It’s Quincy Jones New Vinyl Thursday at The Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven. Check out this week’s list of new vinyl arrivals:
Aimee Mann – Queens Of The Summer Hotel
Aretha Franklin – Sparkle (Clear Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color (Deluxe Edition, Pink, Black, Magenta Colored Vinyl)
Bad Company – Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy: The Very Best Of Bad Company (Indie Exclusive)
BadBadNotGood – Talk Memory (Gatefold LP Jacket)
Beths – Auckland, New Zealand 2020
Bill Charlap – Street Of Dreams
Billy Preston – Encouraging Words
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Boogaloo Joe Ivan Jones – Sweetback
Brandee Younger – Somewhere Different
Bria – Cuntry Covers Vol. 1 (Opaque Light Blue Vinyl, Limited Edition)
Billie Eilish- Happier Than Ever Happier Than Ever (Brown Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
The Bug – Fire (Red, Yellow Colored Vinyl, Limited Edition, Gatefold LP Jacket)
Bob Marley- Legend
Bad Brains – Bad Brains
Cat Power – Covers
Weekly Review:
Across an inventive and impressive career – now almost 30 years old – Cat Power has become one of the
great songwriters of her era. Power’s third collection of cover songs, titled simply Covers, reminds that
she is an imaginative interpreter of other people’s songs as well.
Covers encompasses an adventurous range of material, ranging from Frank Ocean and the
Replacements to Lana Del Rey and Kitty Wells. Despite these diverse sources, Covers hangs together
well as a singular statement.
A good deal of why Covers works so well as an album lies in Power’s ability to deconstruct and cast even
the most well-known songs in a new light. Her reading of Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind,” the Ocean
number “Bad Religion” and Iggy Pop’s “Endless Sea” are nearly unrecognizable from the original
versions.
On other interpretations, Power amplifies the original spirit. She somehow makes the Replacements’
“Here Comes a Regular” even more mournful and turns the Billie Holiday song “I’ll Be Seeing You” into
an even more sad and graceful goodbye.
One of Covers best songs comes from a surprising source. “Pa Pa Power” comes from a project featuring
actor Ryan Gosling and Red Hot Chili Peppers bass player Flea. While the original version is driven by
low-key New Wave synths and sports vocals from a children’s choir vocals, Power tears everything
down, leaving only the weary lyrics. As on the rest of Covers, the performance is an evocative look into
Power’s mindset. The dozen songs here are trips worth taking. -Joel Francis
Charles Tolliver – Connect (Indie Exclusive)
Common – A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2 (Limited Edition,Yellow Colored Vinyl)
David Bowie – Low (Orange Colored Vinyl, Brick & Mortar Exclusive, Remastered)
David Bowie – Hunky Dory (180 Gram Vinyl)
David Byrne & Brian Eno – My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (180 Gram Vinyl, Remastered)
Dinosaur Jr – Hand It Over (Deluxe Edition, Gatefold LP Jacket,Purple Colored Vinyl, Expanded Version)
Don Cherry – Where Is Brooklyn?
Dropkick Murphys – Sing Loud Sing Proud
Doors – L.A. Woman
Drake – Take Care
Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer
Fritz Hutchison – Wide Wild Acres
Funkadelic – Free Your Mind (180gm Blue Vinyl)
Funkadelic – Funkadelic: 50th Anniversary Edition (180gm Orange Vinyl)
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
Weekly Review:
Perhaps no other band defines the genre of post-punk better than the Leeds, UK group Gang Of Four.
Matador Records has just released a new remastered reissue of the bands debut album, “Entertainment.”
Incorporating the unlikely genres of punk rock with funk, dance music, reggae and dub, coupled with left leaning inspired politics, GOF has become a staple listen for countless rebelling, middle class, art school student types looking to push back against the confines of a capitalist society or at the very least their over bearing conservative parents.
By embracing more intellectual ideals like Situationism and Feminism along with funky dance rhythms not totally dissimilar to disco inspired pop music of the time, the genre even managed to piss off some punk rockers.
“We were trying to invent a new kind of music, a new kind of language,” Gill said of Entertainment! “We were using the building blocks of ‘rock music’, ‘funk music’ and ‘pop music’, dismantling them to see what was there and using what we felt like using.”
From the very first elephant stepping bass sounds of Ether, the first track on Entertainment, one gets the sense of the deliberateness. Regardless of its dissonance and energy this is music clearly constructed (or reconstructed) from the broken pieces of western utopian idealism.
“Everything was thought out in advance,” said guitarist Andy Gill. “No jamming.”
In his 2014 piece about the album, Kevin J. H. Dettmar likens the album to James Joyce’s Ulysses, saying; “both are concerned with the importance of narrative, of storytelling, as a mode of experiencing the world… that the stories we tell ourselves about “the way things are”—a body of stories that in another context we might call ideology—profoundly shape our experiences of the world.
