New music
k.d.lang, Brighton Dome review - superb revival of classic albumWednesday, 17 July 2019
It’s hard to convey in an age of equal marriage and gender fluidity the impact that k.d. lang’s Ingénue had when it was released in 1992. The album, 10 tracks that tell of the pain and pleasure of love and longing, was a huge hit with a generation... Read more... |
Burt Bacharach Together with Joss Stone, Eventim Apollo review - an evening of timeless classicsWednesday, 17 July 2019
Whatever age you are, in whatever era you grew up – wherever you grew up – you will know, perhaps unknowingly, a large handful of songs by Burt Bacharach, almost all written with lyricist Hal David. The two men met in 1957 in New York’s celebrated... Read more... |
CD: The Flaming Lips – King’s MouthWednesday, 17 July 2019
Oh to be inside the head of Wayne Coyne. The frazzle-haired frontman has always been an enigma, persistently quirky, morally dubious, and undeniably fascinating. Perhaps King’s Mouth offers our best chance yet to get in there – the album is an... Read more... |
Elbow and New Order, Lucca Summer Festival review – a meeting of Mancunian minds?Tuesday, 16 July 2019
Thirty-three years ago, at Manchester's Festival of the Tenth Summer, I fumed that New Order had been given top billing over The Smiths, much to the mirth of a couple of reviewers of this very parish. History has proved me wrong, obviously. So... Read more... |
CD: Sum 41 - Order In DeclineTuesday, 16 July 2019
Sum 41 were one of those light-weight punk-ish bands in unfeasibly large pairs of shorts that washed up in the wake of Green Day’s early success in the mid-90s. They soon became the acceptable face and sound of punk, sold millions of albums and... Read more... |
Django Bates Belovèd Trio, Evan Parker, Wigmore Hall review – a one-off or a premiere?Monday, 15 July 2019
"Genius" is a word to be used sparingly, but Django Bates surely is one. “A musical polymath and prodigiously gifted composer” went the citation for his Ivor Award a few weeks ago. “Joyful, insouciant and insanely clever,” wrote Evan Parker in a... Read more... |
Bob Dylan and Neil Young, BST Hyde Park review - flat-out brilliant and strangely compellingMonday, 15 July 2019
It was billed as a moment of musical history: two of the great icons of rock'n'roll sharing a double-headline. A dream ticket. Except, of course, everyone knows that only one of the two acts is still a conventional performer. And it's not Bob Dylan.... Read more... |
Florence + the Machine, BST Hyde Park review - mastering the matriarchyMonday, 15 July 2019
It’s a rare thing that musicians sound better live than they do on Spotify. But Florence Welch sings a note perfect set – even when jumping up and down like a pogo stick, whirling and spinning, or sprinting along the front of the stage to meet fans.... Read more... |
CD: Sabaton – The Great WarMonday, 15 July 2019
It’s been 20 years since Sabaton’s formation in 1999, and the Swedish power metal band have decided to mark their anniversary with an ambitious and energetic record dedicated to events and heroes from the First World War.Sabaton have always been... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: John RenbournSunday, 14 July 2019
Although British folk-jazz stylists Pentangle played their first official concert in May 1967, their name is borrowed for the title of Unpentangled, a box set of their guitarist John Renbourn’s work on album which kicks off two years earlier. It’s... Read more... |
CD: Mega Bog - DolphineSaturday, 13 July 2019
On “Truth in the Wild”, Erin Birgy sings “Never smother the mystical song that rests deep inside you.” Accordingly, its parent album Dolphine confirms she has no intention of suppressing her vision. Conceptually, the 11 compositions are linked by... Read more... |
CD: Thom Yorke - AnimaFriday, 12 July 2019
Thom Yorke is frontman of Radiohead, a festival-headlining rock band who sell out stadiums all over the globe. His artistic aspirations, however, right back to Radiohead’s Kid A album 19 years ago, often seem to lie elsewhere, in the world of... Read more... |
