Sounds Good! : OTT - The Vinyl Countdown

The Vinyl Countdown # 1

Simon Sweetman — Sun, 13 Dec 2020 22:46:15 GMT

Noel Crombie, My Voice Keeps Changing On Me [Single] (1983)

I wonder if maybe Noel Crombie is the most underrated/under-valued member of Split Enz. By virtue of his role, or various roles, he helped them achieve such weirdness and within that or around that the stagecraft. You could argue that by costuming the band he was important enough but that might …

The Vinyl Countdown # 2

Simon Sweetman — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 09:53:01 GMT

Elton John, Don’t Ya Wanna Play This Game No More (Sartorial Eloquence) [Single] (1980)

When Oscar was about 18 months old and through until he was three or four I guess – Slow Boat Records was one of his favourite places (it probably still is, truth be told). But as a toddler he was allowed to take home singles for free from the 50c bin and he would be …

The Vinyl Countdown # 3

Simon Sweetman — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 01:15:24 GMT

Bobby Bloom, Montego Bay [Single] (1970)

I’m still working through a batch of singles a retired DJ gifted to me – this is one of them. People consider Bobby Bloom a one-hit-wonder, which he was. It’s further impacted by his sad demise. Depression, and then an accidental shooting. Dead by 28. But he co-wrote a few beauties elsewhere, had been involved in …

The Vinyl Countdown # 4

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 00:21:32 GMT

Rod McKuen / Anita Kerr / The San Sebastian Strings, The Soft Sea (1970)

I’m a sucker. I go into opp shops and salvation army stores and dig through the weary old cardboard box of the same old classical-lite shite. And I sometimes think I’ve found a gem. And sometimes I have. I don’t revisit – but if it’s a store I haven’t been into I feel like I should …

The Vinyl Countdown # 5

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 09:40:11 GMT

Fiona Apple, Fetch The Bolt Cutters (2020)

Lockdown Records. There were a few. This was one of them. An album that arrived while we weren’t going anywhere – beyond daily walks. And an album I spent a lot of time with, since I was inside for most of each day and the stereo was always on and I moved between streaming platforms and video services to get mus…

The Vinyl Countdown # 6

Simon Sweetman — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 20:42:01 GMT

Little Stevie Wonder, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie (1962)

Stevie Wonder hated being called “Little Stevie” (and then “Little Stevie Wonder”) but he was 11 and 12 and 13 years old. He was little, and new on the scene – little literally and figuratively. And though he was a wonder – a genius – his label didn’t really know what to do with him. He was the …

The Vinyl Countdown # 7

Simon Sweetman — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 22:42:29 GMT

Sleaford Mods, Mork N Mindy [Single] (2020)

I wasn’t a Day One Sleaford Mods Fan. I know that. I didn’t hate them. But I think it probably wasn’t going to be for me to rate them. Then I listened properly. A couple of albums into their career, not even sure what it was that made me want to go to them but I was then instantly hooked. And as I eagerly await…

The Vinyl Countdown # 8

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 09:41:27 GMT

Bee Gees, Night Fever [Single] (1978)

Maybe this has always been one of my favourite Bee Gees songs? Quite likely. And among the first I would have heard and though I’ve gone back to their pre-disco pop and I like almost everything up to Saturday Night Fever – I still do have love for that record too. That was the introduction to this band for me. I own …

The Vinyl Countdown # 9

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 10:57:40 GMT

Ben E. King, Spanish Harlem [Single] (1962)

Obviously these are both great songs – and I used to play the B-Side quite a lot as part of DJ sets. I’m not a massive Ben E. King fan by any stretch, which is to say I don’t know any deep cuts, I only know the hits. I had a greatest hits CD and I don’t own any of his original albums and pretty sure this is the…

The Vinyl Countdown # 10

Simon Sweetman — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 19:23:02 GMT

David Bowie, Rosalyn / Where Have All The Good Times Gone! [Single] (1973)

Pinups was the first David Bowie album I bought – the first on vinyl; perhaps it was one of the very first original albums of his I heard too. And I dug it straight away – and still do. It’s such a great re-set after the Ziggy-era and a throwback to the mod-years that first made h…

