So I needed some exercise so I decided I'd actually go through clearance at a half price. I've learned that austin stores know more than stores in the suburbs so they are less likely to throw you a bone (who puts a perfect copy of shaft in clearance?). Anyways
Records (non clearance)
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit -- 3
Pisces, aquarius, capricorn & jones ltd. by the monkees -- 6
Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 -- 6
Clearance Records (all 1 dollar)
Gumbo Millennium by 24-7 Spyz
Like a Version by Two Nice Girls
Ow! Ow! Ow! by Barrence Whitfield and the Savages
Belafonte at Carnegie Hall
Shh by Ten Years After
A Space in Time by Ten Years After
The sound of Boots
The Ways a Woman Can Be by Teresa Trull
The Sound of Music by The dB's
Ok... Let's start of with Mendes. This album is what introduced Brazilian music to American audiences. Don't get me wrong, I definitely prefer the tropicalia lot over mendes but if you're going to get a classic "Brazilian" record this is it.
The interesting thing about the Monkees is that they had a lot of great song writers behind them, namely Harry Nilson. This one's cool because it's supposed to be more psychedelic.
I bought spirit because it looked psychedelic (more on this later). I got a feeling I'll enjoy this one. There's horns on a couple of tracks!
Ok... There is no possible way to know if you'll like an album or not if you don't listen to it. But, there is a good chance that if you like the cover that you'll like the record in some way. What I look for in covers can be broken down into a couple of areas--- 1. Does it look like it's trying to be psychedelic or rip off the beatles? 2. Does it look like punk (not new wave)? 3. Is it absolutely hilarious? 4. Does it look like a weird singer/songwriter thing? 5. Do you actually know what it is and want it? So obviously #5 is what you're looking for but you know... beggars can't be choosers
24-7 Spyz looked like a De La Soul (in the 3ft high and rising era). I mean there are flowers everywhere and there's a map of the world, and they have hearts on the back. Well I was sorely mistaken. They're a Living Color rip off band. So yeah... hard rock 90's stuff.
When I saw OW! OW! OW! I thought what the hell is rerun doing on an album, why did someone choose to have this album look like a highlighter heart attack, and why is he so excited? Well, it's sort of a classic r&b thing going on.
The dB's looked sort of punkish on the back and (I realized this later) VAN DYKE PARKS PLAYS KEYBOARDS. Yeah... Van Dyke Parks is a bad ass. So they are supposed to be the link between Big Star (R.I.P.) and Rem. I think they live up to it. AMG says that their earlier albums are more interesting but this is still a nice slice of pop.
What can I say? I'll take any madonna pun. Like a version is a cover ep. It's got a sonic youth cover (cotton crown) so what's not to like. Apparently two nice girls were a lesbian country rock band, and it shows. They're definitely sporting the Rosie O'Donnell look on the back.
Harry Belafonte is real cool. Most people know him for Day O. This live concert is great because it has all of his good stuff from the first couple of lps.
I got two lps by Ten Years After. Both looked like the sort of typical psych stuff. So far I haven't been disappointed. Apparently they played at woodstock. AMG says that the lyrics are going to suck though... that sucks.
The sound of Boots looked like it was a rip off of a serious sort of jazz things. Turns out it's a white guy from Nashville. Still seems cool but it's really poppy for jazz.
Teresea Trull is really good. She's sort of like if laura nyro rocked harder. Apparently she's a lesbian (olivia, the record label was a part of the women's music movement in the 70's) as from the first lyric "I'd like to make love with you 'cause you're a woman and I am one too." It's really really cool that I found this record. Also everything is translated into spanish too.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
7/22 Antones
I felt bad because I walked there and bought a plastic 7' sleeve with pennies. They don't have any paper sleeves two weeks later.
Records
Odessa (again) by the BeeGees -- 20
Bringing It All Back Home by Dylan -- 13
Who's Next -- 8
Wild Honey by the Beach Boys -- 8
Young Americans by Bowie -- 15
How can you say no to a double album with a felt cover? yes felt! I got this one already but it was only a one album version. Who cuts down a double album on a reissue? Anyways, Odessa (with Blonde on Blonde and the White Album) is the essential double album of the 60's. Finished the 80's. Now I need to discover the 70's.
Bringing It All Back Home is sort of the start of bob dylan going electric. Sort of the first of the trilogy the other two being highway 61 revisted and blonde on blonde. So yeah... good stuff.
