Blogcritics Author: Mr Peter More

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

CD Review: The Raveonettes - Pretty In Black

Mr Peter More — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 20:30:15 EDT

The Raveonettes are a Retro Country Rock’n’Roll duo from Denmark who specialise in slow ballads. They harp back to the 1950s at a time when slow urban Rock’n’Roll was often indiscernible from its Country cousin. The sound is simple, enjoyable and confident, however for me the vocals had a tendency to grate when they weren’t being bland, and the lyrics were rarely anything much. Sometimes there’s a modern(ish) edge, when a 1990s Indie influence creeps in, but this is not frequent.The album opens with The Heavens, a plodding fireside ballad to a lost love or missing horse or something like that. It’s dripping in Country and, indeed, Western and there are frequent returns to the genre, particularly in the wistful Uncertain Times and Somewhere in Texas which is pure undistilled Country, not to be taken neat.Love in a Trashcan is clearly the single as it was stickered all over the front of the album. This is an upbeat garage tune, which is pleasant if uninspired. Sleepwalking actually has some atmosphere, and could almost be Transvision Vamp returning from the grave, albeit toned down. And Here Comes Mary is like Buddy Holly backed by The Jesus and Mary Chain, although that makes it sound better than it is.The mainstay of the album is the ballad, such as the typical If I was Young and irritating Seductress of Bums. Ode to LA sounds like cheesy Christmas Motown and My Boyfriend’s Back is a pop cover that will make you want to kill their manager.The Raveonettes, like a lot of bands, take the whole retro thing too far, and rather than making it their own thing, they tend to be very faithful and thus uninspired. A nice afternoon pub band, but was a record contract really necessary?Rating (/5): One Limp Danish Waffle.

Mr Peter More writes and performs in his adoptive home of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

Book Review: Making History by Stephen Fry

Mr Peter More — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 12:38:46 EDT

Finally, 150 pages into Making History - where, in my opinion, the ideal book would be reaching a climax - Stephen Fry finishes his exaggerated introduction and begins in earnest. That's 150 pages of pure set-up. None of this jumping into the middle of the action nonsense, this book spends a long time setting up the slightly irritating central character as well as establishing the threads of history that are going to be paralleled in the middle section. It takes about 125 pages too long to do this. What doesn't help is it is written in a prosaic style which, whilst fitting the character of the narrator, seems very flat after the Wodehousian style of the author's earlier works. Towards the end of the first 'book,' there's an exciting bit, when the discussions and setting up have finished and the transition into the second part of the book is created. This is marked by the use of screenplay format. Screenplay format makes the pages turn faster because there are fewer words in descriptions and also makes the action more immediate as it is written in the present tense. In the central section, we are back in prose, but now the prose doesn't drag. The middle is where the meat is: It depicts a well-constructed alternate universe where the balance of power is completely different from how it is now, a world where the US is the underdog and stuck in the religious, homophobic, apartheid-like society of the 1950s. It's a brilliant piece of "what-if" thinking. The question in this case, "What if Hitler had not been born and someone more calculating had filled the vacuum of power in 1930s Germany?" The realisation of the answer and the central character's discovery of it and of how he played a part in it is compelling.Of course after the great middle, it would seem a shame to go and spoil it with a lousy end. But that's exactly what happens. In fact the rot sets in before the end of the middle section, with a less explicable return to the screenplay format. This time it is for the dullest section of the part of the book, where the hero studies history and engineers a meeting. Maybe some sort of reverse mirror technique was implied. But it didn't really work. Why have any dull bits in your book? It made you realise that if the book were turned into a screenplay, this part would not be copied directly to the final draft, but severely edited.I think the problem is Mr Fry wrote this work with an intention to have it made as a film. (As far as I can see this has not happened yet, but these things take a long time unless the book's a monster hit; then they get churned out in no time.) Because of this eye on Hollywood, the end is treacly and seems tacked on. (The way Hollywood endings to book adaptations usually do.) The odd thing is it gives the book a definitive end -- attempting to return to how things were -- despite the fact the author had a continuing theme (particularly at the start) that this was part of some cyclic story line that could start "anywhere and nowhere." It is more accurate to say the story starts nowhere and ends nowhere, but in the middle really does go somewhere.Rating: Three thumbs up (four if you only read the middle).

