As I’ve undoubtedly stated before, I often gravitate towards art that frightens me. Grace Jones ‘ A One Man Show created in 1982 by Jones with then- partner Jean Paul Goude, is one such example. Channel 4 screened it a few years later and I was still in my early teens. It remains a formativeContinue reading “Lost In Music: Grace Jones – A One Man Show”
Tag Archives: Eighties
Vintage Film Review: The Lost Boys
How 1980s is Joel Schumacher ‘s teen comedy horror film The Lost Boys? The “dudes” look like all of Bon Jovi at once. The “chicks” could be dropouts from The Breakfast Club. And the soundtrack is dreadful, full of macho douche soft rock. Only Echo And The Bunnymen’s tepid Doors cover hints at anything alternative.Continue reading “Vintage Film Review: The Lost Boys”
Overlooked Classics: The Fall- Bend Sinister
Mid-eighties Fall were, as ever, a strange proposition, fast becoming a cult band; yet always wilfully on the sidelines, casting caustic barbs at the more banal elements of pop culture. So it was with the ninth album, the brilliant Bend Sinister. It was named after the Nabokov novel. Even the cover points to the kindContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: The Fall- Bend Sinister”
Album Review: All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop
Philip King’s compilation of late-seventies – mid-eighties synth pop has a similar, if less political, approach as Adam Curtis: find leftfield, obscure tracks and highlight them, creating a sideways look at pop culture. As the title suggests, there is a DIY, deliberately un-glossy attitude to much of the music on offer. Frankie Goes To HollywoodContinue reading “Album Review: All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop”
Lost In Music: Adam and the Ants- Kings Of the Wild Frontier
Two decades before Meg and Jack, there was only one white stripe that mattered: the warpaint over the nose of Britain’s biggest pop star: Adam Ant. His look was so iconic that kids copied him everywhere: indeed, me and my cousin Audrey, inspired by his style, attempted to emulate said stripe one summer, using tennisContinue reading “Lost In Music: Adam and the Ants- Kings Of the Wild Frontier”
TV Review: Video Nasty
This dark comedy drama series arrives at an interesting time, in the wake of eighties nostalgia franchises like ‘Stranger Things’ and more recently Tim Burton’s underwhelming sequel, ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’. Written by Hugh Travers and directed by Christopher Smith and Megan K Fox, it’s steeped in the pop culture of that decade, right down to MaryContinue reading “TV Review: Video Nasty”
Favourite Cover Versions: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Kicking Against the Pricks
Photo: Alamy This 1986 album, entirely comprising cover versions, shows Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds playing with the duality of their sound. There’s the bombast of their take on The Velvet Underground’s ‘All Tomorrow ‘s Parties’ running counter to Jimmy Webb’s legendary ‘By The Time I Get To Phoenix’ with a softer, but noContinue reading “Favourite Cover Versions: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Kicking Against the Pricks”
Lost In Music: Cocteau Twins – Pearly Dewdrops Drops
This song is older than some of my band T shirts, but as with Cocteau Twins at their sweetest, it always feels like a warm room on a frosty day. It’s perfection: they pretty much invented dream pop, after all, with the music box twinkling, and ethereal beauty. But, as ever, you can make upContinue reading “Lost In Music: Cocteau Twins – Pearly Dewdrops Drops”
Overlooked Classics: The Cure – Faith
Pornography is often referred to in The Cure’s early eighties trilogy (which also includes Seventeen Seconds) as a classic, but I think their third album, Faith, is absolutely divine, and overlooked. Far from being as miserable as painted, it’s actually pretty diverse in scope. There’s the anthemic ‘Primary ‘, shimmering majesty of ‘The Funeral Party’Continue reading “Overlooked Classics: The Cure – Faith”
Film Review: Weird:The Al Yankovic Story
The man,the myth,the moustache.. Now, the movie. In many ways, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic epitomises not only art, but in some ways strikes at the core of what it is to be human. So it is with this inspired mock biopic, co-written and directed by Yankovic himself with Eric Appel, starring Daniel Radcliffe as the parodyContinue reading “Film Review: Weird:The Al Yankovic Story”
Hit The North 