It’s Beach House New Vinyl Thursday at The Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven. Check out this week’s list of new vinyl arrivals:
Aretha Franklin – Her Ultimate Collection
Adele- 30
Adele- 21
Ashford & Simpson – So So Satisfied
Weekly Review:
The husband-and-wife duo of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson spent the 1960s writing several big
R&B hits for other artists. This trend continued in the next decade, with one important exception – the
pair now recorded their own hits.
Released in 1977, So So Satisfied was the couple’s fourth album and very much in line with the
soul/disco trend of the time. The pair simmering sexuality is on full display during the simmering, seven-
minute title track. The arrangement is immaculate, but the song’s true selling point is hearing those two
voices dance and caress each other. The song works so well, the pair try it a few more times on the
album, to varying degrees of success. A wonderful string arrangement helps make “It’s You” work, but
“Destiny” is pretty sappy, even before the flute appears.
On “Couldn’t Get Enough,” Ashford rides an unconventional vocal line that lies somewhere between Ray
Charles and early Marvin Gaye while a gospel piano part ties the entire performance together.
Among the up-tempo tracks, the other two songs released as singles fare best. “Tried Tested and True”
works a big arrangement – complete with strings and horns – to get bodies on the dance floor. “Over
and Over,” hews close to the disco model, featuring a four-on-the-floor drum pattern and prominent
bassline. Album closer “If Your Lying” lies somewhere between the ballads and dance numbers, starting
as a slow, minimal blues song before blossoming with R&B horns straight out of Memphis. Speaking of
the blues, guitarists Eric Gale, Steve Kahn and Hugh McCracken add unexpected but delightful blues licks
throughout the album, instantly improving any track on which they are featured.
Overall, So So Satisfied is a solid effort that lifts off the ground several times, but never quite soars. -Joel Francis
Bad Brains – Quickness
Beach House – Once Twice Melody (Gold Clear Vinyl, Poster)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Howl
Bobby Weir And Wolf Bros – Bobby Weir And Wolf Bros: Live In Colorado
Brandy – The Best Of Brandy (Colored Vinyl)
The B-52’s – Live! Rock ‘n Rockets 1998 (140 Gram Vinyl)
The Beatles- Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
Buffalo Nichols – Buffalo Nichols
Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
Bonobo – Fragments (Limited Edition, Colored Vinyl, 140 Gram Vinyl, Indie Exclusive, Digital Download Card)
Childish Gambino – Because the Internet
Curtis Harding – If Words Were Flowers (Red Vinyl)
Daft Punk – Discovery
Dropkick Murphys – The Warriors Code
David Bowie- The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Dr. Dre – The Chronic
David Bowie – Lodger
Doors – L.A. Woman
Drake – Take Care
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio – Cold As Weiss (Blue Clear Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Weekly Review:
The pun in the title of the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio’s third album is a red-carpet welcome to the
ensemble’s new drummer, Dan Weiss. He immediately acquits himself on opening cut “Pull Your Pants
Up,” Locking in a funky, reliable rhythm that allows plenty of room for organist Lamarr and guitarist
Jimmy James to play off each other.
In the four years since Lamarr’s debut, he has established himself as one of the great organists of his
time, deftly channeling Jimmy Smith, Booker T. and Dr. Lonnie Smith. James is the perfect foil to
Lamarr’s sound, ably conjuring Steve Cropper, Grant Green or others when the situation arises.
Every track on Cold as Weiss has deep grooves, but some rise above the others. The Delta boogie of “Big
TT’s Blues” imagines John Lee Hooker sitting in with Johnny “Hammond” Smith. Closing song “This Is
Who I Is” finds James rocking a wah pedal with some echo, giving the track a psychedelic feel, like an
outtake from Norman Whitfield and the Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” sessions.
Drop the nine tracks from Cold as Weiss in a Lamarr playlist and they won’t jump out as drastically
different from the ensemble’s previous work, but that speaks to the high quality and consistency of the
trio’s catalog more than anything. For both longtime fans and newcomers, Cold as Weiss is a delight. -Joel Francis
Monthly Review #2:
Eddie Spaghetti – Extra Sauce
Fruit Bats – Sometimes a Cloud Is Just a Cloud: Slow Growers, Sleeper Hits and Lost Songs (2001–2021) (Pink, Violet, Colored Vinyl, Gatefold LP Jacket, Digital Download Card)
Frank Turner – FTHC (Red Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
The Fight – War Of Words
Gong – Live! At Sheffield 1974 (Red, Green Colored Vinyl)
The Get Up Kids – There Are Rules (Blue Clear Vinyl, Deluxe Edition, Gatefold LP Jacket)
Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump ……On A Wooden Piano (Pink Colored Vinyl)
Houndmouth – Good For You
Hank Mobley – Soul Station
Weekly Review:
In discussions of the greatest saxophone players on the 1950s and ‘60s jazz scene, Hank Mobley is
criminally overlooked. Mobley’s 1960 release Soul Station presents a strong case for why Mobley is long
overdue for re-evaluation.
