Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

new releases from our friends at MusicOnVinyl

CHICKEN SHACK - OK KEN?

O.K. Ken? was UK Brit Blues band Chicken Shack's most popular album, making the British Top Ten. It's the second album by the famed Blues band, released in 1969. The British ensemble offers a solid set of Blues-influenced Rock, noteworthy for Stan Webb's Freddie King-inspired guitar playing and Christine Perfect's vocals.

Better known as the future Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, this album was Christine Perfect's last album as a member of Chicken Shack. Perfect left the band in 1969 when she married John McVie of Fleetwood Mac. 180 gram audiophile vinyl and Gatefold sleeve!

SILVERCHAIR - DIORAMA

Australian rockers Silverchair released their fourth studio album Diorama in 2002. The follow-up album to Neon Ballroom (1999) was co-produced by Daniel Johns (singer, guitar)and David Bottrill. Diorama marked Johns' first production credit, while Bottril had worked on albums for a variety of other bands (Muse, Tool, The Smashing Pumpkins).

On Diorama Silverchair worked with composer Van Dyke Parks. The album contains various orchestral arrangements and power ballads, which was a change from the post-grunge music typical of their earlier work (Frogstomp and Freak Show), but consistent with the band's previous orchestrations on the album Neon Ballroom. The album includes singles like "The Greatest View" and Without You". Diorama reached number One on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Albums Chart and won five ARIA Awards in 2002.

Diorama was originally released on vinyl in 2002 in Australia and only available in very small quantities. Music On Vinyl is excited to add a high quality re-issue of this highly looked after vinyl record to their catalogue. On 180 gram audiophile vinyl

ROY ORBISON - SUN YEARS 1956 - 1958

Roy Orbison cut a pair of terrific Rockabilly singles for Sun with "Ooby Dooby" and "Domino." The Sun Years 1956-58 contains every track he recorded for the Sun label, including alternate takes and undubbed mixes. For hardcore Orbison and rockabilly collectors, the very comprehensiveness of The Sun Years 1956-58 makes the disc necessary! On 180 gram audiophile vinyl and Insert.

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - ANONIMO VENEZIANO

The Italian film Anonimo Veneziano from 1970 is notable for its romantic musical score, composed by Stelvio Cipriani. The award winning movie was written and directed by Italian actor Enrico Maria Salerno and starred American actor Tony Musante and Brazilian actress Florinda Bolkan.

Anonimo Veneziano (The Anonymous Venetian) revolves around a Venetian musician who sadly is affected by a terminal disease. He arranges to meet his ex-wife who is now living with someone else in another city, but he doesn't inform her about his tragic condition. While they walk through the streets and pass by the famous canels in Venice, they recall the happy times when they were still together.

Soon he has to perform a recently discovered classic concert piece, which is aptly titled Anonimo Veneziano as it's not known who composed the piece. In the meantime, his former wife realizes that she is still in love with him…

• 180 gram audiophile vinyl 
• Printed innersleeve
• First pressing available as limited edition of 500 copies on red vinyl

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For Immediate Release

Sade's 'Stronger Than Pride' To Be Released On Limited Edition 180g Vinyl LP

“A sublime, enduring classic...Sade's timeless masterpiece.”

Camarillo, CA – Music aficionados worldwide are buzzing with excitement over the release of Sade's 'Stronger Than Pride' on limited edition 180g vinyl on Marshall Blonstein's Audio Fidelity. In 1988, three years after leaving their fans begging for more, Sade released their third studio album, 'Stronger Than Pride', one of their best works ever. An international hit that lit-up the Pop, Jazz and R & B charts.

The platinum selling album includes sensual Brazilian bossa nova inspired acoustic material as well as three Billboard charted singles - the #1 smash “Paradise,” “Nothing Can Come Between Us” and “Turn My Back On You.”

On 'Stronger Than Pride', probably Sade's most stripped down and sparse album, the band creates the perfect groove for romance and fulfills the promise of their stunning debut by continuing a sense of sophistication and understated elegance, two hallmarks of the Sade sound. Sade's singing is exquisite.

'Stronger than Pride' exudes a greater confidence than the first two records, the talented band no longer has anything to prove. Stuart Matthewman on guitar and sax, Paul Spencer Denman on bass and Andrew Hale on keyboards are strong musicians/composers with distinctive character, the perfect vehicle for Sade's mature, lush vocal lead.

Sade offers cool composure... a unique sound that infuses Soul, Pop, Contemporary Jazz and a little Middle-Eastern flavor. It's impossible to separate the allure of this sultry music from the persona of the woman singing it, for Sade truly is a femme fatale of mythic dimension.

“...brilliant, exceptional, amazing and original - a warm and blissful pop-flavored modern jazz treasure.”

Tracks
Love Is Stronger Than Pride
Paradise
Nothing Can Come Between Us
Haunt Me
Turn My Back on You
Keep Looking
Clean Heart
Give It Up
I Never Thought I'd See the Day
Siempre Hay Esperanza

**Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio**

For more information, visit our friends at AudioFidelity

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A RARE 1962 RICKENBACKER PLAYED BY  GEORGE HARRISON AND JOHN LENNON HIGHLIGHTS JULIEN'S AUCTIONS MUSIC ICONS EVENT

Saturday, May 17, 2014  Hard Rock Café New York at Times Square

The “I Want to Hold Your Hand” Guitar used at the Abbey Road Studios Recording and Rare Beatles Memorabilia Is Fitting Tribute to 50 Years of The Beatles

Julien’s Auctions, the world’s premier entertainment and music memorabilia auction house, has announced Music Icons 2014 to be held Saturday, May 17, 2014 at the Hard Rock Café New York located at 1501 Broadway in Times Square,

Fifty years ago this year, a British rock band called The Beatles gave its first American TV performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and music history was made. This British invasion instantaneously kicked off a phenomenon that continues to this day with The Beatles, who remain the biggest rock band of our time. In celebration of the 50th Anniversary, the Music Icons auction event will be highlighted by an extraordinary array of Beatles-related memorabilia spanning decades of the musical careers of George, Paul, Ringo and John. Most notable is a rare 1962 Rickenbacker 425 guitar purchased in 1963 in Mount Vernon, Illinois by George Harrison while on a two-week visit to see his sister, Louise (serial # BH 439). The guitar was originally purchased at Fenton’s Music store and refinished by the owner from a Fireglo finish to the black George requested to match John Lennon’s similar Rickenbacker. (Estimate: $400,000-$600,000).

Harrison used the historical Rickenbacker for The Beatles first appearance on the television program Ready Steady Go! in October of 1963 and on the program Thank Your Luck Stars in December of 1963. He also used it during a week-long tour in Sweden. Harrison was photographed with the guitar extensively and the entire band has been photographed posing with the guitar. This is purported to be the only known photograph in existence of all four members of The Beatles holding a single guitar.

George Harrison played the 1962 Rickenbacker 425 in the Abbey Road studios when The Beatles recorded I Want to Hold Your Hand. This song gave The Beatles their now infamous big break in the United States. The same studio session included the recording of “This Boy.”

Both George Harrison and John Lennon played this guitar. Lennon played it backstage at a performance in Glasgow, Scotland on October 5, 1963. A photograph published in an August 1964 issue of Beat Monthly magazine shows Lennon with this very guitar. In the late 1960s or early 1970s Harrison gave this guitar to George Peckham, who had a long association with George Harrison and also Apple. Peckham originally borrowed a guitar from Harrison for his own appearance on Top of the Pops as a rhythm guitarist in the band The Fourmost.Upon returning it Harrison asked him if he would like to keep a guitar and showed him the Rickenbacker 425 considering is a “great rhythm player.” Peckham kept the guitar on the condition it would never be modified. The guitar case was given later to Peckham by Noddy Holder of Slade after Holder saw Peckham walking around with the guitar without a case and could not personally bear to see a Beatles guitar carried around without one.

