rock
Crossfire HurricaneSaturday, 17 November 2012
What a year for great British institutions. Sixty years of Elizabeth II, 50 years of James Bond, and a half-century of the Rolling Stones. To recycle an even older cliche, we will never see the like of any of them again.Brett Morgen's Crossfire... Read more... |
Hit So HardFriday, 16 November 2012
If the subtitle - The Life and Near Death Story of Patty Schemel - didn't make it clear enough, Hit So Hard was never going to be your average "rockumentary". At about eight minutes in, before the titular drummer properly establishes us in the 1990s... Read more... |
Bon Iver, Wembley ArenaFriday, 09 November 2012
Bon Iver’s eponymous second album is nearly a year-and-a-half old now, so its bigger, richer sound – compared to the homemade sparseness of the debut – is well established. Nevertheless, it was hard not to wonder how any band assembled by Justin... Read more... |
CD: Aerosmith - Music From Another DimensionSaturday, 03 November 2012
Aerosmith’s reign as kings of the power ballad seems to be over. Their latest single is such syrupy tosh you can hardly believe it's them. But it is just a single, right. What of the rest? Songwriting collaborator Marti Frederiksen says the album's... Read more... |
Muse, O2 ArenaSunday, 28 October 2012
Muse are not cool. For a minute on leaving the tube station I did think they'd broadened their appeal quite dramatically before realising that a fair section of the people around me were heading to Giants of Lovers Rock show also at the O2 complex... Read more... |
CD: Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Psychedelic PillSaturday, 27 October 2012
We last heard from Young and Crazy Horse as recently as June, when they released the bizarre covers album, Americana. By contrast, Psychedelic Pill is a gargantuan helping of new material - the first released by Young with the band since... Read more... |
Hello QuoMonday, 22 October 2012
We currently seem to be awash with rockumentaries. The Rolling Stones have yet another retrospective out, while Friday night on BBC Four would not be complete without dusting off the back catalogue of some mid-table band once adored by some nice... Read more... |
CD: Titus Andronicus - Local BusinessSunday, 21 October 2012
The concept album can be a tricky beast; Titus Andronicus’s 2010 epic The Monitor more so than most. How to follow up an album that loosely ties your frontman’s break-up to the American Civil War, complete with spoken-word interludes voiced by... Read more... |
Ian Hunter, Shepherds Bush EmpireSaturday, 20 October 2012
Can a septuagenarian wear skinny trousers? It is not a question that I ask myself very often, but it was my first thought on seeing the frighteningly fit 73-year-old Ian Hunter stroll onstage at the Shepherds Bush Empire last night. Life in America... Read more... |
The Gaslight Anthem, O2 Academy, GlasgowSaturday, 20 October 2012
The Gaslight Anthem’s star has been in the ascendant for some time now - arguably since the release of their 2008 breakthrough record, The ’59 Sound. But nowhere has that change been more dramatic than in the evolution of their live shows. The... Read more... |
Johnny Hallyday, Royal Albert HallTuesday, 16 October 2012
The Royal Albert Hall is pretty big. It's a prestige venue, but everything is relative. For the overwhelmingly French audience, the first British headlining show by Johnny Hallyday was the equivalent of seeing Paul McCartney, Tom Jones and Cliff... Read more... |
Garland Jeffreys, Jazz CafeTuesday, 09 October 2012
Garland Jeffreys, a 68-year old singer and songwriter, is not simply New York City’s best-kept secret but American’s music’s most consistently underrated and overlooked talent. Garland is a remarkable talent and his latest album, The King of In... Read more... |
