Mining The Unconscious Depths or Tame Impala – Currents

July 14, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

A few years back Grandaddy and The Thrills tried their hands at expanding our musical psyche by creating a more atmospheric brand of pop using electronic elements to create complex landscapes. Tame Impala has just taken that idea and upped it by a large margin. Perhaps it’s the drugs; maybe the work of a deeper genius; whatever it is, Kevin Parker has taken Tame Impala into a hazy dance utopia and Currents is the staggering result.

Parker has admitted in interview that the concept for this album came from a mix of mushrooms, coke and the classic Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive.” This makes perfect sense as Currents removes the fun elements of disco and replaces it with a laid back reflective quality. The funk is slowed to a point where dance is done in a slow fluid sway. Instead of John Travolta doing a 12:30 AM splits with arm raised, you picture a 5 AM sway of people who refuse to let the party die.

Parker sings “giving in to all this bullshit / is this what you want? / is this who you are?” on the song “The Less I Know The Better.” However the atmospherics reduce the sentiment to more of a lazy refrain than an accusatorial question. A sort of “I’m quite tired, and this is so a conversation for tomorrow” thing.

Currents has an emotional resonance that rises slowly from unconscious depths only to reach an epiphany when you stop trying to grasp it. Like a great sunrise, it is best if you just lie back and enjoy the moment.

Currents was available in limited coloured vinyl… but it sold out. Oh well…

Five Great Albums From 2015 (so far!)

July 13, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

So the mid way part of the year has passed and with a bit of time to reflect, here are my top 5 of 2015 so far. It is hard to rank, as so many great records have been spinning their way into my psyche. So I reserve the right to change my mind later.

5) Wolf Alice – My Love Is Cool

Built around strong guitar work and soaring vocals, Wolf Alice bridges the gap between the 90’s alt-rock revival and the more modern Brit-Rock led by the Arctic Monkeys and their recent disciples Royal Blood. It would have been fun to play Guitar Hero to their tunes.

4) Best Coast – California Nights

Gone is the warm washing fuzz of reverb on everything that had the words lo-fi and surf rock attached to their records, and in is a more ‘nineties-esqe’ alt-rock tone that could be slipped into a mix between the Lemonheads and Garbage. California Nights has a way of sinking under your skin and making you want to play them over and over again.

3) Leon Bridges – Coming Home

He’s got the brass sounding like the legendary Memphis Horns, a deep groove reminiscent of Duck Dunn and the minimalist guitar leads that you might swear were coming off Steve Cropper. Then you mix in a style that slides in a suave 60’s Bacharach martini dance party and you get a glimpse of the power possessed in Coming Home. In essence, Bridges is the ‘new old soul.’

2) Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit

Sarcastic and playful in the most observational of ways, Courtney Barnett makes stinging shots sound like a musical sit-com. Characters inhabit a ‘Seinfeld-esqe’ place where nothing seems larger than life and decisions don’t necessarily lead to conclusions. However, the journey is one hell of an adventure.

1) Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color

If Alabama Shakes debut Boys & Girls was a first shot across the bow against musical mediocrity, then Sound & Color is a full on declaration of war. Not content to merely ride the wave of being the best rock ‘n’ soul or Southern rock band to currently grace the planet, they expand and grow. It’s the kind of growth and experimentation one got from Radiohead when they leapt from The Bends to OK Computer; or in other words – WOW!

I wonder… does the future still freak them out? Or Motion City Soundtrack – I Am The Movie

July 10, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

Box after box opened, pulling out the literary contents and placing them on carts to be shelved by other peons. Day after day, month after month, year after… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! It’s good to work, but the isolation of a receiving dock can sometimes get a little, um… mind numbing. So the 2003 version of me brought in a boombox with auxiliary for my first gen ipod to keep me company and I kept in search of energetic music to distract myself. The second cycle of Brit-Pop with the Kaiser Chiefs leading the way helped a bit, but I needed more.

At lunch I started reading magazine reviews and a name kept popping up – Motion City Soundtrack. Like most Epitaph albums I Am The Movie started out with a flood of guitar but as things progressed it became something else, something really cool. A friend had a Napster shit download copy on a burned CD. Light synth backing up a dual guitar attack put together with lyrics that had tongue planted firmly in cheek emanated through crappy speakers and I smiled. Songs were sarcastic, confessional, and ridiculous. Like life they played through all the various range of emotions, but most all, it was fun.

