The Vinyl Countdown

Split Enz, Conflicting Emotions (1983)
Tim was on the way out – and keen to be a solo star – Neil was on the way up, about to become the band-leader, a role he’s basically held with regard to whatever he does ever since. So this, the second to last studio album by Split Enz is well named; an indication of the moods and moodiness involved. It’s got two big singles from Neil that carry it – Straight Old Line and Message To My Girl but it has more besides that. There are four songs by Tim and then the lion’s share comes from Neil’s pen. Though it isn’t ever likely to be anyone’s favourite Enz record it does have some good material on it. And I’ve grown to like it a lot. Tim’s songs too. Not just Neil’s big hits. It’s part of the story of the Enz. So for that alone it would always get the big tick from me. But just recently it’s been on the heavy rotation list. This version comes with a bonus 12” single of Kia Kaha and Parasite.

Sample Track: Working Up An Appetite

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

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March 19, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 326

The Incredible Jimmy Smith Featuring Kenny Burrell and Grady Tate, Organ Grinder Swing (1965)
This was a no-brainer for me. For not only am I a huge Jimmy Smith fan, I’m into Kenny Burrell and Grady Tate too. In fact it’s the idea of this combo that sells me, particularly. And if anything I’m particularly focused on Grady Tate right now – such a great touch, as both a pop/rock and jazz player. So many sessions. So many wonderful recordings. And he always did the right thing. This is loose and warm and free-flowing, classic organ-trio stuff. I left it on hold at the record store for some time. And just picked it up recently. Very glad to have it in the connection. Read More »

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March 15, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 327

Split Enz, I Hope I Never [Single] (1980)
What a song this is! Where did it come from? What does it mean? There’s a story – a rumour, perhaps – about the triggering of this song. I know about that. You probably do too. But what I mean is the inspiration for not only the lyrics, the melody and the shaping of it but the performance. Stunning work from Tim Finn, he was never better (and perhaps never more bitter?) and Eddie Rayner is sublime here. The lyrics, separated are kinda corny, sorta silly (“I’m gonna move to a new town/where the people are nice”) but taken as a whole it’s a stunning modern torch ballad. Oh to be a fly on the wall when the phone call that allegedly inspired this went down. I already own the album that houses this Split Enz classic but I’ve long been after the actual single. Now I have it. I hope I never have to buy again. I hope I never have to try again. (I’ll have to move it to a new shelf where the security is tight!) etc…

Sample Track 1: (Side A): I Hope I Never

Sample Track 2: (Side B): The Choral Sea

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March 10, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 328

Superturtle, Student Flat Reunion (2018)
Some Superturtle albums are better than others, but the ones I’ve heard have all had something, and won me over in some way. This is maybe the best realisation of the band’s skills and sound and Darren McShane’s writing is super-great right here. I’ve already said all I really need to say about this album in a review – but I’m including it here because the vinyl LP was sent through for review. This is never expected, but always a nice tough. In this case the album is 18 tracks, so rather than do a 3-sided or double-LP they’ve pressed 13 songs to vinyl and included a CD with the full 18 tracks. A good solution. Makes for two different listening experiences ultimately. That’s kinda cool. I look forward to giving this a spin or three for many months and years to come… Read More »

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March 8, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 329

Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band, Night Moves (1976)
Is this the best Bob Seger album? I think so. Worth it for the title track alone. Here we listen through nearly six minutes of Seger’s failed, failing and nearly-getting-there attempts to fuck, his teenage lust laid, erm, bare. And then that final onanistic wail. Talk about payoff. It is basically dripping down the wall as we move to the next track. (Sorry! / Not Sorry!) I love Bob Seger in the 70s. And the very early 80s. His Greatest Hits CD was such a staple that one year our family all received copies of it – can’t remember quite how it worked but I think my brother bought it for me, I bought it for my folks and they bought him a copy. That’s the mark of many family road-trips spent listening to the old man’s old Seger tapes eh…But of course Night Moves isn’t just the title track. It’s a killer album. I’ll add The Fire Down Below to this – which, okay, only shows that Seger had fucking on his mind a lot back then. But he was newly famous and his star was burning bright. Wasn’t the only thing, apparently. Read More »

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March 6, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 330

Last Man Standing, This Sporting Life (1986)
Trust your instincts, I say. And have a browse, and a guess. And see what happens…What am I talking about? Okay, exactly this: A few weeks ago I was in Auckland, in a record store browsing, and I found this and at first I thought, “Oh my god it’s This Sporting Life” but I knew of no such album as “Last Man Standing” but I buy it anyway, because a) I’m intrigued and b) I see that it’s engineered and produced by one: Steve Garden (for more on him click that link to check out my podcast interview with him). I knew Steve to be a marker of quality. And as soon as I got this home to play I realised it’s actually a band called “Last Man Standing” – ie it’s the work of Ross Mullins. (I had heard of him). And so, a really great find. Not what I was initially looking for – and now what I am loving listening to. Good score. Read More »

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March 1, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 331

