Vinyl Vednesday 10/26/2011

[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. This week’s edition is an early Halloween celebration. Hail Satan, and such. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: AFI’s Answer That and Stay Fashionable (1995) on turquoise marble, The Cure’s Faith (1981) on black, and Siouxsie and The Banshees The Scream (1978) on black.

Place of Purchase: AFI was bought at Repo Records in Philadelphia, Pa. The Cure came from Hideaway Music in Chestnut Hill, Pa. Siouxsie and The Banshees was obtained via eBay.

Thoughts: My favorite AFI records are Black Sails in the Sunset and Decemberunderground. One of them is just an awesome hardcore record with gothic lyrics; the other is a goth-pop record bordering on a dance album. They don’t have much in common, which is why I feel little need to justify fitting my other favorite AFI record, Answer That and Stay Fashionable, into the equation. Answer That has some psychobilly elements and captures the band at a really young age. Also, the lyrics are supremely goofy, as heard in “Brownie Bottom Sundae” and “Cereal Wars,” in which frontman Davey Havoc goes off on cereal brands. It’s all intentionally hilarious, while still getting in plenty of Misfits-y love. Plus, the vinyl version comes with the bonus tracks “Self-pity” and “Key Lime Pie.”

Early AFI is goth but silly. The Cure, now there’s a band for soundtracking my eternal despair. Faith is one of the band’s darker records. Opener “The Holy Hour” is a slow churner that sucks up all joy. The record owes a big debt to Joy Division – it captures The Cure’s transition from punk upstarts to psych/goth/pop explorers and falls somewhere on the post-punk lines – but I honestly prefer it over anything JD ever did. “Primary” is a bouncy tune indeed, while “The Funeral Party” predicts the wall of atmosphere that would create the band’s best album, Disintegration. There are better Cure records, but Faith is an album I’ve come to really respect over the years. It doesn’t have any of the band’s big hits, but it’s such a great, swirling mix.

I came to Siouxsie and The Banshees a little later in life. It wasn’t until I had digested The Cure’s complete discography that I then gravitated towards Robert Smith’s mid-’80s side project, The Glove. Knowing that Smith did time with The Banshees (He plays on Hyaena and toured quite a bit with the group), I started snatching up Banshee records at a rapid pace. They’re one of those bands that makes a lot of contemporary music sound redundant. The Scream, the band’s thrilling debut, exists somewhere between punk’s rawness and post-punk's jitteriness, exuding a kind of passion and depth that would develop into goth. It’s not quite as psychedelic as what the group would cultivate on later albums, but The Scream is a thrilling listen from start to finish.

Vinyl Vednesday 9/7/2011

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

Records: Black Flag’s My War (1983) on black, The Cure’s Disintegration (1989) on black, and Galaxie 500’s On Fire (1989) on, again, black.

Place of Purchase: Philadelphia’s Repo Records across the board.

Thoughts: Full disclosure: I’m wearing a My War T-shirt right now. There’s just something so satisfyingly primal in early Black Flag that I cannot deny. Even though the second half of My War goes off the rails a little bit. Even though I now see the lyrics as juvenile. Even though I should probably be listening to Fugazi or Strike Anywhere instead. My War’s title track is the penultimate “me against the world” fight song, a song so full of rage that you can hear Henry Rollins blowing out his voice and forcing the vocal track anyway.

Operating at the opposite spectrum of Black Flag, howsabout The Cure? I’ve been listening to Disintegration a lot lately. It’s just this monolithic, swirling haze of melancholy that’s ideal for autumn. Sure, it’s got one of my favorite love songs, “Lovesong,” but the tune I’ve been really gravitating towards lately is the title track. The Cure is pretty closely associated with keyboards, and the lines on that track play off of the driving drumbeat so well. It’s a little goth pop symphony in my head. Of course, hits like “Pictures of You,” “Lullaby,” and “Fascination Street” help as well. This is one of those records I can play anywhere – at work, on the road, in my bedroom – and it always carries me off.