So after my shift finished, I journeyed the suburban strip mall sidewalk to the big box record store and they of course looked at me like I was an alien.

“What soundtrack?”

“Not a soundtrack, a band! Motion City Soundtrack!”

“Why would they call themselves a soundtrack?”

“Not sure, but if I ever get to LA, I’ll ask?”

Eventually I ordered the thing online, because, well, the dead eyes of mindless big box suburban record store floor staff that see boy bands as high art really piss me off.

Fuck yeah – I’m a music snob. If you got a problem with that we can thumb wrestle.

It’s been more than a decade, and like most music I love have an attachment to, I want it on vinyl. With only two options open to me, the decision is pretty easy. Sealed copies of the now out of print original 2003 pressing run for about $35 and up on reseller markets.

Hot Topic just recently released a limited orange translucent version of I Am The Movie. While I had thought it sold out back in March, it showed back up and is now spinning on the turntable. My 11 year old is even trying to “bust a move.”

See what I did there… oh never mind. Buy the record and you’ll get the joke.

Do Do Doo Lookin’ Out My Back Door or Credence Clearwater Revival – Cosmo’s Factory

July 10, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

Swamp rock practitioners, steeped in soul and a heavy dose of blues, Credence Clearwater Revival were one of the brightest lights of the post-psychedelic era. They balanced great song writing with a penchant for picking stunning covers and in only four years put out seven studio albums that captured a wide range of emotional upheaval that ultimately captured the mood of their time.

Cosmo’s Factory itself is probably the best of their albums, with a virtual ton of FM classics including “Travelin’ Band” “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” “Run Through The Jungle” “Who’ll Stop The Rain” and the 11 minute cover of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.”

Of course, it’s well documented that upheaval was also something the band faced within. In fact, the very reason I had never previously purchased CCR was in fact because John Fogerty told me not to. Well, not directly, but he sure had a hate on for all things CCR in the 80’s and made it clear that we shouldn’t. Being an impressionable teenager, I listened. Anyway, I’ve given up on figuring out the politics of this band and have finally decided to take the plunge.

And… what a plunge! Cosmo’s Factory has no less than 129 editions to date. So let’s take a peek at a few purchasing highlights and try to narrow the choices down.

The original 1970 vinyl pressing sold over 500,000 copies in its first six months of release. Needless to say you can find a copy pretty easily, how well it plays will be the real question. It can range from a couple bucks, to… well, again if it’s near mint, you can get a fair price.

Everything in the next decade was simple reissues until 1980. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab did a complete remaster that year using their half speed recording process. Again, due to age you might find copies while crate digging but the costs will vary wildly. Near mint ‘vinyl and cover’ will set you back anywhere between $75 dollars and up. I even managed to find a reseller offering up an unopened copy for near $200 US.

By 1984, the CD pounced on the market and in 1986 Digital Compact Classics did a complete remaster for a 24k Gold edition. These CD’s still sell for about $50 in the resale market.

It would be sixteen years before anything big happened again for vinyl lovers.

In 2002, Fantasy Records licensed Analogue Productions to do a remaster of Cosmo’s Factory. Doing strictly reissues from the original analog tapes, Analogue Productions is quite well known for quality work. Their 180 gram version of Cosmo’s Factory still sells for over $90 with some resellers asking for as much as $150. This is where things get interesting. The same two people responsible for this remaster, Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman, were brought back to do the recent 2014 200 gram vinyl remaster. Furthermore, these two are also responsible for the quality of the 2015 180 gram vinyl Newbury Comics edition that was limited to 1000 copies in red translucent wax. Going through the audiophile sites I’ve seen a couple comments praising their work with one person declaring the recent remasters are superior to the original pressing. The 200 gram vinyl is widely available at record retailers and will set you back about $40 and Newbury still has copies of their 180 gram available for only $20 US.

So of course it is a great record, and my copy sounds awesome, but now I have an overwhelming urge to get more.

Oh wait, that’s normal. I always have an overwhelming urge to get more.

Hey Ho… Really, That’s all I have To Pay… Let’s Go! – Ramones (Coloured vinyl studio records)

July 3, 2015 / ds barrett / 3 Comments

Paying money for a Ramones record any time at any price will never be questioned by this guy. You see, you can talk about best and greatest and define this thing and that, but – without question or argument, if you ask me who was or is, the “Coolest Band” to have ever graced the planet, one word folks – Ramones.

