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Posts Tagged Tom Waits

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July 20, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: $29.00

When I heard ‘Blue Valentine’ by Tom Waits it blew my mind and I wanted to be a version of him. Not the kind that sat and created a character to live inside. Not the kind that shared great music. I just visited bars, often with a copy of the album (also ‘The Heart of […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged $29.00, Blue Valentine, Poem, Poem: $29.00, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits ·

Archive

December 2, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

RNZ Reviews: November 2019

Once a month or so I have a chat on RNZ on their Afternoons show with Jesse Mulligan. These things start – randomly and stop in much the same way. I hope to keep doing this. For a while at least. I think I started in December of 2015, so now four years into  it or so… It’s […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged 2019, 2pm, Afternoons, Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan, Aimee Mann, Album Reviews, An Enlarged Heart, Come On Up To The House, Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits, Hold On, Jesse Mulligan, Monuments to an Elegy, Music Reviews, November, November 2019, Radio, Radio NZ, Reviews, RNZ, RNZ Reviews, RNZ Reviews: November 2019, Spines, The Spines, Thursday, Tom Waits, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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November 27, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

V/A: Come On Up To The House – Women Sing Waits

Various Artists: Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits Dualtone Music Devised as a 70th Birthday gift to Tom Waits (December 7 is the day) this compilation of female singer/songwriters interpreting material from all across Waits’ 45 year recording career is in fact a gift to us all.
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged 70th Birthday, Aimee Mann, Alison Moorer, Come On Up To The House, Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits, Compilation, Corrine Bailey Rae, Courtney Marie Andrews, Dualtone Music, Iris DeMent, Joseph, Kathleen Brennan, Patty Griffin, Phoebe Bridgers, Rickie Lee Jones, Rosanne Cash, Shelby Lynne, Tom Waits, V/A, V/A: Come On Up To The House - Women Sing Waits, Various, Various Artists, Warren Zanes, Women Sing Waits, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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November 10, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Jesca Hoop: STONECHILD

Jesca Hoop STONECHILD Memphis Industries Jesca Hoop’s previous record – Memories Are Now – was her gold-standard; it moved her from the one-to-watch list to the one-to-listen-to pile. And in my case it was the one-to-listen-to-on-repeat pile. One of the best albums of 2017 for me. By quite a way. It was a perfect study […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, Aldous Harding, Jesca Hoop, Jesca Hoop: STONECHILD, John Parish, Lana Del Rey, Leonard Cohen, PJ Harvey, STONECHILD, Tom Waits, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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April 16, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Terrible Things, Beautiful Melodies, Ugly Truths, Fuck You Tom Waits

We were watching music videos, old concerts – some we’d seen and others we hadn’t – and it was going well, it was good. Until I put on ol’ Tom Waits. And almost as soon as he crooned I felt out of tune with it all. I love Tom Waits. I barely listen to him […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Beautiful Melodies, Fuck You Tom Waits, Poem, Poem: Terrible Things, Terrible Things, Terrible Things Beautiful Melodies Ugly Truths Fuck You Tom Waits, Tom Waits, Ugly Truths, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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March 14, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 424

Tom Waits, The Heart of Saturday Night (1974) I come and go with Tom Waits but in some ways this is my favourite albums of his, the most special to me might be the better way to put it. I discovered it as a CD – and it needed to be that way. You see […]
Posted in Blog, The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 1974, Barfly, Bukowski, Bum, Jazz, LP, New Coat Of Paint, Record, The Heart of Saturday Night, The Vinyl Countdown, The Vinyl Countdown # 424, Tom Waits, Vinyl, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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May 5, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Carving It Out: Backstory and Economy in Songwriting

A couple of years ago I had a chat with Anthonie Tonnon  –it was in the lead up to his then-new album, his first solo record and we got to talking about economy in songwriting, the ideas around narrative, songs that seem to be stuffed with back-story, but done in a subtle, stirring way. There are certain […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Anthonie Tonnon, Backstory and Economy in Songwriting, Bob Dylan, Carving It Out, Carving It Out: Backstory and Economy in Songwriting, Don McGlashan, Front Lawn, Mutton Birds, Nick Cave, Paul Kelly, Randy Newman, Songwriting, Tom Waits ·

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March 30, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Five Songs For Friday: # 10 – Remembering Old Favourite albums

I guess I do this most weeks – occupational hazard or whatever – but this week in particular I’ve been revisiting old favourites, thinking about albums I liked a lot 5 and 10 years ago, and 20 years ago…and in some cases just 2-3 years ago… I’ll also give an early mention of Goose Snow […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Aimee Mann, Blue Valentine, Elvis Costello, Five Songs, Five Songs For Friday, Five Songs For Friday # 10, Five Songs For Friday: # 10 – Remembering Old Favourite albums, Frank Zappa, Friday, Goose Snow Cone, I've Been Drinking, If You All Get To Heaven, Jeff Beck Group, Joe's Garage, Levon Helm, Mental Illness, My Brave Face, Paul McCartney, Remembering Old Favourite albums, Rod Stewart, Sananda Maitreya, Somewhere, Terence Trent D'arby, The Band, Tom Waits, Up On Cripple Creek ·

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March 16, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Jesca Hoop: Memories Are Now

Jesca Hoop Memories Are Now Sub Pop This is the album where Jesca Hoop moves off the One To Watch list and firmly onto the One To Listen To list; the record likely to stay there all year; its production (Blake Mills, once again) exquisite, its songs deep, the performances intoxicating.
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, Jesca Hoop, Memories Are Now, Sam Beam, Sub Pop, Tom Waits ·

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March 9, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Songs Sung Blue: Everybody Knows One…

People love Johnny Cash’s version of the Nine Inch Nails song, Hurt because of the timing; that video, his wife had died – then Johnny died shortly after. Complications resulting from a broken heart. It’s a good song, a good version. But the original is better. I know I’m not alone in thinking that – […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged American Recordings, Authors I Admire: # 13 Neil LaBute, Blue, Blues, Crossroads, Everybody Knows One…, Hurt, Johnny Cash, Lambchop, Nine Inch Nails, Singing, Soaky In The Pooper, Song Sung Blue, Songs Sung Blue, Songs Sung Blue: Everybody Knows One…, The Close Readers, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits ·

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January 14, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Pick Just One Song: Your Greatest Hit?

You can pick one song. And that one song defines you – to everyone you know and to everyone you will (ever) meet. This three-or-four-or-five-minute pop-ditty, or prog-rock opus, or jazzy dance-cut or heavy metal paean to Pazuzu, or hip-hop track, or comedy-folk parody will define you. What will it be? Will you go with […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Kentucky Avenue, Pick Just One Song, Pick Just One Song: Your Greatest Hit?, Tom Waits, Your Greatest Hit? ·

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June 25, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 679

Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones (1983) I’m sure nearly every Tom Waits album has been my favourite for a time – but this one became The One (for a while) on the advice of one of the great musical mentors that passed through my education at a formative time: Seamus, he of Fisheye Discs (and Tower Music […]
Posted in Blog, The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six, 1983, Blue Valentine, LP, Rain Dogs, Record, Swordfishtrombones, The Vinyl Countdown # 679, Tom Waits, Vinyl ·
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