Music Record Shop Weekly

Welcome to the new weekly feature (look for it every Friday) called MusicRecordShop Weekly.  Here we take a look at new releases and some hard to find vinyl that will easily satisfy even the most serious record collectors.  Here's five that we think you will enjoy, including some very hard to find picture discs!:

1. Iron Maiden - Maiden England (Picture Disc)

MAIDEN ENGLAND '88. Now available for the very first time on double LP, this live show was filmed across two sold-out nights at Birmingham N.E.C Arena, UK in November 1988 during the band's
"Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son World Tour."

• Label EMI (Import)
• 180 Gram Vinyl Records - 2-LP - Sealed
• Limited Edition
• Picture Disc

Track Listing
LP1
1. Moonchild (2009 - Remaster)
2. The Evil That Men Do (2009 - Remaster)
3. The Prisoner (2009 - Remaster)
4. Still Life (2009 - Remaster)
5. Die With Your Boots On (2009 - Remaster)
6. Infinite Dreams (2009 - Remaster)
7. Killers (2009 - Remaster)
8. Can I Play With Madness (2009 - Remaster)
9. Heaven Can Wait (2009 - Remaster)
10. Wasted Years (2009 - Remaster)

LP2
1. The Clairvoyant (2009 - Remaster)
2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (2009 - Remaster)
3. The Number of the Beast (2009 - Remaster)
4. Hallowed Be Thy Name (2009 - Remaster)
5. Iron Maiden (2009 - Remaster)
6. Run to the Hills
7. Running Free
8. Sanctuary

Order at MusicRecordShop




2. Rodriguez - Cold Fact

There was a mini-genre of singer/songwriters in the late '60s and early '70s that has never gotten a name. They were folky but not exactly folk-rock and certainly not laid-back; sometimes pissed off but not full of rage; alienated but not incoherent; psychedelic-tinged but not that weird; not averse to using orchestration in some cases but not that elaborately produced. And they sold very few records, eluding to a large degree even rediscovery by collectors. Jeff Monn, Paul Martin, John Braheny, and Billy Joe Becoat were some of them, and Sixto Rodriguez was another on his 1970 LP, Cold Fact. Imagine an above-average Dylanesque street busker managing to record an album with fairly full and imaginative arrangements, and you're somewhat close to the atmosphere. Rodriguez projected the image of the aloof, alienated folk-rock songwriter, his songs jammed with gentle, stream-of-consciousness, indirect putdowns of straight society and its tensions. Likewise, he had his problems with romance, simultaneously putting down (again gently) women for their hang-ups and intimating that he could get along without them anyway ("I wonder how many times you had sex, and I wonder do you know who'll be next" he chides in the lilting "I Wonder"). At the same time, the songs were catchy and concise, with dabs of inventive backup: a dancing string section here, odd electronic yelps there, tinkling steel drums elsewhere. It's an album whose lyrics are evocative yet hard to get a handle on even after repeated listenings, with song titles like "Hate Street Dialogue," "Inner City Blues" (not the Marvin Gaye tune), and "Crucify Your Mind" representative of his eccentric, slightly troubled mindset. As it goes with folk-rock-psych singer/songwriters possessing captivating non sequitur turns of the phrase, he's just behind Arthur Lee and Skip Spence, but still worth your consideration.

• LABEL LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
• 180 GRAM VINYL RECORD - LP - SEALED

TRACK LISTING
1. Sugar Man
2. Only Good For Conversation
3. Crucify Your Mind
4. This Is Not A Song, It's An Outburst: Or, The Establishment Blues
5. Hate Street Dialogue
6. Forget It
7. Inner City Blues
8. I Wonder
9. Jane S. Piddy
10. Gommorah (A Nursery Rhyme)
11. Rich Folks Hoax
12. Like Janis
13. I'll Slip Away
14. You'd Like To Admit It

Order at MusicRecordShop

3. Rodriguez - Searching For Sugar Man 

The story remains one of the music world's most unusual tales of the 1970s: an obscure debut LP by a Detroit singer-songwriter becomes a source of hope and inspiration to the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. Now, the story of Rodriguez and his cult album Cold Fact is the basis for Searching For Sugar Man, a riveting new documentary by filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul. Light In The Attic Records in partnership with Sony Legacy are honored to announce the release of the original motion picture soundtrack, comprising tracks from Cold Fact and its 1971 follow-up Coming From Reality - both reissued in 2008 and 2009 by Light In The Attic. The soundtrack begins with the otherworldly "Sugar Man" and acts as a primer to this long-overlooked musician's fusion of gritty funk, political poetry and blissful psych-folk.

