Vinylcast

I found Kiss’ first album on Ebay here, and the title says “First Kiss Album, No Kissin’ Time”, now, its pretty clear that the album is the first pressing, it has the serial NB 9001, and it’s missing the Kissin’ Time song, like some of the promos had a miss print. But those albums did have the song on it. I think this album has the song on the record, it’s just missing the printed song on the label.

I count 5 songs on the picture included in the Ebay:

Otherwise the album looks in perfect condition.

Current bid is up to $68.00.  [Edit: Winning bid went for $73.00]

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I got the album and it’s prettier inside than pictured on their site.  The album on the site looks just powdered blue and bland, but it comes marbled with light and darker colors.  So happy I spent the money on this even though its a “single”, albeit a full sized single.

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I love Motorhead.  I was really hoping for a good album.  Maybe I expected too much, but hey how much can one expect from a Motorhead album anyway, like rock it out, nothing complicated, nothing over the top… But what I heard was a poorly mixed and mastered album with mediocre songwriting.  The bass on the album was almost non-existent and the guitars were thin and non exciting.

The packaging to the album is great though.  I love the jacket art, and the overal physical feel of the record and packaging is professional and worthy of collecting.  If only the music matched the case, it would have been perfect.

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A recent visit to the local Baltimore record store proved to be filled with John Lennon records, which I’ve never collected, or had the opportunity to collect.  I’ve just never seen Lennon records while bin-diving.  I’ve also never really listened to them, in any format.  I’ve always been a fairweather Beatles fan, but not a Lennon fan in particular.  I’ve always found McCartney’s solo career with Wings and beyond to be the epitome post-beatles artist.

So, I was delighted when I saw a good collection of (to me) undiscovered Lennon albums.  I slowly discovered that I really don’t like Lennon post-Beatles, and it really seems that he reused melodies and themes he used with the Beatles.  It seems to me that Lennon was the “idea” guy and McCartney was the real musician.  I’m sure that sounds like heresy to some, but hey, it’s just my opinion.

This album isn’t that great, and to me it sounds like pre-disco trash.  Sure there are moments where it shines, but they’re few.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still worth collecting, and I enjoy having my Abba albums too!

Where this album shines is in the packaging.  I had no idea what I was going to find when I opened it, but it’s got some really cool jacket art, showing Lennon’s early age art, which seems surprisingly good, and cut-outs which are pictured below.  It also comes with a booklet with additional art.

The jacket art and cutouts are worth paying a decent price for this album regardless of the pre-disco trash that is recorded on the vinyl.

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The other day, while perusing Southern Lord’s website, I saw this legendary album, SunnO))) performing live in a Norwegian cathedral in Bergen, Norway.  First, thats just FUCKING AWESOME.  Second, it’s promised never to be released digital, AND it’s limited edition.  So I bought two.  You cannot find a more far-out appropriate piece of vinyl in the world.  It’s almost like a Metalocolypse show: Metal band dresses in robes, plays in church, uses church’s in-house pipe organ (organic organ?) from the 1600′s, playing near a cannon-ball and dead Norwegian King Lagabote buried inside the cathedral – summons great monster, monster slays Norwegian town, band has drinks in local pub…  Seriously, it’s legendary.

The entire album was recorded analog and will never see the light of the digital age.  It comes with a concert poster, and a compilation CD.  The packaging is as heavy as SunnO))), the inserts are as heavy as heavy-duty album sleeves themselves.  The outer sleeve is thick-assed cardboard.

The recording?  Amazing.  Chanting, organs, reverb, gothic, drone, bass, BASS, BASS.  You can see the actual bass on the grooves of the record.

Run don’t walk to buy this album.  It’s going to be legendary classic.  Well it already is.

Nicholas Mollerhaug, the festival curator, wrote these liner notes for the album:

“Our idea behind this concert was to commission a piece of music from Sunn O))) referring to the gothic gregorian hymns of the Late Middle Ages. Hymns that flourished Bergen Cathedral in its earliest years: The age of the Great Famine and The Black Plague. The gregorian hymns of this time reflected the despair, the terrors and darkness of the world. Musically the hymns consisted of long slow lines of unison melodies. The unisonity, the dark mood and the slow melodic development are all elements that also can be traced back to Sunn O)))’s musical universe. These parallells between Sunn O))) and the medieval times gave birth to this commission – premiered at the grand final of Borealis Festival 2007.

The Bergen Domkirke is dedicated to the Norwegian king and patron saint Olav (995-1030). The church was built around 1150. In the 1240s it was given to Fransiscan beggar munks. After fires in 1248 and 1270 the building was extended. With the financial help of king Magnus Lagabøte (1263-1280) the church got its present form and was finished in 1301. The very same king is buried in the chansel of the church. After the reformation the church became the cathedral of Bergen. It was then again struck by fire in 1463 and 1702. A cannon ball in the the church tower is a reminisence of the Battle of Bergen Bay in 1665.

This record documents what happens when aesthetic openness and lack of prejudice rules in a medieval cathedral.

Without these values inhabited in the legendary kantor of Bergen Cathedral- Magnar Mangersnes – this concert would never have been possible.

- Nicholas Mollerhaug”

Pictures of my copy:

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Wired Magazine recently added an article on how to convert your vinyl collection into mp3′s.  Wired is a wonderful magazine and I’m glad they’re geeking out on records.  The guide is just a little brief and simplistic, but it also give some great information to the beginning vinyl-to-digital user.  He covers the most important thing – your turntable and needle, and even what I feel is the second most important factor – the preamp.  So, head over to Wired News and check it out.  Plus you’ll find cool information on brain implants.

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Velvet Underground & Nico mono, white label, 1967 first pressing found it’s way to an Ebay Auction.  This one has the sticker in tact, and looks very legit.  This auction has generated 12 bids, and at the time of this writing, it’s currently at $1,225.00.  That’s got to be one of the biggest bids for an album, I’d think.  There’s still 2 days left to bid as well.

Update: 2 days later, and right now there’s 24 minutes left to bid on this album and it’s up to $4,050.00!  That’s got to be some sort of record price.

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Release October 28, 2008: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals forth official release, comes in red colored vinyl and a comic book and digital download.

Release October 28, 2008, The Clash Live at Shea Stadium.  The clash played Shea for two nights on 12 and 13 October 1982, after they just released Combat Rock, as the supporting act for The Who.  They found this recording while Joe Strummer was packing for a move.  This could be as big as MC5′s live album!

Release October 28, 2008, Metallica …And Justice for All, 2LP, 1988 epic release, and in my opinion last good Metallica album.  This one is 33 1/3 rpm like Kill em All was.  I don’t think I’ll run to buy this one, but it looks like Metallica is continuing to run the vinyl bandwagon by reissuing all the old stuff on remastered vinyl.  Too bad they don’t go ahead and remix it while they’re at it.  The 80s weren’t very good for mixing, and mixed a very high-end treble-ie sound into the records which Metallica doesn’t remove when they remaster these records.

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My order finally shipped today, and I’m excited.  A long time ago, so long ago that I actually forgot that I ordered it, I ordered the vinyl edition of the Violent Femmes cover of Gnarles Barkley’s song, Crazy.  If you haven’t heard it, you can hear it for free on MySpace here, or on the official website, Violentandcrazy.com.

I think this is an incredible Femmes recording, and it’s exciting to hear them play together again.

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