Goldie's Fab Four #30

My highlights, recommendations and observations

Has it really taken me this long to catch up with one of the most talked about TV series of recent years? Yes, it really has, so let’s not mention it again, OK? In case you don’t know, ‘Succession’ tells the story of the familial battle to assume the crown of Logan Roy, a tyrannical multimedia magnate whose empire spans several continents. I can’t think for the life of me who it might be based on. Some critics have cited Shakespearean overtones and while there are heavy hints of Lear in Brian Cox’s masterful potrayal of the bullying Logan, in its soapier moments I wonder if ‘Succession’ isn’t a bit more like The Archers with posh suits and skyscrapers. Either way, it makes for gripping drama, as the patriarch’s odd assortment of offspring jostle for position. Kudos to the show’s creator Jess Armstrong, who has leapt to this from the brilliant but altogether different ‘Peep Show’ and British actor Matthew McFadyen, who plays the goofy (and goofily named) Tom Wambsgans. No spoilers please, as I’m only a few episodes in to Series One, but I can already see why ‘Succession’ is such a success.

Supersonic Festival (Birmingham, September 1-3)

I’ve never been fond of sleeping in tent or queuing for the loo. So much so that the only time I went to the Glastonbury Festival, I booked into a local B&B. Not very rock n roll but a much better night’s sleep. The fact that Supersonic is an indoor festival a short bus ride from home is only one if its selling points. The other is the fantastically eclectic line-up which encompasses the gothic folk of Lankum, the hardcore influenced hip hop of Backxwash and the post punk No Wave energy of Total Luck. Suffice to say, few of the artists flexing the musical muscles here are in danger of making the Radio 2 playlist any time soon.

Wifedom by Anna Funder (BBC Sounds)

The age old question of how much your appreciation of an artist is coloured by your knowledge of their private life is brought into sharp focus by this brilliant deep dive into the life of George Orwell’s first wife Eileen. To say that she has been ‘forgotten’ is to miss the point. Anna Funder’s piercing analysis reveals that she was consciously written out of Orwell’s history by the writer himself along with his half dozen male biographers. There’s no doubting the genius of the man who created ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘1984’ but having coined the neologism, ‘doublespeak’, he seems to have fallen victim to it himself in his treatment of a woman who sacrificed her own health and creativity on the altar of his ambition. BBC Sounds audio version is a model of intelligent compression.

Vive Le Rock

Essential monthly reading for those of us a punkish disposition. Not just a nostalgia rag, but highly creditable attempt to see where the New Wave wind has blown in the years since 1977. You get new artists, older ones talking about their latest releases, as well as gig news and record reviews. If you were into Sounds and NME and want to make fresh discoveries as well, this is the mag for you.