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Posts Tagged Biography

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January 25, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

A Natural Woman: Theatre

A Natural Woman: Celebrating The Music of Carole King Producer: Ali Harper & Iain Cave (Ali-Cat Productions) Circa Theatre; Circa One (January 19 – February 22) Ali Harper has form with these shows. She takes a musician – be it singer (Doris Day) or writer (Burt Bacharach) and explores their best known material in a […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged A Natural Woman, A Natural Woman: Celebrating The Music of Carole King, Ali Harper, Biography, Carole King, Celebrating The Music of Carole King, Circa, Circa One, Circa Theatre, Circa Theatre; Circa One (January 19 – February 22), Francis Leota, Francis Meria, Gig, https://linktr.ee/Simonsweetman, Musical, Nick Granville, Play, Play Review, Producer: Ali Harper & Iain Cave (Ali-Cat Productions), Scott Maynard, Show, Theatre, Theatre Review, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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October 8, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

What’s The Worst Music Bio You’ve Read?

I’ve never been as disappointed by a music bio/auto-bio as I was when reading the Bernard Purdie one; it’s hard to know what the book was even trying to be – it’s written in third person but claims to be an autobiography, there’s no attempt to even ‘get’ Purdie’s voice, there’s no real attempt to hide […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Autobiography, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Biography, Blog, Book, Book Reviews, https://linktr.ee/Simonsweetman, Let The Drums Speak, Let The Drums Speak! The Life Story of the World’s Most Recorded Drummer, Memoir, Reading, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, What's The Worst Music Bio You've Read?, Worst, Worst Music Bio, Writing ·

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June 29, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

In Praise of Tom Stoppard

A brand new biography of Tom Stoppard has just hit the shelves in America (it was released late last year in the UK). So I read this piece in the New Yorker and wondered if that is actually as close as I might get to reading the book. It’s most likely I will buy it. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Biography, Books, Drama, Film, In Praise Of, In Praise of Tom Stoppard, Movies, Play, Playwright, Script, Tom Stoppard, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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March 22, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Amanda Sewell: Wendy Carlos – A Biography

Wendy Carlos: A Biography Amanda Sewell Oxford University Press Wendy Carlos is one of the great pioneers of electronic music, champion of the Moog, creator of mesmerising soundtracks (A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, TRON) and as well as recontextualising classical music to make one of the genre’s all-time best sellers, it is likely she also […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged A Clockwork Orange, Amanda Sewell, Amanda Sewell: Wendy Carlos - A Biography, Biography, Book Review, Classical, Composer, Critical Biography, Electronic, Music, Musician, Oxford University Press, Pioneer, Soundtrack, Switched-On Bach, The Shining, TRON, Walter Carlos, Wendy Carlos, Wendy Carlos: A Biography, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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March 16, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Michael Allred w/ Steve Horton and Laura Allred: BOWIE: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams

BOWIE: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams Michael Allred w/ Steve Horton and Laura Allred Insight Comics There are some extraordinary graphic memoirs and bios – the vision, the way the colourist and artist combine with the writer to tell a story. A shining example of this (still relatively new) form is this tribute to David […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Biography, Book, Book Review, Bowie, BOWIE: Stardust, David Bowie, Graphic Non-Fiction, Graphic Novel, Insight Comics, Laura Allred, Memoir, Michael Allred, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams, Stardust Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams, Steve Horton, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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February 22, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Sara Dallin & Keren Woodward: Really Saying Something (Sara & Keren) – Our Bananarama Story

Really Saying Something: Sara & Keren – Our Bananarama Story Sara Dallin & Keren Woodward Cornerstone / Penguin This cool summer I got hooked on the song Cruel Summer – and hooked again on Bananarama for the first time in absolutely years. So giddy with the rush of nostalgia I wrote a goddamn poem about […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Bananarama, Band, Band Biography, Biography, Bok, Book, Book Review, Cruel Something, Keren Woodward, Our Bananarama Story, Pop, Really Saying Something, Really Saying Something: Sara & Keren – Our Bananarama Story, Sara and Keren, Sara Dallin, Sara Dallin & Keren Woodward, Sara Dallin & Keren Woodward: Really Saying Something (Sara & Keren) – Our Bananarama Story, Siobhan Fahey, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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February 9, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

