JakeChet Atkins Picks on the Beatles (RCA Victor LPM-3531, 1966).
From the dollar-bin. Excessively smooth dinner party music. Recording quality is great (“Dynagroove Mono”) so even this beat up copy sounds perfect. George Harrison wrote the liner notes.
Courtney Barnett: Sometimes I Sit and Think (Mom+Pop MP221-1, 2015).
I love this album but the vinyl sounds thin and sibilant. Maybe it’s my gear. Been a minute since I replaced my stylus. But lots of new vinyl sounds bad to mediocre.
Beach Boys: Wild Honey + 20/20 (Brother 2MS 2166, 1974).
Twofer I have no recollection of buying but I apparently paid $6.99 for it some time after 2016. Sounds great. Wild Honey (1967) is lightweight but it grooves. 20/20 (1969) has a Charlie Manson song plus two Smile leftovers.
The Beach Boys Love You (Warner Brothers MSK 2258, 1977).
Rock snobs like to pretend this album is good because it marked a return to full involvement from Saint Brian Wilson, but it’s just kooky. The synths sound dope on vinyl though. It used to be funny to put “Solar System” on mixtapes (“If Mars had life on it/I might find my wife on it”), but unless you’re super high or a member of Elephant 6 it’s a chore to get through.
Beastie Boys: Love American Style EP (Grand Royal GR064, 1998).
Bought this reissue from grandroyal.com (r.i.p.) back in the day. The two instrumental b-sides are where it’s at in all their Matt Dike + Dust Brothers glory.
Beastie Boys: Paul’s Boutique (Grand Royal GR065, 1998).
The ridiculous 8-panel gatefold, reissued by Grand Royal in 1998. I was the typical “Fight For Your Right” teenage fan who missed Paul’s until college. Looking back, I was less than two years late but it seemed like a lost classic in 1991. One of my all-time favorite albums.
Beastie Boys: Get It Together 12” (Capitol 7243 8 58185 6 1, 1994).
Contains four remixes of the only Beasties song containing the n-word (via Q-Tip, but I wonder if they wished he wouldn’t have…), two album versions and two unique b-sides (“Resolution Time” and “Dope Little Song”).
Beastie Boys: Root Down EP (Grand Royal GR018, 1995).
Contains the album version, two remixes, and seven sloppy live recordings. Listening to Beasties vinyl reminds me how fun the 90s were. Or maybe, more realistically, how fun my 20s were…at least with the added fuzziness of nostalgia.
Beastie Boys: The In Sound From Way Out! (Grand Royal GR013, 1998).
Mostly pointless compilation of instrumentals from the Check Your Head/Ill Communication era. I guess it’s cool to be able to hear a bunch of Money Mark Nishita’s keys in one spot.
Beastie Boys: Intergalactic (Capitol Y 7243 8 58705 1 4, 1998).
This is the last of my Beasties vinyl. (I also have this 45 in my jukebox but that’s another story.) Making me realize I should probably trade all the goofy singles and stuff for a copy of Licensed to Ill or Check Your Head.
Beastie Boys: Body Movin’ (Grand Royal GR069, 1999).
Oops one more. Forgot about this dumb white label with remixes by Mickey Finn & Special K for Urban Takeover. Silly.
Michael Nesmith: And the Hits Just Keep On Comin’ (RCA LSP-4695, 1972).
Breaking out of alphabetical order for something I just picked up.* Classic Nez with Red Rhodes on pedal steel. Includes his only studio recording of “Different Drum,” recorded eight years after he wrote it.
* I had this one before the Great Purge of 2005 but I should’ve kept it.
Bermuda Strollers 73 (Edmar ELPS-1122, 1973).
In Jonathan Richman’s “Monologue About Bermuda” he says the Modern Lovers’ trip to the island signaled the end of the band because he was getting more excited by what the local guys like these guys were doing. Features “Bang Bang Lulu.”
B-Boy Breaks: 12 Original Tunes as Sampled by the Beastie Boys (Bootleg BBB001, 1995).
A fun collection from a time when there used to be things that were hard to find. Just checked and everything on it is available for streaming except Curtis Knight’s “Happy Birthday” (listed here as “Gotta Have It” by Jimi Hendrix).
Meet the Beatles (Capitol ST 2047, 1976 reissue).
Picked this up at the estate sale of my neighbor who was a great guy (R.I.P.). You have to be a real grump not to love Dave Dexter’s U.S. stereo mixes. They sound so fun and exciting! They’re not right but they’re good!
The Beatles: Something New (Capitol ST 2108, 1978 reissue).
