New Legal Download

I didn't know that Crash Test Dummies had released a new track called "I'll Be Peaceful Then" earlier this year, so I have made it my legal download of the week.

A Private View - Memory Lane (1987)

Pure Glass - Matter Of Time

7" Single, released in 1987

Pure Glass - Matter Of Time (A-Side)

Pure Glass - Flip The Lid (B-Side)

Ted Lindsay and the Democrats - Russian Women (1987)

I was pretty stoked to get my turntable out of storage in early September, and since then I've been buying up a good selection of cheap vinyl. I also got a new boondoggle for my laptop so my new rips will be in proper stereo.

I wanted to post this one first because I could not find anything out about this band over the web, and I love a good mystery. Ted Lindsay and the Democrats were from Nashville and recorded on the equally mysterious Ancient Mystic record label. It's a relatively short, but impressively dynamic album. Further information would be very welcome.

Ted Lindsay and the Democrats - Russian Women (1987)

1.  Russian Women
2.  Bohemian
3.  Hot Jungle
4.  Wild Night
5.  Walk On Fire
6.  Here Comes My Baby
7.  The Quiet Guy
8.  Frankie and the Beat
9.  Whatever Baby Wants

Download

Alternate download

Personnel:
Ted Lindsay - vocals, bass
Jim Ramsey - lead guitar
Chip Gabbert - vocals, keyboards
Paula Abbott - guitar, vocals
Herb Shucher - drums

Bought at The Great Escape, Nashville for 99 cents.

Johnny Hates Jazz "Magnetized" - New Single

Strange Talk - Cast Away

I just love random music discoveries. I found this while I was looking for a book on Talk Talk. The single was just released last month, with a debut album anticipated early in 2013.

New Latin Quarter!

I was ripping an old Latin Quarter 12" single and rummaging around the internet. This is the first taster from their new album due in 2012. They also plan to tour. A wonderful band.

Underworld - Change The Weather (1989)

Underworld - Change The Weather (from the album Change The Weather, 1989)

I often pick up CD's from odd places that I think might be rare or unusual, even if I don't necessarily plan on keeping the album in my collection. An example this week was when I bought the Underworld album Change The Weather for three bucks. Although not particularly valuable, it is fairly hard to find here in the US. I was familiar with Underworld in the 90's, of course, but I was surprised to discover just how melodic and accessible this earlier album is, from beginning to end. The title track is also the lead track, and sets the tone nicely.

Rain People

I've never heard of this alternative indie group before, or their self titled debut album released in 1989. It's a solid record, of which this track is typical:

Rain People - Distance

Simon Byrne - Dream Crazy (1986)

I don't know a lot about Simon Byrne. But, I recently found his 1986 album Dream Crazy in a vinyl dollar bin in Pensacola. Here's a couple of tasters. Very reminiscent of Robert Palmer and his Riptide period.

Simon Byrne - You're Making Me Crazy
Simon Byrne - Middle of Nowhere

I Am The Hallelujah Man

My visit last weekend to The Great Escape In Bowling Green last weekend was a success. Although I initially did not find much in the regular vinyl racks, once I started scouting the 99 cent racks (piled in wooden troughs at floor level) I found bargain after bargain. Several were priced at 49 cents, and I also got an extra 25% discount, meaning that albums by The Parachute Club, The Ward Brothers, Actuel and a couple of others were 37.5 cents each.
In addition I found the extended remix of Ian McCulloch's "September Song", a promotional only set of Shakespears Sister remixes, the original 12" of Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round", and I also fell in love with the artwork from After The Fire's ATF album. Other recent purchases shown above are Novo Combo' self titled album, Passion Puppets' album Beyond The Pale, Ears Have Walls by Blanket of Secrecy, Arias & Symphonies by Spoons and She Went Pop, the mysterious album from Iam Siam.

I thought the tale of Love And Money's 12" Single "Hallelujah Man" was a tale worth telling. I bought it because it had two B-Sides I wanted, even though the condition of the sleeve was quite poor. Observe, if you will, the price sticker. It says something about the lack of respect vinyl has got in the last several years when the record was priced at under a buck nearly seven years ago. It occurred to me it has languished in that box for the whole of my six year old daughter's life. Most of the albums I have bought have been in inventory at least three to four years.



Now, at least for a little while, they will all be loved again.

Love And Money - Hallelujah Man

Confessions of a Music Junkie

I originally planned to buy only vinyl that I couldn't find anywhere else. However, when The Great Escape have a 25% off vinyl sale and lots of stock, I found myself picking up a bunch of stuff - and the best part was I traded a bunch of cheap crap I had left in a box, so I wasn't out of pocket at all. Here's my latest purchases:



The Roaring Boys - Self Titled (1986)
Last Gentlemen - Self Titled (1985)
The Adventures - Self Titled (1985)
The Colour Field - The Colour Field (12" Single, 1984)
Actuel - Monuments (1984)
The Blow Monkeys - Forbidden Fruit (EP, 1985)
New Musik - Sanctuary (1982)
Hubert Kah - Angel 07 (12" Single, 1985)
The Kane Gang - Don't Look Any Further (12" Single, 1987)
Hurrah! - This Boy (EP, 1985)
Les Enfants - Touche (1984)
Time Bandits - Can't Wait For Another World (1988)
David & David - Boomtown (1986)
Max Eider - Best Kisser In The World (1988)

Total cost for all the records was about $25.00. Tomorrow I'm visiting the Great Escape store in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Obviously, I'd better hurry up and buy my new turntable!

