scaryblog

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews... Man To Man : Royal Court This was something new - a trip to the theatre with the lovely Mrs Reed. And even more unusually, it was to a theatre neither of us had been to before to see something that neither of us knew the faintest thing about because this was a present from the lovely Mrs Davies (my youngest sister). She's a proper theatrical luvvie (which she'll read and think "NO! I'm not a luvvie!! Oh, hang on...") so we knew there would be something pretty special about it, but apart from knowing that it had Tilda Swinton in it, we were going in blind. Yes, we could have done some research but that would spoil all the fun - I had a sneaking suspicion that it might not have helped (and I suspect we might come back to this point later). And a very nice theatre in a very nice part of town it is too! Because I had proper company that likes to eat proper food, we went to a proper restaurant beforehand (rather ...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 18/09/26 : Here Because Of Hope - Ezra Collective  We've met EC once in passing as a new entry and I said it was surprisingly stylish, but I struggled to understand why anyone would listen to it - let's see if the mystery resolves itself with a proper listen. Hmmm. Well. Yes and no. It's all very stylish and well played and it has an interesting mix of various global rhythms and sounds to it, so I'd go as far as saying I did enjoy it. But I really can't say I'd ever actively choose to listen to it - it was too lively to be described as musical wallpaper, but it still kinda drifted by me and I don't remember any of it. I also imagine there are plenty of other musical groups who can do this sort of thing just as well, so quite how they managed to hit the heights isn't clear to me. But hit the heights they have because they're at #1 with a new entry in the charts this week, so well done to the ...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 31/01/71 : Watt - Ten Years After Another band I've never heard of - and I'm completely unable to guess what they're like from the band name. Wikipedia tells me they're an English blues rock group who had eight consecutive top 40 albums between '68 and '73, so I feel I should know something about them - so let's remedy that. You know what - this is OK! It's (for the most part) just "normal" songs with a bit of oomph to them, which is something that's been incredibly lacking this year amidst all the prog weirdness and singer/songwriter wishy-washyness, so it was a nice change (except for their live cover of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" which is a) unnecessary and b) not at all good). Don't get me wrong, it was never going to change the world (which is obviously the case for me given my complete ignorance of them) but it's a decent sound and played competentl...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 07/02/71 : T. Rex - T. Rex Our second visit with T. Rex, with the last one having been surprisingly enjoyable. It ruled the charts at the end of the year, so I guess this is its predecessor, so I'm expecting it to sound similar, but probably not quite as good. Yeah, that's very much where we are - you can hear them trying to work out that classic T. Rex sound from their folky Tyrannosaurus Rex roots, but they're certainly not quite there yet. It's a musical curiosity, but not one that's particularly enjoyable I'm afraid - it just sounds odd. I'm not loving that album cover either... We're at #7 in the charts this week on their fifth week of a nine week run - it then took two weeks off and came back for another eight weeks (which seems peculiar) but this was as high as it ever got. The top five this week were  George Harrison ,  Simon & Garfunkel , Andy Williams,  Elton John  and Motown Chartbust...

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 TV shows of 2025 #6 :     Severance It had been three long years since we last walked the sterile halls of Lumon Industries, but one frantic sprint through said corridors along with Adam Scott’s Mark S, and it was like we’d never left. Building on the first season’s ‘Macrodat Uprising’ (archly recapped in animated form by Keanu Reeves), Season 2 brought us the inspired Miss Huang (“Why are you a child?”), the Data-Refiners’ first ‘ORTBO’, the goat-loving madness of Mammalians Nurturable, an unforgettable character ‘death’, and the bizarre yet dramatic scene of Mark’s Innie arguing metaphysics with his Outie via camcorder. Puzzle box shows have an unenviable task in needing to pull back the curtain just enough to reveal gradually more of the larger picture, while not quite enough to puncture the mystery. Dan Erickson’s follow-up season manages just that, judging its prestige with dead-eyed accuracy. In Episode 7’s ‘Chikhai Bardo’, we are fi...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 14/02/71 : Air Conditioning - Curved Air On the previously unknown band front, we've had two albums from Atomic Rooster this year and now we've got our second from Curved Air so I'm learning loads this year - and I liked the last one from this lot, so let's see what we've got here. Yeah, I didn't mind this one either - it's all well played and certainly improved by a female vocal presence. In some places I was reminded of Siouxsie Sioux's singing style which gave it a goth-prog air, but then in other places it's very classical with orchestral strings - it's certainly an intriguing mix. It's almost certainly not for everyone and I can't say it's one I'll be rushing back to, but overall I thought it was an enjoyable and intriguing visit. We're at #9 in the charts this week on twelfth week of a 21 week run with it having peaked at #8 in its ninth week - somewhat oddly it yoyo...