It’s that time of the month… we’ve been shopping for records (to be honest, we’re never really not shopping for records). This month you will find lots of vinyl and a fair amount of eighties pop.
Most items here were bought for only a pound or two, and they were all found in charity (or thrift) shops or some of our favourite cheap used record stores.
Terence Trent D’Arby / Neither Fish Nor Flesh LP (1989)
The pick of this month is Terence Trent D’Arby‘s Neither Fish Nor Flesh on vinyl. This fantastic, rather misunderstood record was his follow-up to the from 1989 contains some of his best work, including This Side Of Love, To Know Someone Deeply Is To Know Someone Softly and Roly Poly.
The packaging is tremendous, with a lavish full-size booklet with lyrics, and photos and decent anti-static protection for the vinyl. This was all in near mint condition and despite Terence’s claim in the CD booklet that he intended the album “to be heard as a continual segue of moods and atmospheres” and how “it is unfortunately the cassette and record buyer who are deprived of this intention”, we think we can live with having to flip the LP over.
TTD is now known as Sananda Maitreya and releases new music online.
Wet Wet Wet / Wishing I Was Lucky Limited Edition 12″ Double-pack (1987)
Blank & Jones recently included the ‘long version’ of Wet Wet Wet‘s debut Wishing I Was Lucky on their rather goodSo Eighties Volume 8 triple CD set, but for our money the ‘Metal Mix’ found on this limited edition double pack is by far the more interesting remix (“additional production and mix by Walter Turbitt”). Just to confuse, the running times for both mixes are 5.40 but the metal mix manages to be very busy and creative without ruining the flow of the song. The standard ‘long version’ is a little more ‘traditional’ but it’s on this set too, just not labelled as such. Side 4 is blank with no grooves on it at all!
Timeless Flight, Universal’s mammoth Moody Blues17-disc box set is out on 3 June. Check out this ‘unboxing’ video which gives you a very good idea of how the set is configured.
Rhino will release a 10CD ZZ Top box set on 10th June 2013.
The Studio Albums 1970-1990 comes in the familiar Rhino clamshell box packaging (see The Eagles and Chicago) and each album will come in vinyl replica card wallets, with Tres Hombres and Tejas replicating the original gatefolds.
Most importantly, this set presents, for the first time on CD, the original mixes for ZZ Top’s First Album, Rio Grande Mud and Tejas. Tres Hombres and Fandango will also use the original mixes, although expanded versions of those albums that used those mixes were issued back in 2006.
This set is looking like a no-brainer for fans, especially since it will be priced competitively.
1 (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree 2 Brown Sugar 3 Squank 4 Goin’ Down To Mexico 5 Old Man 6 Neighbor, Neighbor 7 Certified Blues 8 Bedroom Thang 9 Just Got Back From Baby’s 10 Backdoor Love Affair
2. RIO GRANDE MUD
1 Francine 2 Just Got Paid 3 Mushmouth Shoutin’ 4 Ko Ko Blue 5 Chevrolet 6 Apologies To Pearly 7 Bar-B-Q 8 Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell 9 Whiskey’n Mama 10 Down Brownie
3. TRES HOMBRES
1 Waitin’ For The Bus 2 Jesus Just Left Chicago 3 Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers 4 Master Of Sparks 5 Hot, Blue And Righteous 6 Move Me On Down The Line 7 Precious And Grace 8 La Grange 9 Shiek 10 Have You Heard?
4. FANDANGO!
1 Thunderbird 2 Jailhouse Rock 3 Backdoor Medley: Backdoor Love Affair/Mellow Down Easy/Backdoor Love Affair No. 2/Long Distance Boogie 4 Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings 5 Blue Jean Blues 6 Balinese 7 Mexican Blackbird 8 Heard It On The X 9 Tush
5. TEGAS
1 It’s Only Love 2 Arrested For Driving While Blind 3 El Diablo 4 Snappy Kakkie 5 Enjoy And Get It On 6 Ten Dollar Man 7 Pan Am Highway Blues 8 Avalon Hideaway 9 She’s A Heartbreaker 10 Asleep In The Desert
6. DEGÜELLO
1 I Thank You 2 She Loves My Automobile 3 I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide 4 A Fool For Your Stockings 5 Manic Mechanic 6 Dust My Broom 7 Lowdown On The Street 8 Hi Fi Mama 9 Cheap Sunglasses 10 Esther Be The One
7. EL LOCO
1 Tube Snake Boogie 2 I Wanna Drive You Home 3 Ten Foot Pole 4 Leila 5 Don’t Tease Me 6 It’s So Hard 7 Pearl Necklace 8 Groovy Little Hippie Pad 9 Heaven, Hell Or Houston 10 Party On The Patio
8. ELIMINATOR
1 Gimme All Your Lovin 2 Got Me Under Pressure 3 Sharp Dressed Man 4 I Need You Tonight 5 I Got The Six 6 Legs 7 Thug 8 TV Dinners 9 Dirty Dog 10 If I Could Only Flag Her Down 11 Bad Girl
9. AFTERBURNER
1 Sleeping Bag 2 Stages 3 Woke Up With Wood 4 Rough Boy 5 Can’t Stop Rockin’ 6 Planet Of Women 7 I Got The Message 8 Velcro Fly 9 Dipping Low (In The Lap Of Luxury) 10 Delirious
10. RECYCLER
1 Concrete And Steel 2 Lovething 3 Penthouse Eyes 4 Tell It 5 My Head’s In Mississippi 6 Decision Or Collision 7 Give It Up 8 2000 Blues 9 Burger Man 10 Doubleback
Sony Legacy are set to release a big box set of all Nilsson‘s RCA albums on 29 July 2013.
