SUZANNE VEGA: An Evening Of New York Songs And Stories (Cooking Vinyl) Verdict: Touching homage Rating: Suzanne Vega was one of the leading lights of an unlikely folk revival that took off in the late 1980s. Like Tracy Chapman and Michelle Shocked, she became a star on the back of succinct acoustic songs that provided … Read more
The Rolling Stones: Goats Head Soup (Polydor) Verdict: Spicy musical broth Rating: Molly Tuttle: But I’d Rather Be With You (Compass) Verdict: Classy quarantine covers Rating: Various: AngelHeaded Hipster (BMG) Verdict: Ambitious Bolan tribute Rating: The Rolling Stones have coped as well as anyone with the upheavals of 2020. Forced to cancel their U.S. tour … Read more
KATY PERRY: Smile (EMI) Verdict: Katy’s bubbly new arrival Rating: The last time we heard from Katy Perry was when she brought her Witness tour to the UK two summers ago. With the Californian singer standing centre stage in a flashing LED bra, surrounded by Day-Glo dancers and giant flamingos, it was a dazzling spectacle … Read more
THE KILLERS: Imploding The Mirage (EMI) Rating: Verdict: Rousing anthems THE WATERBOYS: Good Luck, Seeker (Cooking Vinyl) Rating: Verdict: Expansive Celtic rock ERASURE: The Neon (Mute) Rating: Verdict: Sparkling electro-pop They have loosened their ties with their home town of Las Vegas, lost a key band member and seen their stadium tour sunk by lockdown. If … Read more
KATE RUSBY: Hand Me Down (Pure) Rating: Verdict: Stunning covers collection Folk singer Kate Rusby, 46, seen her touring plans thrown into disarray this year Like many musicians, Kate Rusby has seen her touring plans thrown into disarray this year. Dates she should have played in the spring have been rescheduled for 2021, and festival appearances have … Read more
THE PRETENDERS: Hate For Sale (BMG) Verdict: Still a force to be reckoned with Rating: RUFUS WAINWRIGHT: Unfollow The Rules (BMG) Verdict: Baroque pop with sweeping tunes Rating: MARGO PRICE: That’s How Rumors Get Started (Loma Vista) Verdict: Gritty country tunes Rating: For a band that got together in the white heat of London’s punk … Read more
PAUL WELLER: On Sunset (Polydor) Rating: Even a musician as restless as Paul Weller sometimes feels the urge to return to the sounds that first inspired him. Since taking a leap into the unknown on 2008’s 22 Dreams, The Modfather has regularly wheeled away from the mainstream with detours into tango, free-form jazz and abstract … Read more
Britain’s Got Talent returned for another round of auditions on Saturday night, with 10 acts hoping to impress the judges. And one act that certainly did that was 96-year-old Nora Barton, who is the ITV show’s oldest ever auditionee and fulfilled her dream of performing at the London Palladium. Nora, who has Alzheimer’s, left the … Read more
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke delighted fans on Wednesday as he debuted his haunting new song on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The singer, 51, performed Plasticine Fingers on the piano via video link- and viewers took to Twitter to describe how the eerie lyrics resonated with them amid the coronavirus pandemic. Yorke teased fans earlier in … Read more
What do you do after a lavish dinner of deer tartar, steaming pork knuckle and dumplings, topped off with apple strudel, washed down with Austrian red wine and a parting shot of mountain firewater? Why, you wobble out into the darkness of the Austrian Alps, don a crash helmet, say ‘Danke’ to a grizzled man … Read more