Tag: jazz
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Engelbert Humperdinck: The Man I Want to Be
The existence of Engelbert Humperdinck has always baffled us: to whit why Arnold Dorsey, of Leicester, should adopt the stage name of a German 19th century composer of operas. The idea worked, which is more surprising. Even if you don’t know who Humperdinck is (the still-alive one) you’ll know his songs: described as “one of…
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Timothy Hamilton: Requiem
Carlsberg have that advert, “If Carlsberg did…” followed by something really good. The best way we can put this is, “If Cliff Adams did requiems…” By which we mean that this modern piece — it was commissioned in 2012 to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War — manages to be…
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Shane Richie: A Country Soul
We were expecting this to be a bit dire but it’s good. If you like soft pop/country, you’ll probably love it. We don’t know much about Ritchie, as we don’t watch Eastenders or game shows, but do know he’s done some musicals and that he likes country. It’s country in the sense that The Corrs…
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Piano A Deux: France Revisited
An album we have played a number of times without being able to decide what its main attraction is: sprightly air, nice atmosphere or the rather luxurious effect of having two pairs of hands playing. It’s an engrossing and entertaining album. Piano A Deux is husband and wife Robert and Linda Stoodley. This new album…
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From The Jam: Live!
We’re not really into tribute bands but this one seems pretty good, not least because an original band member is in it. Former Jam drummer Rick Buckler, then working as an antique furniture restorer and dealer in Woking, formed From The Jam, playing old material from The Jam’s back catalogue. In 2007, Buckler’s former bandmate…
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The Front Bottoms: Going Grey
This is possibly the worst band name ever, not even really offensive just puerile. Maybe it gets them straight to their core audience: beer chugging students who want likeable shouty indie to sing along to. We’d favour that explanation: The Front Bottoms are not stupid and can turn in a great tune. We came across…
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O’Hooley and Tidow: WinterFolk
In our minds, O’Hooley and Tidow are linked with Kate Rusby: we really admire what Rusby does, but her music is too glum for us to ever listen to. We saw her live once and she joked about her glumness in the run-up to announcing her next song, I Am Sad. Ho ho. Belinda O’Hooley…
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Sarah Darling: Winter Wonderland
Just as Shane Richie puts out a country album, genuine country music singer Darling puts out a Christmas album. They’re all well-known tunes done well, so the only question is how you feel about a set of slow but intimate covers delivered by Darling’s soft and sweet vocals. The album opens with an ok cover…
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Kim Churchill: Weight_Falls
We listen to a lot of music. A fair bit gets played again, some goes on the Review Corner iPod and a select few are placed in the genre “genius”, the albums we really like and play over. Kim Churchill’s breakout Silence/Win is in there, because it’s a really nice album that we like listening…
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Steven Isserlis: The Cello in Wartime
After reporting on the news from a century ago every week since war was declared in 1914, we’re seeing the end of the war approaching (if only people in 1917 had been so lucky), and expecting a deluge of war-related products, as the centenary of the end approaches. This one is very good. Given the…
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