Thanks to Venice is Sinking, I have fallen in love with Galaxie 500. I first got into the group via “Tugboat,” a Today cut which ViS covered, but it’s 1989’s On Fire that really set me off. That record frequently flits between shoegaze and dreamy indie rock. It definitely reminds me of acts like ViS, Nada Surf, and Mazzy Star. Fire is a little more rock-oriented than Today which suits me fine, opting for surreal slice of psychedelia. The band even throws in a great cover of George Harrison’s “Isn’t It a Pity,” from All Things Must Pass. The trio jams out the tune, turning such a sad song into an epic chorus rolled over and over. On Fire is a record that I can connect to a ton of indie rock material released in the ’90s and ’00s, but it outshines them all.

Vinyl Vednesday 7/13/2011

[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. I’m moving in with my fiancée this week, which I commemorated last week by celebrating three of my parents’ records one last time. This week, I get all warm and/or fuzzy over three records that are near and dear to my special lady friend and I. As always, e-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: PJ Harvey’s “Glorious Land” single (2011) on black, The Cure’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987) on black, and The Promise Ring’s Very Emergency (1998) on black.

Place of Purchase: “Glorious Land” was an exclusive preorder from Recordstore.co.uk. That’s in England! Kiss Me came from Legends at the Plymouth Meeting Mall (R.I.P.). Very Emergency was an eBay find.

Thoughts: Michelle and I love the new PJ Harvey album Let England Shake. It’s just such a haunting, politically volatile record. Accordingly, I’ve been importing two copies of its singles (one for me, one for her) every time they pop up. “Glorious Land” is a particularly heavy tune – the lines “What is the glorious fruit of our? / Its fruit is deformed children” certainly sticks in my head. The B-side, “The Nightingale,” is quite good as well. It’s almost definitely about Florence Nightingale, so it fits England’s war imagery. But the lyrics are a little more atmospheric. As much as I enjoy the song, I get why it was left off in favor of more visceral material like “On Battleship Hill” or “The Words That Maketh Murder.”

Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me is a schizophrenic Cure record, which makes it a great entryway into the band’s discography. Jumping from pop to psych-rock to goth on a whim, it manages to be both a unique piece in their canon yet a solid overview of what the group did post-1985. Also it has “Just Like Heaven,” a.k.a the best loved Cure of all time. It brought Michelle to tears when we saw The Cure perform it live back in 2008. And really, why wouldn’t it? It’s a beautiful song. Frontman Robert Smith specifically wrote to seduce his future wife. And it worked! If you hate that song, you’re a jerk. Me, I’m going to hold on to the memory of Michelle being so moved by music that she wept.

Michelle is secretly a huge Davey von Bohlen fan. I’ve been working on turning her into a Maritime devotee. Every summer, though, is when I bust out the collected works of The Promise Ring, especially Very Emergency. It’s an ideal Jersey shore record, if for no other reason than for the song “Jersey Shore.” But Very Emergency is also appropriate overall. The tunes are catchy and breezy and fun, and they work regardless of summer setting. On the road, on the beach, at night; it’s just such a perfect record.

Man, I really hope none of these records gets damaged in the move…

Vinyl Vednesday 10/28

[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it kinda is. This week’s installment focuses on spoOoOoky releases, in honor of our Lord Satan and the coming of All Hallow’s Eve. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: The Cure’s Pornography (1982) on black, The Mountain Goats’ Satanic Messiah double seven-inch (2008) on black, and AFI’s Decemberunderground seven-inch box set (2006) on clear.

Place of Purchase: Pornography was snatched up at Siren Records. Satanic Messiah was a tour-only, self-released record that I picked up when I saw the band play with Kaki King on “The Last Happy Night of Your Life” tour. Decemberunderground was a Hot Topic exclusive.

Quality: All three of these albums have gotten play this month, with special attention given to Pornography. With 13 full-lengths and counting, I can never truly decide what my favorite Cure release is, although Pornography is always near the top. It’s arguably their darkest and most nihilistic release, and it’s an album I generally associate with addiction. Maybe it’s because the first time I heard it was around the time my cousin overdosed. I stayed up one night playing it over and over on a walkman while I sat on my roof, completely freaked out. As the sky burned from black to orange, I finally packed it in, but I’ll always remember that night.

