Saturday, March 7, 2009

Album Cover Framing

I was thrilled to be contacted by Mike at "offthewallart," a Canadian firm that specializes in vinyl and framing these wonderful albums covers we all love. Here are the specifics:


Not only do we have a great selection of old, and not so old, pre-owned, record albums spanning five decades, from the ‘50s to the ‘90s, but we also give you the opportunity to showcase them properly inside your home or business. We’re putting a new twist on an old spin you might say. You can even present them as the perfect gift idea for family and friends, unusual and unexpected. The truth is, all we do other than shipping day-in and day-out lately, is take art that’s OFF the WALL and make sure that ARTwurx before we find it a permanent home. That’s where you come in! Take a few minutes and visit our showroom. When it comes to albums, 8 times out of 10, we sell lower than Amazon.com or just about anyone else out there for that matter – AND – we treat each one like the art-form it truly is. Basically, ‘collectible posters you can play!’ So find a favourite album with a great cover, throw a frame on it and get our MINIMUM 20% discount. But shop around, some albums have far better deals than others, up to 75% off in some cases.

Using our 100% Canadian, side-loading cradled frames, designed to cover up those slightly worn, rough edges, we make the rest of the Album Cover look like a masterpiece. You see, our goal is simple, to sell frames that promote decades of, what can only be described as, remarkable works of ART and, yes, even a little music along the way.

Mike and his crew offer a variety of package deals, stop by and tell them Robert sent you over! Visit them today: http://offthewallartwurx.ca

Classic Rock Videos

The Beatles - Nowhere Man



Album Cover Art

Exciter - Long Live the Loud


Original name was Hell Razor, and it was changed to Exciter in 1980. They took the name "Exciter" from the Judas Priest song.

Exciter's Current line-up

Kenny "Metal Mouth" Winter - Vocals (2006-)
John Ricci - Guitar (1980-1985, 1992-93, 1996-)
Rob "Clammy" Cohen - Bass (2004-)
Rik Charron - Drums (1996-)

Speed Metal Violence, Metal, Hate, War, Death
Canada (Ottawa, Ontario) 1980 Massacre Records Active

Music News & Notes

No Record Was Issued


Despite previous reports that SEBASTIAN BACH's "Angel Down" album was to be released on vinyl, the records were never pressed. The former SKID ROW singer has issued the following statement, calling out one eBay auction in particular.

"This is fraud. Unfortunately Angel Down was never released on vinyl, and there are absolutely no plans now whatsoever to release it on vinyl. I was lied to by DR2 Records in the UK about this coming out, and I apologize personally to anyone that paid for a record that never came out. After spending hours designing the double-gatefold album cover sleeve, doing countless interviews hyping the release of Angel Down on vinyl, I was told months later that DR2 decided not to put the record out after all.

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Steve Earle to Release Townes Van Zandt Tribute Album


On May 12, New West will release Townes, Earle's tribute to his friend and mentor. The album will also be available as a deluxe two-CD set and on 180-gram vinyl. That's the cover above.

According to a press release, Earle and Van Zandt first met when Van Zandt heckled an Earle show in 1972, the sort of thing that must be a total nightmare for most singer-songwriters. But the two stayed tight until Van Zandt's death in 1997.

Dust Brother John King, who produced Earle's 2007 album Washington Square Serenade, mans the boards on one song, "Lungs". On that same song, Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello guests on guitar. (And yes, he does play one of those wikki-wikki turntable-scratch solos, but it sort of works.) Singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, Earle's wife, sings backup on "To Live Is to Fly" and "Loretta". Earle also recruited a backing band of bluegrass all-stars to play on several songs. And duetting on "Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold": Earle's son Justin Townes Earle, appearing on record with his dad for the first time. (Earle really must've loved the guy if he named his kid after him.)

In the album's press release, Earle has this to say: "This may be one of the best records I've ever made. That hurts a singer-songwriter's feelings. Then again, it's some consolation that I cherry picked through the career of one of the best songwriters that ever lived."

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Whitney's Baaaccckkkk

Songwriter Diane Warren has written the comeback record for Whitney Houston, "I Didn't Know My Own Strength," and is impressed with the outcome.

"I don't usually write music with someone in mind," she told Parade magazine. "But I set out to write this song specifically for Whitney. It definitely touches on her life, but I think a lot of people will relate to it because they've gone through hard times too."

"She sang the shit out of that song. Seriously, it was amazing. I'll tell you something, Whitney is back. Let there be no doubt."