The rare Rickenbacker 425 guitar with exceptional Beatles history is accompanied by two letters from Harrison’s office which confirm he gave the guitar to Peckham. One from Olivia Harrison and the other from Caroline Foxwell, Harrison’s assistant. Also present with the guitar is a letter from Peckham explaining the circumstances of the guitar. The guitar has also been exhibited at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles, the John Lennon Museum in Saitama, Japan and the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.

Other highlights included in the collection of Beatles memorabilia include a Paul McCartney used Hofner Bass (Estimate: $30,000-$50,000) circa 1966 with mother-of-pearl pickguard. The left-handed vintage bass was rented by Paul McCartney from Harris Hire in Beckenham, England on numerous occasions. The auction will also feature a very rare The Beatles signed “Beatles ‘65” album which was signed circa late 1964-late 1965 (Estimate $200,000-$300,000). The Capitol Records released stereo LP sleeve is signed on the front cover. Paul McCartney signed “Beatles/Paul McCartney/XXX” and Ringo Starr signed “The Beatles/Ringo Starr.” George Harrison and John Lennon each signed only their name. The item is housed in a frame with a “Gold” vinyl copy of the record. This signed album is very rare because The Beatles signed the back of their album sleeves which were generally the early British Parlophone Records releases. When Beatlemania hit, the band was not accessible and therefore signed Capitol released LPs or any Beatles album released after 1964 and signed are extremely difficult to find. This is one of only two known signed copies of the Beatles ’65 album still in existence.

For more information visit JuliensAuctions

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from our friends at SlyVinyl

Message To Bears – EP1 // Limited to 200 Red Vinyl EP

Delta Sleep – Management // Limited to 200 White w/ Blue Haze Vinyl LP






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Hum to Treat 'Downward Is Heavenward' to Vinyl Reissue











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these articles never get old!

Vinyl records are making a comeback







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WEEKLY WAX: Vinyl Releases For The Week Of 5/4-5/10





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“Undone”: The Story Behind Weezer’s Debut Album Cover











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from the great state of nevada, an interesting way to reveal album cover art:

Where’s Tiesto? Hunt down the DJ’s album art all over Las Vegas

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album cover art of the day (this won't offend anyone...):

BELPHEGOR: 'Conjuring The Dead' Cover Artwork Unveiled

Vinyl is still vital

The classic LP has survived the rise and fall of the CD, and now Westside record shops left standing after years of struggle are riding a wave of renewed interest in the format

By Michael Aushenker

  Soundsations’ Pete Grasso doesn’t mind checking the inventory

Technology — especially when it comes to media — is usually equated with progress, in which one format innovation replaces another, enhancing the user experience.

Well, a funny thing happened in the world of music.

The compact disc (CD), which was supposed to supplant the traditional vinyl record in the marketplace as the superior option, has itself been rendered obsolete by digital sales. As for the LP, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.

On L.A.’s Westside, record shops left standing after years of struggling to survive the digital age are riding the wave of a national resurgence of interest in vinyl.

On Saturday, wax specialists Soundsations in Westchester and Record Surplus and Touch Vinyl in West Los Angeles will participate in the annual brick-and-mortar booster National Record Store Day — only this time around, sales of music issued and re-issued in the classic LP format are not just about surviving but thriving.

In June 2013, The New York Times was among media outlets declaring a vinyl revival, gauged in equal parts by record sales, a vinyl fascination among listeners born after 1980 and a burgeoning trend of new pressing plants. According to the Times, Nielsen SoundScan estimated that 19,000 of the 339,000 units sold on the mid-May 2013 release of Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” (featuring the megahit “Get Lucky”) were on vinyl. Other albums experiencing disproportionate LP success included Vampire Weekend’s “Modern Vampires of the City” (which sold 10,000 on vinyl that same week) and the National’s “Trouble Will Find Me” (with 7,000). Catalog albums by perennial favorites such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan are constantly being reissued.

Meanwhile, many young companies have joined venerable record manufacturers in the current marketplace. Brooklyn Phono, a New York City company launched in 2000, manufactures nearly 500,000 LPs annually, while Quality Record Pressings in Kansas, established in 2011, generates 900,000 a year, including reissues of Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton for major labels. Canoga Park-based Rainbo Records churns out 7.2 million yearly.

“Vinyl never died,” said Touch Vinyl owner Sebastian Mathews. “It was always the best sound.”

Behind the music

Since its inception in 1972, Soundsations Records has changed ownership three times and moved around several locations in Westchester.

After working at Soundsations for three years, childhood friends Pete Grasso and Lee Wilson, both 27 at the time, bought the store in 1990.

“It was a hobby that turned into a business,” said Grasso, now 51. “We always liked music.”

Until recently, the store stood two blocks away on Sepulveda, but after being chased out of the location by higher rents, it occupies a corner spot on La Tijera Boulevard.

Grasso estimates that, from 1995-2000, “CDs were coming in strong. We were lucky to sell one vinyl a month.”

But things began improving drastically about four years ago, he said.

Record Surplus, an anchor of the Westside vinyl scene since 1985, has also changed hands and locations over the years.

Longtime employee Neil Canter took over Record Surplus from former owners Mike Colestock and Chuck Rose in 2008 after the store’s landlord died and his children “put the building up for sale and not at our price range,” Canter recalled.

In their 70s and facing the prospects of rising rent, a 10-year lease and the store’s probable relocation, Colestock (who also owns Rhino Records in Claremont) and Rose (whose family owns the Chicago chain Rose Records) sold Record Surplus to Canter, who now runs the store with wife Cheryl Perkey.

Canter, who came aboard Record Surplus in 1986 and became manager in 1989, remembers a time when there were two Record Surplus stores in Las Vegas, one in Costa Mesa and one neighboring the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in West Hollywood.

“I was paid to keep it open during the filming of [Oliver Stone’s 1991] Doors movie,” Canter recalled, chuckling, of the Sunset Strip location. “We made a neon sign for it.”

Even during lean years that followed the L.A. Riots and during the recent recession, “We still always sold a lot of records,” Canter said. “We never gave up on vinyl.

The ancillary Record Surplus branches were gone by the time Canter assumed the flagship West L.A. shop, which in 2011 did relocate from its Santa Monica-adjacent Pico Boulevard and Barrington Avenue location to its slightly bigger current space on Santa Monica Boulevard near Centinela Avenue.

“They basically offered me the store,” he said. “If you want to move, it’s your problem.”

Touch Vinyl’s Mathews, 32, may be the newbie among these shop owners, but his business arguably has the most offbeat of origins. Mathews used to represent screenwriters and work in development at J. J. Abrams’ production company, Bad Robot. However, he found working in Hollywood soul-sucking.

“The entertainment industry is a lot of people striving to make it, talking past each other instead of trying to make a connection and moving forward before collaborating,” Mathews said. “Whereas having a record shop, I’ll be invited to a birthday party of a customer.”

Mathews, however, has no delusions about his work: “I don’t consider myself music industry. I consider myself retail.”

After quitting entertainment, Mathews traveled to Scandinavia, where he wandered into the record shop 12 Tonar in Reykjavik, Iceland.

“They very clearly want you to hang out in addition to purchasing music,” he said of 12 Tonar’s cozy, clubhouse feel. “I saw that and it resonated with me.”

Upon returning to the States, Mathews set up shop on Sawtelle Boulevard near Idaho Avenue, just west of the 405, with no qualms about jumping into the vinyl biz in 2012.

“After 2008 and the decline, all the big stores went out of business: Tower Records, Virgin [Megastore],” Mathews said. “It created a void. Mom-and-pop stores took their place.”

Waxing nostalgic about wax

The vinyl resurgence also extends to the original Scratch DJ Academy, co-founded in 2002 by legendary turntablist Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell of pioneering rap group Run-DMC and located near Pico along the 405.

