Vinyl Me, Please

Mike asked for the list of "52 must have" albums on vinyl as compiled from Vinyl Me, Please.

A grouping compiled from a lot of different sources that aggregated to the list below. So here they in alphabetic order, RED AND BOLD = NEED  while BLACK AND STRUCKTHROUGH = HAVE. So that is 15 of the 52 possessed, and for those of you not math inclined that leaves 37 left to procure. and that is part of the fun, trying to find some as you can't just get them all on Amazon.com.  And I will say it again, if anyone sees Beck's - Sea Change on vinyl and it isn't crazy expensive, pick it up and I will pay you back for it :)

52 - Must Haves (not my list, just taken and used from vinyl me, please) 

1  Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion  

2  Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique

3  The Beatles – Revolver

4  Beck – Sea Change

5  Beirut – The Flying Club Cup

6  The Black Keys – Thickfreakness

7  Blur-Think Tank

8  Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to the Children

9  Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde

10 Bon Iver – Bon Iver

11 Daft Punk – Random Access Memories

12 Darkside – Psychic

13 David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust

14 Dire Straits – Love Over Gold

15 DJ Shadow – …Entroducing

16 The Felice Brothers – The Felice Brothers

17 The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin

18 Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

19 Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

20 Funkadelic – Maggot Brain

21 Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me

22 John Coltrane – A Love Supreme

23 Joni Mitchell – Blue

24 Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures

25 Kid Koala – 12 bit Blues

26 Led Zeppelin – II

27 Madvillain – Madvillainy

28 Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On

29 Michael Jackson – Thriller

30 Miles Davis – Kind of Blue

31 My Bloody Valentine – Loveless

32 Neil Young – Harvest

33 Neutral Milk Hotel – In an Aeroplane Over the Sea

34 Panda Bear – Tomboy

35 Paul Simon – Graceland

36 Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted

37 Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of the Moon

38 Portishead – Third

39 R.L. Burnside – Too Bad Jim

40 Radiohead-KidA

41 Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come

42 The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street

43 Sigur Rós – Agaetis Byrjun

44 Slint – Spiderland

45 Steely Dan – Aja

46 The Strokes – Is This It?

47 Sufjan Stevens – Illinois

48 Van Morrison – Moondance

49 The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream

50 The White Stripes – Elephant

51 Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

52 Wu-Tang Clan – Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Hipster, Total Hipster pt. 4

The vinyl me, please web site has a listing of their 52 "must haves" and as I read through the list is it a pretty great one.  So I am on a quest to track them down.  New or original doesn't matter to me so much, but what I am finding is some aren't so easy (or cheap) to actually procure. but this is what I do, check amazon, eBay, the interwebs... I need to find a couple of good vinyl spots down here in Dallas, that is next on my list to do.  I do know the next time I am in Minneapolis my buddy Justin has offered to take me to the best record haunts up there, so that is exciting!  On a side note, if anyone happens to run into a copy of Beck's – Sea Change and it isn't hundreds of dollars and is in good shape, pick it up and I will buy it from you!

My latest purchase is Beirut - The Flying Club Cup It was not available on Amazon Prime, sold out, temporarily unavailable), there are a couple other options listed at $300.00 + shipping.  So I found this one on eBay from the pacific northwest.  I haven't opened it yet.  But I do love love love the sound, and I am a pretty disagreeable guy, but this makes me happy, oh so happy.

 The words, as taken from the album back:

Cliquot! Your name still haunts our conversations, we haven’t forgotten you our friend and constant companion, hunter of the elusive Spanish fox (his tail curls counter clockwise), holy fool, pickpocket, born in the blue shade of a Lebanese cedar, his mother wrapped his moist head in Turkish silks like a whirling dervish and christened him Cliquot, bastard son of Jean Luc, a retired legionnaire with black teeth. Cliquot! I have seen you beat a man in the dark alleys of Pigalle and then come weeping into my room to sink your soft blonde head into the depths of my lap, moaning “I have no home, no country, no mother”, and so I held your bruised fist in my palm and counted every crooked line and wrinkle and told you the story of Napoleon and how he fell to sleep every night by intoning (in his hoarse battle-weary voice) the name of every country he had yet to conquer.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

On cold nights Cliquot would wanter the Marais in a purple bishop’s robe and mandarin slippers with tiny bells ringing around both ankles. Little Napoleon, in Pere Lachaise, you told me how they once buried men with bells they might ring in case they woke because death is never real it is
The balloon is ready, I’ve tethered it to the balcony with a knot no sailor could invent. Ignore the gathering crowds below. Plebeians! Maybe if we look closely we will find our mothers waving handkerchiefs, and our fathers scowling. If we see any children we’ll throw them candy but don’t tell them why we are up here, floating above Belleville in a hot air balloon. If they knew, they’d never want to sleep in their own beds ever again.

