Author: jerobear
-
Colin Newcombe: 13 Fragments
Newcombe is a local author who has produced a book that should be handed out to anyone thinking of descriptive writing and self-publishing. So with some joy we can say first what it isn’t: it’s not badly proofed, badly written or short of ideas, and Newcombe has clearly lavished a lot of attention on both…
-
Norman Ohler: Blitzed
This accessible history book is a good present for anyone who likes modern history but doesn’t want a heavy read. Ohler is a novelist and the book reads like a novel, but he’s done his research; Ian Kershaw, a world-leading authority on Hitler and Nazi Germany, has described it as “a serious piece of scholarship”.…
-
Camille: Oui
An album we’ve spent so long listening to, we’ve written 10 reviews mentally; the fact that’s proving so hard to write anything down is itself a review, and perhaps not a terribly good one. It’s not a bad album by any means. It was recorded over a year in La Chartreuse, a 14th century monastery-turned-artist’s…
-
Tom Millar Quartet: Unnatural Events
The Tom Millar Quartet is modern, fast and busy. They’re low on melody but there’s lots going on, and it’s more about the overall vibe, which is laid back. Millar said in an interview of his debut album as a leader that he “went on a musical journey”, taking in Brazilian and world music, as…
-
Johann Schelle: Christmas Cantatasj
This programme of Classic FM-style sacred music is ideal for people who want some reverential music during the festive period, but don’t want massed choirs yelling “Gloria!” at the top of their lungs while they’re peeling the spuds (the people, not the choirs). Schelle (1648-1701) was the music director at the Church of St Thomas…
-
The Wedding Present: George Best
Thirty-year-old albums are always hard to appraise: everyone wot wants them has got ‘em, and no-one else really cares. While George Best is an indie classic, it’s not the Weddos’ best. (As we think singer David Gedge lives locally we’d better say all their albums are great, obviously). We quite liked the Wedding Present. We…
-
Dolly Parton: I Believe In You
Dolly. It’s impossible to say anything bad about her: rose from nothing, written some classic tunes and knows the value of every single one, but not mean either — she gave the rights to I Will Always Love You (the best-selling single by a woman in music history) to her former manager Porter Wagoner, for…
-
Bob Chilcott: All Good Things
Nominally this is jazz but as far as jazz goes, it makes Bob James sound like Metallica; it’s more like music for a trendy evangelical church, though choral singers will probably love it, too. Vocal group Commotio figure highly. Chilcott recently worked with Congleton Choral Society, who loved him. The CD reminded us of the…
-
David Braid: Songs, Solos and Duos
This is a CD that shows that good music is hard to categorise. Wrexham-born Braid is a classical composer only because he’s on a classical label and plays classical guitar, but with a nudge in any direction this could be jazz or acoustic/folk pop. His mingling of jazz with folk and classical make this an…
-
Guy Wampa and Justin Percival: Ammut
We played this several times knowing nothing about them. It’s slick and commercial; the singer (a Wampa or a Percival, we know not) sounds like the Canadian K-os (released some slick hip hop a decade ago, including Crabbuckit and Love Song), with smooth soulful vocals, and music to match. And despite being electronic, it’s a…
Review Corner 