A fey Alan Bennett penned homage to being British in a very British Film: Amusing, touching and well-crafted. I left feeling sad, elated, enriched and uplifted. Some reviews have been lukewarm- ignore them. This is superb , poignant , a valuable history, yet unnervingly modern and of the moment
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The setting is the summer of 1916, and the industrial town of Ramsden in Yorkshire in World War I. After their choirmaster volunteers to jojn the war effort, the committee of the local choral society reluctantly recruits Dr Guthrie a gay German-loving, atheist to lead their efforts. Ralph Fiennes takes up the role with conviction and aplomb. In two hours it is a simple short story- a small mill town’s choral society presents a choral recital. Yet it also embraces a multitude of social issues whilst considering what Britishness and personal identity is about.
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Ralph Fiennes is totemic as Dr Guthrie, ably assisted by a strong supporting cast . Bennett’s dialogue is authentic , engaging and witty. The breadth of the subject matter is so broad however that we are given snapshots rather than full portaits of both people, and situations.
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Vocally. Amara Okereke as Salvation Army Mary and Jacob Dudman as Wounded Clyde, excel amidst a choral ensemble playing out a familiar “sows ear to silk purse” tale.
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Simon Beale as a bumptious Elgar makes a glorious cameo performance. The society desperately tries to establish a programme as they are forced to eschew Mendelssohn , bch and Beethoven for being German. Culture wars are not easy.
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A white feather scene comes and goes the significance of which probably eludes anyone under the age of forty. The period railway station farewell is superb and juxtaposed with the arrival of war invalids. A one armed casualty asks his ex girlfriend to toss him off on a hillside in an achingly poignant scene.
Buxton is colloquially described as a place where winter arrives early and summer arrives late. On a freezing November Thursday evening an audience arriving in coats and scarves were testimony to the fact that winter had arrived. However it became immediately apparent that Henry and Jan were not going to allow low temperatures to lower the mood for a glowing evening of warm humour, poetry, comedy and wry observation.
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I had seen them both before at the Morecambe poetry Festival where they were equally outstanding. Neither reprised their sets from just a few months ago, such is the breadth and depth of their material.
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It was an intriguing pairing. Normal is a distinguished and veteran multi published author with an impressive string of writing credits, including on television: Mrs Merton, the Royle family, Gavin and Stacey. He is an omnipresent broadcaster.
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Dubliner Jan Brierton will have been largely unknown to the bulk of the audience. Her first book ( “What day is it?” Who gives a fuck) only came out in 2021. She has been making up for lost time ever since and read extensively from her second book: ”Everybody is a Poem” Midlife in Rhymes.
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A fashion stylist with a penchant for jump suits, she describes herself as an accidental poet, and excels at rhythm and rhyme and anything that rhymes with fuck. She is more John Cooper Clarke than Coleridge or Yeats. A touchstone for mid life women- and a spokesperson for men who have to deal with them.
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She is also very funny. Memorably she was once described as “not leaving a dry seat in the house”. Her knack is to write simply about everyday things that all can relate to, whether it be the humour of sea swimming, or the poignant, achingly beautiful poem to her deceased brother, “The last Conversation we never had” – An Everyman piece for anyone who has ever been bereaved. She doesn’t write in her voice. She writes in our voice.
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Henry Normal is a master of literary sleight of hand. His esoteric style complimented Brierton’s earthy fare perfectly . You and I see the moon, Normal sees the same moon that Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King espied. He produces, and reads from, poems on scraps of paper as if he had hastily prepared them in his lunch break. He hadn’t. They are carefully prepared, crafted, drafted and rehearsed.
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He opened the evening, then allowed Brierton to close the first half. For the second half they inverted that order before closing with a call and response “poem off” alternating as they sat on adjacent chairs- a sublime culmination to a fine evening.
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Normal’s preparedness to give space to Brierton demonstrated a commendable lack of ego, and a justified confidence in his own material. Both prospered as a consequence.
This was a legacy show for me. As the classic rock and pop era draws to a close so I pick off the odd group I missed first time around.
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I was never a big prog rock fan and saw only two prog rock gigs, , Camel in 78, which bored me to tears, Genesis in 78, which with Phil Collins just on board was shaking off the prog rock shackles and morphing into incredibly successful pop- overall it was dull.
I was familiar with Curved Air’s early material though. Sonja Kristina was a legend, the first lead in Hair, and her marriage to the Police’s Stewart Copeland, then the richest group in the world must have helped her bank balance enormously.
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Curved Air had three consecutive top 20 albums in the early 70’s riding on the success of the top 4 single “Back st luv” and loads of complementary press coverage- and that was pretty much it.
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What of now? Sonja is 76 year old. The fire in the belly, her voice, and her performance ability is still there. But she had a frail appearance, announcing recent illness resulting in reduced mobility and some memory loss and frequently sat down on a stage chair.
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Back st luv was sensational, enlivened by an outstanding guitar solo by Kirby Gregory. “Melinda” ( about a girl who lived in a cupboard) and “Marie Antoinette” were sublime. “Vivaldi!” was zany brilliance
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I am glad that I have seen her and the band, live but worry as to whether her health can bear the dates into next year which are planned.
