Tag: rock
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Giacomo Carissimi: Oratorio Di Daniele Profeta
Another CD for those who want some inspiring sacred music for Easter. Carissimi (1605-1674) was well known in his day, and Samuel Pepys wrote of a performance of his music: “Fine it was, indeed, and too fine for me to judge of,” a review that we’d probably not get away with: “It’s so good we…
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Josh Taerk: Stages
Taerk (pronounced Turk) looks and sounds like a refugee from Top Of The Pops in the 80s, up there with people like Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones — singer/songwriters far better at writing tunes then looking hip. We’d not heard of him, but you can tell he’s one those “big in their own country” acts,…
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Field Music: Open Here
We guess you can either write tunes to make money or write what you feel you need to, sod the market and keep your self-respect. Field Music are in the latter camp; from what we can gather brothers David and Peter Brewis make minimal money from their music but have accumulated a back catalogue to…
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Andrew Lloyd Webber: Unmasked The Platinum Collection
Lloyd Webber is one of those composers you never think about; his music has become the background sound to modern culture in a way that few other performers manage. Don’t Cry For Me Argentina is a song that everyone can sing along to, from youngsters to pensioners. Listening to this four CD boxset, the overwhelming…
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The Xcerts: Hold On To Your Heart
The Xcerts have been going for years, formed by 13-year-olds Murray Macleod and Jordan Smith in 2001, and have toured with Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Fightstar and Taking Back Sunday. They were meant to support Guns N’ Roses but for “logistical reasons” all the support bands were forced to drop off of the tour.…
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Panayiotis Demopoulos: Brahms, Demopoulos and Mussorgsky
It’s not the usual comparison but this CD reminds us of Rob da Bank’s old 5am show on Radio One, aimed at people who’ve been up all night at a discotheque (as they don’t call them), and need some chill-out music to bring them down to a point where they can sleep. Clearly classical piano…
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Joachim Kühn Trio: Love and Peace
Somewhere between easy listening and classical is this new CD from jazz pianist Kühn. The music has too much melody and edge to be bland, though it only kicks off into high-energy modern jazz at the end. If you want a thumbnail for the album, imagine a simple, slightly bluesy take on jazz standard Summertime…
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Stick in the Wheel: Follow Them True
This is the most likable folk album you’ll ever hear; with punk folk already taken they need a name for the genre they have created. It’s not punk in sound, but they take traditional folk and modernise it, with distorted guitar, tapes and Auto-tunes, without losing the folkiness. If wandering troubadours remained in existence, this…
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The Wombats: Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life
Another decent album from The Wombats, who survived being lumped in with the landfill indie mob and morphed into a decent pop band playing upbeat tunes. It’s more than a decade since the band’s Let’s Dance to Joy Division was a hit, and they’ve managed to keep going despite a lack of hits. We’d guess…
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Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac
This was their breakthrough album, released in 1975, and a big hit, reaching No1 in the States; Say You Love Me and Rhiannon are both on here. The band’s complicated lives were already unravelling and that turmoil led to Rumours, a much better album; admittedly one of the best albums ever. This one is good,…
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