Day: August 20, 2014

Book review: Don’t Look Now

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Don't Look NowDon’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I must admit my purchase of this book was dictated by the knowledge that its titular short story was the basis for Nic Roeg’s film Don’t Look Now – a favourite and one of the best weird films of the ’70s.

This title has been given to a number of du Maurier collections featuring variant stories, so it’s worth noting that my version contained ‘Don’t Look Now’, ‘Not After Midnight’, A Border-Line Case’, ‘The Way of the Cross’ and ‘The Breakthrough’.

The good news is that the stories that follow the first are all as good – or better, in the case of ‘Not After Midnight’ – than the most famous entry.

The bad news is that if you’ve come looking for the text version of Roeg’s film, you’ll probably be disappointed. Continue reading “Book review: Don’t Look Now” →

New A. Dobson review

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My review of A. Dobson’s Lost Broadcast has just gone live at Cyclic Defrost. Here’s a sample:

Everything is so honest a tribute to synth-heavy, jazz-kit almost-prog-but-a-bit-cooler, Kraut-it-yerself music (crossed with a little Atari ST magic, perhaps) it’s easy to imagine the album has been stuck behind someone’s couch for a couple of decades. There’s a couple of non-period sounds on the tracks which keep the ear alert – it’s not all heated-dust synth action, as the dub-squelch-cum-Barry-Adamson swing of ‘Don’t Trip’ shows – but this is as close-to-source retro for this genre as you’ll find. This thing breathes angles and neon.

You may read the rest of the review here.

I really recommend this album, especially if ’70s soundtracks are your thing. It’s available as a download only (here) and the other Rotary Tower releases look just as appealing.