Author Archive
July 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Lion King: Film
The Lion King Director: Jon Favreau Walt Disney Pictures/Fairview Entertainment This version of The Lion King is so technically dazzling, so bereft of heart, so wide-missing of any emotional mark, so utterly digital and soulless that even though I knew Jon Favreau was the director going in I was still stunned to not see Peter Jackson’s […]
July 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast # 176: Carl Shuker
Welcome to episode 176 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat. Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library. I first met Carl Shuker close to 20 years ago. He […]
July 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
RNZ Reviews: July 2019
Once a month or so I have a chat on RNZ on their Afternoons show with Jesse Mulligan. These things start – randomly and stop in much the same way. I hope to keep doing this. For a while at least. I think I started in December of 2015, so now four years into it or so… […]
July 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 281
Ray Conniff, Ray Conniff’s Hawaiian Album (1967) I think I first learned about Ray Conniff via a Bacharach compilation or tribute album or something…but it was love at first sound. I dig Ray Conniff and his singers. It’s a sound that transcends cheese to me. Or just wallows in it. Either/or. And I’ve been collecting up Conniff albums whenever […]
July 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Mark Mulcahy: The Gus
Mark Mulcahy The Gus The Mezzotint Label/Mark Mulcahy Across the last decade it’s been a time of personal tumult and musical magic for Mark Mulcahy. The death of his wife (in 2008) has meant that any and all musical releases are instantly read as a form of public grieving. There was the brilliant pick-yourself-back-up Dear Mark […]
July 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Film Review – ‘A Star Is Born’
I watched that new version of A Star Is Born – it features Bradley Cooper as a nose fetishist and Lady Gaga as a nose. He was the bad side of Kris Kristofferson, none of the wisdom or insight in the lyrics, none of the heft or deft or breadth – fucking plod-happy nothing-songs that apparently get a crowd. (He fingers the nose to an Allman Brothers song. And 12 first cousins […]
July 8, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Theatre: The Aliens
The Aliens Direction: Cassandra Tse (written by Annie Baker) Te Whaea Basement Theatre (July 4 – 13) An Annie Baker play changed my life – and I’ve yet to see a production of it…you see, I was so blown away by hearing her interviewed, reading about her, seeing the works available that I took a chance on the script for The Flick. […]
July 5, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 282
Beethoven: Herbert von Karajan conducting The Philharmonia Orchestra, Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral (1961) I reckon I was massively into Beethoven above any other classical composers for two obvious and superficial reasons: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and the way they talked about “Beeth Oven” and the more serious Immortal Beloved biopic (and its volumes of soundtrack CDs). When I arrived in Wellington I had some of my grandfather’s […]
July 4, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Album Preview: New Music Coming by Brisa Roché + Single ‘Can’t Stand’ Out Now!
At the start of this year the Brisa Roché album Father consumed me. The first best album I heard in 2019 – my first rave review for the year. And it’s been in my ears, and I’ve been carrying it in my heart, ever since. When you fall so heavily for something the very best news is that new music […]
July 4, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: All This Trouble In The World
Adolf Hitler just wanted to be a painter – someone should have given him an exhibition. Take a chance! Charles Manson wanted to make records – why do you think he befriended the one Beach Boy that could surf? he wanted to soak up the sound… he wrote some songs. certainly managed to get plenty of […]
July 4, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
V/A: Vox Lux [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
Various Artists: Vox Lux [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] Three Six Zero Recordings/Columbia Records Straight up, I’ll tell you that I fucking loved this movie! And I would have been prepared to love the soundtrack just for the Scott Walker score. And when I say that I mean just for exisiting – I was on board with the idea before hearing it, or […]
July 4, 2019 by Simon Sweetman