STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
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Album reviews with Michal Boncza
CAILEAN MCBRIDE welcomes a refreshing and timely study of the way officialdom creates structures that exclude LGBT+ rights and humanity
The bard mourns the loss of comrades and troubadours, and looks for consolation with Black Country Jess
CHRIS MOSS relishes the painting and the life story of a self-taught working-class artist from Warrington
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a star-studded adaptation of Ibsen’s play that is devoid of believable humanity
GORDON PARSONS is fascinated by a unique dream journal collected by a Jewish journalist in Nazi Berlin
Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, Parthenope, Where Dragons Live and Thunderbolts* reviewed by MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE
Ian Siegal
All the Rage
(Nugene Records)
★★★★
QUINTESSENTIAL rock and blues, All the Rage is intuitive, straight from the gut and confrontational, with a forgivable helping of self-pitying melancholy.
While Mickey O’Rourke doppelganger Ian Siegal’s rasping if surprisingly versatile voice is the sound signature, none of it would have come off without the admirably muscular and rigorous musicianship of Dusty Cigaar on guitar, Danny Van’t Hoff on bass and Raphael Schwiddessen on drums, who alone make this a four-star offering.
The pulsating rhythms and guitar riffs, free from tedious and self-serving over-elaboration, are delivered with well-measured bursts that are clinical and never overcrowded, imaginatively aiding and elevating Siegal’s expressive voice.
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