Mr Peter More writes and performs in his adoptive home of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

Book Review: Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo

Mr Peter More — Mon, 2 Jan 2006 08:53:22 EST

Who is or was Dalton Trumbo you may well ask? Well, he was the writer behind some classic films including Spartacus and Papillon. He was also one of the many writers, directors and performers blacklisted by a paranoid regime in Hollywood during the 50s. He also wrote books.Johnny Got His Gun was written shortly before the Second World War and is set during the First World War. Aka The Great War; Aka The War to End All Wars. But actually this isn't really the setting, as the entire book is set inside one man's head. One man who wakes up confused and has to work out from data (or, more often, lack of data) that he has lost both arms, both legs, his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. The book mingles dream-like memories of his bodied life with the coming to terms of being trapped inside his own new body.It is written as a stream of (barely) consciousness, with very little punctuation to interrupt the thoughts. In fact I didn't find a single comma in the whole 240 pages. It's a much easier read than the lack of punctuation implies. However, the subject is NOT easy to digest.The book brilliantly explores what happens to a mind isolated from the outside world except for a sense of touch, pain and of vibration. What happens? It has no choice but to think, to latch on to every piece of information it is lucky enough to get, and to be patient. What it can't prevent is the slow drift towards a kind of frustrated mania obsessing about every idea it has. At points it is a great amplified description of what goes on in the mind of a writer, or other person who tends towards thinking rather than doing.Johnny Got His Gun is a book against war, and even ends up being a pro-revolutionary polemic arguing for rising up against those who would send innocent young men and women off to be killed in the name of intangible ideas. But what other conclusion could the mind of a previously healthy twenty-year-old man come to, after finding that all that is left of him is his brain and his brain has almost no way to communicate with the outside world?Towards the end of the book, Joe does find a way to communicate. But he has been trapped for so many years with only himself to talk to, that he sends out the same stream of consciousness that has been his monologue for years. His early patience has been replaced by a desperation. Even he can only conclude they think he has gone mad.I loved this book. It was clever, insightful, inciteful, and gripping. A book against the terrors of war, without describing war very much. In fact most of the anecdotes about times at or near the battlefront were darkly amusing or even whimsical. The horror of war for Joe Bonham was not the actual war itself, but the terrible, isolated aftermath. And the fact that it should be allowed to happen at all.At the end, you are feeling Joe's desperation to be heard, but instead of the opening of a communication channel being his salvation, it is something other than that. We are left with the conclusion that to the outside world he seems mad and probably not worth continuing the communication with. Or even worth keeping alive.This is an amazing book for its feat of taking you into a mind locked in that cruellest of cells - ones own practically dead body; tortured by that most evil of mental tortures - being allowed almost no sensory input and no movement; and having been put there by that most prolific dispenser of unjust punishment - War.Rating: 5 dismembered limbs up.

Mr Peter More writes and performs in his adoptive home of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

