Author: Michael

Posted in Paper Chase

Robert Louis Stevenson – Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (And Other Strange Tales) (2024)

Posted on by Michael

In 1886 the gothic horror novel, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by author Robert Louis Stevenson was published. Friends, especially lawyer Gabriel John Utterson, are concerned about the mental state of Dr Jekyll and horrified by the actions of a one Mr Hyde. The duality of personalities are a struggle between the human capabilities for both good and evil.   The short book does a masterful job of capturing the gloomy dark side of London and all it’s hidden secrets. A foggy foreboding hangs over the words as the characters try to piece the mystery together.

The 2024 edition of the book by Arcturus Publishing also includes several short stories listed as Other Strange Tales. The stories include the creepy The Body Snatcher where students fill the need of finding bodies for medical dissection and The Bottle Imp where an imp creature grants its owner their every wish but with potentially damning consequences. Stevenson’s unfinished novel at the time of his death, Weir Of Hermiston also appears.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – 10/10

Other Strange Tales – 7/10

Posted in Album Reviews

The Beatles – Anthology 4 (2025)

Posted on by Michael

One of the most talked about musical events 30 years ago was The Beatles Anthology TV special that aired on ITV in the UK and ABC in the US. Subsequent to those TV shows, the band released three anthology albums, each containing two discs of rarities.  All these years later the band has remastered those discs and have also released the fourth version – Anthology 4.

The two disc Anthology 4 extends the entirety of the band’s releases.  Starting with “I Saw Her Standing There” from 1963 to the 2023 release of single “Now and Then”. In between is a mixbag of tracks. “Tell Me Why” starts with studio banter and a false start before the band bursts into the song from A Hard Day’s Night. A sweet sounding version of “If I Fell” follows before a stop in your tracks version of “I’ve Just Seen A Face” arrives a few songs later. Like stumbling into a folk bar one night and hearing a singer do a spirited take on the track, helps if that singer is Paul McCartney.

“In My Life” is a more stripped down take, nostalgic young man John Lennon with a lovely vocal. “Got To Get You Into My Life” is more rough and ready, leaving out the horns that get replaced with a gritty guitar. One of the compilation’s highlights is “Baby, You’re A Rich Man” that has John and Paul asking assistants for cokes and cannabis resin before launching into a loose version of the track that would later appear on The Magical Mystery Tour. The band sounds like they are having a blast as they repeatedly sing the chorus. In similar fashion, the instrumental version of George Harrison’s “Hey Bulldog” is another blast of joy, regardless of Lennon’s comments at the end of the recording.

An instrumental version of “The Fool On The Hill” is intriguing as is the strings, brass, and clarinet overdub take of “I Am The Walrus” with Lennon’s vocals bleeding into the mix. The instrumental strings on “Something” are quite lovely while “All You Need Is Love” is taken from a rehearsal for the BBC broadcast with the reporter describing the band’s recording techniques. The album closes with the band’s last recordings with Lennon’s vocals used as the basis of the tracks. The 2025 mix of “Real Love” has a bit of a Ringo Starr drum kick and for some, it’s nice to have a physical version of “Now and Then” rather than the overpriced single from a few years ago.

Critically the album has been both treasured and trashed, a feeling of scraping the bottom of the barrel has been noted. A significant number of the tracks have already been released on past expanded editions of individual albums making those songs inessential for those who have paid big prices to already own them.  Many of the songs talked about above are the same ones that other publications have zeroed in on as well, there is a bit of a consensus on what the goods are. While there are some inessential versions/takes of songs, there is a span of about 15 tracks in the middle of the collection that are sublime and a joy to listen to.  Perhaps inessential but a great bit of fun to have playing around the holidays, songs that are as ubiquitous as the Christmas carols being played every where else at this time of year.

8/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Geese – Getting Killed (2025)

Posted on by Michael

Geese are the experimental rock band from Brooklyn who’s fourth album, Getting Killed, released in the early fall is one of the acclaimed records of the year. Co-produced with Kenny Beats, songs like “Trinidad” have a chaotic jazz vibe mixed with slam poetry as singer Cameron Winter yells that “there’s a bomb in my car!”  “100 Horses” takes on a gritty, southern rock sound with lyrics that does the trick of sounding like they mean nothing yet somehow mean everything in the moment – “there were 100 horses dancing/Maybe 124”.