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Eurythmics Not Getting Back Together

Annie Lennox has stated that there will be no future Eurythmics reunions.

"Dave [Stewart] and I talk to each other only rarely these days, and I can't see another reunion. He lives in America and I'm over here [Britain]. We're both working on our own things. For me it would be like a step backwards and I want to keep moving forward."

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Devo News

Devo are set to perform their debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, in it's entirety at a May 6 performance in London. This is the first time the group has performed the 1978 album from start-to-finish. The original album, produced by Brian Eno, contains classics like "Jacko Homo" and their fantastic cover of the Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

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Faithfull Still Not Liking Jagger

Marianne Faithfull stated that she still is not on good terms with former flame (from the 60's) Mick Jagger, but that Keith Richards helped her on her new album, Easy Come, Easy Go, because of the guilt he felt about the way Jagger and the band treated her.

"Yes, of course (I felt used), probably by the Stones and by Mick. That's maybe why Keith helped me out with this album. He's no fool. He knows I was used as an ornament, that I was great for their image. So he's given me something back."

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Kings Of Leon, Jane's Addiction Among Lollapalooza Headliners

Kings of Leon are scheduled to be among the headliners of both this year's Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits festivals, according to Billboard . Depeche Mode, the Beastie Boys, and Jane's Addiction are also playing Lollapalooza, which takes place in Chicago's Grant Park Aug 7-9, the Chicago Tribune reports and Billboard's sources confirm. Both events are produced by Austin, Texas-based C3 Productions.

The full Lollapalooza lineup announcement is expected in April.

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Waking Up With U2

U2 performed an early 8 am show on Friday morning at Fordham University in New York. Bono joked to the students, “I joined a rock and roll band so I could get out of going to college.” The show was broadcast on ABC's Good Morning America.

The show was divided into two three-song sets (most likely to accommodate the ABC show). The first half included songs from the new album: Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight. The second half was Beautiful Day, Breathe and Vertigo.

Today’s Music Ain’t Got The Same Soul

Longtime readers know how much I like to feature local stories about record stores, here is another. I want to thank http://www.seemagazine.com/ for allowing me the reprint rights.


Today’s Music Ain’t Got The Same Soul

Two ounces of vinyl's Terry Primrose is passionate about preserving rock music's vinyl legacy

by Jeff Holubitsky

Whether the soundtrack of your early life was, like mine, dominated by the oddly respectable coolness of The Beatles, the cynicism of street punks like The Stones, and the drinkin’ music of The Band or The Dead, old vinyl records will always occupy a special place in the heart. Analog records may be outdated, but music just sounds better when you hear it in the medium it was originally designed to be heard.

Terry Primrose, owner of a small company called Two Ounces of Vinyl, is in tune with the lasting appeal of the disc and turntable. They have provided the soundtrack of his own 51 years. When he listens, he sits in a basement room with one chair and, yes, tube stereo. Music is not background noise in his mind. When he travels, he always goes to cities with an abundance of record stores. He doesn’t gamble, but record vendors in Las Vegas know him by name.


Living at 33 Revolutions Per Minute | Vinyl aficionado Terry Primrose shows the correct way to handle a disc


His personal collection holds more than 100,000 albums and he has about 15,000 more on sale for $10 and up at a large stall at the Flea Market on 123 St and 111 Ave, where the married autobody shop man earns the money to finance his serious, serious passion.

Some of his records are from obscure regional artists. Many come from downsizing empty-nesters and estate sales from the days a decade ago, when people just wanted to get rid of junk. Sometimes they’re still wrapped in their original cellophane. Most are rock, but he also sells jazz, blues, country, and even a few of those ripoff Living Strings collections.

SEE caught up with Primrose at the flea market on a recent Friday afternoon as he prepared for another busy weekend.

SEE Magazine: When did you start collecting records?

Terry Primrose: I’ve always bought records, but I got serious about it in 1979. I thought I would collect all of the Hendrix records. I didn’t realize what I was getting into, but one thing leads to another.

SEE: But Jimi Hendrix only put out three studio albums, right?

TP: By the time I quit and went onto something else, I had 100, anyway. There are European versions, all kinds of compilations and bootlegs, particularly when it comes to Hendrix. Electric Ladyland has a different cover in Europe. In England it was released as two separate albums, Part 1 and Part 2, with two different covers. But I tracked them down.

SEE: What are you into now?

