John Shand Posts

August 13, 2020 / Features - Archive

Besotted with the Monkees’ ’60s TV show, the young Cassandra Wilson was proud to call their LP containing Last Train to Clarksville her first. Three decades later she derailed that song’s frothy pop, stripping it back to some re-imagined version of the rural blues that was spawned in her Mississippi…

August 9, 2020 / Album Reviews - Archive

ASTROLABE (www.chriscody.com) 8/10 It’s as if new instruments are being devised by the minute, such are the improbable combinations Chris Cody contrives among his eccentric octet. Not mere whimsy, this eccentricity stems from the composer’s crafting a musical account of the voyages of French explorer La Perouse (the Astrolabe being…

August 8, 2020 / Features - Archive

The second morning was an early start by musician standards: 9am. The first day in the studio had gone well enough. Good takes, energy to burn – but it was not quite what producer Manfred Eicher had in mind. As much as he loved Mike Nock’s most recent record, In…