Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

This Week's Bestselling Vinyl Records at SoundStageDirect

1. The Wall - Pink Floyd
2. Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
3. Terrapin Station - Grateful Dead
4. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
5. L.A. Woman: The Workshop Sessions - Doors
6. WZRD (Pre-Order)
7. Wrecking Ball - Bruce Springsteen



CVR Blog Spotlight:

Terrapin Station by Grateful Dead

Cut From the Original Analog Masters and Pressed on 200g Vinyl at Quality Record Pressings

Terrapin Station, originally released in 1977, marked the Grateful Dead's first studio album in two years and their return to a major label, in this case Arista Records. The band hired an outside producer for just the second time here, using Keith Olsen, a former member of the '60s garage rock band Music Machine.

Highlights abound and include the title suite that extends to cover all of side B, as well as the disco-like reworking of the Martha & The Vandellas hit "Dancin' In The Streets," the Rev. Gary Davis cover of "Samson and Delilah" and the classic "Estimated Prophet."

The release, like the band, is a beautiful amalgamation of styles, with rock, funk, disco and strains of reggae. As their ninth studio effort overall, Terrapin Station has a decidedly tighter and more cohesive feel than the live material for which the band became legendary. All the same, it's unmistakable classic Dead all the way, and in fact much of the material from this record has become live staples to this day.

Track Listing:
1. Estimated Prophet
2. Dancin' In The Streets
3. Passenger
4. Samson And Delilah
5. Sunrise
6. Terrapin Station Medley

Buy it at SoundStageDirect




L.A. Woman: The Workshop Sessions by The Doors

L.A. Woman: The Workshop Sessions features eight never-before-heard versions of songs from the Doors' 1971 album and a never-before-heard song, "She Smells So Nice," which captures the band joyfully barreling through a full-throttle original before segueing into the blues standard "Rock Me." As the song closes, Jim Morrison can be heard chanting, "Mr. Mojo Risin," an anagram of his name that was made famous during the bridge of "L.A. Woman." The track was recently discovered by producer Bruce Botnick while reviewing the L.A. Woman session tapes.

Alternate takes of "The Changeling," "Love Her Madly," "Cars Hiss By My Window," "L.A. Woman," "The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)," "Been Down So Long" and "Riders On The Storm" offer a fresh view on this landmark release, which was the group's last album and sixth straight Top 10.

The studio chatter between songs is a revelation, transporting listeners to The Doors' West Hollywood rehearsal space where they recorded the album with Botnick. One segment in particular captures a fascinating moment of inspiration when Morrison suggests they add the now iconic thunderstorm sound effects to the beginning of "Riders On The Storm."

This 180g 2LP edition of LA Woman: The Workshop Sessions is presented on three sides of vinyl, with the fourth side featuring a laser etching of the original "Electric Woman" art included with the album's original 1971 release.

Track Listing:
LP1
1. The Changeling (Alternate Version)
2. Love Her Madly (Alternate Version)
3. Cars Hiss By My Window (Alternate Version)
4. L.A. Woman (Alternate Version)
5. The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat) (Alternate Version)
6. Been Down So Long (Alternate Version)
7. Riders On the Storm (Alternate Version)


LP2
1. She Smells So Nice/Rock Me

Buy it at SoundStageDirect

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Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales - Week Ending 03/03/2012

Numbered editions make the list twice this week. A low numbered white album topped the list, getting more than $1k over a #0000056 that sold in 2009. A Nirvana "Love Buzz" single makes the list, this time going over the $2-$2.5k selling range that is very tight for this record. It's a "red slash" single which means there is a red marker slash over where the number (1 to 1000) was normally hand written on the sleeve. There are 30 of these "red slash" singles known to exist, and these unnumbered copies were given out a promos.

1. LP - The Beatles "White Album" Apple Mono UK Pressing #0000020 - $4,602.30

2. LP - Donald Byrd "Byrd Blows On Beacon Hill" Transition 17 - $2,926.54

3. 45 - Nirvana "Love Buzz" Sub Pop Red Slash Promo - $2,800.00

4. 45 - The Limelights "Don't Leave Me Baby" / "You Don't Love Me Anymore" Uncle 1442 - $2,600.00

5. LP - John Heartsman and Circles "Music Of My Heart" Private Press - $2,402.77


Vinyl Record Talk is Live on Radio Dentata on Tuesdays at 9pm ET / 6pm PT at www.radiodentata.com   

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one of the funniest posts about album cover at i have seen in quite a while - kudos to the author.......me? not sure why anyone would pose with a puppet......