Jimmy Rushing, The Bluesway Sessions (1967)
It’s harder to do it now –we second-guess ourselves, look things up, more likely have information shoved at us, our brains becoming these weird microfiche-systems, but I still like the idea of walking into the record store and buying something on a whim; the impulse buy. And the other week I managed a wee gem. My microfiche-system told me that my mum had some Jimmy Rushing songs on a compilation, or that I saw his name in the credits somewhere being that the great journeyman singer did the rounds singing with big bands, singing that blues-jazz hybrid. But I can’t tell you a whole heap about him and I had certainly never heard him – not knowingly. So I saw this album and bought it. Decided it was for me. On that day. If it was a dud I was willing to risk it. And it’s not. It’s pretty great. I like doing that gut-instinct thing still. As often as I can. While I still can. Everything’s being automated. But buying vinyl – by virtue of the format and the nostalgia and connections wrapped up in it – should never feel like an automated process. Read More »

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February 22, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 332

Icehouse, Crazy [Single] (1987)
I have a story about the album Man of Colours which I have already shared – and if you can’t be bothered clicking on that link it’s, simply, that I heard the album blaring down the street on the very last day of primary school. My mum would buy a new album every week and blast it and I vividly recall hearing Man of Colours as I walked up the street. Side two was on as I jumped in the pool. The end of primary school. The start of summer. So vivid. And that was, really, my introduction to Icehouse. It would turn out, when I worked back, that I had heard some of the key songs from the earlier albums and I now love those albums too – but this was the thing. This song maybe in particular (since it was side one, track one) and that album. And I still love it. And Icehouse. Just recently I bought this, and now I think I have to collect up all the Man of Colours singles. Well, we’ll see…

Sample Track 1: (Side A): Crazy

Sample Track 2: (Side B): Completely Gone Read More »

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February 19, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 333

Sheena Easton, Sugar Walls [Single] (1984)
I was pretty into Sheena Easton across the 1980s. First off she had the Bond theme from the first James Bond movie I ever saw, then she had this association with Prince. She had a few big hits on the charts too, anyway, but the Prine-thing was a deal-sealer for me. I can’t remember not being a Prince fan. It’s been my whole life. And Sugar Walls is one of the great Prince song giveaways (along with Sheila E.’s Erotic City – although he sorta still owned that one). Apparently the video for Sugar Walls was banned because of the lyrics of the song. People didn’t like hearing about those internal sugar walls. And the licking they were going to get. Etc. Well, it was the mid-80s….When I first heard this song I was oblivious to any of that, just liked it as a song. Still do. But now I hear the lyrics and crack-up at some of the scandals with song lyrics back then…

Sample Track 1: (Side A): Sugar Walls

Sample Track 2: (Side B): Double Standard

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

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February 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 334

Pet Shop Boys, Introspective (1988)
Probably the biggest love affair I’m having now with a band from the past is Pet Shop Boys. Always liked them. A big band – with huge singles – when I was a kid. And the first two albums were packed with highlights and I had a copy of the greatest hits CD through all my student-flatting-daze, sure. But only now I’m really getting through the albums, including some of the later ones. Yeah, the odd one in the 00s would turn up to review and was usually good, if not great. But it’s only been just recently that I’ve marvelled at the sheer sophistication of this work – how it’s an Read More »

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February 14, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 335

Hothouse Flowers, Don’t Go [Single] (1988)
Hothouse Flowers – good band! Saw them live a couple of times, once still in their ascendancy and then many years on. They still sounded great. Good show. Very capable. But it was a school night. In a wee pub down the road. And no one seemed to really give a fuck – beyond a few passionate lifelong fans. That first time was in a giant stadium. And they were the opening act (double-bill of sorts with Dire Straits) but loads of people were there only to see Hothouse Flowers; many even left, I’d have stayed to see the headliners anyway (I mean, I did because I was there mostly for Dire Straits, but you know what I mean, take a punt, you’re there already…) Anyway, good band. And though I’ve heard and had several of their records over the years I really feel like this is the defining song. Almost in an Albatross kind of way. A bit of a millstone maybe. I still choose to hear it like the milestone that it was when I first heard it. Way back…

Sample Track 1: (Side A): Don’t Go

Sample Track 2: (Side B): Saved
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

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February 12, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 336

Don Henley, The Boys of Summer [Single] (1984)
Confession time – all this “I hate the fuckin’ Eagles shit” (and I mean that by the way, always!) – but I have a soft spot for some of the solo stuff. And I include amongst that not very much by Don Henley but most certainly this song. A banger. A gem. I dunno. A staple. That line about “the Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac” – that’s a sharp reference. Something about this, its rhythm, its urgency, the production, the story being dragged along almost entirely by and through nostalgia. I like this a lot. I used to have the solo Henley greatest hits comp, but save for a killer drum performance by Vinnie Colaiuta on Garden of Allah I really only loved this. So now I have the single. And it’s such a case of being only-interested-in-the-single that I don’t even plan to ever check out the b-side.

Sample Track : (Side A): The Boys of Summer
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