Posted in Uncategorized on 28/10/2020| Leave a Comment »
The “Reviled! The Albums Critics Love To Hate” section at AROUND AND AROUND adds David Bowie’s 1973 covers album, Pinups. It was far more disliked by American critics than British ones, and for an album that critics knocked (two stars was Rolling Stone magazine’s rating), Bowie had the last laugh … seven weeks at number one in Britain.
Posted in Uncategorized on 26/10/2020| Leave a Comment »
The most popular section on AROUND AND AROUND is ‘Reviled: The Albums The Critics Loved to Hate.” Do look further than that on the site, but today’s addition get us to Paul McCartney, and WILD LIFE by Wings. (linked) It was considered his weakest album in a rush of post-Beatles ire at Paul. It bears re-listening especially as later reissues added the singles Give Ireland Back to The Irish and Mary Had A Little Lamb.
Posted in Uncategorized on 24/10/2020| Leave a Comment »
This has been a week for film reviews. There’s so much on at the moment on premium TV channels. This is THE SECRET GARDEN. (linked) OK, a children’s story, but this is a deeper and more interesting interpretation and is a visual feast from the Harry Potter / Paddington producers. I think most adults will enjoy it. We did. Colin Firth and Julie Walters are the adult stars.
Posted in Uncategorized on 23/10/2020| Leave a Comment »
Netflix is great value this month. Now we have a full movie Netflix original in REBECCA (linked) with Lily James, Armie Hammer and Kristin Scott-Thomas. We watched the 2020 film, I started the review then looked up the critics online. They all refer loftily to comparison with Hitchcock’s 1940 classic with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine which of course they found superior. We were intrigued, so we watched the 1940 one the next night, and I did a comparative review at the end. It changes the assessment.
Posted in Uncategorized on 22/10/2020| Leave a Comment »
AROUND AND AROUND is growing fast. Today’s addition is ELECTRIC MUD by Muddy Waters, the 1967 “psychedelic album” backed by Rotary Connection. It’s in the “Reviled Albums” section, because it was, by no less than Muddy Waters himself. This is a co-write with Rob Millis. He suggested the album, and I hadn’t played it in years. It turned out that we had diametrically opposite views on the album, which hopefully makes for more interesting reading.
Posted in Uncategorized on 21/10/2020| Leave a Comment »
The latest page on AROUND AND AROUND is in the “Reviled: The albums they love to hate” section,. and is Lou Reed’s 1973 album “Berlin” (LINKED) It’s a perfect example for Reviled in that the critics’ pens were dipped in vitriol back at the time of release. Now it’s considered a masterpiece. Read and see why. There are comments on “Metal Machine Music” too … and take a look at the other pages on Around and Around. There’s a LOT there apart from reviews.
Posted in Uncategorized on 20/10/2020| Leave a Comment »
It’s on Netflix now. It was made at the end of 2019, and despairing a proper theatrical release, it’s on Netflix after a week. THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO SEVEN follows the events of 1969 following the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention. It’s laden with apposite parallels to 2020 and at least four actors deserve an Academy Award … Mark Rylance as the defending lawyer, Frank Langella as the senile ultra-conservative judge, Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden and Sacha Baron-Cohen as Abbie Hoffman. It’s a brilliant film all round. Catch it now!
Posted in Uncategorized on 19/10/2020| Leave a Comment »
I was reminded of Eyam the 2018 play by Matt Hartley which we saw at the Globe. It’s about the village that isolated itself in 1665 after contracting the plague. It really happened. If there were any theatres still operating, it would obviously be one to revive in 2020. I think it could be improved too. Still, it was lockdown taken to the extreme. REVIEW IS LINKED HERE.
Posted in Uncategorized on 17/10/2020| Leave a Comment »
The latest addition to my AROUND AND AROUND site is another in the series “Reviled: The albums critics love to hate” and it is a prime example … “Their Satanic Majesties Request” (LINKED) from 1967, by The Rolling Stones. There are some contrary revisionist views to the bile it received back in the day too.
Posted in Uncategorized on 11/10/2020| Leave a Comment »
At last! A review of a film a lot of readers will have seen, and only three years after its release too. Review added of WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (linked) It garnered lots of five star reviews … but NOT from me. Read on …
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