Mobley recorded the album’s six songs in a single day and is backed by an all-star ensemble, including
legendary drummer Art Blakey, pianist Wynton Kelly and bass player Paul Chambers. Kelly and
Chambers are both celebrated for their playing with John Coltrane, Miles Davis and other titans of the
genre.
A pair of standards bookend Mobley’s four original tracks. Album opener “Remember” finds the quartet
relaxed and approachable. As Mobley dissects the original melody and gradually works himself away
from the familiar lines before handing the song over to Kelly. Kelly’s playing underneath Mobley is
reminiscent of how he supported Coltrane (and how McCoy Tyner performed the same task). Kelly’s
broad playing is the glue that holds the performances together and his solos are always elegant.
Blakey’s contributions shine through on the Latin rhythm he plays on “Split Feelin’s” and on his more
aggressive playing – and solo – on “I Dig You.”
The title track clocks in at nine minutes and so laid back that listening to the performance is the aural
equivalent of relaxing in a hammock. This easygoing style often tricked critics to think Mobley was less
adventurous than his contemporaries, but even an initial listen to Soul Station reveals this is simply not
the case.
More than 60 years after its release, Soul Station remains one of Mobley’s greatest albums and a
singular statement that belongs in the company of celebrated contemporaneous releases, such as
Saxophone Colossus, Go and My Favorite Things. -Joel Francis
Hurray for the Riff Raff – LIFE ON EARTH (Clear Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Halford – Resurrection
Weekly Review:
A decade after leaving Judas Priest, legendary metal vocalist Rob Halford finally embraced his roots on
the aptly titled Resurrection.
It is evident in the opening moments of “Resurrection,” the opening, title track, that the Halford of old
has returned. Gone are the electronic and industrial influences that marked Halford’s previous albums,
or the grunge affectations that marked his early ‘90s band, Fight. In their place are drums designed to
knock the fillings out of your teeth, monstrous guitars and, above it all, Halford’s signature high vocals.
The blistering power of “Resurrection” is followed by “Made in Hell,” the first of several songs that could
easily fit on a classic Judas Priest album. But Halford isn’t content with just recreating what his previous
band did best. Halford is unusually introspective on Resurrection, using several songs to take stock of his
life, accomplishments and consequences.
On most albums, the song “Silent Screams” would stand out as the best performance. The song opens
with a slow, haunting guitar line before bursting into majestic epic, complete with pumping, double kick
drums and twin guitar lines that dive, swoop and solo. Most albums, however, don’t have “The One You
Hate,” a duet between Halford and Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickenson. Expectations are sky high for this
meeting between two of the genre’s greatest vocalists, but the pairing lives up to the billing.
Five years after Resurrection, Halford rejoined Judas Priest. Both the singer and the band benefited from
this reunion, but Resurrection stands as the highest point in Halford’s solo career. -Joel Francis
Jill Scott – Who Is Jill Scott: Words And Sounds, Vol. 1 (Blue Colored Vinyl, Limited Edition)
Jackie McLean – A Fickle Sonance
Joe Henderson – Inner Urge
The Jackson 5 – ABC [180-Gram Black Vinyl]
Janet Jackson- Rhythm Nation
John Prine- Sweet Revenge
Khruangbin – Texas Moon (Extended Play, Blue Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Kool and the Gang – Kool and the Gang (Purple Colored Vinyl)
Weekly Review:
Kool and the Gang topped the charts in the 1980s and built their legacy on their work in the 1970s, but it
all started here, on this modest, self-titled release from 1969.
Kool and the Gang, the album, opens with “Kool and the Gang,” the song, a funk track with conga
drums, chicken scratch guitar and tight horn lines. This introduction immediately engages in the listener,
compelling hips to shake and fingers to snap. The roots of everything the group accomplished in the
coming decade are on full display in these two minutes and 55 seconds.
Immediately after opening up the dance floor with the first song, the band slows things down for
“Breeze and Soul.” The core of everything the Daptone and Colemine labels have built in this century
can be found in this enticing instrumental built around complementary electric piano and guitar parts
and some very funky drumming. The album continues alternating between upbeat and laid-back
numbers for most of the rest of its 10 tracks.
While the first side includes a couple more staples of the band’s cannon in “Chocolate Buttermilk” and
“Sea of Tranquility,” the second half is just as strong. The up-tempo/ballad pattern is broken with
“Kool’s Back Again” and “The Gang’s Back Again,” two similarly title tracks that feel like halves of the
same song, but both have deep grooves and swing hard, so que sera.
