GOD HAS ALWAYS KNOWN – There is no other album like ‘PET SOUNDS’
Lack of record company support condemned ‘Pet Sounds’ to commercial failure, Brian Wilson seeing his masterpiece soon disappear from view.
RANTS & REFLECTIONS
STOP (the) PRESS: Farewell to the print edition of the NME
On its Thursday publication day there was a time when the NME cover story began pub conversations that evening.
BIG BROTHER A CELEBRITY – Ray takes centre stage in BBC Kinks profile.
32 years in The Kinks brought no end to the antipathy between Ray and Dave. The Chuckle Brothers they were not.
OUTSIDE EDGE – Violence, Dark Humour and Brilliant Performances abound in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
To say THREE BILBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (director Martin McDonagh, 115 mins) is the most absorbing movie of the year goes nowhere close to doing it justice. It is also in turn the angriest and darkly funny, shockingly violent and intuitive film in recent memory and…
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FULL TIME WHISTLE – ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test Live For One Night Only’ (Review)
For those who took rock music seriously, the ‘OLD GREY WHISTLE TEST’ was compulsive viewing.
WHO STARTED IT – Daltrey and Townshend deliver a high energy rendition of ‘TOMMY’………..
Despite not having the intensity of legendary ‘Tommy’ shows propelled by Keith and The Ox, there is still more gusto than anyone has a right to expect.
STAR MAN – The Golden Years of David Bowie
Beyond dispute is that nobody was working at the same level of artistic creativity as Bowie……
POST WAR PERIOD – Streep and Hanks deliver in Spielberg’s Vietnam Expose
That the Vietnam War, from an American perspective at least, was a misguided, divisive and ultimately futile exercise is these days common theory. For those subscribing to this perspective, the new Steven Spielberg film THE POST (116 minutes) provides ample…
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THE MUNICH AIR CRASH – The Tragedy and Legacy
As the ‘Babes’ continued to improve would Wolves have won successive Championships? Would Spurs have done the Double?
Darkest Hour Enlightens – despite a grave ten minutes………….
When a film contains a number of excellent performances and takes such care in re-creating period detail and prevailing moods, it may seem churlish to focus on one fatally flawed scene. Unfortunately despite the undoubted excellence of Gary Oldman in…
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