Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing Baby?

Gotta get the orig' right!  I mean there's something about the search, the quest, that really gets me going.  Hunting the bins, digging, hoping to find that album that you've been looking for.  The Meters, Jimmy Smith, Shuggie Otis.  Need to find some vintage Sabbath and Maiden.  Would love to find some Grant Green for Bill.  I've had two copies of License to Ill pass through my hands and had to pass on a third because of funds, but I'll find it eventually.  Paul's Boutique as well.  It just takes time right?

Well the other day I was at Audiopile digging through the racks and I decided to check out the re-issue section.  Damn!  Look at all the awesome 180 gram releases.  I easily could've bought a dozen records.  Price was good, selection was great.  If only the money was available.  But it did get me thinking, "What's wrong with picking up the odd re-ish once and a while?"  My son bought Ill Communication and Tribe Called Quest, both 180gram releases, with his christmas money.  They're great.  So why don't I buy re-issues?  The answer to that is I don't know.  I mean I always preach it's about the music.  It shouldn't be about the age right?  I mean I love the music and the medium, do I really care about the age?

So what's it gonna be people?  Are you original only?  Or do you buy re-issue when you find something you want?  I'm starting to lean towards a bit of both and I'll tell you why.  If we all start buying the re-issues it will let the higher ups know that they should release more.  And then more music will start coming out on vinyl.  Maybe down the road there will only be two delivery forms, online and digital for the casual listener, and vinyl for the collector.

Note: turns out that Universal Music Group was listening!

http://www.universalmusic.com/corporate/universal-music-group-distribution-umgd-launches-groovetown-vinyl

Dance The Night Away Part Deux

Today I have the great honour of conducting a fictitious interview with founder and lead guitarist from Van Halen, Edward Van Halen.

me: Thanks Eddie for talking to me about Sammy's new book.  He says he didn't pull any punches when it comes to his time in Van Halen.

eddie: No problem, I haven't read it yet but I'm sure he's telling the truth.  As he remembers it anyway.

me:  Before we talk about the book, have you heard Santana's cover of Dance The Night Away?

eddie:  No but I love Carlos' stuff.  I was listening to Abraxas just the other day.

me:  Want to have a quick listen before we start?

eddie: Sure

< play song for Eddie >

< song ends >

me: What you think?

eddie: Sorry man, I must have fell asleep 'cause I just had a terrible nightmare.  I dreamt that Carlos trashed the song with his noodling and he had that dude from Train singing!

me:  No nightmare my man, that's the track.

eddie:  Don't ever call me again!

< hangs up>

Great!  Thanks Carlos, I don't think Eddie will ever do a fictitious interview with me again.  And I didn't even get to fake ask him about Sammy's book.  Damn You Carlos!!

Recent Finds

Thought I'd do a post listing some of the albums I've come across lately.  A little wrap up of the newest collection additions.

1) Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum (1968)

Saw this one at Zulu Records in the New Arrivals section.  I had been looking for this one for a while so had to grab it.  Some people say it is one of the founding albums of heavy metal.  Rhapsody online lists it as one of the 10 Essential Proto-Metal Albums, and go on to say they not only invented the term 'Power Trio' but practically invented heavy metal.  Listening to it, it really is more of a loose garage blues album run with a lot of distortion.  Their cover of Eddie Cochran's Summertime Blues is great.

2) Booker T and The MG's - Melting Pot (1971)

This is the bands last album on Stax Records and also the last with the original line-up.  You owe it to yourself to try and pick this one up.  It has some longer instrumental jams on it and the title track is awesome.  Got this one at Carson Books

3) Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live! (1972)

Another Zulu purchase.  A buddy of mine (Gord) posted a request on facebook for people to keep an eye out for this one.  Saw it, bought it, now I'm not sure if I'm gonna give it up.  The live version of Buddy's 'Them Changes' is superb.  Side 2 of the album contains only one song.  'Free Form Funkafide Filth' is a 25 minute jam that is the perfect background to any vinyl listening party.

Now for an example, I'm gonna go back to the first album on the list and play the Cochran cover. Enjoy!

Shout At The Devil

When it comes to this band I prefer not to think about the recent history.  The porn movies, reality shows, fights and all the other drama that has taken up a huge portion of their time these days.  Instead I like to remember their youth, and by extension, my youth.  Because when this album was released in 1983 I was 12 and was just starting to spread my wings musically.  I had been a Kiss fan for a long time but a group of us were starting to embrace the 'metal' of the time.   I still remember when a friend of mine played it for me.  It was heavy.  It felt like the type of music that our parents wouldn't approve of, hell they had a pentagram on the cover.  We would all listen to it on whatever 'ghetto blaster' was around at the time and thought it was the coolest stuff ever.  

As far as the imagery that went along with the music, well we thought that was cool too.  I mean this was what the inside of the gatefold looked like.

What the hell!!  I was never quite sure what to make of it.  They looked bad ass but they were wearing a hell of a lot of makeup!?!  In hindsight I now see that it was just an extension of what bands like Kiss, Alice Cooper and the like were doing, creating a persona that would leave an impression.  But forgetting that, if you focussed on the music, you got to hear what I consider one of those milestone albums.  Maybe not their best.  I think as he matured, Nikki's songwriting got better.  Also they got better as musicians in later albums, Dr. Feelgood being a good example.  But you will never find another album of their's that affected me as much.  I listened to it all the time, and from this album branched out to other metal bands.  In fact the whole genre was my focus from the age of 12 til I was about 15.  This album, along with a few from other bands, influenced everything.  We wore jean jackets with back patches cause we thought that was metal.  We proudly displayed our allegiances with band shirts and we all had the necessary posters on our walls.  We all thought we were 'metal'.  Maybe, maybe not, but at least the music was great.

