Terra Lightfoot – Every Time My Mind Runs Wild

September 29, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

Every so often something comes along that just smacks you in the head with something so freaking unexpected you look for a house number on the cave you’ve been sleeping in. Perhaps it’s a debut album, an opening act you had never heard of before, or, as is the case for me, you just quite plainly arrived late to the party. Whatever the case, Terra Lightfoot has just lit the light bulb above my cranium and I’m hitting my forehead with that big “a-ha” moment.

What seems most remarkable is just how many influences pop out all at once. A foot in the Chicago blues, another in Memphis soul, and then she puts a third one in Nashville. The result is a combustible and full out gritty rock ‘n’ roll album. You can accuse me of being over the top here, but Every Time My Mind Runs Wild could give the Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color a run for my favourite record of the year.

Opening with a bluesy number in “All Alone” she quickly shifts gears blasting into a couple all out rockers with “No Hurry” and “Never Will;” which is just the opening salvo in the record that continues to toss song after song of great roots rock. Then, just as you think you’ve figured her out, she slows down again to take on countrified ballads that sound like they were recorded in Big Pink.

Ultimately, I’m just hoping that her music gets heard beyond the southern Ontario base she calls home. Every Time My Mind Runs Wild is the kind of album that reminds me of what drove me towards being a music geek in the first place; a connection to music that demands me to play it over and over until I wear both the vinyl and needle out.

Buying New Vinyl (In Canada)… when the economy has gone to shit!

September 4, 2015September 4, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

“Are you sure you really needed that album” asks my wife as she looks at a recent credit card statement. Don’t get me wrong, we NEVER carry a balance from one month to the next, it’s just that the exchange rate has gone through the roof recently. So, what cost a dollar last year is costing a buck thirty plus shipping (which is also far more expensive because of the falling dollar). In other words, “OH WOE IS ME!” if you’re buying new vinyl from south of the border, you can quite easily go broke.

To make matters worse, some of the best music sites have yet to figure out how to ship items at anything near a reasonable cost. For instance, let’s take a look at the recent rerelease of Urge Overkill’s Stull EP on Touch & Go Records. The white vinyl edition of Stull sells for $16.00 USD, a price I’m willing to pay for a ten inch record. However, the shipping is $34.30 through the USPS (United States Postal Service), meaning the record is now triple its retail value. Then if you add the exchange rate the price jumps up to $66.89, making Stull’s cost quadruple the original asking price.

Now, not all sites use USPS to ship, and thank goodness for that. Recently, I ordered two albums from Newbury Comics and it was a better scenario. Paul Simon’s Graceland and the Modern Lovers eponymous record on coloured vinyl had asking prices that, combined, cost me $45.98 and another $16.00 in shipping for both. Newbury uses a courier service that charges only $14.00 for the first item and another $2.00 for each additional item. Of course, now with the current financial crisis sending the Canadian Dollar to an eleven year low, that small fortune I was spending is now an actual fortune and quite a bit more difficult to justify. My $62.97 USD bill shows up as $83.73 CAD on my credit card statement. OUCH!

When I first started ordering stuff from the US, the Canadian dollar was on par or better than USD. Now I’m looking at a huge markup that has made internet ordering direct from US record labels far less desirable.

Still, you do have options. First, if the label is using USPS, fire off a quick note to them expressing interest in their product, but not their shipping method. If they care about customer service, they will investigate alternate shipping methods. If that doesn’t work, go to your local record store to find out if they can order it in. It isn’t likely that you’ll get the “collector’s edition coloured vinyl” available only to fans making advance orders… but it is worth a shot. Finally, if that favorite artist of yours is coming to town, bring along some cash to their merch booth. Chances are, if they didn’t sell out during the advance order stage, it will be on the tour bus waiting for a chance to separate you from your money.

Regardless, even for a hardcore music buyer, the prices are now out of range. If only some entrepreneur with more brains than I could devise a way to distribute exclusive items in Canada, the costs would come down and music fans in the Great White North would be very happy. As it is, my vinyl orders will have to be filed under occasional – if at all. The vinyl revival may end not because of lack of interest, but instead because it is cost prohibitive… at least for us Canadian shoppers!

Not Afraid To Run With The Bulls or Langhorne Slim – The Spirit Moves

August 19, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

Sometimes it’s just best to drop the whole genre tag and just say: “dude, it’s rock ‘n’ roll at its finest.” Langhorne Slim has elements of country, folk, soul and alt rock flowing through the speakers all at once, and like a good mixed drink, the end result is finer than any individual part. Slim boasts “I’m tough enough to run with the bulls,” and while my use of the metaphor is out of context with the songs, it does describe his song writing.

