I’ve been holding out for the 2012 remastered mono / stereo reissue of The Kink’s 1967 masterpiece, Something Else by the Kinks, but had to pull the trigger on this original US stereo pressing when faced with the decision. Chapter two in the “perfect album string” that started with 1966’s Face to Face and ended with 1971’s Muswell Hillbillies (6 albums in total), Something Else… is home to the following flawless cuts: Harry Rag, Waterloo Sunset, Death of a Clown (a Dave track), David Watts, and Two Sisters. Like with all early, middle, and late Kinks releases, Something Else… is nothing short of essential listening material. Ray Davies = genius… that is all.
Tag Archives: record collecting
Improvements
With improvements to day job facilities comes improvements in day job workstations. I am, along with my team, very excited to now have a turntable in the office. The Numark PT-01 with iHome speaker have been in full swing since our team (temporarily) moved into a new facility. We’ve been spinning The Sun Ra Arkestra, The Kinks (obviously, and often), Chicago, Dylan, Madonna, Tim Hardin, Cibo Matto, Duran Duran, Devo, Santogold, Ratatat, The Police, and of course, Belle & Sebastian featured here. File under “simple pleasures of spinning vinyl on the go.”
Let’s Go to Mordor!
1978 was a great year for a lot of great reasons, leading that list is, of course, the Ralph Bakshi directed animated feature, The Lord of the Rings. Number 2 on said list would have to be Leonard Rosenman’s soundtrack to the film. This double LP album filled with fantastical circumstances of Magical proportions is a personal favorite among my circle (of two). Theme from Lord of the Rings (track one, side one) is played, proclaiming the victorious card player as the overlord supreme commander after a labored, yet smashing day filled with mana, spell-casting, and general adolescent buffoonery. This soundtrack is essential for a victorious lap following heated social battles, and for shaming the battered loser, all in one commanding spin. Recommended.
Speed Kills!
Sometimes when you’re piecing together the rooted discography of your favorite band, you opt for, “the works.” 1993’s Ghetto-Box Rock found its release within issue #4 of Speed Kills Magazine. This virgin copy has yet to be extracted from its source, and currently lives like a cocoon of motor music history.
Another Saturday Night…
We’re taking a break tonight, so whatever you’ve got right infront of you, make it happen… Todd Terje, The Blackouts, your mother’s kitchen jingles… whatever tickles your fancy, we’re in on it. Happy Saturday!
The Greatest Sound on Record
Presented, verbatim (because I’m tired), Dot Records corporate, in their own words, on Dot Records branding. Enjoy and happy Friday!
Dot Records presents the Greatest Sound on Record (stereo and regular)
Dot Records offers the ultimate in ultra high-fidelity reproduction. The “Dot Sound” is the most powerful, diamond-clear quality in recorded music.
Only Dot Records’ long-playing albums, regular and stereophonic, are recorded in ultra high0fidelity. It has always been the company’s policy to present to the public the finest in recorded entertainment.
The “Dot Sound,” coupled with a selection of artists and music that appealed to everyone, quickly brought the company to national recognition. Today the “Dot Sound” has become Dot Records’ hallmark throughout the world.
For further information or free color catalog, write to Dot Records, Inc., Sunset and Vine, Hollywood 28, Calif.
“Charade”
Let us, on the 13th day of August in the year of our Lord, 2015, give homage and respect to Mr. Henry Mancini and his unforgettable and ravishing work on the 1963 film, Charade. Often touted as “the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made” (by uncredited sources), Charade is a forceful little tart of a film with just the proper amount of Cary Grant schtick spliced with just the right amount of 1963 Technicolor Audrey Hepburn. It’s great for a nonchalant Thursday viewing, but doesn’t measure up to any of the Sunday Hitchcock classics. None of this, however, in any way takes away from the overpowering Henry Mancini brilliance. Good day.
This Just in… Your Sports Team is Atrocious
When your sports team is for shit, you stop watching them and, well, ALL sports, and focus on music, or, at least we do. So to get our Sports fix, we, in this, yet again, difficult season, turn to Huey Lewis and The News for consistent Sports satisfaction. This insert was featured in a Chrysalis release from the 1983 album, Sports by Huey Lewis and The News… and with this bit of knowledge, I’m sure, your evening is complete. Happy hump day (he said with no hint of enthusiasm whatsoever).
