pop
Reissue CDs Weekly: Can, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Dreamboats & PetticoatsSunday, 17 June 2012
Can: The Lost TapesKieron TylerDespite being compiled from previously unreleased material, the extraordinary The Lost Tapes is as wonderful as last year's 40th Anniversary edition of Tago Mago. This archive trawl outpaces previous exhumations like... Read more... |
CD: The Beach Boys – That’s Why God Made the RadioWednesday, 06 June 2012
“We’re back together, easy money”. For anyone feeling a wee bit cynical about The Beach Boys' reunion, that lyric – from “Spring Vacation” – is likely to push them towards full-blown contempt. Although That’s Why God Made the Radio is defined by... Read more... |
CD: Regina Spektor - What We Saw From The Cheap SeatsMonday, 28 May 2012
It's been six years since Regina Spektor released Begin to Hope, a festival-friendly breakthrough album with a poppy sheen that easily loaned itself to mobile phone network marketing campaigns and the like. Six years then since the Moscow-born Bronx... Read more... |
Jessie J announces arena tourTuesday, 22 May 2012Capitalising on the success of her alterna-career as coach on BBC One talent show The Voice, pop starlet Jessie J will be back on the road early next year will a full slate of national arena dates.Jessie, whose debut "Who You Are" has sold over one... Read more... |
Robin Gibb, 1949–2012Monday, 21 May 2012
The death of Robin Gibb was announced last night. He had been diagnosed with cancer following surgery for a blocked intestine in 2010, when it was discovered that he had cancer of the colon. This April, it was announced he had contracted pneumonia.... Read more... |
CD: Saint Etienne – Words and Music by Saint EtienneMonday, 14 May 2012
If you are old enough to recall the heady excitement of running out of breath as you hurtled to the record store to buy a single on the day of release Words and Music by Saint Etienne will strike an instant chord. This deliciously melancholic... Read more... |
10cc, Royal Albert HallFriday, 11 May 2012
Some things just don’t need saying. “If you know the chorus to this one, please join in” comes the invitation from the stage just before “Dreadlock Holiday”. On the final date of 10cc’s 40th anniversary tour it was unlikely that anyone at the Royal... Read more... |
CD: Keane - StrangelandSunday, 06 May 2012
To recap the Keane story so far: in 2004 three precocious middle-class boys stormed the charts with bland anthemic radio-friendly rock that used no guitars. Over the next six years, they then went on to experience the kind of growth that George... Read more... |
Gomez, KokoTuesday, 24 April 2012
Some say that since Gomez beat Pulp to win 1998’s Mercury award, their progress has been a little disappointing. After two or three albums their infectious frazzled blues became replaced by anodyne AOR, until eventually all their wild innocence had... Read more... |
Bryn Terfel creates Wales-on-ThamesMonday, 23 April 2012Where there used to be the Faenol Festival in north Wales, now there's BrynFest at London's Southbank Centre. From Wednesday 4 July to Saturday 7 July, burly bass-baritone Bryn Terfel will host an array of musical events in a mixture of styles,... Read more... |
CD: Poliça – Give You the GhostThursday, 19 April 2012
Poliça aren’t lacking support. Jay Z posted one of their videos on his blog. Prince turned up to check out their live debut. Bon Iver's Mike Noyce sings on a couple of Give You the Ghost’s tracks. For an outfit whose debut album is only just getting... Read more... |
CD: Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland - Black is BeautifulThursday, 12 April 2012
Martin Schmidt of the US electronic experimental outfit Matmos once said, “If you make a living from your art, that starts to poison it. You can’t help thinking, how can I change this art to make a better living. The obvious answer is that you make... Read more... |
