Bohemian Rhapsody New Vinyl Thursday!

It’s Bohemian Rhapsody New Vinyl Thursday! Check out this week’s new vinyl arrivals:

The 1975 – Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (180 Gram Vinyl, Special Packaging)

Baroness – Yellow and Green

Basement Jaxx – Remedy

Beirut – Gallipoli (Indie Exclusive colored vinyl)

Bob Mould – Sunshine Rock (Black, Digital Download Card)

Breakbot – By Your Side

Cass McCombs – Tip Of The Sphere

Cherry Glazerr – Stuffed & Ready (Opaque Red Vinyl)

Weekly Review:

On their third and most recent album, Cherry Glazerr presents a well crafted 10 song album that is is written with intent. Lead singer Clementine Creevy will tell you that the first two albums were about expressing how she felt, but this album is more in search of why she feels that way. It’s a darker path, but one certainly worth exploring.
Stuffed & Ready’s first offering is a song called Ohio. If songs were a family, Weezer’s In The Garage would be a DNA match. Wasted Nun could have found a home on Hole’s Celebrity Skin. All throughout the album it feels as if there are nods or influences from a number of bands that have come before. From the tone of the guitar to the vocals, the album came out in 2019, but feels like 1999.
Songs like Daddi and That’s Not My Real Life feel personal and real, with lyrics exploring the unnecessary need to seek permission from a male counterpart “Where should i go daddi? What should i say? Where should i go? Is it ok with you?” By the end of the song Creevy has outgrown the need for her “daddi” throwing a jab at the song’s subject “smoking makes me taste like filth, to keep you away.” If you can’t sense the undercurrent then Juicy Socks brings the message to the surface “I don’t want nobody hurt, but I made an exception with him, I’m so lucky I can breathe, When the others cannot swim.”
This album is worth a spin or six. Stop on by the store, Sherman and team will have the dust jacket Stuffed & Ready for you to take home. – Brad Simmons

Chris Whitley – Living with the Law (180 Gram Vinyl)

Chvrches – Love Is Dead (Clear Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)

The Cure – The Head On The Door (180 Gram Vinyl)

David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (180 Gram Vinyl)

Deer Tick – Mayonnaise

Deerhunter – Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared

Echo & the Bunnymen – Porcupine (Reissue)

Foo Fighters – Concrete And Gold (Gatefold LP Jacket, Download Insert)

Ghost – Prequelle (Clear Vinyl, With Bonus 7″)

Glass Animals – Zaba

Gorillaz – Demon Days

Greta Van Fleet – Anthem Of The Peaceful Army

Gryphon – Reinvention

Guns N’ Roses – Use Your Illusion II

The Gaturs – Wasted (Feat. Willie Tee)

Humble Pie – Joint Effort (Colored Vinyl)

Ictus – Ictus

Ike Quebec – Blue & Sentimental

J. Cole – KOD (Gatefold LP Jacket)

James Leg – Blood On The Keys (Digital Download Card)

Jeff Buckley – Grace (180 Gram Vinyl)

Jessica Pratt – Quiet Signs

John Carpenter – Halloween (Original Soundtrack) (Red)

Johnny & Edgar Winter – Together (Translucent Green Viny, 150 Gram Vinyl)

Jonny Greenwood – There Will Be Blood

Kid Rock – Greatest Hits: You Never Saw Coming

King Gizzard & Lizard Wizard – Flying Microtonal Banana (Colored Vinyl, Blue, Gold Disc)

Le Butcherettes – Bi/ mental

The Lemonheads – Varshons 2 (Colored Vinyl, Green, Indie Exclusive, Digital Download Card)

Manfred Mann – The Manfred Mann Album

Mavis Staples – Live In London

Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell

Mercury Rev – Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited

Michael Jackson – Off The Wall (Gatefold LP Jacket)

Michael Jackson – Thriller (Gatefold LP Jacket)

Motorhead – England 1978 (Red, Limited Edition, Remastered)

