Jam of the day, vinyl you just have to buy, music inspired by history and literature, and a silly quote: The Byrds / "I Come And Stand At Every Door"

Artist: The Byrds
Album: Fifth Dimension
Song: "I Come And Stand At Every Door"
Released: July 18, 1966
Label: Columbia



I was really happy to score a near mint copy of this album at Jerry's Records this morning. The Byrds are one of my all-time favorite bands—if not the favorite—and this is one of their albums that I've never spotted at a store on vinyl. Sure, I could find a reissue online or whatever, but there's a certain thrill in having a few albums in the back of your mind all the time and knowing that you will, with absolute certainty, buy one whenever you see a copy for sale. Check this one off my list. I have a few others on mind. What albums are on YOUR list?

I also stopped in to Galaxie Electronics, which on the same floor as Jerry's on the right when you walk in, to buy a new belt for my turntable. I've had it about four years now and this is the first time I've had to fix anything, so I'm grateful for that. I've been putting that off for a couple of weeks, out of laziness and business, and between random shopping and Record Store Day last weekend, I've built up quite the backlog of albums I've been meaning to listen to. But screw all that, I had to but Fifth Dimension on as soon as I got home. I was planning on writing something about "Eight Miles High" (one of the most famous Byrds tunes and their first exploration into jazzy psych rock) or maybe the title track or maybe the silly little ditty "Mr. Spaceman", but then … I heard "I Come And Stand At Every Door".

I almost forgot this song was on this album. I almost forgot it even existed. It's kind of a throwaway, not really standing out as a stellar single or anything and, with its somber guitar line and rhythm and the deliberate vocal cadence, it's very much the least poppy track on an otherwise very upbeat and exciting record. Its the lyrical content, though, that really delivers the message. The words are an English translation of a poem by Turkish poet Nâzim Haket about the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings of WWII. It's written from the perspective of a seven year-old child (the poem says "girl" but the song's lyrics are slightly different and don't mention gender) who died in the bombings, and describes the child's death and how his/her spirit remains in this world and asks for nothing but peace. It's rather touching when you listen carefully and/or read along. Apparently Pete Seeger recorded a version of the poem in song form originally, in 1962, and The Byrds 1966 version added some somber electric guitars to the tune and really did it justice.

"I come and stand at every door
But no one hears my silent prayer
I knock and yet remain unseen
For I am dead, for I am dead"



Anyway, this song also got me thinking about other songs and albums that have been inspired (or are direct references to/usages of) historical events and/or literary pieces. We all know that Jeff Mangum says a fair amount of the content of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea was inspired by his recent reading of The Diary of Anne Frank. The only other really interesting example I can think of off the top of my head is If… which was apparently inspired by the Italo Calvino novel If on a winter's night a traveler. I haven't listened to that album, but I remember loving that novel when I read it in college. I still have a copy laying around here; I should pick it up again… Can you think of any other examples like this? I'll keep racking my brain and scouring the web. I'm sure there are some interesting ones!

One last thing: the remastered CD reissue of this album that came out on the album's 30th anniversary had a few bonus tracks: an alternate version of "Eight Miles High", two version of that single's B-side called "Why", a great David Crosby-penned tune called "Psychodrama City", and some others. The second version of "Why" is 17 minutes long, though, because after the tune ends and a radio promo interview with Roger McGuinn and David Crosby starts playing. It's kinda funny because you can only hear what those guys say, not the radio interviewer and not the songs they apparently play during the interview. But they say some pretty funny stuff as they talk about the album and the songs. It's worth tracking down and listening to if you're a big fan like me. I remember laughing so hard when they got to talking about the album name and the title track. Roger McGuinn says something silly like, "Well, the fifth dimension is a very philosophical place." Well said, dude.

Jam of the day, psychedelia compilations, and vinyl conventions: D.R. Hooker / "Forge Your Own Chains"

Artist: D.R. Hooker
Album: The Truth
Song: "Forge Your Own Chains"
Released: 1972
Label: On Records [original] / Subliminal Sounds [reissue]


A friend of mine had a vinyl copy of Forge Your Own Chains: Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges 1968-1974 and played it on at least one occasion while we were hanging out at his place and in the right frame of mind for this album. Oh man, is it heavenly. A double LP compilation, with songs from Korean psychedelic guitarist Shin Joong Hyun, Nigerian rock band Ofege, a Temptations cover by a group of American soldiers who won a "Battle of the Bands" contest while stationed in Germany, and this here tune and namesake for the album by an underground Connecticut folk-rocker named D.R. Hooker. I've since gone on and bought a vinyl copy myself and highly recommend you do the same.

D.R. Hooker has a solid J.C. look about him, as you can see on the cover art for The Truth, his 1972 debut LP. He released another LP 7 years later, and another one in the late 1980s, but I've yet to track those down. I stumbled upon a reissue of this album on vinyl (via the Subliminal Sounds label) at the 7th (semi-)annual Pittsburgh Record Fest at Belvedere's a month ago. The event was pretty big, filling the huge back room of Belvedere's with tables and sellers and people milling about. I got there with some friends on the later end of the evening, and probably missed out on some great scores because of that, but it felt like I didn't see a whole lot of stuff that "grabbed" me. This record was the only one I picked up that made me say, "I have to have this." I made some other finds, but this was my favorite by far.

Here's the jam that got this whole story started. It's a catchy little ditty in the middle of the LP, piecing together a tambourine beat and stuttery drums with D.R. Hooker's smooth voice and a cool bass line, plus some awesome jazzy punches of brass. It's really, really … cool. Suave.

D.R. Hooker / "Forge Your Own Chains"



"One more cigarette to clear your head
Today you're living, tomorrow you're dead"

Some other links about D.R. Hooker I found: Buried Treasure / 99 Krap Rec / The Truth

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I'm always on the lookout for other sweet compilation albums, after experiencing the greatness of this one. This also led me to buy an album of Shin Joon Hyung tunes called Beautiful Rivers & Mountains and it is similarly outstanding and highly recommended. Do you know of any other compilations like this that you'd recommend? LET ME KNOW!

Shin Jung Hyun (ft. Jang Hyun) / "Twilight"

Cover jam of the day, local record stores, and vinyl to mp3: The Karl Hendricks Trio / "Out On The Weekend" [Neil Young]

Hey Pittsburghers, in case you were blissfully/woefully unaware: Paul's CDs in Bloomfield is closing its doors forever in a few weeks, and it will be replaced by Sound Cat Records, operated by current employee and living indie rock legend Karl Hendricks. Kinda sad, but kinda interesting and hopeful news, I must say. As Paul's clears out their inventory to make room for Karl and his wares, they are having ever-increasing sales. Last I heard, everything is 50% off! The vinyl is kinda picked over, but there's still plenty left, so go check it out!