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A 4.30pm Sunday afternoon start and a two hour show interspersed with a twenty minute tea break gave proceedings a somewhat surreal air. Finished for 6.30pm.
Wow. The most spectacular stage musical I have ever seen.
The most expensive theatre ticket I have ever bought- for the most lavish production that I have ever seen. there is probably an equivalence there. Could the zany opulence of Baz Luhrmanns’ 2001 film be realised on stage? yes!
Hurst St was transformed into Montmartre and the Pigalle as this surreal spectacular unfolded. I hd worried that it would be impossible to translate the gaudy phantasmagoria of the film onto stage. Those fears were not realised, instead we re presented with an in person three dimension version.
Cameron Blakely is outstanding as the lecherous, lascivious, louche master of ceremonies Harold Zidler. Verity Thompson is divine as courtesan and leading lady Satine. James Bryers excels as the Duke in a very comely lilac suit. Nate Landskroner is the alternative male love suitor and possesses an outstanding voice, not least on “Your song” one of three big set piece numbers, the other being the opening “lady marmalade” oozing sex and attitude, and a stunning “Bad Romance” with a choreographed Sony Tayeh routine which Lady Ga Ga herself would do well to copy.
All told there are over seventy songs, 160 songwriters and thirty music publishers all of whom require royalties.
Director Alex Timbers draws the magic together. Catherine Zuber’s costumes are magnificent, saucy and skimpy
A variety show splitting the Fortunes and Vanity Fare in the first half and the Trems and Beaky Mick and Tich in the second.
The first half was boosted with ensemble versions of “Spirit in the Sky” and “You are my world” but let down by a lacklustre Searchers feature including Mike Spencer with the likes of “Needles and pins” which emasculated the original versions. However for some reason Vanity Fare decided that it would be a good idea to include a drum solo. Drum solos are never a good idea and disappeared from live shows for a reason- they are awful. This performance made the point well.
The second half was illuminated, and the evening saved, by a superb set from the Trems, featuring Mick Brown culminating in a wonderful acapella “Silence is Golden” – then deflated by a poor closing set from Beaky Mick and Titch doomed by a combination of songs that were simply not good enough. “Xanadu” and that is it. The original Dave Dee and Dozy are dead. Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley wrote their hit songs Hold Tight, Bend It Zabadack and the legend of Xanadu. Promoters Stageright are squeezing a lot out of a little.
An audience predominantly in their 70’s loved it but the evening hardly did justice to the golden era of pop.
An oddity , a big budget Norwegian disaster movie which isn’t a Noire.
Four episodes, and under four hours it is tightly scripted, pacy and with enough twists and turns to overcome the fact that we all know that a volcanos is going to erupt resulting in a deadly tsunami.
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The CGI are pretty good, because it is Norwegian all the women are hot and the tone more reflective than an American production.
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Yes the plot teeters on the absurd, but it is still a lot of fun.
If you like Springsteen you will like this film, if you don’t, you wont. It certainly lacks the crossover appeal of Dylan’s “Complete Unknown”.
I have been a fan since Born to Run, fifty years. Essentially this is the story of the making of the album “Nebraska” one of his less accessible and more obscure releases.
Jeremy White is convincing and compelling as Bruce. Odessa Young is hot as love interest Fay. Steve Cooper tries a little too hard while directing to make this left field. A film about depression is likely to be depressing- not a good tag line for a a big budget movie.
I bought this on release, and loved it. I still do.
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As stand alone interpretations of songs it is hit and miss, as an insight into what influenced Bowie it is essential and invaluable.
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Contemporaneously two factors were at play. Firstly, He was in an absurdly creative personal phase with new product being produced with mesmerising speed and regularity. Secondly, Bryan Ferry released his own covers album, “These Foolish Things” which was artistically more daring.
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Ferry’s choice spanned several decades from 1930s standards such as the title track through 1950s Elvis Presley to Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. They were not crowd pleasers, they were simply his choice, playful, thoughtful and daringly pitting Lesley Gore against Bob Dylan, seeing pop as a continuum. Ferry succeeded in becoming an auteur in way that Bowie does not attempt.
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Frankly, David’s selection has less depth ,but his picks of songs that he listened to, and influenced him are no less relevant or significant. Ken Scott has been quoted as suggesting that originally Bowie’s London Boys was going to be rerecorded and the verses split between each cover song.
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The result is a Mod styled farewell to the 60’s ( there are two Who compositions).The Kinks “Where have all the Good Times Gone?” has genuine poignancy, “Anyway, Anyhow Anywhere “ reprises Mod defiance perfectly showcasing Woodmansey replacement Dunbar’s skills impressively.
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My personal favourite is Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play” a plaintiff ,fey, rearrangement which captures Syd’s wackiness perfectly.
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Bowie had an ear for a hit single, and “Sorrow” fits the bill perfectly, ironically a song that Bryan Ferry could easily have chosen for himself. He subsequently covered Ferry/ Roxy’s sublime “If there Is Something” with Tin machine.
