Lou Fulco
Lou Fulco works as a bookseller at Readings Hawthorn.
Reviews
Country Music: A Film by Ken Burns
Ken Burns brings us his new documentary on country music, to go along with his other brilliant histories of the Civil War, baseball, the Vietnam War, and the West, among others. Using footage and pho…
Breakdown on 20th Ave. South by Buddy & Julie Miller
Husband-and-wife team Buddy and Julie Miller have released their first album in ten years – their third as a couple in nearly twenty years of recording together. Even they find it a little strange th…
Springsteen On Broadway by Bruce Springsteen
Towards the end of 2016, Bruce Springsteen had just released his much-anticipated autobiography, Born to Run, and completed The River Tour, which celebrated the thirty-fifth anniversary of his hit 19…
Mystery Road
Not all movies can make the jump to television with the ease with which Mystery Road does. When I first saw the 2013 Ivan Sen movie I found myself thinking that it was a perfect tale of culture, conf…
The Lookout by Laura Veirs
I first listened to Laura Veirs new album, The Lookout, in my car. I had it on rotation and just let the songs flow effortlessly from one into the other. My biggest problem was that I wanted to pull …
Norskov: Season 2
It has been two years of waiting to see what has become of the residents of the seaside town called Norskov. The wait has been more than worth it. At the end of Season 1 we saw that Casper had been a…
Witnesses: Season 2
Let’s call this latest offering from the French what it really is: another superior piece of crime television. Interpret it as the next chapter of Nordic Noir if you must, but don’t forget that Franc…
The Nashville Sound by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Call him Americana, call him rock and pop, call him whatever you want. Jason Isbell is one of today’s premier songwriters, regardless of genre. In the 400 Unit, he has one of the best bands making mu…
River: Season 1
SPOILER ALERT… Fifteen minutes into British crime drama River and you are hooked.
River (Stellan Skarsgard) and his partner ‘Stevie’ (Nicola Walker) discuss the virtues of singing out loud and relea…
Shine A Light by Billy Bragg and Joe Henry
I must confess I expected this album to be another version of Mermaid Avenue, the wonderful set of albums released by Bragg and Wilco all those years ago using the lyrics of Woody Guthrie. I was a fa…
Occupied: Season 1
The North Sea is a cold and desolate place. Ice and snow and freezing cold seas await any one or thing foolish enough to cross its barren path. Things heat up, though, in the new Norwegian drama base…
Civil Dusk by Bernard Fanning
Bernard Fanning – remember him? Powderfinger? Tea & Sympathy? Well, it’s been a while, 11 years in fact, since he wished us all well. 2005 was the year that Tea & Sympathy was released to critical ac…
Norskov
Ah, the Danes! Just when you think your late night TV shows are all starting to look and end the same way, along comes another piece of Nordic noir to brighten, well, err, darken your day.
Norskov t…
Dig In Deep by Bonnie Raitt
What Bonnie Raitt has created on her 20th studio album is a mastering of all of her talents as musician, singer, songwriter, producer, band leader and interpreter of great songs. Her choice of songs …
The Young Montalbano: Volume 2
It has been over three years since the first season of this brilliant Italian crime drama was made available, but the wait has been worth it. This new series was supervised by the writer of the origi…
Nashville Obsolete by Dave Rawlings Machine
Upon first listen, Nashville Obsolete gives the impression of a simpler, stripped back version of the duo. Listen again. Rich, layered rhythms are punctuated by lush string arrangements that highligh…
The Witnesses
With all the excitement and press favouring the new wave of Nordic noir that seems to run in endless supply onto our shelves, it is easy to understand how many wonderful series from other European na…
Sukierae by Tweedy
When the band Uncle Tupelo broke up 20 years ago, Jeff Tweedy went on to form Wilco. Over the years since he has introduced us to heartbreakingly beautiful songs that are rich with aching sorrow or p…
Well, Really, Mr Twiddle! by Enid Blyton
I would say it has been at least 40 years since I laid eyes on this book. Looking at my copy of Well Really, Mr Twiddle! from when I was a kid, with its missing hardback cover and tattered edges, mak…
High Hopes by Bruce Springsteen
The American myth gets a reboot! On Springsteen’s eighteenth studio album (if this could indeed be called a studio album) we are introduced to a collection of covers, outtakes and re-workings of coll…
Behind The Candelabra
This made-for-TV movie (which later received a cinematic release) recounts the stormy six-year relationship between flamboyant entertainer Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his younger lover Scott Thors…
Once I was an Eagle by Laura Marling
Twenty-three years old. I say again, Laura Marling is 23 years old. I don’t know why this surprises me, but it does – in a positive way. I guess it’s just that what I hear come out of the speakers so…
Division Street by Harper Simon
Harper Simon turns up the volume with Division Street, the follow-up to his very successful self-titled 2010 debut. His intelligent, well-crafted lyrics remain, but the lines are a little more blurre…
The Next Day by David Bowie
A while back, word had spread that a new David Bowie single had hit YouTube. Was this a one-off? Was an album on the way?
I knew he had suffered a heart attack a while back and had ‘retired’ from mu…
Sweetwater by The Glorious
When I listen to the second album of a band that impressed me with their debut, all I ask for is that I see a growth, both in songwriting and artistically. I am glad to say that the dreaded ‘second a…
Jake Bugg by Jake Bugg
It has been a meteoric rise for 18-year-old Jake Bugg. An appearance on Later… with Jools Holland and a support gig for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds has brought him to the attention of the musi…
Other Side Of The Rock by Shane Howard
Shane Howard celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of his groundbreaking ‘Solid Rock’ from Spirit of Place with Other Side of the Rock, a reworking of some of his best-known songs spanning an illustri…
Glad All Over by The Wallflowers
This much-anticipated album sees Jakob Dylan and original and longtime band members return to what they do best.
More of a rediscovery of the sound that brought The Wallflowers fame and success, thi…
Transcendental Youth by The Mountain Goats
This is the fourteenth release by The Mountain Goats, a Californian band formed by frontman and songwriter John Darnielle. While the songs ache with the wretched lives of the lost and lonely and desp…
Hundred Dollar Valentine by Chris Smither
The first thing that strikes you when listening to Hundred Dollar Valentine is just how much the feel and tone is steeped in the past, yet also manages to sound so in the now.
Smither has delivered …
News
The Best DVDs of 2013
Our top ten DVDs from 2013, as selected by our film expert Lou Fulco. (Displayed in no particular order).
The Perks of Being A WallflowerThe Perks of Being A Wallflower is a film that actually does justice to the book it was based on. On screen, Stephen Chbosky’s novel of teenage angst and life-changing friendships is honestly and unflinchingly portrayed. Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra…
An Artist That Changed My Life: Bruce Springsteen
A year before Born To Run came out, music critic Jon Landau saw a performance where many of the as yet unreleased songs were performed and wrote: “I saw rock and roll’s future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.“
Those words describe the exact feeling that surges through my body every ti…