Vinyl Vednesday 10/12/2011

[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. Now that things are unpacked, I might as well talk about my move, through the gift of song. As always, e-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: Toi Amos’ Boys For Pele (1996) on clear, Jimmy Eat World’s “Pain” b/w “Shame” (2004) on clear sky blue, and The Meters’ Struttin (1970) on black.

Place of Purchase: I gave Michelle Boys For Pele as a gift. I obtained it through secret means. Jimmy Eat World came from Spaceboy Records in Philadelphia (R.I.P.). The Meters were part of a trade-in with Siren Records in Doylestown.

Thoughts: During the move, some records came to us by chance. Others were clearly going to get massive rotation. Boys For Pele falls in the latter category. It’s one of Michelle’s favorite records, if not her absolute favorite. I find the record to be a little uneven and intense, but got-damn does it sound good on vinyl. It’s Amos at her most unhinged, powered by nothing but harpsichord, drums, and rage. Tunes like “Caught a Light Sneeze” and “Hey Jupiter” are pretty darn intense and rocking. What’s funny about this record is that every time a woman comes out with an experimental pop record, be it Bat For Lashes or Joanna Newsome or even that upcoming Bjork album, people call daring and weird and great. And all I can think is, “None of you have listened to Boys For Pele.”

I’m up to the Js for myPod, in which I try to edit down my music collection by ripping through the whole dang thing. I spent a lot of time during my first week in the house listening to Jimmy Eat World. My emo collection in general is shrinking, and I figured I would cut some more albums here, but I hit a snag with Futures, the first JEW album to come out after the classic run of Clarity and Bleed American. For years, I argued that Futures was an underrated classic. It combines Bleed’s hooks with Clarity’s more luscious arrangements. But I found myself kind of neutral on the record all these years later, and I rarely played it anymore. But something forced me to stick with it. I lived with the album for two days and came out loving it all over again. Futures is a lot angrier than Bleed American, as evidenced by the single “Pain.” The B-side, “Shame,” is a little more giving, and I would gladly have rotated it onto the final album’s tracklisting in place of “Drugs or Me.” Chase This Light is gone, though.

The Meters are a funky, funky band. I like to listen to music when I do just about anything, but especially when I cook. Struttin makes for excellent cooking music. Propelled by “Zigaboo” Modeliste’s freewheeling drumbeats, The Meters could find a groove and make it last for as short or as long as they wanted. Struttin has some choice cuts, like “Go For Yourself” and “Hand Clapping Song,” but I kind of prefer the weirder cuts like “Chicken Strut,” in which the band, funkily, imitates roosters, and “Ride Your Pony,” in which the group is very insistent that you ride that pony right now. This record really helped me figure out how to use an electric stove.

Vinyl Vednesday 10/21

[Vinyl Vednesday is a new weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it kinda is. This week's entry comes from Michelle "Killdozer." She is my special lady friend. Also, she is super cute.

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

Records: The Mountain Goats & Kaki King’s Black Pear Tree EP (2008) on black vinyl, Tom Jones featuring Tori Amos’ “I Wanna Get Back With You” (1994 (P)/1995 (C)) on black vinyl, and a remastered and expanded version of Minus the Bear’s They Make Beer Commercials Like This (2008) on rainbow vinyl.

Place of Purchase: Black Pear Tree EP was purchased on The Mountain Goats and Kaki King’s “The Last Happy Night of Your Life” tour Fri., Nov. 7, 2008 at the TLA in Philadelphia. The “I Wanna Get Back With You” single was a gift from my significant other, Joe Pelone. They Make Beer Commercials Like This was purchased at Repo Records.

Quality: There is absolutely nothing more divine then playing Black Pear Tree EP on your record player on an overcast, cold, and rainy Saturday morning. The vocal quality is impeccable. I love the haunting and sad sounds of the piano, organ, bells, and lesser guitars, which at times echo like you are sitting in a big cold room with John Darnielle. I love the sound of keys being pressed and the organ taking breaths. (I have created my own photograph for the making of “Black Pear Tree.”) Then, when Kaki King plays, really rocking only on “Mosquito Repellant” (still acoustically) I can hear her fingers progressing to each new string. I kind of hope that John Darnielle will use Scott Solter and Baucom Road in Monroe, North Carolina forever. Note: If you dislike TMG, you will still love this EP. And if you dislike Kaki King, as I did, you will still love this EP.

I get excited every time I take They Make Beer Commercials Like This out of its sleeve. I have to admit this is mostly for aesthetic reasons as this album is my least favorite Minus the Bear release. It’s just so damn pretty on rainbow vinyl! I’m not certain the remastering makes this record significantly better, but maybe that’s because I’m spoiled by digitally remastered music often (and by my favorite artists). I can say on track one, “Fine + 2 Points,” I do notice a low end I did not previously hear and still cannot really hear on the digital version of this song. The guitars, electronics, and keyboards still sound very Minus the Bear; that is, they sound generally exquisite. I can appreciate the intricacy of their music more on tracks like “I’m Totally Not Down With Rob’s Alien” and “Pony Up!”. Last, it’s always cool to get a bonus track from an artist you adore.