Another one from my neighbor’s estate sale. Americans called this the “third album” and it’s made up of fairly deep cuts (b-sides, EP tracks, etc.). John’s vocals on “Slow Down” rip.
The Beatles: The Beatles (Apple SMO 2051/52, 1978 French release on white vinyl).
Disques en pâte blanche! Tirage limité. Got this in high school as a gift from an older guy who had an inappropriate crush on my girlfriend. The white vinyl was the coolest thing I’d ever seen in 1988. Not sure I ever actually played it before today. Sounds ok, a little noisy.
The Beatles: 20 X 4 (Trade Mark of Quality).
Think I got this dumb boot at a record fair back in the early 90s. The only good things on it are two Paul songs with Donovan from the Post Card sessions: “Blackbird” and the unreleased “Heather.” The liner notes are comically inaccurate and it contains two songs absolutely *not* by any Beatles.
This version is not listed on Discogs.
Belle and Sebastian: Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance (Matador OLE-1056-1, 2015).
This is the only B&S I have on vinyl and it’s not even in my top-six B&S albums. I love “The Party Line” though. Oops I played side 3 first. Listening today, it’s better than I remember. Records encourage you to listen to music as sequenced by the artist, which is good.
Big Star: Radio City (Ardent ADD-1501, 2011 reissue).
The eternal #vinyl question: Does this sound crappy because it’s a lousy pressing…or is it my gear? I can imagine there are good versions of this out there that don’t sound sibilant and shrill, but not this one. I like the back cover photo taken at TGI Friday’s though. And the songs, of course, are perfect.
Boxcar Willie: King of the Road (Suffolk Marketing SMI-124K, 1980).
As advertised on T.V. This was my dad’s record, one of only a handful in my possession. It’s a perfectly adept collection of covers of country classics. Sort of a Temu Hank Williams. Not available in stores.
Here's the ad that inspired my parents to send a check for $7.98 to Boxcar Willie.
1980 Boxcar Willie "King of the Road - 20 Greatest Tracks" TV Commercial
Just noticed my runout groove has "Cut By TRUTONE-Pa 3-81" on it. Which I assume means this was released no earlier than March 1981?
Phoebe Bridgers: Stranger in the Alps (Dead Oceans DOC 142, 2017).
So many great songs on this. I could’ve seen her on this tour in a tiny venue (Lady’s Literary Club in Grand Rapids) but it was a Tuesday night. Sigh. “Jesus Christ I’m so blue all the time” hits me every time I hear it. She might have gotten a little goofy after this but this one’s pretty perfect.
Bright Eyes: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (Saddle Creek LBJ-72, 2005).
I love this album. The #vinyl has a nice soundstage. It’s the only Bright Eyes I have on wax and it’s the only one I need. Has Emmylou given her harmonic blessing to any precocious young songwriters since this?
James Brown: Get On the Good Foot (Polydor PD-2-3004, 1972).
“My Best To Jake & Family. I Feel Good. James Brown.” My prized possession. When I got the opportunity to get his autograph I thought it would be phony to ask him to sign some mint record I just bought so this is it…in all its masking taped glory.
Anna Burch: Quit the Curse (Polyvinyl PRC-346, 2018).
I love this album but the vinyl sounds mid at best. Pretty bad, actually, at least on my stuff. In the video for “2 Cool 2 Care” she does the hula hoop in slow motion which made me a fan for life.
Butter 08 (Grand Royal GR029, 1996).
I was way into JSBX in 1996 and this was Russell Simins’ band with Miho and Yuka from Cibo Matto. It sounds exactly how you’d expect (chaotic) and I don’t think I’ve listened to it in 30 years. Pretty fun.
J.J. Cale: Naturally (Shelter SR-2122, 1974 pressing).
Hearing J.J. Cale for the first time back in college made me realize what an overrated fraud Clapton is. Cale is a quietly soulful singer and guitarist and a sophisticated songwriter. His “After Midnight” is so good it makes you hate Clapton even more.
Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys: The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away (Polydor 24-4001, 1969).
This is pretty generic 1969 white boy boogie but Lester Bangs reviewed it favorably for Rolling Stone so I picked it up when I saw it cheap. Bangs lumped them in with “non-innovative, journeymen groups [who] don’t feel compelled to try so hard” but to him that was a compliment. I bet he never played it again after writing it up. I won’t either.
The Bobby Charles Quartet (Fenton 2026, 1966).
Fenton Records was a mid-60s vanity label that released a bunch of 45s by teenage garage bands from West Michigan. This is not that. It’s goofy lounge music and as far as I know it’s Fenton’s only LP.
Steve GisselbrechtThere is a Bobby and a Charles, though!