I first had this album on cassette but recently picked it up on vinyl.  Let me tell you, it still sounds heavy.  I brought it into work the other day to play it for a buddy's birthday.  Real metalhead.  The following Monday, he commented how great it was to hear it again.  He was right, hearing it again really felt good.

Now as far as posting a song from it, there really is a lot to choose from.  You got the title track, Too Young To Fall In Love, Looks That Kill, the Beatles cover Helter Skelter.  So which one?  I'm gonna go rogue and pick Red Hot.  Enjoy!  Oh, and go out and get this album if you don't have it!

PS: On the cover that had their pictures on it, they were doing a tribute to the Beatles album 'Let It Be'

Just like the did with their debut album 'Too Fast For Love'

Is vinyl dying???

I've been going back and forth with this one for a while.  Reading various websites, blogs and articles, I get mixed messages.  Stats say that vinyl sales are increasing: according to Nielsen Soundscan, in 2010 vinyl sales increased 14% from the previous year while overall album sales dropped 13%.  But I've also read that a lot of record store owners are questioning how long they can stay in business.  Also at the last record fair I was at I overheard one of the vets saying he lost his store and might not keep coming to the fair because he isn't making the money he used to.  Then recently a local record store, Zulu Records, removed some of their CD racks and converted half their store to vinyl.  So it's mixed messages at best and utter confusion at worst.

What I do know is back when I was actively buying CD's I basically bought from two stores, AandB Sound and Sam The Record Man.  There was a couple of other places that I would go to occasionally but that's it. Two.  And in Vancouver they were side by side.  So I would make one trip and hit both.  Done.  No traipsing around the city, just hit Seymour Ave and start buying.  In Victoria I bought from AandB Sound and Lyle's Place. In Nanaimo it was AandB Sound.  Noticing a trend.  AandB was the go to place for music back then, and they were strategically placed everywhere I happened to need to buy music.  Convenient to say the least.

Well now AandB is gone, couldn't compete with iTunes and the box stores that sold things other than CD's like Future Shop and Best Buy.  Sam went extinct as well, same fate.  Lyle's Place is still around but they have an almost legendary following in Vic and they sold used CD's and vinyl so they weathered the storm.  So as album sales plummeted in the late 90's early 00's, the shops people used to go get CD's died.

So fast forward to how I purchase music now.  I pretty much exclusively buy vinyl and I don't go to just two shops like back in the day.  On the side of the blog is a partial list of record shops in Vancouver.  I haven't finished adding everyone to the list but as you can see we have a good selection.  I go to everyone on the list.  I've also bought from everyone.  So now that I'm buying only vinyl, I buy from more places.  Not because I have to but because I want to.  These shops each offer me a different buying and crate digging experience so I frequent them all.  I also go to used bookstores, thrift stores, garage sales, craigslist ads and flea markets to get my digging fix.  So when you add it all up, even though overall album sales are down, vinyl is rising and the amount of shopping around I do has also risen.

So is vinyl dying?

I guess I'll let you know when I've bought the last record from the last store left open.

Anyone remember 'The Beat'?

Back in the early 80's, on Saturday nights, instead of watching the Canadian video shows, I was watching 'The Beat'.  You see, for reasons I still don't fully understand, back in the day the local cable provider in Ucluelet got our US stations from Detroit.  Detroit?  Why not Seattle?  That would've made more sense, given the geography but nope we got Detroit.

Well lucky me, cuz on Detroit PBS (WTVS) on Saturday nights I got to watch 'The Beat'.  It was a video show hosted by Doug Podell, a local radio DJ, and for me it was the number one source for all the best videos of the time.  Also they weren't afraid to play the metal.  If I think back to all the great 80's metal videos, I saw them first on 'The Beat'.  Motley Crue, Ratt, Priest, W.A.S.P, Iron Maiden and Scorpions to name a few.  I've searched the web trying to find clips of the show but nothing has sprung up so instead I've got a picture of Doug from back in the day.

As far as a musical post I'm torn what to pick.  I watched so many videos on that show it's hard to really pick one, but if I have to choose this is one that to this day sticks out in my mind. It's Aerosmith's video for 'Let The Music Do The Talking'.  I first saw it on the show and it quickly became my favourite video for a long time.  I'm really not sure why.  Enjoy!

By the way, this video is the reason I love Dan Armstrong's clear acrylic guitars!

Make up your mind!!!

I can't seem to stop thinking about cover songs lately!!  First I hate Santana's version of 'Dance The Night Away':
http://thisvinyllife.blogspot.com/2011/01/dance-night-away.html

Then I talk about how I love Robert Palmers version of a couple of Lowell George tunes:
http://thisvinyllife.blogspot.com/2011/02/robert-palmer.html

Then what do I do?  Post King Curtis' cover of Led Zeppelin:
http://thisvinyllife.blogspot.com/2011/02/king-curtis.html

Is it just me or does that seem like a lot?  Well in order to really milk this whole cover thing for all its worth I now present to you a Paul Simon cover by 'The Persuasions'.



These Brooklyn boys started their careers in the early sixties singing a cappella interpretations of gospel and popular songs of the day.  It was actually Frank Zappa that first got them into a studio!  He heard them singing over the phone while they were in a record store in Jersey and flew them out to LA to record their first album 'Acappella' in 1970.

This cover of Paul Simon's song is from the album 'Comin' At Ya' released in 1979.  I picked up this album at Apollo Records and once again it was one of those 'take a chance' purchases.  Didn't know anything about them but it looked good so there you have it.  When it comes to music you really should push it a bit and try to listen to a bit of everything.

So I guess I don't really have a problem with covers.  I guess when I hear a bad one it just really jumps out at me.  And yes I'm talking to you Carlos.