CD Review: dEUS - Pocket Revolution

Mr Peter More — Fri, 2 Dec 2005 09:24:01 EST

Not sure if the title of the latest offering from Belgian Art Rockers dEUS (sic) comes from the terrible chat-up line, "There's a Revolution in my pocket, want to join the Revolution?" I doubt it as it's a terrible line. Especially as the come-back is, "You mean in your pants it's revolting?" Anyway, I am digressing before I even start.It's been a while since dEUS released an album. The last was 1999's An Ideal Crash. That's a long time. Oh, there have been numerous side projects and solo albums in that time, but from the group themselves, there has just been the occasional gig and a singles album. This year there is a new album and more tour dates. The problem is, An Ideal Crash was such a corker of an album, it's not easily going to be topped. The album does not top it, but it is their most approachable album yet - a long way from the impenetrable My Sister = My Clock.The usual mix is here: quirky lyrics, good tunesmanship, the rock/jazz/pop influences, and the great production. It's an album that also fits in very well with the current trends, standing especially well beside the likes of the Kaisers, the Franzes and the Art Brutes. There aren't any real floor-fillers (although Nightshopping and Sun Ra come close), but there are plenty of head-nodders and a few lines that make you go, "ooh, nice."Rating: 4 Thumbs to the clouds

Mr Peter More writes and performs in his adoptive home of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

London Calling: Paradiso, Amsterdam, 5 November 2005.

Mr Peter More — Wed, 9 Nov 2005 12:03:40 EST

The biannual showcase for up-and-coming British bands has had a knack lately for landing on celebratory days. The first one of 2005 was held on Queens Day and this one was on Museum Night. First time I thought it was bad planning; by the second time I am beginning to suspect it is deliberate, although I don't yet know the reasoning.Earlier this year, the lineup was lead by bands on the verge of stardom: Kaiser Chiefs, The Others, and Tom Vek. This time all but one band was unknown to me, and that one I had to miss due other commitments on Friday night. But then, unknown bands and new discoveries are what this mini-festival is all about.First up were Field Music, who perhaps could be called Green Pastures. It's a tough spot at the start of an evening. They were nervous and failed to really engage. Perhaps they realised their 1960s guitar pop wasn't quite the thing for there and then.Next up came Amusement Parks On Fire, who play that kind of processed noise and vocals thing which made every song indecipherable from the last. Kind of Nottingham Sea Power as in the sort of band to play 4 songs in a 30 minute set. Very difficult to be engaged by.The Guillemots play world music with feedback. Elements of Badly Drawn Boy meld with Rod Stewart, Jack, The O-Diddley Social Club and jazz-school musicians everywhere to form an experimental whole. Good dinner music.Battle took the main stage next and provided the first band of the evening to really make you go "ooh." When Hastings Financial Software went bankrupt, four of their hardest working employees went, "what the flip?" They shut down their computers, closed their ledgers and learned instruments to become a great indie rock band.They are all short and geeky-looking; Their bassist sports a tank-top, and not in an ironic way; their drummer made an attempt at being Rock'n'Roll by having no shirt, but it just looked even more geeky given the fact he was bright English pale. Plus he is the only drummer in existence to have NO tattoos. I expect after a bit more success, he may start to get it and get himself a tattoo, but I'm not sure how Rock'n'Roll "Linux" is. It's their look more than anything that makes you surprised how good they are and how much you allowed your prejudices to influence you. Geekophobia is one of the few bigotries the politically correctors have missed. Probably due to their own anti-geekism. And if the electronic music revolution has taught us anything, it is the geek is king.And now what I should have been talking about from the start of the last paragraph: their music. They sound like pop-era Cure meeting current-era Editors. Their singer is not someone to half-heartedly mumble a song. He belts it out with a possessed charm. Backed by a band who all believe in each other and