Tag Archives: Band of Horses

Spinning Monday or: The Haul 6/20/20

22 Monday Jun 2020

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Salutations™!!

Saturday took The BCPF to my happy place, Underdog Records. This week’s haul is short but just being there is enough to make me giddy. Thank you, Jonathan, for making it a great visit every time. Okay, so I’m a day behind because of the holiday yesterday so let’s get to it!

Sufjan_Stevens_-_Illinois

©Asthmatic Kitty

  • Sufjan Stevens – Illinois — The BCPF introduced me to Sufjan when we were just friends. She put “Casimir Pulaski Day” on a mix CD for me. I like that song. Sufjan is an odd bird, quirky, kooky and very talented. This is a concept album all about Illinois-ish. Great album. New.
  • Yo La Tengo – Stuff Like That There — From the Matador Records website: “On this album, the band revisits the original concept of their 1990 album Fakebook with a mix of cover songs, “covers” of Yo La Tengo songs and brand new originals.” Another that I was introduced to before The BCPF and I dated. New.
  • Band Of Horses – Everything All The Time — I know I say this every time I post a new-to-us Band of Horses album. They’re so wispy and airy. Another favorite of The BCPF and yet another that I got to know before we dated. I see a pattern that I didn’t know about on Saturday. Hmmm… VG++/EX
  • Art Tatum – More Of The Greatest Piano Of Them All — Art Tatum was a popular jazz pianist that has been dead more years that I have been alive. But, I love jazz piano so we’ll love this, I’m sure. VG/VG+.
  • Deodato – Prelude — Deodato is more than a composer and performer, he’s an arranger and producer, too. This album contains his pop-inspired cover of Richard Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra” which we all know as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. But, did you know that his daughter is married to Stephen Baldwin and his granddaughter is married to Justin Bieber? You do now. Really, I bought this album because I got tired of seeing it at Underdog Records. I enjoyed the listen, so I’m glad I got it! VG+.
  • The Northern Pikes – Big Blue Sky — The only thing I’d ever heard from The Northern Pikes was their song “She Ain’t Pretty.” I loved the song and the video. That song isn’t on this album but that’s okay. This was a fantastic listen. Straight-forward power-pop and I dug it. I’m glad I found it. VG+.

Jonathan is back to Thursday-Saturday regular hours, now. He is still doing deliveries Mondays through Wednesday as long as it’s not raining, which over the last few weeks… meh. But, you should watch his Instagram and Facebook pages (Underdog Records’ pages, that is) to see what he’s getting in, has gotten in and taking out! Buy new vinyl day or night at the Underdog Records website. We will get back to a special of the week when things settle down at TLD. I use Discogs to curate my collection and you should too, no matter the format.

Until tomorrow, keep spinnin’…
Scorp out!

—
“Hear that lonesome whippoorwill, he sounds too blue to fly. The midnight train is whining low. I’m so lonesome I could cry.” – “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (Williams)

Spinning Sunday or: The Haul 6/22/19

23 Sunday Jun 2019

Posted by in Music Review, Spinning Sunday

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Salutations™!!

The BCPF and I did a little jumbling around yesterday. We actually started at Underdog Records instead of it being the last stop of the morning. We had a ribbon cutting at Moji Coffee and More at noon and then had breakfast at Mary’s Gourmet Diner, our first time there in about six months. But, I had gone by Underdog on Friday to grab some stuff for The BCPF and me before someone else took off with it. Anywhat! Here’s the haul:

Donald_Fagen_-_The_Nightfly.jpg

©Warner Bros.

