vinyl

The End of the Line, or Last Night a Bootleg Saved My Sanity

Aug 072009

This thread won’t apply to everybody. For younger record nerds who have come of age in an era when downloads of just about any obscure album can be found for free on the web if you search long enough, there’s little risk in accumulating all the mp3s your heart desires. The anxieties that older rock nerds have experienced may not ring true. It must be nice.

Some of you have already walked down the endless path of the hardcore record collector. There’s no stopping you now, and if that’s the case, more power to you! A part of me wishes I hadn’t been scared off this path, but I was, by two once hard-to-find purchases I made when I was 18: a bootleg of the Sex Pistols‘ last show at San Francisco’s Winterland and Iggy Pop and The Stooges‘ semi-bootleg document of that band’s last show, Metallic K.O. As I said, today you could probably download these albums in the comfort of your home in less than 20 minutes. In 1981, a teenage boy without much cash to spare had to make a great investment of time and money to locate these albums and bring them home, with no opportunity to sample selected tracks for free on some blog. What if this bootleg I’m tempted to spend $20 on sucks? What if I hear more of the dude who illegally taped the show hooting and hollering for his favorite songs than I do the band?

Worse yet: What if the bootleg was a dreaded, DOA board mix, with little more than vocals and kick drum?
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Greatest Hits Albums You’ve Bought Only Because There Wasn’t a Double A-Side Single or Greatest Hits EP Available

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 112009

In other words, “Go All the Way” and “Let’s Pretend.”

The subject line says it all. Thanks to Townsman Mwall for suggesting the topic. In the digital download age this is no longer an issue, but growing up, when vinyl was the main mode of music delivery, we sometimes shelled out for a Greatest Hits or Best of… album by an artist we really wished had made available their two to four worthwhile songs on a less-expensive double A-side single or EP.

What I ask of you is that you share actual purchases of this nature and not witty attempts at listing every possible 1-hit wonder with a Greatest Hits or Best of… album that you never bought or intended to buy. In other words, be real.

The first such album that came to mind for me is pictured above.

Albums You Know You Like by Artists You Definitely Like Yet That You Have Zero Interest in Playing

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 072009

Exhausted?

It just occurred to me that I did not load a single track from Elvis Costello & The Attractions‘ Armed Forces onto my iPod. I love EC & The Attractions – everybody loves ’em – and Armed Forces is a strong record featuring some killer songs, but I rarely if ever feel the need to spin it. I’ve felt this way for most of the years that have followed the release of Get Happy!!, my all-time favorite album (period, not just among EC albums). I feel like I’ve got nothing to learn from Armed Forces. The arrangements lack mystery and unexplored nooks and crannies for me to stumble upon. The lyrics seem to have nothing more to reveal to me. I never found it to be a very emotional album, and what emotions I once felt for the album have long since passed from my daily routine (eg, “Party Girl”). It’s a closed book. A very good book, but closed for me.

Do you have an album or albums like I’ve described, albums you know you like by artists you definitely like yet that you have zero interest in playing?

Consult the Orockle

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Mar 122009

Who among us hasn’t been amazed by the wisdom of The Hall? For as many knowledgeable individuals who dazzle me with their rock knowledge, it is the collective wisdom of our participants that I find most dazzling.

It is in this spirit that I want to continue a feature that was launched a couple of months ago, not only for the people but by the people.

As originally described, the concept is simple. This is a place to seek specific wisdom from the collective intelligence. These are not to be philosophical queries but rather to seek advice and wisdom on specific rock questions. It may be a place to seek listening and purchasing recommendations.

Today I have a simple request, for The Orockle, one that may spark lengthy conversation, or not, but will hopefully illicit some sage advice.

As always, when any of us consult The Orockle, the opportunity exists for folks to ask similar questions and receive similar advice. The topic shouldn’t necessarily focus just on my topic.

Here’s the question I would like to ask The Orockle:
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Jazzmat: Beware the Dashiki-Wearing Coltrane Associates on Impulse! Releases Employing Psychedelic Fonts

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 272009

Burnt!

