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Steve Reid New Vinyl Thursday

  • Vinyl Underground
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June 23, 2021

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By ll_7th_heaven

It’s Steve Reid New Vinyl Thursday at The Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven. Check out this week’s list of new vinyl arrivals:

2Pac- All Eyez on Me

A Tribe Called Quest- Midnight Marauders

Amy Winehouse- At the BBC

Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood- Live

Arctic Monkeys- AM

Arlo Parks- Collapsed In Sunbeams

Benedek- Bene’s World

Benjamin Tod- A Heart Of Gold Is Hard To Find

Bill Evans- Sunday at Village Vanguard

Blink 182- Dude Ranch

Cavetown- Animal Kingdom

Christopher- Christopher

Coolio- Gangsta’s Paradise (Anniversary Edition)

Crowded House- Dreamers Are Waiting

Dave Brubeck- Time Outtakes

David Bowie & Trevor Jones- Labyrinth (From the Original Soundtrack)

David Byrne- Love This Giant

Deftones- Ohms

Fall Out Boy- Take This to Your Grave

Weekly Review:

The early 2000s were a golden era for power pop. Blink-182 and Sum 41 were inescapable on the radio dial and MTV. New Found Glory and Taking Back Sunday were blowing up and elder statesmen Green Day were receiving accolades for their ambitious concept album. 

Named after a Simpsons character, the Chicago quartet Fall Out Boy dove into this environment and immediately staked out a spot in the Top 40 with their debut, Take This to Your Grave. The album is loaded with huge guitar hooks, vocal lines easy to sign along with and a bouncing spirit that never flags. A shiny production makes every element shimmer under the spotlight.

Take This To Your Grave didn’t spawn any successful singles, but many tracks, including “Saturday” and “Dead On Arrival” remain concert staples.

You’ll know in the first 30 seconds if Take This to Your Grave is for you. This may not be an album that reveals new layers with repeated listens, but it definitely hits the sweet spot for Hot Topic and Warped Tour fans of a certain age.- Joel Francis. 

Fleetwood Mac- The Best Of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac

Frank Zappa – Zappa ’88: The Last US Show

Weekly Review:

I doubt many of the people gathered on Long Island in March, 1988, had any idea they were witnessing Frank Zappa’s final concert on his native soil. Zappa’s dozen-strong band had toured the United States for two months and were heading to Europe after that night’s concert. More U.S. dates were planned for their return, later that summer. Sadly, those later U.S. shows never happened. After two months in Europe, Zappa cancelled the rest of the tour and fired the band.

Although bootlegs of Zappa’s Long Island show have been around for decades, the historic night now finally receives official release, newly mixed from the master tapes. 

The two-and-a-half-hour set shows off Zappa’s range, encompassing brief classical pieces and longer compositions written for that tour. The show opens with an eerily prescient call for voter registration and a reworked version of “I Am the Walrus” making fun of a televangelist. The more things change….

More than a historical document, Zappa ’88 is a great showcase of the performer’s range, humor and musicianship. The band is well-rehearsed, yet there is still room for exploration in the longer pieces. The mix of fan favorites and covers of “Stairway to Heaven” and a Beatles medley make Zappa ’88 not only a must-hear for the devoted, but a unique entry point for the uninitiated.- Joel Francis. 

Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Brain Telephone

Weekly Review:

Happy Wednesday! One of my favorite Record Store Day releases was the  remastered re-release of the 2017 Frankie and the Witch Fingers album Brain Telephone on psychedelic splatter colored vinyl.

