Timetable 30/5/10 - 5/6/10

It's Harry Potter Week, as well as five music reviews including Two Double Bills.

Sunday 30/5/10 - ...And the Philosopher's Stone

Monday 31/5/10 - ...And the Chamber of Secrets and Gary Go

Tuesday 1/6/10 - ...And the Prisoner of Azkaban and Back to Bedlam

Wednesday 2/6/10 - ...And the Goblet of Fire and All the Lost Souls

Thursday 3/6/20 - ...And the Order of the Phoenix and These Streets

Friday 4/6/10 - ...And the Half-Blood Prince and Sunny Side Up

Saturday 5/6/10 - ...And the Deathly Hallows and Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor

Review: Doctor Who: Cold Blood

That was certainly an improvement. Chris Chibnall spends less time faffing about here, and what results is a tightly packed if albeit a bit rushed story. The first half of the episode is Doctor Who gold, balancing all the elements perfectly, with technobabble, drama and a deep anti-violence message. The second half felt a bit rushed and borrowed a lot of Moffat principles for the sake of argument...

So, some construction worker "Mo" and Amy are about to get dissected by some reptile guy but elsewhere in the city army reptiles find the Doctor and Nasreen, and so he is called away to examine the Doctor's alien nature. Amy swipes a remote device, allowing both to escape, and they wander around tunnels finding children and reptile warriors in cryosleep.

The Doctor discovers that this city of Silurians is being currently controlled by the army, who are the only ones awake. The other two burst in for an untimely rescue attempt and then all four are tied up and readied for excecution.

Meanwhile, on the surface, the alien hostage has poisoned the grandfather, who goes to ask her for the cure. Like the arrogant alien warrior stereotype she is, she refuses and says she prefers to be killed instead. Oh goody. Being a bit pissed at how she's treating her dad, Ambrose accidentally electrocutes the alien hostage, thus sparking the potential for a war.

Just before they're going to be excecuted, the Second Half kicks in and for some reason the Silurian President comes storming in (having provided voiceovers throughout the episode), saving all of their lives. Then follows some awkward negotiation with the surface where they ask to bring the hostage down, and some negotion scenes between the apparent representatives for humanity and the president.

And then the military lead a revolution and find out the hostage is dead, and so like another Matt Smith two-parter, the group become trapped in a control room. Here there's apparently some very simple solution involving everyone being told to sleep again, the drill being blown up and everyone escaping with their heads.

Then a crack appears and there's a Last Second Death by Rory who's then absorbed by the crack and erased from history. Good riddens. Dull idiot that while bringing some unique human drama had absolutely no chemistry with Gillian and got in the way quite a bit. Valuable to the overall plot, perhaps, but I would have preferred he stayed in his little village. His four episodes haven't really given him enough characterisation for me to care about his demise.

The prostethics are as good as ever, if a bit distracting, and the acting was top-notch if not Shakespeare. There are some brilliant one-liners, like "We're at the centre of the Earth, and there are lizard men." The episode sets up some future episode synopsise, with the Silurians destined to come to the surface in 3020, which I'm not particularly excited about, but there we go. It by far bettered the mess that was last week, because it took more than a paragraph to descirbe what acutally happened! It wasn't particularly meaningful, or at least not as meaningful as the 1970 story.

The erasure of Rory brings up some big questions. What appeared in place of the 2015 timeline in Amy's Choice? Who stood in as Amy's brother in Vampires in Venice? How can The Doctor have gone to Venice in the first place when Rory wasn't there to be going on a romantic trip with Amy? How can the crack exist if the wedding of Amy and Rory is the point at which time cracks? All questions that need to be answered, probably in the finale, but I do hope they are.

I found the entire story dissappointing; character development was few and far between, there were long periods where simply nothing was happening, the voice over was pretentious and stupid and it's clear that due to the rushed nature of his death/erasure he's likely to be resurrected later on. The synopsis had so much potential, but this fell down so dramatically that not even the wonderful prostetics and special effects stopped me from passing the occasional yawn.

