pop music
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Love AffairSunday, 12 July 2015
The Love Affair/Steve Ellis: Time Hasn’t Changed us - The Complete CBS Recordings 1967-1971The connection between Sex Pistols, the stars of last week’s Reissue CDs Weekly, and late-Sixties London soul-pop hit-makers The Love Affair is unlikely... Read more... |
AmyThursday, 02 July 2015
“I don’t think I could handle it, I think I’d go mad.” It’s the sort of answer given by anyone asked how they’d react to fame. With the possibility looming of recognition beyond jazz circles, Amy Winehouse, who was then not so well-known, responded... Read more... |
The Man Who Sold the World, O2 Shepherd's Bush EmpireWednesday, 01 July 2015
Normally, if an album as good as The Man Who Sold the World had itself sold the sum total of sod all on release, it would have been lost, then found, before becoming a fêted rarity, exchanging hands for hundreds while bootleggers had a field day.... Read more... |
CD: Wolf Alice - My Love is CoolMonday, 22 June 2015
Do you remember Alisha’s Attic? The '90s sister-duo’s debut was the first album I bought, and it was full of pretty pop songs soaked in vinegar and malice. Wolf Alice, a grunge-pop four-piece from north London, remind me of Alisha’s Attic, at least... Read more... |
CD: The Parrots - Weed For The ParrotsSaturday, 20 June 2015
There’s way too much proficiency in music these days. There’s way too much interest in high production values. Also, half the people involved in popular music seem more interested in the business side, the branding and the online imprint. It is very... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Lesley GoreSunday, 14 June 2015
Lesley Gore: California NightsThe reissue of 1967’s California Nights is a timely tribute to both Lesley Gore, who died in February this year, and Bob Crewe, the producer of most of the album’s tracks, who died in September last year. Gore... Read more... |
CD: Florence + The Machine: How Big How Blue How BeautifulMonday, 01 June 2015
That How Big How Blue How Beautiful is as much a mission statement as an album title will come as little surprise to anyone with even a passing familiarity with either Florence Welch or her pop juggernaut of a voice. With new producer Marcus Dravs... Read more... |
The Beach Boys, Royal Albert HallSunday, 31 May 2015
You might think that the carefree, gleeful melodies of sunny Californian surf-rock giants The Beach Boys would render them immune to the kind of egotistical wedge-driving that sunders most rock groups eventually. You would, of course, be wrong.... Read more... |
CD: Hot Chip - Why Make Sense?Saturday, 16 May 2015
Hot Chip are a band who have, over the years, brought a different personality to the hedonistic house party – one that often seems caught halfway between the kitchen and the designated dancefloor. This, their sixth album, sees them trying to edge... Read more... |
Lambert & StampTuesday, 12 May 2015
“I fell in love with both of them immediately,” says Pete Townshend of Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, the managers who took his band The Who to world-wide success. An hour into Lambert & Stamp, a documentary on the duo, the depth of that bond is... Read more... |
CD: Death and Vanilla – To Where the Wild Things AreThursday, 07 May 2015
Back in the Seventies, in between keeping an eye out for the unwanted attentions of radio DJs and waiting for punk, the internet or colours to happen, there was real beauty if you knew where to look. By which I mean telly, of course. From the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Eurovision 2015Sunday, 03 May 2015
Various Artists: Building Bridges - Eurovision Song Contest Vienna 2015Mind-bogglingly, Australia is a first-time entrant in Eurovision 2015. The nature of Europe may be a concern for some backwards-looking British voters in next week’s... Read more... |
