Ralph Towner

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]