Not Forgotten
Not Forgotten – Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
The rules for being a successful prog rock act were seemingly set in stone. You had to be a band, predominantly male, you were not allowed to have hit singles after 1974 and the majority of your songs had to clock in at at least twice the length of the average pop single. …And then …
Not Forgotten: Julian Cope – Fried
Recorded at a point where the popular music press were largely of the opinion that Julian Cope was struggling to relocate his muse following the detonation of The Teardrop Explodes, Fried is the album that found the Arch-Drude at the mid-point between the music industry’s realisation that he wasn’t going to be the easily mouldable popstar that they wanted …
Not Forgotten At Christmas: Elf
There are a handful of Christmas films I always aim to see every year. High up on my list of must-see festive movies is Elf, so when I got a chance to see it on the big screen this holiday season, I recruited a friend and packed the mince pies for the screening. Honestly, there …
Not Forgotten At Christmas: Die Hard *
*for the purpose of this review and in homage to my cinema companion, Bruce Willis will be referred to as Bruiser throughout. It was a stroke of genius that caused Cineworld Sheffield to put Die Hard in their schedule of classic movies on a cold, dark Monday night in December, a stroke of genius that …
Not Forgotten: Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society
When Robin Williams died in August this year there was a genuine public sense of sadness and disbelief that he had gone. The legacy of his film career displays the breadth of his genius as an actor, both in terms of his undoubted comic talent, but also in performances that could provoke such strong emotions …
Not Forgotten: Cameron Crowe – Almost Famous
First released in 2000, Almost Famous was the first of Cameron Crowe’s films that I saw at the cinema. Drawn in by the strange concept of a young teenager on the road with a rock band in the 60’s, it was certainly one I wanted to see. This started my love of Crowe’s movies, one …
From an old record box: The Wedding Present – 2, 3, go
“Ride white horses today ! Buy a red Chevrolet ! Let’s go swim the Zambezi Let’s do it just cos it’s easy !” Fans of Saturnalia and Wedding Present completists may all wonder why I’m so excited about this. ‘2, 3, go’ (catalogue number fry 048) has been around since ’96. It’s well-established in …
Not Forgotten – The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
It’s happened to me more times than I like to think – I discover a great band with a small but interesting discography, I’ve just missed them on tour, but great things are expected of their next album. So I patiently wait. And wait. Finally the album is released. It’s not quite as good as …
Not Forgotten: Jethro Tull – War Child
Released in 1974, War Child found Jethro Tull at a crossroads in their career. Having had their previous album, the dense and generally grumpy A Passion Play, critically mauled and a subsequent mis-step by management that saw the band apparently announcing their retirement without their knowledge, War Child was the opportunity for the band to …
Classic Compilation: Various Artists – A Whole Lot of Rainbows
As much as I love music, there are times when I have to just step back and say that sometimes it just takes itself too seriously. As much respect as I have for the likes of Radiohead and their ilk, there are times when I wish they’d just cheer up and crack a smile. After …