In an age where scratching has fallen out of vogue in rap songs while most electronic dance music deejays sequence their music from MacBooks, vinyl is still vital to many in the trade, with shop owners confirming that Scratch students and alums still frequent their shops.

“They used to bring the class to the store and make them look for beats,” Canter said. “Rap music has never abandoned vinyl. Original Pearl Jam or Nirvana, those aren’t easy to find. But you can still find rap on vinyl.”

Gary Freiberg, a vinyl enthusiast who in 2002 successfully campaigned for an official declaration of Vinyl Record Day in San Luis Obispo County and has patented a method for framing album covers, said digital technology hasn’t caught up with vinyl’s historic music catalogue.

Just as the CD’s format eliminates levels of sound heard on vinyl in order to simplify it into data, CDs have also thinned out catalogues of various musicians. Freiberg noted that many LPs by such artists as Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye and only a small fraction of all music ever recorded have been released as CDs.

Keeping vinyl in the hands of listeners “is a preservation of our audio history. It’s a representation of a culture, lifestyle and fashion,” he said. “It gives me great satisfaction to know that last year vinyl record sales were the highest in 22 years.”

According to the advocates of traditional albums, it’s not only the aural that’s augmented by records, but also the visual experience.

“It’s like a mini poster,” Grasso said of album jackets. “It’s more of an experience listening to vinyl than a CD. You have to flip it over, right? So you sit there, you absorb the music.”

Freiberg proudly recalls meeting Alex Steinweiss — who around 1940 convinced Columbia Records to replace brown paper sleeves with adorned packaging — shortly before the New York graphic artist’s death in 2012.

Freiberg considers The Beatles’ 1967 record “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” a watershed moment for album cover art, which has encompassed everything from the avant-garde paintings gracing 1950s and ‘60s Blue Note jazz albums to Robert Crumb’s cartoony cover for the 1968 Janis Joplin album “Cheap Thrills.”

Forward-thinking musical acts have long supported records, even through the doom-and-gloom 1990s.

Beck, one of that decade’s biggest rock stars, continued issuing his work on vinyl, as did the Beastie Boys, with rapper Mike D. gloating on the 1994 track “Sure Shot”: “I’m still listening to wax, I’m not using the CD.”

Jack White, who owns a Nashville vinyl store, recently discussed its charms at length on the VH-1 Classic appraisal show “For What It’s Worth.” The Arcade Fire and M83 also exploit the format.

“Younger people view it as objects of art,” Freiberg said. “I’m glad to see I’m not old school or a dinosaur.”

The RSD Effect

If National Record Store Day, with its promotional giveaways and discounts, is just a gimmick, it has been an effective one.

“It’s been very good for our store. We’ll have 30 to 40 people waiting outside before we open. It really pushed the whole industry,” Soundsations’ Grasso said.

“It’s a huge day for all independent record shops,” added Mathews. “It’s a day to spend,” representing for Touch Vinyl “about a month’s worth of sales in one day” and “lines out the door of 75 people. Generally, after the sales rush, we party and celebrate.”

Past events at Touch Vinyl have included a cook-out and a food truck. This weekend, there will be deejays and ice cream.

“I try and find something to give away,” said Record Surplus’ Canter, who has stored up a palette of original programs from 1970s and 1980s concerts by the Ohio Players, the Beach Boys and the Steve Miller Band. Record Surplus will also offer deals such as three records for 92 cents and 15% off certain merchandise.

National Record Store Day has kept up the annual push each April since 2007. This year, Public Enemy frontman Chuck D. serves as the day’s national ambassador, backed by testimonials from musicians Ziggy Marley, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Tweedy, Joan Jett, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Regina Spektor.

But not everyone sees RSD as purely altruistic.

“There are a lot of people who are resentful of Record Store Day,” Freiberg said. “I feel that it’s primarily a commercial venture organized by big money. It has really nothing to do with what [his alternative] Vinyl Record Day is about.”

Mathews acknowledges the holiday has grown up a bit.

“Earlier, there was more of a spirit for indie records, indie and smaller labels to create cool releases,” Mathews said. “It’s getting less independent.”

Canter said some customers only show up on Record Store Day to snag promotional gifts—some of which, Freiberg said, simply end up on eBay.

However, most agree about National Record Store Day’s upside: It bonds record dealers with customers as well as other vendors.

“The rising tide raises all ships,” Mathews said. “It’s only to our benefit to help each other.”

As the table turns…

On the Westside, frequent in-store activities keep the vinyl vibe going year-round.

On Thursday nights, Mathews hosts open tables for deejay sets.

“We’ll record the set. We’ll post it to our Soundcloud site,” he said. “We have a party around it.”

Mathews has seen all genres of DJs step up — hip-hop, house and electronic dance music — but “one of my favorites was a husband-and-wife team that had no real experience but a great collection of Scandinavian death metal,” he said.

Touch Vinyl also throws in-store concerts. On Friday, singer-songwriter Kyle Neal and indie band Inner Wave perform. Santa Monica experimental rockers Opus Orange visited the store earlier this year just prior to performing at the South by Southwest music, film and technology festival in Austin.

Record Surplus also recently added in-store concerts, starting with Kat Lenz and Her Jaguars in December and, last month, The Outta Sites.

“There’s only a few record stores left that I feel really comfortable in — The Bop Shop in Rochester, N.Y., Hymie’s in Minneapolis, and Record Surplus,” said Pete Curry, a member of the newly formed Outta Sites and the venerable band Los Straitjackets, which last year issued National Record Store Day limited-edition 45s.

Mathews said many Touch Vinyl customers skew younger and he encourages them to assist the careers of local acts.

“Say I like this band and I’m a graphic designer,” he said. “I can draw posters for them — practical, simple stuff an independent band can benefit from. When they get big, I can say, ‘I had a hand in that.’”

Rap crew Warm Brew and Moses Sumney are among the acts passing through Touch Vinyl who have benefited from such support.

If anything, 2014 is a time for optimism regarding the fate of the classic licorice pizza.

Freiberg sees the survival of vinyl culture as “part of the responsibility of the baby boomer generation. That parent has to pass that onto their children. I hope that it’s not a temporary hipness.”

The record resurgence will stick “as long as we don’t repeat the same mistakes,” Mathews said. “Putting vinyl in every Whole Foods is not ideal.”

“I think we’re doing something right,” said Canter. “I have customers I’ve seen since day one. … The Westside’s been good to us.”

For Mathews, the second coming of vinyl isn’t a fad — it’s a new beginning.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if vinyl record shops popped up in Venice, on Abbot Kinney [Boulevard] and the like. And that’s a good thing.”

Special thanks to author Michael Aushenker and ArgonautNews.com for allowing this reprint.

This story originally ran in the April 17 issue of the Argonaut weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, which covers eight coastal communities on L.A.'s Westside including Santa Monica, Venice and Marina del Rey. It was originally written to correspond with National Record Shop Day.  

Reprinted by Exclusive Permission, No Reproductions Allowed

Copyright Southland Publishing.  All Rights Reserved

Ask Mr. Music by Jerry Osborne

FOR THE WEEK OF MAY 5, 2014


DEAR JERRY: I caught part of a performance by a unidentified fellow on the Comedy Channel.

I was amused by one song he sang that, if lyric repetition is any indication, would be titled something like "Will You Love Me."

The humor is in certain auto parts and functions being described in a way that could also apply to an aging man, such as "will you love me when I can no longer shift my gears"? I can't remember any of the other foreseeable conditions.

This comic said it was a 60-year-old song, but that doesn't mean it was ever made on a record.

Was it, and if so, who sang it? —Nell Fitzgerald, Ripley, Ohio


DEAR NELL: I always knew that auto mechanics class I took in high school would one day pay off.

Against all odds, "will you love me," sung 20 times in just 75 seconds, is not the title. No, that would be "The Automobile Song," a line that is not heard even once during the song.

"The Automobile Song" was indeed a record (78 rpm), by the Pearl Trio (Featuring Larry Vincent), and issued in 1947 (Pearl 56).

