Rolling 2008 Vinyl Thread

Went to the local used store, here's what I bought and what I paid (only listened to a couple so far):

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Damn The Torpedoes, $3. Listened. Always kinda curious about this album, worth the $3 for at least two pretty good songs on each side (singles, mostly).

Boulder, s/t, $3. Listened. I was high when I bought it and loved the synths on the opener, "Join me in LA." Realized too late that it was a Warren Zevon cover and the rest of the album was kinda trad '70s boogie bullshit; that they sound like they look (see photo). I feel vaguely ripped off, but the Zevon tune is pretty sweet.

Horslips, The Man who Built America, $2. Listened. Side one is this fantastic new wave pop fest, with plenty of hooks and dudes singing to chicks about missing them and stuff. Then, as I'm listening to it, I look 'em up on wikipedia and see that they were an Irish folk rock band that mostly did concept albums, and that The Man Who Built America was their "heavy" album that alienated fans. As I read this, side two starts feeling like they were in the studio and said "Oh, right, we need a concept," and they started plugging away at missing ol' Blarney or whatever the fuck the Irish call it. Still, OK, just markedly less good than the first side, which was awesome. Easily worth $8.

Thee Image, Inside the Triangle, $8. Listening. So, apparently, my four-or-so needle drops totally mistook the character of the band—I thought they were some weirdo disco band with a lot of trippy Hammond organ and space oscillators. Which they are, but they're also a buttrock band on "All Night Long," a decent funk-rock band on "I.O.U.s", a shitty sub-10cc ballad band on "Rapture of the Deep," and prone to prog pretensions through-out. Which makes it kind of funny to see the folks here (also the folks hosting the image) begging for the guy to re-up it. I dunno. Maybe if I had a rapidshare account, it would be worth downloading it, but I can't imagine I'd ever want to share it enough to upload it. Not worth $8, even though I may raid it for mixtapes.

Cheetah, Rock & Roll Women, $4. Not listened. From the needle drops, they sound like Suzi Quatro's rockin' tracks, which I like. Two sisters, like Heart, vaguely big-hair attractive, like Heart.

Grace Jones, Warm Leatherette, $3. Not listened. In-store preview? Well, I know the title track from a cover by The Normals, it's got Sly and Robbie producing and playing on it, and it has a cover of "Love is the Drug." It should be good, right? EDIT: Whups. From looking at All Music, it seems that the Normals did the original.

Eric Burdon and the Animals, The Twain Shall Meet, $2. Not listened. I like his voice, and most of the stuff I've heard on either side of this (Animals, War). Couple of drops sounded promising, even if the album's a bit beat and fuzzy.

Golden Earring, Moontan, $4. Not listened. To be honest, four bucks is about twice what I'd pay just to own "Radar Love," but the rest of the album sounded promising too.

Night Soil Man, Garden of Delights, $3. Not listened. A couple of drops gave a dark post-punk vibe, and a little googling shows that they turned into Drive Like Jehu and inspired some story. I'm really looking forward to the album, but haven't been in a scary evil vinyl mood, so am kind of hesitant.

Um, apparently I fucked the link and the image up. You can go <a href="http://bryonsplace.blogspot.com/2006/07/thee-image-and-greenslade.html";>here</a> to see it.

Whups fat fingers I'm an idiot.

i like that cheetah album. it's a vanda/young creation. and, yeah, boulder kinda blew. the first thee image album is best i think. i think i actually have five different albums/bands that feature mike pinera. blues image, iron butterfly, ramatam, thee image, and the new cactus band! i don't have the alice cooper albums that he was on though.

i put one of the best thee image tracks on one of those mixes that i posted on that skot's carnival thread. great epic waaaaaaaay over the top prog rock jam.

The Cheetah album ended up being pretty good, I think (I actually wrote that all up a day or two ago, and have been able to listen to a little bit more). The Golden Earring was really good too.

Which AC albums was he on? And I'll go check out your Carnival thing again—I usually listen to 'em once but don't want to bogart your bandwidth.

you know gas is getting expensive when you start seeing stuff like this:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/zip/644328539.html

stack of vinyl records with no covers (park slope)
Reply to: sale-644328✧✧✧@craigsl✧✧✧.o✧✧
Date: 2008-04-16, 10:09AM EDT

stack of vinyl records with no covers .Got to be over 100 records.Use for playing music,art projects or burn for cheap fuel.Come and get them.

hey guys im playing music on WMUC in college park from midnight-2 tonight (lil over an hour yknow, eastern time). tune in at wmucradio.com and u can request things and stuff.