I feel like Who's Next is sort of the only who album I'm interested in. It's a classic. But I might feel like my desire to hear the garage rock genius that is pete townshend might endear me less to it.
I've been looking for Wild Honey ever since I heard a friend's and friends do a raunchy cover of it. It's a really good album though. This album was right after smiley smile. I mean by this time Brian had totally freaked out and you can tell by this album that there was going to be a huge difference in the beach boys.
I've recently discovered that since bowie changes styles so often that each album can be described thusly: Bowie does (insert genre here). For example, ziggy stardust is bowie does glam, alladin sane = bowie does glam, AGAIN, berlin trilogy=bowie does Kraut Rock (part 1,2, and 3), etc... Well young americans is bowie does funk/soul/r&b. Yeah... Fame was co-written by John Lennon and james brown ripped it off. Also it's got luther vandross (fo those in the know). So check it out.
later
Records
Odessa (again) by the BeeGees -- 20
Bringing It All Back Home by Dylan -- 13
Who's Next -- 8
Wild Honey by the Beach Boys -- 8
Young Americans by Bowie -- 15
How can you say no to a double album with a felt cover? yes felt! I got this one already but it was only a one album version. Who cuts down a double album on a reissue? Anyways, Odessa (with Blonde on Blonde and the White Album) is the essential double album of the 60's. Finished the 80's. Now I need to discover the 70's.
Bringing It All Back Home is sort of the start of bob dylan going electric. Sort of the first of the trilogy the other two being highway 61 revisted and blonde on blonde. So yeah... good stuff.
I feel like Who's Next is sort of the only who album I'm interested in. It's a classic. But I might feel like my desire to hear the garage rock genius that is pete townshend might endear me less to it.
I've been looking for Wild Honey ever since I heard a friend's and friends do a raunchy cover of it. It's a really good album though. This album was right after smiley smile. I mean by this time Brian had totally freaked out and you can tell by this album that there was going to be a huge difference in the beach boys.
I've recently discovered that since bowie changes styles so often that each album can be described thusly: Bowie does (insert genre here). For example, ziggy stardust is bowie does glam, alladin sane = bowie does glam, AGAIN, berlin trilogy=bowie does Kraut Rock (part 1,2, and 3), etc... Well young americans is bowie does funk/soul/r&b. Yeah... Fame was co-written by John Lennon and james brown ripped it off. Also it's got luther vandross (fo those in the know). So check it out.
later
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
7/14 End of an Ear
End of an Ear is awesome. They have a huge selection and a lot of rare records (they had music to eat by the hampton grease band and an original out to lunch by eric dolphy). So the question becomes is it better than waterloo? Waterloo is still your store if you only want reissues and that sort of thing, but end of in ear's used record selection doesn't suck like waterloo. What I'm saying is end of an ear is a great place if you looking for a record and you don't care if it's a reissue or not. Yeah... it's pretty much the best store in austin. By the way... I think Snake Eyes Vinyl and Friends of Music are gone... I drove by but I couldn't find them.
Oh if you spend about a 100 bucks they'll give you a tote bag.
Records--
Reissues--
Phonography by R. Stevie Moore --20
Double Nickles on the Dime -- 14
Used--
Heroes by David Bowie --7
New Tijuana Moods by Mingus -- 6
Brilliant Corners by Monk -- 8
Island of Living Puke by Zoogz Rift -- 5
Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround part 1 by the kinks -- 10
One Nation Under A Groove by Funkadelic -- 6
Highway 61 Revisited--12
Ok.... Lets start off with the reissues.
During the 90's the term "lo fi" was thrown around alot, but have you ever wondered where it came from? R. Stevie. Moore is the answer. As early as 1976 he has been releasing home recorded albums and has shown no sign of letting up. Phonography is his debut. Check it out, the residents will recommend it to you.
What else is there to say about double nickles? I mean that along with zen arcade and daydream nation, it's a definitive 80's double album. Pick it up on record because some of the cd pressings leave off songs.
Now on to used stuff.
Really looking forward to Heroes. It's one of the three Berlin Albums. David Bowie originally was supposed to do the soundtrack to The Man Who Fell to Earth (starring David Bowie) but contractual obligations prevented him from doing so. He was hanging out with Brian Eno and thus Low was born. Heroes follows the same format (Pop songs on one side Instrumentals on the other).
