Category Archives: In The Bins

B-Sides in the Bins #38 : On A Charlie Brown Christmas by The Vince Guaraldi Trio

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"A Charlie Brown Christmas" on my turntable

I made a quick stop in at Half-Price books last Thursday. Sherry needed me to stop at GNC for some flu-fighting stuff on my way home from work, so I took the opportunity to stop in. I saw a couple of interesting pieces in the Rock section that I need to get at some point including The Knack’s Get the Knack, and Isaac Hayes Hot Buttered Soul, but I didn’t want to pick up a bunch of stuff. I walked around to the Jazz section and I was really happy to see A Charlie Brown Christmas in the nearby Children’s section! The cover has no ringwear, but the sleeve was curved which has seemed to cause the printing to separate from the sleeve and wrinkle a bit. No matter, the vinyl is in fantastic shape and with the season upon us, I laid out the $2.98.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is a very important album in my life in that it was the gateway to my appreciation of Jazz music today. I wish I could say that my Jazz listening started with something much more complex like Miles Davis, or Thelonious Monk or even John Coltrane– all of which I listen to today– but it started with the seminal Peanuts Christmas special.

In 1965, the pairing of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” the TV special and Vince Guaraldi was initially met with resistance from executives from the show’s original home at CBS. They felt that Guaraldi’s West Coast Jazz was not a good fit for a children’s TV show. According to the Wikipedia article on Guaraldi, Lee Mendelson– the producer of the show– had heard “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” which was a huge single for Guaraldi and felt that his style was the right fit for the show. In retrospect, it was this innovative decision that lends to the timeless charm of the show and defined popular Christmas music for the generations of people like myself who make it a tradition to watch the delightful show year-after-year. It was the choice of the signature Guaraldi sound that would define all of the Peanuts specials made (sixteen!) until Guaraldi’s untimely death in 1976 shortly after he wrapped up “It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown.” Guaraldi was only 47.

Fantasy Records issued A Charlie Brown Christmas (Fantasy 8431) that same year as the soundtrack to the show and added “The Chrismas Song,” which wasn’t in the special.

In the liner notes for George Winston’s 1982 release December– itself a hallmark of Christmastime music– he says,

“There is a great wealth of traditional and contemporary music to draw from in doing an album for the winter season. These five albums have been very inspirational to me in conceiving of this album for the seasons.”

Of course the first album listed is A Charlie Brown Christmas. I first heard December standing in the Musicland in Dubuque when I was in high school around Christmas and bought it immediately. When I got it home and read the liner notes I took note of the A Charlie Brown Christmas mention. George Winston would go on to record a complete album of Guaraldi compositions called Linus and Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi in 1996.

In 1988, Fantasy finally released A Charlie Brown Christmas on CD (Fantasy FCD-8431). I picked it up a couple of years after that, and that is the version I have on CD today. The 1988 release of the CD and the LP included the song “Greensleeves” which was recorded during the sessions but not included on the original release. In 1997 Fantasy made a Starbucks Exclusive edition which was faithful to the original release by omitting “Greensleeves.”

My pressing of A Charlie Brown Christmas is a 70’s issue. It has a new cover that uses the original illustration, but has a different font and that It has the newer “circle-F” logo on the LP label, but doesn’t have that logo on the front cover– unlike the 1988 release. The front cover has “The Original Sound Track Recording of the CBS Television Special” across the top. This is the same cover that was used in the 1988 remaster (aside from the logo change).

In 2006, Concord Music Group— which has Fantasy Records these days– reissued and remastered A Charlie Brown Christmas and added some bonus tracks in the form of alternate takes of  “Christmas Is Coming,” “The Christmas Song,” “Greensleeves,” and the vocal take of “Christmas Time Is Here.” Unfortunately, during the remastering process they used the wrong takes for “Linus and Lucy” (actually half of a take as the standard “Linus and Lucy” is made of two takes) and “Christmas is Coming.” They initially offered a replacement for people who got the “bad” disc. I think that if I had gotten one of those, I would have kept it! This release also extended some of the original songs that were edited. “O Tannenbaum” was missing the intro, “Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)” was missing the last chord of the song, and “Skating” gains an additional ten seconds restoring the bass solo at the end. They also brought the original cover back which gets rid of the “CBS Special” line at the top of the front cover.

