1960s
Music Reissues Weekly: Congo Funk! - Sound Madness from the Shores of the Mighty Congo RiverSunday, 14 April 2024
Brazzaville is on the north side of the Congo River. It is the capital of the Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is on the south side of the Congo. It is capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaïre. The cities face each... Read more... |
Blu-ray: Happy End (Šťastný konec)Tuesday, 09 April 2024
Happy End’s big draw is its central conceit, that of a convicted murderer narrating his life story backwards from the guillotine to the cradle. Made in 1967 by Oldfřich Lipský (1924-1986), renowned as a director of off-beat comedies, you wonder how... Read more... |
Ripley, Netflix review - Highsmith's horribly fascinating sociopath adrift in a sea of noirSaturday, 06 April 2024
There would have to be a good reason for making another screen version of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr Ripley, already successfully adapted by Anthony Minghella in his 1999 film. One this new adaptation presumably had in mind... Read more... |
Mothers' Instinct review - 'Mad Women'Sunday, 31 March 2024
This is a Nineties psycho thriller in Mad Men clothes, undermining its Sixties suburban gloss and Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain’s desperate housewives with genre clichés, yet sustained by the courage of debuting director Benoît Delhomme’s un-... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Status Quo - The Early YearsSunday, 31 March 2024
“So Ends Another Life” is strange. Very strange. The song’s dolefulness is immediately set up with a strummed guitar along the lines of the intro to The Bee Gees’ “New York Mining Disaster.” “In a world of agitation, there’s no time for compassion”... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Niney The Observer Presents Lightning and Thunder!Sunday, 24 March 2024
Winston Holness started his own record label in 1969. Missing a finger, he became known by many folks as Niney. Born 7 December 1944, he had lost a thumb in an accident at work. By the point his imprint debuted, he had sung on a Clement “Coxsone”... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: The Mystic Tide - FrustrationSunday, 17 March 2024
Crashing chords are followed by a spindly, untrammelled solo guitar. After this subsides, the singer lays out the issue: “I try, I cry, I just can't see why. It's clear, she's near, the sights and sounds I hear.” He’s distressed, his anguish... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Groove Machine - The Earl Young Drum SessionsSunday, 10 March 2024
A few records changed music. One such was “The Love I Lost (Part 1)” by Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes. Issued as a single by the Philadelphia International label in August 1973, its release introduced what would become a major characteristic of... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Mark Eric - A Midsummer’s Day DreamSunday, 03 March 2024
In June 1969, The Beach Boys released “Break Away” as a single. A month earlier, they had announced they were leaving Capitol Records, who they had been with since 1962. The split with their long-term label came after the band sued for unpaid... Read more... |
Zineb Sedira: Dreams Have No Titles, Whitechapel Gallery review - a disorientating mix of fact and fictionWednesday, 21 February 2024
The downstairs of the Whitechapel Gallery has been converted into a ballroom or, rather, a film set of a ballroom. From time to time, a couple glides briefly across the floor, dancing a perfunctory tango. And they are really hamming it up, not for... Read more... |
Blu-ray: Jerzy Skolimowski - Walkower, Bariera, Dialóg 20-40-60Tuesday, 20 February 2024
Diving into this three-disc set of early films by maverick Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski leaves one reeling, an arresting reminder of the vibrancy and flair of so much 1960s Eastern European cinema.This isn’t a valedictory package: Skolimowski,... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Lou Christie - Gypsy BellsSunday, 18 February 2024
Lou Christie fancied offering some social comment. The lyrics of his May 1967 single “Self Expression (The Kids on the Street Will Never Give in)” tackled inter-generational conflict: “Papa I don't see things your way, Like choosin' my own religion... Read more... |
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