PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
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Musical scares
SCOTT COSTEN applauds a book that demonstrates the breadth of state surveillance against musicians in the US
COUNTERCULTURE: Nina Simone at the Hollywood Bowl on June 15, 1986.
[Pic: Jose Galvez/CC]
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends the unashamedly light-hearted escapism on offer in this stage version of the 1963 film
Full of mysterious religious references and radical sound design, the Scottish duo’s new offering is candidate for album of the year, suggests SIMON DUFF
MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
Whole World in an Uproar: Music, Rebellion and Repression – 1955-1972
by Aaron J. Leonard
Repeater Books, £12.99
SURVEILLANCE, censorship and deplatforming may be hallmarks of the digital age, but they existed long before the advent of Facebook and Twitter.
Consider the case of the young Bob Dylan, scheduled to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show on May 12, 1963.
Told he couldn’t play Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues, a satirical indictment of the virulently anti-communist John Birch Society, the folk singer walked off the set rather than perform something else. Days later, the song was stripped from his forthcoming second album by nervous record executives.
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RON JACOBS is enthralled by an account of the surveillance and political repression on the left in the US
TONY BURKE revels in the publication of previously unreleased tracks by the great US folksinger
April 9 1928 – July 26 2025
From sexual innuendo about Blackpool Rock to Bob Dylan’s ‘God-almighty world,’ the corporation’s classist moral custodianship of pop music has created a roll call of censored artists anyone would feel honoured to join, writes NICK MATTHEWS