1960s
Reissue CDs Weekly: Brenda Holloway, Era Records Northern Soul, DamonSunday, 10 November 2013![]() Brenda Holloway: The Artistry of Brenda Holloway / Various Artists: ERA Records Northern SoulAs the home of the Motown empire, Detroit dominated American soul music in the Sixties. Yet the label’s boss Berry Gordy bowed to the inevitable and opened... Read more... |
The Swingle Singers, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Alsop, Royal Festival HallSaturday, 26 October 2013![]() Anyone who saw or attended this year’s Last Night of the Proms will know that Marin Alsop is a born communicator with a wry sense of humour. Another of those youthful crowds The Rest is Noise festival keeps attracting gave her a hero’s welcome last... Read more... |
The Who: The Story of Tommy, BBC FourSaturday, 26 October 2013![]() Grand claims and superlatives were not lacking in this examination of The Who's fabled rock opera. "This is a quintessentially important creation," said Des McAnuff, the man who staged Tommy on Broadway and in London's West End. "This might just be... Read more... |
Arena: The National Theatre, Part One - The Dream, BBC FourFriday, 25 October 2013![]() How irksome in some ways for the National Theatre that both the glamour and the accessibility of cinema have bookended its first 50 years, when the company and, latterly, its Southbank home, are essentially driven by and dedicated to live... Read more... |
DVD: The White Dove/Josef KiliánThursday, 24 October 2013![]() Though never really part of the country’s groundbreaking New Wave, František Vláčil was a Czech master who's best known for his films like Marketa Lazarová and The Valley of the Bees, both complex historical works. His first feature The White... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Kinks, Hapshash and the Coloured CoatSunday, 13 October 2013![]() The Kinks: Muswell HillbilliesRock’s rich tapestry currently has it that 1968’s The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society is their best album. This deluxe edition, 2CD reissue of 1971’s Muswell Hillbillies isn’t going to alter that, but... Read more... |
Crosby Stills & Nash, Royal Albert HallSaturday, 12 October 2013![]() There was much to be said for attending the third and final show of Crosby Stills & Nash's Albert Hall stint, because this was the night when they played their debut album in its entirety. Clearly much – almost everything, in fact – has changed... Read more... |
Extract: George Harrison - Behind the Locked DoorSaturday, 12 October 2013![]() Following the completion of the White Album, and the conclusion of recording sessions in Los Angeles with new Apple signing Jackie Lomax, in late November 1968 George Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd departed for Woodstock in upstate New York. They... Read more... |
Breathless, ITVFriday, 11 October 2013![]() Period dramas are all the rage, and you can imagine Breathless being plucked with forceps from a steaming cauldron in which bubbled Call the Midwife, The Hour, Mad Men, Heartbeat and inevitably a sprig of Downton, which couldn't hurt. It's 1961, the... Read more... |
DVD: The Breaking of BumboFriday, 04 October 2013![]() Although it’s impossible to make a case for The Breaking of Bumbo as a great film, it is a bizarre, compelling, hyper-real slice of Swinging Sixties nonsense as essential to the era as Privilege, What’s Good For the Goose and The Beatles’ Magical... Read more... |
Mørk, Padmore, LPO, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 03 October 2013![]() Interviewed live just before his Proms performance of Britten’s Serenade, Ben Johnson was asked the usual question as to whether the composer wrote especially well for the tenor voice. “He writes amazingly for every instrument,” came the reply. If... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Dino Valenti, Monterey FestivalSunday, 29 September 2013![]() Dino Valente: Dino ValenteDino Valenti’s reaction to his sole solo album being credited to Dino Valente isn’t recorded, but any confusion probably wouldn’t have mattered as he had such high-profile cheerleaders. Before its release in October... Read more... |
