New Music Reviews
Slipknot Unmasked: All Out Life, BBC iPlayer – masked metalheads reveal allMonday, 23 March 2020
There aren’t many metal bands like Slipknot. For a start, the nine-piece line-up consists of the standard vocalist, two guitars, bass and drums – but then there are also two percussionists, sampler and decks. Their music is consistently ferocious, with a hardcore, high-speed, ragging thump and semi-comprehensible lyrics that leaves no room for chart-friendly power ballads. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: A Slight Disturbance In My MindSunday, 22 March 2020
Two of the 84 tracks on A Slight Disturbance In My Mind: The British Proto-Psychedelic Sounds of 1966 are covers of songs from Revolver. Read more... |
The Indigo Girls, Facebook Live review - lightening the bluesFriday, 20 March 2020
Like all other performers, the Indigo Girls were forced to make the “heart-breaking decision” to cancel their spring tour. And in that moment, “we knew we wanted to play a free livestream show,” Amy Ray and Emily Saliers said in a statement. “People are feeling scared, isolated, uncertain, and unmoored. Read more... |
Morrissey, Wembley Arena review - reminders of greatnessMonday, 16 March 2020
“I’d like you to know that you can breathe as heavy as you like,” Morrissey declares, somewhat against government advice. “It really doesn’t matter. Read more... |
Reg Meuross and David Massengill, Green Note, Camden review - master craftsmen at workMonday, 16 March 2020
When all around you is chaos and depression, an afternoon spent listening to acoustic music in a small club is as cleansing and restorative as a warm bath. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Matt Monro - Stranger In ParadiseSunday, 15 March 2020
Two years before he took on The Beatles, George Martin was working with another artiste who would go on to have success in America. Martin first encountered Matt Monro in 1960 when he signed him to the label he ran, Parlophone. The “Portrait of my Love” single charted later in the year. In summer 1961, “My Kind of Girl” hit America’s single’s charts. His 1965 version of ”Yesterday” had a Martin arrangement.... Read more... |
Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Eventim Apollo review - and the band played onSaturday, 14 March 2020
Elvis Costello is arguably – perhaps unarguably – the most enduring and genuine talent to emerge from the mid-Seventies pub and punk scenes, and his two-hour set on Friday night demonstrated that he’s still a compelling performer, full of energy and passion. Read more... |
Kate Tempest, BBC 6 Music Festival review - more personal than politicalTuesday, 10 March 2020
For those wondering if performance poet Kate Tempest would be upstaged or introduced by either pandemic panic or International Women’s Day – know that a) she’s fearless and b) she practices equality always. As such, there’s no pre-amble, other than a hope that her gig will “resonate into the night and the days to come”. Read more... |
Halsey, SSE Hydro, Glasgow review - a pop star with plenty of personalityMonday, 09 March 2020
There is something enjoyably spikey about Halsey, even when she is adhering to pop convention. At one stage she told the crowd how good they looked, before dryly adding it was praise they wouldn’t have heard before. These are brave words when playing to a Glasgow audience. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Cream - Goodbye Tour Live 1968Sunday, 08 March 2020
Through previous archive releases or bootlegs, deep-digging Cream fans will already be familiar with much of what’s on Goodbye Tour – Live 1968. The legitimate 1969 album Goodbye Cream included three tracks from the 19 October 1968 Los Angeles Forum show, heard here in full. Read more... |
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