CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
Latest editorial
Rock royalty, eclectic excellence and Welsh wizardry
BOB ORAM reviews the latest releases from The Charlemagnes, Naked Citizens and Spencer Segelov
KENNY MacASKILL relishes a fictionalised account of the life and death of the principled Irish anti-colonialist, executed for betraying his English imperial masters
FIONA O’CONNOR admires an ambitious first novel that loosens South Africa’s rainbow collective to examine the racial tensions within
Aussie mining corporation murder, Liverpudlian ex-cop amnesia, a naive vigilante tries to reset capitalism, and the riddle of the dead psychoanalyst
SYLVIA HIKINS is persuaded by an entertaining play that the true miracle of Lourdes would be for attitudes toward disability to change
JAMIE BRITTON recommends this fine analysis of the architectural, ecological and infrastructural destruction of the Gaza Strip
The Charlemagnes
Three Chords and a Half-truth
(Raritan Records)
★★★★★
ROCK Royalty The Charlemagnes roll back the years on an album that's not so much a rejection of nostalgia but a glorious embrace of what lies ahead.
These nuggets, mined from their 1960s pre-punk heyday, have Benny Caution layering sax over revitalised rhythms and Marty Polpette’s sneery mid-Atlantic twang unable to disguise his vocal origins after a journey from the South Bronx to Catford. They've produced a record more relevant than any of today’s pretenders to their throne,
Similar stories
New releases from Kneecap, Sam Blasucci, and Juni Habel
New releases from Kennedy Administration, Melanie Pain, and Afton Wolfe
New releases from The Dreaming Spires, Bruce Springsteen, and Chet Baker
New releases from Steve Tilston, FolkLaw, and Patch and the Giant