Posts Tagged Diary
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November 30, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
The Nostalgic Pull: Forever Grateful
I’ve always been aware of the nostalgic pull; it drives my writing in so many ways. The reason I wanted to get into writing about music in the way that I did was to recap. I used to keep diaries of the albums I bought, the albums I listened to each day. For years I […]Archive
November 1, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Ralph Towner: My Foolish Heart
Ralph Towner My Foolish Heart Deutsche Grammophon/ECM One of my all-time favourite albums by anyone ever is Diary by Ralph Towner. What a beautiful and tranquil thing that is. And I found it because, on a whim, I was desperate for more Ralph Towner because, up to that point, and I guess beyond, one of […]Archive
February 28, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Art Garfunkel: What Is It All But Luminous
What Is It All But Luminous: Notes From An Underground Man Art Garfunkel Knopf; First Edition edition Something like starting from the beginning feels like the right thing to do… Do you remember that clip of Art Garfunkel talking absolute-fucking-balderdash between takes in the studio? For his memoir he’s essentially done the same thing. Why […]Archive
February 14, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Gat This: My Top 10 ‘Guitar’ Albums
A while ago I described something/someone as “guitar music” and was chortled at from all directions; there’s no such thing as guitar music. This is not a genre. This is no way to explain or define music. Andres Segovia and Derek Bailey and Jimi Hendrix and Django Reinhardt and Eddie Van Halen have all made amazing music by approaching the same instrument (or versions of […]Archive
November 7, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Revisiting The Glass Bead Game: James Blackshaw’s Finest
The guy’s name is James Blackshaw. And I had never heard of him. He’s London-based, he’d been alive for less than 30 years and he plays acoustic 12-string guitar and piano. The album that first fascinated me is The Glass Bead Game. I then found out that it is (at least) his eighth album. I’ve […]Archive
March 7, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Nick Cave: The Sick Bag Song
The Sick Bag Song Nick Cave Canongate Books; Main edition Nobody walks the line between hi-brow and gutter-punk, between deeply moving and utterly pretentious quite like Nick Cave. You get the feeling – here – and elsewhere across his canon of songs, movie-scripts, soundtracks, plays and lectures that he knows that too. Knew it first, […]Archive
March 23, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Steve Braunias: Madmen – Inside The Weirdest Election Campaign Ever
Madmen: Inside The Weirdest Election Campaign Ever Steve Braunias Luncheon Sausage Books Hilarious, sharp, a bit bonkers – often perfect. I am of course referring to Braunias’ brand of satire/coverage in this election campaign diary as taken from the pages of Metro and padded out to standalone volume with new intro and outro. But I […]Archive
July 6, 2011 by Simon Sweetman