Reviews

Plenty has been written about Regan's similarities to Bob Dylan but, judging by this performance, the only real parallel that can be drawn is that both have been heavily influenced by the folk star Woody Guthrie.

Fionn Regan, 229, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

A haunting wail of harmonica signals the arrival of Fionn Regan. Standing in the spotlight, battered guitar draped around his neck, you could be forgiven for getting caught up in the moment.

Inside Reviews

Hercules and Love Affair, Koko, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Monday, 8 September 2008

Too much a slave to the disco rhythm

Preview: The Peace One Day Celebration, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, 8 September 2008

Bryan Adams, Annie Lennox and John Legend will be among the artists celebrating Peace Day at the Royal Albert Hall on 21 September. Appearing on stage alongside them will be the actor Jude Law, who will introduce a screening of a new documentary film, The Day After Peace, in which he stars.

Prom 66: BBC Now/Otaka
Prom 67: Frost/Marwood/Barley/Larcher, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, 8 September 2008

I had never before heard one note by Grace Williams, part of a group of British women composers who studied with Ralph Vaughan Williams, and were influenced by Elgar. This influence was evident in her five-movement work for strings, Sea Sketches, with which Tadaaki Otaka and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales opened their Prom.

You write the reviews: Big Star, Shepherd's Bush Empire, London (Rated 2/ 5 )

Monday, 8 September 2008

Back in the early Seventies, Big Star made their mark on the post-Sixties landscape with their brand of melodic, melancholy pop, and were described by the rock critic Jason Ankeny as the "quintessential American power- pop band". Alex Chilton, formerly a teenybopper pin-up with the Box Tops, had teamed up with Chris Bell, an old mate from his home town of Memphis, Tennessee, to join a band called Icewater. He changed the name to Big Star, and in 1972 they made a debut album, # 1 Record, that was acclaimed as a masterpiece. But it was heard by virtually no one on account of abysmal distribution.