Advantages: Excellent backing tracks, competent vocals, a couple of strong pop hits Disadvantages: Not much in the way of soul, some dull tracks, all rather dated now
mind that in 1972 "The Black & White Minstrel Show" was still one of the top rated TV shows, which tells you something about the era.
The Pearls were signed to the Bell label ? which had some hugely popular acts on their roster including the Bay City Rollers, Barry Blue, David Cassidy and Gary Glitter. The UK arm of the label focused mainly on commercial pop and the Pearls fitted into this perfectly. Interestingly the US arm tended to focus more on soul music.
A String of Pearls
Going back to my dad?s old Sanyo radio cassette recorder there was a song which was oft played by myself back in 1974 called ?Guilty?. Performed by the Pearls I loved it and have vague recollections of a Top of the Pops performance which incorporated judges? wigs. I have hunted high and low for this clip on the internet and sadly can only conclude it was ...
Advantages: The writing, the setting, the music Disadvantages: The characters are not sow ell defined or likable
I bought this book, An Equal Music by Vikram Seth, for the grand sum of one penny on the basis of a review written by Floon. I was enchanted by his description of the storyline and the author?s writing style. I was not disappointed.
The author, Vikram Seth states, in an author?s note located on the last page of the book, that, ?Music to me is dearer even than speech?. To convey this, he focuses his novel on the world of music and its performance.
The central character, Michael Holme, is the second violinist in a London-based stringquartet. His life has settled somewhat into a rut. He plays his violin; teaches the violin; makes love to one of his students, Virginie; rings his father; all as a matter of routine.
His comfortable lifestyle is suddenly disturbed by a series of events each connected and occurring in parallel ...
Advantages: Fantastically realised world, focused plot Disadvantages: Minimalist detail, not a cohesive collection
gone, the prose much plainer, stripped of the flair of old, but retaining the elegance of the fundamental, minimalist quality.
Not to say that there is nothing of merit in "Tehanu". It is a well written, interesting character study, but I personally found it too much of a jarring change from previous works to enjoy it. It does not pass without incident, there are some precarious situations, but there was much I took issue with, from Ursula Le Guin's newfound principles, to the rushed (arguably dues ex machine) ending, to the liberties taken with the characters I'd come to know.
The Quartet is a fascinating, if not cohesive, or even complete collection of the Earthsea stories. Even the worst of the stories has its unique strengths. There are a few minor editorial issues (inconsistent fonts and typographical errors) but nothing too ...
