New Music Reviews
Reissue CDs Weekly: Looking back at 2020Sunday, 27 December 2020
In 2020, one archive release exerted a more forceful presence than any other. Live At Goose Lake August 8th 1970 caught The Stooges as they promoted their second album Fun House. The source was a previously unknown, professionally recorded tape documenting the whole album as it was played live, in its running order. Iggy Pop and the band were hard yet sloppy, tight yet rough, always blazing. Wonderful – and a reminder that musical surprises still crop up. Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2020: bdrmm - BedroomSaturday, 26 December 2020
It’s become something of an end-of-year list cliché to say that 2020 has been a great year for music despite being a catastrophic shitstorm when judged by any other metric you care to mention. “Ah!” says 2020, “but clichés are clichés because they’re true,” and sits back smugly, arms folded, conveniently forgetting that this is a cliché in itself and so leading us into a whirlwind of circular reasoning. That’s just so 2020, right? Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2020: Steve Earle & The Dukes - Ghosts of West VirginiaWednesday, 23 December 2020
In this most dark and dislocating of years, music has sustained me as it always has. Balm, refuge, escape, retreat. A way of opting out of the daily horror show, often with familiar sounds – musicians and albums that have long been old friends, familiar grooves that seemed more profound in the other-worldly silence and isolation of 2020. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Sumer Is Icumen In - The Pagan Sound Of British & Irish FolkSunday, 20 December 2020
The winter solstice occurs tomorrow, 21 December. Stonehenge, one of this island’s most significant structures, is constructed in alignment with the setting sun on that day. After the solstice, the days lengthen and a new cycle of the year begins. Read more... |
Songlines Music Awards - Cerys Matthews introduces a global line-up of winnersMonday, 14 December 2020
Booking a venue, filling it with people, and handing out awards-night hardware to a range of international artists is a challenge to be reckoned with at any time, even more so in the wake of this year's pandemic. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Iggy & The Stooges - You Think You’re Bad, Man? The Road Tapes 1973-74Sunday, 13 December 2020
It didn’t take long for The Stooges to acquire an afterlife. They played their final show in February 1974. In May 1975, Nick Kent wrote a multi-page feature for NME on the ups and downs of Iggy Pop and Co. Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl Christmas Special 2020: Donna Summer, Tom Sanders, The Kinks, Tru Thoughts, Spice Girls, Style Council and moreFriday, 11 December 2020
The music year draws to a close and theartsdesk on Vinyl presents its festive selection. We go easier on the cheesier at this time of year, but there are also gold nuggets in there too. Time to buy the vinyl lover in your life a little something? Read more... |
Album: Jamie Cullum - The Pianoman at ChristmasWednesday, 09 December 2020
Island Records were apparently keen for half of Jamie Cullum’s first Christmas album to consist of covers, but the singer/songwriter thought otherwise, and simply said no.“When you think of all the people who have recorded “The Christmas Song” [...]”, he has said, “why should I do the same thing?” Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Scars - Author! Author!Sunday, 06 December 2020
Scars’s tour de force album Author! Author! has been out of sight for too long. Originally released in 1981, it first reappeared on a swiftly withdrawn CD in 2007. Apparently, there were issues about where the rights for its reissue lay. Now, it has re-emerged. Read more... |
Mary Chapin Carpenter, One Night Lonely livestream review - down-home and perfectly pacedWednesday, 02 December 2020
Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Songs from Home has been an anchor-point almost since the beginning of lockdown for many people, all of us invited into the singer’s sun-dappled Virginia farmhouse, often the kitchen, where, accompanied by Angus the most golden of retrievers, she chats and sings. Read more... |
Pages
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
latest in today
Music Reissues Weekly: Why Don’t You Smile Now - Lou Reed at...
The Velvet Underground first played before an audience on 11 December 1965. A year earlier, their two founder members Lou Reed and John Cale were...
The Teacher review - tense West Bank drama
It’s hard not to review the Israeli occupation of Palestine when writing about The Teacher. The political context of this first feature...
Suor Angelica, English National Opera review - isolated one-...
Puccini elevated the operatic tearjerker to tragic status in three masterpieces: La bohème, Madama Butterfly and...
Joe Rogan, Netflix Special review - US podcaster leaves the...
Before Joe Rogan gained fame for his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, he has been, variously, a comic, presenter of goofball...
The Magic Flute, Opera North review - a fresh vision of Moza...
In an autumn season of three revivals, Opera North begin by inviting James Brining, artistic director of Leeds Playhouse, to oversee his own...
Album: Lady Gaga - Harlequin
Lady Gaga has made clear this is not her official new artist album. It’s a side project, inspired by Harley Quinn, the nom-de-chaos of the Arkham...
Hough, Philharmonia, Rouvali, RFH review - where the wild th...
This autumn, the Philharmonia’s “Nordic Soundscapes” season promises music suffused with the epic vistas, and weather, of high latitudes, along...
The Outrun review - Saoirse Ronan is astonishing as an alcoh...
In 2016, Amy Liptrot made a fine publishing debut with a memoir about her alcoholism, The Outrun. Now she has co-written a...
Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - declarati...
If audience reaction is anything to go by, Kahchun Wong’s season-opening first concert officially in post as principal conductor of the Hallé was...