Slim is a bit of an eclectic master with themes of joy and misery intermingling with equal passion. Essentially, he is fearless in bending songs around multiple influences. Horns play on a number of tracks and in a different way each time. On “Spirit Moves” he uses them as a counter melody similar to Johnny Cash’s classic “Ring Of Fire” and then brings them back later for “Life’s A Bell” as a Memphis Horns/Stax/Otis Redding tool for emotional emphasis. With the ever present acoustic instruments some songs drift towards sounds reminiscent of Nick Drake and Cat Stevens but the album as a whole pulls everything back into that unique Langhorne Slim vision.

The Spirit Moves is filled with moments that seem both intimate and celebratory, resulting in a record that gives inspiring highs and tragic lows. As the needle rises off of side B, you find yourself flipping it back to side A for another listen… and things can’t get much better than that.

You can pick up The Spirit Moves on all the usual mediums or order it direct from Dualtone with extra swag. Unfortunately, the coke bottle green vinyl seems to be sold out.

Test Pressing Heaven! or Big Star – Third / Sister Lovers

August 13, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

If you have the idea of starting your listening day by discovering Big Star for the first time, don’t start with Sister Lovers / Third. Both #1 Record and Radio City are power-pop masterpieces that also serve as great introductions to the “Greatest Band You’ve Never Heard.”

On the other hand, Third is the opposite side of the coin. While definitely a masterpiece in its own right, it is bi-polar in its dramatic swings between happiness and absolute despair. It drops all pretensions and attempts of being a great rock ‘n’ roll album and instead mines the depths of failed relationships in their darkest moments, and then snaps back to honest sentiment and joy. In its own way Third is like Big Star’s version of the White Album requiring a bit of context to appreciate the artistry. It isn’t just the album themes either, Alex Chilton was literally in a mood for self-sabotage.

Ardent Studio creator John Fry who had been very influential in Big Star saw his relationship with Alex Chilton breaking down and things between them had become increasingly antagonistic. It has been reported as so bad that when Fry complimented “Downs” as having “pop potential,” Chilton all but ruined it; using a basketball as a snare drum, some ill timed steel drums and turning it into a “Revolution #9” moment. Whatever Fry heard is completely submerged beneath a sonic ramble and talking as replacement for singing.

Don’t let that idea confuse you, Third may not be a collection of songs filled with anger turned into sonic hooks, like say Fleetwood Mac; instead it becomes either unwavering in its depictions of loneliness and despair or a drunken arm around your shoulder full of sloppy proclamations. It has brutal honesty as its companion which means that things can get a little dicey. One moment can be heartbreakingly beautiful and poppy (“Thank You Friends”) and another can be devastatingly cruel (“Holocaust”). Even the Christmas track “Jesus Christ” has an echoing feel that keeps Chilton separated from his sentiment.

Third isn’t an easy listen. Watching things fall apart never is. Yet, it makes for amazing artistic expression; songs that relate to you on a more personal level, and take you to places of personal tragedy. Hope and comfort are found in the idea that others have also hurt as badly as you have.

Now, as for vinyl, you have some great choices. The first is obviously hitting the resale market where you can find original pressings in great shape. For whatever reason, Big Star fans seem to have taken great pains to care for their records. However, I wish you luck finding them at a decent cost. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t find any of the original 1975 test pressings on the market. There were only around 200 printed and given out as promotional material to record executives and radio stations. The 1978 official release by PVC Records sells well over a hundred dollars, with some resellers fetching over $200.

In 1985 PVC reissued Third with a new cover and title dubbing the album Big Star’s Third: Sister Lovers.

This edition is much more reasonably priced in the $40 range at Discogs.

1988 saw yet another cover change and a new record company releasing Third on white vinyl. This German edition from Line Records shows up being priced around $30 dollars but add at least that same price in additional shipping, as it is primarily European resellers offering it.

Ryko got into the Big Star game in 1992, releasing Third on CD with another cover and a few added bonus tracks. It can still be found used or new at regular prices.

In 2007 Four Men With Beards released a 180 gram vinyl edition that restored the original cover. It can still be found at around $30 at the usual places.

