New Music Reviews
Get Folked: The Great Folk Revival, More4Sunday, 08 December 2013
I can’t say I ever tune into More4, so I confess that I don’t know whether its arts strand is any good, or even if it has one. But I suspect that Get Folked might have made a better three-parter on BBC Four, and not just for dedicated folk-heads. As it was, it tried to pack a lot into its 50 minutes (though allowing only 10 seconds for Mumford and Sons might be seen as a blessing by some) and it did so with a lot of seasoned hyperbole. Read more...
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Reissue CDs Weekly: Neil Young, MotownSunday, 08 December 2013
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Jonathan Wilson, Islington Assembly HallFriday, 06 December 2013
It took two minutes for Jonathan Wilson to launch into the first of the evening’s extended guitar solos. “Love Strong” began like much of his two-hours-ten-minutes on stage. The song opened with him singing a verse and then flying off to guitar heaven. His playing is classic, evoking but not mimicking John Cipollina, Jerry Garcia, Stephen Stills and Neil Young. But it raises a conundrum: is Wilson about the songs or the craft? The former are fabulous, melodic and memorable. Read more... |
Linda Perhacs, Kantine am Berghain, BerlinWednesday, 04 December 2013
There's been a quiet but nevertheless palpable sense of anticipation surrounding psych-folk enigma Linda Perhacs' first-ever European tour. Comparatively low-key advance publicity certainly proved no impediment to a sold-out house for the recent opening date at Berlin's Kantine am Berghain, a somewhat drab and unprepossessing bunker in the shadow of the city's notorious techno temple. Read more... |
Billy Bragg, Royal Festival HallMonday, 02 December 2013
Setting bankers, Baroness Thatcher, tax-dodging multinationals and Woody Guthrie to music? These days, it could only be a Billy Bragg gig. Reports of Bragg losing his political teeth, based on slightly guarded reviews of his latest album, Tooth & Nail, are on the evidence of last night greatly exaggerated. This is a songwriter who could no more detach his ideology than his right arm, and still play his guitar. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Velvet Underground, Neal Ford & the FanaticsSunday, 01 December 2013
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Blues America: Woke Up This Morning, BBC FourSaturday, 30 November 2013
“Long may it stay a mystery,” said Keith Richards, the first talking head seen in this opening shot of a two-part excursion through blues music. Self-evidently, two hours devoted to this oft-explored subject wasn’t going to leave too many mysteries. Woke Up This Morning did tread new ground though – at least for British television – by recalibrating perceptions of authenticity and motivation. Read more... |
Bob Dylan, Royal Albert HallFriday, 29 November 2013
And so Dylan’s tour of European theatres, opera houses and concert halls ended on Thursday night at the Royal Albert Hall, his first dates here in 46 years. I’ve seen him plenty of times over the past 30 years. This was the best of them. Dylan’s found a way to use his voice again, and his group is so nuanced to its needs, it’s a pure pleasure to hear. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: BBC Radiophonic WorkshopSunday, 24 November 2013
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Essentially Ellington, Queen Elizabeth HallSunday, 24 November 2013
Now in its eighteenth year, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO) demonstrated last night why it's considered one of Europe’s finest big bands. Brilliantly directed by tenor sax player Tommy Smith and featuring the great Brian Kellock on piano, the band performed music from their acclaimed In The Spirit of Duke released earlier this year. Read more... |
Neil Young: Live at the Cellar Door
The Velvet Underground: White Light/White Heat
BBC Radiophonic Workshop: BBC Radiophonic Music / The Radiophonic WorkshopPages
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