Old Music Made New and The Future of “Sounds Good!”

Friday is about music. And playlists. And today there's an exciting update on the future of "Sounds Good". Behold: The Archive...

Hey there, and welcome to Friday. And Friday’s newsletter – which you’ll know if you’re not a first timer to “Sounds Good!” is about music, where Wednesday’s was books and Monday’s was movies, it’s the end of the week and that’s all about the celebration of music with a weekly playlist that I compile too.

This week I’m updating you a bit on the future of “Sounds Good!” And what I hope is an exciting new thing.

But first, some old music made new:

A couple of weeks ago Bob Dylan released Shadow Kingdom – I have been loving this record. You might remember, post-lockdown, Bob, aged 81, put a stylised concert up online. You had to pay $20 and it was only available for a week. It was Dylan and his wonderful band reinterpreting a range of songs from across his career with accordions and mandolins in lovely, soft, new arrangements.

That music has now been recorded and released as an album and the three-sided LP set has a long, lilting, lovely instrumental track – exclusive to this record – as a closer. Some of these arrangements work better than the originals. And I’ve enjoyed it so much I rushed out to get the double-vinyl to go in my Dylan collection. I just wanted to recommend it.

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Stewart Copeland is my favourite member of The Police – I made sure of that recently by listening through to the band’s entire catalogue. Sting’s lyrics are stupid, the cod-reggae stylings on the first two albums in particular are musical theft and cultural appropriation on a cancellable level, and the production is pretty horrible. Andy Summers is a great guitarist but his tone gives me the shits. And yet, something pulls me in still. This talented trio that disliked one another. They are like a White Privilege Power Trio, and they infuriate me but the music meant a lot to me at one time. So I immersed myself in Copeland’s soundtrack work and side-projects again, and took joy from listening to his drumming – he’s one of my all-time favourite drummers.

Well, Copeland’s big project across the last year or so has been his orchestral re-arrangements of the music of The Police. He tours with the orchestra, as lead percussionist/conductor and the recording of that has finally been released. I’ve yet to listen to it but I’m recommending it for any fans of The Police or fans of orchestral arrangements of pop tunes. I guess I’m both. So, after I send this newsletter your way that’s what I’ll be listening to.

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I can’t listen to Eric Clapton these days. For both his political views, and more so for the actual music. A while ago now, I came to the realisation that the last 30 years of his music was total bunk, horrible! But when I was a teenager (and even pre-teen) he was one of my absolute favourites, culminating in the first big gig I ever saw, so therefore one of the best and most important of my life. And, yeah, for a few years after that, we’re talking early 90s, I believed Clapton was (a) God. I was so into the band he had at that time, so when 24 Nights was released I was hooked.

This was taken from his annual Royal Albert Hall four-week stand. The first week was a four-piece band approximating Cream, the second week was a blues-legend line-up (Buddy Guy and Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray all sitting in, with Johnnie Johnson on piano) and then it was to Clapton’s regular touring 9-piece groups (pretty much the line-up I saw a year earlier in Auckland). The final week featured his band with a full orchestra and Michael Kamen conducting. He played his wonderful Edge of Darkness score and the Guitar Concerto. But the double album could only cherry-pick highlights. I’ve held on to the idea that this is peak Clapton. And I’m excited to revisit it today with the release of The Definitive 24 Nights, this expanded three-disc set includes the full Guitar Concerto and other songs from across the weeks that were recorded but never out on an album until today. We’ll see…

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One of my favourite bands across the last decade, or really the last half-decade in terms of heavy listening, has been the Drive-By Truckers. So, I’m also excited to know that The Complete Dirty South is available, just three bonus tracks, but I’m’ a hover them up. Such a great album. Such a great band.

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My best TradeMe purchase this week (from my burgeoning CD collection) was Themeology: The Best of John Barry. Barry is one of my favourite soundtrack composers (James Bond, Midnight Cowboy). And this single-disc compilation is an embarrassment of riches.

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And in brand-new (actual new) music. There’s a new song by Aphex Twin. The first of a promised EP. Do you know I’ve never really written about Aphex Twin. I mean – I’ve reviewed some of the more recent EPs and albums but maybe the new recordings, the first in five years, will get me to finally writing about how Aphex Twin has been one of the most important and influential musical acts on my listening across the last 25 years.

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Okay, so there’s some new (but old and now new again) music. And the reason I went with that theme today is because it feeds into the update for here at “Sounds Good!” Nothing is changing in terms of the delivery of the basic newsletter. I’ll still be writing on the same themes three times a week and putting them in your inbox if you subscribe, or you can access them via the app – which is a better way to do it I reckon.

But I am shifting my entire Off The Tracks archive across to Substack.

What that means is over ten years of music writing and some book and film reviews will be at your fingertips, but only if you’re a paid subscriber.

I don’t really push the paid subs – but the goal of course is to convert people to the paid platform. It’s just $5 a month, and then it’s the bargain rate of $35 for a full year, and if you choose to support it by paying more you can. I’m so grateful to all subscribers, but I have been wondering how better to reward those paying. The odd bit of bonus content is something, but it’s not enough.

At the same time, my website is old and out of date, design-wise, but it’s quite an incredible archive (if I do say so myself). Album reviews from when they mattered. Gig reviews from my time at the Dominion Post as well as when I was freelancing. Interviews with people like John Waters and Aaron Neville and Mavis Staples and Mark Knopfler and think-pieces on all sorts of musical topics. Then there’s my Vinyl Countdown blog, where I actually counted down from 2000 to 0, as I pawed my record collection and tried to establish why I owned what I did, what was it about the cover, or the music, or the memories that culminated in that particular record being in my collection.

I sometimes link to Off The Tracks here – and to give you a reminder of those sorts of posts and how they can be helpful, if you click on any of the links today within those paragraphs above you’ll be taking to rants about Eric Clapton, raves about The Police’s drummer and ramblings on various Drive By Truckers and Aphex Twin recordings.

But soon I am going to mothball Off The Tracks. It will only live here on Substack. And to access it you’ll need a paid subscription. This will be premium content for premium readers. Over 11,000 posts in that archive.

Oh, and I’ll keep adding to it. I’m writing album reviews still – here’s one from this week from a great local artist. One that is technically behind the paywall here on Substack, but I’ll show you it so you can see it now. Because this album was a lovely, warm surprise.

So, I hope that all makes sense. Soon you’ll get your Off The Tracks fix right here at Substack, via “Sounds Good!” The new posts on Off The Tracks will arrive here, but I won’t email you about each new post – that would punish your inbox. You’ll get your reminders about the newsletters, and if you sign up at $5 a month, or $35 a month, or if you gift a subscription to a friend then they’ll be able to see too…a whole world of music and movies and books and writing from across the last decade, and a bit beyond that too. Remnants from my Stuff blog, Blog On The Tracks, live deep inside Off The Tracks. There’ll be a bit of tidying up to do as I go, but it’s all there for paid subs. And it’s a huge source of content.

I hope you’ll make use of it, enjoy it, and use it – you can comment on those old archived posts if you want to create a dialogue. I will do my best, always, to reply. And you can upgrade your free sub to a paid one for a month or two to try it out.

Finally, if you want to remain on the free list you will always get your three weekly emailed newsletters. And that means you’ll also get Friday’s playlist.

This week’s is dark and moody and I really dug making it. And I’m also looking forward to giving it a listen later today.

Maybe there’s something on there you’ll like too.

Now, any questions about the future of “Sounds Good!” and the Off The Tracks archive? I hope you dig into it and find lots of buried treasure.

What’s on your turntable or in your earbuds this week and weekend?

Thanks, as always, for reading. And listening.