Author Archive
April 2, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 140
Joan Armatrading, Whatever’s For Us (1972) I saw Joan Armatrading three times – three different shows – before she retired from the live arena, and while I was (and am) a fan, I didn’t really plan to see her three times. It was all assignments. That last time though – really was lovely, I remember […]
April 2, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Knives Out
the CEO of the big magazine company once held a knife to my throat – woke me in the dead of night, and from behind the dead of his eyes he told me in his best drunken disguise, that he very much loved his girlfriend…and that the whorehouses he used – with his discount card […]
April 1, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Muthspiel/Colley/Blade: Angular Blues
Muthspiel/Colley/Blade Angular Blues ECM A half decade back, Austrian guitarist and composer Wolfgang Muthspiel released his debut trio album as a leader for the ECM label. A beautiful record, it was the start of what is now a solid connection with master drummer (and one of the busiest men in music, seemingly) Brian Blade. The […]
April 1, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Madison McFerrin: You + I (ep)
Madison McFerrin You + I (ep) MadFerrin Music / Madison McFerrin Madison McFerrin – yes! Daughter of Bobby – is back with a new EP and a new level of sophistication to her music. Where the earlier EPs showcased her great skills as a multi-level/multi-layering vocalist (apples/trees) here she eases back on the a capella […]
April 1, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Kandace Springs: The Women Who Raised Me
Kandace Springs The Women Who Raised Me Blue Note Records / Capitol Records, LLC Kandace Springs here pays tribute to the female voices that “raised” her; the influences. It’s an immaculate set of choices – some big, big songs (Strange Fruit) and big shoes to try to fill (from Nina Simone to Diana Krall and […]
March 31, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 141
Bruce Springsteen, The River (1980) Of all the Bruce Springsteen albums this is the one I’ve tried the hardest to fall in love with – but I just keep hearing a double-stuffed, overly long set of pub-rock jam that don’t have the necessary pay-off. Sure, there are some good songs. Absolutely. Including a couple of […]
March 31, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: All Hail
Sure, I could point to almost any other Prince album before it and a few after it as being “better” – but the sentimental favourite will always be Prince’s soundtrack to Batman; not the actual score and basically the soundtrack to the movie of Batman that was playing in Prince’s head. Prince the star. Of […]
March 31, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Maria Bamford: Weakness Is The Brand
Maria Bamford Weakness Is The Brand Comedy Dynamics, A Nacelle Company The latest Maria Bamford comedy special is available on VOD services as well as an audiobook file or a CD/Mp3 – she was canned from Netflix after her last special and the two seasons of Lady Dynamite didn’t quite do the numbers – but […]
March 31, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Uncut Gems: Film
Uncut Gems Directors: Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie Elara Pictures / IAC Films / Sikelia Productions / Netflix The Safdie Brothers wowed people with 2017’s Good Time – which was basically Dog Day Afternoon re-cut amongst millennial angst and the pressures of the steely-grey world of today, yet it had – entirely – its own […]
March 30, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: The World Is Turnin’/I Hope Neil Young Don’t Turn Away
Neil Young said that just because his problems were meaningless that didn’t make them go away. He’s said a lot of things but he’s seldom been better than when he said that, when he wrote and recorded On The Beach, in a deep funk, in a sad state, in a depressed rage – his friends […]
March 30, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 142
Kermit Schafer, Pardon My Blooper! (1954) It’s credited to Kermit Schafer – an American TV and radio writer and producer. But that doesn’t concern me at all. This silly, dated, embarrassing, unfunny collection of bloopers is on vinyl. It comes from the 1950s. Many of the moments wouldn’t even raise a dry smile, let alone […]
March 29, 2020 by Simon Sweetman