The Vinyl Countdown

Head Like A Hole, 13 (1993)
Last year Head Like A Hole decided to release their debut full-lengther and take it on tour – I missed the show, but didn’t miss getting the LP. I love the band – their best work still stands and they’re always a good live show. I’ve seen them a bunch of times and will always try to get along. But I wasn’t in town when they first started, the 13 era and the even earlier years…but I do remember, fondly, hearing Fish Across Face and sorta wondering what the fuck I was hearing (and seeing) – but in the best possible way. I’ve been on board since then. And though I think the band should have moved to Las Vegas and got a residency in a dive bar 20 years ago (they’d be playing there still, nailing it) I’m also glad they’re ours to keep. Booga even signed my copy of this album. Shot! Read More »

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November 4, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 362

Soft Cell, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981)
What kind of record collection doesn’t have Soft Cell’s version of Tainted Love in it? Er, mine! (Until just very recently). Look, I maybe even do have it somewhere, on a compilation, and it’s slipped my mind, but it was certainly a plan to get the original/official album at some point. And though I do like Soft Cell – it took me until very recently to even hear the album – it was in fact, as part of my lunacy that is going through the 1001 Albums book and listening to anything I hadn’t previously heard that I first heard Soft Cell’s Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. Then, just a few days later I saw a nice copy of the album in the store, tucked it aside and went back to it. I knew some of the songs on this album already – not just Tainted – because I had owned some sort of Best Of on CD and because David Bloody Gray covered one, and so on…but geez, fuck, it really is a great album. And so it’s good to (finally have heard it and) have it. Read More »

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November 1, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 363

Carly Simon, Spy (1979)
This is just my experience of course but I feel like Carly Simon is an artist brutally underrepresented by her Greatest Hits, particularly Her Greatest Hit. And look, I still like that song and all, but I just sat with a budget Greatest Hits comp on CD for years and didn’t dig deeper. But there’s a catalogue there full of riches. I got to this album only recently – part of research on Steve Gadd – a drum hero (and I was lucky enough to sit in on a radio interview with him). In my refresher of so many of his great album cuts and various performances I came to this Carly Simon album. Specifically the closer her, a majestic, Joni Mitchell-esque epic called Memorial Day; it’s worth it for Gadd’s efforts alone, and yet there’s so much more to the song of course. It’s worth hearing (and having) the album for that track alone. And yet there are no duds. It’s a brilliant record. And what do you know, a week after interviewing Gadd (and of course his performances on this album weren’t even hinted at) I found a copy of this album in a junk-store. Perfect find. And glad to have it. And my Carly Simon collection finally moves past Greatest Hits… Read More »

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October 26, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 364

Randy Newman, Dark Matter (2017)
My favourite album of 2017 – and my most-played album of 2017 too – was this. No surprise, anyone reading will know I’m a huge Randy Newman fan. Have been since I first heard about him, saw him interviewed; was a fan before I even heard his music – turns out I’d heard heaps of his music (cover versions of songs he’d written and film scores) before I started collecting up his studio albums. I adore them. All of them. But there are a small handful in particular that I think are about as good as music gets; certainly as good as deceptively simple songwriting gets. These days he has a lucrative film-composer gig. And he only makes albums when he feels like it. A great luxury that he worked incredibly hard for. So it was super exciting to hear about Dark Matter. And at first I meant to review it. Then I decided – and this has been the case across the last couple of years – that it’s nice to have a favourite album you don’t write about. You keep it for yourself. That’s been the case with me and this. And now, finally, I have the LP. Read More »

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October 23, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 365

Phil Judd, Rendezvous [Single] (1983)
They say “never meet your heroes” – I don’t agree. I’ve been lucky to meet a few; to interview some, sit on a panel with others, even had one stay at my house once…amazing. All good things. But perhaps don’t ask your heroes about your favourite things you think they’ve done. I once asked Phil Judd – it was the first time I talked to him (a phone interview that lasted a couple of hours) about his Private Lives album; it wasn’t fond memories. But I like the music that came from it. We all have different perspectives though – I don’t think he was happy with anything else going on around it, as much as it was about the music. And that’s something you can never really know as the outsider. I found this – a single from that album – just recently. I reckon it’s a great wee tune! Read More »

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October 15, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 366

Schnell-Fenster, Love Hate Relationship [Single] (1988)
I’m collecting up the Schnell-Fenster singles now; had a couple earlier on and sold them – got them again now. And picking up others. Just an incredible band. And it felt like such a secret to me – back when I discovered this group, and the connections leading to (and coming from) Split Enz. My brother and me. We were the only fans of this music – for a while. That’s what we thought. Then you find someone else that’s heard of it, or you turn someone on. A true rush. I listen to the original album in particular – which I love and I can’t believe it’s not better known, more closely guarded, if not better regarded…I dunno, impossible not to start some ramble when thinking of this band. Plus, you collect up the singles you get even more of Phil Judd’s artwork. The A and B sides here are both from the ‘Trees’ album. But still nice to have this 7”. Read More »

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October 11, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 367