Remember how we met? Barefoot on the beach (the hem of your dress starched white with salt). I was flying a beautiful kite. Yours was ragged and obviously self made. After a few failed attempts at flight you threw your kite on the sand and stomped on it. I wondered if it was your first kite. Kite making, you assured me, was not your specialty. But we are too old for kites. Let us toast the Flying Club Cup, our health, a quick painless death and helium.

I’m going to sleep so well tonight.

Breathe in, deeply now, okay do you feel it?

Don’t worry, we’re finally here.

Congratulations to Mike, Cathy and Dani for entering to win!, I will be contacting you in the not too distant future with details.

There is still time to ask questions in the post below as well!
Song of the day? enjoy the full album:

Question Time #2

Question time!

I'm going to try this week's Q and A a little different.  So my unqualified answers will still come on Friday, but I thought I would ask for questions today.  That gives people 2 full days to ask a question that is very important to them.  And seeing that I am unqualified to answer any question that is asked you can rest assured that the answer you get will be the one that you need.  Remember there is a difference between want and need.... So feel free to fire away with question on love, medicine, science, nature (human and animal), the world, the universe, space, the ocean, literature,religion,  music, computers, programming, manufacturing, job performance, resume writing, character development, child raising, education, politics, crafting....These are just a small portion of the topics that I am unqualified to give answers on.  So please feel free to ask away in the comment section below.

Song of the day 

"My Hometown" - Neil Young..this comes from the Album A letter Home, recorded at Third Man Records and electro-mechanically engineered.  The Boss and Neil Young and Jack White, what is not to love?

Vinyl Me, Please #1

Youth Lagoon The Year of Hibernation on  purple vinyl

This is my first offing from Vinyl Me, Please. I had not heard of Youth Lagoon or his album The Year of Hibernation prior to receiving it in the mail last week.  I have enjoyed it quite thoroughly.  Slow, melodic, ambient like a trip through a dream.  Not a bad one, but own where you don't quite know what is happening.

Jamie Lou was working last night and instead of watching TV, I played some music and put this on and she said "Am I going to like it?"
My reply was "Only you can know that."
As were were listening she said "That was not what I expected.  I actually didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't that.  That was really easy to work to."

So there you have it, from a workaholic music critic, if you want some super chill music to be able to enjoy yet still get some work done look for Trevor Powers as Youth Lagoon and his album The Year of Hibernation.

Which brings me to my next part, the player in the photo.  Broke down and got a new powered turntable, and went with the Audio Technica AT-LP120-USB.  Whilst I still have yet to utilized the USB to computer option with Audacity, I have enjoyed how easy it is to set up, balance, plug in and play with this unit.  While it may be more a low end DJ's table, the fact it has on board power and I do not have to mess with a pre-amp sold me on it.  This was picked up in large part thanks to a Christmas gift card to Amazon from Cas and Tad Chilly.  So thanks!

Now enjoy the melancholy that is:

Hipster, Total Hipster pt. 3

A man walks down the street 

He says, "Why am I soft in the middle now? 

Why am I soft in the middle? 

 The rest of my life is so hard."

Cover Art for Paul Simon's Graceland

As I get older I see more than the funny video with Chevy Chase for "You Can Call Me Al" that was made.  I always found this song on the funny side and the video even funnier, but now I see it closer to a man getting older and wondering what happened to him and his life and having to travel to figure it out.

Inner sleeve, so many lyrics, so many

Another great Gift from Ted and Donna this year.  Paul Simon's Graceland on 180 gram vinyl.  Again complete with free digital download, which again is more handy that a portable record player.  I do not think that there is a bad song on this record.  I'd like to know your thoughts.  included with this record was a giant Graceland artwork poster on thick nice stock paper(photo all the way to the bottom), I will put some serious thought into getting it framed (I already have about 6 other items that need framed so what would be one more, it is only money right?).


I think that getting soft in the middle is something that most people can relate to.  It is a literal getting old and doughy "Mr Beerbelly Beerbelly" and maybe it is a spiritual softness from growing soft in convictions.  I do not have the answers I did not write the song.  Then again maybe it is just a funny little story with a super catch hook... Who wouldn't want a bodyguard named Betty that can call you Al?

