Adam Ant, Shepherds Bush Empire
Punk meets panto season with the Dandy Highwayman back in the saddle
Nostalgia is not what it used to be. With kids who were not even born when Mick Jagger first shimmied across the stage singing the praises of the Rolling Stones, it was nice to see an audience at the Shepherds Bush Empire, give or take a few young goths of no fixed hairstyle, almost perfectly fitting the expected Adam Ant demographic. Well-preserved women who loved the pop hits, bulkier men who liked the punk phase.
Reissue CDs Weekly: 10cc, Eric Clapton, Marc Almond, Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers
Seventies art-pop in a box, smoochy Clapton, solo Soft Cell and New York scuzz rock
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Jam, Ray Stinnett, Sandy Denny, The Servants
Weller and co's swansong, lost American singer-songwriter, unreleased Sandy Denny on a budget and rediscovered quirky Nineties' indie
The Jam: The Gift
Thomas H Green
Alt-J, Electric Ballroom
No major fireworks, but plenty of sparklers from the newly-crowned Mercury Prize winners
It is not exactly Rock 'n' Roll Babylon, that's for sure. When Mercury Prize-winning quartet Alt-J assembled onstage at the Electric Ballroom last night it was more like a group of cool-looking choirboys gathering for practice with the vicar than music's hottest properties playing the final lap-of-honour gig of their current tour. After a modest "thank you" to the audience from guitar-cradling vocalist Joe Newman they were off and running.
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Blue Nile, The Seeds, Dan Penn, Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Electronic torch songs from Scotland, garage-punk nirvana, Southern soul heaven and more Frankie than necessary
The Blue Nile: A Walk Across The Rooftops, Hats
Graeme Thomson
The Blue Nile occupy a unique spot in the musical landscape. Formed in 1980 by Glasgow University graduates Paul Buchanan, Paul Joseph Moore and Robert Bell, four albums in 30 years suggests a certain neurotic creative sensibility which resulted in a pretty slim legacy but served the music well.
World Party, Royal Albert Hall
Karl Wallinger's first big live performance in a decade impresses with a jukebox of superior songs
“A hurricane didn’t stop me getting here,” shouted Barry from Philadelphia, and there were plenty of hard core World Party fans for whom last night at the Albert Hall was a big deal concert – the first proper tour in 10 years, coming on the back of a brick-like five-CD box of unreleased material called Arkeology.
Interview: 10 Questions for Dave Stewart
The former Eurythmic has recorded a double-quick album in Nashville, and filmed it
Sunderland-born Dave Stewart has embraced the life of a wandering troubadour virtually since he was born. He had a record deal with folk-rockers Longdancer at the start of the Seventies, though he didn't start to enjoy commercial success until the end of the decade, when he was with The Tourists. They're possibly best remembered for their cover of the Dusty Springfield hit "I Only Want To Be With You", but more importantly, it was the band which brought Stewart together with Annie Lennox.
CD: Claudia Brücken - The Lost are Found
Ex-Propagandist's covers album promises so much - can it deliver?
Ah, this starts so well. The idea of Claudia Brücken, arch-Teuton ice queen vocalist from high class synth poppers Act and Propaganda, covering the Bee Gees, Bowie and ELO is just too much fun to ignore. And her version of Julee Cruise's “Mysteries of Love” from the Blue Velvet soundtrack is damn near perfect – its lusciously sinister textures just right for her perfectly-controlled deadpanning. The downtempo take on Stina Nordenstam's “Memories of a Color” is tasty enough to keep hopes high.
