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.
Clem Snide’s Journey (Foreign Leisure FL-009, 2011).
Eef Barzelay presents six acoustic covers of Journey songs. I love his voice and his interpretations. This was definitely a “support the artists you like by buying their stuff” purchase. Ghost of Fashion and Soft Spot are both important albums in my life, and I hope Eef is able to afford to keep making music.
Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume Two (ABC-Paramount ABC-435, 1962).
Garage sale find. Vinyl is beat up but still sounds great in glorious mono, which reminds me I should’ve switched my headshell to the one with a conical stylus in the cart, which is supposedly better for old mono grooves.
Judy Collins: Living (Elektra EKA-75014, 1971).
Ugh, I was reading Sylvie Simmons’ Leonard Cohen biography and I found this in the dollar bin and thought what the hell. It’s not great. “Vietnam Love Song” is unlistenable. The two Cohen song are alright.
Phil Collins: Face Value (Atlantic SD-16029, 1981).
Like every 10yo boy in 1981 I loved “In the Air Tonight” but within five years I was ashamed to admit it. It still sounds dope on #vinyl but the other songs are pretty lame. Collins seems like a nice guy and his hits are bangers but the filler is not killer.
Sam Cooke: Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (RCA AFL1-5181, 1985).
Classic, raw soul performed for a hip, receptive audience. Different vibe from his buttoned up, urbane At the Copa. Cooke is the most soulful singer of all time. Peter Guralnick wrote the liner notes.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Atlantic SD 7200, 1970).
Sometimes there’s a reason they call it classic rock. This is a great album and just sounds so good. I wish Jerry played pedal steel on every song though. The harmonies, the guitar tones, the whole stoney vibe. It’s classic. We have all been here before.
David Crosby: If I Could Only Remember My Name (Atlantic SD 7203, 1971).
Other than track 1 on side 1, this is an outrageously high fidelity listening experience with a deep, deep soundstage that makes you feel like you’re tripping. Best $2.99 I’ve ever spent.
Crosby-Nash (ABC AA-1102, 1978).
A just alright compilation of the “best” of these two from their various solo and duo albums. Most of it sounds like rich guys doing blow on a sailboat, taking themselves very seriously. I probably picked this up after being blown away by If I Could Only Remember My Name. It’s not like that.
The Cure: The Walk (Sire 1-23928, 1983).
Six-song U.S. release combining the “Let’s Go to Bed” and “The Walk” singles. America never had a singles market so this was marketed as a $5.99 “mini-LP” and the price is even printed on the sleeve and on the spine. Great songs, of course.
The Cure: Concert (Fiction fixh10, 1984).
My wife bought this in high school. I like these live versions better than the studio versions. The sleeve boasts “no overdubs” and the runout grooves say PLAY ME LOUD on side one and EAT ME TOO on side two. Robert Smith is funny!
The Cure: In Between Days (Elektra 0-066882, 1985).
Another one of my wife’s from high school. Before we were dating I’d sometimes see her at the local record store. Her blowing her Baskin-Robbins paycheck on Cure tapes and singles, and me buying up the Smiths discography one 12” per week until I had them all. “In Between Days,” of course is a perfect song.
Daystar: The Complete Recordings (2019).
This was my homie DP’s band in Portland. I know people have a bad attitude about “friend rock” but this is actually a good album. Influenced by 70s melodic rockers like Badfinger, but not pastiche. Plus one song contains a subtle inside joke about a dipshit we knew in high school.
Del tha Funkee Homosapien: Mistadobalina (Elektra 0-66490, 1991).
I love Del. His debut album is, for me, the peak of the P-Funk sampling era of hip hop. But when I heard the Monkees sample on this song I almost lost my mind. Worlds collide. This 12” contains a few remixes that later ended up a best-of comp.
Del tha Funkee Homosapien: Made in America (Elektra 0-66303, 1993).
Found this non-album single at Flipside Records (R.I.P.) in Kalamazoo back in the day. It’s apparently from the soundtrack of a Whoopi Goldberg movie I’ve never seen. It came out between Brother George and No Need for Alarm and was a sign of what was to come.
Jackie DeShannon: Laurel Canyon (Imperial LP-12415, 1969).
She’s cool but this is pretty lightweight and sometimes goofy. Like, her cover of “Sunshine of Your Love” is super corny. Still, she’s got a soulful voice and a hot band (including Dr. John on piano) and her originals are good if a little touristy. Does anybody really need to promote Los Angeles?
Paul & Linda McCartney: Ram (Apple SMAS-3375, 1971).
Jumping out of alph order because I’m watching that new Paul doc and wanted to hear this. I should probably find a cleaner copy. This one’s scratched up pretty bad. The quality cuts through the noise and still sounds great. Top three solo Beatle album for sure.
