alternative rock

Dear God Stop Me; But Which Band Wagon Should I Jump Upon or Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit…

/ ds barrett / 5 Comments

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Weeks now have gone by and ‘buzz’ is still everywhere about Courtney Barnett. In one day as I trolled only those blogs that have similar interests to my own I found six people writing about her. That was without typing her name or even trying to find anything out. Once you jump into the world of both paper and online publications, well, the raves don’t stop. So I listen and find good reason for all the accolades, but now that I know, what the hell should I buy?

A quick check around and you find out that that not only has she released her stuff across several formats, but when it comes to vinyl, she has multiple versions within the same format.

Option A – Good old fashioned plain single disc black vinyl

Option B – Special Edition single disc orange translucent vinyl with a  lp slipmat

Option C – Deluxe Gatefold two disc orange translucent vinyl with bonus 7”

Option D – Limited Edition gatefold cover two disc heavy weight white vinyl

Now of course your options are somewhat, but not entirely, dependent upon your geographic location. Also, your choice may be dictated to by the amount of paper in the wallet, and how quickly you decide you want it. You see, the U.S. record company only printed 100 of that double orange, but in Europe, I see some for sale. The white version is only in Australia and New Zealand and the shipping is more than the cost of the record – IF – you could find a copy.

My prediction is that buying any of the limited colour vinyl stuff now would save you from quadruple that price later if it is something you want.

The music is great, mucho sarcastic, witty and fun, but I can’t decide which version I’m wanting and how much I’m willing to pay for it…

And some things that should not have been forgotten… are Found! RSD and Husker Du – Warehouse: Songs & Stories

/ ds barrett / 1 Comment

As the weeks become days and the information begins to flow, the list for Record Store Day grows, grows and grows. Things that I didn’t know I even wanted get underlined in red, and some things I had forgotten jump out at me from the shelves themselves on that very day.

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Such was the case on Black Friday/RSD 2014 when I turned to see Warehouse: Songs & Stories by Husker Du sitting on a cart. I had not heard Warehouse since my University days as my “infamous roommate” was a big fan of Husker Du and Bob Mould. Suddenly my brain was straining to remember. Sure I have a CD copy of Candy Apple Grey, but, I couldn’t remember Warehouse until I saw the cover.

This might have been due to the fact that unlike other Husker Du records, it had not been re-issued since its initial release in 1987. It was if Warner had decided it wasn’t worthy of even being remembered.

Well, they were wrong. Two glorious pieces of vinyl, one coloured fluorescent yellow and the other fluorescent green sound absolutely fantastic. Maybe hindsight is leading me a bit, but you can definitely hear the development of Mould’s guitar work and song writing as he drifts towards the more accessible material he would write later with Sugar. Mould himself has stated that Warehouse might have benefited from being pared down to a single record, but it is honestly impossible to figure out where such a cut could be made.

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I couldn’t find out how many of these vinyl editions were made, but it is still available. Discogs have it listed for $38.16, Amazon.ca at $55.60 and E-Bay at $28.04.

What can I say, they both look and sound great, and can still be had for a good price.

 

Dreams of RSD past (FOUND!) and future: Social Distortion – Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes and eponymous

/ ds barrett / 1 Comment

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Occasionally, as you walk through your local record store, and you try to put together a coherent thought, you just see it, a record you wanted badly, but never thought you would get, just sitting waiting to live a new life on your turntable. That is how I found a copy of the 2012 Record Store Day edition of Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes by Social Distortion.

Since its release in 2011, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes have had four different editions put out all in limited quantities. The pre-orders from their web site were yellow and limited to 1000. The next 2500 to hit store shelves were red, and the last 5000 were black.

The following April, Social Distortion released 2000 RSD editions in green and included with it a “machine gun blues” poster. The great thing is that besides being an awesome record, it still seems to be readily available at decent prices. Discogs have it listed at $37.75, but I picked mine up for less than thirty a few weeks back.

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I doubt highly that this will be the case after this Record Store Day 2015 when their eponymous record is reissued. This is the classic 1990 record (that actually hit the Billboard 200) that contains the stellar “Story Of My Life.” While it was recently (2012) reissued on 180 gram vinyl by Music on Vinyl over in Europe, it is only available here as an import. That is until Record Store Day, when 1500 split colour blue and white copies hit the shelves.

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It is definitely on my wish list and circled in red for high bloody priority find. I will be a disappointed record collector next Saturday if I don’t find it.