Busy day ahead, but a couple of newsy notes have come across my desk that I thought might be of interest for this week’s All-Star Jam. Let’s kick things off with this tribute to Kamala Harris, who according to some right-wing nut has a “Jezebel spirit.”
Now, for a story in the New York Times that interested me… I hope you can get past the paywall. If not, this piece starts with an artist who saw his albums being resold on Discogs for as high as $77, so he priced his new album at $77, thinking he might as well get that money. And he has! The article also references the single copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album that was released and auctioned off years ago, an event I was highly jealous of, because I’d been thinking for years, as a highly unsuccessful artist, Why bother pressing 1000 independently released albums when we could press one and possibly sell it at a high enough price to equal what we make when we press 1000 and end up with 600 unsold copies in my garage? Plenty of food for thought in this article.
The other newsy note I want to pass along is an oldie but goodie for most of us, but how great is Jimi Hendrix‘s version of “All Along the Watchtower”?
Jam on it!
I love how in the comments regarding the Hendrix video, someone complains that this is not the actual studio version but a live rendition, as if that doesn’t make it all the more impressive.
77 bucks for a record seems high, but I preordered The Stones’ Goat’s Head Soup Deluxe vinyl version and the store I rrdered it from is guessing it will be at least 120 bucks (they definitely treat regular customers well and always try to be as cheap as they can). It’s a record I already have, and it includes a second record of unreleased songs, different mixes and a few instrumentals. That on it’s own would be worth 30 or 40 bucks to me. It also has quite possibly the most bootlegged concert by any band, Brussels 1973. I’ve got tons of versions of this, too. One of which is from perfect copies of King Biscuit Flower Hour releases which were the ones that went to the radio stations. It’s a killer concert and I’ve always wanted the original version on vinyl. I’m essentially spending 80 or 90 bucks on that. They did release it on CD in Japan and that was a little more, but it’s on CD and I just can’t spend that much for a CD. They just don’t hold any value and I like records better. I’m still pretty excited about it.
Pricing of records is so slippery. One of the reasons I was collecting vinyl (for a while) was because it was cheap, people were ditching their collections. I found a ton of great stuff during that era, including some memorable trash-picking! I’d go to a record fair and set some rules for myself, like I’m not paying more than $10 for anything, unless I find one or two specific things that are “holy grail” items. At one fair I was keeping an eye out for an album by a band called “Beatnik Beach.” This was a pre-Jellyfish band, and fans were buying copies for $30+. I found a copy and the seller was asking some stupid price, I decided against it. Two tables over, I found the same album for $1. And I don’t think it was even worth that. I don’t bother to buy new vinyl, especially if it was something recorded and mixed on a computer. What’s the point? I’d rather look for a full resolution file. But also, I don’t really buy records for their value.
Do (or did) any of you have weird personal rules for record shopping? My main rule was that I wouldn’t normally buy more than two albums at once, because anything more than that wouldn’t get a fair listen.
Chergeuvara asks, “Do (or did) any of you have weird personal rules for record shopping?”
This is a good question! I don’t know that I’ve thought about this before, other than I don’t like to be “caught” buying records too late after I should have owned them in the first place. For instance, I grew up with most of the Beatles albums, which my uncle gave me when I was a little kid. I filled out what was missing into my early teens, but I didn’t own Abbey Road, a Beatles album that I thought was kind of cheesy as a kid, until I was late in high school. I felt like I needed to wear a hat and false mustache as I brought it up to the counter at the Peaches on Grant Ave and Roosevelt Blvd.
Is there any love in the Hall for Johnny Rivers? Got into one of those rabbit holes this morning. Can’t say I’m familiar with any deep cuts but he makes one heckuva greatest hits playlist. I was surprised to learn he is not in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. No hobnobbing with Jann I guess.
And he still has a phenomenal voice. Here’s my favorite song of his “Poor Side Of Town” from 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJwjv-aaGTU
And “Secret Agent Man” from 2015, backed up by Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMuSg4upEbU&feature=youtu.be
I tried to find some Johnny Rivers deep cuts a while back, and I couldn’t really find any, but yeah his greatest hits album is pretty cool. It’s padded out with lots of covers, but the covers are always well done. The handful of songs that he made famous are really good. I really like Summer Rain.
WFMU played this great version of For What It’s Worth by Lou Rawls this morning. I’d never heard this before. As a bonus, he modulates up every verse.
https://youtu.be/4yiDx-F80XE
Quick tangent question: I’m filing CDs on my shelf; where do you all file your Booker T and the MGs? B for Booker?, J for (Booker) Jones?, M for MGs?
B
btw, I claim the award for shortest RTH post ever.
Did you know…that Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is the daughter of…Um, Um, Um, Um, Um… Major Lance?
Her mother, according to wikipedia, was Sylvia Robinson, however it would appear that it is not the Sylvia Robinson of Mickey & Sylvia or Sugar Hill Records fame.
6 albums of Armed Forces?!?!
https://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/elvis-costello-reveals-plans-for-a-big-reissue-campaign/
@ Al. Thanks! And yes, must be shortest ever. I went the same way. I was initially hoping Biden had picked Keisha Lance Bottoms as his running mate. I find her impressive. But a Biden Bottoms bumper sticker just doesn’t work! There are plenty of This Year’s Model live shows to dig into, so a couple of Armed Forces era live shows might be a new treat.
I gotta say, the Armed Forces Tour show at the Tower was by far my most disappointing Costello experience. I wasn’t crazy about the album, it seemed too full of gee-gaws at the time, but the show sounded terrible, perfunctory and just out of control in a bad way. I admit, however, that somehow they came back and did a three or four song encore and really turned things around.
The show for TYM was an inconceivable explosion. I’ve never seen anything like the wild, frantic looseness of Lipstick Vogue. It was pretty breathtaking.
The Trust tour was different altogether, rich sounding and controlled but still rocking. They made Squeeze, who seemed really good during their opening set, seem like thin gruel. He did do that Shot With Hi Own Gun thing, which was probably the first hint of future missteps.