Category Archives: Reviews

…And Then Three Come Along All At Once

Posted on 12 July 2011 by Andrew - Please share:

0711_S95_0359.jpg - Jon Lord and Rick Wakeman perform "It's not as big as it was" at Superjam 2011

0711 S95 0359 | Jon Lord and Rick Wakeman perform "It's not as big as it was" at Superjam 2011

Reflections on an excellent Summer for live music

I understand why buses come in threes. If you’re interested, it’s simply because the one at the front does most of the picking up and setting down, and the others just catch up. However, I don’t understand why live music appears to work the same way.

We normally manage at least a couple of “big” concerts each year, but we didn’t find much to inspire us in the whole of 2010. Then suddenly the famine turned to feast, and between the beginning of March and the end of July I’ll have managed a total of nine live music events! These have really covered the range: from reggae to rock, from a tiny dinner jazz gathering with two musicians to the extravagant production of Roger Waters The Wall, and from classic rock acts to classical violin.

By very weird coincidence having never seen any of the classic American rock bands apart from Chicago, we then added four more scalps in three weeks. Journey, Foreigner and Styx (see this post) were followed in short order by Toto, at the much better venue of the Hammersmith Apollo. This was an excellent concert, and the youngsters now fronting up Journey would do well to go and view the older masters at work. All the great hits, good interaction with the audience and each other, and a decent sound mix. That’s how it should be done.

However, the best of the lot, heading rapidly for a place in my all time top ten, was also one of the oddest. Superjam 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall last week was a charity concert in aid of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. The organiser is one Jackie Paice, wife of Ian, so naturally the music revolved around Deep Purple and their friends. And what a bunch of reprobates turned up…

After a lengthy charity auction (where those of us in the cheap seats got to have a distant look at the sort of people who can splash out 20 grand in a good cause) the music got going at about 9.30. The first act set the tone for the evening, with Newton Faulkener doing a version of Bohemian Rhapsody, complete with the complicated bits, as a solo with just an acoustic guitar. Various guests followed, each doing their own party piece, typically a tribute to another great musician, alongside one of their own works. Joe Bonamassa did a great version of BB King’s The Thrill is Gone, and Gary Brooker turned up with Good Golly Miss Molly, followed, of course by Whiter Shade of Pale, which I certainly never expected to hear live by the original singer.

At this point there were still two Hammond organs and a big bank of synthesisers sitting unused on the stage, but that was about to be rectified. First by Jon Lord, who after a rocky first number then produced a spine-tingling version of Sarabande, with the both talented and attractive young violinist Anna Phoebe, and then an ethereal version of his ballad Pictured Within. Jon handed over to Rick Wakeman, who amused us with variations on Eleanor Rigby in the style of Prokofiev, as only he can, and then brought Jon Lord back on for a duet for Hammond organ and synths. This work, composed for the concert, was humorously about two old men comparing their “organs”, with the wonderful title It’s Not As Big As It Was . Finally everyone came back on stage for the first half finale, Life On Mars, which Rick Wakeman apparently co-wrote with David Bowie.

After a short break, the second half started with Bill Bailey doing a very funny, but very odd, act with a six-neck guitar (!), followed by an even odder, even funnier medley of rock anthems in the style of Chas and Dave. At last Deep Purple took the stage, and belted through several of their classics. They were characteristically generous to the younger musicians, including Joe Bonamassa coming on guest guitarist on Maybe I’m A Leo.

But they left the best till last. The finale was Deep Purple doing Smoke On The Water – “nothing new there” I hear you say, but wait … – with Bill Bailey out front playing the infamous riff – on a set of cow bells! Musically spot on, and very possibly the funniest live music performance I have every seen.

Maybe this wasn’t the most polished set of performances ever, and maybe the sound quality up in the back row of “the gods” wasn’t the greatest, but who cares? The music was stirring, the evident friendships and goodwill heartwarming, and I laughed like a drain. If there’s a better way to raise some money for a good cause I’m not sure I’ve experienced it.