The copy of New Tijuana Moods I got is interesting because it doesn't have the saucy hispanic wench leaning up to a jukebox (which I would prefer) HOWEVER it does have a shit ton of alternate takes and stuff like that. But it's one of mingus' better albums.
Usually when people play jazz piano there are two approaches: the first is attempting to play as many notes as possible in the time allotted, the second is choosing your notes carefully and sparsely. Theolonious Monk was sort of the founder of the second. This album is great, I mean dig that celeste on Pannonica. But the greatest part of jazz records such as these is that nothing's overdubbed but the music is still challenging. On the back it jokes about how much the musicians complained.
Anyways. On to Lola. What is there to say? It's the album that put the kinks firmly in the arena (har har) of stadium rock.
Zoogz rift is more interesting. I actually saw this one on the floor. From what I remember he's into zappa and beefheart... and apparently wrestling. Wikipedia says this "Keyboard Magazine ... described Rift's album The Island of Living Puke as 'moments of outstanding free-form rock, sandwiched between scrupulously obscene interruptions'" Yep.
The final one was a steal. They had this one with a "stuck" gatefold for 6 and another one that wasn't stuck for 12. I figured for 6 bucks I could unstick it. Parliament and Funkadelic are pretty much the same band on different labels. They eventually exploded to more bands than you can shake a stick at so I'm not going to get into that. Anyways if you're looking to get started into p-funk stuff go with this one or Maggot Brain.
Highway61.... bought it for a friend.
Oh if you spend about a 100 bucks they'll give you a tote bag.
Records--
Reissues--
Phonography by R. Stevie Moore --20
Double Nickles on the Dime -- 14
Used--
Heroes by David Bowie --7
New Tijuana Moods by Mingus -- 6
Brilliant Corners by Monk -- 8
Island of Living Puke by Zoogz Rift -- 5
Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround part 1 by the kinks -- 10
One Nation Under A Groove by Funkadelic -- 6
Highway 61 Revisited--12
Ok.... Lets start off with the reissues.
During the 90's the term "lo fi" was thrown around alot, but have you ever wondered where it came from? R. Stevie. Moore is the answer. As early as 1976 he has been releasing home recorded albums and has shown no sign of letting up. Phonography is his debut. Check it out, the residents will recommend it to you.
What else is there to say about double nickles? I mean that along with zen arcade and daydream nation, it's a definitive 80's double album. Pick it up on record because some of the cd pressings leave off songs.
Now on to used stuff.
Really looking forward to Heroes. It's one of the three Berlin Albums. David Bowie originally was supposed to do the soundtrack to The Man Who Fell to Earth (starring David Bowie) but contractual obligations prevented him from doing so. He was hanging out with Brian Eno and thus Low was born. Heroes follows the same format (Pop songs on one side Instrumentals on the other).
The copy of New Tijuana Moods I got is interesting because it doesn't have the saucy hispanic wench leaning up to a jukebox (which I would prefer) HOWEVER it does have a shit ton of alternate takes and stuff like that. But it's one of mingus' better albums.
Usually when people play jazz piano there are two approaches: the first is attempting to play as many notes as possible in the time allotted, the second is choosing your notes carefully and sparsely. Theolonious Monk was sort of the founder of the second. This album is great, I mean dig that celeste on Pannonica. But the greatest part of jazz records such as these is that nothing's overdubbed but the music is still challenging. On the back it jokes about how much the musicians complained.
Anyways. On to Lola. What is there to say? It's the album that put the kinks firmly in the arena (har har) of stadium rock.
Zoogz rift is more interesting. I actually saw this one on the floor. From what I remember he's into zappa and beefheart... and apparently wrestling. Wikipedia says this "Keyboard Magazine ... described Rift's album The Island of Living Puke as 'moments of outstanding free-form rock, sandwiched between scrupulously obscene interruptions'" Yep.
The final one was a steal. They had this one with a "stuck" gatefold for 6 and another one that wasn't stuck for 12. I figured for 6 bucks I could unstick it. Parliament and Funkadelic are pretty much the same band on different labels. They eventually exploded to more bands than you can shake a stick at so I'm not going to get into that. Anyways if you're looking to get started into p-funk stuff go with this one or Maggot Brain.
Highway61.... bought it for a friend.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Liz Phair Funstyle Review
Ok... it seems no one will touch the thing except with adjectives like "batshit weird". So I'll do it.
