I used to love the Replacements “ they were my favorite band back when I still had a favorite band “ but once the spell is broken it s hard to go back. There s just not enough really good music there, and nowadays the sentiment grates rather than resonates.They are emblematic of all the things you u...

Palmer PDI-09: a handy passive device that takes the speaker output of your amp and converts it into a mic level signal with speaker simulation i.e. direct recording from your amp. You still have to run the amp signal through to a speaker so it only works for silent recording if you have an attenuat...

I was at the Adelaide Oval for the last session of the 2nd Test and was impressed with how upbeat and energetic the English were in the field - their demeanour wasn't of a beaten team and there was lots of positive chat and encouragement. However, all the positive chat in the world can't make up for...

All this talk about the relationship of the song to the performance is good, but is it as good as the guitar solo in the Carpenter's "Love Me For What I Am"? You'll find it on side 2 of "Horizon", an album which says a lot about the Carpenters as a whole. I'm a fan of this record...

I've been using a Saffire for a month or so. It's the only firewire interface I've used, but I'm very satisfied with the sound quality. I've got pleasingly detailed and rich guitar and vocal sounds from it - the DSP compression and EQ is handy for tracking, especially as you can simultaneously recor...

Not crap. Eliminator is the kind of record I'd never choose to put on myself, but if I heard Sharp Dressed Man on the radio I wouldn't change the station - I'd probably turn it up. And let's not forget Sleeping Bag, which is about as wilfully stupid as a song can be. I saw ZZ Top around the time of ...

There's a lot of individual elements about this band that are crap - the terrible name and Billy Corgan's loathsome, self-pitying persona immediately come to mind. Having said that, when I saw them at the Melbourne Big Day Out in 1994 they rocked with such authority that for 45 minutes it totally sl...

Not crap. Manilow's hits from the mid-70s are about as great as easy listening gets - these are beautifully written, well-aranged songs that totally deliver the goods (exhibit A: "Weekend In New England"). Having said that, he has also sung some shockers. It's been received wisdom for a lo...