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Elaine Paige and Barbra Dickson, I Know Him So Well [Single] (1984)
I once attended an Elaine Paige concert – and I was there waiting. In the role of the reviewer. So I took out a copy of one of Joan Baez’ memoirs (something I was reading at the time). I read a few pages, until the lights dimmed. Then I pocketed it and sat for the show. It was an okay show, she can sing! Absolutely. But the show tunes didn’t do it for me – not that many all in a row. I was there as a reviewer, and I knew enough about who she was and what she did to know what to expect and to even enjoy some of it. But when I wrote my review I didn’t ‘love’ it enough, obviously. And the crack-up letter that was sent into the paper had an angry fan clutching towards desperation; they said that it was obvious I wasn’t going to enjoy the show since I was, “reading all the way through it”. How that person thought that I could keep reading a book (not on Kindle) when the lights were down, or how they could even see whether I was holding a book was, to me, pretty funny eh! And so I guess I bought this single as a souvenir of that experience. Which is totally unnecessary. But the 50c it cost wasn’t going to break the bank. Not that day anyway.

Sample Track 1: (Side A): I Know Him So Well

Sample Track 2: (Side B): Chess (LSO)

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown Read More »

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September 29, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

David Bowie: Ouvrez Le Chien (Live Dallas 95)

David Bowie

Ouvrez Le Chien (Live Dallas 95)

Parlophone UK

The gates are wide open now, the David Bowie reissues and new releases are pouring. Some are very, very boring. Some didn’t need to happen. But there are some gems – of course. There’s gold in the vault, and probably a bit more to come too. But this year and last we’ve had a few interesting archival live shows. Read More »

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September 28, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Bronze Aged

like a sculptor
with a hangover
i still get up early
to take the edge off

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September 28, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Sitting Room Sessions: Margot Pierard & Wil Sargisson

This guy in Hawke’s Bay started this thing a while back called The Sitting Room Sessions – follow the page on Facebook. Check it out. House concerts, basically. Small gigs. Acoustic, primarily. A sitting audience. Waiting to be entertained, open to hearing anything, sure of quality due to the curation by their host. He’s trusted. He’s proved his credentials by constantly finding the right people to play at the right time. Sometimes it’s as part of a national tour. Sometimes it’s a one-off. He’s had international acts and locals – in the case of Amanda Palmer now I guess it’s both. Read More »

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September 27, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 47

Joni Mitchell, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter (1977)
Joni Mitchell does blackface on this album – or at least on the album cover. It’s not “musical blackface” at all, but it is musical genius – some of her most difficult, challenging and rewarding music is here. When I first heard it I really only loved a quarter of it. A sprawling double album. But as time has gone on it’s one of my favourites. Not quite up there with the two albums that directly precede it – but maybe my third-favourite, or a Top 5 for sure. Worth it for the band alone. As was the way with her 70s albums. But man, the songs. And that voice. And the reach – of both. Just amazing. Been revisiting this a lot lately. And marvelling. As is the only setting with Joni when she’s in full flight. That blackface though. I don’t think there’s ever been an apology. Apparently it’s all just character-play and therefore okay. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Sample Track: Talk To Me

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September 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sean Murray: Avengement [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Sean Murray

Avengement [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Sean Murray

I was watching Avengement the other day on Netflix. I’m a big fan of the Jesse V. Johnson / Scott Adkins vehicles where everything is solved through big barroom beat-em-ups and a bit of martial hurts actually hurts everyone in the end, and during the middle, and also right at the start. Fabulous stuff. Read More »

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September 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Paul Haslinger: Austerlitz

Paul Haslinger

Austerlitz

Artificial Instinct

Paul Haslinger is an Austrian musician and composer based in LA. He was a member of Tangerine Dream through the last 1980s and has contributed to both the programming of and scoring for video games as well as making film and TV soundtracks and working with a range of musicians from the dark ambient master Lustmord through singers like Nona Hendryx and the conceptualist Jon Hassell. Read More »

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September 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Poetry Is Just Something That Happens To Other People

There’s not a whole lot you
need to know about this poem

and you might feel like you know
even less after reading it. And we

can share the blame for that if
you like. Which might be

quite nice. Or it might be
rather awkward. I’ll let you choose.