By themselves they could never sell out a stadium. They did not create actual “hit” records that saw airplay on major radio stations resulting in huge sales. They didn’t own a jet, blow millions and become a Spinal Tap influence. Nope, these guys played in bars and earned their fan base one gig at a time, and in the end became recognized as the first and greatest of all punk bands. People know the songs; they jump up and play air guitar, dance or pogo when any number of their tunes gets played. They can’t name the tune but they sing along all the same. Ramones defy logic, and we love them for it. My own children aged seven and eleven can identify only two bands with just a couple notes – The Beatles and Ramones. Which makes perfect sense if you consider that in a 2002 Spin magazine edition listing the 50 Greatest Bands of All-Time; those two bands were ranked one and two. Well that, and the fact that both bands see an ample amount of time on the stereo.

So how do you build a vinyl altar worthy of the all time “Coolest Band?”

For me, it’s pretty simple – you collect something as visually stunning as the music they played.

Starting in 2000, Sire started releasing remastered copies of the Ramones records on 180 gram red translucent vinyl. The first was their self titled. Resellers are asking for $25.00 or more FOR STILL SEALED COPIES.

Road To Ruin was also released in 2000 and will set you back a minimum of $20.00

Leave Home was the next album released (2001). Resellers are asking less than $20.00 in some cases. Then Rocket To Russia and End Of The Century saw 2005 as their release dates with both records hovering around the $20 mark. Again remember, these prices are for sealed copies of audiophile vinyl, and I’m only covering the first five studio albums.

Other coloured versions of these records have been released since in limited quantity, but the resale asking prices on these starts to get a little more ‘pricey.’ There are a virtual ton of options open for collecting Ramones wax, but if you play your cards right, you can find really cool things for pretty reasonable prices. Then again, I could spend the kids college fund… and… oh come on, it was just a thought!

Whre To Buy S!#t vol 3 (Blog rendition) – Newbury Comics

July 1, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

What do Wolverine, autographed CD covers and exclusive vinyl have in common?

Newbury Comics

If you’re hunting for the perfect gift for the geek in your life and you don’t want to leave your comfy chair, this is the place to start. The home page of Newbury’s website opens to three major products: comics with limited edition (variant) covers, autographed CD booklets and limited edition coloured vinyl from an eclectic variety of artists.

For the comic lover, Newbury sells exclusive variant editions of the latest comics, with new products available every week. Arriving from every major comic company, some of the most recent material has covers created specifically for Newbury customers. For instance, the new Marvel comic X-Men ’92 with exclusive Newbury cover, is now available. On the left is the Newbury edition and on the right is the one you see at your local comic retailer.

If you have an autograph seeking fan of say… Metric or Karen O, then Newbury can set you up with that. A quick click on their Autographed CD cover link reveals a large assortment of artists that have signed their work, ranging from Paul Anka to Spoon with many choices in-between.

However, the real treasure for me is the gift I keep playing on my turntable. A while back, in my quest to find cool vinyl, I found an offer for Nirvana’s Bleach in limited edition 180 gram maroon/black vinyl; I leapt at the chance to own it. Since then, I’ve found myself getting awesome variant wax releases on a fairly regular basis. This recent addiction has gone from Christmas gifts (Vince Guaraldi Trio – A Charlie Brown Christmas), to alt-rock (The Strokes – Room On Fire, Black Keys – Rubber Factory), classic-rock (The Velvet Underground – Velvet Underground & Nico, Lou Reed – Transformer ) musicals (The Rocky Horror Picture Show), jazz (Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue) and my personal holy-grail album: Big Star – #1 Record.

For a couple of years now, Newbury has been offering music fans a chance to get “limited edition” vinyl. The prices are competitive with regular vinyl editions that sit on the shelves of most record stores and the shipping costs are quite reasonable. To date, I’ve never had problems with any of the vinyl shipped to me. As for sound quality, I’ve played Big Star’s #1 Record gold coloured variant against the recent 180 gram edition and I’ve found both items sounding great… in fact, I’d lean more towards the gold variant as it “seemed” to have more presence in the guitar and vocals.