The Sweet Sounds of Zuckerbaby

Here's another little gem I found for 99 cents recently. Zuckerbaby is a Canadian band that mixes classic rock, britpop and power pop in a good way. Platinum Again, their second album, was released in 1999. The album is out of print, but available at Amazon for just a few cents. Here's some tasters:

Zuckerbaby - Blindside
Zuckerbaby - Overexposure
Zuckerbaby - Destination Alone

Confessions of a CD Junkie

Let me start my post by thanking Retro Music Snob for the links. That explains why my bandwidth has been burning up recently. Also, good to see the site back up - it had stopped being updated a while back. [Update - long gone now! Nov 12]

There seems to be a lot of love for Terry Hall lately. Both the irrepressible Saltyka and C-60 Low Noise have recently featured an extensive back catalogue. You may have noticed I featured a Colourfield tune recently. I was also a little disturbed to discover that the background vocals on "Thinking of You" were by Katrina Phillips and not Kirsty MacColl as I had thought for years.

If I was to make a list of the great record/CD stores I have visited, I would be thinking of the Music And Video Exchange in Notting Hill Gate, Adrian's in Wickford, Essex, Amoeba Records in San Francisco, Newbury Comics in Boston, and McKay in Knoxville. While McKay might be the closest geographically, it was very hard for me to engineer an excuse to drive four hours to pay a visit. So I was overjoyed while visiting Nashville recently to discover that there was now a new McKay store in town.

The primary benefit of McKay is that they have a lot of stock because, famously, they buy anything and then discount heavily based on condition. If you don't mind a couple of marks or blemishes, you can buy many CD's for under two or three dollars. Some CD's are as low as .19 or .25 so you can glean quite a stack for just a few dollars. That's where I found the Vienna CD I posted yesterday - a total bargain for 19 cents.

Here's some other treasures I have unearthed this past couple of weeks:

Jules Shear - Dreams Don't Count ($1.45)

Number One Gun - Promises For The Imperfect ($0.25)

Edison Glass - A Burn Or A Shiver ($0.19)

Various Artists - Reality Bites Soundtrack ($0.19)

Graham Coxon - Happiness In Magazines ($0.95)
Alpinestars - White Noise ($0.19)

Tim Finn - Before & After ($0.68)

Anberlin - Lost Songs ($2.45)
Hinterland - Kissing The Roof of Heaven ($0.19)

Kent - Isola ($1.95)

Future of Forestry - Twilight ($5.95)

Turn Off The Stars - Turn Off The Stars ($0.68)
Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish ($1.25)

Stereophonics - Performance & Cocktails ($0.89)

Suzanne Vega - 99.9 Degrees ($0.68)
Your Vegas - A Town And Two Cities ($1.45)

Dr. Robert - Realms of Gold ($0.95)

Tim Booth - Bone ($0.68)
Miranda Lee Richards - The Herethereafter ($0.95)*

Various Artists - Trainspotting Soundtrack ($1.25)

Michael Been - On The Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough ($0.95)

Reef - Rides ($0.75)
There you go, quite a mixed bag. Not all fantastic, but not all rubbish, either. I've been enjoying the Trainspotting soundtrack in particular. It made me go and rent the movie.

* Yes, I have bought this one before. The first one I got was a record company advance with different, but cool, artwork. This one was the retail digipak version, still sealed up tight. And, a good album to boot.

And Now For Something Completely Different

I'm such a compact disc whore. A few days ago I bought a bunch of dollar CD's, including two double CD promo packs, which I only got because I needed some new double CD cases and it was actually cheaper than buying an empty case. This one set was called Kill Your Radio and has 44 tracks of varying quality in a multitude of genres produced by Erika Records in conjunction with OC Weekly, some kind of California cultural newspaper-slash-website, back in 2002. Preparing to throw the inserts and the discs in the bin, I gave them a brief spin in the car first and discovered to my surprise that a few were actually quite decent, particularly if you like power pop in the vein of The Primitives or Fountains of Wayne. Unsurprisingly, however, I don't think any of them have taken iTunes by storm. See what you think of these:

Sideswipe - Crucify Me
Scarlet Crush - Tune In, Fade Out
Kerry Getz - Little Victory (my favorite, I think)
Goldenboy - Sing Another Song For the Winterlong
Walter Clevenger & The Dairy Kings - Radio Sea
Halo Friendlies - I'm All Eyes (my second favorite)
The Von Steins - Cosmic

**Up next: salvaging the best of Uncle Gonzalez and the Polka Accordion Mafia Play the Hits of Kenny Chesney - am I good to you guys or what?