Then there is the last Omnivore edition released first on Record Store Day in 2011 and then later direct order. This “Test Pressing Edition” was a perfect example of how a treasured record should be treated by a record company for fans. Rather than simply putting out a new printing, they used 180 gram audiophile vinyl, had it remastered by the same people who did the original, in the same studio (Ardent) and packaged it with all kinds of memorabilia. All classic records should be treated this way when possible. Quite simply, the vinyl kills my CD copy. The people at Ardent Studios treated Third like an ancient holy scripture and restored it to something worthy of the heavens. The RSD release was limited to 2000 copies but five lucky people out there got an unexpected gift – an actual 1975 test pressing enclosed in their package signed by Big Star’s Jody Stephens and Ardent Studios head John Fry. I didn’t see any of these for sale. However the RSD edition does sell for over a $100 on the resale market.

That edition never made it to all fans, so Omnivore offered another 500 copies in 180 gram clear vinyl to those fortunate enough to see the news and order it direct. Prices for this edition are over a hundred dollars with some resellers asking well over $200.

OK, all cliché and hyperbole aside, it sounds fantastic and is a prize possession within my record collection. The only thing that I would hold in higher esteem is an actual 1975 test pressing, and I’m not expecting to run into any of those.

What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Spider-Man Up A Lamp Post? or Elvis Costello and the Attractions – Armed Forces

August 4, 2015 / ds barrett / 2 Comments

I’m willing to bet you didn’t realize that Peter Parker, you know – Spider-Man, is an Elvis Costello fan. Seriously, way back in 1981 the Purple Man, who has hypnotic abilities, told Spider-Man to climb up a lamp post and recite Shakespeare. Unable to recall any, he asks permission to sing a song and breaks into the Elvis Costello classic “Oliver’s Army.” Honestly… it took place in Marvel Team-Up Annual #4. Here’s another little bit of geek trivia for ya (whether you want it or not), that issue was written by Frank Miller; one of the biggest names in the comic business.

Anyway, Armed Forces was adored by critics, fans, and Peter Parker. It has also appeared on lists as being one of the greatest all time albums. With those accolades you would expect that Armed Forces would have given the deluxe style treatment… and it has, sort of, but not to extent that perhaps it deserves.

The original 1979 UK release came with a bonus 7” named Live From Hollywood High which contained “Accidents Will Happen”, “Allison” and “Watching The Detectives.” Plenty are available on the resale market, but finding a copy that has both the bonus postcards and the 7” in good condition is a bit more difficult.

In North America, the same offer was given, but the cover art and song order were different. “Sunday’s Best” was replaced with a cover of the Nick Lowe penned “(What’s so Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.” Interestingly, it is the Costello version that became most famous and has appeared in the Rolling Stone greatest songs of all time list.

It wouldn’t be until 1993 that the Armed Forces got a significant upgrade in the CD format. Rykodisc in the US did a complete remaster of the Elvis Costello catalogue and released it with bonus material. In this case, the original UK cover was restored and both “Sunday’s Best” and “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” were included. The bonus material included the Live From Hollywood High EP plus a few extra tunes.

In 2002, Rhino and Edsel released another remastered Armed Forces on two CD’s. This version brought back differing covers for North America and Europe as well as separating the album proper from the bonus material. The extras also expanded the Live From Hollywood High material to include 9 songs from that event.

Finally, 2010 saw Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab do a half speed 180 gram vinyl remaster with the original UK cover and the full 13 songs including “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.” I’m hoping that by 2019, we may get both the album and the complete Live From Hollywood High concert on vinyl… but that is wishful thinking.

I wonder if Peter Parker still has his original copy on vinyl and if Aunt May ever became a fan.

Delivering a Musical Journey: Led Zeppelin – Coda (Deluxe Edition)

August 2, 2015August 4, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

As record reviews go, this isn’t going to walk the normal path. Let’s face it, you don’t want another edition of Zeppelin’s last studio album. Jimmy Page had remastered that a while back and done a fantastic job. What you really need to hear are the companion discs. In essence, listening to those has caused me to re-evaluate how I view that entire record.

In 1982 when Coda was first released, I wasn’t interested. John Bonham had died and it seemed to me that Coda was a record put together without a focal point. Led Zeppelin had always been about releasing a full and cohesive album with every song being a part of a larger picture, and songs taken from past sessions throughout their career didn’t fit the bill. In fact, I didn’t own a copy of Coda until I bought the Complete Studio Recordings (1993). The 93’ version of Coda was expanded to include “Baby Come On Home”, “Travelling Riverside Blues”, “White Summer/Black Mountain Side” and “Hey, Het What Can I Do” from the 1990 Box Set, but hadn’t included anything to make me reconsider my previous position. That was a long time ago, and it took the Jimmy Page Listening Event on July 21^st to totally reconsider my point of view.

