Dubbed the greatest album ever by Rolling Stone, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is turning 50. We asked six experts how it had stood the test of time and found opinions diverged widely.
- Piano Performance Fellow, The University of Queensland
Radiohead’s new album, a lush, complex soundscape, is beguiling, moving and politically urgent. But as always, their music rewards patience: a willingness to listen deeply, with an open mind.
Despite Prince’s many transformations – musically and visually – he extended his signature energy over 39 albums. His broad sonic church attracted fans from every walk of life.
A short tour of Australia’s protest song history shows that protest music didn’t so much disappear as morph from the mainstream. In other words, it’s still very much with us.
Tim Minchin’s latest musical offering, Come Home Cardinal Pell, is provoking strong reactions because of its blunt and direct message to Cardinal George Pell. But in terms of song-craft, it’s a winner.
Einstein, an accomplished violinist, claimed that, had he not pursued science, he would have been a musician. That’s worth reflecting on, in the wake of last week’s discovery of gravitational waves.
Many have long forgotten the simple fact that Kanye West is one of the greatest producers of hip-hop in its history. A decade-long six-album streak of critically acclaimed albums rivals the greatest icons of pop.
The hard numbers of sales, downloads, streams, and billboard charts seem to do all the work for us. But do these measures tell us anything meaningful about music’s nature and value in 2015?
New research shows shared music-making with toddlers may have benefits above and beyond those of reading.
For all the speculative commentary as to what the new Star Wars trailer reveals plot-wise, its true “force” is surely located in the various sounds that infuse this perfectly constructed teaser.
Donald Trump provoked the ire of REM frontman Michael Stipe this week after he played an REM hit on the campaign trail. In this push-pull between politicians and musicians, let’s revisit the music.
For some, this album will be a good-natured happy-go-funky tour through Prince’s famously diverse stylistic interests. Others will find some of the tracks poorly executed, or a bit passé.
Some pain might have been avoided (and probably less money made) if a simple basic fact had been acknowledged from the beginning: Fuck tha Police is meant to be funny.
Cold Chisel’s Khe Sanh was played at Reclaim Australia rallies in various cities last weekend – but won’t be again, after a public statement by the band’s frontman, Jimmy Barnes. Was it a good song choice?
From Twinkle Twinkle to Space Odyssey and beyond, humans have always turned to music to help deal with the profoundly confronting enormity of the cosmos. Is that a match made in the heavens?
Much like the music of the man it’s based on, Love & Mercy is beautiful, complex, somewhat melancholy, and thought-provoking. It also teaches us some things about creative genius, innovation, and art.
Only a hard heart could fail to respond on some emotional level when Barack Obama, eulogising at one of the most emotionally and racially charged funerals in US history, started singing Amazing Grace.
The unauthorised use of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World at Donald Trump’s presidential campaign launch raises several questions – and gives us something beautiful to ponder.
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