Mt.Joy – Mt.joy

Panic! At the Disco – Pray For The Wicked (Black, Digital Download Card)

Pink Floyd – Animals

Prince – Musicology (Colored Vinyl, Purple, 150 Gram Vinyl, Gatefold LP Jacket)

Prince – 3121 (Colored Vinyl, Purple, 150 Gram Vinyl, Gatefold LP Jacket)

Weekly Review:

Prince – Planet Earth (Colored Vinyl, Purple, 150 Gram Vinyl, Lenticular Cover)

In the first years of this century, Prince generally stayed out of the public eye, experimenting with direct distribution of digital files, exploring instrumental jazz, and embracing his new commitment to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Starting in 2004, however, he successfully mounted a popular comeback with three mid-2000s albums now available for purchase on vinyl for the first time ever. And that vinyl is purple, to boot–at least on initial pressings.
Tied to a major tour, Musicology was Prince’s best-selling album in years, and if it doesn’t reach the heights of Prince’s immortal ‘80s run, it has plenty to offer. The title track, a tribute to forefathers like James Brown and Sly Stone, was an R&B hit and Grammy winner, while the quiet-storm ballad “Call My Name” garnered another Grammy and became one of the best-regarded songs of Prince’s later career. “What Do U Want Me to Do?” is sneakily reminiscent of the classic “Ballad of Dorothy Parker,” if not in the same league, and the haunting guitar ballad “A Million Days” may be best of all, landing somewhere in the vicinity of past hits “Dolphin” and “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man.”
3121 followed two years later, improving on the success of Musicology by debuting atop the charts and offering even stronger highlights. The minimalistic funk of the great “Black Sweat” hearkens back to the indelible “Kiss” and points the way to Janelle Monáe’s 2018 hit “Make Me Feel,” while the call-and-response of the playful “Lolita” brings the Time to mind. “Fury” is a guitar workout that came off even better live, and the thumping title track provides some deep funk for the dance floor. “Black Sweat” and “3121” were Grammy-nominated, along with the midtempo R&B track “Beautiful, Loved & Blessed” and the album itself. Reasonable fans can disagree over whether Musicology or 3121 is the better album, but for me, the more freewheeling 3121 ranks among Prince’s finest post-’80s efforts.
Planet Earth, from 2007–the same year Prince stunned the world with his legendary Super Bowl halftime show–feels more labored and less inspired. Lead single “Guitar” works as an ode to the titular instrument despite an air of calculation and a riff reminiscent of U2, “Chelsea Rodgers” is a catchy disco throwback, and “The One U Wanna C” cruises along pleasantly with unspecified contributions from former bandmates Wendy and Lisa. Among the ballads, “Future Baby Mama” was another R&B hit and Grammy winner, and the lush “Somewhere Here on Earth” became a fan favorite, but the title track is a would-be epic that doesn’t quite scale the heights it reaches for, and the half-rapped “Mr. Goodnight” is an embarrassment. Planet Earth has pleasures to offer, especially for committed fans, but it’s also a comparatively superficial entry in the Prince canon.
Higher highs and lower lows lie ahead in the Prince reissue campaign–several more titles are waiting to make their vinyl debuts, and some have never seen a physical release of any kind (Prince was way ahead of the game on that particular phenomenon). But this trio of releases is a good start. -Randall Paske

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Slash – Living The Dream

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble

Strawberry Alarm Clock – Wake Up… It’s Tomorrow

Tame Impala – Lonerism

Timothy Leary – Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out (original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Limited Edition, White, Black)

Tom Petty & Heartbreakers – Damn The Torpedoes (180 Gram Vinyl)

Townes Van Zandt – Live at the Old Quarter (180 Gram Vinyl)

Twenty One Pilots – Vessel (Clear Vinyl, Digital Download Card)

Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

Wayne Shorter – Etcetera (180 Gram Vinyl)

ZZ Top – Tejas (syeor Exclusive 2019) (Colored Vinyl, Purple)