pop music
Prince, 1958-2016Friday, 22 April 2016![]() Prince Rogers Nelson was the most gloriously disruptive presence in popular culture from the very start to the very end. Everything about him was off kilter and wrong: it's not for nothing that the first major biography of him was called The Imp of... Read more... |
CD: Pet Shop Boys - SuperWednesday, 30 March 2016![]() The deadpan duo of Tennant and Lowe have never been easy to suss out at the best of times: maybe their way of layering wackiness on deep seriousness, eyebrow-flickering subtlety on roaring camp, giddy frivolity on erudition, has been their way of... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The KinksSunday, 20 March 2016![]() Although The Kinks’ world was turned upside down from the moment “You Really Got Me” hit the charts in August 1964, the band’s main songwriter Ray Davies still had songs to spare. Some of his compositions ended up with singers like Dave Berry, Leapy... Read more... |
CD: Gwen Stefani - This Is What The Truth Feels LikeFriday, 18 March 2016![]() I love Gwen. I really do. She is a Queen. And I love that she's on a journey, falling in love with The Voice co-star Blake Shelton after what we thought was one of Hollywood's most stable marriages to Gavin Rossdale fell apart. But there is much... Read more... |
Adele, 02Wednesday, 16 March 2016![]() Adele is resting her eyelids as the audience spills in, packing the 02, a huge video projection showing off those luscious eyelashes and dark eyeliner that have become synonymous with Adele style. Her eyes open as we hear the echoes of "Hello"... Read more... |
George Martin (1926-2016), record producer and 'fifth Beatle'Wednesday, 09 March 2016![]() For many pop-pickers, the presiding image of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee will be Brian May (he – yes, of course – of Queen) grinding out the national anthem on the roof of Buckingham Palace. For me, there was a much more meaningful moment later the... Read more... |
10 Questions for Songwriter Carla Marie WilliamsTuesday, 08 March 2016![]() Carla Marie Williams is a songwriter, artist mentor and founder of writing collective NewCrowd. She has written for stars including Beyoncé, Girls Aloud, Kylie and Rudimental, with a BRIT Award for her contribution to Girls Aloud’s single "The... Read more... |
Eurovision: You Decide, BBC FourSaturday, 27 February 2016![]() It was all a far cry from the Leeds Piano Competition. Shunted on to BBC Four after the disappearance of BBC Three to online, Eurovision: You Decide nevertheless remained true to its new channel’s original remit. In today’s no-brow, morally... Read more... |
CD: Steve Mason - Meet the HumansSunday, 21 February 2016![]() The thing about having a very distinctive voice is that it gives the audience something to latch onto. That’s all well and good, but it can also mean people find it easier to hear without listening. As the familiar tones and comfortable cadences of... Read more... |
CD: El Guincho - HiperasiaMonday, 15 February 2016![]() The career of the Gran Canaria-born musician Pablo Díaz-Reixa seems to work in an accelerated time-frame, speeding through decades and eras as he develops his sound. Though he has always worked with digital technology, his early work sounded archaic... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Paris SistersSunday, 14 February 2016![]() The Paris Sisters were a look and a sound. Slightly different but still peas in a pod, Albeth, Priscilla and Sherrell Paris united to make often moodily minor-key music always suggestive of angels stamping their feet. Otherwordly. Yet hard-edged.... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Harpers BizarreSunday, 24 January 2016![]() While Harpers Bizarre’s US Top 20 version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)” will always be their single turned to by American oldies radio, its follow-up “Come to the Sunshine” defines their sound and musical... Read more... |