That comedian's estimate of how old this song is turns out to be fairly close.

The young man in the story "was an automobile mechanic" who, "in terms of his profession," asked his sweetheart:

"Will you love me when my carburetor's busted," followed by other possible breakdowns, each preceded by "Will you love me":

… when I cannot shift my gears
… when I need a new condenser
… when my clutch begins to slip
… when my battery needs recharging
… when my pump is on the blink
… when I haven't got a cent, and my connecting rod is bent
… when my jalopy is a wreck
… when my vacuum cup is empty
… when my rear end's worn and torn
… when my rims are old and rusty
… when I cannot blow my horn
… when my inner tube is busted
… when my tank begins to leak
… when the junkman says no use, and my nuts and bolts are loose


DEAR JERRY: Who is the female vocalist featured on Frankie Avalon's recording of "Why"? I can't find anyone anywhere who knows. Since she is not given any credit on the label, she may have just been a session singer.
—Robert Veatch, Crossville, Tenn.

DEAR ROBERT: Because I have no ironclad proof, I will provide an educated guess, along with the reasoning for my pick.

For their first three years (1957-1959), Chancellor's talent roster was predominately male, with Frankie Avalon and Fabian being their top two acts.

Only three solo female artists had records during those years: Jodie Sands, Fran Lori, and Patty Brandon. Of those, Fran Lori sounds more like the person we hear singing with Frankie on "Why" (Chancellor 1045).

Chancellor even released records by Lori just before and soon after No. 1045. Those two are "Forgiveness" (1035) and "If You Only Knew" (1050). In fact, Fran was the only solo female on Chancellor from mid-1958 until early '61.

Lori had the motive (to sing on an eventual No. 1 hit alongside a major pop star); the means (a sweet voice and no other appointments that day); and the opportunity (already a Chancellor artist with studio access).

Whether I'm right or wrong, just having this topic in print may inspire someone to contact me who knows for certain. If I do learn more, you'll know about it right away.


IZ ZAT SO? For 22 months, from July 12, 1958 to May 14, 1960, there was not a single week when Frankie Avalon didn't have one or more tunes among the nation's Top 100 hits.

During 1959, Frankie had eight different songs on the charts: "I'll Wait for You"; "Venus"; "Bobby Sox to Stockings"; "A Boy Without a Girl"; "Just Ask Your Heart"; "Two Fools"; "Why"; and "Swingin' on a Rainbow."

Five made the Top 10 and the two single-word titles ("Venus" and "Why") reached No. 1.

Avalon's chart success was so strong in 1958 and '59 that he is the only one among the 40 highest ranking rock era artists of the 1950s, who did NOT have a hit before 1958!

Frankie's dream year earned him Photoplay Magazine's Most Popular Vocalist of 1959, and the Disk Jockey Association's title of the 1959 King of Song.

Jerry Osborne answers as many questions as possible through this column.  Write Jerry at: Box 255, Port Townsend, WA 98368  E-mail: jpo@olympus.net   Visit his Web site: www.jerryosborne.com

All values quoted in this column are for near-mint condition. 

Copyright 2014 Osborne Enterprises - Reprinted By Exclusive Permission 

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

from our friends at SoundStageDirect

Turn Blue (Pre-Order) by The Black Keys

The Black Keys’ new album, Turn Blue, will be released on Nonesuch Records. Produced by Danger Mouse, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, Turn Blue features 11 new tracks including the first single, “Fever.”

Turn Blue was recorded at Sunset Sound in Hollywood during the summer of 2013 with additional recording done at the Key Club in Benton Harbor, MI and Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound in Nashville in early 2014. Of the new album, the band says Turn Blue could refer to:

A: Suffocation
B: Sadness
C: Numbness from extreme cold
D: A Cleveland late night TV host from the 1960s named Ghoulardi
E: All of the above

Moreover, Carney comments, “We are always trying to push ourselves when we make a record—not repeat our previous work but not abandon it either. On this record, we let the songs breathe and explored moods, textures and sounds. We’re excited for the world to hear Turn Blue.”

Pre-Order at SoundStageDirect

Ghostbusters (Pre-Order) by Ray Parker, Jr

Ghostbusters b/w Ghostbusters 1984 Remixes Legacy Recordings and RSD celebrate the 30th anniversary of the blockbuster film comedy "Ghostbusters" with a collectible "ecto green" glow-in-the-dark 10" vinyl pressing of the film's #1 hit theme song by Ray Parker Jr., backed with original 1984 dance remixes of the track.

Pre-Order at SoundStageDirect



This Week's Bestselling Vinyl Records at SoundStageDirect

1. Ray Parker, Jr - Ghostbusters (Pre-Order)
2. Blind Melon - Blind Melon (Pre-Order)
3. Dave Matthews Band - Remember Two Things (Pre-Order)
4. Neil Young - A Letter Home
5. MFSL Original Master Record Sleeves (50)
6. KISS - Love Gun
7. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
8. The Mars Volta - De-loused In The Comatorium (Black Vinyl) (Pre-Order)
9. The Black Keys - Turn Blue (Pre-Order)
10. Various Artists - The Big Lebowski

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White Releasing Unique Vinyl Version Of LP Lazaretto

Jack White is pulling out all the stops for the Lazaretto 12" vinyl version; which is slated for release on June 10, 2014. White has some vinyl gimmickry planned for the vinyl release of Lazaretto, which is being called an ULTRA LP.  A little over the top, maybe, but a unique piece of collectible vinyl!

Here's a list of the special one-of-a-kind features:

- 180 gram vinyl
 - 2 vinyl-only hidden tracks hidden beneath the center labels
 - 1 hidden track plays at 78 RPM, one plays at 45 RPM, making this a 3-speed record
- Side A plays from the outside in
 - Dual-groove technology: plays an electric or acoustic intro for “Just One Drink” depending on where needle is dropped. The grooves meet for the body of the song.
 - Matte finish on Side B, giving the appearance of an un-played 78 RPM record
 - Both sides end with locked grooves
 - Vinyl pressed in seldom-used flat-edged format
 - Dead wax area on Side A contains a hand-etched hologram by Tristan Duke of Infinity Light Science, the first of its kind on a vinyl record
 - Absolutely zero compression used during recording, mixing and mastering
 - Different running order from the CD/digital version
 - LP utilizes some mixes different from those used on CD and digital version

TRACKLIST: 
S i d e O n e 
1. Three Women
2. Lazaretto
3. Temporary Ground
4. Would You Fight For My Love?
5. High Ball Stepper

S i d e T w o 
6. Just One Drink
7. Alone in My Home
8. That Black Bat Licorice
9. Entitlement
10. I Think I Found the Culprit
11. Want and Able


Jack White and Ben Blackwell discuss and demonstrate the ULTRA LP features in the video below:

 

 You can pre-order the vinyl at ThirdManRecords

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from our friends at TheOmegaOrder

RICH ROBINSON - The Ceaseless Sight 2LP/Poster Bundle

Rich Robinson, best known as the guitarist, songwriter, and founder of The Black Crowes, stands ready to complete the solo artist evolution that he began ten years earlier. The Ceaseless Sight, is an album that represents the full maturation of Rich as a songwriter, a vocalist, and a solo artist. A worldwide Black Crowes tour kept Robinson busy in 2013, but he found the time to return to Woodstock to record The Ceaseless Sight. The album finds Robinson stepping solidly into his own as a solo artist as he adds confident vocalist and lyricist to his accomplished musical resume. The Ceaseless Sight will be released early in 2014 and the Rich Robinson Band will tour through the year in support of its release.