Reb Fountain, Hopeful // Hopeless (ep) (2017)
Just last week I met Reb Fountain – we had a chat for my podcast – and you’ll get to hear that in good time if you check back in. I also got Reb to sign my copy of this album, one of two she released last year after waiting quite some time. I love this wee EP – but it wasn’t my introduction to her. I was there at the start, a decade or so ago – a bit longer actually – when she released a couple of pretty fine records. Then there was life. Lots of life. Kids. And money. And setbacks. And comebacks. And this record is part of a big comeback. She’s made music with other people and then plenty again under her name. And we’ll have more to look forward to. But for now this is a treasured possession: the music is gorgeous, convincing, heartfelt, real. Read More »

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October 5, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 368

Electric Light Orchestra, Out of the Blue (1977)
Jeff Lynne has never been cool/Jeff Lynne has always been cool. Jeff Lynne might live until he’s about 189 I think. He lives for making music. And he is wonderful at it. Here, with his band/under the band name Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) he made a double album which he took less than one month to write, and the third side of it is a self-contained “Symphony”. Anyone reading this will know – already – that I’m a huge Lynne/ELO fan. I’m slowly (and now quickly) collecting up everything. For years I lived with just that classic Best Of on vinyl and the Double Best Of on CD. That was enough. And I knew a few of the albums. But in the last wee while I’ve started finding the studio albums on vinyl including Lynne’s one solo album of original material (which I consider a lost classic); I’m chasing up all his production work too. I have some of it – but not all. Not yet. One day it will all be mine. I really do think he’s a genius. Finding out that Sam Neill is a fan of ELO really thrilled me. Finding out anyone is a fan pleases me so much. Genius pop music. And this contains Mr. Blue Sky which some days – and I’m sure you’ll all agree – is absolutely the greatest, most joyous slice of pop music ever. Read More »

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October 1, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 369

Tina Turner, Private Dancer (1984)
Of all the giant pop stars of the 1980s the most remarkable – in terms of actual “comeback” – was surely Tina Turner. Her life-story would later be told in a book and a film – and across the 1990s she rode on the goodwill (and good music) she had created the decade earlier. Just a huge comeback – and it was a bit part of my childhood listening. My mum loved this album and the one that followed; the songs embedded in my brain. Lots of covers – really interesting takes too. And the title song here – written by Mark Knopfler! I would go on to ask him about that in a conversation. That song, him writing it, Jeff Beck playing on it…all of that fascinates me to this day. A lot of other good material here too. I had to buy the album again just recently to remember it all; had to have it… Read More »

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September 24, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 370

Burt Bacharach, Make It Easy On Yourself (1969)
Many things have drawn me to the music of Burt Bacharach – that line in the Monty Python film where his music is used as the very embodiment of naff and out of touch; the 90s/00s re-appreciation of his music; the fact that Hal David seems largely absent from the celebrations and reappraisals, it’s all about the melodies and music, not about the lyrics it seems – despite the fact that they’re pop songs, require singing (for the most part); the hidden/ish backstory that the man that wrote so many memorable melodies is – by many accounts – actually a bit of a cunt. All of these things have long fascinated me about this man and his music. And so, to this day, I generally never turn down the chance to find some compilation or an original album either by Bacharach or featuring many of his songs. Here’s one of his orchestra-y/muzak-y takes on his own music. I got this just the other day, time to kill and a charity-story there for the looking-in. $1 later, I’m very happy (again). Read More »

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September 18, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 371

Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run (1975)
Maybe this is the very best – and the very worst of Bruce Springsteen all in one. I mean, we open with Thunder Road which is his none-more-perfect song; a song So-Springsteen that any of the other “next Bob Dylans” have framed their copies of the lyric sheet with their own ejaculate caught between the paper and the glass. On the other hand, as it were, there’s songs like She’s The One which might be a good argument that The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s “Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul” set-piece was the Best Ever Bruce Springsteen Parody; or at least the encapsulation of Every.Other.Song.By.The.Boss and if I hear one more cunt go on about the fucking sax-solo on Jungleland I’m going to turn my tenor into a soprano simply by shoving it right up their fucking arse. All that said, most days of the week I quite like Bruce Springsteen. And this album too. Read More »

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September 17, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 372

Schnell Fenster, Ok Alright A Huh Oh Yeah [Single] (1990)
I loved Schnell Fenster. I love Schnell Fenster still. But discovering them, finding out all about this band – not just Phil Judd but other ex-Split Enz members too – it was just a whole new world, my mind was blown. I was about 10 or 11 when the first album came out, I must have heard it just shortly after. And then the second record. Here’s a 12” single taking from it – the title track – appearing in extended and album versions and a great b-side, from the original album. A friend chucked this my way just recently, knowing I’m a fan. It’d be worth it for the cover image alone. But of course it’s Phil Judd. So it’s worth it for the music too. I don’t think he looks too fondly on the Schnell material, or the era anyway; it wasn’t the greatest time for him personally. But the music on the two albums by this band is some of my all-time favourite music by anyone ever. Read More »