Detroit with Mitch Ryder (MCA-25970, 1987).
Reissue of a 1971 album with one bonus track (“Gimme Shelter”) and updated liner notes by Dave Marsh. I somehow ended up with two copies. Produced by Bob Ezrin. Ryder can belt and his band includes Steve Hunter who would go on to work with Ezrin on albums by Alice Cooper and Lou Reed. Detroit hard boogie.
Doctor & the Medics: Laughing at the Pieces (IRS-5797, 1986).
A few years ago I realized the version of this on streaming is the original UK release and not the superior US release that I had on tape as a 15yo. This is the third copy of this dumb album I’ve purchased: once on tape, twice on #vinyl; it did not survive the great purge of 2005-2008…which was probably fair.
Donovan: Sixty Four (Donovan Discs VI0001, 2017).
My wife got me this (signed!) for my birthday in 2020. I kept the padded envelope it came in because Donovan filled out the customs slip himself. Pretty cool. Demos of five covers and four originals. (And I’m still mad at Dylan for being so mean in Dont Look Back.)
Father John Misty: Fear Fun (Sub Pop SP970, 2012).
It’s getting harder to remember how fun and liberated this sounded in 2012, before Tillman became a grumpy old blowhard (again). This was the sound of a young man throwing off the uptight shackles of propriety and busting loose. Plus he can sing like a motherfucker. Vinyl sounds like shit though, sibilant and noisy like a lot of new #vinyl.
Father John Misty: I Love You, Honeybear (Sub Pop SP1115, 2015).
The annoying thing about 2x45rpm #vinyl is you have to get up and flip em every 11 minutes. But this sounds good and it’s the last overall great FJM album. He brings his “demonic clown thing” persona into the setting of a happy marriage and hilarity/madness ensues. “The Ideal Husband” is self-flagellation at its best and “Holy Shit” predicted that terrible world that social media was shaping.
Father John Misty: Pure Comedy (Sub Pop SP1200, 2017).
FJM takes the easy targets of Honeybear’s “Bored in the USA” and makes a whole album sanctimoniously skewering them/us. Not to say those targets aren’t easy for a reason, but to make fun of middle-aged losers for “bedding Taylor Swift every night inside the Oculus Rift” was never going to age well. His voice, however, has never sounded better.
First Aid Kit: The Lion’s Roar (Wichita WEBB320LP, 2012).
I’ve maybe played this once. That’s dumb. It would be a good first-thing-in-the-morning record. Lots of pedal steel via Mike Mogis and of course those sweet sibling harmonies from the Söderberg sisters. “Emmylou” is a perfect song.
First Aid Kit: Stay Gold (Columbia 88843 06661 1, 2014).
Why don’t I listen to the Söderberg sisters more often? This is great. Was Mike Mogis the real talent in Bright Eyes after all? Because the production and arrangements on this are really good. Happy I’m doing this. What else will I rediscover?
The Five Royales: 17 Hits (King 5014X, 1978).
The “5” are my favorite 50s rock and roll group. A perfect combination of jump blues and doo wop, they are the coolest, oozing with charisma and badass guitar and sax solos. Listen to “Women About to Make Me Go Crazy” if you need convincing. This comp is perfect but you can’t go wrong with any of the stuff they recorded for King.
Curtis Mayfield: Sweet Exorcist (Curtom CRS8601, 1974).
Breaking out of alph order to listen to some new purchases. I’d never heard this before but it has a gnarly cover with gods and skulls and shit so even though it’s beat up pretty bad, I figured why not. And it’s good! Lots of surface noise as expected but not unlistenable. You can’t go wrong with Curtis Mayfield!
Paul McCartney: McCartney (Apple STAO3363, 1970).
My favorite Paul is unfussy Paul and I love that he released such a half-baked effort as his debut solo album. Silly instrumental trifles, throwaway ad-libbed nonsense, Beatle leftovers and a few timeless classics. It’s obvious why rockcrit snobs hated it. But they’re wrong.
Beastie Boys: Check Your Head (Capitol C1-94225, 2009).
Bought this on cd in the spring of 1992, saw them in East Lansing a month later, and this was the soundtrack of that whole summer. And I’m sorry to be nostalgic but damn what a great time to be in college. In the cd there was an address to write to for the lyrics, which I did, and that’s how I got in their mailing list and eventually subscribed to Grand Royal magazine. What a time. What an album.
Fortune & Maltese: Live at Harvey’s (Don’t Mind If I Do AR-10152, 1996).
Discogs says this came out in 1997, but I found my receipt from Flipside Records where I bought it (used!) on 10/12/96. It’s a semi-official bootleg recorded on a Walkman. Captures F&M and the Phabulous Pallbearers at their rawest. A perfect document. The bar this was recorded in was demolished earlier this month.
Jake
Chester Wisniewski 🇨🇦