For the most part, whether Folds is encouraging the crowd to act as a makeshift brass section, or playfully throwing in a snippet of ‘Misirlou’ from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, this is music guaranteed to put a smile on your face
There comes a time in the life of any manufactured pop band worth their salt when they try and throw off their shackles and break the mould that has been created for them. It may involve a radical change of image, an attempt to start writing their own songs or even a management coup. The results are often glorious but short lived – Take That went bonkers on Never Forget and then promptly disintegrated; the Spice Girls dumped Fuller, lost Geri, prospered and then released a disastrous third – and it would appear final – album. From there, it’s solo careers for some, back to oblivion for others. The theory that it’s better to burn out than to fade away remains an attractive one. But what about another objective: to mature into genuine artistic relevance of the kind achieved by the Four Tops or The Temptations?
Now on their fifth album and with a greatest hits behind them, surely the odds are on Westlife if not executing an abrupt volte face, then at least tinkering with the formula a little bit?
As even novice pinheads will know, the story of The Ramones isn’t all Gabba Gabba Heys and the crazy psychodrama of Johnny and Joey’s relationship - Johnny eloping with the love of Joey’s life, the irreconcilable political differences and their sixteen years not speaking - is handled brilliantly here. The film’s greatest achievement, however, is capturing Johnny’s obnoxious, right-wing charm. His perversely pleasurable presence would alone make End Of The Century a mandatory, must-see, drop-everything jaunt down the Road To Ruin.
Hear this man carelessly and distractedly humming to himself, in the bathroom mirror: “And if a double-decker bus/crashes into us/To die by your side/ Such a heavenly way to die/ And if a ten-ton truck/Kills the both of us/To die by your side/ The pleasure and privilege is mine.”
Deafeningly loud, in-your-face, overheated, overlong, bereft of braincells and not half as much fun as the trailer might lead you to expect, Gone In Sixty Seconds is the latest plague to be visited upon the planet by Jerry Bruckheimer
Louis Walsh and Bono suffer a roasting as Echo And The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch talks to Hot Press about life as an indie-pop legend and explains why he’s rock music’s answer to Frank Sinatra.
In pop art, acts of grave-robbing and cradle-snatching go largely unpunished. The Strokes are not what you’d call the most original of bands, but they’ve always excelled at petty larcenies.
In between attempts to appease her one-year-old daughter, Angeline Ball talks to Hot Press about her part in Bloom, Sean Walsh’s ambitious adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
As founder and director of the acclaimed choral group, Anuna, MICHAEL McGLYNN has established himself as one of the country's most gifted and innovated composers. However, he has also become a figure by some elements in the Irish Music Industry and been dismissed by others as a "pig ignorant arrogant bastard" Inetrview: LIAM FAY
At the tender age of seventeen, Dubliner Sinéad O'Connor packed up Ton Ton Macoute, packed her bags and headed for London. Two years on she's had a few close shaves, recorded with the Edge and is on the verge of seriously launching her career with an album in January. Interview: Molly McAnailly Burke.
Jack Johnson may be a regular dude, but with his latest album simultaneously at No.1 in the UK and the US he is one with a vast world-wide fanbase. So how did this happy-go-lucky surfer suddenly become a hero to millions?
He’s worked with Van, Dylan, Christy, Sinéad, The Cranberries and many other household names – but now he’s gone centre-stage himself as the composer of The General soundtrack. JOE JACKSON meets RICHIE BUCKLEY. Pix: Mick Quinn
Heard the one about the Irishman, the Bronx and the tab of industrial-strength acid? Stuart Clark hadn t either until that most eligible of bachelors, David Holmes, talked him through the mad month in New York that inspired his Let s Get Killed album.
Currently the hottest female property in music, Alicia Keys has come a long way from the little girl whose first record was kermit's 'it's not easy being green'. Admittedly, she's had some serious assistance from heavy friends - including music biz mogul Clive Davis - but mainly she can thank her own prodigious talent and spirit of independence. Matt Diehl hears how Alicia Keys came to share the grammy limelight with U2
No, it's not the overworked Hot Press subs finally snapping beneath the strain of a hectic production schedule but a finely argued debate by our finest writers on the phenomenon of naff. What is naff? Are you naff and if so how do you go about rectifying matters? Read on and be saved . . .
London has long been recognised as one of the world's leading centres of entertainment and musical excitement - not to mention pleasure in all its multifarious manifestations. But when you really need it, do you know where to find it? Fay Wolftree brings you the insider's inside guide to Europe's premier rock 'n' roll metropolis.
