Posts Tagged Best
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January 10, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
It Was The Best Gig Ever # 16: John Cale, Auckland 2007
Sometimes you just have to be there. You have to get along. To see the legend. Someone that has meant a lot to you – their music, their place in it, and in your life as a result. It doesn’t have to be a mind-blowing gig to make an impact; the real impact is when […]Archive
November 30, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
It Was The Best Gig Ever # 14: Paul Simon, Auckland 2013
I don’t get up to Auckland all that often for gigs. I’d like to. There are a lot of good gigs that come to New Zealand, but only play Auckland: one show only. And it’s the obvious place for one-show-only tours. It has the population. I get to Auckland once a year for a gig. […]Archive
September 30, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 208 – Calexico, Wellington, 2016
I blamed my first experience with Calexico live on it being Art Festival season, an uninspired set, a jewellery-rattling audience, I dunno – I was just underwhelmed…probably me going to 18 shows in about 14 days didn’t help. They had been one of my favourite bands and as a result of that gig they weren’t. […]Archive
May 14, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
One Of Those Silly ‘Never Quite Covers It’ Lists: Some of The World’s Best Bass Players…
Some of the world’s noted “best bass players” work in genres of music that are not always listened to (Marcus Miller) or not always enjoyed (Les Claypool). And, as with any list of “best” or “favourite” instrumentalists there is a divide between choosing the entertainers and the technicians; between opting for flashy showmanship or head-down […]Archive
April 9, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Earworms: The Best and Worst Songs To Have Stuck in Your Head
For some reason this week, the lines “oh, the rain falls hard on a humdrum town/this town has dragged you down” have been circling in my head, repeating in what should have been a near-maddening loop. I say for some reason because I have only listened to the parent-song (The Smiths’ William, It Was Really […]Archive
January 11, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
One Hit Wonders: Your Best and Worst?
What do you think is the biggest one-hit-wonder of all time? And how do we judge this? Many moons ago I wrote a rant – masquerading as a poem or short story – that saw one character get into an argument with another because one was sure that Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade Of Pale […]Archive
December 13, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Up Around The Bend: New Memories Of Old Songs I’m Sure I Like
It is hard to pick favourite songs and be tied to them. In the last 24 hours I have listened to Warren Zevon perform a live version of Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner that lasts for at least 10 minutes. I have watched The Rolling Stones perform Sway (from their super-great Sticky Fingers) on a […]Archive
December 5, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Jordan Luck: New Zealand’s Best (and Most Underrated) Songwriter
I know there’s no such thing as a best – it’s all opinion. I know that. I write these posts and offer my opinion and then you offer yours in the comments below or on social media. This post features some of my thoughts on one of the country’s best songwriters – and I think it […]Archive
November 1, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Digests: The Best of 2016’s Album Reviews – October
A busy month, October. Lots of posts. I got into a bit of theatre-reviewing, there were some conversation and blog-post type things – not just the straight reviews. We debuted a new special guest with Retro Record Reviews and still lots of record reviews too – including plenty of albums by big names in the […]Archive
October 12, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Air: Twentyears
Air Twentyears Rhino/Parlophone It’s a curious idea these days – releasing a hits/best-of comp. Isn’t that what the streaming platforms are for? Can’t you just make your own playlist? Keep buying the records you love but add and subtract songs via iTunes or Spotify or whatever…the alleged ‘death of the album’ was not a call […]Archive
October 4, 2016 by Simon Sweetman