pop culture, reviewed

     (Jake here… yeah, I know, I never blog…)

     Why didn’t I do this sooner?  Most who read this blog already know this about me, but for those that don’t: I’m a borderline obsessive music collecting nut.  I know where all the good record stores are in about every city I’ve ever visited because I hit them up almost immediately upon arriving, as if Amoeba in San Francisco or Other Music in New York or the shops on Broadwick Street in London are legitimate tourist destinations.  When I was in Paris on business this past year, I’d entertain myself by wandering in and out of the (mostly bad) record stores in the Latin Quarter.  I spent hours in Amoeba in San Francisco on vacation—and THEN went to Rasputin and spent a bunch of time there too. 

     The fact that Tower Records in Nashville was on my way back from the law school to my house is probably to blame for an extra $5,000 or so in student loans I’m carrying.  Finish a test?  Buy some CDs.  Study late?  Buy some CDs.  Have a good interview?  Buy some CDs.  Bored at midnight on a Tuesday?  Buy some new CDs.  (As an aside, that’s part of what made the, now defunct, Tower chain awesome—they were open really late all the time).     High school (and college summers) were probably worse – JL Records on the Levee, Discount Den, Von’s in Chauncey Hill Village, West Lafayette, IN (I have distinct memories of buying some 90s classics here).  I own records I’ve listened to once or twice.  I don’t ever sell them.  I obsessively collect artists almost as soon as I get into them.  I get itchy if I don’t get something new about once a week, but I can still tell you, for the vast majority of my records, where I bought them, why I bought them, and what broader music collecting phase I was going through at the time.

     That’s why it’s, well, quite puzzling that it took until this past month to purchase a record player.  That’s right: a brand new, never before used, Czech-made audiophile (yet not terribly expensive, worry not) record player.

            This has been an entertaining, but costly new development.  The regular music store (you know, the ones in the mall, best buy, etc) has become incredibly boring.  The number of releases they stock are shrinking—if an artist has a greatest hits collection out, forget about finding their regular albums now, and they’ve become boring and predictable.  The same CDs are at every store and there’s no real chance of happening upon anything interesting just while browsing.  Seriously, when was the last time you had a good browsing experience in a CD store?

     Now, record stores, these are trouble.  The main reason is simple: you never know what you’ll find.  See, if you go into a decent CD store, there’s a 95% chance that they’ll have a copy of a pretty popular album you’re looking for.  A record store on the other hand is hit or miss.  Maybe they’ll have a copy of the Clash’s “London Calling” (side note—BUY ME ONE if you ever see one), or, as has been my luck, they won’t.  Maybe they’ll have Astral Weeks—maybe they won’t.  (Buy this one too).  There’s actual excitement to finding a nice pristine copy of, say, Rubber Soul for a reasonable price (YES!), or American Beauty (YES!), or Born to Run (YES!), or Dark Side of the Moon (you bet – in Greencastle, Indiana, about 10 years ago) even.  This has had the effect of making music buying a much more entertaining hunt through dusty record bins.  I mean, if someone else is in the store and in, say, the Rs perusing, you’re thinking, “if there’s a copy of Sticky Fingers (with the zipper!!) or Exile on Main Street in there and that dude buys it, I am going to be royally pissed.” (BTW, again, if you see these, be that guy for me.  Thanks).  So, in the even that you do, for example, see an excellent copy of the Violent Femmes debut just sitting there (YES!), you must buy it right now.   (I am still debating where I should go back and get that copy of Bowie’s Low I saw the other day…)

     This, folks, is a blast.  I’ve been scouring the DC record stores—and we’ve got a number of decent ones (Orpheus in Clarendon, Crooked Beat and Smash in Adams-Morgan, and Red Onion in Dupont) — for some key purchases to go with the new record player—because, if you’re going to have this cool new, fantastic sounding (and I’ll say real quick, vinyl does sound better than CDs – I’ve done some one to one comparisons, but it’s an even fight with SACDs), and you’re a borderline obsessive (see para. 1, supra) you need ESSENTIALS stat.  So, for your entertainment, I present: Albums the Sommers (ok, Jake) bought right away on vinyl (or, in some instances, bought even before he had a record player, just in case he ever got one), because Jake or Emilie had to have them.

