It's been a long minute, so it's a big one...
Recently...
Quantic and His Combo Barbaro (Tradition in Transition) LP (TruThoughts) 2009
^Is there anything this guy can't do? One of those all encompassing genre artists who seems to go from Techno, to Latin to whatever he wants without sounding out of place. This one is South of the Border style Latin Jazz and Funk. Put it on and let the whole thing play...
Luther Allison - Love Me Papa LP (Black and Blue) 1977
^One of my favorite Blues guitarists I finally got on wax. Great album. His playing is so technically advanced it's hard
not to focus in to his strumming on this one. He seems to have a comfort level of playing like he had the guitar mastered at this point.
Albert King / Little Milton - Chronicle (Stax) 1979
^One of those cheaper Stax records comps combining the best of 2 artists. It was only 4 bucks sealed and it's got Albert Kings name on it so I had no choice I had to buy this. It's a nice collection of what Stax considered "hits".
Johnny Clarke - 20 Massive Hits LP (Striker Lee) Unknown Year
^One of those uniquely reggae looking comps, with the faded low budget cover and almost bootleg look to it. But hey, whatdya do? That's just how it is with a lot of reggae releases, QC is a bit different on the island. Appearances aside, this is a strong compilation from a super strong voice.
Cedric IM Brooks - Im Flash Forward LP (Studio One) 1977
^This guy is one of my Reggae Gods. I buy everything I can with his production credit attached. This one is a great example of his roots albums that is worth seeking for the smooth saxaphone vibes.
Tappa Zukie - In Dub LP (Blood & Fire) 1995 RE of 1976 OG
^Guilty pleasures in dub. I don't know much about this guy Tappa, but he's got King Tubby's on the echo chamber and that's a good thing.
The Sonics - Here Are the Sonics LP (Norton) 1999 RE of 1965 OG
^IMO These guys were dabblers in punk before punk was a genre. Sure they have their standard sixties rock sound on "Season of the Witch" and a few other tracks but they were toying with a harder rock sound like the Kinks did and like MC5 did that seemed to be ahead of it's time. This reissue on Norton is alright, I noticed little chunks of paper or dust ground into the vinyl surface but it doesn't seem to effect play so I'm not mad. This is the one to own, and the OG is big bucks, that's how it is.
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River LP (Fantasy) 1969
^One of the dad rock classic albums that I'll never tire of. As far as dad rock goes these guys are IMO the best. Green River is one of my favorite songs and this is one of their best albums as far as I'm concerned.
Bob James - BJ4 LP (CTI) 1976
^It's Bob James, you can't go wrong even with a name like BJ. Not nearly as loved as the first album yet not one to slouch on either, there's still plenty of usable breaks on this. By this time he'd honed in his enigmatic, cinematic jazz style and Hubert Laws, Art Farmer, Eric Gale and Gary King and Steve Gadd fell perfectly in place in this fairly unheralded work.
Bob James - One LP (CTI) 1974
^Then there's this, the monster debut that put him on the map and launched many Hip Hop careers shortly thereafter. I can't even talk about this album, whatever has been said about it has already been said. I'd like to add on but it would be like reviewing Led Zeppelin's first album.
Various - Bay State Rock Vol. 1 LP (Star-Rhythm) 1980
^I've been getting pretty deep into the regional rock comps lately so I figured I'd cop this one too. This one has a lot of interesting surf and garage rock on it but some of the rock on here is really not my thing.
Various - Rock From Arkansas (Rockin' Rockin' Rockin') LP (White Label Recordings) 1980
^Speaking of in deep, here's another niche I've been jumping on lately, Rockabilly and classic old country from the 50s. I stumbled upon quite a few of these Norwegian imports that focus on very regional specific oldtime off the radar songs. One song is loud the next quiet, one song has tape hiss the next is clean... None of that matters, though this is really great music. This is going to help me learn about Rockabilly and old country and I need the lessons. Eventually because of comps like this I'll have enough knowledge about what artists I like to buy the originals when I see them. A new mixtape of good ol boy music is gonna come out of this too.
