1970s
Elvis & NixonThursday, 23 June 2016
Shamed and reviled, Richard Nixon had the misfortune (albeit self-authored) to be the star of one of the murkiest chapters in American Presidential history. It's not much compensation for him now, but he has become something of a goldmine for film-... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Lust for LifeSunday, 19 June 2016
Punk rock, or what’s touted as punk rock, is practically inescapable right now. In London, a series of events tagged as Punk.London: 40 Years of Subversive Culture includes concerts by reanimated bands, exhibitions and film seasons. Backers include... Read more... |
DVD: Born to BoogieTuesday, 14 June 2016
“Telegram Sam” by T. Rex spent its second and final week at the top of the singles chart in the week of 12 February 1972. A month later, on 18 March, Marc Bolan and his band played two shows at Wembley’s Empire Pool to a sell-out crowd under the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Folque, Undertakers CircusSunday, 12 June 2016
The names may be unfamiliar, but Folque and Undertakers Circus are as good as better-known bands. Despite being musical bedfellows neither Norwegian band is as esteemed as, say, Trader Horne and Trees or Colloseum and Lighthouse. Folque issued their... Read more... |
DVD: Penda’s FenTuesday, 31 May 2016
Penda’s Fen has so many constituent parts it could burst its seams. Almost-18 schoolboy Stephen Franklin is struggling with determining the nature of his sexuality. His school is about regimentation and promotes the army with drill, uniforms and... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Close to the Noise FloorSunday, 24 April 2016
The immediate reaction to Close to the Noise Floor is “Why hasn’t anyone done this before?” This new four-disc set’s subtitle captures its objective in a nutshell: to collect Formative UK Electronica 1975–1984 – excursions in proto-synth pop, DIY... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Sandy DennySunday, 17 April 2016
Is there anything left to say about Sandy Denny? Sadly, she cannot say anything herself, as she died in 1978. So it’s left to what she released during her lifetime, posthumous appraisals and reappraisals, and packages and repackages to do the... Read more... |
Conceptual Art in Britain 1964-1979, Tate BritainSaturday, 16 April 2016
The exhibition starts promisingly. You can help yourself to an orange from Roelof Louw’s pyramid of golden fruit. Its a reminder that, for the conceptualists, art was a verb not a noun. Focusing on activity rather than outcome, these artists were... Read more... |
Magical Surfaces: The Uncanny in Contemporary Photography, Parasol UnitThursday, 14 April 2016
Magical Surfaces: The Uncanny in Contemporary Photography focuses on two contrasting generations. Beginning in the 1970s, Stephen Shore and Joel Sternfeld travelled America photographing things that are so ordinary, yet so odd, that they transcend... Read more... |
DVD: Doomwatch Series 1-3, The Remaining EpisodesTuesday, 12 April 2016
When it aired on BBC One at the dawn of the Seventies, Doomwatch became one of the marvels of the broadcasting age, sometimes pulling audiences of over 13 million. Thanks to the keen imagination of its creator, Dr Kit Pedler – a gifted... Read more... |
Des canyons aux étoiles, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dudamel, BarbicanThursday, 24 March 2016
Art can inspire music, and vice versa. When concert (as opposed to theatre or film) scores are accompanied by images, however, the effect dilutes the impact of both; above all, the imagination stops working on the visual dimension created in the... Read more... |
High-RiseThursday, 17 March 2016
Dr Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) feels he’s “living in a future that had already taken place”. Director Ben Wheatley, too, has made a late-arriving Seventies exploitation pic from JG Ballard’s 1975 novel. High-Rise is a highly sexy and violent look... Read more... |
