1960s
Confessions of a Copper, Channel 4Thursday, 20 November 2014
This will have brought a nostalgic tear to the eye of fans of The Sweeney (the TV show, not the Ray Winstone movie) or GF Newman's still-shocking 1978 series Law and Order. The producers had rounded up seven retired policepersons and got them to... Read more... |
10 Questions for Songwriter Jackson BrowneMonday, 17 November 2014
If there's one commonly-known fact about Jackson Browne, it's that (with a bit of help from Glenn Frey) he wrote "Take It Easy" for the Eagles. The first track off their first album, and their first hit single, it remained a trademark for the band... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Velvet UndergroundSunday, 16 November 2014
The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground Super Deluxe EditionMGM, The Velvet Underground’s label, didn’t have a clue how to promote the band’s third album. The press kit accompanying its March 1969 release described drummer Maureen... Read more... |
DVD: The Day the Earth Caught FireFriday, 14 November 2014
The world is getting hotter. Unbearably so. Along Fleet Street, the centre of British newspaper production, on-the-skids, drink-sodden Daily Express reporter Peter Stenning (a square-jawed Edward Judd) begins looking into the reasons for the change... Read more... |
Allen Jones, Royal AcademyThursday, 13 November 2014
There’s no escaping it; Hat Stand, 1969, is a beastly object. The blank-faced mannequin is too literal to succeed as a sculpture, and the conceit is too nasty to be ignored. Her position – holding up her hands to receive our hats – recalls the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Cyril Davies, Girls With GuitarsSunday, 09 November 2014
The Cyril Davies' All-Stars: Radio Sounds of Cyril Davies Various Artists: Girls With GuitarsAn escalating side effect of the current vogue for vinyl is that some reissues are being released only in that format – and some are so interesting they... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Love, The Red CrayolaSunday, 02 November 2014
Love: Love Songs The Red Crayola: The Parable of the Arable LandJust how much messing with a band’s back catalogue is acceptable? Should classic albums only be reissued as stand-alone releases, sometimes bolstered with bonus tracks but still allowed... Read more... |
Sunny Afternoon, Harold Pinter TheatreWednesday, 29 October 2014
The bittersweet career of The Kinks is portrayed to surprisingly potent effect in this fast, funny and sometimes poignant musical, now transferring to the West End from the Hampstead Theatre. No mere "jukebox musical" – though it's crammed with... Read more... |
CD Special: The Basement Tapes CompleteWednesday, 29 October 2014
Earlier this year, bobdylan.com posted “Full Moon & Empty Arms”, a song associated with Sinatra and the popular music of America before rock'n'roll. Dylan’s new version seemed to presage an album of tunes of similar vintage titled Shadows in the... Read more... |
Richard Tuttle, Tate Modern / Whitechapel GalleryThursday, 16 October 2014
It could be an aircraft, hastily covered with some very inadequate wrappings and squeezed into the great hangar of the Turbine Hall. Or perhaps an eccentric sort of bird, its bedraggled wings missing chunks of orange plumage, in contrast to its... Read more... |
Cilla, ITVTuesday, 16 September 2014
With Cilla Black still fighting fit and eminently telly-worthy at 71, it feels a bit odd to find a three-part dramatisation of her life popping up on ITV. Black apparently gave the project her blessing and has hailed Sheridan Smith's performance in... Read more... |
DVD: The Two Faces of JanuaryMonday, 15 September 2014
Hugely underrated, The Two Faces of January packs more filmmaking power than, at least, its poster would ever suggest. Based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, which puts it streets ahead of most films, Two Faces... has a superb ensemble cast: Viggo... Read more... |
