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”
Tag Archives: Eighties
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”
Lost In Music: Cocteau Twins – Treasure
Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie may have said to the British music press, “Treasure was such an abortion. I hated it”, but the 1984 classic is still one of the band’s best-selling, best-loved studio albums. Originally, this, their third studio album, was to be produced by Brian Eno, but the band’s Robin Guthrie took thatContinue reading “Lost In Music: Cocteau Twins – Treasure”
Book Review: Lemn Sissay- My Name Is Why
British Ethiopian poet and performer Lemn Sissay writes prose in the same way that he speaks: succinctly, openly and with no time for bullshit. It’s this no -nonsense approach that he brings to his devastating memoir, My Name Is Why. For the first twelve years of his life, he had lived with a Christian familyContinue reading “Book Review: Lemn Sissay- My Name Is Why”
Overlooked Classics: Hail The New Puritan (1987)
“Michael! Michael! “ I’m trying not to get too nostalgic here, as any nostalgia suggests there’s nothing worth dipping into in contemporary culture, but Charles Atlas’ fictionalised account of Michael Clark was like a firework going off in my soul. Something just sparked within me. Epiphany is an understatement. This was something I wanted inContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Hail The New Puritan (1987)”
Vintage Film Review: The Company of Wolves (1984)
Angela Carter… So much to answer for. I first read The Bloody Chamber in 1987 as a young teen, exactly the right time to discover her voluptuous, gory, evocative prose. Her descriptions of sex, death, circuses, films, literature and the theatre were vivid and lucid, patently original. Without her work, I question if Guillermo delContinue reading “Vintage Film Review: The Company of Wolves (1984)”
THAT DIFFICULT THIRD ALBUM: Kate Bush – Never For Ever
Yeah,yeah, we all love Hounds Of Love and acknowledge that it’s a game changer, but I am rather partial to Kate Bush’s third album , Never For Ever. Released on September 7th in 1980, it is wilfully eccentric (Babooshka, The Wedding List, Violin) febrile and beautiful. Even the cover points to the esoteric strangeness within:Continue reading “THAT DIFFICULT THIRD ALBUM: Kate Bush – Never For Ever”
Hit The North 