Heavily Rotated

The intersection of music, record collecting, and culture... why music matters - why vinyl rocks.  Commentary, covers, music/art books and related ephemera.

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Would you be interested in buying my copy #105 of The Final Option? Steve

Would I have to sell my kidney?

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Happy Birthday John Bonham!

May 31st is, of course, John Bonhamn’s birthday... it’s also the anniversary of this spectacular concert recorded on JHB’s 25th (imagine that.. only 25....?!?!) birthday.  It’s circulated as years as a bootleg, in several long and sort versions.  There are three audience tapes that are commonly edited together and a soundboard made an appearance in 1999.  I don’t have it, but I’d love it! The cover is by legendary artist William Stout... he did a few other Zeppelin boots as well.

It would be a monster to get all on vinyl though (and there is no version with the entire concert, AFAIK) as it runs to 3 CDs...

Listen HERE and wonder at what it must have been like to be there.

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AAA mastering

Just realized that I used the acronym “AAA” in a previous past and didn’t bother to explain it.  This is worth knowing if you’re a record collector. Basically, AAA indicates that an LP (or whatever) was recorded, mixed and mastered in analogue.  In other words, no digital in the signal chain.  Almost all new pressings are NOT AAA... in fact, this practice is the exception rather than the rule.

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Here’s a newer picture of the Radiohead 3-disc OKNOTOK release. Remastered from analogue (although no word on whether or not this is AAA). The real gem here will be the three unreleased tracks...

The thing with releases is that all the supplemental material (in this case: 8 b-sides and 3 new tracks) is appended onto its own disc.  Now, in terms of digital files, or even a CD really, you can skip around, listen to a bit of this and that, maybe incorporate a track or two into a playlist... with a vinyl disc, you’re “stuck” listening to the whole side.  Often the material does not flow all that well as it was never sequenced for play.  I would imagine that this will be less of an issue on this release, because, well, it’s Radiohead.

I call it unreleated-track-smoosh syndrome.  Rolls off the tounge, eh?    

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A stack of stuff, from “Old, Rare, New”.

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“There are but Four Small Faces” - Small Faces

If you haven’t seen Ron Mann’s excellent “Grass: A History of Marijuana Prohibition in America” (whole movie is HERE btw)... well, go watch it.  At any rate, there’s a great scene where the opening track from this album “ Itchycoo Park” is used to great effect.  

1967-summer-of-love-psych-rock awesomeness

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From “Old, Rare, New”

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This advertisement is contemporaneous with the Sony one I posted earlier... you can get a sense of just how far behind GE was on design, although I can’t speak to sound quality.  Everything about the units is so much boxier and seemingly less refined.  I also think it’s interesting that they had a purely stand alone radio in the line as well... seems a little antiquated by the early 80s, no?

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Bill Evans in trio form.  The sticker sort of makes a bit of a mess of it, but this from a CBC library and in good condition... it also lowers the price a whole bunch, which is awesome.  I’m a sleeve guy, but I’m also a tunes guy, ya dig? Minty vinyl is basically the most important consideration.

This is a very, very nice record.  This is also (in my very humble opinion) the better of the two picture sleeves this was released in.  As I’m not near the physical disc at the moment, I’m not sure if this is the US or the German issue.  

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A post-Pistols (I’m pretty sure...) picture of Johnny Rotten.  From “The New Music”.

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Golden Filth - The Fugs

Alright... not sure if I’m ever really going to be a big Fugs fan or not, but I was happy to pick this up.  I’m not sure how much satire I like in my rock and roll... at least there’s something interesting going on here.  This 1970 album came after the bulk of their studio releases (they went on hiatus in terms of new records until 1985).  Never household names... always nice to expand my horizons.

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Quicksilver Messenger Service

The self titled debut from these psych dudes... contemporaries of The Dead.

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“Upendo Ni Pamoja” - Ramsey Lewis Trio

This funky little jazz classic sounds like a hot summer afternoon in the city. AllMusic specifically says that this sin’t funky... but I can’t for the life of me figure out what the hell they’re listening to.  Tight...  

This is the Quad pressing from 1973.