John Shand Posts

August 30, 2019 / Album Reviews - Archive

IN THE ORBIT OF RA (Strut/Planet) 8/10 The Sun Ra canon is an intergalactic gold mine that keeps on giving. Some live recordings and B-sides are for completists only, but this double-album (which first appeared in 2014) is a must. Setting it apart from the plethora of compilations is the…

August 29, 2019 / Album Reviews - Archive

LIFE II (Baby Buddha) 7.5/10 She’s spent her career enhancing the music of Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder, Cher, Chaka Khan, Pink and others. But, as with Lisa Fischer, when Vivian Sessoms leads her own project, her towering voice and sensitive musicality shunts many bigger names into the shade.…

August 26, 2019 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Kings Cross Theatre, August 8 7/10 There’s this dead cat, you see. Well, not only dead, but skinned – and yet it still knows how to have a good time. We humans are certainly amateurs compared with cats when it comes to pleasure, and Jen Silverman’s play is about an…