RITA DI SANTO draws attention to a new film that features Ken Loach and Jeremy Corbyn, and their personal experience of media misrepresentation
Album reviews with Steve Johnson
The latest from Kate Rusby, Gifford Lind, Alex Black and Guy Burgess
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
Kate Rusby
Philosophers, Poets and Kings
Pure Records
★★★★
PAYING tribute to her musical heritage and family upbringing in Yorkshire, Kate Rusby’s 17th studio album is a combination of traditional songs, covers and her own compositions which reflect different musical memories, among them singing with her parents and attending folk festivals at an early age.
Traditional songs like Bogey’s Bonnie Belle sit alongside innovative covers of Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick’s Crazy Man Michael and, somewhat unexpectedly, Noel Gallagher’s Don't Go Away.
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