The vinyl record collecting blog - with news about new vinyl record releases, vinyl record sales, new music releases, album cover art and weekly features
We have a very rare Sunny and the Sunliners 45 that almost never surfaces, "I'm A Practical Guy" / "The One Who's Hurtin' Is You", and we'll play both sides. There's more soul from Syl Johnson and Joe Simon.
Plus, 60's psych from Brass Buttons and The Underground.
News this week about artist Daniel Edlen and his work for the David Lynch Foundation.
Turns out your Mom was right. Baby boomers are going deaf at an alarming rate. One doctor blames years of rock n roll in the news. And then there's this week Top 5 vinyl auction sales.
Turn your computer dial to Vinyl Record Talk Should be a very interesting show!
The Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron: The Very Best of the Crystals - Phil Spector Records/Sony Legacy
They’re sweet and intense and over quick, much like a cherry cordial or an Atomic Fireball.
Published on February 20, 2011
The Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron: The Very Best of the Crystals - Phil Spector Records/Sony Legacy 88697 61288 2 ****:
Now I remember what happened to all the money I earned from mowing lawns. It went to buy 45 rpm records by The Crystals (and the Ronettes). I liked that they didn’t sing about dances like the Twist and the Locomotion (which I couldn’t do), but rather about teen angst and yearning (of which I had plenty). Da Doo Ron Ron: The Very Best of the Crystals contains every hit they ever produced and more. So what more could you want by these teenaged chart busters of the early Sixties? There are the slow dance gems like “There’s No Other Like My Baby” “and “What a Nice Way to Turn 17.” (My wife calls them “girl sex songs.”) But it was probably for their peppy rhythmic numbers like “Uptown” and “He’s a Rebel” that the Crystals earned a place in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame (2004) and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame (2006). They’re sweet and intense and over quick, much like a cherry cordial or an Atomic Fireball.
“He’s a Rebel,” penned by Gene Pitney, was actually recorded by Darlene Love when The Crystals were out of town. Phil Spector wanted to steal a march on Vicki Carr, whom he overheard recording the song in a booth. It worked. The song tapped so deeply into teen urges of independence and defiance that it charted No. 1 in the fall of ’62. For this and other songs Spector use his “Wall of Sound” technique. As a reverberant sound mixture, it reproduced well on AM radio and jukeboxes. Spector had electric and acoustic guitarists play the same parts in unison, then added musical arrangement the size of orchestras. Sometimes he even recorded using an echo chamber (“Little Boy” and Da Doo Ron Ron”).
He called his songs “little symphonies for the kids.” Not all of them reach the same level of feel-good dynamics as “Then He Kissed Me.” Some are quite disturbing by today’s standards, like the flip side of “He’s a Rebel.” The title says it all: “He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss).” Listeners may wonder how much that dark song and “Please Hurt Me” reflected Spector’s own attitudes towards women.
By the time the British invasion happened in 1964 the brief reign of The Crystals was over (even though they didn’t disband until 1967). Note that this collection has the previously unreleased “Woman in Love.” It’s a nice number, but has nowhere near the breathless energy of “He’s Sure the Boy I Love.”
-- Peter Bates
Special thanks to John at www.audaud.com for the exclusive rights to reprint this material.
AUDIOPHILE AUDITION focuses on recordings of interest to audiophiles and collectors, with an accent on surround sound for music, and on all hi-res disc formats. Over 100 SACD, DVD Video/Audio and standard CD reviews are published during each month, and our archives go back to January 2001.
A new seven inch single has been confirmed, featuring Sandy Denny tracks chosen by fans.
One of the foremost female vocalists of her generation, Sandy Denny's output with Fairport Convention has received renewed appreciation in recent years. The band's counter culture take on traditional music fits neatly with the rise of modern wyrd folk, turning Denny into an icon all over again.
Read more about this Record Store Day release at Clashmusic.com
---------------------------
KikaxeMusic.com has this tidbit:
BELIEVER debut cover art and tracklisting for April 12 Metal Blade release, TRANSHUMAN
Metal Blade Records has issued the cover artwork and tracklisting for TRANSHUMAN, the April 12 full-length from BELIEVER. In addition to the reveal, the label has begun pre-orders for the album by itself or in a merch bundle.
