February 2012 archives
Archive
February 29, 2012 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1601
Pat Metheny, New Chautauqua (1979) It took me a while to really get Pat Metheny. I mean, you get that the dude can fuckin play! You get that as soon as you hear him. And every time you hear him. But it’s whether you want to hear that kind of playing. I guess I was [...]Archive
February 28, 2012 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1602
Prince, Prince (1979) It’s like picking favourite children – seriously, it is. I know a lot of people talk about how Prince was only ever good from about 1982-1987 – a vital period. But I go from this album through to 1989 before I notice anything even close to unnecessary. And when I first started [...]Archive
February 27, 2012 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1603
Robbie Robertson, Storyville (1991) Back then you would just buy things – because you had read about them, knew the players, knew their story. There was no YouTube or Wikipedia to check. So I knew who Robbie Robertson was and That Band/The Band he had been in. So when I saw a tape called Storyville [...]Archive
February 27, 2012 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1604
Johnny Winter, Captured Live! (1976) Sometimes you know straight away. Just in a few (vital seconds). That was the case for me with this album. The track: Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited. The version is a stunner, relentless – perfect boogie playing with ferocious guitar and committed vocals. That slide playing. Man. Twelve minutes of [...]Archive
February 26, 2012 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1605
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood, Nancy & Lee (1968) I bought this as part of a bundle – five records for $20. All of them were pretty decent actually, but this was the record I wanted; the reason to pick up the bundle. The big track here of course is Some Velvet Morning with [...]Archive
February 25, 2012 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1606
Mark Farina, United DJs Of America, Vol. 9 Frisko Disko (1998) In the mid/late-1990s, once or twice at least, I went off to a couple of dance clubs and “immersed myself” in the sound. What a load of wank. There’s some great music – and some of it still endures. But so much of it [...]Archive
February 24, 2012 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1607
Pink Floyd, Relics (1971) One of the first Pink Floyd tapes I bought – so it was a bit of a head-fuck at first; lined up next to The Wall and A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. But shortly after – I persisted with Relics – I bought Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. And it [...]Archive
February 23, 2012 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1608
Fleetwood Mac, Tusk (1979) One of the defining albums of my childhood – and therefore always my favourite Fleetwood Mac record. I still have the copy that my mum used to play when I was four-five-six-seven-eight years old. And that I started playing myself from then too – and on through high-school and university. [...]Archive
February 23, 2012 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1609
Public Image Ltd, Album (1986) The first PiL I swallowed was this greatest hits – bought on tape. I wasn’t that fussed at first. I liked the song Public Image (how could you not?) And I liked the song Rise (how could you not?) But because I had been recently introduced to The Sex Pistols [...]Archive
February 22, 2012 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 1610
The Guess Who, Road Food (1974) Blame Canada! I don’t know why I have this album. I can only suggest that the price was cheap and I had been turned on by American Woman through various 1960s/Vietnam-era compilations. So I bought Road Food – which doesn’t contain that song (so I could hear some more [...]Archive
February 21, 2012 by Simon Sweetman