The thread for discussing the amazing Life Is A Problem comp on MISSISSIPPI records

In the past two weeks I've basically stumbled into copies of Life is a Problem and the Thai Orchestra LP. This shit rules. Thanks, this thread.

get yourself a copies of "I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore" and "Last Kind Words" PRONTO.

yeh. the african comps too, lipi kodi ya city council particularly - it's all over the place & really beautiful.

i'm going to keep bumping this thread until mississippi put out something else to enthuse about: has anyone heard the other side of the straight street group forty-five that's on life is a problem? the song on there's incredible: like the standard trundling gospel guitar chug but played ten times faster, like a gospel ramones. also, any other o.m. terrell stuff?

straight street group has proven to be one of kevin nutt's greatest finds in a few years, yes. more about that when i can say more.

just finished up the tracklist for the sequel to 'life is a problem' -- was one third compiled dby myself, a third by mr. nutt and a third by warren and eric the two label heads of mississippi.

it's going to be the launch of my new label with mississippi, social music! am so psyched. yay. lots of cool new and old stuff in the works.

officially excited here.

for real. the trundling, jamming first side of life is a problem's such a great sequence of music. good news about the label.

i meant to nip in here and post the other day: there's a new seven inch on mississippi, at forced exposure and honest jons; it's one of a series of singles they're putting out of stuff recorded in portland with a social twist, with a sign on the back saying it's going to be four singles a year.

oh & i'm totally expecting straight street group LIVE FROM FMU any day now. i seriously can't believe some musician hasn't totally ripped them off, that style of fast-chugging guitar playing.

that single is out of print already, so i suggest buying it right up! can't wait to hear more of those 7"s.

i guess the rats lp is finally mastered and okay'ed and about to happen soon so it's mentionable now? that's the first album by the pre dead moon band, the rats -- supposedly awesome and i don't doubt it.

eric is responsible for the sequencing of 'life is a problem,' fyi -- he's great at that stuff...

nice ... I think there were actually three Rats lps? I have to check my archives ... I think that I have at least two if not three of those Rats LPs .. just can't recall which ones without digging out my crates

Obv the Zipper Lp is the one that all us Dead Moon heads want .. I have the original CD ...

one of those Rats lps ( again there were either two or three ... I am pretty sure there were three) .. was originally on blood-red vinyl ... rock that, MS!

i think it's the first rats record but am not sure. i'm playing catch up with my dead moonology.

thankfully eric is pals with those guys and regularly turns up tombstone records dead stock (no pun intended) -- just yesterday there were two lp and one 7" sized boxes sent from them to the shop. could be pierced arrows stuff but maybe not?

soooo glad i live near miss. records -- such a great shop.

LIAP pt 2, first release on Social Music, has a name now:

Oh Graveyard, You Can't Hold Me Always.

It will be pretty good, I think!

We hope also in collaboration with Kevin Nutt to release a Straight Street Group LP -- there is one known copy of a Straight Street Group LP that's just surfaced -- Kevin has that plus the two singles and what I've heard is all very very good. Now we're all just working on getting in touch with the performers or their family to make this happen on the up and up.

Nice. :-)

That's all exciting news Mike!

so great. i thought the straight street group thing was a one-single deal. most of the stuff on the first side of liap i figured just existed by the grace of someone schlepping a tape recorder along to church.

Ummmmm, am confused why you'd think that? Recorded sermons and spirituals were some of the earliest best-selling cylinders/ 78s. When gospel as we know it got started in the 20s/ 30s it was well recorded and remains to this day. Raw bluesy gospel was marginalized the same way that hillbilly and blues recordings were once the Depression hit.

Sanct. blues didn't die in the '30s it just ceased to be recorded as much and unlike the juke joint circuit you didn't have so many small labels around to help it stay healthy. It continued to be recorded, and that's the un-stated "point" of LIAP all of which is post WW2, '50s and after -- maybe we should have made that more clear.

Some recordings of this ilk are done in the church, but usually by the musicians themselves -- with a handful of notable exceptions of course. There has been a lot of good fieldwork done umm, but for instance Rev. Charlie Jackson -- those were all just records made in small studios for a small local label, Booker.

Does that answer your question? For the origins of sanct. blues I gighly recommend "Songsters and Saints" by Paul Oliver.

Ohh and did I mention the Hurley LP is back on? It'll take a while but that's great news too...

Resultant fame and fortune for everyone. (Hey, I can dream.) Oh yeah Mike that friend of yours dropped me a line, thanks!

awesome, thanx (xpost to Mike)

do people think it's time for a catchall Mississippi Recs S/D thread?

Search: All
Destroy: None

Mike: Are they gonna do both Raccoon LPs or just Armchair?

Some recordings of this ilk are done in the church, but usually by the musicians themselves -- with a handful of notable exceptions of course. There has been a lot of good fieldwork done umm, but for instance Rev. Charlie Jackson -- those were all just records made in small studios for a small local label, Booker.

yeah, i think i was maybe basing that on charlie jackson - aren't there a couple of tracks that aren't on the comp that are labelled as "boombox" recordings? i maybe thought that's how it worked. like with some of lonnie farris's slower more sermon-y stuff, no matter how great they are i didn't really see them as 78s to release. thanks for clearing it up though. i've read some of oliver's history of the blues, and i understand the LIAP emphasis on post-war -> golden age gospel stuff.

is really good news about michael hurley. i love penguins.

crumb bros track is amazing
I was really wondering where I heard it before
and then I realized that richard hell track I'm Your Man was it

Forced Exposure was out of most of these so I tried another place and got the below response. Hopefully they will be able to get them

PHILLIPS, WASHINGTON What Are They Doing In Heaven Today? lp
> THOMAS, IRMA The New Orleans Series lp
> V/A Life Is A Problem lp
> V/A Love Is Love lp

hey ,
we're out of all four of those. but we're about to get another big order from mississippi so we'll keep you posted when we get those back in. should be in the next week or so. thanks so much.

stuff wil get reprinted -- not sure how soon. irma thomas is recent enough you should still be able to find copies man.

bongo joe reissue via arhoolie license will be NICE -- will be so great to have that on vinyl.