I went there last week to see what I could find, and walked out with a big stack of LPs and 7"s. Oh yeah, don't forget to peruse the 7" singles at the front counter. Factor that into your shopping time, and don't just give a percursory looksee as you wait at the register. There are some good finds in there. Case in point: I snagged 3 original Karl Hendricks Trio singles for $10, and by that I mean $5! And yes, that is the very same KH whose name I mentioned above, and he was there at the register as I paid and he thanked me for buying them. I mean, I don't think any money of the purchase was going to directly to him (or indirectly, even) and yet he still looked grateful that I was buying his music. Cool dude, that Karl. I said, "No problem, I enjoy it", and gave him a smile. It's the best I could think of at the time.

One of those singles I bought was "The Worst Coffee I've Ever Had, Part Two". I was literally buying all of the vinyls of his there, so I didn't look too carefully past the awesomely cartoonish artwork. A few days later, when I got down to playing all of them, I noticed that the B-side to this is "Out On The Weekend", a Neil Young tune from Harvest! I quickly pulled out my vinyl copy of that album, played track one, then skipped over to this tune for comparison. In a way, it is a "faithful" cover—same lyrics and attitude, no big reinvention of the song's melody—but it's decidedly Karl's own—decidedly more uptempo, fuzzy guitars, sweet rock solo in place of the harmonica. It's a truly great indie rock cover of a truly great and historic folk rock tune.

Here's the Karl Hendricks Trio version, as recorded from that vinyl single I bought straight to mp3 on my laptop via some fancy-shmancy software that came with my turntable. It's not actually that fancy, but it's kinda handy. I'll try to take advantage of it more because I've basically never used it and this version turned out rather nicely. I'll try to share some vinyl singles I have that don't exist elsewhere on the web, so stay tuned for that! So yeah, here's that tune:



And now, here is Neil Young's original version:

Jam of the day, road trip radio, and the semantics of "classic rock": Bad Company / "Feel Like Makin' Love"

I made a six-hour drive from New Jersey to Pittsburgh last weekend with some college buddies who I hadn't seen in a while. In my friend's rental car, he had a couple of CDs that we played a few times through: Can's Delay 1968, which is great driving music; Devendra Banhart's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, only half of which we got through after playing the 8-minute, slow-burning jam "Seahorse" three times in a row; and the debut, Gros mammouth album, of Montreal's French-speaking indie pop-rock band Les Trois Accords (The Three Chords, which is an accurate description of their melodies). We chatted, we napped, we snacked, and we played a fizzling round of "more like a rock or a theory of justice", everyone's favorite, wacky binary search game.

Eventually, I suggested turning on the radio as we got closer to Pittsburgh, and we found a classic rock station. Within a few minutes, Bad Company's hit single "Feel Like Makin' Love" came on. We all groaned. We laughed. But I'll be god damned if the chorus didn't come around after a minute and find us all singing at the top of our lungs. Just try it:



This has to be the cheesiest fucking song known to man. (Watching it with the lyrics displayed makes it even more obvious. Who writes this stuff?!) After we caught ourselves singing along with gusto, we chuckled at the thought of some mustachioed dude in a leather jacket putting this song on the jukebox in some dive bar and strutting down the dance floor with his arm outstretched, pointing at some "hottie" at the other end of the room and singing along. What an image. Who else is this song for?

While we're on the topic of classic rock radio, I should mention an interesting debate I had on Twitter yesterday with some Pittsburgh folks. I tweeted a link to a Tumblr blog that compiles great 90s indie rock hits with the description "90s rule". The Post-Gazette's music critic Scott Mervis wrote back that the 90s were "Maybe the 4th best decade for rock". Yowza. I asked where the 50s were in his ranking? What followed was an interesting debate about what decades were best for "rock music", what "classic" actually means, and some good-natured ribbing. Here's my favorite exchange from the whole thing: Hugh says this, I say this. Check out the thread on Twitter and join the conversation, or leave your thoughts here. I'm listening.

Jam of the day, and an upcoming concert: "I Need More" of The Cynics at the 31st Street Pub

Artist: The Cynics
Album: Spinning Wheel Motel
Song: "I Need More"
Released: June 20, 2011
Label: Get Hip Recordings

I'll cut to the chase: The Cynics rock. They've been cranking out album after album chock full of garage rock/pop tunes for years and years, and they never disappoint. Lots of bands try to mimic that 60s psych pop sound, with jangly guitars and driving percussion and alternately sweet/punky vocals, but … man, The Cynics embody that sound. They're not mimics, they're the real fucking deal. They released Spinning Wheel Motel just this past summer, and it's a great record, swirling in some punk ("I See More") and blues ("Zombie Walk") and folk ("Bells and Trains") wherever they see fit. (The LP itself has great packaging, too, with an actual spinning wheel on the front cover to reveal the tracklist. Clever!) The first track, "I Need More" is an wild, energetic ride, and the video below is just a perfect match for this tune.

The Cynics / "I Need More" / Spinning Wheel Motel [Get Hip, 2011]



The Cynics are coming to the 31st Street Pub this Saturday, November 5, and you owe it to yourself to get out and see them, especially if you haven't before. They actually don't play shows in Pittsburgh all that frequently, unfortunately (despite being one of our city's best bands), so you gotta take advantage when you can. (Their last show there was incredible; check out my review and some live video footage.) They're on tour with a new Toronto band, Pow Wows, whose originally-self-produced debut LP, Nightmare Soda, is being reissued on vinyl via Get Hip, as well. This band should fit in perfectly at this show, churning out some heavy guitar jams and 60s pop grooves. (Check out a video for their track "Seeing Black" below.) Detroit's The Sights will join the party with some funky garage rock tunes. This will be a fun one, that's for sure. Doors @ 9 pm, only $10. Check out a tour promo video here, too, and here's a Facebook event. And hey, see yinz there.

Pow Wows / "Seeing Black" / Nightmare Soda [Get Hip, 2011]


The Cynics: Facebook / Twitter / Last.fm
Pow Wows: Facebook / Myspace
The Sights on the web: Website / Facebook / Twitter

Upcoming concerts: R Stevie Moore, Milk Music, and Mind Cure Records anniversary sale

There are some interesting shows going on tomorrow night, as well as a fantastic music appreciation event going on during the day. I'm still trying to decide where to go in the evening, but for sure during the day you'll find me scouring the racks at Mind Cure Records in Polish Hill. This little gem on the third floor of a building on Dobson Street has been around for just about one whole year, and they've decided to celebrate that occasion by putting out a ton of used vinyl that usually wouldn't be for sale AND knocking 15% off all prices. Hot dog!