Anyway. Next week we have a bad Van Gogh impression and a Gryffon-like monster. It's written by none other than Richard Curtis, writer of great comedies such as The Boat That Rocked, Love Actually, Notting Hill and Four Weddings. My hopes are up.

Thanks.

Review: The Resistance

The Resistance, Muse (2009)

My first reaction on listening to many of the songs on Muse's album was familiarity; despite never really having heard any of them before. It's fast-paced, emo rock; nothing I particularly object to. It was enjoyable to say the least; although for some reason there aren't words in my lexicon to describe it.

The reason for my familiarity was soon discovered; apart from the first and last three songs, they all sound quite familiar. Almost indistinguishable on light listening; the overarching voice of the lead singer ruling over everything else, and making the whole thing every samey.

They expose their classical influences with the last three songs, which together make up the "Exogenesis Symphony", a wonderful piece that highlights how new and old styles can codevelop. I particularly loved how the incorporated voice didn't spoil the feel of the piece.

It's very metal. It's simply brilliant, a mixture of light classical musings (the title explains it all! Hurrah!) and hard 70s rock. There's some Queen influences, some Bowie, and then this homegrown brilliance and meaning that floats through everything. I would reccomend this album. But one certainly has to concentrate, and then one can enjoy the music to its full potential.

Thanks.

Timeline Changes

I think I'd rather not go ahead with tonight's Eurovision Coverage. It seems to much of a workload for a Saturdy night, and so instead I'll post my Doctor Who:Cold Blood review and then Harry Potter Week starts on Sunday with ...And The Philosopher's Stone.

I'm also gonna be introducing a Poll at the side there, covering many different topics from my reivews to what I see on television.

Thanks

End Of Term Roundup

May has been revolutionary for Audenshaw Reviews. A review a day, at least, with opinion pieces now and then with weekly timetables. The Youtube campaign has hopefully worked, as I posted my last video on Tuesday.

Thinking ahead, there's the Eurovision Coverage (it's looking very good this year btw) which will be posted on Saturday night (hopefully) and then I might update with images and later opinions on Sunday. Also on Sunday will be my Doctor Who: Cold Blood review. After that, I've got a treat with Harry Potter Week, in which I review a book a day over the holidays.

I'm looking forward to it. See you there.

Thanks.

Review: Lily Allen (2/2) - It's Not Me, It's You

It's Not Me, It's You, Lily Allen(2009)

The unique nature of Allen's work and her very critical lifestyle meant that the second album was always going to be quite different from the original. Despite being a very loosely popular celebrity, Allen was a popular figure in the tabloid press for the duration of her three-year career, mostly for inconsiderate statements, drunken embarrassments and blatant law-breaking. The name of the album is perhaps consequential; a call out to the tabloids to get off her back. Anyway. Let's look at the contents.

Well... it's better in some areas and worse in others. The songs are generally palatable and less droll but the contoversial songs, albeit less in number, are quite vulgar. Maybe witty on an isolated listening, but if listened to recreationally they may seem highly inappropriate. For example, "Not Fair" deals with the topic of Premature Ejaculation. Perfect for all those little kiddies.

There does remain some politcal commentary, in the form of "The Fear," which deals with materialism in society. What I love is that while the previous album fell flat in terms of relationships, some of this album's strongest offerings cover that very subject, such as "22" and "I Could Say". It's a good sign that she knows how to improve based on past mistakes, and one of the things that I found endearing.

And then there're the terrible songs. "Fuck You," for example, is a return to the sheer silliness of Alright, Still's "Alfie," upbeat profanities with a pretense of having something to say about society, but are in fact rotten apples on an otherwise unspoilt tree. "Who'd Have Known" is taken directly from Take That's "Shine", literally, something that I would have thought Ms. Allen would have avoided with her unconventional approach.

In terms of style, this album has far more techno than previously, maybe as a sign of Ms. Allen moving more into mainstream material. It does improve the album, although "I Could Say," a typical ballad, is still moving without it.

It's a shame that Allen packed up her career, for typically greedy reasons (She aparrently couldn't see any way of making any more money from it.) She was improving, certainly, and she had a very unique outlook on the country and of modern britain, as well as having a lovely voice and a quirky fashion. I can only hope that if she does make a third album, she learns from her past results and makes something to be truely proud of.

