New music
Simple Minds and Ultravox, NIA, BirminghamSaturday, 30 November 2013
Age can do interesting things to musicians who have once been regular fixtures in the media and who reappear in the public consciousness some years later. Time, it has to be said, has been kind to the two remaining members of Simple Minds’ original... Read more... |
Blues America: Woke Up This Morning, BBC FourSaturday, 30 November 2013
“Long may it stay a mystery,” said Keith Richards, the first talking head seen in this opening shot of a two-part excursion through blues music. Self-evidently, two hours devoted to this oft-explored subject wasn’t going to leave too many mysteries... Read more... |
CD: Britney Spears - Britney JeanSaturday, 30 November 2013
Britney has become an icon. Partly this is down to her shiny, unreadable Hollywood exterior, partly down to her classic child star downfall, partly her relentless campness, partly the way she’s become unstoppable, but most of all because her career... Read more... |
Bob Dylan, Royal Albert HallFriday, 29 November 2013
And so Dylan’s tour of European theatres, opera houses and concert halls ended on Thursday night at the Royal Albert Hall, his first dates here in 46 years. I’ve seen him plenty of times over the past 30 years. This was the best of them. Dylan’s... Read more... |
CD: One Direction - Midnight MemoriesThursday, 28 November 2013
Oozing like “liquefied sucrose,” whilst offering “a Ritalin-buzzed rictus of happiness” was how theartsdesk described One Direction’s 2012 offering, Take Me Home. That, however, was a year ago, and a year is a long a time in the life of a heavily... Read more... |
CD: bEEdEEgEE - Sum/OneWednesday, 27 November 2013
New Yorker band Gang Gang Dance have been one of the odder acts of the past decade. Presented as a kind of hippie multimedia collective, they were among the earliest non-UK adopters of the sonics of grime and dubstep, which they wove in alongside... Read more... |
Tenacious D, second best spoof rock bandTuesday, 26 November 2013
“There is a misconception that we have called ourselves the greatest band on earth.” Jack Black, the self-styled “lead singer” of Tenacious D, is all for dispelling a persistent rumour about a band which has, if he’s honest, done practically nothing... Read more... |
CD: Juliette Gréco – Gréco Chante BrelMonday, 25 November 2013
The songs of Jacques Brel and Juliette Gréco are old friends. She has revisited them many times since she began performing with Brel’s former accompanist, the pianist Gérard Jouannest, in 1968. Brel and Jouannest had worked together since 1958.... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: BBC Radiophonic WorkshopSunday, 24 November 2013
BBC Radiophonic Workshop: BBC Radiophonic Music / The Radiophonic WorkshopThe inescapable 50th anniversary of the television debut of Doctor Who has had the side effect of drawing attention to the work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the... Read more... |
Essentially Ellington, Queen Elizabeth HallSunday, 24 November 2013
Now in its eighteenth year, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO) demonstrated last night why it's considered one of Europe’s finest big bands. Brilliantly directed by tenor sax player Tommy Smith and featuring the great Brian Kellock on piano... Read more... |
John Etheridge & Philip Catherine/Igor Gehenot Trio, The Vortex, DalstonSunday, 24 November 2013
Distinguished jazz guitarists Philip Catherine and John Etheridge made (a little bit of) history at The Vortex last night, playing together for the first time. In a perfect balance of youth and experience, the evening also saw the launch of a debut... Read more... |
CD: Gary Barlow - Since I Saw You LastSunday, 24 November 2013
Like his sometime nemesis Robbie Williams it’s all too easy to dismiss Gary Barlow as lame mainstream tosh. In fact, that’s not such a bad idea. Let’s do that. Job done.Those who wish for more might like to check the next pageAlternatively…Like his... Read more... |