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Intriguingly Bowie also recorded Springsteen’s “It’s Hard to be a Saint in the City”. A nod to the extended narrative style which he had previously explored in “Width..”, Cygnet Committee” and Bewlay Bros” and was to do again with “Sweet Thing” but omitted it from the final album. His Rolling Stones cover “Let’s spend the Night Together, oddly appears on the next album “Aladdin Sane”.
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If all this gives the impression of a significant, but rag bag, collection that is probably because it is. The amphetamine speed “Rosalyn” gives the origin for “ Hang onto Yourself”. The arrangement of “Sorrow” begats “Absolute beginners”
If you want to know what was on David’s turntable at Haddon hall, Pin Up’s is essential listening, but it looks back, and gives no indication of what is to come.
It is to Todd’s credit that he elected to play an intimate 1340 seater music hall, inevitably sold out, to provide his fans with an opportunity to enjoy his show close up
Rundgren bestrides the rock and pop era as a musical polymath, musician, singer, producer and arranger. As that era draws inexorably to a close he finished the show poignantly with “Last Ride” and “Fade Away”
The show was both a testament to why he has been so successful – and why he hasn’t. It featured bewildering array of great songs in various styles all of which combined both to delight and frustrate as the changes of style and tempo produced a jarring rhythm and vibe.
I am not your typical Todd head. I had only seen him before live once, but had followed his career as a producer and musician since the early 70’s. Apart from “Love is the Answer” I have no particular favourites nor setlist expectations. I could take the evening as Ifound it. By contrast many around me had travelled many miles ( Cornwall, Wales, Ireland and Scandinavia)
The only other time I have seen him live was in 1979 at Knebworth This was the setlist then:
So how did it go? It was an anthology, rather than greatest hits, set, which suited me fine. Individually there were some great songs, but collectively it hung together a little awkwardly. I knew every song, so familiarity was not a problem, but songs sat against each other with little obvious connection. If individually they were your personal favourites, then fine, otherwise it was sometime a challenging listen. the slow funk of “I think you know” is sluggish, and it took the more melodious, if predictable, “Secret Society” to engage the audience. “Weakness” was ponderous. “Stood up ” was lightweight as was “lost Horizon”. It took a blistering “Buffalo Grass” ( with trademark guitar hero guitar solos) to ignite the band before the highlight of the evening, the glorious, smouldering, waltz time ballad, “Beloved infidel”, which is amongst his finest compositions.
In an odd gear change we then slipped into the formulaic “hit me like a train” which sounded like an Aerosmith rocker, over Keith Richard’s “Honky Tonk women” riff. the irony of a Rolling Stones indebted Aerosmith copy was rich. Then another gear change, “Wouldnt You like to know” was pure Doobie bros circa “Black water” with beautiful acoustic guitar and harmonies. Continuing the high, Todd then slipped into “Sweet” which not only sounded like Hall and Oats, it sounded as though they were singing and performing it too! Sublime nonetheless, pure soul, and funk.
Another gear change – the rocker “woman’s world” which sounds as though it should be sung by a woman- Pat Benatar maybe. A little too Ame]rican formulaic for my tastes. Would love to see Ted Nugent perform this- not least because it has a “Cat scratch fever” guitar break. Gear Change. “Afterlife” was delicate, doleful, and wistful and very Steely Dan
Gear change. “Going Down with the ship” is a novelty song in the way that 10cc’s “Dreadlock holiday” is . i hated it on record. But live it is zany, ridiculous and great fun. It is a performance song- Kid Creole and the Coconuts would love it. and we all did the hand movements…
Gear change- an acapella “Honest work” which featured four of the harmonising band members. Outstanding and wonderful in equal measure
Gear Change. “Rock Love” rocked and should have closed the show. “God said” was routine but enjoyable, “Fascist Christ” limped along as a rappy piece of nonsense.
Gear Change. “Hawking” was a ponderous ballad, beautifully arranged as a “Hall and oats” number , complete with sax solo, and completely out of place. “Worldwide epiphany” is another formula rocker, it isn’t an epiphany and was an inadequate set closer.
The greatest his segue encore satisfied those that wanted to hear them- i felt they added little to the evening.
How About a Little Fanfare?
I Think You Know
Secret Society
Weakness
Stood Up
Lost Horizon
Buffalo Grass
Beloved Infidel
Hit Me Like a Train
Wouldn’t You Like to Know
Sweet
Kindness
Woman’s World
Afterlife
Down With the Ship
Honest Work
Rock Love
God Said
Fascist Christ
Hawking
Worldwide Epiphany
Encore:
I Saw the Light / Can We Still Be Friends / Hello It’s Me
After fifty years gig going this was my first proper folk gig apart from Barry McGuire in the eve of Destruction era and Lindisfarne who I would describe as folk rock
The Hub is a superb venue only 20 minutes drive from where I live but the gig failed to take off for me. Sold out, the audience was almost entirely 70 years old plus, the music largely dreary. I quickly remembered why I do not go to folk concerts.
Billy Mitchell looked ridiculously youthful and energetic, Bob was similarly engaged both sang well. The music was dreary, the audience loved it, I didn’t.
Obviously Lady Eleanor was excellent, Galway Shawl was touching, and that’s about it
Garyswordz 