• LABEL LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
• VINYL RECORD - 2LP - SEALED BLACK VINYL

TRACK LISTING
1. Sugar Man
2. Crucify Your Mind
3. Cause
4. I Wonder
5. Like Janis
6. This Is Not A Song, It's an Outburst: Or, The Establishment Blues
7. Can't Get Away
8. I Think of You
9. Inner City Blues
10. Lifestyles - Sandrevan Lullaby
11. Street Boy
12. A Most Disgusting Song
13. I'll Slip Away
14. Jane S. Piddy

Order at MusicRecordShop

4. Manowar - Lord Of Steel (Picture Disc)

After trying their loyal followers' tolerance like never before with the generally aimless symphonic fluff that surrounded the handful of real songs contained in 2007's Gods of War album, Manowar gratefully adopted a more serious and focused working approach for their eleventh studio LP, 2012's The Lord of Steel. In fact, the intervening 2010 re-recording of their 1982 debut, Battle Hymns, appears to have reined in the group's thunderous hubris to no end. Notwithstanding the power-thrashing attack of The Lord of Steel's opening title track, which predictably prolongs Manowar's delusions about still playing louder, faster, and meaner than innumerable extreme metal bands (not even close), there's a startling simplicity and directness about many of these songs (for good and ill) that's long been absent from Manowar's oeuvre. Take the fast-ensuing "Manowarriors" as a good case in point: it's predictably corny (sample lyric: "In heavy metal we believe; If you don't like it, time to leave"), but endearingly so, and, more importantly, damn infectious, to boot! The same curious attributes pertain to the steady-marching "Born in a Grave" and the staccato-loving "Annihilation," and, while the turgid "Black List" goes absolutely nowhere and the aptly named "Expendable" is exactly that, the absolutely incredible "Touch the Sky" is arguably the best song Manowar's written in 20 years! Of course, since there's always been a very fine line between laughing with and laughing at Manowar, listeners will have to draw their own conclusions about less ubiquitous material such as "Hail, Kill and Die" (one of the band's long-favored mottos rendered career-retrospective), "El Gringo" (tongue-in-cheek Manowar -- could this be?), and especially the majestic ballad "Righteous Glory" (are they yearning for higher ideals or just trying to hump that mythical harpy over there?), which, if nothing else, spells out the band's personality conundrum perfectly.

• LABEL MAGIC CIRCLE
• VINYL RECORD - 2-LP PICTURE DISC - SEALED

TRACK LISTING
1. The Lord of Steel
2. Manowarriors
3. Born in a Grave
4. Righteous Glory
5. Touch the Sky
6. Black List
7. Expendable
8. El Gringo
9. Annihilation
10. Hail Kill and Die
11. The Kingdom of Steel

Order at MusicRecordShop



5. The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost

“The Black Angels bring the aura of mid-1966 the drilling guitars of early Velvet Underground shows, the raga inflections of late-show Fillmore jams, the acid-prayer stomp of Austin avatars the 13th Floor Elevators everywhere they go, including the levitations on their second album, Directions to See a Ghost. Mid-Eighties echoes of Spacemen 3 and the Jesus and Mary Chain also roll through the scoured-guitar sustain and Alex Maas’ rocker-monk incantations. But he knows what time it is. ‘You say the Beatles stopped the war," Maas sings in ’Never/Ever.’ ‘They might’ve helped to find a cure/But it’s still not over.’