Location:Bicester,United Kingdom

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Journey, Foreigner and Styx

Posted on 29 June 2011 by Andrew - Please share:

0611_S95_0234.jpg - Foreigner at Wembley, 4th June 2011

0611 S95 0234 | Foreigner at Wembley, 4th June 2011

A few weeks ago I attended a concert bringing together three classic American rock bands: Journey, Foreigner and Styx. It was not a bad evening’s entertainment, but left me with mixed feelings and musing on what makes for great live music.

The venue was Wembley Arena. It’s not our favourite venue by a long chalk. The main problem is that it’s long and thin and most of the audience are facing at right angles to a proper view of the stage. It also seems to suffer much worse than other venues from “fidgety audience syndrome” – I’m not sure whether this is related to the layout or not. What I do know is that watching a concert at Wembley is a constant battle with people coming and going to the bars and WCs, with no vestige of consideration for those actually trying to enjoy the show. This time people in the row behind us chose the middle of “Cold as Ice” to have an argument about tickets – surely they could have enjoyed the number from the side and then sorted things out?

I hadn’t really appreciated the relative ranking of the bands, so was a bit surprised when Styx led off the show, very much as the junior band working on a thin strip at the front of the stage. Another surprise was the musical style, prog rock rather like an American Yes, whereas I went in thinking of the ballads like “Babe” and Dirk DeYoung’s solo work. Even if it wasn’t quite what I expected, the performances were solid and varied enough to hold our interest. While musically I had no complaints, I was really annoyed by a bright light shining straight into my face from head level on the left of the stage, which made photography or even concentrating on the performance a real challenge.

Foreigner were simply superb. They played all their hits, the sound quality was good, the lead singer interacted well with the audience, and we even had a sing-along to “Feels Like the First Time”. The lighting effects were excellent and the band moved around using the stage and each other very effectively. Plus that stupid bloody light had been reset sensibly! This was more like it, and I was sad their set only lasted about an hour.

After Foreigner there was a big gap, well over half an hour, as the stage was completely stripped and re-set for Journey, behaving very much as the headline act courtesy of the renewed success of “Don’t Stop Believing”. When the show finally restarted the opening was very promising, with a thundering number and the voice of the energetic young vocalist soaring overhead.

The trouble is, that was it. 3/4 of an hour in I was getting tired of thundering numbers with high pitched vocals. I can’t tell you what they played, because I couldn’t distinguish one song from another. Normally even if I’m not familiar with a band’s catalogue, I could describe “the acapella one” or “the one with the great drum solo”. Nope.

There’s a musical joke on Deep Purple’s “Made in Japan”, where Ian Gillan asks the sound man for “a bit more monitor if you’ve got it”, and behind him Glover or Blackmore shouts “yeah, we’d like everything louder than everything else!” The trouble is that Journey and their sound team didn’t understand this was a joke…

Add to that virtually no interaction with the audience, and the lighting guy now shining the whole bank of lights in our eyes at regular intervals, and Journey just didn’t work. We gave up and left before the end of the show.

As a seasoned concert attendee, I’ve long realised that the success of a band has very little to do with the excellence of their live performances. It’s just frustrating to see the headline act do something so badly, when the acts further down the bill are so good.

———–

Next: four US rock bands in three weeks. How did Toto compare?

Location:Leatherhead,United Kingdom

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Review: Rocket to the Moon

Posted on 29 May 2011 by Andrew - Please share:

So far this year I have failed to see Tom Hollander in “A Flea in Her Ear”, and Benedict Cumberbatch in “Frankenstein”. Last night I failed to see Keeley Hawes in “Rocket to the Moon” at The National. Oddly, whereas the first two failures were subject to clear apologies at the theatres, Ms Hawes’ disappearence wasn’t acknowledged at all.

