When I was a kid I loved the Celtic, Norse, Greek and Roman myths in the kids versions that were around then by writers like Rosemary Sutcliff and Roger Lancelyn Green. And Ulysses was my favourite character – I […]

I’d have thought plenty of prog musos would be up for that. The late Jon Lord of course, and Tony Banks has written orchestral music (are Purple and Genesis prog – I can’t keep up)? Yes as well I’d have thoug […]

I haven’t seen the prog Prom so can’t comment on that but the key to these things I think is the quality of the orchestrations and the engagement of the pop artist in giving the freedom for something that wor […]

Fab review! The Bootlegs and Liverpool Phil has been a brilliant partnership across the Pepper show, Abbey Road and this one – a great example of genuine pop/orchestral collaboration bringing out the best of both worlds.

‘the assumption it is morally and culturally superior to other music’ is not something anyone here has ever believed about their personal chosen music, oh no.

There’s no one which has really leaped out of the pack yet but one which has matured and improved with every listen is Courtney Marie Andrew’s’ ‘Valentine’. Perhaps no coincidence that it came out early in the ye […]

When our daughters were small we had a cassette of Raffi’s Baby Beluga album which they absolutely adored. They’re a similar age to Laura so maybe she had it too. Must have a listen if only for nostalgia’s sake.

As it happens Jon Lord is a good example of someone from the rock world who went on to write some attractive and enjoyable if not particularly radical orchestral music in a classical vein. His Durham Concerto and […]

Very sad news indeed, and way too soon. I remember seeing his Liverpool team of the mid seventies against Spurs. Spurs went ahead twice but you knew Liverpool would come back and sure enough, led by Keegan and […]

Mightily relieved Spain won. Disliked Argentina’s approach as much as everyone else but only for the fouls and the shithousery, not for the defensive tactics. If a team sets its stall out to play defensively to […]

One of the curiosities of you look at pictures of England fans at the 1966 World Cup is that there isn’t a St George’s cross in sight – it’s all Union Jacks. That certainly wasn’t the case in Wales Norther […]

Until the Donald and Gianni shitshow I would have wanted the US to win – a decent team punching above their weight, Poch in charge, home World Cup, Belgium have been rubbish etc etc. As it was I was cheering every […]

As others have said a great piece about a great album by a great artist. I’ve sensed in recent years that now she is in her 70s she is getting more recognition for just how good her best work is and what an i […]

I watched that the other night. Quite liked the music but the rest of it has a strong whiff of ‘we are two wild and crazy guys!’ about it. Overall though it was one of the better Later episodes of recent tim […]

Spain looked more like their normal selves tonight though against pretty woeful opposition. And I enjoyed Belgium v Iran much more than I expected to.

Yeah I’d agree – ‘Punch the Clock’, ‘Imperial Bedroom’ and, especially, ‘King of America’ are great 80s albums but there was then a run of ‘Return to form’ albums like ‘Brutal Youth’ and ‘When I Was Cruel’ th […]

Acadie is a wonderful album I think. For the Beauty of Wynona and Shine have their moments (the title track of the latter is lovely) but I haven’t listened much since. His production in the 80s and 90 especially i […]

The best stat so far in this World Cup that astonished me is that in the whole match of heroic defence Cape Verde committed precisely one foul, the lowest in any World Cup finals match ever.

It’s awful that you’re going through such pain and upset and doubly impressive that one of the results is that you’re giving the rest of us such powerful and moving writing. I hope it’s doing you good too. I love […]

That’s certainly true of audiences at Van Morrison gigs where a similar message is out out….