First off though, if you're expecting it to be guyville just stop reading. Liz Phair will probably never put out another album as good as Exile. I've said it before, but it's still true, one of exile's strengths is that since it was her first album she had her pick of every single one of the girlysound songs. She's had five years to do this one and I doubt even if she had as many songs as she did then that it would be as good.
But, I think girlysound is a good comparison point. On girlysound there were songs about elvis and cows for goodness sake! With that in mind it makes more sense that a third of the tracks are "joke" tracks. I mean how can you take liz seriously when she's wrapping over a tabla beat or when she's impersonating a hardass east-coast soccer mom? So if you didn't like bollywood, don't worry, it's not the best track on the album by far. However, after repeated listens I found myself looking forward to these tracks the most just because they're more interesting instrumentally than the other more "serious" tracks. But yeah... Smoke, Bollywood, Beat is Up, and U Hate It are all pretty much throwaways much in the vein of Say You taken to the extreme.
So you might say, what of the other tracks that aren't blatant jokes... Well some of them are good (a few maybe could pass as Whip Smart throwaways), and some are just mediocre. Bang! Bang! sort of reminds me of some of the cuts off of Beck's Modern Guilt but I just find it too bland to bring me in. You Should Know Me is also sort of meh.... I feel like she's written better lyrics in the past. Does she really have to go back to nursery rhymes to get material for choruses? I'm looking at you And He Slayed Her.
However it's not all bad, which is the most surprising part. Miss September is one of the more promising tracks. I feel like the production is a little cliche but I feel like the sound of this song isn't an attempt to recreate the sound of guyville but more of an extension, more mature I guess. I think My My is interesting because it seems like she's dipping into sort of Midnite Vultures era Beck not as funky though. But the best part is that it's not a total joke, she's clearly capable of branching out without resorting to humor. Oh bangladesh is a nice slice of indie rock (and the winner of the closest to something on Exile). It's great to hear her multitracking her vocals again. However my favorite song on the album is Satisfied. Sure it's the song that probably sounds like something she'd put out on a major but tell me those synth lines and choruses aren't great. And the lyrics are better, though far from her best.
In conclusion, everybody has a lot to be confused about. I mean this whole thing could be a giant joke (she did have 4 "joke" tracks, that's a lot even for her). She did have 5 years since the last album so there could be more/better stuff out there. The best possible case would be that it IS a joke and these are just the throwaways from her actual album. However, I'm too pessimistic to believe that so what's left is an album of throwaways and jokes with some redeeming moments. It may not be her best work but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
First off though, if you're expecting it to be guyville just stop reading. Liz Phair will probably never put out another album as good as Exile. I've said it before, but it's still true, one of exile's strengths is that since it was her first album she had her pick of every single one of the girlysound songs. She's had five years to do this one and I doubt even if she had as many songs as she did then that it would be as good.
But, I think girlysound is a good comparison point. On girlysound there were songs about elvis and cows for goodness sake! With that in mind it makes more sense that a third of the tracks are "joke" tracks. I mean how can you take liz seriously when she's wrapping over a tabla beat or when she's impersonating a hardass east-coast soccer mom? So if you didn't like bollywood, don't worry, it's not the best track on the album by far. However, after repeated listens I found myself looking forward to these tracks the most just because they're more interesting instrumentally than the other more "serious" tracks. But yeah... Smoke, Bollywood, Beat is Up, and U Hate It are all pretty much throwaways much in the vein of Say You taken to the extreme.
So you might say, what of the other tracks that aren't blatant jokes... Well some of them are good (a few maybe could pass as Whip Smart throwaways), and some are just mediocre. Bang! Bang! sort of reminds me of some of the cuts off of Beck's Modern Guilt but I just find it too bland to bring me in. You Should Know Me is also sort of meh.... I feel like she's written better lyrics in the past. Does she really have to go back to nursery rhymes to get material for choruses? I'm looking at you And He Slayed Her.
However it's not all bad, which is the most surprising part. Miss September is one of the more promising tracks. I feel like the production is a little cliche but I feel like the sound of this song isn't an attempt to recreate the sound of guyville but more of an extension, more mature I guess. I think My My is interesting because it seems like she's dipping into sort of Midnite Vultures era Beck not as funky though. But the best part is that it's not a total joke, she's clearly capable of branching out without resorting to humor. Oh bangladesh is a nice slice of indie rock (and the winner of the closest to something on Exile). It's great to hear her multitracking her vocals again. However my favorite song on the album is Satisfied. Sure it's the song that probably sounds like something she'd put out on a major but tell me those synth lines and choruses aren't great. And the lyrics are better, though far from her best.