Of note also is the 2006 remastering done by legendary mastering engineers Steve Hoffman and Kevin Grey at AcousTech for Analogue Productions. This was available in a limited (1000 copies)  numbered series of two 180g 45RPM records and is faithful to the original release by not including “Greensleeves.”  A quick search on the ‘net yields none to be had at the moment (although they apparently were available until earlier in December– DRAT!). I’ll have to keep an eye out for one of these. Click Here to see other titles that were and are available from their Fantasy Jazz series of reissues.

The special was aired the night before last on its new home at ABC and even though I own it on DVD, I was transfixed to watch it on TV. One thing I noticed that I’d never noticed before was the song “Skating” is not played during the skating scene in the beginning– it is “Christmas Time Is Here.” I think– like most people who’ve grown up since 1965– the Charlie Brown Christmas special represents the beginning of the holiday season. I usually break out the CD shortly after Thanksgiving (much to my wife’s dismay) to help get into the season. It’s also the ’60’s bebop Jazz sound of A Charlie Brown Christmas that moved me to look for other artists who shared a similar sound like Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans for the piano sound, and Miles Davis’s years on Prestige Records which led me to John Coltrane. Although I listen to other Jazz styles, I tend to come back to this style most often.

A cool find in the used bins in time for the holidays.

Update: Acoustic Sounds found another crate of these in early 2009, and I bought a copy. I traded my 1970’s copy to a friend for an early pressing of Led Zeppelin II.  On Christmas Day 2010, it looks like Acoustic Sounds has these in stock again. Click Here.

B-Sides in the Bins #37 – Cedar Rapids Best Buy 11/11/08

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The Police - Certifiable Vinyl

The Police – Certifiable : Live in Buenos Aires (3 LP, Cherrytree/A&M Records B0011945-01, 2008) ($24.99) You’d think with all of the time that I spend reading about music, things like this wouldn’t take me by surprise. Thank goodness for the Sunday BestBuy flier which informed me that today there would be an exclusive Police Live CD/DVD of their live concert from Buenos Aires called Certifiable. The Police played there two nights, December 1 & 2, 2007. I can’t find anything that tells me which “especially hot night” (quote from the press release) it was. There would be a limited 180g 3 LP version of this album. Well, sort of limited, the flier said “a minimum of three per store” and according to this Wikipedia article, there are 962 stores. When I called this morning, Cedar Rapids had five copies. When I got there a guy was there with a copy under his arm chatting with an employee about digging his turntable out for the first time in ten years recently and listening to Quadrophenia by the Who. The records weren’t on the shelves, so I had to ask this employee where the records were. He had to go to the warehouse to get it. This guy wanted to pull on my ear for a bit about how excited he was to listen to vinyl again after all these years.

The three records are in a massive gatefold with a collage of photos from the tour. In addition to the records, there is a single sheet with another collage of photos and a code for an mp3 download. The resulting download are 256Kbps mp3’s which is acceptible. The mp3’s are handled by same folks who do the downloads for the new Beck and the new Ryan Adams.

Click Here for the Police Certifiable Page

Click Here for the Best Buy Exclusive Certifiable Page

B-Sides in the Bins #36 – Cedar Rapids, Half-Price Books 11/7/08

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I needed to hit GNC for the last night of Gold Card Days for Sherry, so I stopped in at Half-Price Books. A fairly productive stop– found some essentials.

Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town (LP, Columbia JC 35318, 1978) ($2.98) Cool! Decent copies of the Springsteen catalog are tough to find. Next to The River, this is my favorite Springsteen record. slight cover wear, sleeve in tact as well as the lyric sheet. Vinyl impressively minty. I got into Springsteen pretty heavily after Born in the USA. I bought everything on cassette. Never bought any Springsteen on CD. So, it’s a bit strange to be picking this up on vinyl. I suppose Sony/BMG has already started pressing Bruce’s catalog in 180g vinyl. (apparently not?)