However, even had she fulfilled her role, I would probably have come away feeling short-changed. Keeley Hawes was “the draw” on the advertising, with her image alone on all the posters, yet her character was on stage for less than ten minutes in over two hours. The lead role was that of Cleo Singer, played competently and enthusiastically by Jessica Raine, who I can only image is very frustrated at her marginalisation by the bigger name.

To emphasise the insult with injury, I didn’t care much for the play anyway. The plot can be summed up simply: “Frustrated dentist has short affair with air-headed assistant. Various other men try it on with her. Eventually the girl sees sense.”. Lots of angst, and I don’t do angst. Worse, the Depression-era New York setting was completely wasted. There were characters making lots of money, and others not making enough to survive, but this was mere background, like the Manhattan street sounds filtering in through the back window of the stark set.

This play was a wasted opportunity, and a poor use of a big name.

Categories: Reviews. Content Types: Theatre.

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Review: Don’t Stand So Close

A review of "The Eagle"

Posted on 23 May 2011 by Andrew - Please share:

As a general rule, it’s good for an action photographer to get close to said action, but I’ve recently seen a few films that demonstrate there’s a limit. One key example was “The Eagle”. It’s a stirring tale, full of great human lessons, and a great romp through Roman Britain and Celtic Scotland. I liked the visual feel, even if some of the Celtic warriors looked more African than Scots, and counter to some reviews I enjoyed the performances of both leads, as I thought Channing Tatum’s calm portrayal of the Roman an interesting contrast with the more intense performance of Jamie Bell.

The area of concern, an unfortunate one for an action film, was the fight scenes. The camera was right in with the whirring blades, and this led to two problems. The first, which several reviewers have commented upon, was that it became impossible to follow the sequence of events, or the “big picture” view of the battle’s progress. You just couldn’t work out who had done what to whom. A key Roman character is killed in the final battle, yet neither Frances nor myself could work out when, or at whose hands. This stands in contrast to, say, Ridley Scott’s direction in “Gladiator”, when you are never in doubt about what has happened.

The other problem is more personal, and I don’t know how many people it affects. My brain obviously process visual information quite quickly, and at a certain point the world’s most popular optical illusion breaks down. If, say, a sword scythes across a large cinema screen in less than a second, I see it as a series of distinct jumps as my brain discerns the movement between successive frames. While at one level I follow movement, at another I’m distracted by “spotting the jumps”. This only happens in relatively extreme circumstances, with quick movements across large screens, but it’s consistent under those circumstances.

“The Eagle” is not the only film I’ve recently seen which demonstrated these problems. This excessive closeness to the action seems to be a developing trend. directors and cinematographers need to test their work by seeing whether someone sitting towards the front of a large cinema can follow it. If not, a step back might improve things considerably.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bookham Rd,,United Kingdom

Categories: Photography and Reviews. Content Types: Film.

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Watching The Wall Go Up

Posted on 19 May 2011 by Andrew - Please share:

0511 S95 0159

Thanks to some generous colleagues and the last minute availability of a spare “hospitality” ticket, I was lucky enough to get into a sold-out Roger Waters concert based on Pink Floyd’s The Wall this week. It was a really great show, and prompts several different observations.

First: the concert itself. I can only think of superlatives to describe it. Essentially while the music played and described Pink’s increasing isolation, the Wall of the metaphor was progressively built up, in front of the main part of the stage. The Wall was then used as a screen on which a variety of projections were shown: some simple graphics, many derived from the original Gerald Scarfe illustrations for the album, and others illustrating some of the social and political philosophies behind the lyrics. The projection technology was amazingly sophisticated, being able to extend to individual bricks as they were inserted, so that there was no “spill” onto the background activities which had their own lighting and pyrotechnics.

The music and sound quality were simply superb. I have been to concerts at the O2 where the sound was a bit muddy, but that wasn’t a problem here: every note and word as clear as on the album, albeit with the variations which you’d expect in a live performance, by a slightly different group of musicians, 35 years on from the original.