11 Creepiest Ventriloquist Album Covers Ever

I have been afraid of a lot of things in my life. As a young kid I was scared of people in costumes. Then clowns. Then I was scared of being kidnapped. Then I became scared of getting lost. From there I moved on to claustrophobia, especially when it comes to being in a car trunk or buried alive. I went through a brief fear of redheads. I was never afraid of puppets or, especially, ventriloquist dummies.

Until now.

See the rest of the carnage at 11points.com













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Nonesuch Celebrates Woody Guthrie Centennial with "Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions," Out April 21; Pre-Order Now

On the acclaimed Mermaid Avenue albums, Billy Bragg and Wilco put music to lyrics by folk legend Woody Guthrie for which he had not written music or made recordings. Tweedy and Bragg were "the perfect pair to conclude that Guthrie ... was a prophetic rock-and-roller with a whole lot to say," said the New York Times. On Record Store Day, April 21, Nonesuch will release Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, which includes the original two volumes of Mermaid Avenue (the second re-mastered); a third volume with 17 previously unreleased recordings from those sessions; the 1999 documentary on the sessions, Man in the Sand; and a 48-page booklet with new liner notes by Nora Guthrie, lyrics, archival photographs, and facsimiles of lyric sheets and sketches by Woody Guthrie. Pre-orders include an exclusive print of Guthrie’s lyric sheet for “Hoodoo Voodoo.”

When American folk legend Woody Guthrie died in 1967, at the age of 55, among his stored belongings were thousands of complete song lyrics for which he had not written out music or made recordings. Many of them had been written in the 1940s and ’50s, in the Guthrie family home on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The lyrics remained in boxes for decades, but once his daughter Nora found them in the 1990s, she knew they had to be shared. She approached English singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg to select some to set to music. The Chicago rock band Wilco came aboard soon after, with Jeff Tweedy writing music—along with his late bandmate Jay Bennett on some songs—and the band recording with both Tweedy and Bragg on vocals. Natalie Merchant joined the group to sing a duet with Bragg and two solo songs, and guitarist/singer Corey Harris, who wrote two songs and co-wrote one, performed on many tracks. In 1998, the first batch of songs was released to critical acclaim as Mermaid Avenue, receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Mermaid Avenue Vol. II followed in 2000.

On Record Store Day, April 21, 2012, Nonesuch releases Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, which includes: Mermaid Avenue; Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (re-mastered); Mermaid Avenue Vol. III, comprising 17 previously unreleased recordings made during the Mermaid Avenue sessions; director Kim Hopkins’ 1999 film Man in the Sand, which documents those sessions; and a 48-page booklet with new liner notes by Nora Guthrie, full lyrics, archival photographs, and facsimiles of lyric sheets and sketches by Woody Guthrie. The set is available for pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store with an exclusive print of Guthrie’s lyric sheet for “Hoodoo Voodoo.”

In her liner note, Nora Guthrie describes her response to finding these lyrics, which were much more personal and journal-esque than the earlier works for which Woody was best known: “I had just discovered that my father had written more song lyrics than any of us could ever imagine. (Over 3,000 when I finally did the count.) I had just discovered that he had a bad crush on Ingrid Bergman and dreamed of getting her pregnant, that he felt sorry for Hans Eisler, that he was a proud lush and a comfortable luster, that he believed in flying saucers, that he was homesick for California, that he even knew who Joe DiMaggio was let alone wrote a song about him, or that he once made out with a girl in a tree hollow when, as a kid, he bragged, ‘There ain’t nobody that can sing like me.’”

The New York Times said of the first volume, “[Tweedy and Bragg] are the perfect pair to conclude that Guthrie, far from a predictable Popular Front totem, was a prophetic rock-and-roller with a whole lot to say. All he needed was a band and a little freedom…It says a great deal for [Bragg] that he recognized that his leftism only half-equipped him to bring it off. Woody Guthrie was as American as it gets, and [Chicago–based] Wilco provided that element as few other contemporaries could have. Wilco’s signature, a spacious stylistic sweep from blues to bluegrass, brings all this music to a life no…Brits or Nashville pros could have approached.”