PETE IS YOUR SHOW ARCHIVED FOR STEAMINGS?

yeah, its here as mp3 - i filled in for TRASH MOUNTAIN

"that was a close one, i almost cursed"

RAD

sorry i was still logged in as ian

some new + used techno:
markus fix "yes you know me" ep (below)
agaric "the dark holds the sun" (sunset diskos)
luomo "tessio (remixes)" (forcetracks)
jeff mills "kat moda" ep (purpose maker)
till von sein + aera "deeds" (trenton records)
monolake "ice / stratosphere" (icm/monolake)
agaric + bruce logan "my alphabet / halftone halfwit" (moll)
robert babicz "star (remixes)" (barbarella)
basteroid "i, the schnitzelmachine" (areal)
heiko laux + johannes heil "no gain no pain rmxes" (i220)

ORNETTE - TOWN HALL
MIGHTY DIAMONDS - I NEED A ROOF
KATE BUSH "SUSPENDED IN GAFFA"
IAN MATTHEWS "THESE DAYS"

when do we get to start the "these days" poll, even though nico will win because ILM is corny?

I love Suspended In Gaffa so much, is that a remix or extended or anything?

got the new pressings of the mississippi records comps yesterday. i had missed out the first time around. though i bought my brother in law a copy of the ethnic-y one for christmas. so, yeah, got that and the death one and the gospel one with yetimike liner notes.

i also BOUGHT A CD YESTERDAY. couldn't help myself. new sun kil moon. wanted to hear it. what the heck, all my red house painters is on cd anyway. i once owned a swanky ten-inch pressing of ocean beach but i sold it for beer money.

the death one??

we're still waiting on our copies of the last kind words repress, and we sold out again of the I Don't Feel At Home... LP. God those comps rule. So does Yetimike. If he read this thread, I want him to know I got an (awesome) issue of his old 'zine Chemical Imbalance when my friends were cleaning out their zine collection. It has the most prescient Liz Phair review ever.

MINGUS - BLUES AND ROOTS
BLUE SKY BOYS BLUEBIRD COLLECTION (they of I Don't Feel at Home fame!)
MAINER & THE SONS OF THE MOUNTAINEERS LP ON COUNTY (twenties, thirties recordings)

I don't actually have the Suspended in Gaffa 12" I don't think. I think I just have Running Up That Hill. I just jammed that tune from the LP When I was getting ready to head to work.

It sucks that the Mingus is a stereo pressing. I'm starting to get weird about wanting mono copies of jazz records. Fake stereo just sounds so icky on a lot of 'em.

i was listening to the one chemical imbalance magazine single that i still have left the other night. galaxie 500, mofungo, daniel johnston, um, other people. i loved that mag. check out the new yeti magazine, ian. the cd has cool stuff on it. and my metal paper that i read in seattle last year is in it along with other cool stuff. mike's thing on blind willie johnson is awesome. or just read it in the bookstore/recordstore if you don't feel like shelling out 12 bucks.

oh and HAPPY RECORD STORE DAY.

every newspaper article on record stores in the last 10 years:

PEOPLE STILL BUY THOSE BIG ROUND THINGS CAN YOU BELIEVE IT

REPORTS OF VINYL'S DEMISE HAVE BEEN...ETC, ETC.

HEY HOW IS YOUR RECORD STORE DOING

IT'S, UM, OKAY

INTERNET DOWNLOADING FALLING CD SALES BLAH BLAH BLAH

HEY WHO BUYS THOSE THINGS ANYWAY

UM, ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE

ALL RIGHT WOW SO CHECK YOUR ATTIC AND GET A TURNTABLE HAHAHAHAHAHA

"the death one??"

"we're still waiting on our copies of the last kind words repress"

yeah, this one. okay, maybe not a death one. but sad songs. and some death songs.

The new Yeti is really great and pretty cheap for the quality and word count. $12 with free shipping on their website. I bought it just for Scott's EMP presentation but there's a load of good stuff in there.

picked these up on Thursday:

Leo Kottke - Circle 'Round The Sun (thanks for the recommendation)
Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians
Piero Piccioni - Moment of Truth OST (sealed!)

i borrowed my buddy's copy of Yeti! he got it freeee cuz he took out an ad in it. Sacred Bones records; there is a perpetual joke that I am going to record a spoken word record and he is putting it out.

for record store day, we are giving away dollar records free.

oh man! wish i was there.

"I bought it just for Scott's EMP presentation"

cheers for that! hope you liked it. i think it looks cool with all the pictures and everything.

man, i am with ian. those mississippi comps are beyond wonderful. so many WOW moments. it's as if they compiled them with the attitude of: "oh so you thought that song was great? wait till you hear this one!" i love that. it's also nice to have these as distinct albums that are curated so carefully instead of just being a part of some massive multi-disc history lesson kinda thing. not that i don't love the deluxe history lesson sort of boxed sets and the like, but these things were just made for playing! does that make sense? they are highly enjoyable and kinda addictive. i'll just say that.

(having said that, i keep eyeballing that medicine show cd set that i never bought at the record store. and that complete blind blake cd set on that british label that is pretty cheap.)

Scott, did you get the African comp on Mississippi? Lipa Kodiya City Council? That's some revelatory shit right there.

I just got the new Mae Shi 2LP. I ordered a ton of stuff as well (Captain Beefheart, Cluster, Harmonia, Sun Ra, Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, Dandelion, Linda Perhacs, Blank Dogs, etc).

