Sparks

A few years ago, Charlie Burchill and Jim Kerr were interviewed for a BBC documentary about music’s messiest break-ups. Which may seem like an odd booking, given the pair’s famously adamantine bond. B

Jan Smaczny is enthralled by Isabelle Faust’s unique approach to the demanding material of Bach’s little-known violin works JS Bach Sonatas for Violin and Continuo Isabelle Faust (violin); Kristin von

Wilco dynamo’s fifth solo LP is a wildly eclectic triple that celebrates collective creativity and freedom.

The onset of 1985 found Eurythmics in a commercial sweet spot as they rode a wave of successive hits on the global stage. It was barely two-and-a-bit years since Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) in Jan

Hot Wax always started the same way: Suzanne in the driver’s seat of a butter-yellow ’68 Ford Ranchero fondly known as Blondie. The car is a character in the book as much as anyone else – Suzanne’s on

The accessibility, affordability and portability of synthesizers in the late 70s had a profound effect on popular music, particularly in the UK, where the likes of Ultravox!, Gary Numan and OMD reshap