Tag Archives: Music writing
MORE SONGS ABOUT SEX AND BOOZE
What do you get if you mix the diamond grit of Dinah Washington, the heartbreak of Billie Holiday, the brash charm of Janis Joplin and the sass of The Ronettes? It’s a heady and potent cocktail, and one that resulted in soaring peaks and desperate troughs during the short life of Amy Jade Winehouse. In […]
73 FROM ’73 | AN INTRODUCTION
From the time I first extracted the more than three hundred 1973 albums in the VC collection I knew that 73 FROM ’73 would be a challenging project. And that was before I’d even researched the holes in the stash. No New York Dolls! Betty Davis overlooked! Where’s Aerosmith? Oh, the shame. Then I mulled […]
IMAGINE NO IMAGINE
It is difficult to imagine a world without John’s song “Imagine”. From the time it appeared on the album of the same name in September 1971—and then as a single a month later—it has become an anthem and a lullaby, a protest and a non-religious prayer, a campfire sing-along and a manifesto for dreamers. It […]
FLY ME TO THE MOON
The debut album by Air is soaring towards its twenty-fifth anniversary. A big part of the reason people are still enjoying Moon Safari is its tasteful mash-up of genres. Melding lounge, electronica, chill-out, pop, even trip-hop, this charming album is friendly, accessible, and a sustained delight. The LP opens with the lounge jazz instrumental “La […]
1972 COUNTDOWN… SOME BLUES AND ROOTS
JOHN LEE HOOKER — NEVER GET OUT OF THESE BLUES ALIVE Exploring an idea he returned to with great success on The Healer (1989), John Lee Hooker invites several guests to join him on this album, including Van Morrison and Elvin Bishop. This See For Miles CD re-issue is a strange beast, including a track […]
1972 COUNTDOWN… #45 — #41
45 TULLY — SEA OF JOY Australia and beaches seem to go together. Probably something to do with being an island continent. With endless coast and hot summers come beach culture, including the beguiling but not-so-easy-to-master sport of surfing (read about the writer’s efforts here). In the early 1970s a number of iconic surfing films […]
1972 COUNTDOWN… #65 — #61
65 BRIAN CADD — BRIAN CADD There may well be a sidebar post on 1972 Australian albums at some point, but this first album by all-rounder Brian Cadd deserves a special mention. He appeared here recently as a contributor to the fabulous soundtrack Morning Of The Earth (there may be a special ’72 soundtrack post […]
THE BEVIS FROND | NEW RIVER HEAD
CHAPTER ONE — “Introduction” You are now the owner of the latest His Master’s Voice radio gramophone and you have at your command all the pleasures to be found on His Master’s Voice records. To show you how lovely modern records sound on a modern radio gramophone, here are extracts from records of various character. […]
BLURRED VISION
Back in May of this year I was immersed in a project that occupied my waking hours (plus a few more besides) and left little room for other activities. The best I could manage at Vinyl Connection was a pictorial post that hinted at the topic. It was called, with coy indirectness, “What’s Going On […]
RELICS
Pink Floyd’s Relics, which came out in May 1971, was the perfect example of a record company stop-gap release. The band toured extensively in that era (the time of Atom Heart Mother) and when they did eventually make it into the studio, there were worries their rate of creating new music was far from brisk. […]
A YEAR OF GOOD VIBES — PART 1
I was asked to recommend some good vibes albums. I swallowed the bait, though it has taken a while to haul in the net. So here is a year’s worth of music featuring that unusual member of the percussion family, the vibraphone. For those unfamiliar with the instrument that Australian jazz legend John Sangster called […]
FILLING THE SAILS
Let’s not beat about the bush. Having a paying gig writing about music is wonderful. I respect Discrepancy Records for what they are aiming to be (a first class on-line record store) and love the way it has provided opportunities to explore different types of music writing. It’s great that even within the frantic world […]
vinylconnection.com.au 