FTWF is an indie garage psych band hailing from Los Angeles , CA by way of Bloomington, IN.  Similar to artists like Ty Segall, The Oh Sees,  & The Brian Jonestown Massacre. FTWF are proudly flying the flag of reverb drenched, guitar driven rock made popular In the 1960’s by bands like The Seeds, The Thirteenth Floor  Elevators and Count Five.
 I first became aware of FTWF from their 2020 breakthrough release: Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters…  Brain Telephone displays slightly less developed production than Monsters, which gives the record even more of the quality of band you’d discover on a Nuggets Compilation vs. a 2021 Record Store Day.
Track one, the title track,  sets the tone for the record with plenty of space echoed guitars and tremolo drenched vocals. Theres a nice little soulful Rhodes piano solo that appears in the middle of the track as well.
The themes of the songs on Brain Telephone rain consistent with their old school inspirations. Lysergic visions of light and color mixing with good and evil, primitive and refined, chaos and structure. For some, the music that inspired this music was the early soundtrack of a cultural revolution. I’m not totally sure what it is today, but it’s still a lot of fun to groove to.
The midpoint track, Microscope, opens with the lines: “l close my eyes to see Patterns in skies inside realms that I’ve never been able to see Symmetrical as they could be” It’s a perfect homage to the introspective, acid inspired themes of  the 60’s. Perhaps more than slightly derivative,  there’s still something to be gained from this mind set IMHO.
The guitars on, Let Love Be Love, are a watery electric twelve string part that wouldn’t be out of place on any early Byrds album.
The near eight minute Kraut Rock journey, Mothers Mirror, is perhaps a good foreshadowing of developments we now know come in the albums that follow Brain Telephone.  This one is must have for the any fan of the psych rock or garage rock genre!
– Major Matt

Free Music Quintet- Free Music 1 & 2

Gil Scott-Heron- Pieces of a Man

H.E.R.- H.E.R.

Hall & Oates- Rock N Soul Part 1

Hall & Oates- Very Best Of Darryl Hall & John Oates

Harry Styles- Fine Line

Hiss Golden Messenger- Quietly Blowing It

Iggy & Stooges- Jesus Loves The Stooges

Ivory- Ivory

Jimi Hendrix- Are You Experienced

Jimmy Smith- Back at the Chicken Shack

Joe Harriott- Southern Horizons

John Coltrane- Ballads

John Coltrane- Cattin With

John Coltrane- For Lovers

John Coltrane- My Favorite Things

Jonzun Crew- Lost In Space

Juju- Live At 131 Prince Street

Justin Bieber- Justice

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard- Live In London ’19

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard- Live In San Francisco ’16

Led Zeppelin- Led Zeppelin 1

Lee Perry- Roast Fish and Cornbread

Liz Phair – Soberish
Weekly Review:
Pitchfork called Liz Phair’s latest album, Soberish, “Highly Anticipated.”  And I suppose this is true. It’s been 11 years since her last album of original material. She more or less took the 2010’s off.
Soberish is Phair’s seventh full length
since her legendary debut: Exile In Guyville, in 1993, an album that changed the indie music landscape forever IMHO (as well as many many more respectable artists and critics, not to mention record buyers).
Her following two albums were moderately successful progressions but her self titled 2003 attempt at mainstream pop was considered, largely, a misstep and frankly it’s been a bit of a bumpy road for Phair ever since.
Her last album Funstyle in 2010 was nothing short of a bazar foray into experiments in spoken word and Indian raga inspired dance music, amongst other things.
2018 had Phair celebrating 25 years of Guyville with a remastered release of the album with never heard before demos and a successful tour. And now, after a covid delay, the wait is over for the next new chapter.
I’m happy to report it’s a lovely, no frills, collection of honest adult contemporary pop songs that gracefully explore Phair’s relationships with intimacy and sobriety… oh and Lou Reed.
Despite having just mapped out her musical career in a nutshell I’ve been experimenting listening  to Soberish as though it’s a debut album and it’s been really enlightening. There’s an honest, reflective, wisdom behind Soberish that reminds me a bit of last years Total Freedom by Kathleen Edwards. It’s an album with a lot to offer someone finding and walking, shall we say, the middle path of their life.
On Soberish, Phair repeatedly acknowledges that there will be ups and downs in life, but that’s life… and the best we can do is to keep on keepin’ on. I don’t know about you but that stuff inspires me!
– Major Matt

Local H- Live In Europe

Lost Dog Street Band- Rage & Tragedy

Lost Dog Street Band- Weight Of A Trigger

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real- A Few Stars Apart

Mad Season- Above

Max Roach 4- Plays Charlie Parker

Michael Jackson- Thriller

Miles Davis- Merci, Miles! Live At Vienne

Miles Davis- Someday My Prince Will Come

Mogwai- Zerozerozero

Weekly Review:

Many of Mogwai’s best albums across their quarter-century career have felt like sweeping, cinematic soundscapes. It’s not surprise that they would flourish writing soundtracks.