Ritual
In 1990, Jane’s Addiction released their 2nd studio album, Ritual De Lo Habitual. Three Days, Been Caught Stealing, and Classic Girl all debuted with this legendary album which was, for over a decade, their last. She, and her older sister, 1988’s Nothing Shocking each got heavy play throughout my high school years, and with everything ingested during those impressionable years, received its proper graduation to “ownership on vinyl.”
… For Your Listening and Dancing Pleasure
60 tracks on one LP… are you kidding me? “Hells no” says Dick Hyman with his 1957 release, 60 Great All Time Songs Vol. 2 For Your Listening And Dancing Pleasure. As far as I can tell, there are four volumes total in the Great All Time Songs library, none of which I currently own, with the exception for the Vol. 2 you’re currently looking at. So, you know, there’s that.
Ferris Bueller, You’re My Hero
You know, when a bootleg soundtrack to one of your favorite films majestically shows up on the wall of a Philadelphia record shop you happen to stumble into (mainly because of all the good craft beer… stumbling, that is), you know it’s going to be an “interesting” day. Said day happened, with great joy, until yours truly discovered a blue vinyl version of the same bootleg… $30 down the pipes, but the music is still stellar.
RIP John Hughes.
I Get Bored, I Do Get Bored…
The latest inspirational obsession, 1980’s In the Flat Field by England’s Bauhaus. Do NOT listen without warning…
B-Boy Bouillabaisse
This 1982 live bootleg from the inaugural Beastie Boys years is the most recent addition to the family’s B-Boy Bouillabaisse (Paul’s Boutique… check it out). It was acquired at an LA punk shop off Melrose, and although the quality is less than perfect, it captures a pivotal point in the band’s lucrative history. For what it’s worth, sacred memories need to be celebrated, regardless of how unsocial and mundane they may seem.
RIP MCA.
Drunk in Public
Arguably the soundtrack to my 1994 summer, NOFX’s fifth studio album Punk in Drublic saw a slight cover variation between the compact disc and the vinyl release. For unknown reasons, the CD had a pink sky behind the floating rodeo queens and the pervie kid below, while the vinyl version (as you can plainly see here) has a light brown sky.
Serving (more or less) as the band’s greatest hits album (though, as previously stated, is a proper studio album), Punk in Drublic features the following personal favs: Scavenger Type, Lori Meyers, The Brews, Linoleum, Don’t Call Me White, and Punk Guy. A dubbed cassette version of this album (the B-side being Pennywise’s 1995 classic, About Time) lived inside my truck for a solid three years, and was constantly turned down (or off) by frequent riders as being “not universally enjoyable.” Oh, what I wouldn’t give to experience this album fresh for the first time again.
It’s Just My Legs
I never knew Ike, but as an adolescent fan of 80s pop radio (Madison, Wisconsin’s Z-104), I knew Tina Turner. I knew her for asking the simple, yet tough questions in life, like, what’s love got to do with it, and what’s love but second hand emotion? I still haven’t 100% figured that out, but I’m forced to humbly accept that fact.
Released in the Orwellian year of our lord, 1984, Private Dancer was hugely successful for this pop dragon, and proved to be one of Tina’s best selling albums (selling over 5 million copies). Four Grammy wins for Private Dancer, and this majestic beast would be forever cemented into the sponge-like minds of rural Wisconsin’s youth.
I’m in a Lava Lamp
This, what you see before you, is the quintessential Godfather gift to a vinyl collecting, newbie Godfather. Her name is Autumn, and my name… The Godfather. A very special thanks to the thoughtful, and music-loving parents.
Red-Headed-Hussy
Holiday is over, and we’re back in LA. Needless to say, we need a vacation from our vacation. So, here’s an album by 1967’s Ace Cannon featuring a red-headed-hussy wearing a gold foil dress pouring a saucer full of wax into a record mold, because, as we all know, this is where records come from.
War of the Waves
Produced as an educational aid for Drama Students... that is all. – Audio Rarities (LPA #2355)
Pop Sampler
Westminster! Pop! (wait for it…) Sampler! Is it as evocatively pleasurable as this cover suggests, that remains to be seen, or heard in this case, but to some, the soothing groove hisses are as rhythmically seductive as any a Saturday night. Westminster, I know you not… but thank you for a bit of your salty samples.
Dyn-O-Mite Guitar
Q: What do James Bond, Captain Kirk, Bruce from Jaws, and the team from The Rockford Files all have in common? A: Billy Strange’s thematic interpretation found throughout the party-favorite, Dyn-O-Mite Guitar. When drama, science fiction, and scantly clad axe-wielders collide, there’s Billy Strange.
The Prudent Groove 