Mind Cure has really been expanding their new releases section over the months, their used selection is far larger than Paul's CDs and way more eclectic than Jerry's, and I've made some great finds in their 7" section in the past. I've got a few new releases in mind I'm hoping to pick up (The Coathangers, The Rosebuds, Woods, etc.) and I'm sure I'll stumble on something else that I'll just have to buy. If you've never been there, this would be the day to do it (15% off!) and if you have been, well, just go again anyway. Stop by Lili Coffee shop on the first floor, too, for some delicious caffeinated beverages and homemade quiche. And follow Mind Cure's blog to keep up with special announcements like this one. This Facebook event has more info. They'll be open 12-8pm.

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I was woefully unaware of R. Stevie Moore until last week when I got a promo email about his show in Pittsburgh tomorrow night. He is "known in some circles as the Godfather of Home Recording" and is going on his first tour ever. He's 59 and looks like a crazy Santa, in a good way. His back story is nothing short of fascinating—grew up in Tennessee, moved to NJ, moved back to Tennessee, along the way recorded about 400 (!) full-length albums of songs all by himself—and the list of musicians he has apparently influenced and/or inspired—Robert Schneider of Apples In Stereo (that got me interested, they're one of my faves), Ariel Pink, MGMT, and more—is impressive and noteworthy. In addition to having such a prolific career in his bedroom (not a sex joke), the styles of songs he has written and recorded run the gamut from weirdo indie rock to pop/punk to folk to Beatles-esque pop and back again. It's fucking impressive. He also has a bunch of self-recorded music videos and they're all over YouTube (see one for "I Like To Stay Home" below). The tour he's embarked upon came about earlier this year via a Kickstarter project, a documentary film about him in the works, and a fortuitous introduction to the fellows in Tropical Ooze, his backing band for the tour (he usually plays all of the instruments on his recordings). The Pgh City Paper ran an excellent interview feature on him earlier this week, so definitely check that out here for more information. The show is at ModernFormations Gallery, starts at 8:00, $12 at the door (or $10 in advance if you can find tickets somewhere around town, maybe at Calibans Books?) Also playing are Pgh's own Weird Paul (who no doubt was inspired by R. Stevie Moore himself and embodies a similar tendency for a prolific output of weirdo catchy rock tunes) and Hot Dog Forest (silly name!). This will be an interesting show, for sure.



R. Stevie Moore on the web: Website / Tour Blog / Wikipedia
Weird Paul on the web: Website / Facebook / Bandcamp

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Gooski's in Polish Hill will be the perfect spot for four noisy fuzz-rock bands to play on a Saturday night. I'm interested in seeing Milk Music after reading a brief blurb in the City Paper yesterday. Andy writes, "Expect lots of screaming guitars and probably some screaming people tonight at Gooski's when Olympia's early-Dino Jr.-worshipping Milk Music plays." Sounds awesome to me. I had some serious trouble finding any information about the band online (no website, Facebook, not even Myspace; how punk!) and stumbled upon at least two other bands with very similar names that sounded nothing like fuzzy garage rock. But eventually I found this interview with singer/guitarist Alex Coxen, and this blog post about their only official release, a 6-song, 21-minute LP entitled Beyond Living (download link in the post, shhh!). Also playing are Ohioans Puffy Areolas (beloved by Reading Rainbow, apparently!) who rocked the fuck out at Hozac Records' Blackout Fest just a few weeks ago, Brain Killer from MA, and locals Slices. I don't know much about any of these bands except that it will be a raucous and noisy night. Better bring my earplugs. Show is at 10:00, only $5.

Local music notes, April 2011: The Slow Reel, MOIP, The Cynics, Brooke Annibale, Lohio, Nik & the Central Plains

It's impossible to stay in tune with all of the goings-on of the Pgh music scene, I gotta say, but when I find some good and/or interesting stuff, I like to share it with you. So here are some good and/or interesting songs, albums, events, etc. from the very recent past and the very near future.

• The Slow Reel / new single: "We Get Along" b/w "Ain't It Something"

  
  I've caught these guys (and gals) live a couple times around town and have always enjoyed their jams. A recent interview over on Pgh Music Report has singer/bassist Rob describing their sound as "original songs with a classic rock vibe" and that is pretty much perfect. I can definitely hear a carful of youngsters singin' along to "We Get Along" as it blasts from their car radio on a cross country road trip in 1973. Or something like that. Stream the songs below and head to their Bandcamp page to download 'em for FREE.
  
  The Slow Reel: Facebook, Bandcamp

• Meeting of Important People / vinyl release of debut album

  
  I like this band. A lot. I won't belabor that and will get to the point: their debut, self-titled album that came out on CD/digital in the Spring of 2009 is now available on vinyl! The fine folks at Pittsburgh's own Get Hip Recordings had the sharp eye to do this and MOIP's blend of garage rock/pop will fit perfectly in their catalog. I bet these tracks will sound super souped-up on wax, and they've even updated the cover art, opting for a b&w photo of the trio staring you down, with the band name in brightly-colored block lettering. Snazzy. You can find this LP at some record shops around town (I spotted copies at Desolation Row and Mind Cure last weekend, in fact) or you can order direct from the band via their website. They're having an "official" release show at the Thunderbird on May 7, too. Here's their "famous" video for Track 1 from that album, "Brittney Lane Don't Care":
  
  Meeting of Important People: Website, Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp, Last.fm

• The Cynics / new LP: Spinning Wheel Motel

  
  While we're on the Get Hip topic ... label founders Gregg Kostelich and Michael Kastelic are the guitarist and singer, respectively, of garage rock legends The Cynics. It's a cryin' shame how little recognition they seem to get here in the U.S., since word on the street is that they are huge in Europe and yet I saw them a couple weeks ago at a little old place like the 31st Street Pub here in Pittsburgh and it wasn't even full there. What gives?! Anyway, they seem to have an endless supply of deliciously-rockin' 60s psych rock freakouts up their sleeves, and here's another album full of 'em. It's officially out sometime in May (more info here) and in the meantime you can watch the trippy video for Track 1, "I Need More":
  
