The Beach Boys: Doin' it Again, BBC Four
Largely pointless 50th anniversary tribute is rescued by a few essential moments
“It’s an expression of our collective souls coming together,” said The Beach Boys’ Mike Love of his band, in this celebration of their 2012 50th anniversary world tour and recent album That’s Why God Made the Radio. Subsequent to the making of Doin' it Again and during the ensuing global jaunt, Love announced he was ditching fellow Beach Boys Alan Jardine, David Marks and Brian Wilson, whom he had been sharing the stage with. Not much of a shelf life for this collective expression, with little chance of doing it again.
CD: Alicia Keys - Girl On Fire
There are the familiar anthems, but it's the quieter, more intimate moments that impress the most
14 Grammy Awards, over 30 million albums sold, immortalised in song by Bob Dylan. It's hard to believe that Girl On Fire is only Alicia Keys's fifth studio album, such is the extent of her success. The singer-songwriter's previous release, The Element of Freedom, successfully mined the juxtaposition of powerful beats and understated vocals. And, following the solo piano amuse-bouche of “De Novo Adagio”, Girl On Fire initially looks set to deliver more of the same.
Robbie Williams, O2 Arena
Can the bumptious pop showman bounce back to his former commercial glories?
Frustratingly, the ramshackle rail service from Brighton deposits me at the crammed O2 20 minutes into Robbie Williams's set. After the eerie quiet of the airport-like walkways around the perimeters, the torrid atmosphere inside the gigantic arena is a shocker. It's packed to the rafters with women shrieking and waving their arms in the air while their men sit beside them, sheepishly mouthing lyrics. Williams, clad fetchingly in black, is playing in the round in the centre of the O2's huge bowl, and the first song I catch is his recent number one single, "Candy".
CD: Céline Dion – Sans Attendre
Park those prejudices, Céline Dion’s return to her native language has some delights in store
Before approaching any Céline Dion album, a number of obstacles have to be navigated: the anticipation that over-singing is on the horizon, or the knowledge of her Trilby-like relationship to Svengali René Angélil. Most of all though, it’s the fact that she’s so far off the cool scale she might as well be from the Planet Naff rather than Québec. And the album’s slightly cheesy chick lit-style graphics don’t help. But life is strewn with moments which confound. Sans Attendre, her first French-language album for five years, isn’t going to stop the world turning. But it is good.
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.
CD: JLS - Evolution
Boy band's progression puts the emphasis on sexy
From Elvis and Mick Jagger to the Spice Girls and, er, Chris Brown, pop music has often - whether covertly or overtly - been a fairly sexual medium. Listening to stuff you know your parents would hate is probably part of what fosters such tremendous loyalty between the listener and those first favourite groups and singers; the idea that you’re listening to something that’s truly yours, and your friends’. The good news is that the fourth album from JLS is a rich, urban pop record that is fresh, exciting and downright sleazy in places.