The Vinyl Countdown # 11

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 18:57:50 GMT

Tori Amos, Under The Pink (1994)

It’s been a pretty good year for reappraising Tori Amos. I’ve been back through most of the catalogue, I talked about her live on air (RNZ), I loved her memoirand I got hooked on the old stuff all over again. Someone kindly gave me a copy of Boys For Pele on vinylwhich is one of my absolute favourites. And as much as I lo…

The Vinyl Countdown # 12

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 20:29:34 GMT

Phil Collins, In The Air Tonight [Single] (1981)

I used to own the reissued 12” single and I regret selling it off. But that’s the nature of record-collecting, of owning, trading and of fading in and out of interest with certain acts. When I bought it Phil Collins was almost entirely thought of as not cool. There was no new wave of re-appreciation. Now t…

The Vinyl Countdown # 13

Simon Sweetman — Sun, 22 Nov 2020 17:36:27 GMT

Little Feat, Time Loves A Hero (1977)

It was only recently that I was bemoaning the fact that I didn’t have all of the classic-era albums by Little Feat. Love that band. You read a word you’ve never read before – or hear someone say it and next thing it’s everywhere and you can’t work out if it’s suddenly in vogue or if it was always there and you just w…

The Vinyl Countdown # 14

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 19:27:31 GMT

George Russell Sextet, Stratusphunk (1960)

When both Ant Donaldson and Riki Gooch – two of New Zealand’s best drummers and musical minds – tell you about the composer George Russell you listen. And when they mention his great albums with his sextet and larger ensembles you hunt them down. And when you find one of them at fucking Hallensteins – because th…

The Vinyl Countdown # 15

Simon Sweetman — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 11:11:10 GMT

Van Morrison, Live At The Grand Opera House Belfast (1984)

Yeah, yeah,Van Morrisonis a cunt – most recently he’s come out on the wrong side of, well, science. Releasing anti-lockdown songs and he still won’t shut up about being poorly treated by the music industry. Which is a joke given he’s basically music industry royalty. His 70s run is the stuff of l…

The Vinyl Countdown # 16

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 19:30:04 GMT

The Staple Singers, Turning Point (1984)

I love checking out the “out of place” albums by a heritage act – sixties and seventies groups that ‘failed’ in the 1980s…that sort of thing. The Staple Singers were making gospel gems and spirituals through the late 1950s and early 1960s and then political funk and soul in the late 1960s and early 1970s and then …

The Vinyl Countdown # 17

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 04:27:04 GMT

Dave Barker Meets The Upsetters, Prisoner of Love (1970)

Bit of an impulse buy, this one. And very happy to have made it. Dave Barker is something of a journeyman reggae/rocksteady/soul singer – but back when this record was made he wasn’t really anyone. This record made him. And I bought it because it was The Upsetters and it was Lee “Scratch” Perry and…

The Vinyl Countdown # 18

Simon Sweetman — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 09:49:46 GMT

Toots & The Maytals, Knock Out! (1981)

The song Beautiful Womanwas everywhere when I was a kid. I remember it well. I didn’t particularly like it. Nor did I know who it was by. It was just everywhere. It was years – and possibly even a few more years after that – before I found out it was Toots & The Maytals. By the time I found out, fortunately, I alrea…

The Vinyl Countdown # 19

Simon Sweetman — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 20:05:28 GMT

Bob Marley, Survival (1979)

Only just recently added this to my Bob Marley collection. I really love this album – but I’d ignored it for the longest time, figuring it was lesser. It’s not the case at all and (for right now at least) it’s one of my favourites from that magical decade of great music Marley and his Wailers offered. The way in, for me, was t…

The Vinyl Countdown # 20

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 20:22:59 GMT

Little Feat, Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (1974)

I arrived pretty late to Little Feat. Which is to say I knew about them from reading about music for most of my life – and I was interested. And I was particularly interested in theLowell Georgestory (probably via all my Frank Zappa listening at some stage in my life) and I am sure I owned the solo album, Thank…