Thanks.

Review: Lily Allen (1/2) - Alright, Still

Alright, Still, Lily Allen(2006)

She was a new girl on the scene; not so much a muscial master as someone trying to express their views through song. It's a sort of sideways pop; unconventional but mainstream in an oxymoronic way. Her songs try to reflect not only her personality but her views on modern Britain. She doesn't attend to musical structure, often including excerpts of normal voice.

My main issue with Ms. Allen is that the consistency of this first album is terrible, and that the unconventional/absurd nature of her songs means that they're hard to listen to recreationally. Either it's an unconventional pop ballad with valid things to say on the nature of modern society and of the idiosyncratic nature of the human race, or it's a meaningless ballad that falls down flat.

On a momentary analysis of Allen's songs, I can certainly appreciate the messages (albeit not very sublte), with her clear cut London accent and her preference of voice over her background, something other artists of the time were falling short of. There are songs that are very tightly crafted verse, like "Everything's Just Wonderful."

Despite all of the messages in her work, her main work surrounds relationships. This is unfortunately where I think she falls down, as in her songs she tends to treat relationships with a cold, calculating honesty that instead of pulling on the heart strings leaves me slightly awed if not bemused.

Allen released some more mainstream works later on, in 2009, which I shall review tommorrow. The reason why I am doing these two albums on consecutive days is that last year Ms. Allen said that she had abandoned music, which felt bittersweet for me because it was these two albums that were my first album buys.

Thanks.

Review: La Roux

La Roux - La Roux (2009)


The eponymous singer/manager duo La Roux  (Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid) seem to have undergone a reversal of Ashes to Ashes' synopsis; jumping into the Noughties with Eighties ideas and inspirations. It isn't as if our era hasn't seen synth before, but this is the first album that has captured the 80s' unshakeable spirit.

Ms. Jackson's voice is astounding in range and its uniqueness means that it is easily recognised. The songs capture the era perfectly, while also bringing flair to the modern era ("Early Nineties decor, nothing to stay for"). The songs are catchy, in a good way, and stick in the head not for some absurd hook but for their mix of intriguing and emotional lyricism and sound.

The firstsong on the album, "In for the kill" is a bit shrill on the first few listenings, but the rest of the album is consistently good. From "Tigerlily" onwards, one finds that that is the quality one should come to expect from the duo. Most if not all of the songs are about relationships, with all sorts of metaphorical euphoria and suffering that provide enough variation.

Technoballads like "Cover My Eyes" and "Fascination" are perhaps the most effective, the best use of the inter-twined nature of ballad and intense techno prowess.

Thanks.

Review: Hands

Hands, Little Boots (2009)

Hands is generic technoballad; a unique, typically Blackpudlian take on the genre that manages to effectively combine the two influences. Like Blackpool and it's loud and proud image, Ms. Victoria Hesketh fills her music with bombastic imagery. It's a mixture of 80s themes updated for a modern audience.

A lot of the album follows this description; Hesketh doesn't tick the "heartfelt" box but she gets an honourary scribble in the margins of ballad, and combined with her party upbringing she seems perfectly tuned for the majority of markets.

The final, hidden track on the album is pure ballad, and what results from the removal of techno is a brilliant piece that proves that behind the pazazz of her eighties influences, she has an excellent vocal range. With her stylish tones, vocal beauty and expertise of the markets, the result is an album that shines on the shelf and blasts thorugh the ear-phones.

Thanks.

Timetable 24/5/10 - 31/5/10

Monday 24/5/10 - Hands - Little Boots

Tuesday 25/5/10 - La Roux - La Roux

Wednesday 26/5/10 - Alright, Still - Lilly Allen

Thursday 27/5/10 - It's Not Me, It's You - Lilly Allen

Friday 28/5/10 - Opinion - Half-Term Roundup

Saturday 29/5/10 - Eurovision Live Coverage

Sunday 30/5/10 - Doctor Who: Cold Blood