The Scottish post-rock quartet wrote Zerozerozero to accompany an Italian crime series, but the music works well on its own. Taken as a whole piece, the score functions as a tense work that excels at building shadows, while also providing enough moments of light that the music doesn’t become too full of doom and dread.

While Mogwai frequently use a broad canvas to gradually layer and build epic tracks, they are more succinct on Zerozerozero. None of the 21 tracks run more than five minutes and nearly half of them are under three minutes. That economy allows Mogwai to shift moods quickly, providing quick bursts of tense shading. “Fears of Meadow” recalls Brian Eno, while “Moon in Reverse” is a moody piano piece. “Modern Trolls” floats on a gentle, pacific surf guitar line. Other moments recall Trent Reznor’s work with Atticus Ross, John Carpenter or Nick Cave. 

This release marks Mogwai’s fifth soundtrack offering in eight years. Since recording Zerozerozero, Mogwai have released the excellent studio album As Love Continues. It appears Mogwai has plenty of paths to follow and the creative energy to make them an engaging journey.- Joel Francis. 

Mother Mother- Inside

My Morning Jacket- Evil Urges

My Morning Jacket- It Still Moves

Nick Cave- Carnage

Nine Inch Nails- Hesitation Marks

Nipsey Hussle- Victory Lap

Old Crow Medicine Show- Best of Old Crow Medicine Show

PJ Harvey- White Chalk

Phish- LP on LP 01; LP on LP 02

Weekly Review:

Legendary jam band Phish have an official archive of live music rivaling (and no doubt inspired by) the Grateful Dead. While scores of the quartet’s complete concerts are available, the group is taking a different route for the new Live Performance on Long Play, or LP on LP, vinyl-only series.

The first two LP on LP releases consist of just a single song from a magical performance. The first installment captures a 38-minute journey through “Ruby Waves” recorded at Alpine Valley, Wisc., in 2019. The second volume contains a highly improvised version of “Waves” recorded during rehearsal in 2011. Yes, these songs are split across two sides of vinyl, but trust Phish to honor the song by not letting the side-flip disrupt the flow. The version of “Tweeter” shared between two sides on A Live One certainly doesn’t suffer from the division.

To sweeten the deal, initial pressings of LP on LP will come on sweet, psychedelic colored vinyl. While dedicated fans preordered these releases long ago, these bite-size portions of Phish are a great way to dip your toe in the water and find out what all the fuss is about.- Joel Francis. 

Queen- G.H. 1

Rage Against the Machine- Evil Empire

Rose City Band- Earth Trip

Rosie Tucker- Sucker Supreme

Weekly Review:

Los Angeles-based indie singer/songwriter Rosie Tucker earned a lot of new fans with her second album. Sucker Supreme, her third release and first for Epitaph Records, should build on that success.

Tucker combines Courtney Barnett’s eye for detail and deft lyricism with the exuberance of the Beths or early Ida Marie. Opening track “Barbara Ann” is an inviting showcase of Tucker’s talents. The upbeat ode to her grandmother combines great lines such as “don’t f-k around with a Louisville Slugger under your bed” with an energetic guitar line that will have the listener pogoing around the room.

Other songs are lower-key, but no less impressive. “Habanero” is a slinky love song that uses food as analogy. What could be incredibly corny in other hands, Tucker manages to sound charming. On “For Sale: Ford Pinto,” Tucker pens a lyric that couples Doritos with anger and is so clever it takes multiple listens to appreciate.

Sucker Supreme is aided with an economy that keeps the album moving and sound shifting. None of the 14 songs last longer than four minutes and the album runs a tight 36 minutes. The second half of the album spins from the abstract lyrics of “Airport” to shape-shifting “Dogs,” which leads into the lo-fi “Clinic Poem” before landing into the dream pop haze of “Peach Pit” – all in a little more than 10 minutes. This might cause whiplash if it didn’t feel so natural. Sucker Supreme is a ride worth taking. – Joel Francis. 