  The Cynics: Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm

• Brooke Annibale / new album: Silence Worth Breaking

  
  Thanks to a successful Kickstarter project last Fall, Brooke Annibale's third album is now out in the world, and if you hold your hand to your ear, you just may hear some strains of her lovely voice and the lush instrumentation with lots of strings just floating along the breeze ... or you could go buy the album and hear it in all of its full and beautiful detail! For all of the beauty of the songs, though, it's the lyrics that have really kept my attention, especially on "Yours and Mine". So touching. Stream the album below and check out some upcoming shows, too.
  Silence Worth Breaking - "First Listen" by brookeannibale
  Brooke Annibale: Website, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Last.fm

• Lohio / new single: "You've Got Your Fight"

  
  
  These guys have really grown on me, and their Family Tree EP was one of my faves last year. This single came out in March (and was picked up by Paste Magazine!) and shows an interesting, newish style, with some bouncy keys and shouted vocals and little glimmers of feedback on the guitars. It's hard to pinpoint individual influences on the sound, but suffice it to say I really like this new track. Stream it below and enjoy:
  
  Lohio: Website, Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp, Last.fm
  

• Nik & the Central Plains / new album: Walk on Beaches / CD release shows

  
  Their first, self-titled, album came out just about a year ago, but these guys are already back with more. An article published yesterday in the Tribune-Review has Nik calling that album just a "collection of songs", but they are great, catchy folk-rock songs, at that. I have yet to hear any of the new record, save for whatever they've played at their live shows over the last coupl of months, but I'm sure it will be awesome. They're hosting two CD release shows at the Thunderbird Cafe this weekend; check out my post over on Draw Us Lines for full details on those shows (and many others, in fact!). I'll be at the Saturday show. In the meantime, check out some video I took at their show at Howlers on January 14:
  
  Nik & the Central Plains: Website, Facebook, Last.fm
  (On a related note, I just found this cover version of their song "You're The Blues" by Pittsburghers Boca Chica. Cool!)

So that's what I've found lately. Have any other interesting local songs, albums, events, etc. to share? Let me know about 'em!

The best Pavement album ever?

That's a tough/easy question to answer depending on who you ask, it seems. Sadly, you might hear an answer of, "Who?", on occasion, but if you ask the right party, they'll either have an immediate answer, or they'll say that they can't really decide. At least, this is what I've noticed. The reason I'm bringing this up now is that the following exchange occurred at my place the other night during a weekly poker game. One guy was looking through my vinyl cabinet for something to play, found the Pavement section, and then this happened:


D: Without sounding too uncultured, what's the best Pavement album?

N: Slanted & Enchanted.

S: You said that rather matter-of-factly, N.

N: Well, that's because it's a matter of fact.


(Names abbreviated to unnecessarily protect the completely innocent.)

I chuckled out loud, as did some others around the table, but that was the extent of the discussion. I went back to focusing on losing at cards and forgot about the whole thing. But now that I think about it, I don't really have an immediate answer to that question, like N did. I can think of good sections of albums that I enjoy, a multitude of favorite songs and lyrics and guitar riffs and so on, but none of the albums particularly stand out as an overwhelming favorite to me. I'd like to investigate this further. I recently got the Watery, Domestic EP in the mail from an order I made with Matador Records (in addition to the Slow Century DVD) and that completely rounds out my collection of Pavement vinyl. I've acquired all of the LPs (Slanted & Enchanted; Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain; Wowee Zowee; Brighten The Corners; and Terror Twilight) at various record shops as I find them (all at pretty good prices for new vinyl, I might add). I know there are a bunch of other EPs and singles out there, but it seems like those 5 LPs and 1 EP are the "main discography", so to speak, or at least the easily acquirable ones. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, I hope to devote an entire afternoon (or more) to sitting down and playing them all in a row and settling on a favorite. Maybe one will jump out immediately. Maybe I'll be more confused than ever. Who knows, really? It will be fun, that's for sure.

In the meantime, what's your favorite and why? I'm really curious about the reasons for these types of decisions. Feel free to chime in with just an album name for the sake of a general poll, but I'm more interested in logical and/or metaphysical explanations, here. So have at it.

Vinyl find: Tommy James & The Shondells / "Crystal Blue Persuasion" b/w "I'm Alive"

(Check out the first post in this series for the back story.)

Artist: Tommy James & The Shondells
Album: "Crystal Blue Persuasion" b/w "I'm Alive" 45 RPM 7" single
Label: Roulette Records
Released: June 1969


I grew up on oldies radio. It's what I heard on the radio in the car and it's what I played at home, pretty much up to and through high school, even. My parents didn't have a turntable (but they did have a hidden record recollection, albeit a sparse one, that I only found out about and dug into in the last few years after buying a turntable myself) and the CD collection mostly consisted of greatest hits compilations of various Motown groups and oldies artists, which were actually pretty enjoyable (and soundtracks of films, musicals, etc. which were impressively unenjoyable). So between those compilations and the singles perenially chosen by oldies DJs, I essentially ingested nothing but regurgitated radio hits 30ish years after their release until I hit college. Considering my appetite for new and undiscovered music these days, I can't help but feel slightly bitter about the stunted growth of my musical appreciation that could have been flourishing for so many more years, but at the same time, I couldn't think of a better foundation (no matter how narrow it is) to build upon than oldies/classic rock hits.


Okay, enough personal-history rambling. The bottom line is this: I've heard songs by Tommy James & The Shondells more often than I could possibly count, and I'm a mathematician. Chances are you know "Crimson & Clover" (I remember my friend's P2P mp3 file labeled that one as a Simon & Garfunkel song haha) and "Mony Mony" (c'mon, you've been to a cheesy high school dance, haven't you?) and maybe even "Hanky Panky". But the reality is that TJ & The Ss had a bunch more hits (in the charts sense) and a handful of other great songs, too (in the sense of my opinion). I confess that I hadn't actively listened to them in a long time before stumbling across their Crimson & Clover LP at Jerry's for $3 a couple years ago, but the name caught my eye and brought back all those memories of hearing "Crimson & Clover" on the radio, and some other stuff. Buying that used record may be one of the best $3 purchases I've made, because I almost wore that record out in the first couple of months after buying it. It has so many fun (and funny, at that!) songs and builds beautifully on the psych-pop genre of that time. They aren't featured on the single I'm explicitly discussing here, but I have to point out the playful humor of "I Am A Tangerine" and the oh-so-sweet psychedelic love in "Kathleen McArthur" and the triumphant rock of "Breakway". All of them are on that LP. And then there are the popular hits!

The A-side on this one is "Crystal Blue Persuasion", one of the softer and slower songs that the group played, with carefully-picked guitar, bongos leading into the verses, and some overdubbed horn parts on the single version (absent on the LP version, for some reason, hmmm). It's one of the better uses of Tommy's surprisingly sweet vocals and, hell, it was featured in the pilot episode of The Wonder Years. What's not to love?