BUNDLE INCLUDES:
Brand new studio album
Exclusive Screen printed poster
The Acoustic/Instrumental EP 'The Dirigible Utopia'  in a silkscreen printed CD sleeve.
All LP orders will come the the full album  CD insert with the Vinyl

Order HERE

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from our friends at SlyVinyl

Pyramidal – Live Freaks (Live at Freak Valley Festival 2013) // Limited Colored LPs

Worthless – Greener Grass // Limited to 200 Translucent Green Vinyl 7"






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Amazon's Top Ten Best Selling Vinyl

1. XSCAPE ~ Michael Jackson (pre-order)
2. Led Zeppelin II ~ Led Zeppelin (pre-order)
3. Violator (180 Gram Vinyl) ~ Depeche Mode
4. Led Zeppelin III ~ Led Zeppelin
5. III ~ Badbadnotgood
6. Southsiders ~ Atmosphere
7. Wolf (2LP+CD) ~ The Creator Tyler
8. And Then You Shoot Your Cousin ~ The Roots
9. Singles ~ Future Islands
10. Everyday Robots ~ Damon Albarn

Amazon's Top Ten Best Selling Music

1. Frozen ~ Demi Lovato
2. Shine On ~ Sarah McLachlan
3. Turn Blue ~ The Black Keys
4. Ghost Stories ~ Coldplay
5. NOW 50: That's What I Call Music ~ Now Music
6. XSCAPE (Deluxe Edition CD\DVD) ~ Michael Jackson
7. Natalie Merchant ~ Natalie Merchant
8. Disney's Karaoke Series: Frozen ~ Disney Karaoke Series
9. Corazon (Deluxe Edition CD/DVD) ~ Santana
10. G I R L ~ Pharrell Williams

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a rare look at the downloading and streaming charts:

Top 10 Streamed Tracks on Spotify - Monday, April 28, to Sunday May 4

UNITED STATES

1. Iggy Azalea, "Fancy" (Virgin EMI Records)
2. John Legend, "All of Me" (Columbia Records)
3. Ariana Grande, "Problem" (Republic Records)
4. Katy Perry, "Dark Horse" (Capitol Records)
5. Calvin Harris, "Summer" (Columbia Records)
6. Jason Derulo, "Talk Dirty - feat. 2 Chainz" (Warner Bros. Records)
7. DJ Snake & Lil Jon, "Turn Down for What" (Columbia Records)
8. Bastille, "Pompeii" (Virgin Records Ltd)
9. Coldplay, "Magic" (Parlophone UK)
10. Idina Menzel, "Let It Go" (Disney Enterprises, Inc.)

UNITED KINGDOM

1. Mr. Probz, "Waves - Robin Schulz Radio Edit" (Ultra / Sony Music Entertainment Netherlands B.V.)
2. Kiesza, "Hideaway" (Lokal Legend/Universal Music Ltd.)
3. Clean Bandit, "Rather Be feat. Jess Glynne" (Warner Music UK Limited)
4. Iggy Azalea, "Fancy" (Virgin EMI Records)
5. John Legend, "All of Me" (Columbia Records)
6. Aloe Blacc, "The Man" (XIX Recordings LLC/Interscope Records)
7. Sigma, "Nobody to Love - Extended Mix" (All Around The World)
8. Calvin Harris, "Summer" (Columbia Records)
9. Coldplay, "Magic" (Parlophone UK)
10. Katy Perry, "Dark Horse" (Capitol Records)

GLOBAL

1. Clean Bandit, "Rather Be feat. Jess Glynne" (Warner Music UK Limited)
2. Calvin Harris, "Summer" (Columbia Records)
3. Mr. Probz, "Waves - Robin Schulz Radio Edit" (Ultra / Sony Music Entertainment Netherlands B.V.)
4. Katy Perry, "Dark Horse" (Capitol Records)
5. John Legend, "All of Me" (Columbia Records)
6. Coldplay, "Magic" (Parlophone UK)
7. Aloe Blacc, "The Man" (XIX Recordings LLC/Interscope Records)
8. David Guetta, "Bad (feat. Vassy) - Radio Edit" (Parlophone France)
9. Iggy Azalea, "Fancy" (Virgin EMI Records)
10. Pharrell Williams, "Happy (from Despicable Me 2)" (Back Lot Music/Columbia Records)


iTunes' Official Music Charts for the week ending May 5, 2014

Top Songs

1. Problem (feat. Iggy Azalea), Ariana Grande
2. Fancy (feat. Charli XCX), Iggy Azalea
3. Happy (From "Despicable Me 2"), Pharrell Williams
4. All of Me, John Legend
5. Turn Down For What, DJ Snake, Lil Jon
6. Me and My Broken Heart, Rixton
7. Talk Dirty (feat. 2 Chainz), Jason Derulo
8. Not a Bad Thing, Justin Timberlake
9. Sing, Ed Sheeran
10. Play It Again, Luke Bryan

Top Albums

1. Frozen, Various Artists
2. Shatter Me, Lindsey Stirling
3. Ghost Stories, Coldplay
4. The New Classic, Iggy Azalea
5. Just As I Am, Brantley Gilbert
6. Supernova, Ray LaMontagne
7. After Hours, Timeflies
8. Obsessed, Jim Gaffigan
9. Passion: Take It All (Deluxe E..., Passion
10. These Things Happen, G-Eazy

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our friends at TheOmegaOrder have a Mother's day sale ( NOTHING SAYS "I LOVE YOU MOM" LIKE BRUTAL DEATH METAL!!)

Visit TheOmegaOrder







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Little Mermaid and Lion King Limited Edition Vinyl Picture Discs

Hot Topic is the exclusive retailer for newly released limited edition vinyl LPs featuring the soundtracks of Disney animated classics The Little Mermaid and The Lion King.










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album cover art of the day:

Origin Unveils New Album Artwork And Track Listing

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

new releases from our friends at Sundazed

Condello - Phase 1  

Mike Condello did it all in four decades in the music business: serve as music director for two local Phoenix TV shows (Teen Beat and The Wallace & Ladmo Show), lead his own bands like Hub Cap and the Wheels, parody the Beatles with Commodore Condello’s Salt River Navy Band, and even play with luminaries like Keith Moon, the Tubes, and Jackson Browne. In 1968, he also led his own band — which released the psychedelic masterwork Phase 1 on Scepter Records. Featuring a young Bill Spooner (pre-Tubes) on guitar, the album flows and trickles through your mind with more saturation than Lucy and her diamonds in the sky — picking up a few nuggets, boulders, and pebbles in the emergent violet haze. The phases of this pricey rarity — mastered from the original analog reels and pressed on lush 180 gram vinyl by RTI — are guaranteed to put your mind into a psychedelized headswirl trip that you’ll want to take again and again

• RTI 180 gram audiophile pressing
• From the original master tapes 
• Faithful reproduction of the original artwork 

This title will be shipped by the release date of May 27, 2014

Order at Sundazed

Paper Garden - Paper Garden

Sgt. Pepper taught a lot of bands to play in 1967, including New York’s Paper Garden, whose absorption of the Fab Four’s Summer of Love statement came out on Musicor Records the following year. What Paper Garden can’t match in terms of the Beatles’ sophistication they make up for in ambition, as exhibited on the harpsichord-enhanced pop genius of “Lady’s Man,” orchestrated gems like “Way Up High,” the fuzz-pop-psych of “I Hide,” and Eastern grooves on “Man Do You” and “Raining.” With influences of the early Bee Gees and Brill Building pop also shading the proceedings, the album’s kaleidoscopic essence permeates every note — right down to the ultra-cool color-burst cover likely drawn under a pseudonym by Australian artist Martin Sharp of Disraeli Gears fame. That brilliant art can be viewed again in its full-size glory on this beautiful RTI 180 gram vinyl edition, mastered from the original Musicor reels by Bob Irwin.