Track two “Naturals Not It” is perfect example of this cut-up narrative concept:
“Dream of the perfect life
Economic circumstances
The body is good business
Sell out, maintain the interest
Remember Lot’s wife
Renounce all sin and vice
Dream of the perfect life
This heaven gives me migraine”
The criticism of modern day society that Gang Of Four were addressing over forty years ago are all too relative today. The pandemic has caused many of us to take pause in this age of information and constant limitless stimulation. Perhaps there is a better way? With Gang of Four it appears to be an open ended question. I’m just glad someone is still asking!
In 2020 Rolling Stone voted Entertainment number 273 out of the 500 best albums of all time.
Their influence on New Wave and No Wave music of the 80’s and 90’s is uncontested. Even to this date post- punk bands emerge proudly displaying the angular bass driven style Gang of Four helped to create. – Major Matt
Weekly Review #2:
On their 1979 debut, UK punk band Gang of Four combine the nervous energy of early Talking Heads
with the razor-sharp satire of capitalism and society practiced by early Tubes and Devo.
Entertainment!’s lead single, “Damaged Goods,” uses the end of a romantic relationship as a metaphor
for capitalism. “Damaged goods/Send ‘em back,” Andy Gill sings on the song’s bridge before pleading
“Give me the change you said would do me good.” Fun stuff!
Fortunately, the music keeps Entertainment! from being a purely cerebral exercise. The quartet
combines reggae, rock and funk into a post-punk mélange driven by a fidgety, restless intensity. At
times, the songs veer into something approaching pop territory, but consistently stop short. It’s almost
as if the band is intentionally holding the music back from the dance floor.
In the 43 years since its release, Entertainment! has earned lofty status, with songs appearing in both
independent and mainstream films. The album’s clout is only matched by diversity of the people who
praise it, spanning Kurt Cobain and Flea to Michael Hutchence of INXS. It deserves a place in any punk
library. -Joel Francis
Gil Scott-Heron – Nothing New
Greta Van Fleet- The Battle At Garden’s Gate (White Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Great White – Great Zeppelin – Tribute to Led Zeppelin
Halford – Resurrection (Red Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Harmonia – Deluxe
Jackie McLean – Destination Out
Jarvis Cocker – CHANSONS d’ENNUI Tip-top
Johnny Hammond – Gears
Weekly Review:
In the 1970s, brothers Alphonso and Larry Mizell not only produced jazz-funk-fusion albums for Donald
Byrd and Garry Bartz, but also worked with Motown stars the Miracles, the Jackson Five and even the
king of pop, Michael Jackson.
On 1975’s Gears, the Mizell brothers applied their golden touch to veteran jazz organist Johnny
Hammond. The man born John Smith recorded his first album in 1958 and became so prolific and well-
known on the Hammond B-3 organ that he took the instrument’s name as his own.
Hammond was no stranger to the Mizell brothers. The three worked together the year before on 1974’s
Gambler’s Life. Gears continues the exploration and sounds on Gambler’s Life, with plenty of hi-hat, wah
wah guitar and electric bass.
The six numbers on Gears blur the lines between jazz, soul, funk and even disco, but are loaded with
surprises. On “Tell Me What to Do,” a four-on-the-floor cymbal rhythm rides over an elegant jazz
keyboard solo. “Los Conquistadores Chocolates” rides a complex flute riff over some impressive cymbal
work until the rest of the band kicks in and the main motif arrives. Elsewhere, sophisticated chops are
tucked behind pop vocals.
Jazz purists scoffed at Mizell brothers productions at the time, but many of their efforts hold up
surprisingly well today. The influence of Gears can be heard in the sound of conscious hip hop and neo
soul of the early ‘90s. The album’s laid-back vibe and sophistication makes it both an accessible and
cheerful experience. -Joel Francis
José González – In Our Nature
The Jackson 5 – ABC [180-Gram Black Vinyl]
Janet Jackson- Rhythm Nation
John Coltrane – Lush Life; “Live” at the Village Vanguard; Crescent
Weekly Review:
A trio of reissues spotlight radically different moments on legendary saxophone player John Coltrane’s
incredible artistic arc.
Lush Life draws from sessions recorded in 1957 and ’58, but wasn’t released until 1961. The first side of
the album finds Coltrane backed only by bass and drums, giving the horn player lots of space to stretch
out. These performances of standards “Like Someone in Love” and “I Love You” offer rare opportunities
to hear Trane play without a pianist.
Pianist Red Garland and longtime Coltrane bass player Paul Chambers join the master on the second
side. The 14-minute performance of “Lush Life” is one of the most sublime moments in the early
Coltrane catalog. Trane’s playing is powerful, yet elegant and guest trumpeter Donald Byrd adds
different textures and moods.
Recorded at that hallowed hall of jazz in New York City in November, 1961, Live at the Village Vanguard,
feels like two albums in one. On the first side, Coltrane bids farewell to bass player Reggie Workman and
welcomes guest Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet for “Spiritual.” The playing on this side is more relaxed and
straightforward in arrangement. The performance of “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” could almost fit
on Lush Life.