—

Rosie Tucker is a Los Angeles based musician with the soaring voice of a Dolores O’Reardon (The Cranberries) , the witty swagger of  a Courtney Barnett and the searing guitar tone of an early PJ Harvey. I could probably throw in a couple more of my favorite female indie musician comparisons a la the raw vulnerability of a Liz Phair or Juliana Hatfield but well… you probably get the picture. This is my kind of stuff.
Sucker Supreme (on limited edition “coke bottle” green vinyl) is the third full length studio by Rosie Tucker.  Her songs aren’t so much narrative as they serve as a series of channels into the subconscious. The first lines of the opening track, Barbra Ann, brilliantly use vegan meat substitutes as a metaphor for post relationship anxiety:
“Well it bleeds like steak but it isn’t steak. I’m dying for a taste of the genuine fake. There ain’t nothing you can’t shape From corn and soybeans”
The food metaphors continue with track Habanero: “Such a hot Habanero you can feel it in your jaw.”
By track three, Different Animals, the record takes a conscious turn for the heavier side of things, sonically speaking, with a dreamy soundscape that shifts into a pounding guitar riff. The vocals on Different Animals shift back and forth between sentiments of love and security to predatory and deconstructive.
Tucker gets bonus points for opening side two with a cover of the tongue twister Arrow by the amazing Jeffrey Lewis. The cover fits perfectly as both artists share a unique ability to turn a phrase.
In previous interviews she’s referred to Sucker Supreme as a “coming of age” record.  For me the poetry and production level displays an artist who has fully arrived.
– Major Matt

Sault- Sault 5

Sault- Sault 7

Sault- Untitled (Black Is)

Sault- Untitled (Rise)

Selena Gomez- Revelacion

Snoop Dogg- The Last Meal

Sonny Clark- Cool Struttin

Sparks- A Steady drip drip drip

Sparks- Kimono My House

Steve Reid- Nova

Sturgill Simpson- High Top Mountain

Surkin- USA

Taylor Swift- Speak Now

Terrace Martin- Dinner Party

The B-52’s- B-52’s

The Beatles- Mono Masters

The Kinks- Something Else By the Kinks

The Mountain Goats- Dark In Here

The Roots- Do You Want More?!!!??!

Thelonious Monk- Palo Alto

Throttle Elevator Music- Emergency Exit

Throttle Elevator Music- Retrorespective

Tyler, The Creator- IGOR

VAMPIRA WITH SATAN’S CHEERLEADERS / O.S.T.- Vampira With Satan’s Cheerleaders (Original Soundtrack)

Wipers – Land of the Lost

Weekly Review:

Portland, Ore. punk band the Wipers are one of those bands with that seem to be ignored by most but passionately appreciated by a few. No less than Kurt Cobain, Thurston Moore and J. Mascis have covered or sung the trio’s praises. A long-overdue reissue of the Wipers fourth studio album, Land of the Lost provides the perfect opportunity to see what the fuss is about.

Released in 1986, Land of the Lost arrived three-quarters of the way through an incredibly prolific period when the band released eight albums in nine years (including two live offerings). Lead by songwriter, singer and virtuosic guitarist Greg Sage, the sound of Land of the Lost is harder and angrier than the Wipers’ previous albums. The frantic “Fair Weather Friends” sounds like Motorhead and the title track is buried in layers of feedback and propelled by a scuzzy guitar riff that would make the Asheton brothers proud (and fit right in on a Stooges album).

Sage lightens up somewhat on side two. The guitar part on “Nothing Left to Lose” has a loose jangle that recalls Peter Buck’s contemporary work with R.E.M. “Different Ways” is built on an almost jazz-like guitar part. Finally, the way Sage’s voice is buried in echo (and the mix) on closer “Just Say” make the track a strong contender for being the first punk/shoegaze mash-up.

Sage became far less prolific after Land of the Lost, releasing just six albums in the 35 years since. For many Wipers fans, Land of the Lost is the final work of Sage and a band, before he retreated and became a studio hermit. However it is framed, Land of the Lost is an essential addition for any fan of ‘80s underground music or the Pacific Northwest scene.- Joel Francis. 

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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 Max

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