Ian, how do you listen to your mono records (dedicated cartridge or mono button on preamp, a y adaptor, or something else)? I've been drooling over some of the 200g re-issues on Classic Records (they appear to be the only company still using a mono cutting head).

aw, i'm no audiophile; I just listen to em on my normal stereo, but there is a "mono" switch on the amp, though i don't always remember to hit it or notice a difference...

i don't really understand how different gear will make mono records sound different than just playing them through a stereo. or different enough that i would notice or care anyway. maybe someone could explain that to me. i mean, maybe i should just listen to them with one speaker!

ian, i haven't seen the african comp. or maybe i just wasn't looking for it. the record store has been getting in a bunch of different new african vinyl. 70's stuff. funky stuff. you know. and ethiopiques vinyl too. i don't have any of those.

the one bad thing about maria starting a radio station here is that people are having to fill their radio shows every week and they are buying more new vinyl and i miss stuff! wait, that's a good thing. i want the record store to do well.

i don't really understand how different gear will make mono records sound different than just playing them through a stereo. or different enough that i would notice or care anyway. maybe someone could explain that to me. i mean, maybe i should just listen to them with one speaker!

from way upthread my comment about certain mono pressings:

anyhow, this record looks real clean for a Brazilian pressing. except, when i play it i get this weird distortion in one channel. not like a scratching or anything, just a real off putting grating noise. i have a Brazilian samba record that does a similar thing but only in quiet parts.

yeah, playing them through one speaker was my eventual solution. i tried em out at a friend's house and the mono ones played fine through his system. which is weird because i have some mono blues recordings that don't act up on me. i think i need to get a new cart? i have some bullshit DJ cartridge that was given to me. and its fours years old, not sure how much use the previous owner put on it.

recommendations? (under $100 pls)

both my favorite stores had big sales (and free beer!) for record store day!

i got:

used LPs:

joni mitchell - the hissing of summer lawns
jethro tull - a passion play (holy hell this is nutso)
james blood ulmer - free lancing
ELO - a new world record
paul mccartney - mccartney (the cherry bowl one)

new LPs:

black mountain - S/T
konono no. 1 - congotronics

(also got the first air record and the stax 50th anniversary 2CD box set)...

anyway the whole mess was only $62 including the CDs, awesome : )

picked these up Saturday morning:

Amboy Dukes- marriage on the rocks
Michael Quatro Band- look into the mirror/ paintings
BullAngus- s/t
FM- surveillance
Rory Gallagher- calling card
Rhino best of louie, louie
Creedence- cosmo's factory
Troiano- fret fever

$1-2 each

hit record store day, got a nice copy of alice coltrane's lord of lords, but nothin else. lil bit of a goose chase but wvs...

are the indies in the UK jumping on this idea of Record Shop Day I wonder ?

i don't really understand how different gear will make mono records sound different than just playing them through a stereo. or different enough that i would notice or care anyway. maybe someone could explain that to me. i mean, maybe i should just listen to them with one speaker!

See here. Lots of info in that thread. Basically you want to combine the channels of your mono records. In most cases, this should yield an audible reduction in noise and distortion, improve clarity and imaging/soundstage, and generally just sound better.

This can be accomplished using two y adapters (1 male 2 female; 1 female 2 male) which should cost you between $8 (e.g. Radio Shack) and $35 (e.g. Monster) for the pair.

i think i need to get a new cart? i have some bullshit DJ cartridge that was given to me. and its fours years old, not sure how much use the previous owner put on it.

What kind of turntable/tone-arm are you running? Here is the Needle Doctor's list of "budget" cartridges. The Ortofon 2M Red gets recommended a lot, but no cartridge is a good match for every tone-arm.

four years without a needle change is some serious shit.

how often do you go ian? i do about every six months, give or take

yeah, a few times per year seems about right.

I've always heard 500 hours or once a year whichever comes first. Cleaning your records might extend this. Cleaning the stylus can help as well.

today and last night i listen to:
oblivians - soul food
mighty diamonds - i need a roof/right time
gavin bryars - the sinking of the titanic
dead moon - defiance

i'm bad when it comes to new needles. my solution is just to get a new turntable! but now that i have an actual new and nice turntable i'll be better about it.

scott u can paypal me the old tables

bought a few records on vacation in paris, xchange rate with the euro is fuuuucked but I think I still found a couple deals.

ashra - blackouts
catherine ribeiro + alpes s/t
dynastie crisis s/t (awesome french funk-psych, got this for 20EUR, googled it and it came up on some collector scum site going for 60)
fela kuti - zombie (french pressing)
suicide s/t
senor coconut - behind the mask (w/ villalobos rmx)

then when I got back I hit a stoop sale in brooklyn and got a buncha patrick adams type disco records, fatback band, stylistics, and it's a beautiful day s/t (four bucks! seen this going for 30). not a bad haul.

looks nice!!
how was the trip??

it was great! got back friday night (greeted by amazing nyc weather, hello roof deck season)

oh shit, would have given you a call saturday but we thought you were still outta town! we should hang out and listen to records and drink some beers this week, or something. i still have that ya ho wa dvd if you want to borrow it!

given that i love the album and that its unavail on the DC website, should i buy the newest howling hex LP for $20 at a store i know has it?

or wait for a deal on ebay