The B-side here is the deliciously upbeat and exultant rock 'n roll cut "I'm Alive". It builds and it retreats and builds again, playing off high-pitched organ chords, rollicking bass, and Tommy's shouting. It's mighty fun, with a guitar lick that makes you (or me, at least) wanna play air guitar along while shouting "I'm alive!"



Side note: one of the books I've been meaning to read since hearing about its existence is Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells, a biography of sorts by TJ about his time in the music industry and dealing with the shady behind-the-scense business work. Sounds interesting to me.

Vinyl find: The Rolling Stones / "Get Off of My Cloud" b/w "I'm Free"

(Check out the first post in this series for the back story.)


Artist: The Rolling Stones
Album: "Get Off of My Cloud" b/w "I'm Free" 45 RPM 7" single
Label: London Records
Released: September 25, 1965 (US) / October 22, 1965 (UK)

I've decided to go a bit more mainstream with this vinyl find series. You must know The Rolling Stones. If not, how have you ever settled a "Beatles or Stones" debate? Do you just choose the Fab Four by default? What if you don't know either of them? How are you human?

Anyway, you've likely even heard both of these songs before, or at least the A-side: it's a staple of classic rock stations and one of the band's more recognizable singles (of which there are many, of course). "Get Off Of My Cloud" has all of the deliciously rockadelic paranoia of "Sunday Morning" but with the added upbeat catchiness and rhythm of a radio single. I don't have much commentary to include about this song because you've probably formed your opinion of it already, but I will say that, no matter what your opinion is, discovering this 7" record amongst a shitbox of 45s is truly finding a diamond in the rough. You know it's a good song and you know it's great to have it on a vinyl copy, even if it's a little static-heavy on the A-side (likely due to overplay). "Hi! Hello! How are ya? Well, I guess I'm doing fine".



The B-side here is "I'm Free", a lyrically-simple declaration of desire for independence and artistic integrity and ... Well, maybe it's even simpler than that: it's a silly little pop-guitar song, and it's unfair to think of it as anything more grandiose than that. As the flip-song to a popular radio hit in its heydey, this is perfect. Is it a standalone work of art? Fuck, no, but that's not the point. Enjoy it for what it is. (I wish I could explain the bizarre Star Wars-style scrolling German text in the video below. Someone help, please? It was the only non-live version I could find on YouTube...)

Vinyl find: 1910 Fruitgum Company / "Indian Giver" b/w "Pow Wow"

(Check out the first post in this series for the back story.)

Artist: 1910 Fruitgum Company
Album: "Indian Giver" b/w "Pow Wow" 45 RPM 7" single
Label: Buddah Records
Released: January 1969


I'm still slowly combing through this massive box of 45s I got from Jerry's, trying to pick out the good stuff. It's tough to do, because I haven't heard of many of these bands and I'm somewhat afraid of passing on a hidden gem, like this one. I'd never heard the name 1910 Fruitgum Company before, but this bubblegum psych-pop band (how apt) was active and popular in the late 1960s, released three separate Top 5 Billboard singles that achieved gold status, and opened for the Beach Boys on a 10-day tour. Crazy. Not only that, the A-side of this single (one of those gold records), "Indian Giver", was covered by The Ramones and included on the compilation Ramones Mania. Finally, and strangely, two of the band's original members have reunited (along with ex-members of bands like The Lovin' Spoonful and The Buckinghams) and have been touring the US for the last four years or so, as well as selling rerecorded versions of past 1960s hits, such as their own originals. Still crazy.



Anyhow, let's examine the music here. I can completely see how "Indian Giver" was a successful single when it was put out in January of 1969. It's upbeat and poppy, channeling the deservedly-popular and enjoyable melodic guitar, keyboard and vocal elements of standard pop songs of the era and sprinkling a touch of psychedelia on top. Never mind the vaguely racist title and lyrics (see bottom of the page here) about a once smitten but now jilted lover, this is an immensely catchy pop song and clocking in at a mere 2:30 with a repeated-chorus fadeout, it was perfect for radio play.



What's crazy is that this record sold over 1 million copies, even with this wacky-as-fuck B-side. It's an "ode to Howdy Doody" recorded backwards!? The 45 itself doesn't even indicate which side is A/B so I actually put this side on first since "Pow Wow" sounds more like the title of a lead single and I was shocked to hear these alienating vocal sounds emanating from my headphones. Embedded above is the original recording and embedded below is the reversed, intelligible version. I don't know anything about Howdy Doody, nor can I vouch for the record-it-backwards technique, so I'll leave you with those and let you draw your own conclusions/confusions. Please comment with any insight you might have; I'm clueless here. (Although I did take the time to transcribe the reversed lyrics below. Maybe that will help.)




"Indian Giver" lyrics:

I can still remember, it wasn't long ago
Things you used to tell me, you said I had to know
You told me that you loved me and that you always would
Then I said "I love you", you said that that was good
Girl you made a promise, said you'd never want me to go
Ohhh no

Indian giver, Indian giver, you took your love away from me
Indian giver, Indian giver, took back the love you gave to me

Baby I was feeling the way I wanna feel
You had me believing the love we had was real
Things we did together, you said they'd never end
Now until forever, oh yeah, that's what you said
Girl when I was down, I knew that you would always be there
Ohhh yeah

Indian giver, Indian giver, you took your love away from me
Indian giver, Indian giver, took back the love you gave to me

*fadeout*


"Pow Wow" lyrics: (*** = I can't tell what the fuck they're saying)

There was a TV show, was on a while ago
I really loved it so, it was my favorite show
Each night at 5 o'clock, the TV set I'd watch
Then I would see the sign, it's Howdy Doody time

Bring back Howdy Doody, oh I would give my very last dime
Bring back Howdy Doody, I got to see it one more time

*** Flub-a-dub and Big Chief Thunderthud
And the Princess King, Summerfall Winterspring
Can't forget Dilly Dally or Mr. Bluster, too
The *** was swell and so was Carabell

Bring back Howdy Doody, oh I would give my very last dime
Bring back Howdy Doody, I got to see it one more time

The on one gloomy day, happiness went away
To everyone's despair, the show went off the air
The world is not the same and it will never be
Until someone will bring back Howdy Doody

Bring back Howdy Doody, oh I would give my very last dime
Yeah, bring back Howdy Doody, I got to see it one more time
Bring it back now
Bring back Howdy Doody, I would give my very last dime (I miss you Flubadub)
Bring back Howdy Doody, I got to see it one more time

