In Depth: Simon Wheeler

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A Rush of Blood to the Head

Simon Wheeler

Music Review Beating Time A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD

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Hollywood's rules

Simon Wheeler

When George Orwell wrote his terrifying novel 1984 about a state that attempted to control every aspect of its citizens' lives he was compelled to invent the 'Thought Police' to patrol the few cubic centimetres inside the heads of the people.

And he invented a stripped down form of English called 'Newspeak' which had the ultimate aim of making it impossible to think a forbidden thought. Orwell's book is a tribute to the power of language to shape the way we think, and a testament to our minds' tendency to drift into prohibited channels.

Reveal

Simon Wheeler

Music Review REVEAL R.E.M. Warner Bros. 2001 'Living standards have improved beyond recognition. So have leisure opportunities... For a few hundred quid we can holiday at the utmost ends of the earth. We should be having a whale of a time. But mostly we aren't.' (The Times August 28 2000.) A year later Reveal, the latest album from American rock band R.E.M., dramatises these thoughts.

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All that you can't leave behind

Simon Wheeler

Music Review Not so sure All That You Can't Leave Behind U2 Island Records U2 are back. This new album incorporates elements from their three-album excursion into electronica and dance music but this new offering is more Joshua Tree than Zooropa, which will come as a relief to many. Their ability to produce lines that simultaneously enchant and baffle remains undiminished: 'When the night takes a deep breath/And the daylight has no air' (In a Little While). And Bono's voice sounds better than ever.

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Sing When You're Winning

Simon Wheeler

Music Review Which love? Sing When You're Winning

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Kid A

Simon Wheeler

Music Review Kid A Radiohead CD Parlophone Records, 2000 What is the message of this album? Radiohead's critique of contemporary life, signalled by songs such as Fake Plastic Trees, found its most eloquent expression of their last album OK Computer. They became the band who told us that it was okay to be frightened, to be scared of modern life, to be deeply discontented with nothing in particular but profoundly dissatisfied nonetheless. And they remain amazingly popular.

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The Beach

Simon Wheeler

None Review THE BEACH

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Generation X

Simon Wheeler

Book Review Many of us probably know the term 'Generation X'. What we may not know is that it was introduced by Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland as a book title in 1991.

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The Matrix

Simon Wheeler

None Review What kind of world? THE MATRIX

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Pop

Simon Wheeler

CD-ROM Review U2 remain the band capable of putting more meaning into a line than many others manage in a whole album.

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