Which might be quite nice of me.
Or it might just continue the awkwardness.

I’ll let you decide which is the least
I can do. Beyond this poem. Of course.

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September 24, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Darren Watson: Getting Sober For The End Of The World

Darren Watson

Getting Sober For The End Of The World

Lamington Records / Real Deal Productions

Wellington-based singer/songwriter Darren Watson has a new album out. And I’m pretty sure it’s his best. I thought that last time, admittedly. But I reckon Getting Sober trumps the also-wonderful Too Many Millionaires. And speaks, then, to the hallmark of quality and consistency. The new album is warmer, earthier, it relies less on the rigidity of the blues, instead it takes that form of soul music as its heart and starting place and reaches out. Here you will hear upbeat rattlers (Alison Jane) and slow-churn balladry (Another Day). You will hear mischievous jubilance (the title track) and utter sadness soaked through simmering rage (Ernie Abbott). And you might think of John Hiatt and Elvis Costello and Lyle Lovett as much as you think of The Blues^TM – which is great, because I’m pretty sure Darren is thinking of those things at least as often as he’s thinking of The Blues^TM.

Sober sits alongside Millionaires as something of a companion, or a next step; they are the most alike and like-minded of any two albums in Watson’s catalogue. But there’s more variation on the new album and I also think he’s in the best voice of his career. The vocal performances on the dirge-tempo Another Day and Ernie Abbot are extraordinary. When he lets out a blues wail (One Evil Man, Broken, Preachin’ Blues) it’s pure testifyin’. Read More »

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September 23, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 231: Geoff Stahl

Welcome to episode 231 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys

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.

Here I had a conversation with Geoff Stahl. He is Head of School for English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. He is also a record collector and DJ (TV Disko). Read More »

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September 23, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Neil Young: The Times EP

Neil Young

The Times EP

Reprise / Amazon Music

Neil Young has been one of my favourite voices of lockdown – I quickly got bored with live-streamed house-gigs. Zooming in on musicians attempting to heal the world, make it a better place was fine in our first reaches of housebound panic but it felt, for the most part, self-serving and privileged in some cases, annoying and desperate in others. And I know I’m not necessarily going to find favour with people saying that. It’s a stony heart that decides that anyone sharing their gift for free, or minimal fee, is some sort of hindrance or on the take. But I sought my solace in old movies rather than ramshackle musical performances. Read More »

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September 23, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 48

Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska (1982)
I’ve been about as uninterested in Bruce Springsteen as can be lately – not regretting the years I was a fan or anything like that but just so wound up about it. He’s really a gurning clown. This has been on my mind a bit over the last couple of years basically. And then the Broadway show really gave me the shits. And all of the recent stuff. There’s not been an even halfway decent album in over a decade. And so I went back through the whole catalogue. I like bits and pieces from the first two when he was eager to find his way and bursting at the seams. I like some of the “classic” stuff you hear on the radio still or on the overplayed albums between 75-85 but really there are only two albums of his I actually like and want to hear more than once every now and then. And they are this record and Darkness On The Edge of Town. Darkness is actually the very best of him with his E-Street Band. And this one became the blueprint for sad-sack solo Bruce. So both are good options to carry. They’re about the only records of his I have now. Even sometimes I get the shits with Nebraska, like it’s more about what it symbolises and how it was a determined stripping down, a retreat. It actually doesn’t quite sit nicely together and it’s the rough hinges of it that arguably makes it what it is. That rawness just isn’t there anymore. It’s all sneering polish. And mostly garbage as a result. Like the big cover up is that stupid-ass grin. Read More »