1980s
Reissue CDs Weekly: Lee Hazlewood, T-Coy, Laibach, Boppin’ by the BayouSunday, 02 September 2012
Lee Hazlewood: A House Safe for TigersGraham RicksonLee Hazlewood’s voice can still invoke awe. It's gravelly, sonorous, rasping, but incredibly affecting – even when he’s scraping around in the depths it always sounds musical. A reissue of a... Read more... |
Soul Sister, Savoy TheatreSaturday, 25 August 2012
The fright wig is instantly recognisable. Even with her back turned, it’s obviously Tina Turner on stage. Except it isn’t. It’s actress Emi Wokoma playing the singer in a performance virtually guaranteed to turn her into a star. Casualty and... Read more... |
CD: Jessie Ware - DevotionWednesday, 15 August 2012
Although the Eighties revival has now been going on for longer than the actual Eighties, it shows no sign of abating – to the point where maybe it would be more sensible to refer to it as a tradition or a palette of techniques rather than than... Read more... |
Interview: 10 Questions for Nik KershawMonday, 06 August 2012
Nik Kershaw (b 1958) is best known for a run of hits in the mid-Eighties, songs such as “Wouldn’t It Be Good”, “I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me”, “The Riddle” and “Wide Boy”. He achieved international success and played Live Aid in 1985. Raised in... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Freedom Sounds, Marilyn Monroe, Modern Music, Samantha FoxSunday, 05 August 2012Various Artists: Trojan Presents Freedom Sounds, a Celebration of Jamaican MusicKieron TylerThree-and-a-half minutes in, a heavily reverbed drum suddenly rattles and the track heads off into outer space. Morse-code bass dominates, the hi-hat swishes... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Blur, Blancmange, The Smashing Pumpkins, Strange PassionSunday, 22 July 2012
Blur: 21Bruce DessauThe recent closure of Word magazine has been seen by some as linked to the demise of "Fifty Quid Man". Who can afford such a wallet-frightening splurge these days on the kind of music the monthly's writers wrote so eloquently... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Jimmy Page, Keith Jarrett, Elton John, Swing Out SisterSunday, 15 July 2012
Jimmy Page: Lucifer Rising and Other SoundtracksKieron TylerWith Led Zeppelin established as world-beaters in 1971, Jimmy Page was probably entitled to take some time off. Instead, in the wake of the release of their fourth album, they criss-crossed... Read more... |
Marc Almond, Shepherd's Bush EmpireTuesday, 10 July 2012
The first time I interviewed Marc Almond back in the late 1980s he had a pet snake with him, just one of the many things that sets him apart from today's stars. These days the only reptiles one sees around chart-toppers are the publicists. Almond... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Sound System, Songs for the Lyons Cornerhouse, All Kinds of Highs, BananaramaSunday, 08 July 2012
Various Artists: Sound System - The Story of Jamaican MusicThomas H Green This is lovely, a box-set celebration of Jamaican music, marking 50 years of the country’s independence. In a brooks-no-argument fashion, it reminds the forgetful that the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Searchers, This Ain't Chicago, The Spinners, Bronski Beat/CommunardsSunday, 01 July 2012
The Searchers: Hearts in Their EyesKieron TylerAlthough second to The Beatles as Liverpool’s most consistent Sixties chart presence, The Searchers have never previously been given the box set treatment. Like the Fabs, they were innovative and... Read more... |
Rock of AgesThursday, 14 June 2012
There's nothing wrong with the film adaptation of the stage show Rock of Ages that more raunch and noise - oops, I meant noize - might not put right, assuming that an amiably dopy immersion in Eighties rock pop is your thing. One of those star-a-... Read more... |
Interview: 10 Questions for Neneh CherryWednesday, 06 June 2012
Neneh Cherry has never been conventional. The singer and rapper's latest album is a collaboration with The Thing, a Swedish free jazz trio who have previously tackled songs by PJ Harvey and The White Stripes. If anything, the presence of Cherry has... Read more... |
