Reviews

Glastonbury Festival, Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset (Rated 3/ 5 )

Bono rises above the protests, but the real joy is with Radiohead

Inside Reviews

First Night: Glastonbury Festival, Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 24 June 2011

Fortieth festival begins in spirit – a day before the big bands tune up.

Album: Beyonce, 4 (Columbia) (Rated 2/ 5 )

Friday, 24 June 2011

There comes a certain point in mass pop culture when it ceases being primarily about the music and simply becomes a matter of numbers, whether it's how much it cost Roger Waters to stage The Wall, or how much U2's latest tour grossed, or how many YouTube hits a Lady Gaga video gets, or how many will be attending the Glastonbury Festival. In each case, the music is pretty much incidental to the experience, which has become an Event into which we now buy.

Album: Various Artists, Rave On Buddy Holly (Concord) (Rated 4/ 5 )

Friday, 24 June 2011

If Elvis was rock'n'roll's id, then Buddy Holly was its ego, his more cerebral tinkerings with pop's structures opening up avenues that enabled the medium to flourish in myriad different ways.

Album: Jill Scott, The Light Of The Sun (Blues Babe/Warner Bros) (Rated 2/ 5 )

Friday, 24 June 2011

Jill Scott is perhaps best known now as Precious Ramotswe in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and spends an increasing amount of time acting.

Album: The Chemical Brothers, Hanna – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Sony) (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 24 June 2011

As the rave generation becomes the Blu-ray generation, its more capable practitioners are making the equivalent move from soundtracking loved-up all-nighters to soundtracking actual movie and theatrical productions.

Album: Smoove + Turrelle, Eccentric Audio (Jalapeno) (Rated 4/ 5 )

Friday, 24 June 2011

Confined until now to an audience of hardcore funkateers, north-eastern soul duo Smoove + Turrell deserve to break into the mainstream with this follow-up to their 2009 debut Antique Soul.

Album: Gillian Welch, The Harrow and the Harvest (Warner Bros) (Rated 5/ 5 )

Friday, 24 June 2011

On this, Gillian Welch's fifth album, the familiar blending of traditional sounds and moods with modern sensibilities is effortlessly sustained through songs like the mordant "The Way It Goes" ("Betsy Johnson bought the farm, stuck a needle in her arm, that's the way that it goes").

The Killers, Scala, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

Friday, 24 June 2011

It's a treat to see a multi platinum-selling band in such a small venue. Tonight, the intimacy of the Scala's modest space is magnified by the presence of the world-famous musicians who take to the stage with a smile.

Album: Various Artists, Our Dreams Are Our Weapons (Network) (Rated 4/ 5 )

Friday, 24 June 2011

This compilation of songs from the recent revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt confirms both the enduring power of music and the more positive aspects of the internet when music is decoupled from business.

Meltdown: Madness, Royal Festival Hall, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

Thursday, 23 June 2011

When Ray Davies saunters on in a dapper silver-grey suit to welcome Madness to Meltdown, the band's fans cheer in delight. They understand The Kinks' influence on these subsequent specialists in North London working-class bittersweet vignettes. Saxophonist and non-singer Lee Thompson later jokingly checks if Davies has left the building, before a chucking-out-time pub version of "Where Have All the Good Times Gone". The real tribute comes as Madness stake their place in its tradition, with songs that are worldly-wise, sometimes weary and always for the underdog, played with rare confidence tonight.

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