Aquarius mailorder says they can get me the Irma Thomas now, but still can't get me V/A Life Is A Problem lp, V/A Love Is Love lp, and the Washington Phillips. Mississippi Records told 'em that Love is Love won't be reissued for a year.

I wonder if any stores in the DC/Baltimore area have this stuff?

try true vine in baltimore, man -- ian's pals with eric and even working on a few releases, i believe...

Thanks.

Eric said last night that Ian is actually starting his own label, which will be distro'ed solely via Mississippi.

That's three new labels to be distro'ed by Miss. all starting up real soon -- Domino out of New Orleans, True Vine out of Baltimore, and Social Music also out of PDX...

Was super sweet last night seeing Jason Spaceman thank Eric for his label super profusely after the Spiritualized set.

try true vine in baltimore, man -- ian's pals with eric and even working on a few releases, i believe...

― Mike McGooney-gal, Tuesday, September 16, 2008 4:56 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark

ian just abdicated his share in true vine last week, but im sure jason will still carry the titles, esp if ian is gonna start releasing stuff through MS.

also, red onion books and records at 18th & T NW in DC has all the MS stuff as it comes out...

i got lipa kodi ya at true vine last year, love is love at harvest records in asheville, and like every other MS release at red onion...

also the irma thomas KILLS. in the top five MS releases so far!

Everyone better do yourself a favor and run out and buy the Bongo Joe LP on Mississippi RIGHT NOW. Fucking unbelievable record.

If Curmudgeon is still looking for those MS recordss listed above, shoot me and e-mail. We have the Irma Thomas, Life Is A Problem and Washington Phillips in stock.

just finished up the tracklist for the sequel to 'life is a problem' -- was one third compiled dby myself, a third by mr. nutt and a third by warren and eric the two label heads of mississippi.

Have you got test pressings yet??

ian, sent you an email, let me know if it doesn't get through.

hey john. replied to your email. let me know the address to ship to and i can give u a total! thx.

Tell me about this 'Bongo Joe'.

Texan street singer in the sixties playing an oil drum and singing fairly moralistic songs about dogs & the ways humans treat one another. In a voice that at times recalls the weirdest tom waits but never comes across as forced or phony.

originally released on Arhoolie, and fully licensed!

latest:
Artist: ANIMALS + MEN
Title: Never Bought Never Sold: Singles + Demos 1979-83
Label: MISSISSIPPI RECORDS
Format: LP
Price: $12.00
Catalog #: MR 024LP
"Animals + Men -- named after a song by Adam and the Ants -- started life around the winter of 1978-1979 when Susan Wells took over vocal duties in what was a three piece called Psychotic Reaction. Based in Frome Somerset, their first release Don't Misbehave in the New Age (1980) was an indie hit. When the band split in '81, Susan and Ralph formed the Terraplanes. A & M/Terraplanes released three vinyl 45s. A few years ago, demos by the band surfaced on the Messthetics/Hyped 2 Death label. Recently, the band have reformed and performed the odd gig and are releasing an EP of new songs soon on Convulsive Records. Mississippi Records is proud to be the first to release an entire LP containing the three 45s and early demos, all recorded between 1979-1983. For fans of early UK DIY."

i kinda skipped some of the other louder mississippi stuff - dog faced hermans &c.

Dog Faced Hermans record is absolutely fantastic, FYI. Maybe still available at Forced Exposure.

I was gonna bump this thread cuz I went to Mississippi (the store) last weekend, bought the Washington Phillips record (SO GOOD) but passed on that Animals & Men. They have all of their agonizingly out of print releases up there on the wall, laughing at you.

i thought i was the only one that heard that laughter!

gonna pick this up tomorrow. sounds like they've taken it way back to pre war stuff/last kind words era stuff--

Artist: VA
Title: Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long
Label: MISSISSIPPI RECORDS
Format: LP
Price: $13.00
Catalog #: MR 025LP
"Compilation of sanctified blues recorded between 1927-1934. This is our sequel to the popular Life Is A Problem LP. Twelve songs of pure guitar-driven gospel. This slab is as melodic as it is rockin'. Features songs by Bukka White, Willie Mae Morris, Bo Weevil Jackson, Kid Prince Moore and more. This is packaged in the old-fashioned tip-on sleeve."

i still think they messed up by not numbering things one mississippi, two mississippi &c

i still think they messed up by not numbering things one mississippi, two mississippi &c

ha ha! yes, a totally missed opportunity.

not dour enough.
jus kiddin i love the MS records. i think my favorite is "i don't feel at home in this world anymore" but they're all pretty essential.

yeah ok scratch what i said earlier. "fight on..." is fucking great.

it's great, huh. some of it's really other worldly. and no-one writes songs like or plays guitar like sign of judgement anymore.

was going to bump this yesterday to note two new mississippi releases: the first rats lp and another portland seven inch (by sad horse: what a name). apparently the single "Comes with an incomplete Mississippi Records catalog.", which sounds interesting.

i've been chasing up a couple of singers from the earlier comps recently - everything i've heard by lulu jackson from last kind words is great, in the same vein as careless love.

ive started tracking down as many of the original music LP's, earlier compilations of the african stuff on love is love and lipa kodi ya

as many as i can, that is

Hey Pete oh buddy oh pal