  • Bad Books – III — I said on my Instagram post about this album yesterday that one of the joys of having Underdog Records as the official music sponsor of The Less Desirables is making the commercials. It gets me to listen to snippets of new stuff that is highlighted releases. I heard the first song on this and knew right away it is right up The BCPF’s alley so I made sure I picked it up. I was right in thinking she’d love it. The win for me! New.
  • Steve Earle – Guitar Town — #489 on the RS list. I have never really been a fan of his and I think the reason why is “Copperhead Road.” This album is a good album and not a bad listen. I listened to it a few years back now and was surprised that I didn’t hate it. Would I want to listen to it often? Nah. But I was glad to get it in my collection. VG+.
  • Caleb Caudle – Paint Another Layer On My Heart — Caleb is a local dude. He’s been on The Less Desirables and plays around here often. He’s gotten pretty big and does tours. I’m glad to know him. VG++.
  • Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin — One of the ones that I grabbed on Friday because I know how much The BCPF loves Band of Horses. Before we ever started dating, she put a song from this album on a mix-CD for me. It’s a great listen. NM.
  • Band Of Horses – Why Are You Ok — She got not one, but two Band of Horses albums this weekend. She was happy. Both were NM, too.
  • Donald Fagen – The Nightfly — I love Steely Dan and I think most of that is because of Donald Fagen. This had two hits on it but the whole album is fantastic. It seems like he had more fluidity outside of the Steely Dan confines and just had a ball with this album. I told The BCPF, when “New Frontier” came on that I thought the video featured a bomb shelter. So, I looked it up. I was right. This was my favorite listen of the day yesterday. VG+.
  • Elvis Costello And The Attractions – Punch The Clock — Elvis’ eighth studio album. It contains “Everyday I Write the Book” and “Shipbuilding.” VG++.
  • Elvis Costello And The Attractions – Blood & Chocolate — Elvis goes by Napoleon Dynamite (not to be confused with the film, which I loved) on this album. It’s a decent listen. I never realized how creepy “I Want You” is, but I like it anyway. VG++.
  • X – Ain’t Love Grand — First Wave heavy, yet poppy punk. It was a good listen. I hear some of their stuff on SiriusXM sometimes. I like it. Singer Exene Cervenka channels her inner Kate Pearson on this album. VG+.
  • Timbuk 3 – Eden Alley — I never knew the couple had more than their first album and here we are two weeks in a row getting a Timbuk3 album. The BCPF said she had this one when she was a young girl. It’s not epic stuff, or even great for that matter, but it’s a great, fun listen. VG+.
  • U.K. – U.K. — A progressive supergroup with singer/bassist John Wetton (formerly of King Crimson, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry’s band and Uriah Heep), keyboardist/electric violinist Eddie Jobson (formerly of Curved Air, Roxy Music and Frank Zappa’s band), guitarist Allan Holdsworth (formerly of Tempest, Soft Machine, The New Tony Williams Lifetime and Gong) and drummer Bill Bruford (formerly a full member of Yes and King Crimson, and also a tour drummer for Genesis). It is from 1978 but sounds more 80s-ish. Jonathan played if for me in the store. I liked it so I took it! I mean I paid for it, but I bought it. VG-.
  • Shalamar – Heartbreak — The first Shalamar album after Jodi Whatley and Jeffrey Daniel left. It has the only song I know of by the band, “Dancing in the Sheets.” I may find that I know more, but I don’t know. VG+.
  • Various – A Musical Souvenir Of New York City —  Featuring The David Terry Orchestra, The Cherry Hill Songsters, The Travellers Three and The Troubadors. It’s an album of songs about NYC. It’s from 1964 and the picture is of Manhattan but without the WTC since that wasn’t opened until 1973. A $1 bin find. VG/VG+.
  • America – America — This is the 1972 reissue in which “A Horse with No Name” is included. It was originally released as a single after the debut album was released but it was such a success that Warner Bros. reissued it with the song included. $1 bin find. VG.

Was a great day yesterday and the store was jumping. I love seeing Underdog Records busy. If you’ve not listened to the latest episode of The Less Desirables, you should. Each episode we mention the TLD/UR special of the week. I also use Discogs to keep up with my collection so when someone asks, “how many records do you have?” I can blurt out we have XXXX amount and they’re always amazed that I know that. I know that because of Discogs. “Do you have this record?” Why yes. Or, not yet!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“It’s looking like a limb torn off or all together just taken apart. We’re reeling through an endless fall. We are the ever-living ghost of what once was. But no one is ever gonna love you more than I do.” – “No One’s Gonna Love You” (Bridwell/Hampton/Barrett)

Spinning Sunday or: The Haul 3/2/19

03 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by in Records, Spinning Sunday

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Salutations™!!

We had a brief encounter with warmer, sunnier weather yesterday. That was nice and it made it harder for us to stay indoors and listen to records, but hey, we were listening to records and that’s one of our favorite pastimes. So, it worked out. But, we pulled a lot of stuff home yesterday from Underdog Records. Here’s the haul:

Sheperd's-dog

©Sub-Pop

  • The Japanese House – Good At Falling — I had heard of The Japanese House (who is really just a pseudonym for Amber Bain) whilst watching something else. It was a showcase or something, I don’t remember. But, I liked what I heard. She’s ethereal, atmospheric and even though she uses Auto-Tune, she uses it for effect, not necessarily for patching shoddy vocals. I liked it. It’s a 2xLP and is in limited white vinyl. I usually don’t read the labels (my eyesight isn’t that good), but it says on this one that it’s to be played at 45RPM. I was a quarter through the first track before I realized something was amiss. New.
  • Van Morrison – Astral Weeks — #19 on the RS list, this is not my favorite VM album, nor do I like it all that much. It has some beautiful moments, but mostly, he warbles on a bit much for me. And, in one song he sounds like Porky Pig. I don’t know, I just don’t understand it, I guess. It’s on the list, it needs to be in my collection. New.
  • The Beatles – Abbey Road — #14 on the RS list. This album, along with The Beatles (#10) – also known as “the white album” – and Sgt. Pepper’s (#1) rotate being my favorite Beatles album, and now I have all three. I have had a couple of versions of this album but they have all been really crappy and I didn’t want my collection to reflect crappy versions. Especially on such an important album. 180g black vinyl remaster. New.
  • Band Of Horses – Acoustic At The Ryman — The Ryman is the theater that housed the Grand Ol’ Opry for many, many years. It has been refurbished and is now a legit music venue again (it has been for many years, this is not new). Band of Horses was one of the first bands I learned of from The BCPF, she calls them one of her faves. When we were doing mix CDs, she put a few tunes on there. I love “No One’s Gonna Love You” and that’s on here. New.
  • The Beat – The Beat — It is this band, who happened to release their album first, that prompted Dave Wakeling and his band The Beat to go by The English Beat in the US. In Europe this The Beat is known as Paul Collins’ Beat. It’s a long and confusing story, lawsuits happened (but not between bands but record labels and bands, hmmm). This is a promo copy of their debut from 1979 and is in really great shape. VG+.
  • Iron And Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog — I actually purchased this on Friday. Knowing that The BCPF also loves this band and we have seen him in concert, together, I sent a picture of it to her at work and her reply was “pant pant pant.” I didn’t know if that was a reference to the dog or what. I guess she was really happy. She told me later that it was the album that introduced her to Sam Beam’s (single person named as a band) work. So, she was excited. VG++.
  • Kansas  – Song For America — The band’s second studio album. VG+.
  • Kansas – Point Of Know Return — Their fifth studio album with the title track and “Dust in the Wind.” VG.
  • Blondie – The Best Of Blondie — VG+.
  • Rose Royce – Strikes Again — The official title is Rose Royce III: Strikes Again. I’m going to be completely honest and say the only reason I bought this is because I had it as a kid. I loved the look of it, the embossed raised rose, the purple and silver motif, I just dug it. I can’t tell you one single song off the album without looking it up, but I wanted it because it reminded me of my childhood. It is probably stashed away somewhere at Ma ‘Rents’ and if I find it one day, it will probably be in pretty torn up shape but I had it and that’s all that matters. VG+.
  • Walter Egan – Fundamental Roll — It’s Egan’s debut album. I like “Magnet and Steel” from his second album. This was there, in good shape, why not? VG+.
  • Robert Palmer – Clues — Palmer had played percussion on Talking Heads Remain in Light and Chris Frantz, the drummer from Talking Heads, returned that favor and played on this. I’m not familiar with any of the songs, but there are a couple co-written by Gary Numan (“Cars”) and one Lennon/McCartney song, “Not a Second Time.” It was found by The BCPF in the $1 bin. VG.
  • Roger Daltrey – One Of The Boys — Critic William Ruhlmann said in AllMusic that “Roger Daltrey called on a wider circle of friends for his third album and came up with a more varied collection of songs … But Daltrey was never in danger of getting lost in the all-star session. Nevertheless, the album was not treated as a major release and found only modest commercial success.” This album has songs written by Colin Blunstone (Zombies), Paul McCartney, Murray Head. Eric Clapton, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, Alvin Lee, Rod Argent and more played on it. Yet, I hear it’s mediocre. But, it was $1 and is in VG/VG+.
  • Book Of Love – Book Of Love — American synth-pop band in the vein of Depeche Mode with a majority of female members. It was $1 and The BCPF said it was in her wheelhouse so there you go. It’s in VG.

Underdog Records was rockin’ when we were there and it was getting crowded. That’s a good thing. Jonathan has just gone through a bunch of $1 albums and put them out for purchase. Listen to The Less Desirables newest episode on Wednesday night/Thursday mornings and hear what that week’s TLD/UR special is. Discogs helps me keep track of all this stuff.

Until tomorrow, keep spinning…
Scorp out!

—
“He bad production. He got walrus gumboot. He got Ono sideboard. He one spinal cracker. He got feet down below his knee. Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease. Come together, right now. Over me.” – “Come Together” (Lennon/McCartney)