At Newbury, new items seem to hit the market every week (the Violent Femmes eponymous debut this week) and the choices, as mentioned earlier, are pretty eclectic; ranging from the Coltrane to The Clash and points in-between. Check them out, you might find yourself signing up to the old mailing list and buying something from time to time. Just don’t be too disappointed if it gets sold out before you get your shot. It’s happened, a couple of times, to me and caused a slight bit of teeth grinding and cursing. But then again, that’s all part of the fun of getting something unique.

A cabbage rolls across the stage and the band played on… or Teenage Fanclub – Thirteen

June 29, 2015June 29, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

(True story – an over enthusiastic fan once rolled a cabbage across the stage as Teenage Fanclub played “The Cabbage” during a tour of Japan. Guess they didn’t get the heartbreaking translation of that particular tune.)

On the heels of a very successful Bandwagonesqe and a huge Saturday Night Live appearance Teenage Fanclub released Thirteen. It was rich with harmonies, had awesome songs, and Kurt Cobain was quoted as calling the Fannies the “Best Band in the World.” So with all that is it any surprise that in October 1993 the band that took in the award for Spin’s #1 Record of 1991 faced a backlash from critics. Thirteen wasn’t just disliked by rock writers, it was destroyed.

It didn’t make sense to me then, and in retrospect most critics have turned their opinion around to treat it more like a classic; one that I have always thought wasn’t just a great record, but ultimately stands of one of my favourite all time albums. It has the pop sensibilities of Big Star, the guitar effects of the “shoegaze” era and the driving bass of the 90’s alt rock period. It was a full package record that could be comical (“Commercial Alternative”) one moment and heartbreaking (“The Cabbage”) another.

So what are the vinyl options?

Limited…

The original 1993 pressing was only done for audiences in the UK and Europe on standard black vinyl. Used copies can be found for around $30.00 dollars and up. Actually I saw an autographed copy for about a $100, but once you add shipping… well… it’s a little more than most of us would spend.

On the other hand, Thirteen was remastered and reissued in 2011 for US fans by Org Music. The first batch was 180 gram white vinyl while everything after was 180 gram black wax. So far I have yet to see any complaints about sound while trolling the internet audiophile sights. Prices start around $30 but some resellers are jacking prices up as availability has begun to dwindle.

Really, Teenage Fanclub created a body of work that is power-pop bliss and Thirteen is a perfect example of a genre defining record that really deserves more respect than it received. You really should give it a listen.

In A World Of Neon Spaceships! Or Electric Light Orchestra – Out Of The Blue

June 26, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

There was a point in the 1970’s when you couldn’t put on the radio for five minutes without hearing Jeff Lynne and co. pumping out crappy speakers with their latest single. Funny, but Electric Light Orchestra still sounded good through the crackle of a transistor radio. ELO at their best took on Beatles inspired tunes mixed with classical music and prog productions and boiled them down into three minute hit singles. Whether the songs were anthems, ballads or straight up rockers there was an atmospheric quality that loaned itself easily to emotional resonance; in other words you either loved or hated them. Arguably, they’re greatest record was 1977’s double album Out Of The Blue, with songs “Turn To Stone”, “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” and “Mr. Blue Sky” leading the charge.

So what’s the vinyl story?

Well… being a massive band back in 1977, there was a pre-order of 4 million records in anticipation of their huge following. It wasn’t just released on the standard vinyl, cassette and 8- track, but also on reel to reel. Some special limited edition vinyl was released in the UK and US on blue translucent vinyl which can still be found at both ridiculously low ($10.00) to outrageously high prices ($400).

The first batch of reissues started arriving in 86-87 with the release of the CD. As was popular at the time, it was just thrown out on the market without a proper remastering job.

In 1999, the first remaster resulted in a UK reissue on 180 gram vinyl. They can still be found on the reseller market for about $60 and up.

The biggest remaster was in 2007 for the 30^th anniversary of Out Of The Blue. Released by Music On Vinyl on 180 gram vinyl the first 1000 copies were issued on blue translucent vinyl and all after were on black vinyl.

Sound quality is reputed to be outstanding on the release with the blue vinyl fetching over $100.00 for unopened copies. The black vinyl will run you a minimum of $35 (it is a double album) but likely more in North America as it is an import.

Anyway, it’s great fun, and all you Muse fans should see what over the top production really means by giving this a spin. How can you go wrong in a world made of neon spaceships and classical influenced rock? I would love to get my hands on one of those original blue ’77 copies.