Bruce Springsteen – The River (2 LP, Columbia PC2 36854, 1980) ($3.98) My other big favorite from The Boss. I think The River is the blueprint for what would be the most-identifiable Springsteen sound with the hard-working E Street Band on board.  The River shows all the different sides to Springsteen from the out-and-out rocker of “Cadillac Ranch”  to the FM-ready “Hungry Heart” and the melancholy of “The River.” (I always wondered if the couple in the song “The River” actually drowned themselves?) Dad bought this on cassette back when it was new and I remember that we went through a couple of copies of it. It’s a little-known fact that 60-minute cassette and 90-minute cassettes use the same amount of tape. The 90’s are just stretched thinner than the 60’s. This needed to be done because otherwise the tape wouldn’t fit in the shell and be too heavy for most cassette decks. Unfortunately, this caused the double-length cassette to be prone to breaking. The River was a double-length album on cassette since it was 2 LP’s. The cover of this copy has some edge wear and sleeve wear which is very typical of copies of this album. Unfortunately, this wasn’t pressed as a gatefold, so both records are sandwiched precariously into one sleeve. The inside record sleeves which serve as the inside art are in tact as well as a slightly tear-stained lyric sheet. The vinyl is in great shape. I’ve seen some sealed copies of this show up on eBay, so this will be one I’ll want to upgrade.

Mickey Jupp – “Old Rock ‘N’ Roller” b/w “S.P.Y.” (7″ Stiff Records BUY-36, 1978)($0.98) I didn’t know who Mickey Jupp was before I picked this up. This single was notable in that it is on Stiff Records– one time home of British notables as Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe among others. Also it has the paper sleeve intact (“If it means Everything to Everyone… It Must be a Stiff” “Today’s Sound Today”). In addition to that, the A side was produced by Nick Lowe. I’m considering putting this out on eBay, but it is a pretty cool piece, so I may just keep it. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it, but it would appear to be from his Wiki article that his signing to Stiff Records was as a result of a resurgence of interest in “Pub Rock” in the 70’s.

Pieta Brown – Remember the Sun (CD, One Little Indian OLI782, 2007) ($5.98) I had this in mp3 but I wanted to own this on CD. This is a fantastic album, and certainly Pieta’s best so far in my opinion. Produced by Bo Ramsey and has that signature sound. I listen to this album quite a bit and is a good companion to Bo’s new album Fragile.

Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger (CD, Lost Highway B0009130-02, 2007) ($6.98) I have this on vinyl and mp3, but I couldn’t pass this up. Apparently Half-Price got in a bunch of sealed, new copies of Easy Tiger and are selling them for– wait for it– HALF PRICE! 😉 This is my favorite Ryan Adams album, but Cardinology is catching up quickly.

B-Sides in the Bins #35 – My 40th Birthday Party 11/1/08

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I turned forty this year and Sherry wanted to throw a big party for me that included family and friends. My family wanted to know what to get me so I advised Sherry to tell them “vinyl.” What I meant was “go to a record store that has used vinyl and pick something out– even if I might already have it.” What I got for vinyl was all new vinyl, but some very cool stuff nonetheless!

Black Mountain – In The Future (2 LP, Jagjaguwar JAG90, 2008) (gift) This one was a complete surprise! While I was familiar with Jagjaguwar (home of blog-friendly bands like Okkervil River, Oakley Hall, Bon Iver, and Sunset Rubdown) but not Black Mountain. I’m floored by this album! Psych/Folk/Metal– would be a good companion to Thrill Jockey bands Arbouretum or Pontiak. 180g in a sweet gatefold. Also comes with 192Kbps mp3 download. I’ve listened to this album 5 or 6 times already on the iPhone, but I need to spend some time with the vinyl, for sure. The song “Wucan” was included in the Spiderman III soundtrack.

