There are many songs I could have picked as a tribute: obvious anthems (‘Purple Rain’, ‘Little Red Corvette ‘, ‘Raspberry Beret’, etc) or the more lascivious songs (‘Get Off’, ‘Cream’, ‘Sister’, ‘Darling Nikki’, ‘Kiss’, ‘Sexy MF’ etc) even his big conceptual songs from the Sign O’The Times era or featuring his Camille alter -ego. ButContinue reading “Lost In Music:Prince- The Beautiful Ones”
Tag Archives: Eighties
Overlooked Classics: Cocteau Twins -Lullabies
2 Alas Dies Laughing 3. It’s All But An Ark Lark Cocteau Twins’ first EP, released after the debut studio album Garlands,still has some of the early spikiness, but fuses it with the ethereal sonics that became the band’s trademark. On production duty was 4AD label founder Ivo Watts-Rizsell. Elizabeth Fraser’s swooning, impenetrable voice andContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Cocteau Twins -Lullabies”
Lost In Music: ESG- UFO (1980)
The three sisters – Emerald, Sapphire and Gold- aka the Scroggins sisters (there were actually five initially) made minimal music for the dancefloor, which wasn’t concerned with melody, but rhythm. ‘UFO’ really broke the mould though, with its disturbing space age noise, eerie scraping sonics juxtaposed with a killer funk bass line. It was excessivelyContinue reading “Lost In Music: ESG- UFO (1980)”
Lost In Music: Before Lana Del Rey … Mazzy Star
She Hangs Brightly was the debut album from Mazzy Star, aka guitarist Dave Roback and vocalist Hope Sandoval. Previously, with singer Kendra Smith, they were Opal, but she was replaced, and the (ugh, I hate this word) jailbait prettiness and sleepy drawl of Sandoval proved more marketable, it seems. Released in 1990, essentially the duoContinue reading “Lost In Music: Before Lana Del Rey … Mazzy Star”
Lost In Music: Grace Jones – A One Man Show
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”
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”
Hit The North 