blues
Reissue CDs Weekly: Sandy Denny, Kevin Coyne, France GallSunday, 27 May 2012
Sandy Denny: Sandy (Deluxe Edition), Like An Old Fashioned Waltz (Deluxe Edition), Rendezvous (Deluxe Edition)Graham FullerSandy Denny completists unable to drop a thousand to acquire the now scarce 2010 19-disc box set can fill their collections... Read more... |
Ian Anderson, Hammersmith ApolloSaturday, 28 April 2012
This may be the Thick as a Brick 2 tour, but it’s also the 44th year of Ian Anderson’s performing career, mainly as Jethro Tull's front man. In that role he's variously been a bluesman, a rocker and a folkie.1972's Thick as a Brick was dubbed a "... Read more... |
Gomez, KokoTuesday, 24 April 2012
Some say that since Gomez beat Pulp to win 1998’s Mercury award, their progress has been a little disappointing. After two or three albums their infectious frazzled blues became replaced by anodyne AOR, until eventually all their wild innocence had... Read more... |
CD: Jack White - BlunderbussFriday, 20 April 2012
Sometimes I feel I’m the only one who finds Jack White’s music overrated. Although he's undeniably a prodigious axe man, I've never found his trademark raw, “underproduced” sound as convincing. That, however, was The White Stripes and The Raconteurs... Read more... |
Simone Felice, Electric Circus, EdinburghThursday, 12 April 2012
Nothing tests an artist’s mettle more severely than having to negotiate a full-blown case of tech-horror. Half way through the third number last night, a particularly sweet version of “Summer Morning Rain“, an ear-scorching sonic car crash brought... Read more... |
CD: Amadou & Mariam - FolilaTuesday, 03 April 2012
With the subject of the legitimacy of the label “world music” having just had another airing in The Guardian, it seems fitting that Mali’s favourite musical couple should be releasing their least “world music” album to date. For essentially, ... Read more... |
Dr John London dates announcedWednesday, 21 March 2012The renowned New Orleans pianist and singer Mac Rebennack - aka Dr. John - will be launching his acclaimed new album Locked Down at Under the Bridge in West London on July 18th and 19th. The album was produced by and features Dan Auerbach... Read more... |
Mark Lanegan, Shepherds Bush EmpireWednesday, 14 March 2012
He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws… Ah wait now, that’s The Gruffalo. Mark Lanegan doesn’t have any of the above (although he does have tattooed fists and a considerable jaw, and past heroin addiction... Read more... |
Singles & Downloads: March 2012Monday, 12 March 2012
After a nine-month absence, during which Joe Muggs explored the world's largest natural bassbin in the Amazonian rain forest and Thomas H Green waited to receive his passport back from the Bolivian government, Singles & Downloads returns to... Read more... |
CD: Carolina Chocolate Drops - Leaving EdenSaturday, 25 February 2012
The fourth album by Carolina Chocolate Drops, the old-time string and jug band with 21st-century attitude, fizzes with their characteristic energy. They’re essentially a live band, great communicators and purveyors of a musical style that was... Read more... |
CD: Band of Skulls - Sweet SourWednesday, 15 February 2012
The credibility of blues-rock has ebbed and flowed wildly for 40 years. Once upon a time it was simply the common currency for all major British and American rock bands, as exemplified by Led Zeppelin. Punk’s Seventies heyday put the kybosh on all... Read more... |
The Black Keys, Corn Exchange, EdinburghSunday, 05 February 2012
I last saw Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney’s primitive garage blues duo a little under four years ago, touring their sixth album Attack & Release. Truth be told, I found them slightly heavy going. Big riffs, big drums, back-of-a-beer mat lyrics and... Read more... |
