Pop
This recreation of Dylan’s Free Trade Hall concert is supremely good
In May 1966, Bob Dylan toured the UK with The Band, minus drummer Levon Helm, and abrasively pulled the plug…
Spellbinding performance of a career-defining record: Corinne Rae Bailey, at Ladbroke Hall, reviewed
You won’t see two more contrasting shows this year than Corinne Bailey Rae performing her album Black Rainbows and Brian…
The case against re-recording albums
In 2012, Jeff Lynne released Mr Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra. Except it wasn’t. It was…
Virgin on the astonishing: Madonna, at The O2, reviewed
When I was a kid listening obsessively to AC/DC and Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, I despaired of music writers.…
New Order’s oldies still sound like the future
The intimate acoustic show can denote many things for an established artist. One is that, in the infamous euphemism coined…
An awfully long night for a band without any bangers: The National, at Alexandra Palace, reviewed
Over the past few years, the National have become the most important band in modern rock music. The strange thing…
If you can’t get something out of the songs of Shania Twain, you’re a lost cause
Pop critics routinely make the mistake of assuming the most important acts are the ones copied by the groups they…
In praise of the Festival Song – the four-minute wonder that can sustain a career for decades
As the sun sets on another too-long summer festival season, let us take a moment to reflect on the Festival…
Mildly pleasant 1980s hard rock: ‘Angry’, by the Rolling Stones, reviewed
The new Rolling Stones single, supposedly their best in many a decade, is called ‘Angry’. And while on the surface…