Cover jam of the day: "Tugboat"

Artist: Citay (covering Galaxie 500)
Song: "Tugboat"
Album: Dream Get Together (Today)
Label: Dead Oceans (Aurora Records)
Released: January 26, 2010 (1988)

I was reminded of this song just last night. I had some friends over to play poker and I was scanning the record collection trying to pick something to put on and I thought, "Hey, I haven't listened to this Citay album in a while", so I put it on. The end of side two came around and "Tugboat" started playing and I couldn't help but sing along. It's a classic Galaxie 500 tune and a good choice for a cover song, I say. I can't recall whether they played it live when I saw them, but seeing those seven band members squished onto the "stage" in the corner of a room reminds me how much their lush, fully-instrumented sound adds to the song, which was originally played by a spare guitar-bass-drums trio. It's a good cover in the sense that it's faithful to the original but it adds a certain je ne sais quoi; that is, it doesn't sound like Citay trying to BE Galaxie 500, it sounds like Citay playing a Galaxie 500 song in the way that Citay plays any song. Hopefully that makes sense. Anyway, I also have Today on vinyl and just played the original version. Man, they were so good. I can't find a video of the original album version, so the live video below will have to suffice, but hey, it's pretty cool that there's YouTube footage of them playing live in 1989, you know? (It's taken from the awesome DVD Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste, a collection of early video footage of the band. The DVD is out of print, but the Carnegie Library has a copy.)



"I don't want to go to your party, I don't want to talk to your friends, I don't want to vote for your president, I just want to be your tugboat captain. . ."



Bonus: British Sea Power covering this song live!

Some old, some new: Belle & Sebastian, Beach Fossils, Sufjan Stevens, Syd Barrett

There are a bunch of new releases coming out tomorrow (Tuesday October 12, 2010) and a lot of them I know nothing about. There, I said it. Here's what I can confidently recommend:

Belle and Sebastian are quite good, but you probably knew that already. I think The Life Pursuit and If You're Feeling Sinister are classics and Push Barman To Open Old Wounds is a rambling collection of great tunes, and even their "lackluster" albums have some hidden gems. Their newest, Write About Love seems to be a return to form, of sorts, a good and consistent hybrid of the more hooky pop songs you might find on The Life Pursuit, like "Funny Little Frog" or "Another Sunny Day", with the more directly emotive songs you find scattered across their catalog, like "I Don't Love Anyone" or "Is It Wicked Not To Care?". I plan on downloading it tomorrow on eMusic, but if you order the vinyl version you can enter a contest that may get Stuart Murdoch to spend a day with you and then write a song about you. Seriously! Also check them out here and below playing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with ?uestlove on drums. Pretty cool.

[Update: Stream Write About Love here all week on Spinner's New Releases page!]



Beach Fossils are one of those bands that got some considerable indie blogosphere buzz or whatever way back at the beginning of this year, and I kinda ignored the whole thing, thinking it was just another one of those bands that everyone would like because others liked 'em and ... you know the deal. And in a way, they are that band. But later on I heard some of their songs in full and saw a video or two and ... just really liked it. The angular guitar melodies are so catchy and mathematically engaging, in a way. I ended up buying their record and have played it many times since. Tomorrow, they have a new 7" (or mp3, of course) single, "Face It" b/w "Distance". I've heard "Face It" (download it here) and it does seem like it wouldn't necessarily fit on their album, but it's not a big departure from their sound. You'll probably either love this or be wholly content to hear it once and then never again. Either way is fine with me.



Sufjan Stevens has a new album out, too, called The Age of Adz, but now that I think about it, I'm actually pretty unqualified to pass judgment on it. I liked Illinois and Michigan when I first heard them a few years ago, and Seven Swans was solid, too, but I haven't really gone back to them since, and I haven't even heard BQE or All Delighted People, and I haven't heard anything from Adz. So, there ya go. If you like him, you'll like this one, I presume ... ?

Syd Barrett's solo album The Madcap Laughs. Okay, this one I can comment on. I recently read the 33 1/3 Series book on Piper At The Gates of Dawn, that classic debut album from The Pink Floyd (that's right, they had a leading The back then) and I also saw a DVD recording of The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story. Both were really enlightening about the role that Syd played in Pink Floyd's style and sound, at least in the early days, and I'm sure they barely crack the surface of the true story behind one of rock's most interesting and enigmatic characters. Tomorrow, you can get a newly remastered, reissued CD version of the first solo album he released after parting ways with the boys in Floyd. It goes a long way in showing how important he was to their first couple of albums, in case you were blissfully ignorant of that influence, like I pretty much was until recently. I haven't actually heard any of the bonus tracks, so I can't make any claim as to whether it's worth your while to plunk down some extra dough for the "remastered" and "extra" tracks, so ... I guess this is really just an excuse to talk about Syd Barrett. So what?

Jam of the day: "Marquee Moon"

Artist: Television
Song: "Marquee Moon"
Album: Marquee Moon
Released: February 8, 1977 (reissued 2003)
Label: Elektra (reissued on 4 Men With Beards)

Alright, this is an old song, but I've played it so many times in my life after first hearing it because it's so fucking good. I heard again it this past weekend while hanging out at a friend's place and listening to records, and I essentially got to reremember why it's so great. The whole album is awesome, really, but this has always been the standout track to me. Go ahead, play it while you read along below.



[You gotta know it's special because it bypasses YouTube's standard 9:59 length restriction :-D ]

This is by far the longest song on the album (it developed as an extended jam during their early live shows) but it also has the shortest lyrics, built around a strange night spent wandering around (presumably) NYC and encountering an after-dark thunderstorm, an ostensibly sane man hanging out by the subway/railroad tracks, and a Cadillac at the cemetery. The rest of its length is filled with punchy drum beats and waves of undulating bass lines, all forming a background on which Tom Verlaine paints the most wondrously uplifting, magically never-ending but finite, oh-so-close-to-punk-but-that's-debatable-and-has-been-for-years-and-who-really-cares-because-it's-so-fucking-beautiful guitar solo the world has ever seen. It starts out fairly simple, a playful up-and-down melody that meshes with the rest of the instrumentation so perfectly that you think that's just how it will go, but then it edges ever so slightly upward, pulling you with it. And then it goes a little higher, and a little higher, and .... Whenever I listen to it, I can feel my posture straighten and my neck stretch out and my head rise a little and I'll be darned if I don't think that I'm just about standing up straight and levitating a few inches off the ground but, no, I'm still here in my chair by the time the solo ends and the first verse rolls back around for a reprise.