1.      Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker.  Some nice people in England make this.  It sounds incredible—especially since the CD wasn’t particularly well made.  Emilie loves this one.

2.      Ryan Adams – Jacksonville City Nights, Cold Roses, Easy Tiger – Lost Highway rules.  Everything they put out comes out on vinyl, and I have to say, they do a REALLY good job on Ryan’s records.  Easy Tiger gets extra points for being clear orange vinyl.  Grrr.

3.      The Beatles – the Red and Blue greatest hits.  It is really hard to find good condition copies of the best Beatles records (though I did also manage to score Rubber Soul), but this is also how Emilie grew up listening to the Beatles.  If an alien ever lands and wants to understand pop music, I’m throwing these on.  When they’re done, he’ll get it.

4.      Brightblack Morning Light – s/t – this is another new one (2006) – I got it because I thought it’d sound especially good on vinyl—I mean, I really sought this one out.  I was right – this is a fantastic late night record.

5.      Jimmy Buffett – A1A.  The best Buffett album—and no, it isn’t the one with Margaritaville on it (Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes), but this one has the essential “Pirate Looks at Forty” which sounds like the truly great ballad that it is on wax.  Plus, Buffett’s CD releases are horrible—this is a major sound improvement.

6.      Crosby, Stills and Nash – S/t – I admit it, I am a closeted CSN(&sometimes Y) fan.  The guys do three part vocal harmony better than anyone – and this is a great album (Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, nuff said).  I will, rest assured, pick up the &Y records too. 

7.      Friday Night in San Francisco – DiMeola, McLaughlin, DeLucia.  I play guitar.  These guys might be the best three ever.  Simply unbelievable playing.  If you play, it is one you MUST own.

8.      Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks.  I don’t think I have to explain this one.  Shelter From the Storm.  Idiot Wind.  Buckets of Rain.  . 

9.      the Dead – Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty, Live, and Europe 72.  Workingman’s Dead is the best sounding record I have, I think.  If you come over, I will play it for you.  Even if you don’t like the dead, you’ll realize, this (and American Beauty) is sublime.

10.  Neil Diamond – 12 Greatest Hits.  I had to have some Neil.  One of the 5 best (well, most fun at least) concerts I’ve ever been to was when I convinced several of my skeptical law school friends to accompany me to see Denny Diamond – an impersonator – at the Slow Bar all the way over in East Nashville.  The skepticism was destroyed.  We stayed for all 3+ hours of Neil Diamond goodness. Much PBR was consumed. I think he played Sweet Caroline and I’m a Believer several times, b/c people would just NOT stop screaming for more.  Lesson:  Neil Diamond is awesome.  Neil Diamond in a bar?  Unbelievably awesome.

11.  Guns n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction.  Can I tell you how happy I was when I saw this hard rock-reviving masterpiece in the bin at Red Onion?  Especially on the 20th anniversary of the day it came out?!  (Yeah, that freaks me out too).  Seriously, who in their late 20s-30s doesn’t remember when Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City came out of nowhere to rule MTV.  Who hasn’t BLASTED Sweet Child O’ Mine?  Anyone?  Good, because if you haven’t, I’m not sure what we have in common.

12.  Janis Joplin’s Greatest Hits.  This one is for Emilie.  She can tell you why she knows all the words to this one…

13.  Led Zepplin – “IV”  Duh.  I bought this one in Greencastle, IN for a buck.  This was most definitely a “just in case” purchase.  B/c if you’re going to listen to some classic rock on vinyl, you kind of have to have this.  Honestly, it’s been so long since I listened to Stairway that, well, I can almost appreciate it again.  When the Levee Breaks, however, I have always been able to enjoy.  How awesome is the bridge when you can just see Page ripping it up, and Plant puts other hard rock singers to shame?  Hmm… may need to put that on.

