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Love At The Greek- Neil Diamond.

07/10/2021 by Peter Viney

The Reviled! Albums Critics Love To Hate continues. SEE:

Love At The Greek – Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond’s second live double album. He got an unfair ride from rock snob critics overall. This review takes in Hot August Night, Beautiful Noise and his performance on The Band’s The Last Waltz. Both Beautiful Noise and Love At The Greek were produced by Robbie Robertson, and no one seems to point out the close chronological proximity between the two live shows, Love At The Greek and The Last waltz. I include musings on the point of live albums in general.

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BBC Records

01/10/2021 by Peter Viney

Over at Around & Around … BBC Records / BBC Records and Tapes might be the most eclectic label of all. Well worth a look for the sheer range of material and cover images. This is a major section on Around and Around.

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John Lydon book tour

30/09/2021 by Peter Viney

We went to see John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon at the Tivoli in Wimborne, nearly a year after it was originally scheduled. It was really a lot of fun. An entertaining evening … and talk, not music. See the REVIEW LINKED HERE.

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The Beauty Queen of Leenane review

26/09/2021 by Peter Viney

Martin McDonagh’s play THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE (LINKED) reviewed at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre. The production is moving on to the Lyric, Hammersmith. Booking is suggested! McDonagh is a major playwright, and his plays are comedies and tragedies rolled into one. We felt there were issues in the production about fitting it onto a thrust stage, but also on several other points, music especially. Read and see.

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Everybody’s Talking About Jamie- review

23/09/2021 by Peter Viney

Film review of EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE (linked). It is currently showing on Amazon Prime, and it is free(if you subscribe). We thought it entertaining and enjoyable, though it suffers in comparison with Sex Education Series Three over at Netflix. It may not have been the best week to release it. Though it’s a musical, based on a stage musical there are strong plot similarities.

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Human Touch

20/09/2021 by Peter Viney

On AROUND AND AROUND, Reviled! visits 1992 and Bruce Springsteen’s HUMAN TOUCH. This was voted Bruce’s weakest album in an online poll of fans. I agree. Usually, these albums get better as I listen and work on the article, but HUMAN TOUCH just got worse. One of the “justly reviled” category. The surprise was that until then The Boss had really done no wrong. With other artists, you expect the odd weaker album. With bruce it was a shock. I explore why.

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One Trick Pony

16/09/2021 by Peter Viney

The latest addition to the “Reviled! Albums Critics Love To Hate” series is ONE TRICK PONY by Paul Simon from 1980 (follow link). I found I had to review the film at the same time. The album was always a favourite of mine, and the record was liked more in Europe than in the USA. 

 The film was generally knocked by critics, and didn’t get a release in the UK. Critics who had not seen the film were more generous than those who had. In retrospect though, the film was wildly under-estimated … and politics of record labels had more to do with this than quality. It’s a fascinating tale.

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The March of the Halloumi Fries: a rant

10/09/2021 by Peter Viney

A rant added on the inexorable march of halloumi fries on menus. Follow the link to the article.

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Comedy of Errors – RSC review, 2021

05/09/2021 by Peter Viney

At last! Back to Stratford-upon-Avon and Shakespeare in the RSC’s “Garden Theatre” created for this Covid season. The Comedy of Errors (LINK TO REVIEW) never fails to entertain, and this is a 5 star production, directed by Phillip Breen. Full on RSC at its best. What made it fascinating was that there were four actors out with tests, so EIGHT parts had to be understudied. The RSC is renowned for its understudy productions and special performances. The fruit is here. We thought two of the understudies virtually stole the show.

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Eng. Lit. in Britain Past …

20/08/2021 by Peter Viney

People keep viewing my Language Learning in Britain Past, so I decided to add a companion piece on my own school experiences of the 60s (mainly of inept teaching). Here it is ENG.LIT. IN BRITAIN PAST. See link. There is a comments box at the end of the article. You may think me harsh.

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