vinyl

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: A Super Bowl Eve Extravaganza Gets Railroaded When Mr. Moderator Goes There for a Greater Purpose

Feb 012014

Sounds of the hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

In this week’s Saturday Night Shut-In, a Super Bowl Eve extravaganza gets railroaded when your host and moderator goes there, to a place he wishes Madonna and all of us would never go, repeatedly saying a word he is truly opposed to saying, but saying it anyhow for a greater purpose. This episode, it goes without saying, is NOT SAFE FOR WORK. The show’s producers are not happy! Mr. Moderator offered the following statement after the show: “I apologize for straying from the best interests of my audience.”

Prior to an uncharacteristic detour from the fun, partying, and rock ‘n roll that characterizes Mr. Moderator’s interests, your host shares reflections on the life and death of Anna Gordy Gaye and some killer tunes!

RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 127

[Note: You can add Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your iTunes by clicking here. The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player.]

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: Passport, please?

Posted by cliff sovinsanity

Jan 272014

Sounds of the hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

I was originally going to break this spotlight on Passport Records into two episodes: the first covering the ’70s and the second highlighting the ’80s, however that would be far too cruel on the listener. And like Mr. Moderator is fond of saying “I’ve got to think of my audience”.

Enjoy this consolidated version.

Passport

Playlist after jump

Songs You Love Yet Have Never Owned

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 192014

Tempting?

Despite never having owned it, the hippie cheese of Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” never fails to please. Hearing on the radio yesterday I realized how influential the record is on my aesthetic: the beat, the fuzz tone, the double-bends… “Sad,” you may be right in thinking to yourself.

Or maybe not, as I learned with an outpouring of support when I posted these thoughts to my Facebook page minutes after this experience.

Why don’t I own a copy of “Spirit in the Sky”?

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: #MinimalistTownHall?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 182014

Sounds of the hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

In tonight’s episode of Saturday Night Shut-In, as Mr Moderator puts aside unnecessary worries and dedicates his full attention to his audience, the show takes an unexpected twist that is sure to simmer his listening base down to a rich, velvety roux! See if you can break on through to the other side.

RTH Saturday Night Shut-In 125

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: Happy Seventh Anniversary Edition (or However You Choose to Count)

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 122014

Sounds of the hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

In tonight’s episode of Saturday Night Shut-In, your Moderator celebrates Rock Town Hall’s seventh year in public blog form and pledges to take this place to the next level (not saying if it’s gonna be up or down) in 2014. To be fair, you may not consider this our seventh year at this URL. Perhaps you don’t abide by the Christian calendar. Perhaps I counted wrong (we started this place on January 12, 2007, if you want to check my math). Nevertheless, critics will consider this a truly remarkable episode, even by our usually remarkable standards. We’ll keep setting ’em up; you keep knocking them out!

RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 124

Odds & Sods Collections in the Digital Age

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 102014

(AKA Hey Jude.)

I don’t think you can buy The Beatles Again (aka Hey Jude), a vinyl collection of non-album tracks, as a distinct CD. It may have changed in recent years, but there was a long stretch when you also could not buy a distinct CD of Elvis Costello & The Attractions’ similar odds & sods collection, Taking Liberties. Soon, when all physical media are done away with, none of this will matter whatsoever and I’ll be grumpier than ever. Before this worse day comes, let me me bemoan the fact that not all the odds & sods collections of my youth are available as distinct packages in the digital age. I don’t like having those tracks split up as bonus tracks on various albums.

I’m pretty sure, meanwhile, that The Who’s Odds & Sods has always survived the digital age as a distinct product, right?

What odds & sods collections from the vinyl age do you most regret seeing broken up over the reissues of various original albums?