Winter’s vocals take on a bit of a warble, bit of a Van Morrison feel.  This occurs most prominently on the title track where he sings, “I can’t even hear myself talk/I’m trying to talk over everybody in the world”. Later, the vocals get stretched as he sings that “I’m getting killed by a pretty good life”.  Whether a singer in an indie rock band or a midlevel office manager, this can feel true at times.

“Taxes” is a bit slower/softer then picks up with jangly guitars before the album ends with a longer jam on “Long Island City Here I Come”.   Throughout Getting Killed, it all feels like it could fall apart at any time but it never does and more importantly, the album is constantly tuneful throughout.  A really great record, one to spend some time with.

9/10

Posted in Paper Chase

Omar El Akkad – One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

Posted on by Michael

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by author Omar El Akkad has been acclaimed all year in 2025, a National Bestseller that is on most critics lists for books of the year. The current war in Gaza started on October 7th, 2023 when the Palestinian militant group Hamas tragically killed nearly 1200 people in Israel, taking a couple hundred more as hostages. This was followed by the bombardment on Gaza a few weeks later, it was during this time that Akkad tweeted – “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” Two years later it’s been reported that approximately 67,000 people have been killed in Gaza, almost half of them woman and children.

Repeatedly calling the “war” a genocide, where Akkad really shines a light is on the left wing liberals of the West. Claiming they have fallen into a political area of being just a slightly better option than those on the right on several issues. At best – slightly better, but still terrible. The atrocities outlined in the book are numerous and it is a reminder of events that happened along the way.  At one point Canada cut off aid funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees and former US presidential candidate Nikki Haley wrote on the side of an Israeli artillery shell – “Finish Them!”.  I guess finishing them includes killing 30,000 women and children.

Akkad also writes of the tragic killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab – she died with six family members in a vehicle fleeing Gaza City. Two paramedics coming to her rescue were also killed. Her last words were over the phone to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society while sitting in a car with her dead relatives, pleading for help, crying about how scared she was. It is estimated that 335 rounds were fired at the family’s vehicle.

I could write all day my feelings on all this but this is not what this blog is for. It’s supposed to be fun and lighthearted look at music and a few books. One Day… cuts through all that and holds a mirror up to my face, a face that is quite liberal in outlook on life. About a year ago while talking to a friend we touched on Gaza. We talked about it for about 30 seconds, said what a terrible situation it was while drinking lattes at Starbucks, before quickly moving on to other far more trivial topics that were talked about in far greater detail.

Just this past week saw the tragic shooting of 15 people who were killed in Australia where they were celebrating Hannukah… and 10 people were wounded in a residential neighbourhood bombing in the Gaza Strip.  The truth is that I will carry all this knowledge around in my head this weekend, not say much about it, go to a friend’s place for drinks and finish Christmas shopping. But what I will say here is to implore people to read this book. Whether you end up agreeing with it or not, for many it will be a truly eye-opening experience.

10/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Lily Allen – West End Girl (2025)

Posted on by Michael

Over the last few years, the music world waits with baited breath for each new Taylor Swift album to  carefully dissect the lyrics to figure out who the song are about. While that is happening, Lily Allen snuck in through the backdoor with her recent West End Girl album that outlines in great detail the breakdown of her relationship with actor David Harbour. The album plays like a concept album that The Streets would have released many years ago.  An arms length list of producers help craft an auto tuned album filled with adult styled beats and stories of heartbreak,  but in the Lily Allen spirit of snuck in jokes and classic one liners.

The title track is string laden with a passage that includes a one-sided conversation between Lily and Harbour while she describes getting the lead part in a West End London play. Nothing is held back lyrically and songs touch on lack of sex in their marriage, infidelity (to put it mildly), his own “Pussy Palace”, and calling up one of the girls that he was suspected of not only sleeping with but also playing “Tennis” with. All this while Lily asks, “who’s Madeline?”.

On “Ruminating’, the one-sided open relationship asks “If it has to happen, baby, do you want to know?” while later Lily sings that “A life with you looked good on paper” over the bouncy beats of “Nonmonogamummy”.  Towards the end, a posting on a dating website asks, “I’m almost nearly forty, I’m just shy of five-foot-two/I’m a mum to teenage children, does that sound like fun to you?”

For people following, Lily Allen’s life has been an open book over the years of quotable interviews, addictions, broken relationships, unfortunate miscarriages, and later successfully giving birth to children. West End Girl is a fascinating run through her last relationship and does hold the listener’s attention to wonder, “what’s next”.  Whether it holds up in several years time remains to be seen.

7.5/10