In conclusion, everybody has a lot to be confused about. I mean this whole thing could be a giant joke (she did have 4 "joke" tracks, that's a lot even for her). She did have 5 years since the last album so there could be more/better stuff out there. The best possible case would be that it IS a joke and these are just the throwaways from her actual album. However, I'm too pessimistic to believe that so what's left is an album of throwaways and jokes with some redeeming moments. It may not be her best work but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
7/6 Waterloo and WTF
WTF NEW LIZ PHAIR ALBUM.... I don't know what to make of Bollywood. I listened to it like twenty times and I didn't know if I liked it or not. I mean I know it's her sense of humor, but what if she actually thinks this is a good song to start off with? I mean if it's a throwaway then the rest of the album could be great? I'm so confused... I'll be "borrowing" a "friend's" "copy" then deciding later.
Records--
Highway 61 Revisited -- 20
Zen Arcade by Husker Du -- 13
New Day Rising by Husker Du -- 10
Clear Spot by Captian Beefheart -- 12
Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks -- 20
All of these were reissues.
Yeah... I feel like I need to sort of have more "classic" albums and I'm severely lacking in the dylan department. I would have gotten Blonde on Blonde but they wanted 30 bucks for it. So I got this one instead. Someone said that this is the album where dylan gave up being a troubadour for becoming a hipster. I heart hipsters.
Ok... Zen arcade is one of the three most important double albums of the 80s. The other two being Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation and the Minutemen's Double Nickles on the Dime. SST has been reissuing all of their stuff really cheap lately so it was a good find. New Day Rising is the album right afterward. It's more poppy. I want to say Zen was recorded in a ridiculously short amount of time, like two weeks. The minutemen were jealous so they did double nickles in like 3 nights or something like that. I think "Take That Huskers!" is somewhere on the album. Then sonic youth jumped on the bandwagon because they wrote too many songs for a single after listening to dinosaur jr.
Clear spot is another beefheart record. It doesn't have drumbo on it, so that's unfortunate but it does have a lot of good songs on it such as Low Yo Yo Stuff, Nowadays a Woman's Gotta Hit a Man, and Big Eyed Beans from Venus.
Song Cycle is one of the greatest albums of the 60's if not all time. The songs fly around in a chaotic beautiful mess. Van Dyke Parks is a genius, that's the simplest way to put it. However he can be too smart for his own good, I mean was it really necessary to have a song called Van Dyke Parks by Public Domain as well as Public Domain by Van Dyke Parks? Anyways... it's lovely.
Records--
Highway 61 Revisited -- 20
Zen Arcade by Husker Du -- 13
New Day Rising by Husker Du -- 10
Clear Spot by Captian Beefheart -- 12
Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks -- 20
All of these were reissues.
Yeah... I feel like I need to sort of have more "classic" albums and I'm severely lacking in the dylan department. I would have gotten Blonde on Blonde but they wanted 30 bucks for it. So I got this one instead. Someone said that this is the album where dylan gave up being a troubadour for becoming a hipster. I heart hipsters.
Ok... Zen arcade is one of the three most important double albums of the 80s. The other two being Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation and the Minutemen's Double Nickles on the Dime. SST has been reissuing all of their stuff really cheap lately so it was a good find. New Day Rising is the album right afterward. It's more poppy. I want to say Zen was recorded in a ridiculously short amount of time, like two weeks. The minutemen were jealous so they did double nickles in like 3 nights or something like that. I think "Take That Huskers!" is somewhere on the album. Then sonic youth jumped on the bandwagon because they wrote too many songs for a single after listening to dinosaur jr.
Clear spot is another beefheart record. It doesn't have drumbo on it, so that's unfortunate but it does have a lot of good songs on it such as Low Yo Yo Stuff, Nowadays a Woman's Gotta Hit a Man, and Big Eyed Beans from Venus.
Song Cycle is one of the greatest albums of the 60's if not all time. The songs fly around in a chaotic beautiful mess. Van Dyke Parks is a genius, that's the simplest way to put it. However he can be too smart for his own good, I mean was it really necessary to have a song called Van Dyke Parks by Public Domain as well as Public Domain by Van Dyke Parks? Anyways... it's lovely.
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