Albums 2023: Best so far & what’s to come

This isn’t going to be a particularly comprehensive list, as I’m still mostly listening to either classic albums or ones from the very recent past (so many 2022 albums seem to be on my playlist for the first time this year – I promise I’m not going to do a James Acaster-style Perfect Sound Whatever project, […]

“I Can Hear Music” – Queen

Hot Stats Release date: 13 July 1973 UK chart peak: #32 Running time: 38:46 Singles: Keep Yourself Alive, Liar Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that it was their first album – and it was recorded in less than ideal circumstances – this self-titled debut didn’t make much of an impression on the charts, reaching #52 in Japan […]

“Discovering The Classics” – Aladdin Sane

The VitalsRelease date: 19 April 1973UK chart peak: #1Running time: 41:32Singles: The Jean Genie (#2), Drive-In Saturday (#3) This album was part of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era, coming hot on the heels of his breakthrough hit The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, though it didn’t reach number one outside […]

“Discovering The Classics” – The Dark Side Of The Moon

The VitalsRelease date: 1 March 1973UK chart peak: #2Running time: 42:50Singles: Money, Us and Them This album features some of Pink Floyd’s most well known tracks – as well as having one of the most iconic pieces of cover art of all time – and so it’s not a surprise that it reached the number […]

The Dumb Waiter and A Slight Ache

For the latest in-house production at Greenwich Theatre, director James Haddrell is following in the footsteps of Jamie Lloyd (and Pinter at the Pinter) by staging a double bill of Harold Pinter’s short plays A Slight Ache and The Dumb Waiter. They are paired in part because they were both written in the 1950s (The Dumb Waiter in 1957, A […]

“Discovering The Classics” – Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player

The VitalsRelease date: 26 January 1973UK chart peak: #1Running time: 43:05Singles: Crocodile Rock (#5), Daniel (#4) This album features two of Elton John’s more iconic singles and, though its wordy title may not be as familiar to audiences now, it unsurprisingly managed to reach the number one spot in Australia, Canada, Italy, Norway, Spain […]

Around The World In 80 Days

“An Englishman doesn’t joke when he is talking about so serious a thing as a wager.” Buttoned-up Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg may take his wagers seriously, but that’s far from the tone taken by Juliet Forster’s adaptation of the classic Jules Verne novel, Around The World In 80 Days, as a ringmaster and his troupe […]

Operation Mincemeat

“Just call the English public schoolboys – we’ll sort it all out!” Words that are far from reassuring in everyday life actually pay off when it comes to Operation Mincemeat, the hit British musical that has transferred its way around several Off West End theatres before landing in its new West End home, the Fortune […]

The Dry House

“When you try your best but you don’t succeed, when you get what you want but not what you need…” Grief-stricken alcoholic Chrissy can’t help but replay the same memories over & over in her head; as she re-lives her final conversation with her daughter (Heather), she persists in talking to her sister (Claire) about […]

SAP

Writers have been drawing inspiration (and utilising characters) from classical mythology for their own work for centuries – Shakespeare famously put his grammar school Ovid education to good use on multiple occasions – so Rafaella Marcus’ SAP (now running at Soho Theatre, as part of a nationwide tour) has joined an illustrious collection. Though not […]