Vinyl and such – 3/10
It hasn’t been too evident since I’ve started this blog (because I’ve mostly been going broke due to concert tickets), but I’m a huge record nerd. I love vinyl for both its sonic and aesthetic qualities, and I think there are few better ways to spend an afternoon than browsing through a well-stocked record store. Thus, I’m adding a new vinyl category to the site today. This will consist of me documenting/commenting on my vinyl purchases, as well as discussing vinyl news and local record stores. Hopefully a few people will find all of this as interesting as I do.
I took a trip to Warren, Rhode Island today to check out the third and final In Your Ear Records location (the other two being in Boston). Neat little store. There’s a lot of vinyl to browse through, even if there doesn’t appear to be on your first glance through the door. Lots of stuff in bins on floors and underneath other bins, which are sometimes blocked by additional bins. It took some navigating, but I ended up with some nice finds. Left to right, top to bottom: Bruce Springsteen – The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, Marianne Faithfull – Broken English, Elvis Costello – High Fidelity 12″, Kate Bush – Hounds of Love, Nick Lowe – Pure Pop For Now People (a US repressing of Jesus of Cool), Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man, Atlas Sound – Parallax, Elvis Costello – Armed Forces (UK pressing on Radar with alternate cover):
I should clarify that Parallax is actually from the Atlas Sound show the other night. More on that when I get around to writing about it, but trust me, it’ll be worth the wait. Great, great show.
As for the records, I’m especially excited with the Leonard Cohen. Discogs tells me it was a steal for $9.99. Spinning that one right now actually. I still think I prefer Cohen when his arrangements are more restrained (his first few records, and his latest), but I’m getting accustomed to his more overstuffed material lately. The songwriting is still phenomenal, even if the production choices are occasionally questionable.
Finding a UK pressing of Armed Forces was a cool surprise. The tracklist is almost identical to the US version, but excludes the closing cover of Nick Lowe’s ‘(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding.’ Kind of odd, considering Costello’s version is one of his more well-known songs. The main attraction, though (if you’ll forgive the pun), is that bizarre alternate cover featuring a stampeding herd of elephants. I’ve always thought the more colorful cover of the US LP was more fitting for some reason, but this one is pretty cool as well. And I’m enough of an overzealous Costello fan to feel that owning both is wholly necessary.
