New music
CD: Richard Fairhurst & John Taylor – DuetsThursday, 30 July 2015
With the sad news of John Taylor’s sudden death at the age of 72 following a heart attack during a performance at the Saveurs Festival (France) earlier this month, this delightful and intimate but low-key release acquires unexpected lapidary weight... Read more... |
WOMAD 2015, Charlton ParkWednesday, 29 July 2015
Now was the summer of our disco tent. The disco tent in question backstage was not jumping as much as in previous years – somehow strutting your Travolta moves in wellies doesn’t quite cut it. A glam tribute band at Molly’s Bar on Thursday night,... Read more... |
WOMAD 2, Charlton ParkWednesday, 29 July 2015
Trudging through the mud at last weekend’s WOMAD provided fleeting moments of random entertainment, as if surfing old-style across the bandwidths of a short-wave radio, you’d stumble unexpectedly on snatches of exotic sounds from around the globe:... Read more... |
CD: 10.000 Russos - 10.000 RussosWednesday, 29 July 2015
There is something strange happening in mainland Europe at the moment. Perhaps this has been spurred on by a feeling that the old certainties of the past aren’t quite so solid, but a mind-expanding psychedelia with an eye for the dance-floor and... Read more... |
Tom Jones / The Shires, Greenwich Music Time FestivalTuesday, 28 July 2015
With its time and observatory, Greenwich is a fitting venue for record-breakers, and Sir Tom Jones, who sang at the Greenwich Music Time Festival last night, has some impressive vital statistics. The still-slim, still-dynamic figure in a black suit... Read more... |
Peter Perrett, The GarageTuesday, 28 July 2015
Peter Perrett reappears for his third encore. This time his band doesn’t play with him. He attacks the guitar alone, “No Peace for the Wicked” and “It’s the Truth”, both songs from his days in The Only Ones, 35 years ago. His distinctive cracked... Read more... |
CD: Vetiver – Complete StrangersMonday, 27 July 2015
The listless Complete Strangers drifts by in such a haze that it’s impossible to maintain any concentration on it after the first 10 minutes or so. When it ends, after 43 minutes and 10 songs, awareness that it’s finished only comes when whatever... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Tennessee Ernie FordSunday, 26 July 2015
Tennessee Ernie Ford: Portrait of an American SingerAlthough there are different American music charts, success in one category but not another is not a marginal accomplishment. A major star on the country chart can be as popular, heavy... Read more... |
Irakere, Ronnie Scott'sSunday, 26 July 2015
When Afro-Cuban jazz pioneers Irakere first played Ronnie Scott’s, back in 1985, they sold out the venue for five weeks on the trot. Thirty years later, and 40 years since the pioneering Latin jazz outfit began, they’re back to celebrate the... Read more... |
CD: The Maccabees - Marks to Prove ItSunday, 26 July 2015
That I’ve tended to lump The Maccabees in with a certain brand of mid-Noughties landfill lad-rock is my problem, not theirs; not least because the Londoners’ ambitions on their latest album are pitched more at cinéma vérité than Kasabian. The band’s... Read more... |
Listed: Songs of SummerSaturday, 25 July 2015
It’s forecast to rain for a fortnight, just as the schools tip out their restless young. The roads are jammed, and Calais hasn’t been this bunged up since Edward III laid siege for the whole year in 1346. It must be summer. To help you celebrate if... Read more... |
CD: Joss Stone – Water For Your SoulSaturday, 25 July 2015
To some critics, Joss Stone manages her career with the authenticity and conviction of her accent at the 2007 Brit Award ceremony. Yet with seven albums under her belt, a Grammy, two Brit Awards, and her own record label by the age of 28, her... Read more... |