Perspective is a strange thing. My original analysis of Coda still holds up if you place it up against Zeppelin’s previous work. However, if you tweak your thinking a little and look at Coda as an original soundtrack to a comprehensive biography – boom – it becomes mind blowing. The companion discs shine such a light.

Side one alone is stunning, containing alternate takes on some familiar songs. “If It Keeps On Raining (When The Levee Breaks)” has Robert Plant’s vocals take on a lower more ominous tone full of echo resulting in a more haunting impression. “Bonzo’s Montreux” is slightly deconstructed with a more earthy touch that allows for John Bonham’s power house drums to flow and show genius. “Baby Please Come Home” sees the whole band in fine form with John Paul Jones giving extensive Hammond flourishes while Plant exercises his inner Otis Redding.

As the album continues, it’s this perspective that allows for the full comprehension of what Led Zeppelin accomplished in only ten short years. The band has been history for 35 years now but this version of Coda, as its name suggests, is the best final statement Jimmy Page can give. It balances a line between showing a legendary musical legacy and just being one hell of an entertaining ride.

On July 21^st, while at the Masonic Temple in Toronto, Jimmy Page suggested we would be taken on a “musical journey.” Coda and its companion discs definitely deliver on that promise.

You can hear Jeff Woods entire Jimmy Page interview on Q107 tonight between 9 & 10 pm.

Sarcastic SOB with Deadly Accurate Aim! or Nick Lowe – Jesus Of Cool

August 1, 2015 / ds barrett / 2 Comments

There was a movement in the late 70’s that played directly to the most cynical of pop fans. It wasn’t punk or new wave, although some fans tried to lump them into that category; it wasn’t power-pop, except the music certainly was reminiscent of the tag. This music was literate and subversive while taking influences from 60’s pop bands like the Beatles, Beach Boys, Motown, Phil Spector and STAX, but lyrically it was far more sarcastic and very willing to bite the so-called “hand that feeds them.”

This is the world where Nick Lowe lived for a while. His single “Cruel To Be Kind” (from Labour Of Lust) could be played on AM radio, but most of his songs were strictly FM bound, or not to be played on radio at all. This was because Labour Of Lust, much like Elvis Costello’s This Year’s Model, featured songs that attacked both radio and the music industry in general. Yet you had to love him for it. He was crafting perfectly awesome pop songs (back when pop wasn’t a word used to describe musical masturbation) without patronizing you with stupidity in the process. It was brilliant!

Unfortunately, the movement didn’t last long enough to forever remain in the hipster consciousness and it all but disappeared for a time. However, some great things have happened since the turn of the century. People who were influenced by these great sounds started singing the praises of these albums and independent record companies started picking up what the big guys had dropped. So here we are with several choices to grab not just a great album, but a substantial one.

If you’re crate digging in North America, finding Jesus Of Cool might be a little difficult as it was re-titled Pure Pop For Now People. Apparently, Columbia Records just had to screw with things for the American audience even exchanging one song (“Shake and Pop”) for another (“They Call It Rock”) and changing the running order entirely. Used copies will cost you under $10.

It wasn’t until 1989 that a CD (as well as a vinyl re-release) version of the record was released by Demon Records in the UK. The CD had a different cover, while the vinyl returned to the original cover. The CD can be purchased under $10 used but the ’89 vinyl has one reseller asking over a $100 for a new copy.

Spending that kind of money on a new copy really isn’t necessary, as some great things happened for the Jesus of Cool on its 30^th anniversary. Complete remasters were done in 2008 on both sides of the Atlantic with a companion disc added to a gatefold cover. Yep Rock actually released two versions of the vinyl set. One was in standard black wax and the other came in red and yellow translucent vinyl. You can still find them at your finer record retailers and they shouldn’t set you back more than $30.

The companion disc also includes an earlier version of “Cruel To Be Kind” that had not previously been released.

In all, it’s an outstanding record you should give a try… after all, there is nothing quite like a sarcastic SOB with deadly accurate aim. Believe me his shot at fans of the Bay City Rollers is worth the price of admission all by itself.

” I’m Havin’ a Sheer Heart Attack” or Queen – The Studio Collection (Vinyl Box Set)

July 30, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

From time to time I’ve been known to ‘rock out’ to the glorious sounds of Queen. Sure they could be way over the top, but they were the very best at it. Well, Queen has given us the opportunity to do it all over again with a new vinyl box set.