Even so, this medicine works wonders." – David Fricke, Rolling Stone

• Label Light In The Attic
• Vinyl Records - 3-LP - Sealed
• Released: May 13; 2008

Track Listing
1.You On The Run
2. Doves
3. Science Killer
4. Mission District
5. 18 Years
6. Deer-Ree-Shee
7. Never/Ever
8. Vikings
9. You In Color
10. The Return
11. Snake In The Grass

Order at MusicRecordShop


Musicology 101

Let's have a little fun, so here are some rock and roll nuggets so you can win at music trivia games and become a top musicologist!

The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and the Beatles at a religious retreat in India.

Peter Frampton was the lead guitar player on Frankie Valli's 1978 hit, "Grease."

A luthier is a craftsman who makes or repairs stringed instruments, such as guitars or violins.

According to Bill Harry, founder of the UK music magazine Mersey Beat and personal friend of The Beatles, the rumor that the group took their name from a line in the movie The Wild Ones, is totally false, as the movie was not released in England until 1968. Nor did it have anything to do with "Beat" music, a term that didn't come out until after the band was established. He says it was Stu Sutcliffe who suggested "Let's have a name like The Crickets."

Bruce Springsteen was once the opening act for Canadian singer, Anne Murray, of "Snowbird" fame.

The Dr. Hook hit, "The Cover of Rolling Stone" was written by Shel Silverstein, a best-selling author of children's poems who was also a contributor to Playboy. When the group appeared on the magazine cover, it was in caricature, not an actual photograph.

In Bill Withers' 1971 Billboard #3 hit "Ain't No Sunshine", he repeats the words "I know, I know, I know..." twenty-six times. This rather annoying repetition was originally meant as a place holder until Withers could think up some better lyrics that he never did come up with.

The studio musicians who recorded the music for many "bubblegum" hits credited to The 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Ohio Express and many others, were actually former members of The Shadows of Knight, who had a hit of their own with "Gloria".

Joe South wrote Deep Purple's US #4 hit "Hush", which he adapted from an old American spiritual that included the line: "Hush, I thought I heard Jesus calling my name."

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

new from our friends at MusicOnVinyl.com

Camel - Moonmadness

One year after the massive success of Camel's previous album The Snow Goose [MOVLP382] the Progressive Rock band from England released Moonmadness in 1976.  This concept album proved to be their stepping stone to US soil, gaining their highest Billboard Album Chart position to date. 

Its inspiration was derived from the band members' personalities; each one features as subject for the songs "Chord Change", "Air Born", "Lunar Sea" and "Another Night".  Intricate layers of guitar and keyboards set a mood that can be vaguely compared to any Pink Floyd concept album from the same era.  Moonmadness provides a beautiful and interesting journey, with new details coming to light with every listen along the way.

• 180 gram audiophile vinyl
• Gatefold sleeve 

Tracklisting:

Side A 

1  Aristillus 

2  Song Within A Song 

3  Chord Change  

4  Spirit Of The Water

  

Side B

1  Another Night

2  Air Born

3  Lunar Sea

  

America - Hearts  

 America, the band that gave the world the Classic Rock evergreen "A Horse With No Name" in 1972 released their fifth album Hearts three years later to great public and critical acclaim.  Hearts was produced by famed Beatles producer George Martin, as was the case for their previous album Holiday.

  

The album was a big hit in the US reaching number 4 on the Billboard album charts, certified Gold by the RIAA.  Hearts yielded three hit singles: "Sister Golden Hair", "Daisy Jane" and "Woman Tonight" proving the sheer quality of core band members Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek and Gerry Beckley.  Collectively they know how to craft excellent Folk Rock songs which is highly apparent on Hearts – a strong album of near legendary proportions.

• 180 gram audiophile
• vinyl Insert
• Produced by George Martin
• Includes hit single "Sister Golden Hair"

Tracklisting:

Side 1 

1.  Daisy Jane     

2.  Half A Man    

3.  Midnight     

4.  Bell Tree    

5.  Old Virginia   

6.  People In The Valley 

  

Side 2   

1.  Company     

2.  Woman Tonight     

3.  The Story Of A Teenager     

4.  Sister Golden Hair   

5.  Tomorrow 

6.  Seasons

  

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from Rhino.com

 

Eagles 6-CD Box Set Available for Pre-Order

 

Now available for pre-order, EAGLES: THE STUDIO ALBUMS 1972-1979 contains all six of the Eagles' Asylum studio albums from 1972 - 1979: EAGLES * DESPERADO * ON THE BORDER * ONE OF THESE NIGHTS * HOTEL CALIFORNIA * THE LONG RUN.