Various - Sonny Burgess and Larry Donn Rock Rock-A-Billy LP (White Label Recordings) 1980
^Same label as above, just another location, and just as good.
Various - Real Old Tennessee Rock and Country Rock Vol. 3 LP (White Label Recordings) 1979
^Oh look, another one.
Soft Machine - Bundles LP (Harvest) 1975
^I'm a Softs completionist so this was gonna happen eventually. Like all of their albums this is a journey through rock and jazz that doesn't allow itself to be compartmentalized.
Devo - Shout LP (Warner Brothers) 1984
^Speaking of completionisms, yeah, it's Devo! I gotta get all their albums, even not so good ones like this. There's one or two tracks on this that are ayite though.
Cabaret Voltaire - Micro Phonies LP (Some Bizzare) 1984
^I got enough of these guy's stuff that I might as well become a collector of their entire discogs too. This one is a bit later, after their real dirty noise rock period, almost post punk/industrial sounding. Not bad but no where near as good as their earlier noise.
Various - Hits Greatest Stiffs LP (Stiff) 1977
^Now this is a top notch rock comp. On the front it says "Contains no hits whatsoever". This is a nice snapshot of post punk, punk, garage rock and rock from a label I'll no longer be sleeping on. Even a great early Motorhead song is on this.
Visage - Visage EP (Polydor) 1981
^Damn, I'm all over the place on this update...
Don't let the elf shoes, horrible 80s attire and hair put you off, this is damn fine 80s electro pop. When I get around to making my electro mix there's at least 3 good tracks off this that are contenders.
Flavor Crystals - Three LP (Mpls Ltd) 2012
^Local psych from Mineapolis. This one is very slow, almost shoegazer slow, moody and fuzzy enough to call psych. 3 lps of laid back fuzz.
Tame Impala - Lonerism LP (Modular Recordings) 2012
^This modern psych came highly recommended so I jumped on it. I thought it was just another one of those trend rock bands with a quirky animal name but it turns out it's pretty good. Not quite as laid back as the Flavor Crystals, but still pretty chill. I like this, the whole thing is strong, but there is something about the singers voice that sounds like he's trying to sound like the Beatles that bugs me. Like an uncanny close sound, accent, intonations, vocal filters, all very Beatlish. I don't know if that's just coincidence or if he's trying to channel that sound but either way it's frankly kind of a turnoff that I have to put out of my head to truly enjoy the music.
Alice N Chains - Dirt LP (Music On Vinyl) 2009 RE of 1992 OG
^Classic pre grunge album from Alice N Chains on the incomparable Music on Vinyl label. I can finally check this off my to-get 90s rock list as I found it priced right at my local record store. There are so many great tracks on this BTW, this album is fantastic.
Soundgarden - Superunknown LP (A&M) 2014 RE of 1994 OG
^NICE!!! I finally got this on wax! This one reminds me of college, and it's so solid, so I coughed up the ridiculous amount of money for it in trade value by trading some stuff I knew would sell that I wasn't appreciating. Anytime you can clean house of crap to get a classic album like this I recommend doing it.
Pantera - The Great Southern Trendkill LP (EastWest) 1996
^Fucking heavy.
Nuspirit Helsinki - Nuspirit Helsinki LP (Guidance Recordings) 2002
^Fucking mellow niceness. Almost housy in a Jazzanova kind of way.
Peter Black - The White Underground From A Black's Perspective LP (Underground Records) 2006
^This remix collection is so solid, every single remix this guy does of Depeche Mode classic, David Byrne & Eno, Prince, you name it, is extremely dope. Probably one of the best club comps I've ever bought.
Mister T. - Funk Around the Sun LP (Cold Busted) LP 2014
^JB hooked me up with this dope trade record that I never would have known about had it not been for him. Really funky but not funk. This one kind of reminds me of the Sharpshooters in a way, almost like Acid Jazz but much more funky. I think it's mostly electronic based but it's so organic sounding you could put it in your jazz or rock sections too and it wouldn't be out of place. I really like this, it's very interesting and fun to bump.
Now I owe you a few trades JB, thanks for this selection!
“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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