What Album Have You Just Bought?

[Villajohn]

Cold Water Chronicles. Mick Thomas.Plus''Anywhere But Here''.....a book written by Mick.

[soulfinger]

Nick of Time - James Hunter Six

[Low D]

The Stooges, self-titled 1969 debut. I picked up the 2005 Rhino CD re-issue, which is really well digitally remastered (not remixed) and has a good bonus disc, incl. some original John Cale mixes.

I still have the vinyl copy i bought used at age 15, purchased only because the rear Stooge on the cover (Dave Alexander) looked EXACTLY like my friend Dave, but this amazing slice of post-psychedelic / pre-punk weirdness changed my life. It's simple yet strange, rocking yet laid back. It would be wholesome were it not so freaky. I still love it, and it remains my favourite of the three Stooges albums.

Dave Alexander & the Ashton brothers are gone, but my buddy Dave is still doin' fine

[firehazard]

The Stooges, self-titled 1969 debut. I picked up the 2005 Rhino CD re-issue, which is really well digitally remastered (not remixed) and has a good bonus disc, incl. some original John Cale mixes.

I still have the vinyl copy i bought used at age 15, purchased only because the rear Stooge on the cover (Dave Alexander) looked EXACTLY like my friend Dave...

I think we all looked like that in those days. I had hair back then. Before it migrated south.

Great album though

[Low D]

The Boomtown Rats - Citizens of Boomtown (2020)

Their first album in 36 years, beating out The Radiators From Space for longest hiatus award.

No horns, no delicate piano, this is not retro-rats it's all new. About half of it is pretty good and quite fun, a couple are comically bad and a couple are just meh. It's a trimmed down Rats, and i think Gerry Cott coulda added some more interesting riffs on a couple and Johnnie Fingers some more musical depth as well.

[Frances]

$3.99 for the extended single vinyl

[Low D]

Marianne Faithful's 1979 comeback album - Broken English (2013 Deluxe Reissue)

The reissue includes the album nicely remastered, a short film of three songs from 1979, single mixes of 'Broken English' and the 1979 recording of 'Sister Morphine' from the 12" b-side. Most importantly, though, it includes the original mixes of the entire album, which were guitar - not keyboard - based, giving the whole album a substantially different feel. It sets up a "road not taken" thought process for her career, had she gone a more 'standard' route than what was (for 1979) a very modern and arty keyboard, drama, chanteuse-inspired approach. Hey, that worked out fine for her, but this is fun to listen to all the same.



The Ugly Ducklings - Too Much Too Soon (1998, Pacemaker Entertainment Limited)

The Toronto garage-rock pioneer's legendary 1966 debut, 'Somewhere Outside' remains an expensive collector's item on vinyl, and CD reissues are variously unauthorized and/or destroyed by crap mastering, remixing, fake stereo, added effects, and other audio crimes. This compilation presents all the material from 'Somewhere Outside' with a couple of extra unreleased tracks from the album sessions and an unreleased mix of their hit single 'Gaslight'. Some tracks are true stereo, re-mixed from the original 4-tracks, and some are original mono mixes, it's well-mastered and it all sounds pretty good to my ears. This release went out of print quickly due to licensing issues, but is the only compilation approved and authorized by the actual group members, can be found for less than 20 bux, and is worth every penny and much more.



American Boyfriends - Original Soundtrack Recording (1989)

Only because of one track - a cover of 'Wooly Bully" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. The only (released) recording by the classic lineup during their 1988-1991 reunited run. It's great.

[Low D]

"Good Souls Better Angels" - Lucinda Williams (2020)

"You Can't Rule Me", "Bad News Blues", Man without A Soul" "Wakin' Up", Pray the Devil Back to Hell" "Shadows and Doubts", When the Way Gets Dark"... The great Scottish singer & songwriter Dick Gaughan has said "say what you will about Margaret Thatcher, she inspired some great songs". It's a tough time to be a liberal in America (hell, it's a tough time to be an American in America), but Lucinda Williams has channeled her angst and anger into maybe her greatest collection of songs in ... well actually her last few have been great. Let's just say she's continuing on a roll. Eschewing the large cast of studio musicians she sometimes uses, she recorded this backed by her 3-piece touring band (Buick 6), plus a bit of organ. The result is an album with more muscle and swing than much of her other studio output, but still the with the lush soundscapes one expects from a Williams album. Darker and more "alternative rock" than "alt-country" or "americana", but the voice is still the voice of Texas, and since when can't country do dark? Lyrically, the songs display the depth of content she's always had but delivered with fewer words and more repetition than in the past, simultaneously more poetic and more rock 'n roll. Not so much stories of people you might meet, this is the diary of an American fighting to hold on to hope. A timely and timeless release from one of white America's greatest living artists.