Beck – Modern Guilt (LP, DGC Records B0011630-01, 2008) (gift) Right now this is my favorite Beck album EVER. Produced by Dangermouse of Gnarls Barkley fame. Just brilliant, whatever. Comes with nifty 320Kbps mp3 download that they claim was ripped from the vinyl master, but I have my doubts. They could have added the needle drop and pickup noises afterwords. Still, way cool. 180g

The Traveling Wilburys – The Traveling Wilburys Collection (3 LP, Rhino R2 167868, 2007) (gift) Sheesh, this is the motherlode! This is the 180g vinyl boxset version of the much-awaited re-release of the Traveling Wilburys catalog. Most folks know the story: Petty and Jeff Lynne were working together around the same time George Harrison was working on Cloud 9 and ended up working together with Dylan on “Handle With Care.” This spawnned the most unlikely supergroup ever when they included Roy Orbison. The first album took off with two huge singles. Orbison passes away but the group decides to carry on and record the sarcastically-named Traveling Wilburys III. Time passes, the catalog goes out-of-print, Harrison passes and Petty feels like he shouldn’t perform any of the material until Harrison’s widow requests it. This starts the ball rolling to get the albums back in print. Thankfully, too, as the eBay prices for the album were approaching $50, not to mention all of the bootlegging that was happening. This box includes both of the albums plus an LP of bonus material from the singles and b-sides. The box includes a booklet of history and non-history of the band. The LP’s are in their original sleeves, and the box includes a set of postcards that must have been used to promote the records when they first came out.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals – Cardinology (LP, Lost Highway B0012195-01, 2008) ($17.95) I’ve written about this on the blog before. This is the very limited pressing of Cardinology that comes with special artwork done by Leah Hayes. It is pressed in Red, clear vinyl and came with a special 7″ and a comic that illustrates the lyrics of the album. Amazing version of this album and completely blows-away the likely “robot cardinal” black-and-blue cover of the future pressings. Comes with the same 320Kbps “vinyl rip” mp3 download. According to posts Ryan has made to his blog, he is considering making his next release a vinyl-only release, which would be interesting.

B-Sides in the Bins #34 – Highway to Hell : Retail Confusion With AC/DC Black Ice Vinyl

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My family has been fans of AC/DC since Dad brought Back in Black home in 1980. At the time we had a black GMC Suburban with red cloth interior and Dad wanted to put vanity license plates on it that said “BAKNBLK.” This Suburban would be traded on another one later and its next owner was appropriately enough a funeral home! When Dad brought Back in Black home, I initially didn’t like it– I was more into The Moody Blues and The Beatles, I guess. During my Honda Express-riding Jr. High years I gained the appreciation for all-things metal, and that included AC/DC. John, who was born 1976, pretty much grew up with AC/DC. As a result he has been an AC/DC fan for most of his music-appreciating years. John’s vanity plate he’s been moving from vehicle to vehicle since his first car is “HWY2HEL.” Or, “Highway to a ‘Bad Word'” according to his daughter!

When I heard that there would be a vinyl pressing of the new AC/DC Black Ice album that would be available to Independent record retailers, I knew that this would be a cool gift for him for his birthday. In the past I bought him the 180g version of Back in Black (I got it at Hot Topic of all places!), as well as an Australian version of High Voltage on vinyl that had some different tracks on it.

I figured– incorrectly as it turns out– that because of the Wal-Mart exclusive nature of the CD version of Black Ice, that there would be decent availability of the 180g vinyl pressing at other record stores since the only way a retailer that wasn’t Wal-Mart could have the biggest new releases on a major label would be by stocking the vinyl. Trying to track this down in Eastern Iowa turned out to be a comedy of errors!

The first place I called was what I considered to be my mainstay record store– The Record Collector in Iowa City.

“Record Collector.” the young girl on the phone answered.

“Do you have the new AC/DC album Black Ice on vinyl?” I asked, trying to be as specific as possible.

“The new AC/DC album is only available at Wal-Mart” she answered in an obviously-rehearsed tone.

“Yes, that’s right. The new AC/DC on CD is available at Wal-Mart, but the vinyl pressing is available at Independent record stores.”

She conferred with someone else off the phone about it, “Uh, we won’t be carrying that. We only sell used vinyl.”

This was pretty confusing to me since I have seen and purchased new vinyl there in the past. In fact, I was looking at some very cool Sundazed repressings of Skip Spencer’s “Oar” solo LP. I wondered if I should call back when the owner Kirk might be working.