Bragg told NPR in 1998, “The words are so powerful, they’re so evocative to many people…That’s the strength of Woody, it’s the simplicity.” Tweedy added, “I’d have a really good feeling about things if [the album] did lead a certain number of people back to discover Woody Guthrie.”

Pre-Order HERE

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Crosby, Stills & Nash Announce South American Tour Dates on 2012 World Tour

LOS ANGELES, March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) have announced dates for the South American leg of their 2012 world tour. The newly added shows include three concerts in Brazil—May 10 at Via Funchal in Sao Paulo, May 12 at Chevrolet Hall in Belo Horizonte, and May 13 at Citibank Hall in Rio de Janeiro. CSN website members will have access to pre-sale tickets beginning March 8; public on-sale for the dates begins March 16. Additional South American dates will be added.

CSN's itinerary in South America follows a March/April tour of Australia and New Zealand, and a string of U.S. dates in the second half of April; CSN have plans for an extensive US tour this summer.

Most recently, CSN performed a handful of U.S. dates in 2011, including the all-star MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre to benefit Japan disaster relief and groups promoting non-nuclear energy worldwide, and three shows at NYC's Beacon Theater.

More than four decades since CSN first harmonized in Laurel Canyon, and played their first-ever concert as a trio at the legendary Woodstock festival, its members continue a creative partnership that is one of the most influential and enduring in music. David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash have each been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice—once with Crosby, Stills & Nash, and a second time with The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Hollies, respectively. They have also been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, with the honor recognizing both CSN as a group, and each member as individual solo artists.

CSN's music first became a cornerstone of rock 'n roll with the self-titled 1969 debut LP, one of Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." Ever since—through changing times, various configurations, and acclaimed solo careers—Crosby, Stills & Nash have continued to tour and record as "three together."

Get the tour dates at www.crosbystillsnash.com

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reading and enjoying this wonderful slice of americana....

R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection [Hardcover]

Robert Crumb first began drawing record covers in 1968 when Janis Joplin, a fellow Haight Ashbury denizen, asked him to provide a cover for her album Cheap Thrills. It was an invitation the budding artist couldn't resist, especially since he had been fascinated with record covers-particularly for the legendary jazz, country, and old-time blues music of the 1920s and 1930s-since he was a teen. This early collaboration proved so successful that Crumb went on to draw hundreds of record covers for both new artists and largely forgotten masters. So remarkable were Crumb's artistic interpretations of these old 78 rpm singles that the art itself proved influential in their rediscovery in the 1960s and 1970s. Including such classics as Truckin' My Blues Away, Harmonica Blues, and Please Warm My Weiner, Crumb's opus also features more recent covers done for CDs. R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection is a must-have for any lover of graphics and old-time music. 450 four-color illustrations

Buy R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection


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GRIMEY'S BEST SELLERS 2/27 - 3/04, 2012

Vinyl Top 25:

1. Heartless Bastards - Arrow
2. Farrar/James/Johnson/Parker - New Multitudes
3. The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
4. Earth - Angels Of Darkness Demons Of Light 2
5. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
6. The Kills - The Last Goodbye 10"
7. Johnny Cash - Live From Austin TX
8. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
9. Pink Floyd - The Wall
10. Memoryhouse - Slideshow Effect
11. Chuck Mead & The Grassy Knoll Boys - Back At The Quonset Hut
12. Josh Ritter - Bringing In The Darlings 10"
13. Alabama Shakes - Live At Third Man 7"
14. Hunx - Hairdresser Blues
15. School Of Seven Bells - Ghostory
16. Various - Qat Coffee & Qambus: Raw 45s From Yemen
17. M83 - Hurry Up We're Dreaming
18. Feist - Metals
19. Grimes - Visions
20. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
21. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
22. Plants & Animals - The End Of That
23. Lambchop - Mr. M
24. Little Barrie - King Of Waves
25. Jonathan Wilson - Gentle Spirit

Source: grimeys.com

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and in music history for march 7th:

In 1917, the Dixie Jazz Band One Step by Nick LaRocca's Original Dixieland Jazz Band, credited with being the first jazz record, was released in the US.

In 1939, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians recorded "Auld Lang Syne." Although it became the band's signature tune and a tradition on New Year's Eve, their recording of it never charted.

