thu 28/08/2025

New Music Reviews

Brass Band Battle: Serbia vs Mexico, Barbican

Garth Cartwright

Remember the Brass Band Battle of a couple years ago? The one that pitted Romania’s Fanfare Ciocarlia vs Serbia’s Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar on CD and stage? The concert at London’s Koko was great fun, less a "battle" and more a good humoured showcase for two great Gypsy brass bands to tear it up.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Sandie Shaw, Country Joe & the Fish, David Bowie, Morrissey

Kieron Tyler

 

Sandie Shaw SandieSandie Shaw: Sandie/Me/Love Me Please Love Me

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Thatcher: The Sound and the Fury

theartsdesk

The political legacy of Margaret Thatcher is being sifted and analysed all over the world. But what of the music she left behind? The first and only female Prime Minister had barely a cultural bone in her body, but on her watch a young generation of musicians had something to kick against or, in one or two cases, a set of values to emulate. The music writers of theartsdesk have identified some of the songs which define the age of Thatcher.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Shuggie Otis, Peter King, Electronic, Billy Mackenzie

Kieron Tyler


Shuggie Otis Inspiration Information Wings of LoveShuggie Otis: Inspiration Information/Wings of Love

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Emeli Sandé, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Michael Stephen

Only an April fool would deny Emeli Sandé her right to rule as the home-grown pocket diva for the Smartphone generation. The current elfin queen of the UK pop charts took the stage in Edinburgh last night having already won over her capacity crowd on Amazon, i-Tunes and in miles of supermarket aisles.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Simple Minds, Klaus Dinger, The Primitives, Transvision Vamp

Kieron Tyler


Simple Minds Celebrate The Greatest Hits +Simple Minds: Celebrate – The Greatest Hits +

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Mari Wilson, The Komedia, Brighton

Thomas H Green

Long before Amy Winehouse, there was a north London retro soul'n'jazz girl with a beehive hairdo making inroads into the Top 40. However, after a short run of hits in the early Eighties Mari Wilson never achieved the epic popularity of her dark-haired successor. Thus we find her in a Brighton basement playing a cruise ship set to a chicken-in-a-basket audience.

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Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Royal Albert Hall

Bruce Dessau

"Noel. Noel." Damon Albarn had to shout twice before Noel Gallagher joined him onstage to strum his guitar during Blur's neo-bluesy "Tender". Maybe Albarn's former Britpop rival wanted their historic musical union to take just a little bit longer. Maybe he wanted Albarn to wait just to assert himself. Or maybe after all these years of standing between very loud bands and very loud audiences he is a little deaf. But it happened.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Stephen Stills

Adam Sweeting

 

Stephen Stills: Carry On

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Mark Lockheart, Kings Place

peter Quinn

Suddenly, it's raining Duke Ellington homages. Stateside, there's Terri Lyne Carrington's Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue, a brilliant reimagining of Ellington's classic 1963 trio recording with Charles Mingus and Max Roach that recently hit the top spot on the JazzWeek radio chart.

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