THE GUARDIAN / Alexis Patrides In early 1997, Everything But the Girl were at the height of their fame. Fifteen years into their career, they had executed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes. Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn had been dropped by their label after the release of their 1994 album, Amplified Heart, only to see […]
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It’s probably overstating the case to say that the release of Blue Monday transformed New Order’s career, but it certainly changed it. It put them in the Top 10 and on Top of the Pops for the first time. It spent 38 weeks in the Top 75, became the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time […]
At first glance, Kyiv looks and feels relatively normal. One year on from the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the streets, bars and restaurants once again bustle with people going about their lives. Look a little closer however, and it becomes clear how completely transformative and tragic the war has been. Bombed-out Russian tanks, missile […]
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/19/eno-the-rhinegold-review-wagner-richard-jones-martyn-brabbins-coliseum
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/feb/27/bruce-springsteen-nick-hornby-stephen-frears-high-fidelity-john-cusack-jack-black
THE GUARDIAN / Andrew Clements Faust/Les Siècles/Roth(Harmonia Mundi)Performed on original instruments, the composer’s neoclassical works – particularly his Violin Concerto, brilliantly played by Isabelle Faust, come into sharper focus t was through their recordings of Stravinsky’s early ballets a decade ago that François-Xavier Roth and the period instruments of Les Siècles cemented their international reputation. […]
THE GUARDIAN / Ben Beaumont-Thomas Steve Mackey, the bass guitarist for Pulp during the band’s most successful years, has died aged 56. His wife, stylist Katie Grand, announced the news on her Instagram page, writing: After three months in hospital, fighting with all his strength and determination, we are shocked and devastated to have said […]
THE GUARDIAN / Ben Beaumont-Thomas Wayne Shorter, one of America’s greatest jazz saxophonists whose career spanned bop, fusion and more, has died in hospital in Los Angeles, aged 89. His publicist confirmed his death to the New York Times. Shorter was a central force in three of the 20th century’s great jazz groups: the Jazz […]
THE INDEPENDENT: Jim Farber talks to the late singer’s former bandmate Chris Biondo and composer Christopher Willis about using AI and fresh symphonic arrangements ‘to do the right thing by her’ n 1992, four years before the death of a then-unknown singer named Eva Cassidy, and eight before she would achieve posthumous, worldwide fame, she […]
Previously published here THE GUARDIAN https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/feb/12/songwriters-fight-to-be-heard-in-streaming-revenues-debate
THE GUARDIAN / Dave Simpson A the age of 74, Andy Fairweather Low didn’t expect to see in 2023 as a viral sensation. He was on Jools’ Annual Hootenanny, performing his new song Got Me a Party and his old band Amen Corner’s 1969 chart-topper (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice. His appearance was so […]
THE GUARDIAN / Andrew Clements Tetzlaff/Tetzlaff/Vogt(Ondine, two CDs)The late pianist is outstanding in these last recordings, accompanied by his longtime collaborators, the violinist Christian Tetzlaff and his cellist sister Tanja The pianist Lars Vogt died in September last year. His cancer had been diagnosed in 2021, and he was already ill when, against doctors’ advice, […]
omenico Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas crop up regularly enough in recitals, most often in a group of four or five beginning a programme, or acting as a palate-cleanser between more substantial works. Concerts devoted exclusively to them are rare, but in doing precisely that harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani was on a mission to encourage his audience to […]
An engaging and interesting read from 2015. Dave has a partly-defunct old hi-fi system, and an awful lot of vinyl. What’s the best way to update or replace his system for the modern age? Read the whole piece HERE
“Pat Metheny’s Unity Band is a wave to his fine album 80/81, which featured the late Michael Brecker and Dewey Redman on saxes. Their roles are merged here on a batch of new Metheny pieces by the versatile Chris Potter, accompanied by regular drummer Antonio Sanchez and gifted bass newcomer Ben Williams. The themes are typical Metheny: sensuous Latin […]
FIONA MADDOCKS The three composers on the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s African American Voices (Linn), conducted by the orchestra’s assistant conductor, South Carolina-born Kellen Gray, are enjoying a vigorous revival. William Grant Still (1895-1978), George Walker (1922-2018) and William Levi Dawson (1899-1990) combined classical training with the Black vernacular music of their upbringing. Dawson played […]
Believe it or not, there was a time when people would break into your car to steal the shiny, cheaply made scratch-magnets. Continues HERE
It was the legendary Louisiana musician Dr John who memorably described James Booker as “the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced”. Though Booker – who died from hard living in 1983 at the age of 43 – would have undoubtedly approved of the description, it does diminish his musical stature […]
Linda Keith lent a young blues player a guitar belonging to her boyfriend, Keith Richards – and the rest is history. In a rare interview, she tells her story Rock’n’roll has had many pivotal moments, but few are as clear cut as when Linda Keith, a 20-year-old British Vogue model and blues fanatic, lent a […]
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/13/manuel-gottsching-electronic-music-will-endure-e2-e4
Dodgy sound, dodgy bass players, hostile crowds, no crowds, flying bottles – every band has had bad gigs. Paul Lester asks musicians about the worst gigs they ever played MORE
Manfred Eicher discusses his genre-defying label ECM, home of Keith Jarrett, Arvo Pärt and priceless recordings of free jazz greats. On 9 July Manfred Eicher will be 70. He does not look his age, more like an amiable ascetic with a tidy moustache, medium-length grey hair, dressed in a shirt and jeans. Not a […]
ALEXIS PATRIDES: As the credits roll on Dance Craze, the impossibly exciting 1981 concert film shot at the height of the 2 Tone movement, the Specials perform Nite Klub. It’s a noticeably different version of the song to the one that appears on their eponymous 1979 debut album. The intro is long and slow, reflecting […]
Originally published September 2013 The singer on the influence of Elvis (and his mum), the brilliance of Bruce Hornsby and Bridge Over Troubled Water, and the musician who always turns the most heads at his famous parties Continues HERE