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Posts Tagged Diary

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August 1, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Isn’t Music The Best? Oh, And How Good Are Rhetorical Questions By The Way?

Hey there, and guess what? I found – on vinyl! – (I always hear that in the voice from Half Baked when they say, “on weed!”) the score to Twin Peaks. I consider this a holy grail, basically. I am so thrilled to have this. I didn’t have time to sit and listen to it […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged [OST], And How Good Are Rhetorical Questions By The Way?, Blog, Diary, Isn’t Music The Best?, Isn’t Music The Best? Oh, Music Journalism, Oh, Score, Soundtrack, Stranger Things, The Bodyguard, 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, Twin Peaks, Vinyl, Writing ·

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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 […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Alan White, Blog, Blogs, Brian Wilson, Demian Dorelli, Diary, Forever Grateful:, Marvin Gaye, Music, Neneh Cherry, Nick Drake, Pink Moon, Poem, Reviews, The Nostalgic Pull, The Nostalgic Pull: Forever Grateful, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Writing ·

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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 […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged 12-String, Album Review, Anthem, Classical, Classsical, Deutsche Grammophon, Deutsche Grammophon/ECM, Diary, ECM, Folk, Instrumental, Jazz, My Foolish Heart, Ralph Towner, Ralph Towner: My Foolish Heart, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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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 […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged "Singer", Art Garfunkel, Art Garfunkel: What Is It All But Luminous, Book, Book Review, Diary, Journal, Knopf, Memoir, Notes From An Underground Man, Paul Simon, Poems, Poetry, Simon & Garfunkel, Songwriter, Songwriting, What Is It All But Luminous: Notes From An Underground Man, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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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 […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 10", Andres Segovia, Blow By Blow, Buckethead, Colma, Derek Bailey, Diary, Eric Clapton, Gat, Gat This, Gat This: My Top 10 ‘Guitar’ Albums, Grant Green, Guitar, Guitarist, Guitarists, Harmonic Crusader, Instrumental, James Blackshaw, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Satriani, Live At The Lighthouse, Lyle Workman, Marc Ribot, Music By Ry Cooder, My Top 10 ‘Guitar’ Albums, Passion and Warfare, Ralph Towner, Rootless Cosmopolitans, Ry Cooder, Santana, Steve Vai, Surfing With The Alien, Ten, Top 10, Van Halen, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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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 […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Diary, Folk, Instrumental, James Blackshaw, James Blackshaw’s Finest, Neil Young, Ralph Towner, Revisiting The Glass Bead Game, Revisiting The Glass Bead Game: James Blackshaw’s Finest\, Roy Harper, Stormcock, The Glass Bead Game ·

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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, […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Book, Book Review, Diary, Journal, Leonard Cohen, Memoir, Nick Cave, The Bad Seeds, The Sick Bag Song, Tour ·

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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 […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Book, Book Review, Column, Diary, John Key, Madmen, Madmen: Inside The Weirdest Election Campaign Ever, Metro, Political Satire, Politics, Satire, Steve Braunias ·

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July 6, 2011 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1940

Ralph Towner, Diary (1973) A chance flip through the YouTube unearthed this clip of Ralph Towner doing his thing. It reminded me that I was a big fan, a decade or so ago, of Anthem and from there a few other records from Towner’s extensive, always interesting, oeuvre. So that sent me on a hunt […]
Posted in The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged Anthem, Diary, ECM, Icarus, Ralph Towner, Vinyl ·

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