Posts Tagged In Praise Of
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October 24, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of Audible Plus
I’ve signed up to Audible again. I’ve done a few free trials over the years and bought a three-month membership and so on. But I always break-up with Audible, because I feel like I’m cheating on podcasts… Remember, we talked about audiobooks – when I wondered if they ‘counted’ as reading. (They do, by the […]Archive
October 18, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of ‘Sad’ Songs
I love a good sad song. There might not be anything better in music. Sad music that elevates you. Sad music that takes you away from who you are. That lets you wallow for that moment in someone else’s problems. You gain a perspective from hearing your own pain placed in minor chords or a […]Archive
October 16, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of Aro Vision/Aro Video
The Aro Vision platform is an on-demand service brought to us by the good folk of Aro Video. I’m lucky to live right around the corner from one of the last video stores standing – I signed up to their Patreon deal where I get unlimited rentals for a one-off monthly fee. I feel very […]Archive
September 22, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of The White Lotus
The White Lotus. Currently the greatest show on all of television, across any of the formats and platforms. The White Lotus is an American TV comedy-drama, a satire, a dark night of the soul that just happens to have a bottomless mojito and very comforting neck massage attached to it. It’s an HBO show that […]Archive
September 20, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of ‘Lindsey Buckingham’
Lindsey Buckingham has a brand new solo album available. It’s called Lindsey Buckingham. By the time you read this I might have heard it four or five times – but as I’m writing this, I’m hearing it for the first time. I’m so excited about this. I have been for months. Lindsey Buckingham is one […]Archive
August 27, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of Lockdown Listening Selections
Here are some albums I have been listening to regularly across the last two weeks. They are soundtracks and they are ambient and they are classical and most of them are albums I know well but haven’t listen to for a long time. They have been surprisingly affirming but also carry some heavy-heart doom about […]Archive
August 22, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of Ditching Your Record Collection
So many people with collections can’t bear even the thought of parting with their books or records or vintage toys or sneakers or whatever it is that makes up their fixation… But sometimes it’s a necessity. I trade records all the time. I’ve done swaps, I’ve taken crates of records to the secondhand stores and […]Archive
August 21, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of Loving Crap Albums: The First 50 in the Series
I am always looking for a new blog series here over at Off The Tracks. I’ve counted down my record collection, I’ve celebrated Authors I Admire and The Movies of My Life and many other things – great guitarists and the best drummers and many of these series’ carry on – though some have to […]Archive
August 11, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of Stephen King. Again.
I’m having quite the Stephen King renaissance. And I’m doing so without having read very much of his work for a while… But I’m planning to. I’ve been planning to for a while. And I’m on the verge of just diving right back in. Okay, rewind – I wrote about King a while back as […]Archive
August 6, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of Reading About Fleetwood Mac
In celebrating Bob Dylan’s 80th I thought of the dozens of great books I’ve read about him (and a few pretty average ones). I’ll never read them all. There are thousands. But maybe I’ve read 40-50. The Beatles have inspired the most books of any musician – apart from maybe Elvis Presley. And I’ve read […]Archive
August 5, 2021 by Simon Sweetman