Vinyl Vednesday 6/22/2011

[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. Anyway, as always, e-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: The Beatles’ Rubber Soul (1965) on black, RVIVR’s RVIVR LP (2010) on black with an inside-out Modest Mouse jacket, and Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America” single (1981) on black.

Place of Purchase: Beatles ‘n’ Kim Wilde came from Siren Records in Doylestown. RVIVR was ordered via Interpunk.com.

Thoughts: I almost feel bad for the folks at Siren Records when I walk in, because thanks to the massive music shedding I’m doing for myPod, I almost always purchase stuff via trading instead of using actual, legal tender. On my most recent trip, I scored $130 in store credit. I put part of it towards The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, because why not? It’s one of my favorite Beatles albums. The melodies are huge, the band started reacting to Bob Dylan by going acoustic, and its got some of my favorite tunes, like “Girl,” “Michelle,” and “Norwegian Wood.” I made a slight tactical error in buying a U.S. printing, though. The Beatles’ records got chopped and screwed for a long time, and this version of Rubber Soul shuffles the track listing and cuts “Drive My Car!” Blasphemy! It’s still a great record, though, and this version was much cheaper than the sealed mono British pressing Siren had listed for $300. I’m not ready for that sort of commitment.

After Shorebirds imploded, I was a little slow getting into the next round of post-Latterman bands like Iron Chic and RVIVR. I just... didn't want to get hurt again. Also, I was lazy and there was a lot of good music coming out in the heady days of the year 2010. After it showed up on a bevy of year-end lists, though, I decided to dive back into the punk rock band dating pool. RVIVR is noticeably slower compared to Shorebirds or Latterman, but the band basically traded speed for melody, and I can live with that. I dig the male/female vocal interplay, especially on “Real Mean.” That tune’s also got a mean guitar lead. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's OK to love again. I never got to see Latterman or Shorebirds live; I need to turn that around with RVIVR (or Iron Chic).

Two-thirds of the pop singles released in the ’80s were absolute shit. The other one-third was amazing. My fiancée mocks me on occasion for picking up ’80s singles, but I really, really like Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America.” It’s a catchy new wave ditty beloved by everyone who ever existed in this universe. The Bouncing Souls covered it!

As for the B-side, “You’ll Never Be So Wrong,” it’s OK I guess. I don’t remember how it goes.

Vinyl Vednesday 2/9/2011

[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. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: Paul McCartney’s Ram (1971) on black, Torche’s Meanderthal Demos ten-inch (2009) on black, and The White Stripes’ “Conquest” single (2007) on clear red.

Place of Purchse: McCartney came from a recent Siren Records run. Torche was delivered to by my door step via No Idea’s wonderful mailorder system. White Stripes came from my other lover, Repo Records in Philadelphia.

Thoughts: I like The Beatles a whole lot. I like that I can put on any of their albums and get a string of well-crafted pop songs. Getting through the members’ solo records, meanwhile, has been a stumble. I’m at a point where I think I own all of the essential George Harrison and John Lennon albums, but up until now I’ve stayed away from Paul McCartney. I always planned on getting Band on the Run at some point, but generally speaking, I haven’t really liked any of his post-Beatles songs. How could he top John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band or All Things Must Pass?

CUT TO A MANAYUNK SOCIAL GATHERING. I’m slaying some wine with Sam Fran Scavuzzo and Pat Rush (of Pat Rush Band Fame). We’re talking about records, as nerds are wont to do, and I casually said something to the effect of “I do not enjoy the works of Paul McCartney post-1970.” I can’t remember if I mentioned “The Girl is Mine” from Thriller as an exception or not. Anyhoozle, Rush looked me straight in the soul and told me to check out Ram. He told me it wasn’t as great as other records in the Beatles universe, but that it would be a pleasant listen. He was right. Ram consists of a bunch of silly love songs, but it flows nicely and the arrangements manage to be epic and slight at the same time. This is how I wish more twee bands sounded.