I got a sinking feeling. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to buy this in time for when I’d see John if I had to order it on-line and it was less than a week before I’d see him. The other local options for new vinyl had dried up over the last couple of years. I remembered hearing that Real! Compact Discs and Records was back in business. I had been a frequent shopper there during the late 80’s but hadn’t shopped there since I moved back to Iowa in 1997. In fact, I think it might have been out of business for a while. I noticed that Bo Ramsey thanked Real! in the liner notes to Fragile, so I figured they must be in business. A quick google turned up the phone number…

“Real Records” the man on the phone answered.

“Do you sell new vinyl?” I asked hopefully.

“Yep. that’s why we are called ‘Real Records'” he cracked.

I was trying to ascertain if they had new records, not just used, but whatever.

“Do you have the new AC/DC Black Ice vinyl?”

“Wal-Mart is the only place that carries the new AC/DC.”

“Well, that’s true– Wal-Mart has the new AC/DC CD, but there is a vinyl pressing that indie record stores can carry.”

He checked his distribution lists, and said “Oh, yeah, we might be getting that next week.”

“Well, I was hoping to pick it up this week as a birthday gift, thanks anyway. By the way, what’s the deal with the Record Collector? I called there and they said they don’t sell new vinyl. I’m pretty sure I’d seen new vinyl there in the past.”

“I don’t know. I’ve been hearing from other people that they haven’t been able to find anything there.”

“Well, that’s too bad. It’s been one of my favorite record stores forever. By the way, will you be getting the Ryan Adams vinyl for Cardinology?”

He checked his lists again, “yes, it looks like we will be getting that next Tuesday. It seems to have pushed back a week.”

“Thanks.”

So, at least it looks like I should be visiting Real! some time in the future.

The next place I called was BestBuy. I’d seen vinyl there recently– notably the new Coldplay Viva La Vida. It seemed to me that if there was a big-box retailer battle between BestBuy and Wal-Mart what better field of war than the new AC/DC? After navigating through their phonejail menus I got a human.

“BestBuy, home of the Geek Squad. How may I help you?”

“Can I speak with some one in CD’s and DVD’s?”

“How can I help you?”

“Would you happen to have the new AC/DC album Black Ice on vinyl?”

“The new AC/DC album is only available at Wal-Mart” he offered helpfully. This was beginning to sound like a phone prank.

Well, I was stuck with this one. Should I explain the vinyl situation, or just assume that if they had the vinyl he would have mentioned it?

“OK, thanks” I said choosing the latter.

I remembered that I had purchased the 180g Back in Black at Hot Topic in Lindale Mall, so I gave them a shot.

“Hot Topic” a guy answered.

“Do you sell vinyl?” I asked.

“What are you looking for??” It occurred to me that based on the clothing one can purchase at Hot Topic, I wasn’t specific enough by asking about “vinyl.”

“I’m sorry, I mean vinyl records.”

“Oh! Yeah, we sell records.”

“Do you have the new AC/DC Black Ice?”

“No, we don’t have that. You should try Wal-Mart. They are carrying that.”

The rest of the conversation involved me educating him on the vinyl version of Black Ice. I’m sure he appreciated it.

My last hope would be that Mad City Music Exchange in Madison, WI would have it. They are close enough that I shouldn’t have to worry about overnight shipping either. I gave them a call.

“Mad City” the guy on the phone answered.

“Hi, do you have the new AC/DC Black Ice on vinyl?”

“Yep.”

Frankly, I didn’t know what to say! I gave him a brief version of my trials of trying to find this record. I left it that I’d call him the next day to confirm. He said that he typically visits the post office twice a day so the next day he should be able to get it sent out. I called, and we talked about shipping options. He wasn’t sure what the shipping would have been for 2-day, so I gave him my credit card information and asked him to let me know.

What I found out talking to Dave Zero is that he’s the new owner of Mad City Music Exchange taking over for the previous owner who’d had it since 1986. Here is an article from the Isthmus about Dave buying the store from last December. It’s clear that Dave is very focused on keeping the customer happy and I think went way out of his way to get me the record and he even checked up to make sure that I got it in time. As a result, I ordered Ryan Adams and the Cardinal’s new Cardinology in the limited edition clear red vinyl and unique artwork from him, and I got that this week.