RNZ Reviews: February 2021

Once a month or so I have a chat on RNZ on their Afternoons show with Jesse Mulligan. I’ve been doing it for about five years now. Most months. This was my first time in for 2021. I didn’t review a whole lot of music over summer – but I did get hooked on some things, especially things […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged 2021, Afternoons, Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan, Album Reviews, Albums, Bananarama, Biography, Book, Brian Eno, Cruel Summer, Feb, February 2021, Film Music 1976 - 2020, Hillbilly Elegy, Jesse Mulligan, Karate Kid, Radio, Review, Reviews, RNZ, RNZ Reviews, RNZ Reviews: February 2021, Under ·

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December 18, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Books That Blew My Mind # 1: “Is That It?” by Bob Geldof

Is That It?, by Bob Geldof I’m often asked what my favourite music bio is – or favourite “music book” – and the answer I usually want to give is this, Bob Geldof’s autobiography. Except it isn’t really about music – and it wasn’t really the book that lit the fuse for me. It was […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Autobiography, Biography, Bob Geldef, Book, Books That Blew My Mind, Books That Blew My Mind # 1, Books That Blew My Mind # 1: “Is That It?” by Bob Geldof, Boomtown Rats, Is That It?, Live Aid, Music Book, Pink Floyd The Wall, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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December 20, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

Parker Posey: You’re On An Airplane

You’re On An Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir Parker Posey Blue Rider Press In the 1990s Parker Posey started appearing in movies; quirky films, funny films. She was savage or sexy or cheeky or some combination of those things – she was weird and wonderful, a little odd and a lot of wonderful. She was a […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged 90s, A Self-Mythologizing Memoir, Acting, Actor, Autobiography, Biography, Blue Rider Press, Book, Book Review, Christopher Guest, Film, Memoir, Movies, Nostalgia, Parker Posey, Parker Posey: You’re On An Airplane, TV, Writer, Writing, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, You’re On An Airplane, You’re On An Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir ·

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December 9, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

Michael Diamond/Adam Horovitz: Beastie Boys Book

Beastie Boys Book Michael Diamond/Adam Horovitz Spiegel & Grau It finally arrived – after so much talk and plenty of hype, the memoir of The Beastie Boys written by its two surviving members. When Adam Yauch (MCA) died from cancer in 2012 that was the end of the group. Respectfully and realistically Michael Diamond (Mike […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Adam Horowitz, Adam Yauch, AdRock, Autobiography, Band, Band Biography, Beastie Boys, Beastie Boys Book, Bio, Biography, Book, Book Review, MCA, Memoir, Michael Diamond, Michael Diamond/Adam Horovitz, Michael Diamond/Adam Horovitz: Beastie Boys Book, Mike D, Spiegel & Grau, The Beastie Boys, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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April 9, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

I Wrote The Liner Notes For Darren Watson’s New Album – Too Many Millionaires

I’ve been asked a few times to write testimonials – mostly for funding applications, for an artist seeking a residency or some such. Once or twice I’ve been asked to writer liner notes. Most recently Darren Watson asked me if I’d contribute some words to his brand new, upcoming album, Too Many Millionaires. I was […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2018), Biography, Blues, Darren Watson, DW, I Wrote The Liner Notes For Darren Watson’s New Album, I Wrote The Liner Notes For Darren Watson’s New Album – Too Many Millionaires, Liner Notes, Liners, LP, May 1, NZ Tour, Singer/Songwriter, Too Many Millionaires, Vinyl, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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September 19, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Mick Wall: Prince – Purple Reign

Prince: Purple Reign Mick Wall Trapeze Three months after the shock death of Prince Mick Wall releases this biography, well it purports to be a biography – there’s nothing new here and nothing for any Prince fan to learn. The book begins with the 911 call which seems particularly cold. But this is Mick Wall […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Biography, Book, Book Review, Mick Wall, Prince, Prince - Purple Reign, Purple Rain, Purple Reign ·
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