So… any recommendations for a Ringo Starr record?

I fell for Torche pretty hard in 2010. Songs For Singles dominated my ears, and I quickly tore through their discograpy. This year, I’m filling in the margins, starting with Meanderthal Demos. I love all of the group’s full-lengths (Right now the self-titled is my favorite), but I was surprised by how much I prefer these demos to Meanderthal proper. The tunes here aren’t too differently, just slightly fuzzier ‘n’ grainier, which suits Torche’s knack for penning metal tunes that blend sludge, alternative, and acid rock. I really, really need to see this band live.

Speaking of getting hip to old acts, I didn’t really appreciate The White Stripes in their heyday. Icky Thump turned me around on them, though, and I eventually found myself delighting in the band’s sense of humor. I dig the album version of their cover of Corry Robbins’ “Conquest,” but the acoustic Mariachi version on this single is pretty great too. B-side “Cash Grab Complications On the Matter” complements the song well. The single also comes with a poster and trading card!

Vinyl Vednesday 5/26/2010

[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. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: The Beatles’ “White Album” (1968) on black, Fugazi’s Repeater (1990) on black, and Portishead’s Third (2008) on black.

Place of Purchase: I inherited the “White Album” from my mother (notice her maiden name, Ferris, is written in the top right corner of the cover), while the ’Gazi ‘n’ P-Heads came from Hot Topic.

Thoughts: The “White Album” has almost always been my favorite Beatles album. Maybe it’s because it’s the only Beatles studio album my parents owned when I was a kid (the rest of their collection consisted of the red and blue singles compilations). Maybe it’s because it’s the first Beatles album I ever owned on CD (first rock album in general, for that matter). Or maybe it’s because of the album’s sprawling double disc format. As much as I love Rubber Soul and Revolver, they’re much easier to explore and live in. “White Album” still drops the occasional new doorway to me. And it’s packed with my favorite Beatles tunes: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Julia,” “Back in the U.S.S.R.”, “Dear Prudence”… and that’s just the first record. I haven’t even gotten to “Helter Skelter” or the “Revolution” tunes. For the best evidence that this album rules, let’s see how many people point out that I haven’t even mentioned “Blackbird” yet.

Also it has the best Ringo tune (“Don’t Pass Me By”), which I would take over “Yellow Submarine,” “Act Naturally,” or, uh, “Octopus’s Garden” any day.

Totally switching gears, let’s talk about Fugazi. I like Fugazi a whole dang lot, and Repeater remains one of my favorites from them. I love it so much that I stopped writing about it for the last like 30 minutes and just listened to the tunes. In my world, these are the biggest hits of 1990: “Reprovisional,” with its deliberate, punchy rhythm, “Blueprint,” because it’s just as much of a slow burn, and “Repeater,” because it’s totally hardcore, drenched in feedback, and pissed off about the job market (sounds like me ‘n’ my friends) but features such an insanely catchy guitar line. Tons of bands have tried to incorporate pop elements into hardcore music and failed. Apparently they just need to rip off Fugazi, ’cause those dudes pulled this shit off 20 years ago. BRING FUGAZI BACK TO LIFE.

I’ve got two stories about Portishead’s Third. It was the album that got me into them. A lot of my friends were obsessed their plaintive trip-hop sounds, but I couldn’t get passed all of the DJ scratching, which I found to be gimmicky. Apparently, the band felt the same way, as Third manages to fulfill everything Portishead’s could want while sidestepping trip-hop clichés. And it sometimes it even sounds like the music from Terminator! Hells yeah!

But not everything about Portishead is great. Their record label, Mercury Records, is run by wieners who don’t support digital downloads. I bought the album on vinyl about four months after it was released, by which time the label had already stopped honoring the download codes included. What I find bitterly funny about this is that most indie labels (No Idea!, Dirtnap, etc.) honor those codes for years. DICKS! Dicks forever! I’m still bitter about this two years later.

But Third is still pretty great.