Satanic Messiah, by contrast, has no choice but to carry a happier story. See, I’m a bit of a Mountain Goats fanatic, so when the band followed up their seminal work Heretic Pride with Satanic Messiah just a few months later, I squealed with joy. What’s more, they gave the record away for free, although donations were/are certainly welcome. I was lucky to get a physical release on tour, though, as the record is extremely shiny. SO. SHINY. Like this year’s The Life of the World to Come, Satanic Messiah is an understated piano-based collection. It features four tasty tunes, one of which is about the wonderful coming of the Antichrist, even though you could mistake it for being about Jesus, which is part of the reason why the song is so effective.

Ah, but the most joyful of noises are reserved for Decemberunderground. Oh sure, the lyrics talk about bleeding and suicide and stuff. But the music made the album into a gothic/glam rock/techno party. My roommate Eric and I danced a fit to this record quite thoroughly in 2006. I listened to it again last week in honor of the Morningstar, and I fell in love with it all over again. “Miss Murder” totally cops a feel off of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus,” and I love it all the more for it. Plus, the box set comes with a sweet bonus track, “Fallen Like the Sky,” and a poster.

The Cure - '4:13 Dream'

[I honestly don't know why it took so long to write this review. Now go listen to more Cure!]

Eight years after they were supposed to break up with swan song Bloodflowers, The Cure returns with their 13^th full-length, 4:13 Dream. And while the gloomy yet loving four-piece has been cranking out albums for over 30 years now, there’s little for fans to hate about their latest. The group’s previous, self-titled album, from 2004, suffered from being too cliché, too stereotypically like a general Cure album. 4:13 Dream avoids this pitfall by trying really hard to sound like a specific Cure album, in this case 1992’s Wish. Right down to the album artwork, 4:13 Dream seems concocted to mimic the airy arrangements of “Open” and “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea.” Album opener “Underneath the Stars” more or less rewrites the slow, ambient thrill of “A Letter to Elise,” and while the idea isn’t new or surprising, it works.

The album breaks from Wish by trying to include more single-worthy numbers, like “The Perfect Boy” and “The Only One.” The latter is a giddy, romantic tune that can perhaps best be described as this album’s version of “Friday, I’m in Love.” But while these songs are certainly catchy, they lack the thrill of surprise. As part of 4:13 Dream’s marketing, The Cure issued four singles on the 13th of each month leading up to the album’s debut. This idea was botched when Geffen Records decided to delay the album’s release, but the fact remains that about a third of the album has been legally available for months. “The Only One” is a great song, but it’s not exactly unique to the album. This is further complicated by the album’s soggy middle. “Freakshow” never finds a groove. Outside of the opening line, nothing sticks. “The Real Snow White” feels like such an obvious pander to the Hot Topic set, right down to the stupid, mall goth title.

Still, though, The Cure has never released a truly bad album, and 4:13 Dream is no exception. The moody aura that hangs over songs like “The Reasons Why” or “This. Here and Now. With You” will romance listeners just as well as anything on Disintegration. The closing double freakout of “The Scream” and “It’s Over” shows that the band still knows how to get truly dark. In fact, frontman Robert Smith’s vocals on “The Scream” might be his best on the whole album, if only for the howl the song leads him to unleash halfway through. Everything builds and builds into this ridiculously rocking, somewhat psychedelic explosion.

Another highlight worth mentioning is “The Hungry Ghost,” an amicable mid-tempo tune. For a band so wrapped up in the concept of yearning, there’s something soothing and surprising in lines like “All the things we never know we need / Looks like we get them in the end.” The song talks about addiction to materialism, and buried somewhere in lines about desperately staying within the spotlight’s boundaries, Smith seems to find a balance between material possessions and happiness. It’s not the most uplifting statement he could make, sure, but it seems practical, which is perhaps the best word for describing 4:13 Dream as a whole. Well, that and “good.”