Label: 2 Tone/Chrysalis Released: November 1979 There have been three waves of ska. The first originated in Jamaica in the early to mid 60s as a predecessor to reggae. It was danceable, fun and full of energy, but generally poorly recorded, making it more difficult to take in large doses despite some great artists such as Prince Buster and Desmond… Read more »
Label: DRT Entertainment Released: March 20, 2007 Admittedly, I haven’t spent much time with any Clutch release since Elephant Riders. It’s partly due to the disappointment of their live shows after the expectations raised by two albums that ranked #1 and #3 on my best albums of the 90s (Clutch and Elephant Riders respectively) and it’s partly due to the… Read more »
Label: Pakuni Records/Illegal Art Released: March 6, 2007 Back in the heyday of Napster, I downloaded a Metallica/Britney Spears mash-up entitled, “So Fucking Crazy.” I wouldn’t go so far as to call it good in its own right so much as it was just fun. Recently, I decided to give a whole album of mash-ups a shot after hearing Legion… Read more »
…that the Beatles are better than the Stones (or anyone else for that matter). From the late Kurt Vonnegut’s last novel, Timequake: I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply,… Read more »
Back in the mid to late 80s, Strange Fruit Records released a series (or three) of EPs that were actual sessions from John Peel’s radio show on the BBC’s Radio One. I bought some at the time and I’ve always loved listening to them. They have a lot of raw energy that likely comes from essentially playing live for someone… Read more »
Label: Red Car Records (available through Cd baby) Released: 2004 I picked this one up for $5 after hearing a Charms track (not from this album) on Little Steven’s Underground Garage. I’m guessing the track I heard was newer and that the band has grown a good bit since this one was released. The first thing that struck me about… Read more »
Label: Roadrunner Released: July 25, 2006 You can draw a lot of parellels between the New York Dolls and the Rolling Stones. Both were more about swagger than technical talent. Both were kind of based in loose, sloppy blues. Both tried to present a dangerous sexuality, relying to some extent on androgyny. However, until last year, you couldn’t say that… Read more »
That last post reminds me of another really cool record buying experience that I had. When the first Beatles Anthology came out in 1995, I contacted a local record store called Music Machine to pre-order the double LP. They took the order, no problem. Then I waited for the release. A few days before the release, the owner of Music… Read more »
I’ve always loved ordering music directly from labels and I try to do that whenever I can. By and large, my experiences have been very good. About 12 years ago, I had a particularly good experience ordering some records from Sub Pop. At the time, I was pretty strapped for cash, but I really wanted Mudhoney’s My Brother the Cow…. Read more »
I’ve been reading Metal Mark’s countdown of the best metal albums of 1986 lately and it has me thinking about crossover. During the mid 80s, speed metal was the result of hardcore’s influence on a group of young metal bands looking for something new on one side and young hardcore bands looking to tighten up their sound on the other…. Read more »