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Graeme Thomson

Graeme Thomson

Daily Record

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Taylor Swift’s new album is exhausting

How to explain the supercharged star power of Taylor Swift? An undeniably gifted artist, Swift’s albums 1989, Folklore and Evermore, in particular,...

latest 4

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

Why Easter is the most rock and roll religious holiday 

Easter is by far the most rock and roll religious holiday. Christmas might be the time when the pop vultures circle, plucking from the bones of...

29.03.2024 20

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

The Black Crowes’ latest album shows they truly are the American Oasis

Leonard Cohen used to speak self-deprecatingly about his sole ‘chop’ – that mesmeric, circular minor-key guitar pattern deployed on so many of...

14.03.2024 4

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

Twisted, fuzzy, psychedelic pop: Slowdive, at the Liquid Room, reviewed

Rachel Goswell, one of Slowdive’s two singers, has cool hair. It is dyed half black and half white, and by the end of this show I had a feeling it...

29.02.2024 9

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

Why I was wrong to think Idles obvious and depressing

I never had Idles down as a great Bristol band, I confess. In fact, I never had them down as very much of anything at all. Through occasional and...

15.02.2024 4

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

A stellar night at Celtic Connections

Sometimes I think, in the end, only the voice truly matters. Dress it however you wish, zhuzh it up with textural condiments: cool electronics, warm...

01.02.2024 7

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

Americans still think ‘punk rock’ was about the music, bless them

Of their many cultural quirks, Americans retain a slightly ridiculous and yet rather touching belief in the power of ‘punk rock’ (nobody in the UK...

18.01.2024 9

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

Albums should be forced by law to reveal where each song was written

Bob Dylan is heading into the new year with a reduced property portfolio, having sold his Scottish bolthole, Aultmore House in Speyside, for a shade...

04.01.2024 5

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

Small moments vs Big Ideas: Peter Gabriel’s i/o reviewed

Peter Gabriel is terribly fond of a Big Idea. With Genesis he would sing in character as a lawnmower, a fox and as ‘Slipperman’. His final work...

07.12.2023 5

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

Melodic elegance and literate sass: Ben Folds, at Usher Hall, reviewed

Choose your weapon. Artists are closely defined in the public imagination by their instrument of choice. Though the most untamed and transgressive...

23.11.2023 6

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

Pop / This recreation of Dylan’s Free Trade Hall concert is supremely good

In May 1966, Bob Dylan toured the UK with The Band, minus drummer Levon Helm, and abrasively pulled the plug on any lingering notions of his being a...

14.11.2023 8

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

The case against re-recording albums 

In 2012, Jeff Lynne released Mr Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra. Except it wasn’t. It was 11 new re-recordings of classic ELO...

26.10.2023 5

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

New Order’s oldies still sound like the future

The intimate acoustic show can denote many things for an established artist. One is that, in the infamous euphemism coined by Spinal Tap, their...

12.10.2023 3

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

In praise of the Festival Song – the four-minute wonder that can sustain a career for decades

As the sun sets on another too-long summer festival season, let us take a moment to reflect on the Festival Song. This is the one tune by a band that...

21.09.2023 7

The Spectator

Graeme Thomson

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