June 2011 archives
Archive
June 29, 2011 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1949
Frank Zappa, Joe’s Garage Acts II & III (1979) The full double album, Joe’s Garage (on CD) was the first Frank Zappa I ever heard. By then I was – if this makes sense – already a fan. I had read about him, I marvelled at what I figured he had to offer. I had [...]Archive
June 28, 2011 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1950
U2, The Unforgettable Fire (1984) It was the first album by U2 that I heard. And that title track had an impact instantly. To this day I think of it as U2’s finest song – their best. I have very little interest in the band now; they get worse with each release (but that’s a [...]Archive
June 28, 2011 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1951
Ry Cooder, Crossroads [OST] (1986) We were in a hotel room in New Plymouth – because they had not organised enough billets. We were 13, so we were pretty stoked to be in a hotel instead of being billeted. The movie Crossroads was on the hotel’s movie channel – pre-Sky days – and a group [...]Archive
June 27, 2011 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1952
Pink Floyd, Atom Heart Mother (1970) I can’t remember when I first heard Atom Heart Mother – in the scheme of being a Pink Floyd fan – but I fell in love with it as soon as I heard it. I reckon I might have sussed out Meddle first (still a great album) and possibly [...]Archive
June 26, 2011 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1953
Original London Cast, Les Miserables (1985) I have never seen Les Miserables – nor do I really ever intend to see it, or read it or experience it in any way. I don’t feel I’m missing out – and if I did go to a production of it now it would be a bit like [...]Archive
June 25, 2011 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1954
The Robert Cray Band, Bad Influence (1983) This was the first Robert Cray I heard. And it remains my favourite. My mum bought the album – I assume she bought it on a whim; I don’t think they’d heard of him, just an impulse buy. A guy with a guitar on the cover – that [...]Archive
June 23, 2011 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1955
The Blue Nile, A Walk Across The Rooftops (1984) My introduction to The Blue Nile was actually High, the last album (at this stage) the band has released. I love that album – and as soon as I started telling people how great it was I received many pointers that the band’s earlier work was [...]Archive
June 22, 2011 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1956
Fleetwood Mac, Penguin (1973) I love all Fleetwood Mac stuff – the blues band stuff with Peter Green, the stadium-filling hits with Stevie and Lindsey and the interesting middle-ground years, 1971-1975; the years that the history books seem to forget about. Bob Welch ran the band – in another lifetime he might be acknowledged as [...]Archive
June 22, 2011 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1957
Gate, A Republic Of Sadness (2010) I review CDs for a few places, it’s what you do as a freelancer – and one of those places is New Zealand Musician. Sometimes I wonder why I bother – there are so many terrible albums released by no-hopers and the magazine isn’t exactly brutal; it tends to [...]Archive
June 20, 2011 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1958
Dire Straits, Alchemy (1984) I liked Dire Straits as a youngster – but my enthusiasm towards the band peaked in 1991. I had been picked for some elite NZ hockey training/development squad (believe it!) and it turned out that after a week of 6.00am boot-camp jogging and having my (hockey) performance videotaped and analysed [...]Archive
June 19, 2011 by Simon Sweetman