Peggy Seeger/Norma & Mike Waterson/Martin Carthy, London Blackheath Halls

Peggy Seeger

November 13, 2009

The support act outshines the star here so completely that this is a gig of two halves.

Reclusive Mike Waterson’s rare appearance, in baggy jumper and cloth cap, holds us spellbound with ballads, tales and rhymes of fishing and dockers and lads loving lasses. Martin and Norma (his sister and brother-in-law) chime in with ancient and modern folk. They sing sad songs to remember their dead sister Lal, the troubled singer- songwriter. Norma sings a calypso from Montserrat, where the black slaves rejoice when their sister dies but sing dirges whenever another new baby is born into bondage. … Continue Reading

Flood Tide by John Eacott

Flood Tide

This is awesome! The River Thames dictates musical notes to a band in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. The vibraphone trills and tinkles, the flute sighs, the clarinet swooshes and the ‘cellos throb like an undercurrent. It is ambient music to sweep you away…

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Island Life: Island Records’ 50th anniversary

Island 50

Phonica Records, 51 Poland Street, London W1.

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Baaba Maal: “Every one of us is the man in the television”

Baaba Maal – Television

The new album from Senegal’s Baaba Maal marks a crossover from specialist world music to music that the whole world can enjoy. No, he hasn’t sold out – the songs are still African. But they have catchy pop tunes with foot-tapping, summery beats and some are sung in English or French as well as his native language. He is still African, but he looks dapper in his black designer shirt and jacket, he is playing Glastonbury without irony …in short, he has arrived.

“I think Television is a new departure. Still with African elements – you can still hear the talking drum, and this is the image of Africa. I’ve been travelling with Western musicians so this is me Baaba Maal and my vision of the future and my vision of the world.”

He’s talking to me in the basement of Phonica Records in Soho, which in a way is his home turf since it houses the exhibition celebrating fifty years of Island Records…charting his successes since he signed to them twenty years ago, along with other legends as diverse as Bob Marley, The Slits, PJ Harvey and Roxy Music. … Continue Reading

Mick Jones: the rock ‘n’ roll public library

What are your musical influences? That’s the classic question from interviewers. The answer from Mick Jones of The Clash is this exhibition – the contents of a lock-up garage in Acton, West London.

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Marianne Faithfull – Easy Come, Easy Go

Marianne Faithfull

It’s called Easy Come, Easy Go but this is a difficult album to like. “Like” is too small a word for this perfectionist collection of songs and musicians - all classics and masters in their own right, and all eager to create new masterpieces through their association with Marianne Faithfull. You will not like this album: you will either love it or hate it.

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Brighton, England

 

Brighton

Brighton rocks for music fans, with intimate venue Komedia, Fatboy Slim’s beach party and massive regular collectors’ fairs at the Conference Centre hosted by www.vinylmanenterprises.com.

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The British Music Experience

The British Music Experience

Wow! The British Music Experience is technically brilliant. No music fan visiting the O2 in Greenwich, south east London, will want to miss it. It has stacks of rock and pop memorabilia, sheet music, guitars, drumkits, dresses and interactive gadgets that play music and videos at the touch of a swipecard. You can learn a dance and get yourself filmed doing it, and then post the DVD on your own bit of the BME’s website. This will be very popular – perhaps they should have got a load of those cheap dance-mats from Argos instead so that more people can have a go without having to queue!

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