The second side of the Village Vanguard platter feels like a completely different album. With pianist
McCoy Tyner on the sidelines, Coltrane works again in the trio format and takes advantage of every
opportunity it presents. The side-long “Chasin’ the Trane” is a tour de force of exploration and
improvisation. Marking the debut of bass player Jimmy Garrison, who would work with Coltrane for the
rest of his life.
Coltrane was back with Garrison, Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones – the same musicians who played with
him on the Village Vanguard album – for 1964’s Crescent. Although the sessions for this album pre-date
A Love Supreme by more than six months, the playing on Crescent points the way to Trane’s career-
defining masterpiece.
For his solos on the opening, title track, Coltrane is restrained and focused. He still delivers a barrage of
notes, but it is obvious each one is carefully placed and considered. “Wise One” is a beautiful
meditation, with Tyner’s piano accompaniment almost functioning as a song within a song.
Crescent’s second side is given to the rhythm section. Garrison gets a lengthy solo on “Lonnie’s Lament,”
while Jones takes the lead on album-closer “Drum Thing.”
This trio of albums are fascinating, because Coltrane’s artistic growth is readily heard across the records,
but he never lets go of what made him special initially. They are albums that can be enjoyed and studied
for a lifetime. -Joel Francis
Korn – Korn
Kendrick Lamar- Damn.
Khruangbin- Mordechai
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Skynyrd’s Innyrd
LIL BABY / LIL DURK – The Voice Of The Heroes
Lana Del Rey – Blue Banisters
The Lumineers – Brightside (Oceania Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Leon Bridges- Gold-Diggers Sound
Leon Bridges – Good Thing (180 Gram Vinyl, Download Insert)
Lonnie Smith – Breathe
Nathaniel Rateliff- The Future (Limited Edition, 180 Gram Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Orville Peck – Pony
Oasis – Knebworth 1996
Quincy Jones – $ (Music From The Original Motion Picture Sound Track) )(Green Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
The Ramones – Rocket To Russia (Indie Exclusive)
Sam Cooke – Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964
System of a Down – Mezmerize (140 Gram Vinyl)
Sturgill Simpson – Sound & Fury
Sturgill Simpson – Cuttin’ Grass – Vol. 2 (Cowboy Arms Sessions) (Blue, White, Clear Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Tom Waits – One from the Heart (180 Gram Vinyl)
Trees Speak – Vertigo of Flaws: Emancipation of the Dissonance and Temperaments in Irrational Waveforms (Gatefold LP Jacket, With Booklet, With Bonus 7″, Digital Download Card)
Taylor Swift – Folklore (Beige Colored Vinyl, Gatefold LP Jacket)
Twenty One Pilots – Vessel (FBR 25th Anniversary Edition, Silver Colored Vinyl)
Twisted Sister – Greatest Hits -Tear It Loose (Atlantic Years) (Red Clear Vinyl, Limited Edition)
Thelonious Monk – Misterioso
U2 – Achtung Baby (30th Anniversary) (Limited Edition, 180 Gram Vinyl, With Booklet & Poster)
Urban Cowboy – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Blue Colored Vinyl, Indie Exclusive)
Van Morrison – His Band & The Street Choir (Turquoise Colored Vinyl)
Van Morrison – Moondance
The Waterboys – Room To Roam (Half Speed Master) (180 Gram Vinyl)
The Whitmore Sisters – Ghost Stories (White & Purple Swirl, 140 Gram Vinyl)
Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil
Zach Bryan – Deann
Zero 7 – Garden
FLASH SALE!
50% OFF ALL Red Tag Clearance Vinyl – Thursday, January 20th ONLY!
Shuttlecock Music:
Click HERE to watch.
Which records, tapes, and CDs are your favorite local artists buying? On this episode of Record Shopping with Shuttlecock, we head to The Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven with recently reunited alt-rockers Frogpond to do some digging. Tune in to find out what they copped. Follow @ShuttlecockMag on social media and visit www.ShuttlecockMusic.com. Grab a t-shirt, button, or magazine from www.ShuttlecockMag.BigCartel.com to support the channel. Make sure to like, subscribe, and share.
Turntables! We got ’em. From starter tables to audiophile, and everything in between, we have you covered. We are honored to once again be carrying a full line up of the award winning, top of their class, made in America, U-turn Orbits! We have all the colors- including the high performance walnut and maple. Get here fast for best selection. Get yours today!
We have official Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven shirts in all sizes again- small to 3XL! Come in today and pick one up.
Not sure what to get the vinyl lover in your life? The Vinyl Underground has gift certificates in every denomination.
Please follow our very active Facebook and Instagram accounts to stay up on all the vinyl news.
Thanks for reading this week’s Quincy Jones New Vinyl Thursday post! Mention that you did before you check out and we will take 20% off of ANY one item in the store! Offer good through 01/26/22.
Enjoy the music and we will see you soon. Your loving Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven staff:
Sherman, Gordon, Cat, Matt, Dylan, Doyle, Heather, Dave and Lain
