Pop
Better than expected (but my expectations were low): Back to Black reviewed
When the trailer for Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic of Amy Winehouse, Back to Black, first landed, her fans were gracious. ‘This,’…
The mayhem ‘Born Slippy’ provoked felt both poignant and cathartic: Underworld, at Usher Hall, reviewed
On the same night Underworld played the second of two shows at the Usher Hall, next door at the Traverse…
Never admit that your band is prog – it’s the kiss of death
Sensible prog-rock bands try to ensure no one ever realises they play prog. What happens when you are deemed a…
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…
The best new album I’ve heard this year: Being Dead’s When Horses Would Run reviewed
Grade: A– The point of a sudden, abrupt change in the time signature and instrumentation of a song is to…
The Strokes are always terrible – why do I keep going back to see them?
Quite when the concept of coolness became a thing is uncertain, even to etymologists. As early as 1884, an academic…
‘People thought I was insane’: Graham Nash on the birth of Crosby, Stills and Nash
Adam Sweeting talks to Graham Nash about Joni Mitchell, the Hollies and the birth of Crosby, Stills and Nash in the Laurel Canyon idyll of the 1960s
It was midnight in a field in Wales and I was lying face down in six inches of mud: Green Man Festival reviewed
I love Green Man. The smallish festival is the second most beautiful site I’ve ever visited (after G Fest, which…
Uneasy listening: Kathryn Joseph, at Summerhall, reviewed
I have always been fascinated by artists who bounce between tonal extremes when performing, particularly the ones who serve their…
Is it all an elaborate practical joke? Mac DeMarco, at Hackney Empire, reviewed
It’s not just who our pop heroes are that marks the passing of the generations; it’s how those heroes present…
A giddy delight: Regina Spektor, at the Royal Festival Hall reviewed
We’ll get on to the brilliance of Regina Spektor in a moment. But first a question: why are pop music…
An album of not terribly happy ballads: Blur’s The Ballad of Darren reviewed
Bands that have hung around, or gone away and come back again, occupy an increasingly sizeable percentage of pop’s bandwidth.…
Intoxicating: Bruce Springsteen, at BST Hyde Park, reviewed
Seven years ago, I asked Bruce Springsteen what he meant when he talked of the covenant between himself and his…
Why aren’t Spoon filling stadiums?
Here’s a mystery for you. Why were Spoon, one of the most dynamic, sharpest rock bands in the world, playing…
Time to take your meds, Kanye
No one does agonising quite like Mobeen Azhar. In several BBC documentaries now, he’s set his face to pensive, gone…
Brilliantly unhinged: Grace Jones, at Hampton Court Palace, reviewed
Some artists need flash bombs to make an impression on stage. Some need giant screens. Some need to run around…