• RTI 180 gram audiophile pressing 
• From the original master tapes 
• Faithful reproduction of the original gatefold LP jacket art 

This title will be shipped by the release date of May 27, 2014

Order at Sundazed

Joseph - Stoned Age Man

Rooted in the steamy backroads of Texas and deep-fried at a Memphis recording studio, Joseph’s Stoned Age Man was served up like a sizzling hot rattlesnake appetizer slathered in fuzz-blooz grease in 1969. Legend has it that the titles of eight of the album’s nine songs came before they were written on the spot, which speaks volumes for the talents of Joseph (aka, Joseph Longeria) — who A&R man Steve Tyrell signed to Scepter Records after witnessing the Lone Star State bluesman gig with B.B. King and T-Bone Burnett. Brandishing his guitar like a Cro-Magnon’s club, Joseph mixes his fuzzy licks with meat-grinder vocals as he loudly ruminates of fattened snakes, fish heads, mountains, cavemen and gumbo in the maddest peyote hallucination Alley Oop never had. Long revered among collectors, this fine slab o’ rock gets its first-ever reissue from the original masters, pressed at RTI onto 180 grams of cold hard vinyl that’ll rip your turntable from its hinges.

• RTI 180 gram audiophile pressing
• From the original master tapes
• Faithful reproduction of the original artwork

This title will ship by the release date of May 27, 2014

Order at Sundazed

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from Suicide Squeeze Records

THE COATHANGERS "LARCENY & OLD LACE" LP REPRESS

The third pressing of this LP is limited to 500 copies on translucent green vinyl and comes with a free download code. Each order comes with a Coathangers "Larceny & Old Lace" poster.

The Coathangers reckless energy from their half-serious roots is every bit as vibrant and rambunctious on their latest album, Larceny & Old Lace. But this time around we’re hearing a band that’s honed their trade and incorporated more stylistic variations. It’s also the band’s first experience in a proper studio; the album was recorded with Ed Rawls at The Living Room in Atlanta, Georgia. The result is a record that feels like The Coathangers we’ve always known and loved, but sounds like a band taking their trade more seriously. Where their past recordings were a mash-up of garage rock’s rough and loose instrumentation and no-wave’s abrasive tonalities, Larceny & Old Lace showcases a broader song-writing range. “Go Away” taps into a ‘60s girl-group sound. “Call to Nothing” employs the paint-peeling guitars, dance beats, and slightly ominous melodies of the early post-punk pioneers. “Well Alright” is reminiscent of Rolling Stones’ bawdy R&B strut. “Tabbacco Road” is perhaps the biggest leap for the band, completely eschewing their rabble-rousing strategy in favor of penning a pensive and somber ballad. With this broadened artistic horizon, refinement of technique, and Ed Rawls’ production allowing every instrument to shine without detracting from the band’s natural grit.

Order a copy at  SuicideSqueezeRecords

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news from TouchandGoRecords

Slint - Spiderland (remastered)

All 3,138 copies of the Slint Spiderland (remastered) Box Set were sold out long before the release date of April 15th, before receiving a perfect “10” on pitchfork.com, and before the 5-star review in the May issue of Mojo. Ever since early March, when we turned off the ability to pre-order the box set from our web site, the Touch and Go inbox has been overflowing with requests that we release a more modest version for those who missed out on, or could not afford, the limited edition box set.

In response, we are very excited to announce the June 24th release of Spiderland (remastered) as a single 180 gram vinyl LP + DVD (of the documentary “Breadcrumb Trail”), as a single CD + DVD, and as a digital album.

AND!!! For those who crave something just a bit more unique, are also be offering a Limited Edition GREEN & BLACK SWIRL 180 gram vinyl LP of Spiderland (remastered) + DVD, exclusively via pre-order here at the Touch and Go Records web store (while supplies last).

The vinyl + DVD version includes:

 •Slint's 1991 album, Spiderland, remastered from the original analog master tapes by our friend Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service. This is the same version as was included in the Spiderland (remastered) Box Set.

 •"Breadcrumb Trail”, the 90 minute DVD documentary about Slint before, during, and after the making of Spiderland, previously included in the Spiderland (remastered) Box Set, and directed by Lance Bangs.

 •A download coupon for 14 bonus outtakes and demos personally selected by Slint and mastered by Bob Weston, as well as downloads of the entire Spiderland (remastered) album itself . These are digital files of the same versions of these songs as were included on vinyl & CD in the Spiderland (remastered) Box Set. The 14 bonus songs are not included on the vinyl album; they are included in this vinyl package as digital downloads only.

 •Packaged in a heavy weight “tip-on” gatefold LP jacket with a large format, glued-in, 12 page book of photos including a foreword by Will Oldham and printed in the USA at Stoughton

 •Packaging concept and design by Louisville native Jeremy deVine (of Temporary Residence fame)

 •Spiderland (remastered) LP pressed on 180 gram black vinyl, or,  limited edition 180 gram black & green swirl colored vinyl version available only via pre-order from this Touch and Go Records web store. Pressed in the USA at RTI

Place your order HERE

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Harvey Danger's 'Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?' Celebrated with First Vinyl Pressing

Nearly two decades after its release, Seattle indie rock band Harvey Danger’s cherished debut full-length album, Where have all the merrymakers gone?, will be released on vinyl LP for the first time ever on July 29th via No Sleep Records.

The Vinyl packaging will feature new artwork, designed by band members Aaron Huffman, Evan Sult and Sean Nelson, that features the same house where the band lived together during their early years - as depicted in the original cover art - now updated to reflect the passage of time.

Originally released in 1997, the LP catapulted the young band to stardom with the massive radio and video success of their anthemic hit song “Flagpole Sitta.” The album has since sold over half a million copies with the single still receiving regular airplay on radio stations across the country.

For many critics, Harvey Danger’s history begins and ends with “Flagpole Sitta.” However, a revisitation of Where have all the merrymakers gone? reveals an album that transcends it’s most famous song with music that is smart, sardonic and dynamic and a band that was far more than simply a “one hit wonder.”

Harvey Danger emerged from the garages and basements of mid-'90s Seattle playing music that walked a line between indie-rock and pop-punk, with an uncommon emphasis on the clever, heartfelt lyrics. They never sought worldwide notoriety, but managed the best they could when it was thrust upon them. Simply put it was four kids, Aaron Huffman (bass), Jeff Lin (guitar), Evan Sult (drums) and Sean Nelson (vocals), who created a song and an album that made a mark on rock music and whose pleasures have only deepened with time.

Pre-Order NoSleepRecords

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Sonic Youth to reissue 'Daydream Nation'

On June 10 Sonic Youth will reissue the original 2xLP and CD editions of Daydream Nation and the CD edition of Ciccone Youth’s The Whitey Album via the band’s own label distributed by Revolver/Midheaven.

Daydream Nation and The Whitey Album will be followed by LP and CD editions of Sonic Youth’s currently out-of-print pre-Geffen catalog including Bad Moon Rising, EVOL, Sister, Confusion is Sex and a DVD edition of Screaming Fields of Sonic Love w/ bonus material.

The last time Sonic Youth members appeared on stage together came in late 2013 when Thurston Moore performed with Lee Ranaldo at a London show.

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North America’s biggest vinyl manufacturer plans massive expansion





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from the great state of california:

Vinyl is still vital








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nice article from the great state of iowa:

Maximum Ames Records finds its groove with Iowa bandse







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vinyl record story from new zealand:

Alan Perrott: Just for the record





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from the land down under, a look at audio history:

Adelaide Remember When... we used to listen to music on vinyl!






