned, plaited wig/hair/hat confabulation which has something of Big Chief Sitting Bull about it. Despite not playing her only Top 10 hit, 1979’s “... Read more... |
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