Used

January 12, 2011
in Digital, Music of the Week, Used, Vinyl
3 min read

This week in music – January 4th – 11th 2011

I had an interesting week in music this last week.

I started the week taking advantage of Amazon’s $5.00 MP3 albums and picked up two celebrated releases from Minneapolis bands:

Gayngs – Relayted: This new Minneapolis 23 member supergroup, featuring members of Bon Iver, Solid Gold and rapper P.O.S, creates a unique sound that is guaranteed to mellow you out. Perfect msuic to play in the background while cooking or reading, Gayngs will relax and soothe you.
Trampled by Turtles – Palomino: I’ve said it a few times before, but especially after Mumford and Sons exploded on the scene, is that indie rock needs more banjos and fiddles. Trampled by Turtles (along with Carolina Chocolate Drop) definitely filled that quota in 2010. Filled with catchy alt-country hooks, Palomino will get your foot tapping and, with songs averaging right around 3 minutes, you’ll be pressing play to listen to it again before you know it.

I hit up Discland on Saturday. It’s been close to 6 months since I’ve been there and their used vinyl selection keeps on growing. My main goal was to pick up some used Van Halen (which is a story for another time) and the trip was successful.

I was able to pick up Van Halen II, Women and Children First and Diver Down, completing my collection of David Lee Roth era Van Halen. They also had a surprising amount of pop – usually all I find is 70s and 80s rock when visiting used record stores and, while I’m not a huge Madonna fan, I found myself buying Madonna’s True Blue and Like a Prayer albums. Both albums take me back to my childhood and I gave them a spin on Sunday and they’re both great pop albums. Lastly, I went back to my hair band roots, and picked up White Lion’s Pride as the last used album. Discland also had a rare copy of Alejandro Escovedo’s 2001 re-issue, A Man Under the Influence. One of 1000 vinyl copies pressed, I snatched that up. His 2008 album, Real Animals, was one of my favorite albums of the year, and 2010’s Street Songs of Love was a solid release, though it didn’t crack my top 10.

Polyvinyl emailed me that my Deerhoof vs. Evil pre-order shipped on Friday and the MP3s were available for download. I’ve given that a couple listens and I’ll put a review up once the vinyl comes.
Social Distortion’s Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes comes out next Tuesday, January 18th, and I pre-ordered one of 1000 yellow vinyl copies. They have yellow or red available. I would have preferred the red, but yellow was limited to 1000 and red was limited to 2500. I’m a sucker for “rare” and limited editions. The long time punk rockers are also running a contest on their website – the more people who stream their new album, the lower the price will be in the Amazon MP3 store. I’ll definitely be giving that a listen tomorrow. I also plan to review the album once it arrives.

I closed out the week today with another Minneapolis band, Tapes ‘N Tapes, new release, Outside. My friend and former co-worker Steve reviews the album here, and I would agree with him. It’s a solid B. Outside is available for only $3.99 at Amazon for a few more hours.

September 16, 2010
in New, Used, Vinyl
1 min read

Rolling Stone’s 25 best record stores

Rolling Stone released their list of the 25 best record stores in the United States yesterday.

Minneapolis was well represented with Electric Fetus coming in as the sixth best record store in the U.S. and Hymie’s Vintage Records rounded out the list at twenty-five.

In July I went on a bit of a shopping spree at Electric Fetus, which is also where I spent Record Store Day 2009. There is no question that Electric Fetus has one of, if not the best, selection in the Twin Cities, though Cheapo gives them a pretty strong run for selection. I have to say I was disappointed in the service at Electric Fetus in July. I asked two different clerks questions about the vinyl I was buying and both times they couldn’t answer my question (and they weren’t hard questions – it’s not like I was trying to play stump the clerk).

I’m embarrassed to admit I hadn’t heard of Hymies until now – I definitely know where my next round of shopping is going to be!

July 5, 2010
in Used, Vinyl
4 min read

Prince: Purple Rain

Prince’s Purple Rain will also hold a special place for me as it was the first album I ever purchased. Oh, I had owned some 45s up until that point, but growing up I spent my summers at my grandparents house, and I remember as an eleven year old walking from their house to the local record store and buying it.

I think my grandparents, and my parents for that matter, might not have let an eleven year old buy the album considering some of the lyrics.

Photo copyright thejcgerm under a CC-SA-NC 2.0 license.

It would be almost 10 years later when I would have my brush with fame and Prince, and I have always remained a huge Prince fan. I currently live about five miles from his studio and a half hour from First Avenue where the songs from Purple Rain were first tested and the movie was later filmed at.

Everyone knows how the album starts:

Dearly beloved

We are gathered here today

2 get through this thing called life

Electric word life

It means forever and that’s a mighty long time

But I’m here 2 tell u

There’s something else

The afterworld

A world of never ending happiness

U can always see the sun, day or night

So when u call up that shrink in Beverly Hills

U know the one – Dr Everything’ll Be Alright

Instead of asking him how much of your time is left

Ask him how much of your mind, baby

‘Cuz in this life

Things are much harder than in the afterworld

In this life

You’re on your own

Then, Prince kicks it into high gear and we’re off on one of the best musical journeys ever to be recorded as a motion picture soundtrack.

Prince then slows it down for Take Me With U and The Beautiful Ones. Take me With U is the only song on the album to feature Purple Rain’s female lead, Apollonia, and was orginally intended for her solo album that was never released. The Beautiful Ones, of the two songs, is much less well known, but to me, the better of the two. It is a classic 1980s ballad as only Prince could create, with the talking voiceover, the synthesizers and Prince’s trademark falsetto. Prince ups the tempo and the volume towards the end of the song practically screaming “Do you want me? Cause I want you!”

Purple Rain was Prince’s first album to feature the Revolution, Prince’s band, led by Wendy & Lisa, who years later would go on to score the popular NBC TV show Heroes. Wendy & Lisa kick off the fourth track_, Computer Blue_, in an up-tempo song features Prince’s catchy hooks with a long instrumental segment in the middle that transitions to a beautiful guitar solo towards the end of the song.

Side one ends with Darling Nikki, which found popularity in the late 90s thanks to a cover by the Foo Fighters.

Side two starts off with the lead single, When Doves Cry, Prince’s first song to hit number on in the U.S, topping the charts for five weeks straight. Over twenty-five years later, I still vividly remember the video for this song featuring scenes from the movie and Prince riding his motorcycle.

I Would Die 4 U was the fourth and last single from Purple Rain went on to become another top ten hit. At only 2:49, it is the shortest song on the album but still packs quite a punch. Baby I’m a Star was recorded live at First Avenue in 1983, where Prince auditioned a number of songs from Purple Rain for the filming of the movie that was still more than 6 months away. That concert at First Avenue ranks as one of the top 5 concerts I would go to if I had my own TARDIS.

The title song from the film and the album ends the album. What can you say about this song that hasn’t already been said? At almost nine minutes long, this was another song that was recorded at First Avenue live. From it’s opening guitar to the gospel elements that come to mind when the organ starts, Purple Rain takes you on an emotional journey that features almost all of Prince’s trademarks captured in one song.

I purchased this album just weeks after it’s anniversary in June, used, at Down in the Valley. Prince albums are semi-rare here in the Twin Cities, and one of the clerks turned to the other to point out what I was buying. The second clerk lit up like a Christmas tree and I distinctly received the impression that if she had known it was in the store she might have bought it herself. Both clerks liked my choice, not knowing the historical significance this classic Prince album holds for me. This is an album I will cherish for a long time, both for the music and the sentimental memories.