[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it usually turns out that way. With Against Me!’s White Crosses due June 8 and their
Also, I would like everyone to note my mother's new carpeting.]
Records: Against Me!’s Searching For a Former Clarity (2005) on black and white vinyl, “Don’t Lose Touch” 12-inch single (2005) on black, and “From Her Lips to God’s Ears (The Energizer)” 12-inch single (2006) on black.
Place of Purchase: All three came from Repo Records in
Thoughts: While I was already a fan thanks to Reinventing Axl Rose, it was Searching For a Former Clarity that made me truly believe in the band. 2005 was an amazing year for music, and this album caught me when I was in the middle of hearing some of my favorite albums of all time. The music got a little more intricate. At 14 tracks, it’s the most sprawling AM! record to date. Clarity is such a beautiful, convoluted record, obsessed with detailing all the crap Gabel has to put up with, yet so amazing and catchy rocking that it becomes universal. Some folks called the record uneven, which I suppose is true to the extent that first half is good and the second half (Well, from “Joy” to the closing title track) is so insanely good that it hurts. Sometimes I just leave “Problems” on repeat when I’m driving. That song always picks me up out of a funk.
Clarity’s singles took a little longer to appreciate, though. Not so much the singles themselves, but the accompanying remixes. The Mouse on Mars remix of “Don’t Lose Touch” took a long time to grow on me, but now I actually prefer it to the real song. Beastie Boy Ad-Rock’s take on “From Her Lips” grabbed me sooner. Less successful was Butch Vig’s remix of “White People For Peace,” which was so disappointing that I’ve never bothered to track down the “White People” 12-inch single. I still throw these records on and have a personal mini-dance party from time to time, though.
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