Author: jerobear
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Paul Weller: Saturn’s Pattern
Admission time: we always thought Paul Weller’s music was a little samey. The aging Review Corner member bought the Jam’s first album and found it somewhat lacking in variation. Not being into Mod-dom probably didn’t help, but neither did all those ironed suits and scooters. As a singles band we always loved The Jam —…
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Danny and The Champions Of The World: What Kind Of Love
This is a great album, and you should go and buy it. Off you go. Danny and his boys are British but play American-style blues rock, in a life affirming, happy, cheerful way. They’re somewhere, musically and in spirit, between Bruce Springsteen (anthemic), Tom Petty (chilled), Dexy’s Midnight Runners (for the brass and Celtic soul)…
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George Enescu: Violin and Piano Works (2)
If you’re new to classical music, this is almost the definition of what you would like to expect. Lively and easy to listen to, rich and full of energy, it’s classical music without the pretension. The opening section could easily be from a modern dance tune with a big staccato intro and then some mid-tempo…
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Slug: Ripe
As soon as we heard this, we thought: Field Music. And we couldn’t have been more right. Slug is, who plays bass in Field Music’s touring band (which means we’ve seen him a couple of times). Field Music’s Brewis Bros lent Black their studio and produce/play. Fans of Field Music should buy this as it’s…
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Luke Whitlock: Flowing Waters
We tend to listen to the CDs a few times through before we read the sleeve notes, and this rather beautiful CD from Mr Whitlock had a dozen plays before we could press pause. (He’s Mr Whitlock because we like the cut of his jib: he looks like clothes aren’t top of his priorities, so…
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Quatuor Danel: New Sounds From Manchester
We’ve been enjoying this new CD from Quatuor Danel, the quartet in residence at the University of Manchester. On this CD they present new compositions by four English composers associated with the university, two (John Casken and Philip Grange) already quite well known (so the Press notes say) and two younger ones, Camden Reeves and…
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Timeshares: Already Dead
Without wanting to sound like sad music geeks, we didn’t have to look it up to know this was on the reliable SideOneDummy Records. SideOne helped to break Gaslight Anthem and its stable of artists usually has that blue collar Springsteen punk rock ‘n’ roll feel to them. Serious musicians playing serious music to have…
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Rob J Madin: Cracked Shattered and Pop
And then there are albums that utterly defy classification. Madin is best known for his comedy creation Brett Domino, who does slightly geeky musical comedies — he’s got 20 million hits on YouTube and did a Comic Relief song. He’s also C-Bomb, a slightly geeky dubstep producer in Sheffield, who had a pilot television show.…
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Major Lazer: Peace Is The Mission
Summer is here, well nearly, and Major Lazer (aka Diplo plus chums) is also here, offering a soundtrack for all your BBQs or parties. Previous Major Lazer CDs have not so much been albums as compilations of dance tracks and this no different. Opener Be Together is a slower song but after this measured opening…
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