wed 20/08/2025

New Music Reviews

Public Image Ltd, O2 Academy, Birmingham

Guy Oddy

Thirty seven years since first breaking into the public consciousness and following a period being regarded as punk’s pantomime dame, John Lydon is now finally reaping wider musical recognition and kudos. Recent times have seen a revitalisation of Public Image Ltd (albeit in the guise of a cottage industry and completely on their own terms) with extensive touring and the muscular return-to-form album, This is PiL.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Madness, ABBA

Kieron Tyler


Madness Take it or Leave itMadness: Take it or Leave it

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Earth, Wind & Fire, Royal Albert Hall

James Williams

"We got 42 years of music to lay on you" is an audacious opening statement for any live band, but when the speaker is Phillip Bailey, lead singer in the current reincarnation of the legendary Earth, Wind & Fire, it is a statement of intent.

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Rudimental, O2 Academy, Birmingham

Guy Oddy

rudimentalWithout doubt, 2013 has been the year of Rudimental on Planet Pop: a second number one single with “Waiting All Night”; a number one debut album with Home, hugely successful festival appearances, and plenty of TV coverage.

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Alison Moyet, Royal Festival Hall

Russ Coffey

You couldn’t help marvelling at how good Alison Moyet looked. It wasn’t just her dramatically slimmed-down physique, but also the sense of her being truly comfortable in her own skin. Partly, that may have just been a result of an increasingly optimistic outlook. But also it seemed to emanate from Moyet's confidence in her new material. Since its release in May, her new album, The Minutes, has been well received.

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Deep Purple, NIA, Birmingham

Guy Oddy

Read anything about rock music in the Seventies - about British hard rock music in particular - and three bands are pushed forward as titans: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. However, while both Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin have gone on to receive widespread critical acclaim and massive sales since their glory days, Deep Purple have assumed the position of a guilty pleasure – at best.

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Emily Barker & the Red Clay Halo/Chris T-T, Oran Mor, Glasgow

Lisa-Marie Ferla

If Glasgow was to find a little corner for the traditional spirit of vaudeville to live on, it would make sense if it was this one: set the basement of a 19th century church with an audience sitting in lines on gold-painted seats; and two highly accomplished songwriters introducing each other with the sense of ceremony you so rarely find at concerts these days.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: The Kinks, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat

Kieron Tyler


The Kinks Muswell HillbilliesThe Kinks: Muswell Hillbillies

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Crosby Stills & Nash, Royal Albert Hall

Adam Sweeting

There was much to be said for attending the third and final show of Crosby Stills & Nash's Albert Hall stint, because this was the night when they played their debut album in its entirety. Clearly much – almost everything, in fact – has changed since 1969, but though the musicians are four decades older, their original collective spirit survives remarkably intact.

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Puglia Sounds, Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Ronnie Flynn

Puglia, otherwise known as Apulia, is the heel of the kinky boot that makes up Italy. It’s usually associated with the golden sands of the Ionian coast, the clear, sun-spun waters of Castellanata Marina, the palaces of Bari, and the sublime fish restaurants of Peschici. There is, however, another side to this Italian paradise.

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