TP: Mainly progressive rock. It is a big genre and I have seven or eight thousand of that. There are so many obscure bands. You find that a lot of these prog bands have 15 or 20 albums, but only in Germany or only in France. The European scene for that stuff is much bigger than in North America.

SEE: What about The Beatles? You have a lot of compilations and solo projects here, but none of their actual albums.

TP: There are a lot of copies out there, but most of them are destroyed. What makes an album valuable is condition. People bring them in here but once it’s trashed it is worth zero. It’s hard to find a mint White Album from the ’60s. A mint Beatles album might be $100-$150 for a ’60s pressing. It has to be pristine. But everybody played them to death.

SEE: What is the most rare album here?

TP: I have a Sgt. Pepper’s picture disc and that’s $75, but a lot of the rarer stuff doesn’t make it onto the shelves. I know a lot of guys who collect The Beatles or ’60s rock and I just phone them when one comes in. I search for records for people.

SEE: Do you listen to all these albums?

TP: When I’m grading them, yes.

SEE: Have you always been into vinyl?

TP: Always, but there are a few of us diehards. I don’t know if it is a trend, but a lot of kids are buying records that weren’t born when vinyl was deceased, about 1989 or 1990. Back then, if you wanted to find something you had to be serious, because the record companies tried to kill it. They wanted people to buy CDs or whatever they were pushing.… Now the major labels are realizing there is a pretty big demand.

SEE: What difference is it making in your business?

TP: I hear all of the time about people bringing their turntables out of the basement. Lots of people my age are going back to it. This is my youth and to tell the truth, most people collect what they grew up with and what they knew as teenagers.

SEE: So if someone wants, say, a Fleetwood Mac record before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, you can tell how old they are?

TP: Frankly, most other people don’t even know that exists.

SEE: What about younger people?

TP: I sell a lot of albums to younger kids 16 to about 22. They are looking mostly for ’70s rock, Ten Years After, Pink Floyd, or whatever.

SEE: Why do you think that era appeals to them?

TP: I think the problem now is that bands put out albums every two days and there is no quality control. It is easy to get stuff out there. I like new stuff too, so I don’t want to sound like I’m 75, but I listen to whatever is out there. The only thing I don’t listen to is the Top 40.

Source: http://www.seemagazine.com/

This Date In Music History-March 7

Birthdays:

Songwriter Townes Van Zandt was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1944. Artists like Willie Nelson and the Tindersticks have covered his songs.

Peter Wolf- J. Geils Band (1945)

Songwriter Jules Shear was born in 1952. He's written "All Through the Night" for Cyndi Lauper and "If She Knew What She Wants" for the Bangles.

Chris White- Zombies (1945)

Little Peggy March (1948)

Ernie Isley- Isley Brothers (1952)

Procol Harum’s Matthew Fisher was born in 1946. His Hammond organ dominates the group’s ’67 international hit, "A Whiter Shade Of Pale.”

Taylor Dayne (1962)


They Are Missed:

Sixties rocker Adam Faith died of a heart attack in 2003 (age 62). In 1965, he scored a Top 40 hit with "It's Alright," and later produced Roger Daltrey's first solo album.

Born on this day in 1945, Arthur Lee, guitar, vocals, Love. Lee died on Aug 3, 2006 in Memphis at the age of 61 following a battle with acute myeloid leukaemia.


History:

The first jazz record was released in the US in 1917. Nick LaRocca's Original Dixieland Jazz Band calls it "The Dixie Jazz Band One Step.”

In 1962, the Beatles cut their first-ever session for the BBC in Manchester, England, performing "Teenager's Turn (Here We Go)," "Hello Little Girl," "Memphis Tennessee," "Dream Baby," and "Please Mr. Postman." It's also their first appearance in their trademark Beno Dorn suits.

The Dave Clark Five bring their Tottenham sound to The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time tonight in 1964, two weeks after the Beatles made their third appearance on the show. The DC5 went on to appear 18 more times on Sullivan's program.

Carl Perkins’ Blue Suede Shoes” entered the Rhythm & Blues charts in 1955. It’s the first time a Country & Western artist lands on the R & B charts.

The Who’s Pinball Wizard” was released in the UK in 1969. It’s the first song from the Rock opera “Tommy.”

While working on their next album in 1967, the Beatles recorded additional overdubs for “Lovely Rita,” including harmony vocals, effects, and the percussive sound of a piece of toilet paper being blown through a haircomb.

Foreigner’s self-titled debut was released in 1977. “Feels Like The First Time” and “Cold As Ice” make an immediate impact.

