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Posts Tagged Reviews

Archive

June 30, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Try Three: # 1 – Roots, Reggae, Soul

Linton Kwesi Johnson – Forces of Victory (1979) Lockdown – in its various states and guises around the world – has done funny things to us and I first noticed that when all I wanted to listen to was reggae and dub music. This isn’t usually the case – but I found myself a fan anew. Returning […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Blog, Capsule, Reggae, Reviews, Roots, Soul, Try Three, Try Three: # 1, Try Three: # 1 - Roots ·

Archive

June 30, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Try Three – New Series

From time to time I like to start a new series of posts here at Off The Tracks. I’m not really revieiwng albums these days, certainly nowhere near as much – so now it’s time to focus on material I just love – older albums, or brand new ones. So I’m starting a new series called Try Three. Recommendations of […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Blog, https://linktr.ee/Simonsweetman, Music, New Series, Off The Tracks, Reviews, Try Three, Try Three – New Series, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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March 30, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

I Miss Sonic Youth But The Music Is Always There

When I was 13, I started reading Guitar World – I was obsessed with the guitar. I was listening to a lot of blues-rock stuff – Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin and Jeff Beck. But reading Guitar World helped me to go further back (Robert Johnson, Django Reinhardt) and wider/broader (Alan Holdsworth). I would read about my favourite guitar heroes (Ritchie Blackmore) and […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Blog, I Miss Sonic Youth But The Music Is Always There, Playlist, Reviews, Sampler, Sonic Youth, Spotify, 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 ·

Archive

January 24, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Ex-Radio Head: No Longer A Music Writer/Always A Music Writer

I’m always looking for music to write about. Which is not my ‘job’. But it is my ‘role’. Something I selected for myself a long time ago, long before I was ever published or paid. Music started speaking to me on the level where I felt I had to speak back to it – and […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Always A Music Writer, Blog, Blogger, Blogging, Broadcast, Ex-Radio Head, Ex-Radio Head: No Longer A Music Writer/Always A Music Writer, Features, Journalism, Music, Music Journalism, Music Journalist, Music Reviews, No Longer A Music Writer, No Longer A Music Writer/Always A Music Writer, Podcast, Poetry, Radio, Reviewer, Reviewing, Reviews, RNZ, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Writer, Writing ·

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January 20, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Radio Head: RNZ Features and Reviews

In 2015 I started reviewing albums on RNZ – a quick chat, mentioning a couple of artists, playing a couple of songs. I loved it. I love talking on radio. Love the medium. Love the challenge of “reviewing” music that way. It’s different from writing about music – or should be. Some radio reviewers write […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2015, 2021, All of Them, Blog, Features, Radio, Radio Head, Radio Head: RNZ Features and Reviews, Reviews, RNZ, RNZ Features and Reviews, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

January 9, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Taste Matters

We’re still in a bit of a poptimism boom – people wanting (only) to find the good in things; supported by the idea that success, and selling, proves the point – this must be good. Hundreds/thousands/millions thought so. So there. I’ve reviewed more ‘good’ albums than ‘bad’, probably by two-to-one, or three-to-one, but it’s always like pissing in […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Blog, Critic, Reviews, Shaun Kirk, Taste Matters, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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December 11, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: I Wrote My First Poem Over 30 Years Ago

I handwrote the poems first, then typed them up after – and I was inspired at first by the music I was listening to and the poetry I was reading. There are still a few poems that survive from those early years and I’m locked in a pact with myself to never look at them. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged I Wrote My First Poem Over 30 Years Ago, Journalism, Poem, Poem: I Wrote My First Poem Over 30 Years Ago, Poems, Poetry, Reading, Reviews, Write, Writing ·

Archive

December 5, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Why Didn’t You Write About My Experience When You Were Writing About Your Experience?

This band is overrated, didn’t you know that when you wrote about how much you rated them? That album sucks actually – not that I’ve heard it but I’m disappointed you didn’t hate it on my behalf. Why would you even bother saying that book was good? I mean, I wouldn’t know, but I’m not […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Comments, Internet, Poem, Poem: Why Didn't You Write About My Experience When You Were Writing About Your Experience?, Poems, Reviews, Why Didn't You Write About My Experience When You Were Writing About Your Experience?, Writing ·

Archive

December 4, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

RNZ Reviews: December 2021

Once a month or so I have a chat on RNZ on their Afternoons show with Jesse Mulligan. I’ve been doing it for about five years now. Most months. This was my first time in for 2021. For my final session of 2021 I found two albums that featured covers, moving the original songs to solo piano; two […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged 2021, a Journey on Piano, Afternoons, Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan, At My Piano, Brian Wilson, December, Demian Dorelli, Demian Dorelli: Nick Drake’s Pink Moon - a Journey on Piano, Instrumental, Jesse Mulligan, Music Reviews, Piano, Pink Moon, Radio, Radio New Zealand, Radio NZ, Review, Reviews, RNZ, RNZ Reviews, RNZ Reviews: December 2021, Road, Simon Sweetman, Solo, The Beach Boys, Til I Die ·

Archive

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 13, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Good Mourning: Remembering The ‘Good Morning’ TV Show (1996-2015)

Even people who never watched the New Zealand TV show Good Morning  still reference Mary Lambie (the host from 1997-2003). I never watched the show – well, hardly ever. It was a university holidays indulgence for a time. Like classic “sick-day” viewing. A mix of soft interviews and hard/heavy infomercials. And then, one day, in 2005 I […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Blog, Breakfast TV, Good Morning, Good Mourning, Good Mourning: Remembering The 'Good Morning' TV Show (1996-2015), Live TV, Morning TV, Remembering The 'Good Morning' TV Show, Reviewer, Reviewing, Reviews, Television, TV, TV1, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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November 11, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 273: Dai Henwood

Hi and welcome to episode 273 of Sweetman Podcast – finding my way back into podcasting after a nearly three-month break. As with last year’s lockdowns I paused the podcast. But we’re back now – at least through until the end of the year. Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual […]
Posted in Blog, Podcasts · Tagged Acast, Anchor, Anti-Vax, Auckland, Carolyn Henwood, Chat, Circa Theatre, Comedian, Comedy, Conversation, Coronavirus, Covid, Covid-19, Dai Henwood, ep.273, Game Show, Hip-Hop, Interview, iTunes, Lockdown, Now We Are Four: Sweetman Podcast’s 4th Birthday, Phone Interview, Phoner, Podcast, Protests, Rap, Ray Henwood, Reviews, Seven Days, Simon, Simon Sweetman, Soundcloud, Spotify, Sweetman, Sweetman Podcast, Sweetman Podcast # 273, Sweetman Podcast # 273: Dai Henwood, Theatre, TV, Twitter, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·
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Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

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