The best music isn't just music, it's sound and an effect, and this is one of the more compelling instances of that I've ever experienced. When a friend of mine first shared this glorious album with me in college I listened to it on repeat for a few weeks. It was eye-opening. I'd played it fairly often over the years, too, and was delighted to stumble on a sweet used vinyl copy at Wicked Discs earlier this year. It's made a great addition to the record collection, although there's a minor skip in the first few minutes of this song after the first verse, and another one in the middle of the lengthy guitar solo I described. Boo. But I don't really care, it's just part of the experience now. (Also, apparently the original vinyl faded the song out at 9:58 due to length restrictions, but reissues, like mine, keep the full 10:40 length.) If you're ever at the Brillobox on a Wednesday night before Pub Quiz and hear this one on the jukebox downstairs, it was probably me. It's a hell of a bar tune, and it's just about the best bang for your buck you could find :-)

I'll leave you with this quote from Wikipedia that is simply stunning to me:

"The song "Marquee Moon" was done in one take; drummer Billy Ficca thought that they were rehearsing."

Vinyl find: Boston Pops Orchestra, conducted by Arthur Fiedler, "Saturday Night Fiedler"

(Check out the first post in this series for the back story.)



Let me summarize my thoughts about this album at the outset: in a way, I am really glad that this album exists, but in no way does that make me want to listen to it more. Between the photos on the album covers and the blurb on the back and the music itself, I can't help but laugh when trying to imagine all of the effort and time devoted to this project. Try it with me. Imagine you're Arthur Fiedler, renowned long-time conductor of The Boston Pops, one of America's most famed orchestras, and it's 1978. John Travolta had recently swept the nation with his sextastic moves and all the hip youngsters were donning their dancin' shoes and bell bottoms instead of going out to the latest performance of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. What do you do? You arrange and score an orchestral performance of two songs by the Bee Gees and one song by The Trammps and one song by a-ha (three of which appear in the film Saturday Night Fever), as well as some old classical standards ("Night On Bald Mountain" and the aforementioned Toccata and Fugue) that have been run through a disco-ifying filter, then force the members of the Boston Pops to learn these songs, then record one such performance live at Boston's Symphony Hall and release it as an album. Of course! That's what you would do, isn't it?




Admittedly, this album is hilarious, but I really don't know how much of that was intentional, if any. Certainly, Fiedler's poses in the cover photos suggest that he's got a flamboyant sense of humor, even with his stereotypically stuffy position and age, so I'll give him credit for that. The description on the back cover, though, leads me to believe that either he or people around him or both somehow thought this would be successful. He writes:

"One thing I have always believed in is music as a universal language, and my years with the Boston Pops reflect the range and scope of this interest as we work through a vast repertoire from Country to Classics. Young people are always a key to the success of the Pops season, and keeping up with the forward motion of their tastes and preferences is both a challenge and a great privilege for me to pursue. From the moment I conducted the "Saturday Night Fiedler" suite on Television this May, I knew that youngsters had done it again: disco - a marvelous, insistently rhythmic dance form to which all manner of music can be adapted from Bach to the Bee-Gees. And this span of musical poles truly accents the universality of music."

Okay, Arty, you've got a way with words, sure, but riddle me this: did you really write the closing sentence, "I wish you the joy of listening and dancing to the first disco record with the Boston Pops", and truly MEAN IT? Did you imagine people were at home spinning this on their turntables and dancing around the living room. pausing only to comb their Afros and flip the record to hear that sweet Johann Sebastian Bach cover song they'd heard all about down at the discotheque?! Did you really mean that this was the Pops' "first disco record", implying that somehow there might be MORE of these?! If so, you are truly a manlier man than me, because only a veritable lunatic or someone with great big, ballsy, embarrassment-be-damned testicles could truly put forth such a crazy statement. Also, you played this on television? And who capitalizes Television, even in 1979?

I listened to this album once through in the name of science (well, this blog, really) and judging by the absolutely mint condition of the disc, I can't imagine that the previous owner played it any more than once, either. This one will forever live in my collection, if only to be brought out just to prove to a visitor that it really does exist and maybe to subject them to the groan-inducing strains of Mussgorsky à la disco and the Bee Gees à la symphonia. In that way, Monsieur Fiedler, you have succeeded. Regrettably, you passed away a mere month after this album's release and yet, I'm sure this helps you to believe that you were truly a trendsetter with a finger on the pulse of the American youth musical culture. May you forever continue to believe that you nailed it, that disco was the next big thing, and that today we are still pointing one finger heavenward, tilting one bell-bottom-clad knee towards the other as our gold chains and chest hair fall outwards from our wide-open leisure suit shirts, that we're all dancing along to "Night on Disco Mountain", and that all is right with the world.


In case you're curious, you can find here an mp3 of the first 6 minutes of the "Saturday Night Mever Medley" and you can find here an mp3 of the subsection thereof entitled "Night on Disco Mountain". Enjoy, I guess?

Some old, some new: Deerhunter

Like me, you might know Deerhunter already as a band that's evolved from playing noisy guitar rock to psychedelic/electronic shoegaze to dreamy pop songs, and not as an Academy Award-winning film (that's spelled with a "The" and a space, anyway). Or maybe you don't know anything about them and love the movie. Or maybe it's something in between. In any event, you should hear their new album, Halcyon Digest, officially released tomorrow (Tuesday, September 28, 2010). If you get to it today, you can still hear it on NPR's First Listen series, otherwise you'll have to find it somewhere else. I got my vinyl copy in the mail last week and have played it a couple times (would have been more but I was away all weekend). It's really . . . I don't know, almost surprising to hear, coming from them, but then again it's a somewhat natural extension of the sound they were cultivating on the Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP that came out last year: quirky pop-sounding songs with shimmering loops of sound that induce a kind of childlike dream state, but then again not really since they're so upbeat. It's a far cry from the waves of crashing guitars on Crypotgrams and Microcastle/Weird Era, but it's hinted at by the creations on Rainwater.... I rather like it. Check out videos for the two lead singles below and consider buying the album. It's worth it.





If you really like it, check out their previous albums, too. I particularly enjoyed Microcastle, and solo albums from lead man Bradford Cox and guitarist Lockett Pundt are pretty solid, as well.