never want to go back to writing financial software ever again.Next advanced �Forward Russia!, a band who hearken back to punk-era Cure (I hadn't realised there was such an era before this) but had their foot firmly in the that nu-old-skool where Max�mo Park, the Killers, et al, et al dwell. Their energy and commitment were great, and they have it in them to do well. The only thing that put me off or rather did later is the fact their songs just have numbers. Or maybe it's just communist lyrical equality. The other thing that put me off was not their fault. It was the cameraman's obsession with the girl drummer. But thinking back she was possibly the only girl who played that day. What's up with that? Has laddism really taken over back home?Then came the Dogs, who win the prize as probably the most confident band of the evening. The Dogs (probably named after the Isle) are the result of a cloning experiment involving The Jam (probably named after the session) but where the material became contaminated by outside elements, including, bizarrely enough, The Levellers (certainly named after the alliance of civil war revolutionaries). But the Jam influence comes through more than anything, especially in their stage presence -- something that their fellow Jam-imitators, The Futureheads, fall down on. The Dogs were entertaining and played good tunes. And if you're gonna be heavily influence by any band, better it is The Jam and not Simple Minds.Duels were nothing special. Well, they had a girl on keyboards, I think, but, their pop/new-wave sound seemed a bit dull amongst everything else.Clor were the last band on the main stage, and as such could be considered the headliner. But clearly it hadn't been programmed that way. They are new-wave / electro-pop and I'm sick of writing new-wave, it happened 20 years ago.The Test Icicles have the best name of the day, and their live show was a lesson in not coming on stage more stoned than your audience. They are a bit like The Fall or perhaps more accurately The Fallen Down. They shouted a lot and had incoherent gaps between the tunes.Chiniki were the next surprise band of the evening, and suggested the geek thing is actually a movement. They are new-new-wave with elements of electro and happen to bring in bits from bands as diverse as Placebo, Air and Led Zeppelin. Their lead singer looks like a cross between Freddy Mercury and former Suck front-man, Evan Jones, and gives good shout. Meanwhile, on the bridge of the star-ship Keyboard, their lead-keyboardist plays like Napoleon Dynamite possessed by lightning. Normally I don't like groups where the keyboards outnumber the band members, but here it actually worked. They had two keyboardists, although one was really a substitute bassist.The whole band played with huge amounts of gusto and talent. They were enjoyable to watch but did however prove that keyboards, as befitting the geek image, are not cool. No matter how much you play them above your head or jump around with them, they are still keyboards and as such are one tenth of the coolness of guitars. But throwing yourself at them and playing with such intensity your thick-rimmed National Health glasses nearly fly off helps some way to redress the balance.The final band of the evening came very late on to the proceedings (it over ran by quite a bit). So late that your unpaid reporter, with no editor to satisfy, decided to post an incomplete review due to his own weariness and the desertion of everyone else in his group.So consequently I have no idea what the Infadels sound like. The program says they sound like the Clash, but then they all do these days, don't they?To compensate, I will mention two bands that played the previous night that I had enough report of from more dedicated followers of music to feel able to mention. Queen Adreena, the only band I really knew of before and do like immensely, apparently played a typically intense and overly-arty show. Katie(-Jane Garside) fell out of what is left of her dress and tried to hang herself with the microphone. The dirty guitars, twisted lyrics and little girl vocals is a quite, quite compelling mix. For me anyway. The other mention goes to Kid Carpet who rocks out - or more accurately punks out - on kids instruments. I for one am sad I missed this. I am looking forward to the other bands in the genre: Sid Vicious-Price, The Intensive Care Bears, Mattelica. ED/PUB:LM