In 1955, Carl Perkins becomes the first Country artist to have a hit on the Billboard R&B chart when his "Blue Suede Shoes" makes the list.

In 1957, in Boston, the Tune Weavers recorded "Happy Happy Birthday Baby."

In 1962, the Beatles appeared on the BBC radio show "Teenager's Turn - Here We Go." Recorded at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester, it was their first time on the BBC, their first full live performance caught on tape, and first appearance in what became their trademark Beno Dorn-designed collarless suits. They performed three cover versions: "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)," "Memphis" and "Please Mister Postman."

In 1964, Capitol Records was swamped with requests for heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay's album "I Am the Greatest" after Clay defeated Sonny Liston on February 25th. Cassius Clay had yet to win the heavyweight championship or, indeed, to change his name when this 1963 recording was made. Incredibly young sounding, he's at his best here when making swipe after verbal swipe at Sonny Liston, both in verse and in (scripted?) answers to audience questions. One silly sketch ("'I Have Written a Drama,' He Said Playfully") isn't up to the solo spots, but even that hardly disrupts the record's giddy tone. a near mint copy could set you back $50-75 or so.......

On this day in 1965, "Eight Days A Week" by the Beatles was the #1 song.

In 1966, Brian Wilson released his first solo single, "Caroline, No," from the "Pet Sounds" sessions. The track was later released as part of the Beach Boys album, "Pet Sounds."

Also in 1966, with Phil Spector as producer, Tina Turner recorded the vocal track for Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep-Mountain High." Spector had drawn up an unusual contract for the Turners because of Ike's control issues (and Spector's): the "River Deep-Mountain High" album and single were credited to "Ike & Tina Turner," but Ike was paid $20,000 to stay away from the studio, and only Tina Turner's vocals were used.

In 1968, in Los Angeles, Elvis Presley recorded "A Little Less Conversation."

In 1969, Tommy Roe's "Dizzy" was certified Gold.

Also in 1970, Melanie released "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)."

In 1973, a song from the movie Deliverance called "Dueling Banjos" by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandel becomes one of the few 1970s instrumentals to be awarded a Gold record. The record had topped the Cash Box Magazine Best Sellers list and reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1976, in London, Elton John became the first rock star since the Beatles to be immortalized with a lookalike figure at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

In 1983, Stevie Wonder and Neil Sedaka are inducted into the Songwriter's Hall Of Fame during a ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York.

In 1987, now that Beatles' albums are finally being released on CD, the Fab Four returned to the UK charts with "A Hard Day's Night" at #30, "Please Please Me" is #32, "With The Beatles" sits at #40 and "Beatles For Sale" is #45.

In 1991, the readers of Rolling Stone magazine voted George Michael best male singer and sexiest male artist. yeah...right

In 1997, Darlene Love, one of two lead singers on records credited to the Crystals, was awarded $250,000 in back royalties for the group's 1960s hit recordings. The award followed four years of litigation against record producer Phil Spector.

In 1999, singer Marv Ingram (Marvin Inabnett) of the Four Preps died after a heart attack at 60. Ingram left the vocal group in 1966 and became a commodities broker.

In 2000, songwriter/fiddler/accordionist/Country Music Hall of Famer Pee Wee King died after a heart attack at age 85. He was the first to introduce drums, horns, the accordion, and electric instruments, including the pedal steel guitar, to country music.

In 2001, the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts announced that Judy Garland's "Over The Rainbow" had been selected as their "song of the century." Rounding out their Top Ten were (#2) "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby, followed by "This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie, "Respect" by Aretha Franklin, "American Pie" by Don McLean, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" by the Andrews Sisters, "West Side Story" (album) by the original cast, "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" by Billy Murray, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by The Righteous Brothers, and (#10) "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin.

In 2009, Jimmy Boyd, the child vocalist best known for singing the 1952, Christmas novelty hit "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", died at age 70.

In 2011, singer/drummer Phil Collins announced his retirement from the music business in order to be a full-time father to his two young sons "on a daily basis."

birthdays today include (among others): Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum) (66), Peggy March (64), Ernie Isley (Isley Brothers) (60), Matt Frenette (Loverboy) (58), Randy Guss (Toad the Wet Sprocket) (45) and Peter Wolf (J. Geils Band) (66)