RITA DI SANTO draws attention to a new film that features Ken Loach and Jeremy Corbyn, and their personal experience of media misrepresentation
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Stirring songs of love, madness and obsession Mon Dec 18
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
MARJORIE MAYO welcomes an account of family life after Oscar Wilde, a cathartic exercise, written by his grandson
KEN COCKBURN guides us through a survey of Chekov’s early short fiction, and the groundwork it laid for his later masterpieces
ANDY HEDGECOCK revels in a hugely enjoyable but deadly serious examination of the 1930s, that is an indictment of our own era
The bard distills our hellish times into fiery words
Naomi Bedford and Paul Simmonds
Songs My Ruiner Gave To Me
(Dusty Willow)
NAOMI BEDFORD wrote and sang Orbital’s hit Funny Break while Paul Simmonds is one of The Men They Couldn’t Hang, both bands highly politicised and highly successful.
Now, as in private life, they’ve teamed up and what a combination they prove to be. They give the modern ballad an enviable depth in musical texture, as well as thoughtful lyrics with a distinct literary quality.
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LEIGH CARRIAGE remembers Roberta Flack, a spellbinding virtuoso of musical interpretation
New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup