Posts Tagged Blog On The Tracks
Archive
April 11, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Hardest I’ve Ever Not Worked
People tell you not to read the comments – but you can really learn a lot about yourself. For example: Did you know that I used to earn enough to pay my mortgage by trolling music fans on Stuff? Neither did I. That was definitely news to me. I must have been stuck in that dreary day-job […]Archive
April 11, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Rick-Rolling Through My Tape Collection: Remembering The Generation of Cassette Tapes
I own Rick Astley’s Whenever You Need Somebody on tape. I bought it when it was released. I found that old tape just recently. (I have it on vinyl as well – nutcase!) Buying tapes – it dates you. I mowed lawns to earn money to buy tapes. Then I’d listen to the new tape […]Archive
January 16, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
From The Archives: The Fred Wesley Interview
Sometimes the interview goes better than you could have planned – you’re into it, you want it to go well but the person on the other end of the line is a total pro, more than they they seem real – even if it’s the Staged-Interview Version of Real. So it was for me with […]Archive
November 10, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 472
Bob Dylan, Blood On The Tracks (1975) For nearly nine years I wrote a daily blog called Blog On The Tracks – it wasn’t always about Bob Dylan but then again – it was. He was always on my mind. I mentioned him now and then, wrote specifically about him a few times – but […]Archive
June 30, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
From The Archives: The Tony Joe White Interview
Earlier this year Tony Joe White played a show in Auckland – he’s a regular visitor to our shores, I’ve seen him a bunch of times. I was offered an interview – and agreed – because I’d spoken to him one other time and really enjoyed it. I mean here’s a guy who wrote Rainy […]Archive
October 21, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Finding Hate Mail: Old Friends…
Hate mail is fan mail in this game – a thought that’s probably kept me blogging for seven years… Over the weekend we moved our big three-year-old son into his new big-boy room. That meant listening to a lot of Beastie Boys (fantastic moving/packing/unpacking music) and it meant swapping the home-office and the kid’s bedroom. This […]Archive
October 19, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Bands With Fans I Hate: It’s Not Them…it’s THEM!
You can’t love everything. I’m not only dubious about and suspicious of people who claim to not hate any bands, I can’t value their idea of liking a band, if they like everything – or say that they do. I’ve always maintained the list of bands I love is longer than the list of bands […]Archive
October 19, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
CD Review of Kids of 88’s Sugar Pills: From The Archives
Kids of 88, Sugarpills Placebo: something of no intrinsic remedial value that is used to appease or reassure another. In one common placebo procedure, a patient is given an inert pill, told that it may improve his/her condition, but not told that it is in fact inert. Such an intervention may cause the patient to […]Archive
October 18, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
The Secret Behind Mr Dompling’s Secret: My First Music Book
Mr Dompling’s Secret was one of my favourite books when I was young. It told the story of a classical cellist, keen on Mozart. It had themes of overcoming fears, of being comfortable in your own skin – and of course there was music. Lots of music. It was my introduction to classical music – […]Archive
October 18, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
The Legendary Marvin Pontiac: Legendary Hoax
I only have one album by The Legendary Marvin Pontiac – but given his self-proclaimed “Legendary” status it is probably the right one to have: Greatest Hits. It kicks off with I’m A Doggy and from there the, er, “hits” (I’d never heard any of them before I bought the album) roll on. In fact someone […]Archive
October 17, 2016 by Simon Sweetman