 

Packaged in a sleek, black clamshell box, EAGLES: THE STUDIO ALBUMS 1972-1979 showcases each of the six studio albums that helped the band define an era, including the No. 1 albums ONE OF THESE NIGHTS, HOTEL CALIFORNIA and THE LONG RUN.

THE STUDIO ALBUMS 1972-1979 kicks off with the band’s 1972 debut, EAGLES, the first of several of the band’s albums produced by the acclaimed Glyn Johns. The disc spawned the hits “Witchy Woman,” “Take It Easy” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” and is followed by DESPERADO, which quickly went gold after its release in 1973, thanks to the title track and “Tequila Sunrise.”

Remembered for the faves “Already Gone” and the smash “Best Of My Love,” 1974’s ON THE BORDER follows. That disc was the precursor to the Eagles’ first No. 1 album, 1975’s Grammy®-decorated ONE OF THESE NIGHTS, a quick and huge hit that is home to “Take It To The Limit,” the title track and “Lyin’ Eyes.”

Additionally, THE STUDIO ALBUMS 1972-1979 includes 1976’s HOTEL CALIFORNIA, the album that immortalized the band with the unforgettable title song as well as the Top 20 hits “Life In The Fast Lane” and “New Kid In Town.” HOTEL CALIFORNIA was followed up in 1979 by the band’s third consecutive No. 1, THE LONG RUN, yet another multi-platinum effort made famous for the title track, “I Can’t Tell You Why” and the No. 1 hit “Heartache Tonight.”

Order HERE


Stephen Stills - Carry On 4-CD Box Set

 

Stephen Stills' CARRY ON is in stores today! The 4-CD boxed set features classic cuts from the legendary singer-songwriter's Buffalo Springfield, CSN and solo years, and includes 25 previously unreleased recordings.

 

Legendary singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Stills has released more than 250 songs since 1966, some solo, others with iconic bands including Buffalo Springfield, Manassas and, most famously, with David Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young. On the new four-CD set CARRY ON, producers Graham Nash and Joel Bernstein—in collaboration with Stills—outline the remarkable 50-year scope of Stills' career with 82 tracks, 25 of them previously unreleased. In retracing the musical paths he’s explored, it’s clear that Stills is more than a prolific hit-maker (“Love The One You’re With,” “Southern Cross”)—he is also a songwriter who speaks his mind (“For What It’s Worth”) and his heart (“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”) equally well, and is comfortable playing diverse genres including folk, rock, blues, jazz, country, and Latin.

The tracks unfold mostly in chronological order, and the anthology leads off with its oldest entry: “Travelin’”—a previously unreleased recording that Stills made at age 17 in Costa Rica (one of the many places he lived growing up in a military family). The youngest track, recorded only a few months ago, features CSN performing “Girl From The North Country” in New York City during a sold-out five-night run at the Beacon Theater that closed the group’s acclaimed 2012 world tour. CARRY ON, which features a 113-page booklet with rare photos and extensive liner notes by Michael O’Hara Garcia, David Bender, and NY Times Best Selling author Daniel Levitin, will be available as a 4-CD boxed set on March 26 from Rhino for a suggested price of $54.98. A digital version of the set will also be available.

In addition to essential studio and live recordings, CARRY ON covers new ground with more than an hour’s worth of previously unreleased material including “No-Name Jam,” a 1970 recording of Stills in London trading guitar licks with his friend Jimi Hendrix. Other previously unissued highlights include the songs “Welfare Blues” (1984), “Little Miss Bright Eyes” (1973), and “Who Ran Away?” (1968), and early demo versions of “Forty-Nine Reasons” and “The Lee Shore,” and “Black Coral,” a song Stills and Young released as a duo in 1976—the version here features all four members of CSNY. “The Treasure” offers a peek into Stills’ process—originally released in 1972 on Manassas’s self-titled debut, this version was recorded by Stills three years earlier with bassist Calvin Samuels and drummer Conrad Isidore during sessions for Stephen Stills 2.

