Posts Tagged The Beatles
Archive
March 5, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
RNZ Music Feature: Ringo Starr’s Greatest Hits
I’m usually on RNZ once a month to have a chat about some new albums. But now and then I present features on the show too. Last year I had nearly an hour to explore the music of George Harrison. So I was keen, straight away, to talk Ringo Starr. Now Ringo’s legacy stays entirely with the band. He […]Archive
February 19, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Beatles Theory
A lot of people seem to think that Paul McCartney and John Lennon hated each other – were competitive, and the band broke up, and that Yoko was a pesky nuisance as well. The Yoko thing? That’s mostly racism. And sexism too. Paul and John are on the record as having had a bit of […]Archive
February 5, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 337
The Beatles, The Beatles Box (1980) Growing up, the music of The Beatles was all around – my dad had lost/got rid of some of his records but we had a decent smattering and some of the solo records from the post-break-up years too. A couple of compilations were added to the collection as we grew up […]Archive
December 29, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 346
George Harrison, Cloud Nine (1987) It’s been a big year for me and The Beatles – I’ve fallen in love with the band again and the solo careers of all its members, the big revelation has probably been just how much I really do love a lot of the John Lennon material (far more than […]Archive
December 26, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 347
Ringo Starr, Sentimental Journey (1970) Poor old Ringo Starr. I say “Poor old Ringo Starr”, when there’s nothing poor about him. Nice life, great drummer, in the best band in the world, lucky timing on that too, etc. And it really hasn’t mattered what he did after. I mean he’s as well-known – actually probably […]Archive
December 19, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 348
Paul McCartney, No More Lonely Nights [Single] (1984) The mark of Macca the craftsman, the master of conjuring melodies, making magic out of almost anything, out of nowhere, can be heard her. His Give My Regards to Broadway is a barely-endearing flop (I bought it years back on VHS and watched it more than once, […]Archive
December 16, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 349
Wings, Getting Closer [Single] (1979) I never understood the idea that the band Wings was not good. I grew up on them. I love The Beatles and a lot of what Paul McCartney does solo, but for a while there at least I was a Wings fan – number one. And I always dip back […]Archive
December 11, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 351
The Beach Boys, The Beach Boys Today! (1965) It’s about here – on their eighth album (already!) – that The Beach Boys start to grow up and away from the “Surf” songs; not that there’s anything wrong with the best of the surf songs. But here we get the start of the real sophistication – […]Archive
December 4, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Movies of My Life # 16: The Compleat Beatles
Maybe it’s because it’s hard to find and best remembered for what it represented (also: time/place) but I reckon The Compleat Beatles is the very best Beatles doco there’s ever been. It shits on The Anthology which is not terrible, but is, probably, far too much of a good thing. When The Anthology was released […]Archive
November 29, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
RNZ Music Feature: The Music of George Harrison
I’m usually on RNZ once a month to have a chat about some new albums. But now and then I present features on the show too. Most recently I co-interviewed Steve Gadd! And then, Jesse Mulligan asked me a question – a silly question: Was I the right person to do a feature about George Harrison? […]Archive
November 23, 2018 by Simon Sweetman