Liverpool
CD: OMD - English ElectricSunday, 07 April 2013Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are too often remembered for their musical sins. Their long career has taken multiple twists and turns including way too much watery tweeness in the mid-Eighties, then, later on, soppy, occasionally successful... Read more... |
Glam! The Performance of Style, Tate LiverpoolFriday, 15 March 2013Glam. Were you there? If so, what was it all about? You might come up with a list: Roxy Music, Ziggy Stardust, shiny flares, Sweet, shaggy hair, the ubiquitous platform boot, T-Rex, glittery eye-shadow, lip-gloss pouts (on men). It was the era of... Read more... |
Video Exclusive: BJ Smith covers Mos Def's Umi SaysMonday, 07 January 2013We're extremely proud to be able to present this charming exclusive video by the London multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter (and animator) BJ Smith - a ray of sunshine in the winter greyness. It comes from the forthcoming Dedication to the... Read more... |
Epstein: The Man Who Made The Beatles, Epstein Theatre, LiverpoolTuesday, 20 November 2012Those of us growing up in the heady days of 1960s Liverpool knew that four local lads were taking the world by storm. Some really grown-up people might even have been to The Cavern and seen the phenomenon in their early days. And yet there was... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Blue Nile, The Seeds, Dan Penn, Frankie Goes to HollywoodSunday, 04 November 2012The Blue Nile: A Walk Across The Rooftops, HatsGraeme ThomsonThe Blue Nile occupy a unique spot in the musical landscape. Formed in 1980 by Glasgow University graduates Paul Buchanan, Paul Joseph Moore and Robert Bell, four albums in 30 years... Read more... |
Interview: 10 Questions for Rebecca FergusonSaturday, 27 October 2012Pop music has always been a cynical business. And yet, sometimes, I like to imagine an alternative universe somewhere before Simon Cowell made his millions and the reality television behemoth become the industry that it has become. The televised... Read more... |
Good Cop, Finale, BBC OneSunday, 14 October 2012It was tough luck for Good Cop that the real-life killing of two female police officers in Manchester prompted the BBC to postpone its fourth and final episode, judging that its plotline of rookie cop Amanda Morgan acting as bait for a couple of... Read more... |
Treasured, Anglican Cathedral, LiverpoolTuesday, 02 October 2012You could say that the Titanic has been done to death, and that any new show would really need to say something different, something so far unknown, unearth a new angle, find new facts. To some extent, Treasured does that. Who’s ever heard of Mouser... Read more... |
Henry, RLPO, Petrenko, Philharmonic Hall, LiverpoolSaturday, 22 September 2012The prospect of a new concerto from a largely unknown composer who, it’s safe to say, had never been performed previously in Liverpool may have seemed a little daunting. By the end of the 22-minute world premiere, however, rapturous applause greeted... Read more... |
Good Cop, BBC OneFriday, 31 August 2012A sense of déjà vu strikes from the very first shot. It is a dark and stormy night. A lone man staggers down an empty street through the lashing rain. Once indoors we see he has blood on his hands. A minute has not yet passed but Warren Brown – for... Read more... |
Good Cop: From Page to ScreenMonday, 27 August 2012On Thursday the BBC will screen the opening episode of the television drama Good Cop. I finished writing it back in August 2010, and on the strength of that story and ideas for a total of four episodes, the series was green-lit in February 2011. We... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Searchers, This Ain't Chicago, The Spinners, Bronski Beat/CommunardsSunday, 01 July 2012The 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... |