The record showed up in time for me to give it to John. and I have a diligent store owner to thank in Dave. It really is a beautiful piece. Unlike the CD artwork which are white on black, all of the album graphics are matte black on shiny black gatefold with a very bright red AC/DC logo on it. It makes it a bit tough to read unless you tilt the record, but still a very impressive pressing.

There are other record stores in Madison, but certainly you should make Mad City a stop if you’re in town. Tell them “It’s Time To Play B-Sides” sent you!

B-Sides in the Bins #33 – Zzz Records – Des Moines, IA 10/18/08

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Sherry and I were in Des Moines to talk to an Espresso Machine distributor about a machine for her cafe/bakery that she is planning. While were were there, I got to make a quick visit to Zzz Records. Apparently this would be my last trip to their old location as they have moved. I quickly thumbed through the new vinyl and then made my way back to the 80’s/New Wave/Alternative section. It was an 80’s day…

Simple Minds – Once Upon A Time (LP, A&M/Virgin SP-5092, 1985) ($4.25) I’m getting pretty close to having all of the Simple Minds I want. If there are any other period 12″es maybe I’ll pick those up. I want to get Live in the City of Light, which was recorded during the tour of this album.

The Fixx – Reach the Beach (LP, MCA Records MCA-5419, 1982) ($3.50) Possibly one of my favorite albums. I can put this on and listen to it at any time. I got this on cassette from the Kennedy Mall Wards in Dubuque along with U2’s Live Under a Blood Red Sky on the same day. I remember seeing footage on TV of U2 at Red Rocks and knew I wanted that. I distinctly remember being sick with the flu at home in bed with the vaporizer running listening to those two cassettes back-to-back all day long.

B-Sides in the Bins #32 – Mad City Music – Madison, WI 9/27/08

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The Tortoise show at Snake on the Lake started at 3PM in Madison, but Erik, Shawn and I weren’t interested in all of the opening acts, so we decided to hit a record store before meeting up with Tom, our taper friend. We stopped at Mad City Music which I’ve been to a couple of times. The first time Erik and I went there it was for a small Camper Van Beethoven in-store which was really cool.

This was a pretty fruitful trip in that I picked up some amazingly pristine copies of Tom Petty albums. Like freakishly mint, really. No ringwear or sleeve wear of any sort. They looked like they just shipped from the plant and were taken out of the cellophane! In addition to the four records, I bought plastic sleeves for them.

Tom Petty is one of my long-time favorite artists. Of course, this means that I need to keep an eye out for other Tom Petty vinyl… Two of the records were upgrades. I gave the replaced copies to Erik.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Damn the Torpedoes (LP, MCA 5105, 1979)($3.00) The third album. First Top-40 record for the band, includes “Refugee” and “Don’t Do Me Like That.”

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Hard Promises (LP, Backstreet BSR 5160, 1981)($3.00) This was an upgrade for me. First record to hit Top-10 for Petty.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Long After Dark (LP, Backstreet BSR 5360, 1982)($3.00) First record with the late Howie Epstein on bass. The record was an attempt to repeat the formula of success by using Jimmy Iovine as producer. Sadly, it would not pan out. “You Got Lucky” was an MTV favorite, though.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Southern Accents (LP, MCA 5486, 1985)($4.00) Another upgrade for me. Rae got me my first copy for my birthday in 2006– that one was a corner-cut cutout record. The vinyl was immaculate, though. This was really the record that started my interest in Tom Petty, and probably the song “Rebel.” I started listening to this about the same time I got into the Del Fuegos, which would make sense. Lots of radio and video airplay for this one– “Rebel” and “Don’t Come Round Here No More.” Three songs were co-written with Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics.

What I didn’t buy: Carried to Dust by Calexico on used CD (I got this one on vinyl through Amazon), and two Dumptruck albums For the Country, and Positively Dumptruck on vinyl, and a Love Tractor LP on DBRecs. Jethro Tull’s Crest of a Knave (the album they won a Grammy in 1989 for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance against Metallica!). If I get back to Mad City and the Dumptruck records are there, I will buy them. Based on the price stickers they’ve been there for a couple of years.