Like Green Eggs and Ham… or David Bowie – Pin Ups

June 24, 2015 / ds barrett / 1 Comment

Funny how some albums by the world’s biggest artists just don’t get given the respect they are entitled; or funny that some records can find reverence in one place and not another. Then there are those that are outright discarded or left out of the conversation because they don’t fit the mystique and narrative created by the artist themselves. Pin Ups is just such a record on all those levels. It was merely considered adequate by critics, and casual fans of Ziggy and Aladdin just seemed confused. It charted on three different occasions in the UK, but did little (by Bowie standards) in North America. Bowie’s grand design to record two covers albums with songs from first the U.K. (Pin Ups) and then the U.S.(Bowie-ing Out) fizzled and the second record never materialized.

This might explain why as a teen I had avoided the record. Sure, I was a Bowie fan but I didn’t have cash for something I wasn’t going to really like. However, during a visit to my trusted used record store I picked up a copy, and found out that – I really do like this record. Like Green Eggs and Ham, I guess I should have tried it.

Now I find myself wondering if I can get my hands on a “collectible version.” The copy I purchased came from a batch of regular black vinyl that was released in unison with that new technology, the compact disc back in 1984. But… it wasn’t the only vinyl Bowie released that year. A series of limited edition and numbered picture discs also came out. The series included Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups and Diamond Dogs. Amazingly, you can get mint copies of it still for about $60 American and used copies around $40. (However, Ziggy has asking prices over $250 in case you started thinking about it.)

The next remaster did not occur until 1990 and things got a little complicated at this point. Pin Ups was released worldwide by EMI, but in North America RYKO got hold of the remaster job, and they did things a little differently. Rather than the black vinyl with gatefold cover as EMI had done, RYCO released a limited edition numbered copy in clear vinyl. For comparison sake, you can get the EMI version for about $30 but the RYCO vinyl will set you back about $100 plus shipping on the reseller market.

Of course, any crate digger out there will tell you they can get an original in decent shape for a fraction of all those prices… so, give it a listen on whatever handy device you have. Then you can decide on a budget, because if you’re anything like me, you’ll want a copy.

B+ / 4 Stars / 8 out 10 / Green Light… whatever! or Why I Don’t Grade Records In My Reviews?

June 19, 2015 / ds barrett / 1 Comment

Had a friend ask why I wasn’t assigning a grade on the reviews I was writing. It’s a fair question I suppose, which I thought I might share. The answer comes down to a few basic thoughts.

1) Reviews by their very nature are subjective. What I walk away with may be very different from what someone else does… and that’s cool! Honestly, I’ve never understood King Crimson, I find them indulgent. On the other hand I’ve had friends tell me they are genius. Still, it’s all just rock ‘n’ roll, and there’s room for everything at the table.

2) The question of why isn’t this an A+ or 10/10. Again, I’ll answer with “subjective” but with a little more context. I love the Posies Frosting On The Beater.

In my eyes it is an outstanding record. However, when I initially reviewed it back in 90 whatever, I gave it a B+ review in the Ontarion. Later when I interviewed them I was asked why. After a pause I answered…

“Well, it isn’t Sgt Peppers.”

What a dumbass answer! Let’s use a hockey analogy. Someone asks me why I don’t think Patrick Roy is the greatest goalie of all time and I answer with because he isn’t Wayne Gretzky (not a goalie), you would think I was both stupid and insane. Well creating a grade based on a comparison of those two records is not exactly the work of a genius.

Critics know that if they say everything is A+ that they will soon lose, or never have credibility. The same applies to negative reviews. However, if the criticism does its job properly, you’ll know what a reviewer thought without the need for a mark. So, if I think you should hear an album, you’ll read about it, and hopefully be intrigued enough to give it a spin and judge for yourself.

3) It’s a blog. My blog. If I’m working for a publication and they want a grade, fine – here’s a grade (And believe me, if you want to pay me to write for your publication – I’m available). However, a blog is basically a self publication where you make up your own rules – so, no grade. I’m still responsible to stand behind the words. If people have complaints, I’ll happily answer them, but I enjoy reviewing records without the marks, so that is just what I will do.

Now, as for The Posies… you should listen to them, they’re pure power-pop at its finest… and… well, I really want it on vinyl…

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Vinyl and Collectibles reviewed and geeked about!

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