tue 17/06/2025

New Music Reviews

Reissue CDs Weekly: Spirit

Kieron Tyler

The press ad for Spirit’s debut album wasn’t shy. “Five came together for a purpose: to blow the sum of man’s musical experience apart and bring it together in more universal forms. They became a single musical being: Spirit. It happens in the first album.” Of the band’s bassist Mark Andes, it declared “the strings are his nerve endings”. Drummer Ed Cassidy apparently “hears tomorrow and he plays it now”.

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Beth Nielsen Chapman, Cadogan Hall review - Nashville chats

Liz Thomson

There were empty seats at Cadogan Hall on Thursday night which was a crying shame, for Beth Nielsen Chapman was in town and she played a wonderful set, full of warmth and charm and powerful singing, her voice always true and expressive.

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Tim Maia tribute, The Jazz Café review - the Brazilian wild soul legend revival continues

Peter Culshaw

The packed crowd at the Jazz Café was fired up by a sizzling samba soul band led by Kita Steuer on bass and vocals, singing along to a production line of hits, complete with dynamic brass section and superior percussion. All songs by a singular Brazilian artist, Tim Maia, who died 20 years ago and whose music was being celebrated.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Cocteau Twins

Kieron Tyler

This column last encountered Cocteau Twins in 2015 when the compilation The Pink Opaque and the Tiny Dynamine/Echoes in a Shallow Bay album, which collected two EPs, were reissued on vinyl only.

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Brit Floyd, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - the old ones are the best

Guy Oddy

It’s now 24 years since Pink Floyd pretty much stopped being a going concern and 33 since the departure of artistic powerhouse Roger Waters. So, apart from a brief band reunion at 2005’s Live8 concert, Floyd-heads have had little to keep them happy apart from periodic album reissues for the best part of a generation.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Robert Kirby

Kieron Tyler

The similarity is intentional. The cover design of When the Day is Done – The Orchestrations of Robert Kirby nods explicitly to that of Nick Drake’s debut album Five Leaves Left. That wasn’t just the first record by the singer-songwriter, it was also first time most people heard Kirby’s string arrangements. He and Drake had been friends at Cambridge University.

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Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, Roundhouse - hits and misses

Matthew Wright

There are good musical reasons why it might never have occurred to you to wonder how Lady Gaga would sound if adapted by Duke Ellington; Radiohead by Sidney Bechet; or Bruce Springsteen by Frank Sinatra.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Zoot Money's Big Roll Band

Kieron Tyler

 “That colourful character Zoot Money has recently been writing at length in support of psychedelic music. Now, what’s the score Zoot, has it got a contribution to make to the scene?” It’s 14 January 1967 and BBC presenter Brian Matthew is putting his guest on the spot.

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theartsdesk on Vinyl 37: Cocteau Twins, Stranger Things OST, Watain, Ryuichi Sakamoto and more

Thomas H Green

Without further ado, let’s cut straight to it. Below theartsdesk on Vinyl offers over 30 records reviewed, running the gamut from Adult Orientated Rock to steel-hard techno via the sweetest, liveliest pop. Dive in!

VINYL OF THE MONTH 1

Zoë Mc Pherson String Figures (SVS)

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Reissue CDs Weekly: The Voyager Golden Record

Kieron Tyler

What is music? When pondering archive releases, compilations and reissues the question doesn’t come up. Knowledge of context and history means there’s never a need to muse on this fundamental issue. A package, say, dedicated to Northern Soul says what it is and the prime considerations are how well it has been executed and defining its place in the relevant narrative.

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