31 Thursday Aug 2017
Posted in Anniversaries, History
≈ Comments Off on Remembering Diana, 20 Years On
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Candle in the Wind, Drowned World (Substitute for Love), Elton John, Fairy Tale, Hilary Mantel, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Mario Testino, Princess Diana, The Princess Myth
My first memory of Diana is visual: that blue suit she wore and the sapphire ring, on the day of her engagement. When she married Charles in 1981 I was nine years old; she was twice my age, but still hardly a woman. Continue reading
11 Thursday Aug 2016
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“Most people are born dead/But I was born alive,” Prince Rogers Nelson sang on one of his final cuts, ‘Way Back Home.’ In Art Decades: Volume 8 I pay tribute to Prince and explore his volatile relationship with fellow pop icon Madonna. Continue reading
30 Thursday Jun 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Madonna, Music
≈ Comments Off on ‘True Blue’ at 30
Madonna’s third album, True Blue, was released on June 30, 1986. Recorded during the honeymoon period of her stormy marriage to Sean Penn, and revealing a sleeker, more sophisticated style, True Blue yielded a slew of classic pop singles, affirming Madonna’s status as one of the decade’s musical icons. Thirty years on, you can read my expanded review here.
18 Monday Apr 2016
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Art Decades, David Bowie, Madonna, Marcelline Block, Michael A. Gonzales, Peter Guralnick, Rebel Heart
Ever since the death of David Bowie in January, there has been an outpouring of public grief. Not corporate-led, but a genuine groundswell of feeling from generations of fans to whom Bowie was not just an idol, but an inspiration. Continue reading
16 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted in Books, Fiction, Film, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Music, Non-Fiction
≈ Comments Off on 2015: A Year in Books
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A Manual for Cleaning Women, Alberto Moravia, Backlands, Before Marilyn, Bobbie Gentry, C. Joseph Greaves, Caryl Phillips, Cathi Unsworth, Clarice Lispector, David L. Jones, David Wills, Eileen, Elena Ferrante, Encyclopedia Madonnica 20, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fires in the Dark, Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee, Louise Doughty, Lucia Berlin, Madonna, Marilyn in the Flash, Marilyn Monroe, Matthew Rettenmund, Michelle Morgan, Ode to Billie Jo, Otessa Moshfegh, Rebecca Wait, Stewart O'Nan, Tara Murtha, The Followers, The Ipswich Witch, The Lost Child, The Story of the Lost Child, The Time of Indifference, Tom & Lucky (and George & Cokey Flo), Victoria Shorr, West of Sunset, Without the Moon, Wuthering Heights
Reading Clarice Lispector for the first time is like falling in love. Each of her stories is a rare jewel. Shocking, funny and wildly imaginative, this collection is a landmark, reclaiming her as one of the underrated voices of the twentieth century.
The final volume in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series rages like a cyclone. No happy endings here, only the transcendence of real art.
Lucia Berlin was a wonderful American writer, whose stories are warm, yet unflinching. She led an eventful life, and while there are strong autobiographical elements in her work, she was also richly imaginative. Continue reading
15 Tuesday Dec 2015
Posted in Lana Del Rey, Madonna, Music
≈ Comments Off on 2015: A Year in Music
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#billieat100, Billie Holiday, Fantastic Voyage, Honeymoon, I'm a Ruin, Jamaica, Lana Del Rey, Madonna, Marina and the Diamonds, Natasha Khan, Rebel Heart, SEXWITCH
Madonna’s Rebel Heart arrived in March, though it leaked months before. Her 13th studio album is a hot mess, with some twenty-five tracks in all: some brilliant, others bizarre, but always fascinating. Continue reading
20 Saturday Dec 2014
Tags
Angel Olsen, First Aid Kit, Hurray for the Riff Raff, I Never Learn, Lana Del Rey, Living for Love, Lykke Li, Madonna, Rebel Heart, Samantha Crain, Ultraviolence, West Coast
My favourite album this year was Lana Del Rey’s dark, brooding Ultraviolence, and my song of the summer was ‘West Coast’.
A close second was Lykke Li’s epic tearjerker, I Never Learn. You can watch her incredible Glastonbury performance here.
I also enjoyed Samantha Crain’s Kid Face; Angel Olsen’s Burn Your Fire for No Witness; Small Town Heroes, by Hurray for the Riff Raff; and First Aid Kit’s Stay Gold.
Looking forward to 2015 – the reigning Queen of Pop, Madonna, will launch her new album, Rebel Heart, in March. A six-track EP, including lead single ‘Living for Love’, was released on i-Tunes this morning.
12 Wednesday Nov 2014
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Madonna’s career-defining second album, Like a Virgin, was released 30 years ago today, on November 12, 1984. From the archives, read my (now fully expanded) review – here…
21 Friday Mar 2014
Madonna’s fourth studio album, Like a Prayer, was released on March 21, 1989. I was three months away from my 17th birthday when I bought it on vinyl from Our Price Records on Ilford High Street, and can remember the whiff of patchouli oil inside the sleeve. It’s a youthful, soulful pop masterpiece, and still one of my favourite albums of all time. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Like a Prayer, you can read my archive review (from 2009) right here.
Related Posts
12 Thursday Dec 2013
Posted in Art and Photography, Books, Fiction, Non-Fiction
Tags
Americana, Bonnie Jo Campbell, C. Joseph Greaves, Cecelia Holland, Donna Tartt, Louise Erdrich, Lucy Caldwell, Madonna, Marjorie Celona, Pauline Boty, Richard Corman, Sarah Churchwell, The Goldfinch, The Round House
The time has come for bloggers like myself to make their ‘Best Of’ lists, and mine has more than a hint of Americana this year. But who knows what 2014 may bring?
