Reviews

Roxy Music, 02 Arena, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Thursday, 10 February 2011

Only quite late on in the evening, somewhere between Bryan Ferry's plaintive whistle in "Jealous Guy" and the longed-for intro to "Virginia Plain", is Roxy Music's O2 audience roused to something like excitement. It's clearly a huge relief to Ferry, but it's the band's own fault: with as elegantly innovative a back catalogue as Roxy's, this should have been a torrent of exuberant memories, but for substantial portions of the set the longueurs are alleviated only by the consistently exciting guitar work of Phil Manzanera, as the band leads us around some of the less sparkling corners of their history. It's like going through a photo album and finding several of the most important snapshots missing: where are "Ladytron", "Both Ends Burning", "Dance Away", "Pyjamarama"?

Band of Horses, O2 Academy Brixton, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

Reggae Britannia, Barbican, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

"Multiculturalism rules," The Selecter's Pauline Black says pointedly, hours after David Cameron has declared it dead. No one else gives the Prime Minister's comment house-room during this exhilarating, three-hour celebration of reggae in Britain. Look around at the delighted one-time skinheads and rude boys dancing to the heroes that unite them, and the idea seems the product of a fevered brain.

Vanessa Paradis, Koko, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

The arrival of Vanessa Paradis, partner of Johnny Depp, actress, model and face of Chanel, in Camden Town is an event. As a singer, she's still best known for the 1987 hit "Joe le Taxi", so this was a rare chance to see her music live. The concert was pretty much a run-through of last Christmas's French-only CD Une Nuit à Versailles, a live, orchestrated, acoustic-leaning recasting of her back catalogue. Despite issuing ten albums since 1988, Paradis's oeuvre is slim – one is a "Best of" and four are live sets.

Maps & Atlases, XOYO, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

Monday, 7 February 2011

If there is one band of the moment who prove that geek is most definitely chic, it is the Chicago "math-rock" quartet Maps & Atlases.

The Agitator, Barfly, London
Manic Street Preachers, Hard Rock Café, London
Gang of Four, NME Awards Show, London

Sunday, 6 February 2011

I've heard the sound of student protest, 21st-century style, and it's doo-wop

Album: James Blake, James Blake (Atlas / A&M)

Sunday, 6 February 2011

There have been suggestions that this well-educated north London white boy is a cunning invention cooked up to sell the idea of dubstep to, well, people who read newspapers such as this one.

Album: Joe Lovano & US Five, Bird Songs (Blue Note)

Sunday, 6 February 2011

On his 22nd album for the label, and his second with this hot-to-trot, two-drummer band featuring Esperanza Spalding on bass, saxophonist Lovano confirms his status as the most consistently inventive soloist/leader in jazz.

Album: Teddy Thompson, Bella (Decca)

Sunday, 6 February 2011

On the Thompson scion's fifth album we get heartfelt ingratiation plus heartfelt ingratiation's chief ancilliary, charming melody, buoyed by the slightly weightless mobility of Teddy's awfully sweet voice.

Album: Charles Bradley, No Time for Dreaming (Daptone/Dunham)

Sunday, 6 February 2011

Sharon Jones sings backing vocals and the Menahan Street Band provide the grooves, but something about this soul remains distinctly ordinaire.