La Chanson Française: Love and loss, darkness and disgrace
❉ Poet and novelist Ange Chan takes us on a tour of the history of
La Chanson Française, from Piaf, Brel and Gainsbourg to Bowie, Almond and Daho.
Music
Boys don’t cry: ‘Cured, The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys’
❉ Musician Lol Tolhurst’s memoir charts the creation of The Cure, and his descent into alcohol and substance abuse.
Playlist: ‘Marc Bolan Deep Cuts’
❉ We celebrate what would have been Marc Bolan’s 69th birthday with a special playlist of album tracks, B sides and outtakes.
Suede: ‘Coming Up’ 20th Anniversary Edition
❉ We look back on Suede’s ‘comeback’ album Coming Up, and geek out over the new 20th anniversary collectors’ edition.
Can You Dig It? ‘The Monkees, Head and the 60s’ reviewed
❉ A new book takes a serious look at the Monkees’ significance as a pop culture phenomenon, and the legacy of their cult movie ‘Head’.
‘Electri_City: The Düsseldorf School of Electronic Music’
❉ We review Rudi Esch’s eyewitness account of how the Düsseldorf electronic scene developed from 1970 to 1986.
Reissue Roundup
❉ We Are Cult appreciate a good reissue. Here, we give you the lowdown on some recent noteworthy vinyl reissues.
David Bowie’s ‘The Gouster’… or, How John wouldn’t stop dancing
✻ We look at David Bowie’s recently unearthed, ‘lost’ soul album ‘The Gouster’ , which evolved into ‘Young Americans’.
Micky Dolenz’s ‘The MGM Singles Collection’ – expanded and on CD for the first time
❉ Full details of the expanded Micky Dolenz’s ‘The MGM Singles Collection’, making its CD debut, have been announced.
Matt Berry: ‘The Small Hours’
❉ Matt Berry’s sixth album reviewed: “the sound of Roy Budd and Ronnie Hazlehurst going on an Absinthe bender in Soho”