Mr Peter More writes and performs in his adoptive home of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

CD Review: Part Chimp - I Am Come

Mr Peter More — Wed, 9 Nov 2005 07:15:18 EST

It's nice to hear an album that sends you back to those glorious days when grunge meant something dark and horrible, not a form of sordid pop. The whole point of Grunge was that it was never slick. It was dirty and only produced in as much as the noises made were somehow transfered onto vinyl and/or CD. That was before Nirvana came along, got themselves a real pop record producer and still claimed to be Grunge.Part Chimp recall dirty grunge rock bands like The Bastards and Bullet Lavolta. They also recall the days when metal was dirty, like the early days of Black Sabbath. There's even some occasional 60s keyboards thrown in for that, stoned, garage band feel.Rating: 3 skeletal thumbs up.

Mr Peter More writes and performs in his adoptive home of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

CD Review: Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better

Mr Peter More — Sat, 5 Nov 2005 10:32:31 EST

At the vanguard of the popular perception of the movement that is called Art Rock, presumably because it is slightly easier to say than 70s Retro Pop Rock, is Franz Ferdinand. They were lucky enough to break before other bands in their subgenre, Germanic-Named Retro Pop Rock, such as The Kaiser Chiefs and Max�mo Park, and helped set the mold: The cheekiness, the deft lyrics, the expert studies in influence are in many of their songs on which allow them to walk the narrow line between Pastiche and Tribute.The question is, how to follow it up? The answer for Franz Ferdinand is more of the same. Only, this time, on You Could Have It So Much Better, it's even more assured (which I wasn't sure was possible) and even more blatant in its retroism. I mean retrosity. You can tell they are having even more fun this time.Eleanor put your boots on, for example, is pure Beatles tribute, down to the title, tune, theme and lyrical description. And Fade Forever goes down that well-trod path too, but less cleverly.Other tracks stick more to the knowing 70s retro-rock sound, except for Outsiders which has a decidedly disco feel.Many of the songs are very current in their retroscapancivity, only harking back a year or so to the previous Franz Ferdinand album. There are several tunes that make you go, "Ooh, whatever happened to Franz Ferdinand? Oh, yeah!" In fact some songs seem to be just new words and melodies over the same tune. But I am sure there must be a difference, otherwise they'd sue themselves and their record company would have to pay them a lot of money. Hmm.In conclusion. If you liked the first album, then you probably had this the day it came out. If not, you won't be disappointed unless you're one of these people who like their bands to diversify with each album, then you might be. But if you prefer them to get cheekier, you won't be. Of the two albums this is the more consistent which means there are no tracks that slightly annoy you, but it also means there is no Michael.Verdict: 4 cheeky thumbs up ED:PUB: TAS

Mr Peter More writes and performs in his adoptive home of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

Album Review: The Killers - Hot Fuss

Mr Peter More — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 08:16:18 EDT

The Killers sound is very much of the here and now, super-influenced, retrospective indie rock. Maybe that should be 'hear and plough' instead of 'here and now'? I'm not being harsh. The current trend for guaitar bands is very retro. Right now is a very good time to be a fan of Joy Division. On Hot Fuss there are several moments where you go, "Mmmmm. Whatever did happen to Joy Division? Oh, yeah."But there are other moments where you go, "Mmmmm. Late Beatles," "Mmmmm. New Order," and even "Mmmm. Glam Rock." Don't let this put you off. The album has a nice sound, and when the strong influences are peeled away, you can get some great tracks. There are two absolute corkers on this album, but you already know them as they have both been released as singles. But there are several other tracks that are very good indeed, but not floor fillers in the same way.The corkers are of course, Somebody Told Me, one of several songs on the album refering to pursuing girls in clubs. In this case feeling you are in with a chance with a girl because she went out with a boy who looks like one of your ex-girlfriends. But the trouble is, our lads are a bit too sensitive as is evinced by the other corker, Mr Brightside. There has been much debate about what this song is actually about. Sure, jealousy is in there, as it is screamed fairly often. But what is the story? My take is that it is the tormet of a sensitive soul who during a party or the like kisses a girl, but she goes home (seemingly) with someone else. Thus our hero imagines all sorts of disturbing goings on between the other two (chest touching and dress removing), but he also realises this is just in his head, and this could be the start of something destinal for him. After all, he is Mr Brightside (he keeps telling himself).Since then I have listened again, and I am now erring towards it being that the relationship is blossoming (but not started) and he sees her kiss someone, but not neccessarily sexually and all the jealous anguish he is going through. He has not kissed her yet.It's a very reminiscent thematically of Rialto's epic "Monday Morning, 5:19," a classic tale of a man anguished by not being able to get hold of his girlfriend through the night who, he concludes, must be cheating on him. We never know if it is true or if she just switched off her phone.Now I listen to it again, I realise this is all in the mind of Action Man, because of the line, "Open up my Eagle-Eyes�"Rating: 4 thumbs up. Published:CMP

Mr Peter More writes and performs in his adoptive home of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.