14.  Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat.  One of my favorites of last year – I wish she’d hurry up and release a real version of “Mama Killed Jack.”  Again, one of those acoustic, harmony filled records that CDs just don’t do justice.  Highly recommended.

15.  Mamas and the Papas – 20 Golden Greats.  Lessons:  Ms&Ps are awesome.  Do not buy cheap greatest hits vinyl because they don’t sound as good as the albums.  Must buy more Mamas and the Papas.

16.  Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel.  Emmylou and Gram sound wonderful on this – I bought it for Emilie “just in case” not long after we got married.  I played it the other day.  Must find “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” stat.

17.  Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon, the Wall, Wish You Were Here, the Division Bell.  High School Jake was ALL OVER buying these.  Well-prepared chap that High School Jake.  I have a Super Audio CD copy of DSotM.  It sounds great.  This vinyl, which I got for a buck, sounds just as good (aside from a pop or two).  And you know what?  It’s just better.  You’re just meant to flip the record after great Gig, and then be BLOWN away by Money, Us and Them, Any Colour You Like, Brain Damage, and Eclipse.  Seriously, how good is that side two? 

18.  The Rolling Stones – Hot Rocks.  Ok.  So this is the first real placeholder of the bunch.  I had to have some stones – Wild Horses, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, etc… but the albums, if I can ever find Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, or Exile on Main Street will be so much better. 

19.  Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits.  This is actually my parents copy.  I seriously remember listening to this when I was really young.  It’s missing some key tracks (namely “Keep the Customer Satisfied”) but it’s a must isn’t it?  Don’t you have to let the record crackle into Mrs. Robinson?

20.  Bruce.  Yes, I had Born to Run just in case.  (Thunder Road sounds better with a crackle in the lead in and the first few lines).  I immediately picked up Born in the USA and Nebraska.  I’m THRILLED that “Magic” the new one, comes out on vinyl a week before the CD.  I already know where I’m preordering it from.

21.  Cat Stevens - Greatest Hits.  Cat reminds me of a spring break service trip I took in high school to David, Ky.  There are NO radio stations (that aren’t some sort of Christian talk radio) in David.  We didn’t have many tapes, but we had this one.  I laid a lot of tile floors to this one, so, I guess I’m the one guy that associates Cat Stevens with construction and Appalachia.

22.   U2 – the Joshua Tree.  This came out in the dying days of vinyl, the heyday of cassettes, and the early years of CD—so I don’t really think about it as a vinyl record.  That said, I’m not sure any of the records I’ve bought sound as much improved on vinyl as this one.  Bullet the Blue Sky, which I’ve never loved, sounds so full, heavy, and awesome, that I like it now.  And Mothers of the Disappeared is just jaw dropping good sounding.  With or Without You?  Relevatory.  Seriously, this $6 purchase was an immense surprise improvement.  Plus, this 20 (Twenty!) year old album is probably in my top 5.

23.  Velvet Underground and Nico – with the banana, and on yellow vinyl.  I’ll get Loaded eventually, but I mean, if you’re an indie rock person, and you have a turntable, I think you have to get the one where it all started, right?

24.  Finally, the Violent Femmes self-titled.  I had forgotten just how many good songs were on this record.  Another one that is great to listen to all the way through—if for nothing else but to remember just how awkward high school and college were.

There are others, I will admit, and many more are coming, but that’s a decent preview of what we just had to have.  I’ve got the record buying bug for the first time in years, and let me tell you, it feels great to be back.  So, I’m going to Wilmington next weekend… time to figure out where the good record stores are in Wilmington and Philly, and to figure out what to follow up “Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws” (Bruce Cockburn—man I forgot what a good song Incandescent Blue is) with…