I could have easily picked the “God” single Joe got me as my favorite single for this list. But, instead I picked Tom Jones’ “I Wanna Get Back With You” featuring Tori Amos because this has a much more interesting story. I knew about the “God” single on vinyl, and thought I knew everything about every one of Tori’s releases (or releases on which Tori is featured. I have two versions of the “Blue Skies” single by BT featuring Tori Amos!). Yet, Joe totally blew my socks off with this one. I had no idea that she sang a song with Tom Jones in ’94 or’95! Honestly, when I listen to this single, I only listen to the Tori Amos track because I think Tom Jones is laughable. It’s kind of a lot of effort to go to when you play just one track from a vinyl album, but totally worth it because it’s so rare and has such meaning for me that Joe would find this for me.

Tori Amos at the Tower Theater

[Here's something momentous in the world of Picasso Blue. Our first guest article, courtesy of Michelle Kate Byrne. Full disclosure: I think she's really cute.]

At roughly 8:25 p.m. on Sat., Aug. 15, it was predicted that Tori Amos would take to the stage of the Tower Theater in 35 minutes just as she had two years before. This was much anticipated as opener One EskimO’s lackluster performance had matched the stagnant air of the theater perfectly. Think Seal + Bowerbirds + suck. Sample quote: “You float like a baby looking for safety.” +1 point for your genuine British politeness, though. I also want to give One EskimO another point for the Byron "Buster" Bluth lookalike grooving on their undistinguished jams, but I am pretty sure that guy danced the rest of the night too.

At 9:01 p.m., the theater transformed into a Tori dreamworld as Matt Chamberlain and Jon Evans subtly took to the stage, making me forgive and forget the opener. The evening, the set, and even the artist’s demeanor were different than the last Philadelphia performance. The show was not as "hippie spiritual" as the tours for Scarlet’s Walk and Beekeeper, not as rockin’ as American Doll Posse and Boys for Pele, not as heartbreaking but coy as Little Earthquakes, and not as dark as From The Choirgirl Hotel and Strange Little Girls. It was intricate, paced, and adult; but, still passionate. It was as dreamy as the To Venus and Back days, yet with a particular spice added from each song of a different era, making it a complex concoction.

As a Tori devotee for well over a decade, I know that there is a masterly method to this magnetizer’s madness (Wink.) Tori’s dreamworld was aided by her wardrobe (a primarily blue dress over gold leggings), the twinkling and swirling lighting effects, and the plethora of piano-based instruments on the stage; as well as several songs with the word “blue” somewhere within their lyrics, three songs with “Cloud[s]” in the title,” and nine songs with the letter “C” beginning a word in the title. (I know there is a reason for these things!) The song organization was in the same vein as this year’s Abnormally Attracted to Sin, cultivating the ethereality: "Black Dove (January)" into "Welcome to England!" "Northern Lad" into "Cars and Guitars!" What?!

When Tori took to the stage, I was surprised that her petite frame seemed even tinier than two years ago. But then, the nearly 46-year-old played for nearly two hours straight working her ass off the entire time. She spent the majority of the show doing sexy squats while straddling the piano bench playing keys on both sides of her; breaks were accompanied by a little vogue-like dance. The songs are almost too complex for a live show as it seemed she used three, maybe four, key-based instruments for “Starling.” Rarely straining, she is a master at pacing herself and keeping her sense of humor. Extra dreamy takes of “Hotel” and “Bouncing Off Clouds” with extended introductions added lightness to the newer and extremely involved songs, like “Starling” and “Welcome to England.” Two of my least favorite Tori songs - “Your Cloud” and “Carbon” - fit flawlessly into the celestial atmosphere Amos created, and made me think I just hadn’t “gotten them” before this date. “Northern Lad” brought this redhead to tears and left the lovely redhead two seats down from me sniffling as well. The classics were greatly appreciated by the audience, with “Crucify” bringing the audience to their feet with an air of great respect.

Tori closed with “Strong Black Vine” off of this year’s Abnormally Attracted to Sin, and she gave the performance of a lifetime. She bestowed upon us the most powerful and raw version audiences may ever hear with some extended “motherfucker” verses. Watching her work throughout the evening was exhausting, and after the performance of that song, I knew there was nothing greater on earth for my ears to hear. She gave us a tired encore of “Caught A Lite Sneeze” and “Big Wheel,” though she did perk up for the “MILF” chanting. The lights went on immediately after the first encore, which (in my experience) is a rarity. However, I was, as usual, more satisfied than I could have ever imagined and amazed at the stamina Tori possessed. I hope she got to spend the rest of her evening with her mother and father, who were also in attendance.