Sonny Rollins, The Sound of Sonny (1957) One of the earlier Sonny Rollins albums – his first for the Riverside label. Well he’d made several albums by this point, and all rather quickly, over a couple of years, but 1957 is a crucial, pivotal year. And I think of this as one of the earliest […]
Tom Rogerson with Brian Eno Finding Shore Dead Oceans Tom Rogerson is from the British experimental rock trio Three Trapped Tigers. Where, in that context he was vocalist and keyboardist here he submits his piano offerings – with some synths and electronic ideas – to ambient-music’s overlord Brian Eno. It’s collaboration in that Mercurical Eno […]
Here’s another where I can’t really explain myself – I’m really a big fan of Robyn Hitchcock, I continue to check out his material (mostly great) and I have a few favourite albums by him. And yet the band he was in, The Soft Boys, has sat neglected – I had a compilation album and […]
Following the success of June’s pop-up record fair at the Rogue and Vagabond – the good news is that A Vinyl Affair – Wellington’s Record Fair will be back there, doing the day shift this time. It’ll be Saturday October 6, from 10am-4pm. As always there’ll be a huge range of vinyl treasures – new and second-hand […]
Welcome to episode 129 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat. Here I talk with one of my all-time musical heroes, Suzanne Vega. We are in a hotel restaurant and there is some background noise. Just a warning. What a thrill to meet her and speak with her. I flew […]
Tom Lehrer, An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer (1959) I bought a lot of Tom Lehrer CDs but all because of this one – this was the one I heard first, and it tells the story of his talent – if you hate this, no point looking, or listening further. He was a Harvard lecturer, […]
But then he took a break.
And the couple of months off has seen a few changes to the setlist. Gone are the Sinatra-era evergreens, in place a couple of kick ass songs from the back-back-catalogue in Gotta Serve Somebody – seems to be the set-closer at the moment. And When I Paint My Masterpiece, back in the set for the first time in seven or eight years. Continue reading
John Carpenter Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 Scared Bones Records John Carpenter – like John Waters – finds himself at 70 years of age and with one of the sideline aspects of his filmmaking career now being the new main revenue stream. For Waters it’s writing and delivering his one-man-show, for Carpenter it’s music. They’re both […]
The Wellington Film Society’s program is back after an amazing run of Film Festival movies to keep everyone busy – and (for the most part) happy. Now we’re back to regular weekly Film Society offerings. And first up after the winter break is Baden Baden by Rachel Lang. A coming-of-age comedy about a ditzy French […]
I love John Prine, he’s a songwriter’s songwriter, a hero to many – though not as well known as he should be. He’s going to have even more of a following if he keeps behaving the way he is right now on Instagram. He started following me – and I didn’t even tweet about it […]
I just have no idea what albums I’ve heard by The Cramps – but I do know I’d never heard this until the book told me to try it. I don’t even know when or how I first heard The Cramps – the sort of band that feels like it always existed and was also […]
Peter Perrett How The West Was Won Domino Recording Co Ltd. My favourite album of 2017 – and I forgot to mention it until just now – was easily Peter Perrett’s How The West Was Won. Remarkable for many reasons, not least because it was the debut solo albums, arriving some 30 years after he […]
