1970s
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, Tate Modern review - a fitting celebration of the early yearsFriday, 16 February 2024
At last Yoko Ono is being acknowledged in Britain as a major avant garde artist in her own right. It has been a long wait; last year was her 90th birthday! The problem, of course, was her relationship with John Lennon and perceptions of her as the... Read more... |
Bob Marley: One Love review - sanitised official version of the Jamaican icon's storyThursday, 15 February 2024
It was only a matter of time before Bob Marley got his own posthumous biopic, and One Love isn’t the worst you’ll see. For instance, it’s miles ahead of the Elton John flick Rocketman, and at least it’s an hour shorter than Baz Luhrmann’s bloated... Read more... |
Griselda, Netflix review - Sofía Vergara excels as the Godmother of cocaine traffickingSunday, 04 February 2024
When Colombian drug potentate Pablo Escobar made his comment that “the only man I was ever afraid of was a woman named Griselda Blanco,” he ensured that Ms Blanco would achieve immortality in the annals of crime. Netflix’s new series about Blanco,... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Fantastic Voyage - New Sounds For The European CanonSunday, 28 January 2024
In October 1977 Glasgow punk band Johnny & the Self Abusers decided to change their name. This was a problem for Chiswick Records, who were about to release their debut single. The records were pressed, the sleeves printed and the press release... Read more... |
The Holdovers review - a perfectly formed comedy that wears its perfection lightlyFriday, 19 January 2024
Twenty years ago Alexander Payne put Paul Giamatti on the map in Sideways; here he is again, as another punctilious expert, this time not in the field of viniculture but plain old culture, of the old-fashioned classical kind. And his adversary is... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Mike Makhalemele & Winston “Mankunku” Ngozi - The Bull And The LionSunday, 14 January 2024
The Bull And The Lion was originally released in 1976 by Jo'burg, a South African label which opened-up for business in 1973 with a couple of singles and the first album by black singer Margaret Singana. Her debut LP was titled Lady Africa. The same... Read more... |
The Enfield Haunting, Ambassadors Theatre review - muddled revisiting of famous paranormal eventsFriday, 12 January 2024
Reports of supernatural events are always met with either willing belief or dismissive scepticism. The "camps" generally don't have much to say to each other: belief in immovable logic, discounting the weird as merely the so-far unexplained, can be... Read more... |
1979, Finborough Theatre review - niche subject matter finds a strong resonanceSaturday, 06 January 2024
If a week is a long time in politics, what price 44 years? And 3500 miles? Turns out, not much, as Michael Healey’s sparkling play, 1979, proves that events all that time ago and all that way across the Atlantic maintain a remarkable relevance today... Read more... |
Best of 2023: Music Reissues WeeklySunday, 31 December 2023
In the Light of Time - UK Post-Rock and Leftfield Pop 1992-1998 was unexpected. Collecting 17 tracks, it brought a fresh perspective on a particular aspect of the UK’s independent-minded music. This ground-breaking, agenda-setting release was... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Hawkwind - Space RitualSunday, 24 December 2023
As Britain headed towards the end of 1972, pop fans had fair cause to scratch their heads about a single which first charted in July. In mid-August, Hawkwind’s “Silver Machine” peaked at number three behind Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs skiffle-... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Brinsley Schwarz - Thinking Back: The AnthologySunday, 17 December 2023
Typically tagged as the originators of pub rock, Brinsley Schwarz were where Nick Lowe honed his muse. But there were twists, turns and a waywardness which makes approaching them as a linear proposition difficult. Sometimes, they pointed one way yet... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl Christmas Special 2023: Aretha Franklin, Barbara Streisand, Oasis, Robb Johnson, Jimi Hendrix and moreThursday, 14 December 2023
Welcome to the annual seasonal one-off, in which theartsdesk on Vinyl dives into festive releases, as well as the boxsets and reissues that will make fine presents. Grab a glass of something and dive in!CHRISTMAS VINYL OF THE MONTHVarious Stax... Read more... |
