Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
Meatyard songsmith
SIMON PILBEAM waxes lyrical over the latest album from the indomitable JD Meatyard
meatyard
ALISTAR FINDLAY is mesmerised by this multiple ‘Visions of Scotland’ assault on the audience’s eyes and senses
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
JD MEATYARD has a long history of sharp polemic and biting social comment — as far back as the late 1980s John Peel was broadcasting Meatyard’s poetic anger as leader of Levellers 5 and Calvin Party.
This new material may suggest a sugaring of the pills but make no mistake; there is no compromise here.
The title track Love is a call for a new love generation and a compassionate community to return to the world. A simple message, deftly put across with passion, and a potshot at those who “know the price of everything but the value of nothing.” The ghost of Lennon smiles benignly as Donaldson assures us that all we need is all we needed back in 1967, the thing we have always needed. A classic campfire singalong for sure. Any festival would be enhanced by it.
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