John Coltrane‘s ’60s records were my entry into any appreciation I have to this day for jazz. I love most of the dozen or so albums I own from this period, but Coltrane is responsible for one of the great toxic waste bins in the jazz section of any store or online retailer. I’ve got nothing against dashikis or psychedelic fonts, in fact, I love them. But put them together on an Impulse! release and I’m not buying. I’ve been burnt one too many time – twice, in fact – by Coltrane albums packaged in this manner, and I won’t be burnt again.

Sorry, Pharoah. I’m sure you’ll understand.

After buying a few “pyschedelic” Coltrane albums I steered clear of possibly Pharoah Sanders’ best works, but I probably saved myself the money and effort of trying to get into countless other “psychedelic jazz” wankfests. If for no other reason, I’m confident my bias against attempts by Impulse! to tap into the psychedelic rock era were justified by the line I swore I would never cross:
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Compilations That Don’t Suck

Posted by mikeydread

Feb 092009

What makes a decent compilation album? By which I mean, a collection of tunes that is, well, more than just a collection of tunes. I have recently been reviewing Dark is the Night, the latest of the Red Hot Organization’s fund-raising records. It’s a who’s who of the young, gifted, and groovy, including Bon Iver, Stuart Murdoch, Feist, Cat Power, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, and more. It’s a magic pudding of an album, a cut-and-come-again collection. I am enjoying its parts but does it represent anything more? Is that what good, even great, compilations do? Or am I just looking at the moon through a keyhole?

A magic pudding

By compilations I mean collections of more than one artist or band.

I tread warily around reggae compilations from Studio One. When does a collection of rare “classics” become the scraping of the barrel? I am rarely curious enough or cashed up enough to fund out. And I run screaming from most tribute albums. Gram Parsons, The Smiths, The Go-Betweens, Serge Gainsbourg…I’m outta here. When is the whole greater than the sum of the parts, grasshopper?

I have fond memories of the early Hal Wilner sorties Lost in the Stars (a collection of songs by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weil, and Stay Awake, the music from Disney films. Highlights here include Los Lobos’ “I Wanna Be Just Like You” (from the Jungle Book) and Bonnie Raitt, who I otherwise don’t go out of my way for caressing “Baby Mine” (from Dumbo) into exquisite moods. The take out from these two records is that I come away with a greater appreciation of the idea being compiled. There may be one or two stinkers in there too, but I’m prepared to forgive in the name of eclecticism. There’s a Martin Hannett anthology, Zero, that is an interesting tour of post-punk (Buzzcocks, Joy Division, Kitchens of Distinction) that I am not ashamed to own.

What compilations have lasted longer than a fake tan?

The Worst Album I’ve Ever Heard: Vanilla Fudge’s “The Beat Goes On”

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Feb 072009

“When the crescendo comes up during a song, I lose myself in it. I feel I’m making love to the audience. The sound fondles them, taunts them. grabs at them, embraces them.” — Vanilla Fudge keyboardist Mark Stein, from the liner notes to the Fudge’s 1968 concept album The Beat Goes On

Fellow Townspeople — I went out on a particularly fruitless thrifting expedition today; so fruitless, in fact, that I had to resort to buying an album solely because it looked like the single most colossally pretentious turd ever unleashed on the record buying public. And it was! This Vanilla Fudge album — The Beat Goes On, from 1968 — is astonishing in its badness, even for a Vanilla Fudge LP. Its awfulness is almost surreal. It may in fact be the worst album I’ve ever heard.

The basic idea, if there really is one, involves slowing down the Sonny Bono song from the title to a dirge-like pace, splitting it into six pieces, and filling groove space between these 6-minute-long snippets with brief, partial covers of music by artists ranging from Mozart to The Beatles — interspersed with pompous, idiotic interview segments with band members and lengthy audio montages of famous speeches by politicians from the 20th century, and the occasional sitar raga. Yes, I’m serious.

I’m sure you’re eager to hear some of this. I’m afraid I cannot indulge your macabre curiosity. If I were to rip and post this album here, I might be responsible for single-handedly upsetting the fundamental, universal balance between musical good and evil, and unleashing armies of winged demons wearing Bad Company T-shirts upon the world. The gates of hell would burst asunder, and with a giant retching sound, the rock netherworld would give up its glassy-eyed, greasy-haired, bongwater-soaked rock undead to assault and terrorize the planet. It’s just not worth it.

Sorry, guys. Trust me, I’ve got your best interests at heart here.

Your friend,

HVB

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