This is also a “photography” post for two reasons. Firstly, it was refreshing and encouraging to attend a concert with a realistic, liberal attitude to photography, which was clearly presented in both notices and an announcement: attendees were welcome to take photos, but would they please ensure their cameras were set to “no flash”. It was slightly disappointing to see that a few audience members couldn’t follow this simple instruction, but overall it worked well.

I had taken my tiny Canon PowerShot S95 in my pocket, and I’m very pleased with the results. The above was taken from the back of the hall, at ISO 800, on a camera about the size of a cigarette packet. This isn’t the limit of the camera’s capability: I got some decent shots at ISO 1600, albeit applying quite aggressive noise reduction in my RAW processor, and the in-body image stabilisation seems to have worked down to about 1/8s. OK, my photos are not going to blow up to A2 or sell as fine art prints, but as memories of a great concert obtained without carrying my normal (and probably forbidden) heavyweight kit they are very encouraging.

Finally, I must confess a slightly ambivalent attitude regarding “corporate hospitality”. I wouldn’t have got to the concert if it was not for some generous colleagues at Accenture, and I’m extremely grateful to them for that generosity. But while the Accenture box was full, the next box along was empty, as were several others, with seats at a very popular event going completely wasted. As someone who only normally attends such events via “general admission”, this is enormously frustrating. I don’t know that there’s any real resolution, but it’s something event organisers really need to think about.

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One for the “Bucket List”

Posted on 5 May 2011 by Andrew - Please share:

0311 7D 2169

As part of my 50th birthday celebrations I was privileged to go for dinner at Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant the Fat Duck in Bray. I don’t know what Frances did to get the reservation, but I suspect threats of physical violence were involved

It’s a remarkable experience: each course is carefully designed to stimulate the senses – not just taste, sight and smell, but in some cases touch and hearing too. For example the “fish course” was laid out on a layer of tapioca “sand” and egg white “foam”, and was enjoyed while listening to the sound of gently lapping waves provided from an MP3 player secreted in a conch shell.

The surprise and delight factor is very high: the aperitifs came in the form of meringue-like foam poached in liquid nitrogen, which were then consumed in a single bite evaporating in the mouth to leave you “steaming” like a slightly damp dragon. The “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party” included mock turtle soup creating by dissolving a gold watch in a cup of hot water.

The above shot shows the presentation of the jelly of quail, chicken liver parfait and truffle, which came on a bed of oak moss complete with dry ice “mist” gently wafting woodland smells over the table.

Heston’s ingenuity at capturing tastes and smells is remarkable. One of the sweet courses was a set of “whisky gums”, which successfully condensed the different tastes of five different Scotch and American whisk(e)ys into tiny gum sweets, ranging from a smooth Glenlivet to a fully peaty Laphroaig.

At the risk of being slightly coarse, I must share my favourite Heston quote. Something disagreed with several diners a couple of years ago, and the press interviewed some of those who had been affected. This included the boxing promoter Frank Warren. The hapless journalist asked the innocent question “did you notice anything unusual?”. His reply: “What a stupid question. It’s Heston bloody Blumenthal. It was all ****ing unusual!”

It’s not cheap, and getting a reservation is a challenge in its own right, but if you have the opportunity grab it with both hands and enjoy!

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Review: The Eden Legacy

An Adventure That Will Rewrite History, By Will Adams

Posted on 29 April 2011 by Andrew - Please share:

Cracking yarn, even if slightly derivative

At face value, this is very much a clone of a Clive Cussler story, right down to a hero who is also in the marine salvage / archaeology business, who gets tangled up in current crimes which tie into extraordinary historical discoveries. Like Clive Cussler’s novels, it’s also well-written with a level of detail which neither patronises nor overly challenges the reader.

Where it differs from Cussler is that most of the protagonists are troubled, damaged people, and Adams takes pains to explain their state of mind and how they arrived there. This makes a refreshing change from the two dimensional “supermen” heroes too common nowadays, but takes a little getting used to in an otherwise quite lightweight yarn.

