MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Global women's music merits more than pick-and-mix compilation
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ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
Rough Guide to Women of the World
Various Artists
(World Music Network)
THE ROUGH Guide series has cornered the market for well-thumbed travel books for gap-year students and compilation albums for those interested in exploring world music from the comfort of their living room.
Previous well-compiled volumes have been dedicated to Cambodian psychedelia and Tex Mex but the remit of Women of the World is arguably too wide to be meaningful.
Though promoted as “a celebration of some of the world's great female musicians” — a rationale for their greatness is never provided — it lacks the thematic unity that provides context to compilations.
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