Anglophenia » The Smiths

Listen: Super-Rare Rehearsal Recordings Of The Smiths

Fraser McAlpine — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:36:27 +0000

What with Morrissey incapacitated by pneumonia and Johnny Marr rampantly striding the world’s stages as a solo act, it’s the perfect time to take a look back at the very beginning of their respective careers, with this ...

For The Last Time, World, The Smiths Have Split Up

Fraser McAlpine — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:20:04 +0000

Internet, I love you, but you’re starting to become irritating on certain topics: The way you encourage people to talk to each other for the first time as if they’ve been bitter enemies for years, for example, or the way you ...

The Brit List: 10 Stinging British Insults

Fraser McAlpine — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:16:46 +0000

I should start with a confession. When compiling this list, I assumed it would be a gadabout stone-skim along the top of the English language, each new bounce a perfectly formed (but firmly NSFW) gem.

The Brit List: Five Great British Songs About The Queen

Fraser McAlpine — Thu, 24 May 2012 08:40:49 +0000

*rubs hands together* Oh this’ll be an easy one. There must be hundreds of songs devoted to Queen Elizabeth II, especially as she has been ruling monarch since 1953, during which time Britain became an international songwriting ...

Kate Bush Week: Five Great British Literary Songs

Fraser McAlpine — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:44:23 +0000

Writing songs is hard. You might have an astonishing melody over a brilliant chord sequence set to the best groove in the whole world, but if you can’t find the words to fit, you’re stumped.

’80s Music Week: Five Great British Mopers

Fraser McAlpine — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:28:37 +0000

You’d imagine creating a career in which people fawn at your feet, and your every thought can recorded and polished and translated into actual vinyl (or CD, depending which end of the decade we’re talking about), would be ...

News Roundup: More Details Of ‘Bond 23,’ Now Called ‘Skyfall’

Fraser McAlpine — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:33:17 +0000

Part of the fun with a new James Bond film is finding out who will be playing the lothario super-spy’s love interest, and for the 23rd Bond film, which has now officially been titled Skyfall, that honour goes to the relatively ...

Friday Vote: Who’d Be In Your Dream British Supergroup?

Fraser McAlpine — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:40:35 +0000

Noel Gallagher, when asked about Mick Jagger’s latest venture SuperHeavy, the supergroup he formed with Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, AR Rahman and Damian Marley, said this: “I’d love to do a supergroup as long as it ...

News Roundup: James Buckley is a Gentleman ‘Inbetweener,’ Helen Mirren Eyes Broadway, and Why No Carey Mulligan in ‘One Day’?

staff — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:30:19 +0000

• Last night saw the London premiere of the Inbetweeners movie, and while we’d love to tell you it was one long litany of embarrassing events, unfortunate bodily fluids, and constant swearing, the main story of the night appears to ...

Five Innovative British Bass Players

Fraser McAlpine — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:14:25 +0000

So, we’ve done the gentleman singer, the inventive guitar player, the stick-twiddling drummer, but our great British band cannot be complete without the guy (or girl) who glues the whole thing together. It’s fine for the ...