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Soundtrack to David Lynch's 'Dune' Treated to Vinyl Reissue











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R.I.P. iPod: Sony unveils cassette tape that can hold 64,750,000 songs








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Vinyl Records Get Turned Into Scenes From “The Walking Dead”







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a comprehensive look at some of this year's record store day releases:

Exclusive Top 30 Vinyl Albums from Cake, Built to Spill, The Ramones, Tame Impala, Dinosaur Jr., Velvet Underground, Devo

New Music Releases - May 6, 2014

Albino Rhino - Albino Rhino
Amarante - Cavalo
Andrew Hewitt - The Double OST
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Christmas Island (vinyl)
Andy Sadoway - Str8 Sh00ter EP (tape)
Antwon - Heavy Hearted in Doldrums
Anushka - Distorted Air EP (12")
Arkona - Yav
Atmosphere - Southsiders (vinyl)
Aurvandil - Thrones
BadBadNotGood - III (vinyl)
Battleroar - Blood of Legends
Being As An Ocean - How We Both Wondrously Perish
Bell Biv Devoe - Poison
Ben Harper and Ellen Harper - Childhood Home (vinyl)
Big Country - Steeltown: Deluxe Edition
Billy Childish - Archive From 1959 (3xLP)
Black Stone Cherry - Magic Mountain
Blood Red Shoes - Blood Red Shoes (vinyl)
Blue Magic - Message From The Magic
Bon Scott & Brian Johnson - Roots Of AC/DC
Brian Eno and Charles Hyde - Someday World
Careful - The World Doesn't End
Cloud Control - Dream Cave (vinyl)
Cobalt - War Metal (reissue)
Coldplay - Midnight (7")
Connie Francis - Complete U.S. & U.K. Singles
Cradle of Filth - Total F–king Darkness (reissue)
Crash - Hardly Criminal (vinyl)
Cryan' Shames - Scratch in the Sky: Deluxe Expanded Mono Edition
Current Swell - Ulysses (vinyl)
Curtis Harding - Soul Power
Cymbals - Sideways, Sometimes (vinyl)
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots (2xLP)
Dat Oven - Icy Lake (12")
Dave Harrington - Before This There Was One Heart But a Thousand Thoughts (EP)
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim - Here Lies Love (2xCD)
Dionne Warwick - Feels So Good
Direct Hit! - Brainless God (vinyl)
Dwellers - Pagan Fruit (vinyl)
DZ Deathrays - Black Rat
E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr - Spiralo
Electrocution - Metaphysincarnation
Elephant - Sky Swimming (vinyl)
Eno and Hyde - Someday World (2xLP)
Equals - Tracts
Fatima Al Qadiri - Asiatisch (vinyl)
Flying Burrito Brothers - Devils In Disguise
Fujiya and Miyagi - Artificial Sweeteners
Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
Hamilton Leithauser - Black Hours
Happy Diving - Happy Diving (tape)
Howlin Rain - Live Rain (2xLP)
Hunter Hayes - Storyline
Ifing - Against the Weald
Infecting The Swarm - Patheogenesis
J Dilla - Give Them What They Want (12")
Jacques Greene - Phantom Vibrate EP (12")
Jamie xx - Girl/Sleep Sound (12")
Jeffertitti's Nile - The Electric Hour (vinyl)
Jellyfish - Bellybutton
Jellyfish - Spilt Milk
Jenny Scheinman - The Littlest Prisoner
Joanne Wilson - Got to Have You (12")
Joe Mansfield - Drumulator (7")
Karl Hector and The Malcouns - Coomasi (12")
Kina Grannis - Elements (vinyl)
King Dude - Fear
Kirsty MacColl - All I Ever Wanted - The Anthology
Kiss - Asylum (reissue) (vinyl)
Kiss - Creatures of the Night (reissue) (vinyl)
Kiss - Love Gun (reissue) (vinyl)
Kiss - MTV Unplugged (reissue) (2xLP)
Kiss - Psycho Circus (reissue) (vinyl)
LAFAWNDAH - LAFAWNDAH EP
Le1f - Hey EP (12")
Leisure Cruise - Leisure Cruise
Liam Finn - The Nihilist
Lily Allen - Sheezus
Limb - Limb (vinyl)
Luka Bloom - Head & Heart
Lykke Li - I Never Learn (vinyl)
Madam Robot and the Lust Brigade - Gardens (vinyl)
Madlib and Freddie Gibbs - Pinata (tape)
Makthaverskan - II (vinyl)
Marc Maron - Thinky Pain (vinyl)
Matrimony - Montibello Memories
Maximo Park - Too Much Information (vinyl)
Michael Stanley - The Job
Michael Sweet - I’m Not Your Suicide
Mick Harvey - Intoxicated Man / Pink Elephants (remastered) (2xLP+CD)
MONEY - The Shadow Of Heaven
Monster Rally - Coral (vinyl)
Moodie Black - Nausea
Morning Parade - Pure Altered Joy
Move - Live at Fillmore 1969
Mr. Little Jeans - Pocketknife (vinyl)
Muddy Waters - Complete Aristocrat & Chess Singles A's & B's 1947
Music Band - Can I Live (tape)
Natalie Merchant - Natalie Merchant
Naughty Boy - Hotel Cabana
Never Young - Master Copy (tape)
Nikki Lane - All Of Nothin' (vinyl)
Nine Black Alps - Candy for the Clowns (vinyl)
Nirvana - In Utero 2013 (reissue) (vinyl)
Noneuclid - Metatheosis
Nothington - Lost Along the Way (vinyl)
Ornette Coleman - This Is Our Music (vinyl)
Papercuts - Life Among the Savages (vinyl)
Paws - Youth Culture Forever
People Under the Stairs - 12 Step Program (2xLP)
Pet The Preacher - The Cave & the Sunlight
Rachel Taylor Brown - Falimy
Ray and Remora - 1994
Ray LaMontagne - Supernova (vinyl)
Richter | Deridder | Konzerthaus Kammerorchesterberlin - Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons
Robin Trower - For Earth Below (vinyl)
Rodrigo Amarante - Cavalo (vinyl)
Rolling Stones - 12 x 5 (reissue) (vinyl)
Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out (reissue) (vinyl)
Rolling Stones - Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)(vinyl)
Sade - Stronger Than Pride (vinyl)
Santana - Amigos (vinyl)
Santata - Corazon
Sarah McLachlan - Shine On
Savages - Fuckers (12")
SBTRKT - Transitions (12")
Seahawks - Paradise Freaks (vinyl)
Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Skinner - Sleepwalkers
Sleepyhead - Wild Sometimes (vinyl)
Small Wonder - Wendy (tape)
Styx, Foreigner - The Soundtrack of Summer: The Very Best of Foreigner and Styx (Wal-Mart Exclusive)
Tech N9ne Collabos - Strangeulation (2xLP)
Thad Cockrell - To Be Loved (vinyl)
The Horrors - Luminous (deluxe edition) (2xLP)
The Icypoles - My World Was Made For You (vinyl)
The Lowest Pair - 36 (vinyl)
The Residents - Residue of The Residents (2xLP)
The Residents - Santa Dog (2x7")
The White Buffalo - Hogtied Revisited
Thee Headcoatees - Ballad of the Insolent Pup (reissue) (vinyl)
Thee Headcoatees - Bozstik Haze (reissue) (vinyl)
Thee Headcoatees - Here Comes Cessation (reissue) (vinyl)
Thee Headcoatees - How Love Will Travel (vinyl)
Thin Lizzy - Chinatown (reissue) (vinyl)
Thomas Dybdahl - What's Left Is Forever
Toddla T Sound - On Acid EP
Tony Molina - Dissed and Dismissed
Tune-Yards - Nikki-Nack (colored vinyl)
Tyler Bates - The Sacrament OST
Vanderslice - Everything's Awesome
Various Artists - 69 Annee Melodique (vinyl)
Various Artists - All My Friends: Celebrating The Songs & Voice Of Gregg Allman (2CD+1DVD)
Various Artists - Bleep: 10 (vinyl)
Various Artists - Divergent OST (vinyl)
Various Artists - DJ Andy Smith's Jam Up Twist U.S.A.
Various Artists - Here Lies Love: Original Cast Recording
Various Artists - Pitch Perfect OST (vinyl)
Velnias - Sovereign Nocturnal
Vestal Claret - The Cult of Vestal Claret
Vinnie Paz - Season of the Assassin (2xLP)
Voice Of Ruin - Morning Wood
Wildchild - T.G.I.F.
Willie Watson - Folk Singer Vol. 1
Woman Is the Earth - This Place That Contains My Spirit
Wooden Wand - Farmer's Corner (vinyl)
Xandria - Sacrificum
Yalls - United (vinyl)
Young Magic - Breathing Statues (colored vinyl)

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

Just a reminder, the Spacelab9 Walking Dead Soundtrack Vinyl Contest is taking entries until May 23, 2014!  Enter today for your chance to win this super collectible vinyl!