Deerhunter
MySpace
Blog
Facebook
Wikipedia
Halcyon Digest official website

The New Classics: Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

There's a new post of mine over at Draw Us Lines on of Montreal's outstanding album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? It's one of those albums I wholly enjoyed on first listen and have played periodically since then with monotonically increasing enjoyment. I had a lot of fun writing the piece; I listened to the album a few dozen times over the course of the week, dissecting little snippets of music and lyrics, trying to figure out exactly what it was that appeals to me so much. I ended up with a lot of ideas and actually had a tough time trying to mold them into a cohesive essay that wasn't 5 pages long. Here are a few stray observations and thoughts that I could have easily expanded on ad nauseum:

• Wow are these lyrics great. Every time I thought about a song, I would hear the melody and rhythm in my head, but my main thoughts jumped right to, "What is he saying here? What does it mean?" Kudos to Kevin Barnes for accomplishing that.
  
• The major theme I touched on in the article was the concept of change and transition, most notably the transformation into Georgie Fruit in "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" and the exploration of that persona in the latter half of the album. But part of the idea of morphing into another person is the concept of plurality; there's a multitude of personalities underneath everything, and that part of the existential quandary is referenced nearly as often as is the change vs. stasis dilemma. For instance, in "Cato as a Pun":
  "I can't even pretend that you are my friend / What has happened to you and I? / And don't say that I have changed / 'Cause, man, of course I have"
  This is only track 3 on the album, so it's ostensibly about Kevin's relationship with his wife, but that little "man" throws me off, and it makes me think that it's also about him talking to another part of his personality, the slowly-emerging Georgie Fruit, struggling to decide whether he's willing to let it bubble to the surface. Or maybe at this point he's only just realizing he has internal problems (since this song immediately follows the "chemica-a-a-a-a-als" of "Heimdalsgate...") and is battling to suppress a faceless, nameless alter ego-to-be.
  Other references to this might be the multi-multi-multi-layered vocals in "Faberge Falls for Shuggie", like when he says "I don't know" over and over, each one offset by a split second. And later, in "Labyrinthian Pomp", he does the same thing a few times with "I can't" and since they're so quick and layered I sometimes think he alternates between saying "I" and "you", like he's talking to two parts of himself.
  Okay, last example of this. Track 5, "Gronlandic Edit", just two songs before the transformation, we sense some anxiety about it: "So, am I erasing myself? / Hope I'm not erasing myself..."
  
• I was totally surprised when I paid super close attention to the end of "Faberge Falls for Shuggie" and heard Kevin declaring the names of the follow-up albums to this one! He says coolly: "Skeletal Lamping, The Controller Sphere, False Priest..." a couple times and, in case you didn't know, Skeletal Lamping and False Priest were the immediate successors to this album, save for a small EP of tracks from this session. It makes me wonder when we should expect The Controller Sphere.....
  
• Small lyrical quibble: in "Labyrinthian Pomp" he apparently says "She's so meta, references Stendahl", which sounds neat and all, and makes reference to a 19th century French writer (Kevin's favorite time and place for literature, it seems) and, implicitly, his corresponding syndrome. However, what I've always heard and what makes a bit more sense to me, even if it's less literary or whatever, is: "She's so meta, referenced and all", like she (whoever it is) is meta and multi-layered and referenced. Makes more sense, you know?
  
• What in the world is going on with the cover art? It's amazing and full of detail, like all of David Barnes' stuff, but . . . they always leave me baffled and looking for little significances in the fine print, so to speak. Maybe that's the point. I dunno.
  
• Polyvinyl released a special 12" vinyl version of "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" earlier this year (on super cool-looking marbly sky blue vinyl, no less!). The A side is the original track, and the B side is an alternate version, as performed by the nonexistent band of robots named The Lost Trees (not to be confused with the extant band of humans named Lost in the Trees). You can still buy the digital version, if you'd like, but the limited pressing of 500 is now out of print (really glad I got one!). The "robot version" was recorded to be used in a short film by Spike Jonze, "I'm Here". It's about a robot, naturally.
  

Anyway, like I said, with an album like this there are always so many angles to take on it and so many ideas to process. Enjoy the article, and share your own thoughts, please!

Vinyl find: The Knickerbockers, "Lies" b/w "The Coming Generation" 45 rpm

A few weeks ago I stopped by Jerry's Records in Squirrel Hill, as I like to do once or twice a month just to see what's new and peruse the endless racks of vinyl albums to see if anything catches my eyes or ears. On this particular Saturday, though, there were some younger folks on the sidewalk outside the entrance selling old DVDs, VHS, cassettes, video games, etc. I learned later that these were Jerry's kids/grandkids helping him to sell off some of the surplus stuff he's got laying around that massive attic-cum-warehouse of his. I also spotted a sign saying that they are giving away boxes of LPs and 45s for no charge, as long as you take the whole box sight unseen (maximum of 3 per person, per visit). That seemed pretty good to me! Granted, I had no idea if I would end up with a box of junk and nowhere to put it, but I had also somewhat recently purchased a standalone sliding-door shelving unit at the Used Furniture Warehouse that is perfect as both a record player table and record shelf, and I was itching to fill it with more vinyl goodies. My friend and I loaded up my girlfriend's trunk with a box of 45s and 2 boxes of LPs and went on our merry way.

When I opened my two boxes later, I found the 45 box to be stacked to the brim with 7" singles, no organization or protection whatsoever. It was just a pile of about 1000 records. Yikes! Over the last couple of weeks I have been sorting through them, cherry-picking the good stuff and sampling the sounds of some of the unknowns to see if it's keepable. I also bought a few cardboard boxes and a lot of record sleeves to keep these in decent condition. I ended up finding plenty of good stuff in the 45 box. The LP box . . . let's say it was hit/miss but mostly miss. For instance, it somehow contained a lot of Christmas albums, including 6 (!) separate copies of this one. It did have a mint condition copy of Bill Cosby's second comedy album, though, which was pretty sweet.



Anyway, over the next . . . indeterminate number of units of time, I'd like to mention a few of the hidden gems I found in this heaping pile of records. I'll probably go back there again and grab more boxes, too, so stay tuned for a bunch more in the future. And check it out yourself, too, if you find yourself in the area.

I'll start with The Knickerbockers, a pop/rock band from New Jersey in the mid-1960s. Their song "Lies" was their only truly popular hit, reaching the Billboard Top 20 in 1966. Like the rest of their songs, it sounds exactly like other popular musical trends at the time, namely the jangly surf rock of the Beach Boys and the young boy/girl-in-love drama of really early Beatles. It was featured in the retrospective psychedelic compilation Nuggets, which first came out in 1972. I happened to have found this compilation at the Carnegie library a while back and remember hearing this song and finding it super catchy, listening to it a few times in a row. Check out the video below to hear for yourself.



The B-side on this 45 is the slower and sweeter "The Coming Generation". Enjoy the songs!