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Posts Tagged Best

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May 26, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Stevie’s Wonder Years

“Stevie Wonder is a musical genius”  – when Eddie Murphy said that I finally had the confirmation. I’d grown up with Stevie Wonder’s music and loved what I knew at that time. But also, when Murphy said it (as part of his influential Delirious) Stevie wasn’t making the greatest music. It was all radio pap, […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 1970s, 1972-1976, Best, Blog, Seventies, Stevie Wonder, Stevie’s Wonder Years, Wonder Years ·

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March 22, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

It Was The Best Gig Ever # 26: Michael Jackson, Auckland 1996

I remember the announcement – tickets on sale the old-school way, you had to line-up; just pre-internet-booking. I thought about sleeping out overnight – but decided against it, I didn’t have a sleeping bag. Could have taken the car and slept in it but decided instead to just have an early night and set the […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 1996, Auckland, Auckland 1996, Best, Best Gig Ever, Gig, It Was The Best Gig Ever, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 26, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 26: Michael Jackson, King of Pop, Live Gig, Michael Jackson, MJ, Music, Pop, To follow me in all the right places check out the Linktree right here. And to subscribe to my Substack newsletter “Sounds Good” click here ·

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March 7, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Playlist: Tears For Fears Sampler

The brand new album by Tears For Fears is their first record together in 17 years. It’s there for you to check out in that link. I’ve given it a couple of listens, some of it is really great. Some of it is just okay. Some of it is a bit WTF? But I’ll charge […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Best, Collection, Compilation, Greatest Hits, Playlist, Playlist: Tears For Fears Sampler, Sampler, Spotify, Starter, Tears for Fears, Tears For Fears Sampler ·

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January 18, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

It Was The Best Gig Ever # 25: Gorillaz, Auckland 2010

After interviewing Damon Albarn I knew I had to go to the Gorillaz concert. Before that I wanted to, sure. But Albarn’s interest in music – his dedication to recreating so much of the Plastic Beach album – made it impossible not to get caught up in the need to be there. So it was off on the plane to Auckland, overnight, for Gorillaz. I […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2010, Akld, Auckland, Auckland 2010, Best, Best Gig, Blog, Bobby Womack, Damon Albarn, De La Soul, Gig, Gorillaz, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, It Was The Best Gig Ever, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 25, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 25: Gorillaz, Little Dragon, Live Gig, Live Music, Plastic Beach, The Clash, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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November 9, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

It Was The Best Gig Ever # 23: Violent Femmes, Wellington 1995

I’ve seen the Violent Femmes a couple of times. Great fun always. I’ll go again I’m sure – I hope. If we ever get past this Covid-thing to the level that we bring the international bands back in, as promised, then the Femmes is one of the bands on the cards – and one I’ll […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 1995, Best, Best Gig Ever, Femmes, Gig, https://linktr.ee/Simonsweetman, It Was The Best Gig Ever, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 23, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 23: Violent Femmes, Mutton Birds, The Violent Femmes, Town Hall, Town Hall Gig, Violent Femmes, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Wellington, Wellington 1995, Wgtn ·

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October 7, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Simply The Best. And Then Some Of The Rest As Well

I still own Bruce Springsteen’s single-disc Greatest Hits and the triple-disc set, The Essential Bruce Springsteen. What about when he released that four-disc box-set Tracks. Then the bastards put out a single-disc version called, somewhat unimaginatively, 18 Tracks. And that featured three songs that were not on the box-set. Man, that’s cruel. I actually tempered my approach to being a completist music […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Best, Compilation, Greatest Hits, https://linktr.ee/Simonsweetman, Simply The Best, Simply The Best. And Then Some Of The Rest As Well, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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October 5, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Happy, Happy Gig Memories

We can’t see (m)any gigs. We can’t have (m)any gatherings. Live music venues are taking a hit. It might all feel doom and gloom – and possibly with the good reason that it actually is rather dooming and very, very gloomy….but we have memories of the past, right? We’ve seen some shows. Some incredible gigs. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Axl Rose, Beach Boys, Best, Best Gigs, Blog, Brian Wilson, Bright Eyes, Concert, George Benson, Gig, Gig Memories, Great Gig Moments, Guns n Roses, Happy, Happy Gig Memories, https://linktr.ee/Simonsweetman, Keb Mo', Melvins, Memories, Paul McCartney, Paul Ubana Jones, Prince, R.E.M., The Beatles, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Wings ·

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September 22, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Genesis: The Last Domino?

Genesis The Last Domino? Atlantic Catalog Group Something made me very nostalgic about this – a Genesis compilation that no one actually needs, and maybe hardly anyone wants. This material is available already and has been compiled several times over. But this exists to plug the farewell tour, for it is – basically – the […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, Best, Compilation, Farewell Tour, Genesis, Genesis: The Last Domino?, Greatest Hits, Phil Collins, The Last Domino?, tlantic Catalog Group, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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December 28, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Best Albums I Reviewed in 2020

For all the talk of it being a shit year and one to forget there was a lot of great music. There was (probably) a lot of shit music too. I tried my best to avoid as much of that as I could but would always call it out if it crossed my path. Black […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 20/20, Album Review, Album Reviews, Best, Blog, List, Off The Tracks, The Best Albums I Reviewed in 2020, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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November 14, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

It Was The Best Gig Ever # 19: Stevie Wonder, Christchurch 2008

I’ve loved Stevie Wonder’s music my whole life. My mum tells the story that one of the records they’d rock me to sleep with was Songs In The Key of Life – which was born the same year as me and makes me think my folks were pretty fucking hip. And so, of course I […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2008, Best, Best Gig Ever, ChCh, Christchurch, Christchurch 2008, Concert, Gig, It Was The Best Gig Ever, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 19, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 19: Stevie Wonder, L.A. Mitchell, Live, Phantom Billstickers, Stevie Wonder, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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September 13, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Dave Clark Five: All The Hits

The Dave Clark Five All The Hits BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd Here in one place is everything. I mean everything! I don’t just mean all the hits by the mighty Dave Clark Five. But basically everything. So much everything that I had to check I hadn’t dropped The Beatles, The Stones, The Monkees, The […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, All The Hits, Best, BMG, Compilation, Dave Clark, Dave Clark Five, DC5, Hits, The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five: All The Hits, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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October 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

RNZ Feature: The “Worst” Songs by The “Best” Bands

I’m usually on RNZ once a month to have a chat about some new albums. But now and then I present features on the show too. Last year I had nearly an hour to explore the music of George Harrison. I followed that up with a chat about Ringo Starr and played some of his best Beatles drum bits […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Afternoons, Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan, Best, Duran Duran, Feature, Jesse Mulligan, Paul Simon, Pink Floyd, Queen, Radio NZ, RNZ, RNZ Feature: The "Worst" Songs by The "Best" Bands, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Police, The worst songs by the best bands, Worst, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·
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