Posts Tagged Pop
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September 10, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 86: Heaven 17 – “Penthouse and Pavement”
Another example of why this challenge has been good for me. I know of Heaven 17 of course – I even know Temptation very well and a few others. But I have never listened to a Heaven 17 album, at least not knowingly; at least not until I finally sat down with Penthouse and Pavement […]Archive
September 9, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Swing Out Sister: Almost Persuaded
Swing Out Sister Almost Persuaded Miso Here’s the tenth studio album by British pop duo Swing Out Sister – and their first in a decade. You remember them best from their breakout hit of 1986, er, “Breakout”. And since then it’s been a refinement of that approach really, they call the new music – and […]Archive
September 2, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour
Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour MCA Nashville She’s built her the career the right way – solid work. Turning up. Putting it down. Self-released albums and loads of shows. And then – in her “official” catalogue there are no duds; each album improving on the one previous. Her strong debut, Same Trailer Different Park is still […]Archive
June 13, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 67: Ian Dury – “New Boots and Panties!!”
We were in Australia a few years ago now – a decade or so – and the waitress comes over with the giant pepper-grinder and asks if anyone wants some cracked pepper on their meal. My father-in-law pipes right up, “Hit. Me. With. Your. Rhythm. Stick!” Shit, we laughed. I have no idea when I […]Archive
April 10, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 415
Eddy Grant, Gimme Hope Jo’Anna [Single] (1988) I remember this song – and a few others – so well from my childhood. It was (and is) all at once terrific and fucking annoying. I remember, sometime back, a very decent compilation turned up for me to review. And I remembered how much I had really […]Archive
February 13, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Bashing Out: My Top 10 ‘Drum’ Albums
I was hooked on Modern Drummer magazine as a teen. And I always liked reading the record reviews at the back of the Modern Drummer, they focused on drums and ‘drum’ albums or at least highlighted the drums and drumming on pop and rock records when they reviewed them. They might write-up a pop album because of […]Archive
December 27, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 22: The Beau Brummels – “Triangle”
Another great revelation here, another reason to do this challenge, to read this book and make sure I check out the albums I haven’t previously hear. I know The Beau Brummels as reference only. If I’d ever previously heard any of their music I’d never stopped to identify it; I’m sure I’ve never head them. […]Archive
December 15, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 217 – Verlaines, Wellington, 2016
Shit this was good. I mean great. I mean really fucking good. Cos for some reason I kinda wasn’t expecting it to be. I love the Verlaines, sure. But I’d seen The Chills the night previous (this was billed as “The Dunedin Double” – though it was arbitrary, no anniversary or anything…) and I just […]Archive
December 8, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 461
Ritz, Puttin’ On The Ritz (1979) I have more records than I’ll ever need – but it’s not about need, it’s about want, of course, any collector of any kind knows that. That said I’ve started addressing this – getting rid of a few records here and there, things I’ve bought only to realise I’ll […]Archive
November 30, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 19: Astrud Gilberto – “Beach Samba”
“Stay and we’ll make sex with music…” Er…OKAY! (I’m glad I never heard this as a teenager, geez – what an opening line!) Astrud Gilberto is, for most, the voice of The Girl From Ipanema and that’s enough – by that I mean it’s one the great songs. So anything else she did was a […]Archive
October 29, 2017 by Simon Sweetman