ALBUM REVIEW

ALBUM OF THE MONTH: The Ballad Of Darren by Blur (July 2023)

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: The Ballad; St Charles Square; Barbaric; Russian Strings; The Everglades (For Leonard); The Narcissist; Goodbye Albert; Far Away Island; Avalon; The Heights

Blur played 2 rapturously received Wembley Stadium shows this month (where they are pictured above) but we haven’t seen them live since their Parklife heyday at the end of the last century.

  • Read on for reasons including how we spotted Damon Albarn as we were writing this review in London City Airport
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ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Hana by Sophie Ellis Bextor (week beginning Wednesday 7 June 2023)

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: A Thousand Orchids; Breaking The Circle; Until The Wheels Fall Off; Everything Is Sweet; Lost In The Sunshine; Tokyo; Beyond The Universe; He’s A Dreamer; Reflections; Hearing In Colour; Broken Toy; We’ve Been Watching You

We’ve only ever been to Tokyo once and it was so different to anywhere we’ve been before or since that it was extremely disorientating while being fascinating at the same time.

  • Read on for reasons including how and where to see Ellis Bextor on tour in 2023
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Last Man Dancing by Jake Shears (June 2023 and gig at Village Underground)

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: Too Much Music; Do The Television; Voices; I Used To Be In Love; Really Big Deal; Last Man Dancing; 8 Ball; Devil Came Down The Dancefloor; Mess Of Me; Doses; Radio Eyes; Diamonds Don’t Burn

SETLIST: Too Much Music; Really Big Deal; Any Which Way; Meltdown; Do The Television; Voices; Comfortably Numb; I Used To Be In Love; Creep City; Laura; Take Your Mama; Last Man Dancing; I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’; Devil Came Down The Dancefloor; 8 Ball; Destiny; Invisible Light; Filthy/Gorgeous

We’ve recently read Shears’ memoir Boys Keep Swinging and it’s a fascinating insight into the mindset of the former Scissor Sisters’ frontman who has struggled for inspiration.

  • Read on for reasons including how Shears invited his audience to his east London home after this gig
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: The Love Invention by Alison Goldfrapp (May 2023, and gig review HERE at Outernet)

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: NeverStop; Love Invention; Digging Deeper Now; In Electric Blue; The Beat Divine; Fever (This Is The Real Thing); Hotel (Suite 23); Subterfuge; Gatto Gelato; So Hard So Hot; SLoFLo

SETLIST: Hotel (Suite 23); Love Invention; Believer; Digging Deeper; In Electric Blue; NeverStop; Number One; The Beat Divine; Impossible; Anymore; SloFlo; Gatto Gelato; Strict Machine; Rocket; So Hard (So Hot); Ride A White Horse; Fever (This Is The Real Thing)

The Love Invention is an early contender for album of the year so far and this was our 1st visit to this new underground and modern Soho venue for Alison Goldfrapp’s debut solo gig.

  • Read on for reasons including where to see her next at an outdoor gig in London in July
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Fuse by Everything But The Girl (April 2023)

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: Nothing Left To Lose; Run A Red Light; Caution To The Wind; When You Mess Up; Time And Time Again; No One Knows We’re Dancing; Lost; Forever; Interior Space; Karaoke

Rewind 24 years to 1999 and Tony Blair’s Labour government was 2 years into power, the year before the UK had hosted its 1st Eurovision in 15 years and duo Everything But The Girl released album Temperamental.

  • Read on for reasons including how we’d love to see both Tracey and Ben tour this 1st album in 24 years
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Live In A Village Hall by Welly (March 2023)

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

TRACKLIST: Me And Your Mates; Home For The Weekend; Deere John; Take 5; Michelangelo; Locally Made Jam; Flowers; 501

‘The sweet smell of Lynx and regret.’ Remembering. Misremembering. Nostalgia. Youth. Cities by the sea. Welcome to Welly, your new favourite singer/band.

  • Read on for reasons including why you should see Welly in a village hall because they’ll be playing larger gigs next
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: The Cut Up by Jo Bartlett (February 2023)

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: Fortress; And I Loved You; Greener; Aldershot; Eilean; Our Reward; Camden; Hwyl; Hero

A confession: as a teenager we used to go to Aldershot’s Buzz Club which Bartlett ran featuring intimate gigs by bands that would go on to great things including The Stone Roses, The Charlatans, The Beautiful South and Blur.

  • Read on for reasons including what next for Bartlett as well as how to glimpse Indie Through The Looking Glass
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Cabaret starring Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley (January 2023)

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WORTH A LOOK?: *****

Our sister sees a lot of West End musicals and so we take her to see this production of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club and she later writes on Facebook: ‘I think it was possibly the best show I have ever seen.’

  • Read on for reasons including how this production is ripe for a successful Broadway transfer
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Sophie Ellis Bextor’s Kitchen Disco: Live At The London Palladium (November 2022)

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****

RELEASED: 25 November 2022

TRACKLIST: Take Me Home; Disco Inferno; Wild Forever; All Night Long; Hypnotized; Mixed Up World; Young Blood; There Are Worse Things; Love Is A Camera; Dancing Queen; Get Over You/Lady/Groovejet; Crying At The Discoteque; Like A Prayer; Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer); Murder On The Dancefloor; Our House; Favourite Things

Live albums are always a fascinating snapshot of an act at a particular moment in time and this gig was much-postponed thanks to Covid but 1 we gave 5* to back in March.

  • Read on for reasons including why this gig was 1 of our favourite things of 2022
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Hold The Girl by Rina Sawayama (October 2022)

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: Minor Feelings; Hold The Girl; This Hell; Catch Me In The Air; Forgiveness; Holy (‘Til You Let Me Go); Your Age; Imagining; Frankenstein; Hurricanes; Send My Love To John; Phantom; To Be Alive

There’s no mistaking the ambition of Sawayama’s 2nd album and with an Elton John collaboration under her belt she will doubtless hope Hold The Girl builds on the success of her debut.

  • Read on for reasons including how to see Sawayama on tour this autumn
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