One might be the loneliest number, but this 17 CD collection should banish any blues with three additional CDs featuring 58-tracks of single-only releases and outtakes, half of which is previously unreleased. There will also be bonus tracks on the individual albums – a total of 65 in all. The packaging looks similar to the recent Cheap Trick box set with a large clam-shell box and simple vinyl replica jackets.
Those in the US might want to check out the amazon UK price (below). Significantly cheaper (at the time of writing), even with shipping.
Part two of our interview with remixer, DJ, songwriter and reissue producer, Vinny Vero. If you haven’t read the first part, you might want to do that first!
SuperDeluxeEdition: One of our pet hates is when the names of remixes change over the years. Really, whatever it’s called on the original twelve-inch single, that should probably remain the name of it. But even with the artists themselves, sometimes tracks just get labelled as the ’12” mix’ and it morphs into something else. Very irritating!
Vinny Vero: That irritates me. I always do what you suggest. I always go to the original twelve-inch, but what really bugs me, and this happened on Basia [Vinny is producing the reissue of Time and Tide] is when the labels say one thing, and the sleeves say another. One will say ‘extended remix’ and the other might say ‘extended mix’. I tend to go with what’s on the label. With Breathe, which was such a strange project, Jonah was released twice as a single. The first time it was released with just one mix, which echoed the album, the second time it was released as a single, Paul Staveley O’Duffy did a seven-inch single mix, but he didn’t do a twelve-inch mix. However, there is an extended version of it on that second issue of that single, but it’s the same version as was on the first issue of the twelve-inch – (laughs) can you tell how crazy this is? continue reading »
Crowded House‘s third single from 1991′s Woodface, would hit the UK top ten in February 1992. Alongside the evergreen Don’t Dream It’s Over, itwould become something of a signature tune for the band (outside the US) in the years and decades that followed.
This five-track Japanese CD single release (TOCP-7157) features the 4:02 radio edit of Weather With You and includes quite an early live version of Don’t Dream It’s Over (recorded at The Roxy in LA on 7 April 1987).
Another single from the first album, Something So Strong, is also featured – again from 1987 – but this time from a gig at The Trocadero in Philadelphia.
Roger McGuinn joins the band for a performance of Mr. Tambourine Man (recorded in 1989), but perhaps the most interesting bonus track on this single, is live version of Walking On The Spot performed at London’s Town And Country Club in November 1991. At the time unreleased, this track would end up on 1993′s masterpiece Together Alone, with some extra instrumentation (notable an accordion). The live version on this disc is more straightforward, but still charming. Its structure is virtually identical to the studio master recording.
Most, if not all of these tracks ended up dispersed on various CD singles around the world, but this Japanese CD is effectively a ‘highlights’ disc from all the different Weather With You formats.
Mark Lewisohn – generally acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost Beatles historians – releases volume one of a three part fab four biography in autumn 2013.
The series is titled All These Years and the first book is being called Tune In. This volume will examine the formative pre-fame years, the teenage years, the Liverpool and Hamburg years.
The publishers, Little Brown, claim that Lewisohn’s work is “certain to become the lasting word” on the band. This remains to be seen, but Beatles fanatics will already own some of his work, such as The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, which is a superlative reference guide, and fairly much a Beatles ‘bible’ to many fans.
Nick Drake‘s 1970 album Bryter Layter was issued last week as a special vinyl box set, in the same way Pink Moon was last year.
This new reissue comes in a rigid lift-off lid box with a slightly bizarre front image of a sealed version of the album complete with a ‘Record Tape & Video Exchange’ sticker on the front (not an actual sticker). continue reading »
Scared To Get Happy – A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989 is a five CD set we first told you about back in February. At that point the track listing was still a work in progress, but we can now confirm the running order (see below).
The mammoth 134-track set features music from all the key indie labels of the period (Creation, Factory, Rough Trade, Kitchenware, et al) and features many bands who would later taste mainstream success including Primal Scream, Aztec Camera, Stone Roses, Pulp, the Wonder Stuff, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, The Jesus & Mary Chain, and Prefab Sprout, etc.
Many tracks see their CD debut on this set, while some selections have never officially been released before at all. Scared To Get Happy comes complete with a 54-page booklet, with lengthy sleeve-notes and illustrations of the records and bands involved.
Scared To Get Happy is out on 24 June 2013 from Cherry Red.
Vinny Vero is a busy man. As well as producing deluxe releases for Cherry Red Records, he regularly remixes other artists’ work (just finished one for OMD), and is a songwriter, producer and DJ. We caught up with him recently to talk about his career in music and his most recent work on the Breathe, Basia and Julia Fordham reissues.
SuperDeluxeEdition: How did you get involved in the music business?
Vinny Vero: I was at university and wound up getting the opportunity to work in one of the biggest radio stations here in New York. Because I showed tremendous passion for music, they put me right into the music department. I was in charge of contacting – at that point by phone – retail outlets to find out what was selling, what wasn’t selling, to see if the plays on the radio were having any impact. So that was really interesting, and it also gave me exposure to record labels, coming in every week promoting there new singles. So within, I guess, a year and a half, I got the opportunity to then go and work at EMI. I started out as an assistant, and through a series of situations where I was put in front of artists, I started getting a reputation for being really ‘into it’, and they [the artists] really liked that because it was somebody at a label that they felt they could connect with. Within a year, I was a Marketing Manager, which was exactly what I wanted to do, and within six months of that they didn’t have anybody to work their catalogue, so they said, well we’ve got these five or six acts, why don’t you do their catalogue. continue reading »
