The Guardian
Hansel and Gretel - review
For the subject of his first full-evening ballet, Liam Scarlett takes the Brothers Grimm fairytale Hansel and Gretel, about two children imprisoned by a witch after their parents have abandoned them in the forest – a theme all too darkly resonant, given
A Doll's House - review
Royal Exchange, Manchester "I've discovered this Christmas that the law is not what I thought
Primal Scream: More Light - review
(Ignition) Primal Scream's recent output has been blighted by an overreliance on their default setting of "ersatz Stones". Thankfully their 10th album finds them stepping out of their comfort zone again: nine-minute opener 2013 is a bold mix of shrieking
Rod Stewart: Time - review
(Decca) Rod Stewart's first album of original material in 20 years was prompted, he says, by writing his autobiography, and he wears his heart on his sleeve on wistful, nostalgic love songs (Brighton Beach) and thoughtful divorce laments (the single, It'
Agnetha: A - review
(Universal) Abba must be the only band to have turned down an actual, not mythical, offer of one billion dollars to reunite and though Agnetha F
Patty Griffin: American Kid - review
(Columbia) Centred around her father's passing, this seventh from the American country singer is a suitably ruminative affair, mixing her sadness with cameos from his life. Its gentle acoustic arrangements, full of intricate guitars and mandolin, come w
Liane Carroll: Ballads - review
(Quiet Money) Whether singing, playing the piano or doing both at once, Liane Carroll is famous for coming up with spontaneous perfection. Maybe that's why most of her previous albums have been simple, straightforward affairs, often recorded live. But
A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard - review
The second part in Karl Ove Knausgaard's novel sequence My Struggle is as invented and real as life itself Since the original Norwegian publication of the first volume of his My Struggle sequence of novels in 2009, two words have doggedly followed Kar
This Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood by Alan Johnson - review
One often hears it alleged that all politicians these days come from upper-middle-class backgrounds and are out of touch with the so-called real world.