The nonet pay tribute to their roots with a cover of Smokey Robinson’s “Since I Lost My Baby” – a Top
20 hit for the Temptations – and “Raw Hamburger,” a song written by King Records producer Gene
Redd. (King Records was the longtime home of James Brown, Hank Ballard and other 1950s and ‘60s
R&B legends.) Just as obvious as the band’s influences, is the path Kool and the Gang paved for
contemporaries, such as Earth, Wind and Fire, War and the Meters. -Joel Francis
Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City
Lee Morgan – Caramba
Logic – Bobby Tarantino III
Los Bitchos – Let The Festivities Begin! (Colored Vinyl, 140 Gram Vinyl, Indie Exclusive, Digital Download Card)
Lady Wray – Piece of Me (Deep Emerald Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Lady Blackbird – Black Acid Soul
LIL BABY / LIL DURK – The Voice Of The Heroes
The Lumineers – Brightside (Oceania Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Lucinda Williams – This Sweet Old World (Silver, Gold Colored Vinyl)
Leonard Bernstein – West Side Story (Original Soundtrack)
Michael Jackson – Thriller (Picture Disc)
Mozzy – Gangland Landlord
My Morning Jacket – Okonokos (Deluxe Edition, Colored Vinyl, Boxed Set)
Miles Davis- Bitches Brew
N.W.A – Straight Outta Compton
New Order & Joy Division- Total
Orville Peck – Pony
Orville Peck- Show Pony (Purple Colored Vinyl, Sticker, Extended Play, Poster)
Pinegrove – 11:11 (Red Clear Vinyl)
Panic! At the Disco – Death Of A Bachelor (Limited Silver Colored Vinyl) (Silver Colored Vinyl, Anniversary Edition)
Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Pink Floyd – The Wall (180 Gram Vinyl, Gatefold LP Jacket)
Prince – 1999 (150 Gram Vinyl)
Weekly Review:
Prince – Prince (150 Gram Vinyl)
Pino Palladino – Notes With Attachments
The Rugged Nuggets- Odds & Ends
Radiohead – Kid A Mnesia (Gatefold LP Jacket, 3LP)
Saint Etienne – Foxbase Alpha (30th Anniversary) (Green Colored Vinyl)
Sarah Shook & The Disarmers – Nightroamer (Blue Clear Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Shovels & Rope – Manticore
Slightly Stoopid – Everything You Need
Slowdive – Souvlaki [180 gram vinyl]
Stanley Turrentine – Rough & Tumble
Twisted Sister – Greatest Hits -Tear It Loose (Atlantic Years) (Red Clear Vinyl, Limited Edition)
radio hits and videos in constant rotation on MTV. As expected, turning out that much material in such a
short amount of time allowed quite a bit of filler to creep into Twisted Sister’s albums. The new double-
LP Greatest Hits – Tear It Loose alleviates this problem by rounding up most of the band’s biggest and
best songs in one place.
The first platter in Tear It Loose rounds up a dozen cuts, including all the expected hits: “I Wanna Rock,”
“Leader of the Pack,” “Hot Love” and the Top 10 hit “We’re Not Going to Take It.” Non-charting singles
and key album tracks round out this set, painting a solid portrait of the band at the time.
Tear It Loose really shines on its second LP, a collection of live cuts. Twisted Sister came up in the cut-
throat Long Island bar scene in the 1970s, so their live chops have always been surprisingly strong. With
all the singles on the studio LP, the live collection rounds up some great album tracks, such as “Tear It
Loose,” “Knife in the Back” and “S.M.F.” Half of the performances draw from the band’s heyday in 1983
and ’84, while the final four songs draw from a 2004 show at the Astoria Theater in London. The
instruments are a bit murky on the Astoria recordings, which is curious given the recency of the
recording, but it doesn’t hold back the band’s energy too much.
Greatest Hits – Tear It Loose is one-stop shopping for Twisted Sister fans who don’t want to wade
through the band’s albums. New liner notes from each of the band members and great live photos in
the gatefold sleeve are the cherry on the top of this sonic sundae. -Joel Francis
The Velvet Underground – White Light/ White Heat
Van Morrison – Moondance
Voka Gentle – Writhing!
White Stripes – De Stijl (180 Gram Vinyl, Limited Edition, Remastered, Reissue)
White Lies – As I Try Not To Fall Apart (Cream olored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Zeal & Ardor – Zeal & Ardor
Weekly Review:
The third album from metal ensemble Zeal and Ardor is a confident, shape-shifting journey that refuses
to let the listener get comfortable, while remaining a cohesive statement.
After opening with an electronic/industrial song that could have been pulled from a Nine Inch Nails
album, Zeal and Ardor kicks into “Run.” Pumping this punishing song through your earbuds is
guaranteed to decrease your time in the 40-yard dash, thanks to Marco von Allmen’s ferocious
drumming. The next track, “Death to the Holy,” manages the nice trick of eviscerating organized religion
in its lyrics while building the melody off gospel motifs.
There is no doubt that Zeal and Ardor is a metal album, but bandleader Emmanuel Gagneaux shifts
textures and arrangements so deftly the music never blends into a brutal wall of background noise. The
mostly instrumental “Emersion” is based on relaxing electronics that wouldn’t be out of place as window
dressing on a pop song you’d hear in a trendy boutique. “Golden Liar” is a blues song where Gagneaux’s
voice recalls Chris Cornell. Elsewhere, Gagneaux alters his voice to have a raspy growl similar to Tom
Waits or a powerful scream that would sound at home with Slayer or Sepultura.
Zeal and Ardor is a must-have for metal fans, but the journey is compelling enough to make it a worthy
purchase for adventurous fans who dabble in heavy music as well. -Joel Francis
FLASH SALE!
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Sherman, Gordon, Cat, Matt, Dylan, Doyle, Heather, Greg, Dave and Lain