Author: jerobear
-
Erasure: World Be Gone
Donald Trump is obviously a terrible president but it’s not all bad: the media ratings are up in the US thanks to the trail of chaos he leaves behind, while Erasure seem to have been inspired by the state of the world when they wrote this (and that was before Theresa May teamed up with…
-
Venus Rising: Happy Daze
Venus Rising are local, led by Sheena Bratt. We don’t like reviewing local bands much: do we just say they’re great because they’re local, or be honest? Usually they’re as good as they need to be, which makes it easy, but VR are a band that want to go places and this is their calling…
-
Dua Lipa: Dua Lipa
This is not the kind of album we would normally listen to, slick RnB pop by the latest young person with a decent voice, but as she is walking out with Mr Chris Martin and thus now fodder for the Daily Mail sidebar of shame, we thought we’d give her a serious listen. The whole…
-
James House: Berwick Street
We thought House was a young up and coming singer, but it turns out he’s 62 and a veteran, writing both country and western: he co-wrote Grammy-nominated country song of the year Ain’t That Lonely Yet for Dwight Yoakum and A Broken Wing for Martina McBride, as well as Diamond Rio’s number one In a…
-
Carson Cooman: Hymnus
We seem to be falling over CDs from the prolific American composer Carson Cooman, who puts out an album every other day (he’s even on a jazz-based work we have lined up for review). His works are approachable, while being proper classical music as well, suitable for both novice and stuffed-shirt expert. The Press notes…
-
Royal Blood: How Did We Get So Dark?
Royal Blood’s début did that clichéd thing of exploding on the music scene, literally and figuratively. Literally for the jaw-droppingly confident, Bonham-esque intro of the first song, Out Of The Black, distilling decades of rock from Zep to Muse in its opening moments. Figuratively, as they were held up as the vanguard of a new…
-
Niels Rønsholdt: Songs of Doubt
This is a remarkable CD. It’s not for anyone who thinks Ed Sheeran produces complex songs but it’s a powerful and affecting work that should appeal to classical and electronic pop fans alike. The sound is somewhere between Martin Grech’s Open Heart Zoo, still a classic album (came out in 2002, the music was more…
-
Basco: Interesting Times
Basco are a Danish folk band playing complex Celtic-influenced folk with added accordion, the latter contributing a touch of whimsy. The band is Ale Carr (cittern), Andrea Tophoj (violin, viola), Hal Parfitt-Murray (violin mandolin, vocals) and Anders Ringgaard Andersen (accordion, trombone) so the instrumentation means they sound like a less driven Seth Lakeman, and with…
-
NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories, (with Jeff Alulis, book)
If you like music and want a holiday read you can pick up and put down, this entertaining book is ideal. You don’t even need to know much about NOFX, a legendary punk band who’ve stayed punk and refused to sign a major label deal. That’s discussed here: while they perhaps envy their old mates…
-
Lindsey Buckingham / Christine McVie (self titled)
Tango In The Night was pretty much Buckingham / McVie —Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood were banished to a mobile home because of drugs issues, John McVie was off drinking — so we had high hopes for this. Oh well. Buckingham / McVie are talented songwriters who’ve been doing this for donkey’s, and Buckingham is…
Review Corner 