Back cover artwork and Thanks

Track listing
Side one    
No.
1.     "The Boy in the Bubble"
2.     "Graceland"
3.     "I Know What I Know"
4.     "Gumboots"
5.     "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"
Side two    
No.
6.     "You Can Call Me Al"
7.     "Under African Skies"
8.     "Homeless"
9.     "Crazy Love, Vol. II"
10. "That Was Your Mother"
11. "All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints"       Simon  
Additional tracks on the digital download
No.
12. "Homeless" (demo version)
13. "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" (alternate version)
14. "All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints" (early version)

That inner sleeve speaks volumes to me.  So many words.  When I turn on the radio today there are seemingly only  2 lines of words repeated over and over and over and over.......  Now one tells a story, they just tell you It's Igggy Iz or something like that.  NOW GET OFF MY LAWN!

I am sure that there are better song writers and wordsmiths, but for my money Paul Simon is probably the best.  I will take his words over Dylan and McCartney any day.  But that is the beautiful thing about art and music, it is subjective and you don't always have to agree.  Please leave some of your favorites in the comment section below.  I am always on the look out for new stuff to try.

today's song of the day is a double live treat:
Paul Simon - "Graceland" and "You Can Call Me Al"

That is one big poster!

Hipster, Total Hipster pt. 2

Soon I will have to dig up my moutsche wax there is so much hipster in me.  This post is in the hipster vein of vinyl and was a Christmas gift from my parents Ted and Donna.

On 180 GRAM vinyl The Black Keys-thickfreakness is a limited edition release. And it came with a free digital download of the album. And that is way more convenient than taking a record player with you when you travel.

Album Cover

Album back "artwork"

Inner sleeve

I would agree that the grease on the cover is some fantastic "thickfreakness".  As is the sound that these two make.  The White Stripes, The Black Keys.... bands like these it is amazing the depth of sound that only a few can make to me.  Some can say it is dirty or sloppy but I think that is what makes it sound more real, like it came from an earlier time.  A time when there wasn't auto-tune and people recorded together and not onto laptops in their living rooms one layer at a time.  Maybe that is just me being a romantic, longing for less produced pop and more heartfelt rock.  But hey a guy can dream can't he?  It isn't that I don't

like POP I certainly do.  That is why it is pop, it is popular, but sometimes you want something a little more authentic.

Track listing
No.
1.     "Thickfreakness"
2.     "Hard Row"
3.     "Set You Free"
4.     "Midnight in Her Eyes"
5.     "Have Love Will Travel"
6.     "Hurt Like Mine"
7.     "Everywhere I Go"
8.     "No Trust"
9.     "If You See Me"
10. "Hold Me in Your Arms"
11. "I Cry Alone"



It is in the inner sleeve that we learn that "all songs recorded and mixed december 2002 by patrick carney in akron ohio at studio 45 using his patented recording technique called 'medium fidelity'[...]"
Digging more on the interwebs tells us it was recorded in Patrick Carney's basement using an early 1980s Tascam 388 8-track recorder resulting in an older sounding sound. And an older sound is exactly what draws me to this I do believe.

Plain black, thick-assed vinyl

Some albums have some really fun images or thing with the actual vinyl itself, not this one.  True to the theme of stripped down and in your face, the album itself is just standard black and I find that completely appropriate for what it is.  An unapologetic fantastic rock album.  While there a similar sound (think we can agree most band have this) I think it is more a result of all the songs coming from a single 14 hour recording session.  I think that is add to the honesty of the recording.  The song to pick will be:




""Hold Me in Your Arms" by (of course) The Black Keys

Hipster, Total Hipster pt. 1

I decided to go total hipster, and start getting vinyl records again.  It has been many a moon since I last bought "Slippery When Wet" and I think Madonna's "True Blue", but I got a membership at Third Man Records and then joined at Vinyl Me Please.  And those have been great, but for Christmas I asked for vinyl. I usually ask for nothing but this time I actually put some thought and made a list.  I think my next few posts will be on the awesomeness that is what I received.  Starting with Zac and Dani's gift of Juice Newton's "Juice".  At first glance a funny gag, but on closer inspection, this was a pretty monster album.  According to the Juice wiki page  Juice garnered Juice Newton two "Best Female Vocalist" Grammy Award nominations in the Pop and Country categories.And it has a large selection of hits:

Track listing
Side one    
No.    
1.     "Angel of the Morning"
2.     "Shot Full of Love"
3.     "Ride 'Em Cowboy" 
4.     "Queen of Hearts"
5.     "River of Love"  
Side two    
No.    
1.     "All I Have to Do Is Dream"      
2.     "Headin' for a Heartache"      
3.     "Country Comfort"      
4.     "Texas Heartache"      
5.     "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)"  

My biggest disappointment is that Juice has better hair than me:

Song of the "Angel of the Morning"