Suze Rotolo dies at 67; Bob Dylan's girlfriend was on iconic album cover
She dated the folk singer for 4 transformative years and wrote an acclaimed book about Greenwich Village in the '60s. The cover of 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' shows the couple walking arm-in-arm.
By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times
Suze Rotolo, Bob Dylan's former girlfriend in Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, who appeared walking arm-in-arm with him on the iconic cover of his album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," has died. She was 67.
Rotolo, who played a role in the young Dylan's evolution as a singer-songwriter and later had a career as an artist, died of cancer Friday at home in Greenwich Village, said her son, Luca Bartoccioli.
Melvins' "Sugar Daddy Live" Set For May 31 Release
The Melvins' latest offering "Sugar Daddy Live," a thirteen-track live recording, will see a May 31 release on Ipecac Recordings. Recorded at The Busta-Guts Club in Downey, Calif. the album features fan favorites such as "Boris," "A History of Bad Men" and "The Kicking Machine."
BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME: New Album Details Revealed
Raleigh, North Carolina-based progressive rock/cutting-edge metal band BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME will release its new album, "The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues", on April 12 via Metal Blade Records. The three-song, 30-minute tour de force was recorded at Canada's Metalworks Studios and Rattlebox Studios and helmed by the Grammy award–winning producer David Bottrill (TOOL, MUSE, KING CRIMSON, DREAM THEATER).
Finnish metallers AMORPHIS have set "The Beginning Of Times" as the title of their new album, due at the end of May via Nuclear Blast Records. A single, "You I Need", will precede the full-length CD in April.
"The Beginning Of Times" is described as "the most challenging AMORPHIS album so far in terms of both music and lyrics."
One of our all-time fave horror-metal bands is not only still going strong after fifteen years, but they've managed to carve their names in music history (with a blood-encrusted scalpel, naturally), thanks to the release of their second live album, Rusty Eye: Live at the Rainbow MMX. The talented trio of Miss Randall, Mr. Rust and Baron Murtland became the first band ever to record a live set at the legendary LA club, and this so-called “sonic documentary” is now available for your listening pleasure.
re_live_bow_cover
Third Man Records lead way to record industry salvation?
By Stephen M.H. Braitman
Controversy erupted when Jack White’s Third Man Records placed five limited-edition White Stripes LPs on eBay and let auction bidding determine their sale prices. Howls from fans and collectors erupted over the label’s action, and Third Man’s Ben Swank delivered a cogent yet inflammatory blog response in The Guardian (U.K.) online newspaper.
In 1951, Sam Phillips launched his label Sun Records by releasing “Drivin’ Slow” by saxophonist Johnny London.
In 1967, at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London, The Beatles started recording a John Lennon song, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.”
In 1969 - Jim Morrison (Doors) was arrested and officially charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, indecent behavior, open profanity and public drunkenness in Miami. Morrison was later sentenced. Morrison died while the sentence was under appeal.
The Charles Manson album "Lie" was released in 1970. The profits went to Manson's defense.
In 1975, winners at this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony included Paul McCartney for Best Pop Vocal on “Band On The Run,” Olivia Newton-John (Record Of The Year with “I Honestly Love You” and Stevie Wonder won Album Of The Year for Fulfillingness’ First Finale.
In 1985 - A Beatles song was used for the first time in a U.S. TV commercial. Lincoln-Mercury used the song, "HELP!" What a crock of shit if you ask me.....
In 1990, Janet Jackson played the first night of a 120-date Rhythm Nation 1814 World tour at the Miami Arena, Florida. As part of the show Jackson has a live panther on stage, but after concerns are raised over safety and several incidents of the animal urinating on stage the panther was returned to its cage.
In 1994, Nirvana played their final concert at the 3,000 capacity Terminal Einz, a small airport hanger in Munich, Germany.
And in 1997, a Motley Crüe fan, Clifford Goldberg, who claimed his hearing had been irreparably damaged after a show in New Jersey, had his lawsuit thrown out of court. The judge decreed that Goldberg knew the risk he was taking by sitting near the front of the stage. Ya think?