Read the full review →

Categories: Reviews. Content Types: Adventure, Book, and Fiction.

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Review: Blasphemy

By Douglas Preston

Posted on 23 April 2011 by Andrew - Please share:

A great thriller, which probes uncomfortable ideas at the boundaries of science and religion

Basically, this is an adventure thriller set against a “big science” background, with Whyman Ford sent to investigate problems at what’s effectively the US version of CERN, albeit with a handful of staff and Cheyenne Mountain levels of security.

The real meat of the tale, however, is an exploration of how religion interacts with science, politics and society, and how religious extremism of any kind can sponsor the very worst in human hatred and violence, just as much as more moderate spirituality can drive good behaviour. For a change the religious extremists are not Muslims, but American extreme right-wing “Christians”, while the moderates are mainly Navajos, both Christians and those who follow the old ways. I haven’t previously seen this portrayed in the same way in other fiction.

Read the full review →

Categories: Reviews. Content Types: Fiction and Science Fiction.

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Review: Prophecy

By S J Parris

Posted on 23 April 2011 by Andrew - Please share:

Murky murder mysteries and complex catholic conspiracies

I thoroughly enjoyed S J Parris’ first novel, Heresy, likening it to a Tudor Inspector Morse tale, and was delighted to be offered the chance to review a pre-publication copy of this second story starring the same protagonists.

In this story the heretical monk, Giordano Bruno, is back at the French Embassy in Elizabethan London, where he is drawn rapidly into both a catholic conspiracy to invade England, and a related murder mystery when two of the queen’s ladies in waiting meet very sticky ends.

Read the full review →

Categories: Reviews. Content Types: Book, Crime / mystery, Fiction, and Historical novel.

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Review: My Early Life

By Winston Churchill

Posted on 20 April 2011 by Andrew - Please share:

A stirring, inspiring and very funny autobiography by Britain's greatest leader

What surprised me most about this book was the humour. I expected the familiar story of our greatest leader’s early life, I expected an insightful account of Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, I expected a stirring tale of a young man who was a practical adventurer just as much as politician and author. I didn’t expect to laugh out loud regularly for much of the story.

Read the full review →

Categories: Reviews. Content Types: Biography & Endeavour, Book, and History.

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Category Archives: Reviews

…And Then Three Come Along All At Once

Reflections on an excellent Summer for live music

Journey, Foreigner and Styx

Review: Rocket to the Moon

Review: Don’t Stand So Close

A review of "The Eagle"

Watching The Wall Go Up

One for the “Bucket List”

Review: The Eden Legacy

An Adventure That Will Rewrite History, By Will Adams

Cracking yarn, even if slightly derivative

Review: Blasphemy

By Douglas Preston

A great thriller, which probes uncomfortable ideas at the boundaries of science and religion

Review: Prophecy

By S J Parris

Murky murder mysteries and complex catholic conspiracies

Review: My Early Life

By Winston Churchill

A stirring, inspiring and very funny autobiography by Britain's greatest leader

Blog Views

Categories

Reviews by Content

Archives

Search my Sites:

Share this page:

Indexes

Site Map:

Blog Views

Categories

Reviews by Content

Archives

Feeds and Tweets

Follow me on Twitter

Thoughts on the World(main feed)

Other Feeds

Google Blog Search

Sister Sites:

Category Archives: Reviews

Reflections on an excellent Summer for live music

A review of "The Eagle"

An Adventure That Will Rewrite History, By Will Adams

Cracking yarn, even if slightly derivative

By Douglas Preston

A great thriller, which probes uncomfortable ideas at the boundaries of science and religion

By S J Parris

Murky murder mysteries and complex catholic conspiracies

By Winston Churchill

A stirring, inspiring and very funny autobiography by Britain's greatest leader

Blog Views

Categories

Reviews by Content

Archives

Thoughts on the World
(main feed)