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A joyful reimagining of Marvin Gaye’s masterpiece
DAN NOLAN thoroughly enjoys a flawed but heartfelt rendition of the politically charged song cycle, performed by an exciting jazz orchestra that’s bursting with talent
Nu Civilisation Orchestra in full swing
[Tatiana Gorilovsky]
IAN SINCLAIR revels in the reissue of great recordings by one of the most recognisable and radical voices in British music
SIMON PARSONS applauds an original, visual and movement-based take on the birth and death of a relationship
JOHN GREEN’s palate is tickled by useful information leavened by amusing and unusual anecdotes, incidental gossip and scare stories
The bard contemplates X — anti-human vomit soup with dog shit croutons — and the Tory recycling bin that is Reform
ALAN MORRISON recommends an outstanding and timely anthology of poems that reflect the experience and consequences of African migration
BINOY KAMPMARK examines the food racket as evidenced by the recent promotion of Italian cuisine to the status of ‘intangible national heritage’
Nu Civilisation Orchestra: What’s Going On
Royal Festival Hall, London
THERE has been plenty of focus on the politics of What’s Going On this year, as Marvin Gaye’s crowning achievement turns 50. Soaked in the blood of war, of racial hatred, poverty, struggle, and a crumbling ecology, there’s likely no better expression of our current predicament than the one he put on record in Detroit and West Hollywood five decades ago.
As with so much great political art, its relevance is sustained more by the questions it asks than any concrete answer it gives; the album never really finds the solution to its title’s query except to reaffirm it as a statement — on telling harsh truths, and offering solidarity to those suffering through them.
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