Bargain Bin Bonanza, Part 2

People In Planes - If You Talk Too Much
from the album As Far As The Eye Can See (2006)
CD Warehouse, Madison TN $1.00

Download the album at Amazon







The Perishers - Let There Be Morning
from the album Let There Be Morning (2005)
Cat's Music, Madison TN $1.00

Download the album at Amazon







The Frank And Walters - World Carries On
from the album The Frank And Walters (1992)
CD Warehouse, Clarksville TN $2.00

Purchase the album at Amazon







Miss World - Mother Mary
from the album Miss World (1992)
CD Warehouse, Clarksville TN $2.00

Purchase the album at Amazon







Midnight Oil - Stars of Warburton
from the album Blue Sky Mining (1990)
CD Warehouse, Madison TN $1.00

Purchase the album at Amazon

Bargain Bin Bonanza

It was pretty much a given that while my brother was in town we would trawl the bargain bins - something we have always gotten a kick out of, going back to the days of 50p singles at Woolworths and Boots The Chemist. Here's a selection of my finds, let me know if any pique your interest.

Graham Colton Band - Since You Broke It
from the album Drive (2004)
Cat's Music, Madison TN $1.00

Download the album at Amazon







Thisway - Crawl
from the album Thisway (1999)
CD Warehouse, Madison TN $1.00

Purchase the album at Amazon







Miranda Lee Richards - The Beginner
from the album The Herethereafter (2001)
CD Warehouse, Madison TN $1.00

Purchase the album at Amazon







Sophie Ellis Bextor - Get Over You
from the album Read My Lips (2001)
CD Warehouse, Madison TN $1.00

Purchase the album at Amazon







The Academy Is - Classifieds
from the album Almost Here (2004)
CD Warehouse, Madison TN $1.00

Download the album at Amazon







Glorious - Mansion of Cards
from the album Glorious (2004)
CD Warehouse, Clarksville TN $5.99

Download the album at Amazon







More to come later...

Confessions of a Music Junkie

How much fun can you have for three bucks? When Hastings is having a 'four for a dollar' CD sale, the answer is quite a lot. In order to share the joy, I have created an instant mixtape of the first track from each album, plus a couple of extras I picked up last week. Vote for your favorite in the poll and I'll post a feature on the most popular album.

Basia - Time And Tide (1987)
Download "Promises" Wiki Amazon Allmusic

Ghost of an American Airman - Life Under Giants (1992)
Download "Bring On The Mystery" Amazon Allmusic

Kevin Coyne - Sugar Candy Taxi (1999)
Download "Sugar Candy Taxi" Wiki Amazon Allmusic

Cretu - The Invisible Man (1985)
Download "Samurai" Wiki Amazon Allmusic

Richard H. Kirk - The Number of Magic (1995)
Download "Lost Souls on Funk" Wiki Amazon Allmusic

Peter Koppes - From The Well (1989)
Download "In The Wake" Wiki Amazon Allmusic

Ozric Tentacles - Jurassic Shift (1993)
Download "Sun Hair" Wiki Amazon Allmusic

Ultra Vivid Scene - Joy 1967-1990 (1990)
Download "It Happens Every Time" Wiki Amazon Allmusic

Squeeze - Play (1991)
Download "Satisfied" Wiki Amazon Allmusic

Sofia Shinas - Sofia Shinas (1992)
Download "The Message" Wiki Amazon Allmusic

Various Artists - Help (1996)
Download "Fade Away" [Oasis & Johnny Depp] Wiki Amazon

Bonus:
Peter Kingsbery - A Different Man (1992)
Download "Do A Dance" Wiki Amazon Allmusic

Bonus:
The Jeremy Days - The Jeremy Days (1988)
Download "Julie Thru The Blinds" Amazon Allmusic

Confessions of a Music Junkie

I was pretty excited to find a 49c CD sale at The Great Escape today. In particular, they had a lot of late 80's and early 90's stuff. I got away with this eclectic selection:

Rhythm Corps - Common Ground - $0.49
Aztec Camera - The Crying Scene CDS - $0.49
Aztec Camera - Good Morning Britain CDS - $0.49
Kitchens of Distinction - Strange Free World - $0.49
Breathe - Peace of Mind - $0.49
Katydids - Katydids - $0.49
Brett Dennen - So Much More - $0.99
Moev - Head Down - $0.49
Something Happens - Stuck Together With God's Glue - $0.49
Various Artists - X Worship 2006 - $0.49
Sarah Sadler - Sarah Sadler - $0.99
Ghost of an American Airman - Life Under Giants - $0.99
Lauren Christy - Lauren Christy - $0.49
Chris Rea - Deltics (cassette) - $0.49
Chris Rea - Tennis (cassette) - $0.49

Total cost, with tax = $9.38.

Not bad at all. I'll be posting some reviews and links shortly.