Posts Tagged Pop
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July 2, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Vox Lux: DVD
Vox Lux Director: Brady Corbet Madman Vox Lux comes from actor/director Brady Corbet. It’s the 30-year-old’s second full-length feature and it’s something of a Sunset Blvd. for the me/#metoo generation; a 21st century masterpiece. Spanning 1999-2017 and narrated – brilliantly, exacerbating the fable-like quality of it – by Willem Dafoe, the film tells the coming of age and then comeback of Celeste Montgomery. Played […]Archive
June 25, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 287
Dolly Parton, Great Balls of Fire (1979) Dolly, Dolly, Dolly…I’ve probably bashed everyone over the head with Dolly Parton lately – listening to almost everything she’s ever done (some 63 studio albums) for a recent chat on the radio about how Dolly is great. But here’s the funny thing, I own precisely two Dolly LPs. A cheap TimeLife compilation with the obvious hits […]Archive
April 8, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 143: Christina Aguilera – “Stripped”
Even though she-e-e-eeeeeeeeeeeee———-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee is very good, I thi-e-e-eeei-iiiiii-eeeee-iiiii-eeeee—nnnnk it isn’t the right time to be just discovering Christina Aquilera. And I course I’m not just discovering her, I was aware-e-air-e-aire-e-aire-aire-aire-aire-airrrrr of her and her oversing-e-in-e-ing-e-ing-eing at the tie-e-ime-e-ime-e-ime-e-ime-e-ime-e-ime. But I can’t say I’ve ever heard a full album by her. Until now-e-ow-e-ow-eow-eow-e-ow-eow-eow-e-ow-e-ow. Stripped is sorta ironically titled too – as it’s carrying far too much. The […]Archive
March 26, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 137: Britney Spears – “…Baby One More Time”
I never listened to this at the time – but I couldn’t avoid the videos for the big singles, particularly the title track. It was everywhere. This was a teen sensation – and it was pitched in all the right ways (or wrong ways if you think about it) to a broad audience. Britney Spears, former child star, was […]Archive
February 14, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 335
Hothouse Flowers, Don’t Go [Single] (1988) Hothouse Flowers – good band! Saw them live a couple of times, once still in their ascendancy and then many years on. They still sounded great. Good show. Very capable. But it was a school night. In a wee pub down the road. And no one seemed to really give a fuck – […]Archive
December 17, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 112: The Triffids – “Calenture”
I so love the album Born Sandy Devotional that even if The Triffids did nothing else of value at all I’d still tell you they’re one of my favourite bands. Turns out they made a small handful of perfectly imperfect albums and I’m still getting to them. I hadn’t heard Calenture – which has changed […]Archive
December 7, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 208 Pete Shelley
Late 2009. The Spines at that time were Les Knight on bass, Riki Gooch on drums and me. We had just recorded the Bloodmonster album and I was about 50 and drinking a lot at Bodega – a period of renaissance for the band. I’d always been a fan of the Buzzcocks in the early […]Archive
December 4, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 353
Pet Shop Boys, Please (1986) I’ve been on a big Pet Shop Boys kick of late – I’ve liked them since I first heard them, which was back when this album was released. Though I’ve never owned a copy of this until just recently. I’ve had most of the other albums and a couple of […]Archive
October 14, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 94: Orange Juice – “Rip It Up”
I hadn’t ever heard an Orange Juice album – but I know the songs; I was hipped to them only later though, the compilation Edwyn Collins & Orange Juice: A Casual Introduction 1981/2001 was the thing that set it all off for me. By then I’d heard some Edwyn Collins songs I liked a lot […]Archive
October 10, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 93: Haircut One Hundred – “Pelican West ”
So, the band Haircut One Hundred (or Haircut 100) totally passed me by. I really don’t know them at all. I know the name, I’ve seen it mentioned, the first two songs here felt instantly familiar – probably have heard them out and about, as part of compilations, in DJ sets, etc – but I […]Archive
September 17, 2018 by Simon Sweetman