pop
World Party, Royal Albert HallFriday, 02 November 2012
“A hurricane didn’t stop me getting here,” shouted Barry from Philadelphia, and there were plenty of hard core World Party fans for whom last night at the Albert Hall was a big deal concert – the first proper tour in 10 years, coming on the back of... Read more... |
CD: JLS - EvolutionMonday, 29 October 2012
From Elvis and Mick Jagger to the Spice Girls and, er, Chris Brown, pop music has often - whether covertly or overtly - been a fairly sexual medium. Listening to stuff you know your parents would hate is probably part of what fosters such tremendous... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Ennio Morricone, Rites of Spring, Hotlegs, Cults Percussion EnsembleSunday, 28 October 2012
Ennio Morricone: In ColourKieron TylerThe recent release of Berberian Sound Studio raised the level of interest in Italian film soundtracks. From the moment Ennio Morricone’s compositions for the spaghetti westerns of the Sixties attracted attention... Read more... |
CD: Kylie - The Abbey Road SessionsSunday, 28 October 2012
There is, of course, something inherently disagreeable in the notion that a great modern pop song is like some grubby Eliza Doolittle, secretly longing to be smartened up and made respectable by the tasteful accoutrements of strings, a sensible... Read more... |
Interview: 10 Questions for Rebecca FergusonSaturday, 27 October 2012
Pop 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... |
Chas & Dave: Last Orders, BBC FourSaturday, 27 October 2012
Chas & Dave’s run of hits up the mid Eighties made them an alternative to the gloss of Wham!, Duran Duran and Culture Club. They had three chart albums in 1983. But was there more to their “rockney” music than a first take suggests? Were they... Read more... |
Tampere Nights: Lost in Music Festival 2012Friday, 26 October 2012
Nightclub Tähti is on the seventh floor of an anonymous-looking building along Tampere’s main shopping street, Hämeenkatu. Black-suited security wave you into a lift which zips straight up there. After surrendering your coat at the cloakroom –... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Peter Gabriel, Stackridge, Ray Charles, Caro EmeraldSunday, 21 October 2012
Peter Gabriel: So Russ Coffey In early 1986 Peter Gabriel was still the guy who used to be in Genesis. He may have released four solo albums, but had also done his best to keep them in the “cult” section of local stores. With So, however, his... Read more... |
CD: Dionne Warwick – NowWednesday, 17 October 2012
The songs are instantly recognisable. Bacharach & David’s “Don’t Make Me Over” “There's Always Something There to Remind me”, “I Say a Little Prayer” and “Make it Easy on Yourself” will always be evocative. So will Dionne Warwick’s voice, though... Read more... |
Johnny Hallyday, Royal Albert HallTuesday, 16 October 2012
The Royal Albert Hall is pretty big. It's a prestige venue, but everything is relative. For the overwhelmingly French audience, the first British headlining show by Johnny Hallyday was the equivalent of seeing Paul McCartney, Tom Jones and Cliff... Read more... |
CD: Leona Lewis - GlassheartSaturday, 13 October 2012
Leona Lewis has a whole new look: all mouse-brown hair, sullen expression and the oddest-looking facial jewellery since Kate Nash misappropriated the bindi in the video she made to accompany “Underestimate The Girl”. It really doesn’t suit her.... Read more... |
Just in From Scandinavia: Nordic Music Round-Up 5Monday, 08 October 2012
A lot has blown in since the last Scandinavian round-up. The most recent releases sifted here include singer-songwriter intimacy, various forms of electropop, several shades of jazz experimenta, joyous dance-pop and some distinctly non-Scandinavian... Read more... |