The albums have been completely remastered by Bob Ludwig and pressed on coloured 180 gram vinyl using the half speed lacquered process. Each records colour is designed to match up with its albums original artwork.

The set will also include a 108 page hard cover book containing hand written lyrics, memorabilia and extensive notes on each album as well as download cards for high quality digital at 320 kps.

Queen The Studio Collection will be released on September 25^th and is available for pre-order at all the usual retailers and the Queen online store.

“I Know It Sounds Absurd…” or Supertramp – Breakfast In America

July 30, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

Selling a million records in Canada is not the easiest thing to do. In a country of only 30 million, it’s a pretty big thing to get Diamond status. In 1979, Breakfast In America pulled it off in the same year of its release. For many people it was and is the equal of all those giant sellers by The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and yes, even Michael Jackson. Not bad for a band that was considered to be a light weight FM prog band that quite suddenly became everyone’s favorite artists. In those moments before glam-metal and new wave, Supertramp was being played on every radio station on both the AM and FM dial. From the cool kids to the geeks, everyone knew the words to “The Logical Song.”

With those kind of numbers you would have expected that Breakfast In America would have been given the royal treatment. If you’re a fan of CD and audio blu-ray, then sure, you got yourself lots of remastered goodies to play with; but vinyl has been more gimmick than actual special treatment.

You can easily find the original vinyl pressing while crate digging and it will cost you next to nothing. My own copy isn’t showing its age, which is pretty miraculous seeing as how the early teenage version of me must have played it several thousand times.

In 1982, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab put out a pressing that is still in high demand. Resellers are asking for over a hundred dollars for used copies.

Mobile Fidelity did a complete remaster in 1990 for a 24 karat gold CD release. It still fetches over $75 for used copies in great shape.

It wasn’t until 2000 that another remastered vinyl edition was released by Simply Vinyl on 180 gram wax.

Ten years later the box set came out with a bunch of things… but good luck getting a copy for under $150. It contained 2 CD’s, a DVD and a 180 gram vinyl version of the record. Honestly, that price is steep. A single 180 gram vinyl edition was released at the same time.

2013, saw the last of the more recent releases with two new offerings. The first was a blu-ray copy of the album marked as ultra high audio, no video content.

At the same time Breakfast in America was also released as a pretty awesome looking vinyl picture disc.

The disappointing thing in all this is that if they had done a similar treatment to Breakfast In America as they did to Crime Of The Century just last year, a lot of fans would have been extremely happy. Oh well, maybe for the 40^th anniversary in 2019 they’ll get it right.

“Classic Alternative” Oh for F!%k sakes,…. ! An Opinion Piece…

July 29, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

Running errands with my kids in tow, I was listening to a local radio station when their identification said they play “classic alternative.” Now I’m not meaning to make something out of nothing (yes I am), but – WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN!

“Alternative” as a genre was so broadly based it needed to create a plethora of sub-categories otherwise you wouldn’t know what the hell anyone was talking about. You got shoegazing, grunge, jangle-pop, indie-rock, Britpop, Madchester, industrial, gothic rock, alt-country, adult alternative, and so many more I can’t even remember on the fly because the mere thought hurts my brain.

Sure, I know what the station was getting at… I’m fucking old, and so is that genre tag! Yesterdays ‘alternative,’ was the day before yesterdays ‘classic rock.’ They want me to feel welcomed and nostalgic when I hear Nirvana and say to my kids, “I saw them back in the day.”

“Really, they’re pretty cool, in an old guy kinda way!”

“Oh yeah! This old guy might not pay for your education, if you keep up with that ‘old guy’ crap.”

“Are you sure you should talk that way to an eleven year old dad?”

“When you’re old enough to attempt sarcasm, you’re old enough to hear me say crap brainiac! Now show some respect for your elders you young whippersnapper.”

“What is a whippersnapper?”

“I don’t know! I heard Bugs Bunny say it.”

Shit… where was I… memory is getting foggy with… never you mind… Frickin’ classic alternative”

So I listen to a station that wants to attract a younger demographic. A station that sees the 90’s as a place of flannel, woolly mammoths, sabre tooth tigers and some “classic tunes.”

Oh damn I am old.

Time to sell the electric guitars and get a walker I guess.

At least, I can keep my vinyl, “kids still think that stuff is cool… right?”

barrettbites

Vinyl and Collectibles reviewed and geeked about!

classic rock