Our friends at SPACELAB9.COM have given me a copy of the Walking Dead "Black Smoke" Soundtrack to give away to a lucky blog reader. The contest is simple and will work as many of the CVR contests have. Just email me at rbenson30@wi.rr.com with the words "Spacelab9 Walking Dead Soundtrack Vinyl Contest" in the subject line and you are automatically entered. Limit one email entry per person. Entries limited to the USA residents only. The winner will be chosen at random among the qualifying email entries at noon on May 23, 2014. 


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new releases from our friends at MusicOnVinyl

BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB

When Black Rebel Motorcycle Club released their self titled-debut album in 2001, they immediately made an impact on the music scene. The self-produced debut album was praised as a group's cohesive, solid production overall. The American rock band from San Francisco is influenced by bands like The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Led Zeppelin, The Verve, The Velvet Underground and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

From the album opener "Love Burns" to the ultra-fine space pop of "Too Real" to the track "Spread Your Love", which was used in the film A Man Apart and features in the TV show Skins, B.R.M.C. is a very impressive debut. The re-issue of the album contains 4 bonus tracks, which weren't released on the original vinyl version. The fourth side of the 2 LP set contains a beautiful etch and the first 2.000 copies are numbered and pressed on silver marbled vinyl! Strictly limited!

• 180 gram audiophile vinyl 
• Gatefold sleeve
• Etched D-side
• Includes 4 bonus tracks
• First pressing of 2.000 numbered copies on silver marbled vinyl

ELVIS PRESLEY - RECORDED LIVE ON STAGE IN MEMPHIS

Following the artistic success of his 1973 Stax sessions and the global phenomenon of the Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite album and broadcast the same year, Elvis opened 1974 with a 15 city tour routed to end in Memphis and a state-of-the-art concert recording. When originally released as a single LP, Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis reached #1 on the Country charts and featured "How Great Thou Art," the track that would bring Elvis his third Grammy win.

This luxury quadruple vinyl reissue contains a previously unreleased "Test Run" of the entire show recorded with a live audience at the Richmond Coliseum a few days before the legendary concert. The remarkable "test run" performance was recorded in MONO, drenched in the reverb Elvis preferred, and provides new insight into the magic of Elvis.

As a special added bonus for Elvis aficionados, we've included five intimate tracks (three of them previously unreleased) cut at the RCA Studios in Hollywood on August 16, 1974. Originally intended as reference recordings for an upcoming Las Vegas engagement, the performances—which include "Down In The Alley," "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues," "Softly As I Leave You," "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "The Twelfth Of Never" — provide a rare fly-on-the-wall glimpse into Elvis' consummate backstage artistry as he prepares these songs for concert.

Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis will include a 16 page booklet featuring rare photos, previously unseen memorabilia, new liner notes, press clips and more.

• 180 gram audiophile vinyl 
• 3-fold gatefold sleeve
• Includes 16-page booklet
• Remastered audio
• 40th Anniversary Edition

COUNT BASIE - THIS TIME BY BASIE!

This 12-song release reveals a wonderful body of work of the one and only Count Basie, including arrangements by Quincy Jones. This Time by Basie (1963) swings, smooth and easy, and is hot and heavy.

From Sonny Payne's understated cymbal intro to "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" to the bluesier notes of "One Mint Julep," Basie and company sound like they're enjoying themselves, whether elegantly stretching out on "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" or "Moon River."  On 180 gram audiophile vinyl !




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CONCORD MUSIC GROUP REISSUES VINCE GUARALDI’S CLASSIC SOUNDTRACK TO A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN

Remastered vinyl and CD recordings mark 50th anniversary of the soundtrack to a TV documentary that never aired 

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Most of us recall A Charlie Brown Christmas — the classic animated special that originally aired on network television during the holiday season of 1965 — as the moment when pianist Vince Guaraldi first breathed life into the entire Peanuts gang with a series of compositions that have since become as iconic as the characters themselves.

But a year earlier, Guaraldi had scored a Peanuts TV special of an entirely different kind. After the success of A Man Named Mays, a documentary of San Francisco Giants center fielder Willie Mays, TV producer/director Lee Mendelson set out to tell the story of another ball player who had soared to similar fame during that same era: the hapless but resilient sandlot underdog, Charlie Brown. The result was A Boy Named Charlie Brown, a 60-minute documentary about Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz.

A limited edition, collectible vinyl reissue of the original 1964 Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown soundtrack is set for release by Fantasy Records via the Concord Music Group on May 13, 2014. As adoring fans of both Guaraldi’s and Schulz’s work, Concord has proudly put significant effort into faithfully restoring all components of the LP with a special bonus: orange vinyl. The reissue comes complete with Schulz’s classic, quirky design, historic liner notes in a gatefold jacket, and reproductions of 8 x 10 lithographs of Peanuts characters.

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The Folk Box: ‘the kind of album that changes lives’

THE FOLK BOX: 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION producer and American Folk Music scribe Ted Olson. Created with the legendary music mogul Jac Holzman, THE FOLK BOX: 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION celebrates the original 1964 album by reissuing its four vinyl LPs containing 83 tracks by such renowned folk musicians as Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie, Jean Redpath and Josh White, as well as such nationally significant Appalachia-based musicians as Doc Watson, Clarence Ashley and Jean Ritchie. Cut from the original master tapes, the limited edition box set also features a bonus 7-inch vinyl recording of Judy Collins' rare version of Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It with Mine" and Tom Paxton's classic song "The Last Thing on My Mind."

Read more about at Rhino or head to Amazon to buy it!

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from our friends at VinylCollective

Sum 41 Chuck Vinyl Reissued By ShopRadioCast

Sum 41 “Chuck” is being reissued on vinyl by ShopRadioCast vinyl for a June 24th release date! Chuck is the third studio album from Canadian rock band Sum 41. The album was released on October 12, 2004. It is the band's last album to feature lead guitarist Dave Baksh. Chuck has peaked at #2 on the Canadian Albums chart and was the band's highest-charting album until it would be surpassed by Underclass Hero in 2007.  The vinyl will be a single 180 Gram LP on a few limited colors including 180 Gram Army Green (SRC exclusive limited to 500) which is almost sold out! You can view all the details and pre order now here:

Sum 41 – Chuck LP

As well, ShopRadioCast is repressing their Sum 41 “Does This Look Infected” on a clear vinyl that is set to be shipped alongside the release of Chuck (June 24th). You can pre order that as well here:

Sum 41 – Does This Look Infected LP

Additionally, you can grab Sum 41′s “All Killer, No Filler” pressing from Asbestos Records at SRC on a new Neon Green and Neon Pink pressing here:

Sum 41 – All Killer No Filler LP


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from our friends at SlyVinyl

The GOASTT (Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger) – Midnight Sun // Limited to 2,000 Random-Colored 12″ Vinyl LP’s

Insect O. – Birds Over Hong Kong // Limited Edition Green/Black Marbled Vinyl LP






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from the great state of tennessee, United Record Pressing is working hard trying to keep up the demand of our beloved vinyl!

Nashville vinyl records maker key to Jack White's fastest single expands








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excellent views in this article:

Don't Be Precious About Your Vinyl Collection




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from north of the border (these stories never get old!):

COLUMN: Vinyl making a comeback







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album cover art of the day:

VISTA CHINO/Ex-KYUSS Frontman JOHN GARCIA: Solo Album Cover Artwork Unveiled