Paul McCartney Egypt Station Capitol Much as I liked NEW the, er, new Paul McCartney album of five years ago, his last studio solo album for a time, it hasn’t aged particularly well. Too many cooks spoiled that broth. But at least it showed the restless creative spirit that is Sir Paul McCartney, former Beatle, […]
The Wellington Film Society showed Santi-Vina last week. This week it’s Paris, Texas. I’ve seen a lot of Wim Wenders films. I’ll watch almost anything that is scored by Ry Cooder. I love Harry Dean Stanton, and Dean Stockwell too for that matter. I’ve read plenty of Sam Shepard including his Motel Chronicles which was […]
Bob Dylan, Hard Rain (1976) Back when we were first getting into Bob Dylan – I say ‘we’, I mean me and a good mate – we would buy up the tapes and CDs and it was pre-internet so we didn’t always know what we were getting; live album, compilation, etc…I mean you could tell […]
Welcome to episode 133 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat. I had a chat with Martyn Pepperell. He’s a Wellington-based DJ, broadcaster, publicist, promoter and writer. Most recently he’s been directly involved with the reissue of Our Garden Needs Its Flowers by Jess Sah Bi & Peter One on […]
I was quite into some of the Belinda Carlisle songs – and through that I found out about how she was once part of a band called The Go-Go’s, many years on I had a double-compilation of Go-Go’s material; pretty good. But no curiosity to check out individual albums. Flash forward many years – and […]
Blicher Hemmer Gadd Omara C-Nut Records Blicher Hemmer Gadd – or “BMG” – is saxophonist Michael Blicher, Hammond organ player Dan Hemmer and master jazz and pop-rock session drummer Steve Gadd. They released a self-titled group album back in 2014 and then took the songs from it – and a few others – out on […]
Joe Jackson, Look Sharp! (1979) I love Joe Jackson – a genius. I’m sure of that. And yet, until just recently I only ever owned this compilation and this collection of live concert highlights; they’re both great records, Stepping Out: The Very Best of Joe Jackson is one of the best-ever single-disc compilations – I […]
the aperture of memory… the old photographs don’t contain me – I broke free found my way to anywhere else, to where(ever) I’m meant to be…out on the road taking stock of anything else – no people, no subject, no reason but to be free. That’s always the reason.
Paul Simon In The Blue Light SMG One of many reasons I’ve enjoyed almost all of Paul Simon’s solo catalogue is the quality-control. Just a dozen albums or so over nearly 50 years. He doesn’t rush. There’s so much in each album – pop songs that extend out into mini symphonies or fizz with their […]
Another example of why this challenge has been good for me. I know of Heaven 17 of course – I even know Temptation very well and a few others. But I have never listened to a Heaven 17 album, at least not knowingly; at least not until I finally sat down with Penthouse and Pavement […]
This piece first appeared on The Spinoff and is also included as one of the pieces in the book “Is It Bedtime Yet?” by Emily Writes & Friends I always wanted a daughter named Billie. Simple really. As soon as I heard Billie Holiday’s voice I was sold. Her voice, that sound, and the idea of her […]
Sinead O’Connor, The Lion and the Cobra (1987) I am not sure of the timeline exactly – I probably heard the second album first, given that was where the big, big hit was, but I do remember staying up late one night and seeing a show that featured songs from this album and the one […]
