Author: jerobear
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Clare Teal: Twelve O’Clock Tales
There’s not much to say about this: Clare Teal, one of Britain’s best loved jazz singers, and also a broadcaster, is famous not only for her voice but for signing the biggest recording contract by a British jazz singer. She specialises in singing standards and for this new CD is joined by The Hallé Orchestra,…
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Sigvards Klava: Arvo Pärt, Da Pacem Domine
To call this CD awe-inspiring is like saying the Grand Canyon is big or Formula One noisy. Just as the Grand Canyon is so big it’s hard to take in the first time you see it, this is so awe-inspiring that it knocks the senses a little at the first play through. We visited Auschwitz…
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Gerald Finzi: A Finzi Anthology
We’ve been playing this collection of the work of Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) a fair amount, as it is enjoyable and relatively undemanding. Finzi was one of the most characteristically “English” composers of his generation and while he did write some Christian texts, being an agnostic of Jewish descent he tends not to be overtly religious.…
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Butch Walker: Stay Gold
Yey, it’s the summer of ‘69 all over again, or at least 1984, when Bryan Adams’s song of that name was around. Hair metal was still a thing — Van Halen released the imaginatively titled 1984 and Bon Jovi’s debut (equally imaginatively titled, Bon Jovi) came out, while Whitesnake could still release albums with snakes…
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Skinny Lister: The Devil, The Heart, The Fight
Londoners Skinny Lister beat the listener into smiling submission; it’s impossible not to find something to like or a toe to tap on this raucous and lively album. The sound: imagine if Frank Turner played punk sea shanties. They’ve got the same earthy folk sound as Turner but with added concertina and tin whistle. The…
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Mutter Slater Band: The Champ
Mike “Mutter” Slater was front man and flute player for 70s cult band Stackridge, produced by George Martin and signed by Elton John. They played for The Old Grey Whistle Test and John Peel, but their story resembles a Ripping Yarn script for a spoof 70s rock band. Stackridge Lemon was formed from the remains…
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Philip Henderson: From The Old World To The New World
You could almost class this is a pop album — there’s an osmotic connection between ambient pop and classical music and this excellent CD is most definitely the pop side in places. Henderson wrote the music for shows such as The Far Pavilions and this awareness of what the masses wants infuses this easy-on-the-ear classical…
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Shakin’ Stevens: Echoes Of Our Times
The Brexit vote, the death of Elvis, John Major/Edwina Currie — some events are so unexpected that they change your world view. Right up there with them is this is new album from Shakin’ Stevens. It’s very, very good. In a proper, serious rock, sounds-a-bit-like-the-Beatles way. It’s a collection of strong songs with a blues/…
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Yevgeny Sudbin: Scarlatti: 18 Sonatas
Ignorance is bliss in this case. We thought this CD of piano renditions of Scarlatti sonatas beautiful, but read a number of reviews that said purists might want to hear the works played on a harpsichord. Obviously, by the same token they should embrace all elements of life in the late c17th: bubonic plague, slavery,…
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