Re-mastered and expanded editions of five mid-'70s Grateful Dead studio albums, "Wake of the Flood," "From the Mars Hotel," "Blues for Allah," "Terrapin Station" and "Shakedown Street" hit stores in 2006. All have added demos, live cuts and studio outtakes. Meanwhile, Cheap Trick's ‘79 "Dream Police" and ‘80 "All Shook Up" re-mastered albums arrive with live cuts and outtakes.

In 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that parodies that poke fun at an original work can be considered "fair use" that does not require permission from the copyright holder.

The Tune Weavers record "Happy Happy Birthday Baby" in 1957.

In 2007, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" topped the National Association of Recording Merchandisers Definitive 200, a list of "great, classic albums." Rock artists with discs landing in the Top 10 include Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, U2, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.

Vinyl: In The News

Record Stores: Gone But Not Forgotten

By Raanan Geberer
Brooklyn Daily Eagle


BROOKLYN — The news that the Virgin Megastore on Union Square will be closing soon is shocking, but not totally unexpected. Just a few years ago, the equally large Tower Records closed all its outlets. And what of the giant record-store chains of yesterday? There is apparently one Sam Goody’s in New York City, a far cry from the chain in its heyday. King Carol doesn’t exist anymore, and neither does the Record Hunter. And let’s not forget that at one time, every major New York City department store had an active record department.

It appears that in the near future, I’ll do all of my CD buying online, except for occasional trips to specialty, used-CD stores such as the Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, N.J., or Academy Records in Manhattan.

Read the rest of this interesting article here:

brooklyneagle.com

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ABC Nightline Piece

In a segment titled "Vinyl: The Last Track," the ABC News program Nightline took a look this past Wednesday at the recent and, in many ways, unexpected resurgence of vinyl, an analog format in an otherwise digital world. "Those big old discs are back in a big way," says Nightline anchor Terry Moran.

Moran, who reports that LP sales were up 89% last year, wonders why this vinyl revival is taking place and stops by Washington, DC's Crooked Beats record store, where vinyl makes up 70% of store sales, to talk to some vinyl enthusiasts about the format's appeal and to give a few records a spin for himself.

The shop's owner, Bill Daley, shows Moran Wilco's Sky Blue Sky LP as an example of a recent innovation in the field: the inclusion of the complete album on CD, inside the LP sleeve. Wilco was an early pioneer in offering both formats in a single package with the release of that record in May 2007.

You can watch the complete Nightline segment online here:

Vinyl Video

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For some, vinyl records are the best way to listen to the music

By CHRIS JORDAN

There's something happening in the music industry.

"There are people who are stepping back and trying to reconnect (to vinyl records)," said vinyl man Cory Nyberg of Rahway. "Something has been missing in life and it's the old turntable and the way you'd bring a vinyl record home."

Check the numbers. There were 1.9 million new vinyl albums sold last year, a figure up nearly 90 percent over the previous year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Groups like the Beastie Boys, Coldplay, Radiohead and Metallica are releasing new works and old favorites on vinyl.

Vinyl also is the choice of hip-hop DJs and indie rockers, like New Brunswick's Thursday, who continually release vinyl versions of their albums.

Nyberg and business partner Mitch Ross of Bridgewater will host their quarterly Greater New Jersey Record & CD Show show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, at the Holiday Inn in Springfield.

A big part of the vinyl resurgence has to do with sound quality. Proponents of vinyl say the medium's warmer tones produce a better sound when compared with that of CDs and MP3s. That may be, as each vinyl record has a continual groove carved into it that replicates the original sound. It's called analog. Digital recordings, such as CDs and MP3s, capture soundwaves in parts, not continually. It's a difference that matters to music enthusiasts.

Also, vinyl lovers prefer the packaging of a vinyl album.

"People are using albums as displays," Nyberg said. "I've had teachers come in and they're working on a school project and they buy 30 to 50 copies of records to make displays for dances. Then there are people buying records to decorate dens and gamerooms in their homes."

The Greater New Jersey Record Shows in the Springfield Holiday Inn dates back to 1989, when the late David Lenz of Linden, aka Izzy to area music fans, started holding them there. Nyberg and Ross took over the business when Lenz died in the early 2000s.

The shows attract more then 70 dealers with all kinds of music.

"From classical to speed metal to death metal, every genre of music," said Nyberg, who has about 500,000 records in his collection. "Even Enya and Celine Dion."

SOURCE: http://www.mycentraljersey.com