CARRY ON also features a number of classic songs newly remixed by Nash and Stanley Tajima Johnston, including “Everydays,” “To A Flame,” “See The Changes,” “4+20” and “Change Partners,” the latter with Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar. There is also a newly edited version of Stills performing “Cuba Al Fin” at the Havana Jam in 1979.

Several songs make their CD-debut with CARRY ON, including “Uno Mundo,” “War Games” and the single mix of “Love The One You’re With.” Stills’ time on stage is represented as well with a number of previously released performances, including several from his acclaimed 2005 album Man Alive. The collection boasts new live tracks, including CSN singing “No Tears Left” in 1997 at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and CSNY on stage in 2002 at Madison Square Garden with Memphis Horns Booker T. Jones and Donald “Duck” Dunn covering Otis Redding’s “Ole Man Trouble.” Other famous players turn up on CARRY ON’s wealth of material as well, including Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, Maynard Ferguson, Ray Baretto, Willie Bobo, and Larry Harlow.

Order HERE

 

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from www.thrilljockey.com

Tortoise - Tortoise

 

We are quite proud to bring back the very first Tortoise album from 1994 to vinyl!

 

Sold out on vinyl for many years this new edition has been remastered to vinyl by Roger Seibel at SAE Mastering and pressed on virgin vinyl at RTI. The packaging emulates the original, with an insert and a chipboard jacket that was custom silk-screened by Dan Macadam at Crosshair in Chicago.

  

Tortoise's self-titled debut incorporates many musical styles and influences and combines them into one very distince sound. So distinct that sometime after the release of this record they became recognized as the leaders of a new musical movement. Tortoise exploits the recording studio, in that they utilize the recording process as a compostional tool or "sixth member", thus creating a boundless parameter in which to create music. Recorded at Idful Studios by John McEntire.

  

For this record Tortoise is

 

Douglas McCombs

John Herndon

Dan Bitney

John McEntire

Bundy K. Brown

 

01. Magnet Pulls Through

02. Night Air

03. Ry Cooder

04. Onions Wrapped In Rubber

05. Tin Cans & Twine

06. Spiderwebbed

07. His Second Story Island

08. On Noble

09. Flyrod

10. Cornpone Brunch

 

Order HERE

 

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For Immediate Release

Seattle Vinyl Imprint Tsurumi Records Joins Frenchkiss Label Group For Digital Distribution

(Seattle, WA) – March 28, 2013 Seattle-based indie punk and garage rock record label Tsurumi Records joins NYC-based Frenchkiss Label Group for their digital distribution.

 

Tsurumi will issue their first ever soundtrack for the underground indie horror flick "The Revenant" this Spring. "The Revenant" marks their first release through Frenchkiss as well.  It will be available online beginning April 16.

Tsurumi Records is a label that also focuses on vinyl productions. Their titles are independently distributed at local and regional record shops throughout the country. They are home to garage punks the Beautiful Mothers, indie rockers Fonzarelli, experimental Japanese rock band Golden, the Second Academy, the Mustang Jerx and DJ Macky Ramone (find out more from label head Jeff Davis on how he got “knighted” by Marky many years ago).

"My attitudes and tastes about music mirror that of FrenchKiss and therefore many of my creative values and professional goals are being met. I couldn't be more thrilled,” comments Tsurumi Records owner and founder Jeff Davis.

Frenchkiss Label Group is a hands-on boutique distributor focused on growing visibility for independent labels as their bottom line. For more information on Frenchkiss Label Group, visit www.frenchkisslabelgroup.com. For more information on Tsurumi Records, visit www.tsurumirecords.com.

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album cover art of the day:

DEATH DEALER: Debut Album Artwork Unveiled; Full-Length Song Available For Streaming

          

















      

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from our friends at www.vinylcollective.com

 

Don’t call it a comeback…