[Low D]

The Equals - Baby Come Back (1991)

A "best-of" on UK budget label The Collection. Not until i rec'd it did i notice the small text on the back: To obtain the highest possible quality, some tracks have been re-recorded by one or more members of the original group. It's crap, and this is the 2nd time this has happened to me. Sigh, I will get a good collection of the original recordings yet! Turns out this didn't have "Police On My Back" on it anyway.

Someday somebody will do a nice mono collection of the original President Records singles.

[Low D]

The Equals - Baby Come Back (1991)

A "best-of" on UK budget label The Collection. Not until i rec'd it did i notice the small text on the back: To obtain the highest possible quality, some tracks have been re-recorded by one or more members of the original group. It's crap, and this is the 2nd time this has happened to me. Sigh, I will get a good collection of the original recordings yet! Turns out this didn't have "Police On My Back" on it anyway.

Someday somebody will do a nice mono collection of the original President Records singles.

Three times is a charm (ok fine i did some research first this time). Come Back, a 1989 Swiss collection found cheap on line, has proven to be a proper collection of original recordings. There are a couple of newer and a 2-CD sets out there as well, and they are clearly sought after as any copies are 20 to 40 dollars. These recordings were fairly lo-fi to begin with, so i'm not too fussed about "sound quality", and this collection is hitting the summer spot for sure, but there are a coupe of weird volume drops in 2 tracks that i assume are from a bad conversion to stereo, so i still hope for a nice mono collection someday.

To save anybody else the time & money, I did find a list of compilations of original recordings on CD (there may be others, but this list has been confirmed by random weirdos over at the Steve Hoffman audiofile forums):

Come Back (1989, Switzerland) Drive - CD DRIVE 3057
The Best Of (1993, Germany) Polydor ‎– 517196-2
First Among Equals: The Greatest Hits (1994, UK) ICE - 941902
Greatest Hits (1996, UK) Repertoire Records ‎– REP 4572-WZ
Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys...The Anthology ‎(2CD) (1999, UK) Sequel Records - NEECD 336

[firehazard]

Gillian Welch: Boots No. 2: The Lost Songs, Vol. 1

Recently released tracks from 2002. Lovely.

[Villajohn]

Gillian Welch...yes! i really like Gillian and her hubby Dave Rawlings. Yesterday i received Every Single Star by the excellent Dori Freeman. Its a lovely album.

[Low D]

I love Gillian Welch & David Rawlings! I will forever mourn that i missed the Dave Rawlings Machine tour that included Willie Watson and... John Paul Jones on mandolin!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYeq6XoOg8s




Agricultural Tragic - Corb Lund (2020)

With this album, he's given name to his genre - country music not just about partying, trucks, and women (it's basically corporate hip hop with a different backing beat, innit?) but actually about the country and the people that live there. From Ian & Sylvia Tyson, to Stan Rogers, to Fred Eaglesmith, Corb is as powerful a writer and performer as any of the great Canadian artists who have plowed this genre into existence.

The music here also has more to do with actual country music than most of what passes for country music these days, but the Hurtin' Albertans are also informed by rock, blues, and jazz (Corb himself started his career as bass player in punk/metal/prog/whatever band The Smalls). This band can cover a lot of ground, and all of it with expertise and soul. I liked his last album (2015's Things That Can't Be Undone), but found the songs too sad, serious and introverted, the music too dreary. Corb is always capable of serious, sad, and sometimes slow, but also witty and upbeat. And while there's some real heartbreakers in here ("She's Never Not Had Horses" is about his mother moving towards end of life) there's also a lot of fun, and my new favourite whiskey-oriented party song "I Think You Oughta Try Whisky". In classic country tradition, it's performed as a duet with Jaida Dryer - here's a campfire version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBihcOtiS1g

Sadly, the tour has been put off for a year, like so many others, but in good news i'm unlikely to have grown tired of this album in a year.

[Hennybhoy]

DESCENDENTS "Suffrage" - 2 single EP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDJ4KuNdEB8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECGIFhWXo3c

[Villajohn]

JONI MITCHELL Archives Volume 1 1963-67.