The Poor Man’s Art Collection
Relentless and obsessed.
And a bit shady!
Insane Beatles Vinyl Collection, Part One
This episode is mostly U.S. releases, with more to come from other countries. I gotta think Renfield has about half of these, right?
Tone Loco
So great. He thought it sucked but the producer told him to leave it in.
So You Want To Collect Beatles Japanese Vinyl
Should you? Whether you do or not, this is fascinating stuff.
Japanese pressings are regarded by many as the best sounding vinyl in the world, but what does it do for The Beatles? Over the decades Japan has issued countless issues of The Beatles albums and there are so many to choose from to collect, but are they worth it?
In this video we take a look at how The Beatles’ original albums were released in the 1960’s and find out which of the subsequent reissued are worth buying and which are not.
Join us on this fascinating trip and do let us know your thoughts about these amazing records.
All Things Must Pass
I’m only about a third of the way through but I’m digging it so far. Man, I miss record stores …
Everyone thinks they know what killed Tower Records: The Internet. But that’s not the story. “All Things Must Pass” examines this iconic company’s explosive trajectory, tragic demise, and legacy forged by its rebellious founder Russ Solomon.
Count Jackula
Nosferatu has abandoned Transylvania for a pressing plant and dresses like Dieter of SNL. He now lives on molten vinyl, not blood. As a result, his hair has turned blue. He’d like you to know that he’s morally superior to other vinyl vampires. He doesn’t suck vinyl from other plants. He started his plant with his own money. He did this in 2017, so he’s cooler too.
He has a point, but so do the bigger, trend-surfing vampires. Why pump money into a medium that will again become unfashionable? The majors are not owned by one wealthy alt-rocker. They are beholden to shareholders who might see a pressing plant as a foolish investment. And there are other media, as most people stream anyway. Maybe he’s right, and the big labels should make room for others by pressing their own copies of Rumours and the latest Adele. Whatever, I just posted because I was amused at the vampire look and the moral posturing. If he wants to make this a moral issue, someone could always one-up him for using a petroleum product.
Chipmunks at 16 RPM
Another King: “She Used To Pound Down”
Carole King rules. Songs I forgot she wrote but probably you guys all know:
- I’m Into Something Good (Herman’s Hermits)
- Chains (Beatles)
- The Loco-Motion (Grand Funk Railroad)
- The Porpoise Song (Theme from “Head” The Monkees Movie)
- Up On The Roof (The Drifters)
I included the above because I enjoy the Scottish punk versions of things, and go Monkees of course. In describing Up On The Roof:
Appropriately enough, the song was born among the rat-race noise of a crowded city street. “Carole came up with the melody in the car – an a cappella melody,” …
A peaceful moment above the fray would have seemed like heaven to King – a young woman with two children and a demanding full-time job in a hit factory. The sophisticated arrangement was overseen in the studio by King herself, who was barely 20 years old at the time. “Carole used to hang in there with us tough,” Drifters member Charlie Thomas told Emerson. “She used to pound down. She wasn’t no hard woman – a girl, at her age. But she played the piano and it was amazing the songs she gave us.
Broadcast
Any of you bastards heard of them? Someone put me onto them last night. They were active from late 90’s to around 2011, when their singer passed away after catching H1N1 on tour. This song’s from their first album, The Noise Made By People, which is good. If you took Forever Changes, removed the Hispanic influence, added some delightfully creepy synths, and brought in a fifteen-year-old Nico to sing, then you might have something like this album. Or not.
Update from the rabbit hole: this one, from second album, sounds like Silver Apples, but with a far better singer.