Reviews
Inside Reviews
An Ocean of Rain/Opening Concerts, Aldeburgh Festival, Snape Maltings (Rated 2/ 5 )
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
When the six instrumentalists of the Dutch Ensemble MAE leapt to their feet, dashing their stands and music to the ground, there was a frisson at the world premiere of An Ocean of Rain. Had the players decided that enough was enough? Alas not, since this worthy piece of music drama has at least three possible endings, along with three pillars of plot ("wave" moments), three "time" strands (divided between the here-and-now and the afterlife) and three women getting back in touch with their inner selves (involving, in the case of two of them, a somewhat superfluous lesbian affair).
Five O'clock Heroes, Industry, London (Rated 2/ 5 )
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
You can't help feeling that Antony Ellis has made something of a Faustian pact with a PR devil. The Northampton-born, New York-dwelling singer has been plugging away for a number of years to little effect with his band, Five O'Clock Heroes. It is only in recent weeks that he has received much notice, having released a single featuring a duet with his friend, the supermodel Agyness Deyn.
Isle Of Wight Festival, Seaclose Park, Newport (Rated 3/ 5 )
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
The Police close the Isle of Wight festival with "Roxanne" and "Every Breath You Take", songs about prostitution and stalking. The Sex Pistols and Stooges add sparks. But too many heavy-selling, lightweight acts mar a lazily amiable weekend.
Massive Attack, Royal Festival Hall, London (Rated 3/ 5 )
Monday, 16 June 2008
If their own propaganda is to be believed, Bristol trip-hop granddaddies Massive Attack were never so much a band as a brand.
Waiting for the Barbarians, Barbican, London (Rated 4/ 5 )
Monday, 16 June 2008
Philip Glass's 2005 opera came for its UK concert premiere with a reputation as its composer's strongest recent stage work, and in the knowledge that he had drawn parallels with the war in Iraq. Its source, the novel by JM Coetzee, was first seen as an allegory of the way former South African regimes operated, but the meaning has turned out to be more universal.
Gnarls Barkley, 229, London (Rated 3/ 5 )
Monday, 16 June 2008
It's hard to think of a more deceptive novelty hit than "Crazy", or one that hid so much in plain sight. Exuberantly propulsive and unshakably catchy, its singer, you eventually realised, really did doubt his own sanity. Gnarls Barkley remained anonymous as the single topped the UK charts on downloads alone. But when the curtain was pulled back, Cee-Lo Green stepped forward, an outsized Southern soul singer with a penchant for dressing in nappies, but deep pain in his past.
Laura Marling, St James's Church, Piccadilly, London (Rated 4/ 5 )
Monday, 16 June 2008
When she was little, Laura Marling's dad apparently used to sit her down and force her to listen to Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, insisting that this was "real music". The teenage singer-songwriter has learnt those lessons well.
Neil Diamond, National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
Estelle, Custard Factory, Birmingham
Sunday, 15 June 2008
A photograph can tell a thousand lies. The Neil Diamond merchandise stand sells T-shirts bearing the picture of the singer as a young, free spirit – the visual grammar tells you it was 1969 or thereabouts – with a guitar around his neck and flowing feathered hair wafting gently in the breeze.
Isle of Wight Festival, Seaclose Park, Newport
Saturday, 14 June 2008
The Kaiser Chiefs closed the opening night of the Isle of Wight Festival with tantalising sketches from their unheard new album, whetting the appetite for a star-packed weekend.
Album: Aimee Mann, @#%&*! Smilers (Superego) (Rated 4/ 5 )
Friday, 13 June 2008
Perhaps heartened by the (artistic) success of 2006's One More Drifter in the Snow – the only serious addition to the ranks of Christmas albums since Low's Christmas – Aimee Mann and her producer Paul Bryan continue its vein of artful, elegant melancholia into an album that attempts to counterbalance on its own the vast, overbearing weight of empty cheer habitually pumped out by the entertainment industry.
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