B-Sides in the Bins #31 – Zzz Records – Des Moines, IA 9/23/08

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Sherry was attending a skin care conference in Des Moines, so I took the day off and drove her there. While she was in the class I visted Zzz Records (424 E. Locust Street, Downtown Des Moines), I’d been meaning to get to that store for a while, so I was pleased to have the opportunity. Zzz Records has been in existence since 2000 and is in its second location. Apparently it will be moving again on November 1st to 2200 Ingersoll. Zzz Records, also hosts a record show that I’ve been meaning to get to. The next one is December 7th, so mark your calendars.

As far as record stores go, Zzz is one of the better ones I’ve been to. They have a decent-sized used CD area at the front of the store that unfortunately on a warm afternoon seems like a greenhouse. They carry a good selection of new CD’s and LP’s as well. The used selection is pretty amazing. They split the record bins into sections by genre, with a very impressive New Wave/Alternative/Punk section towards the back of the store. I spent two hours there and came out with some cool pieces. Not as much used as I had expected, but I was keeping myself to a budget and the new LP’s ate into my ability to load up on used.

The Tourists – Luminous Basement (LP, Epic NJE 36757, 1980)($4.00) Promo-stamped by CBS. This one kind of took me by surprise. They also had Reality Effect which was a compilation of the Tourists’ first two albums. The Tourists are notable as being the pre-Eurythmics band for Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. My friend Michelle’s brother Lynn had this LP as well as the posthumous Should Have Been Greatest Hits. A cassette of these two records used to be a staple in my car in high school. The Tourists existed from 1977 – 1980 and had a number of minor hits in the UK and a very low charting (#83) single of their cover of “I Only Want To Be With You” originally recorded by Dusty Springfield. Luminous Basement was their last proper album and shows Lennox and Stewart stepping into writing their own material. Lennox’s “One Step Nearer the Edge” is one of the best tracks on the record. The Stewart-penned “Let’s Take A Walk” and the Lennox/Stewart “From the Middle Room” are pretty good as well. Amazon has some really questionable pricing on this from some resellers starting at $48 and going to $72.95 for one that still has the cellophane on it. A cool record that reminds me of hanging out at Michelle’s listening to records.

Simple Minds – “Promised You A Miracle”/”The Miracle (Dub Version)”/”The American” 3 Tune EP (12″, A&M SP-12057, 1982)($3.00) I’ve sort of become a collector of Simple Minds vinyl from this period. BJ’s Music World in Dubuque had a bunch of import Simple Minds in a closeout bin that I purchased one day in the 80’s that included a number of 12″es. Ever since then when I spot a really nice piece, I buy it. Last December I picked up New Gold Dream at Reckless in Chicago, which I consider to pretty much be their pinnacle release. I know that 1985’s Once Upon A Time was really the one that pushed them into the charts with the singles “All The Things She Said,” “Alive and Kicking,” and “Sanctify Yourself,” but I really like the stripped down version of Simple Minds on this album (minus the female member of the band). This record is the A&M pressing of the “Promised You A Miracle” 12″ from Virgin. Super clean copy.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Easy Tiger (LP, Lost Highway 34410, 2007)($11.34) When I saw the price on this one, I needed to buy it. I’d seen this at other record stores for over $15. This is the interesting orange vinyl record in the plastic sleeve with the picture of Ryan in a lion mask. Cool pressing, great album. Much more focused than the three releases from the previous year, in my opinion. The vinyl pressing– which came out after the CD release– credits the album to Ryan Adams & The Cardinals rather than just Ryan Adams. I’m not sure why the CD release ended up not crediting the rest of the band.

Ryan Adams – Rock N Roll (LP, Lost Highway 61004, 2003) ($11.34) Another one that seemed like a good price. This is really the album that got me into Ryan Adams to begin with. I know that most of the Ryan Adams fans don’t like this album– and there’s the whole Courtney Love accusing Ryan of stealing money from Frances Bean to make the album and the whole drug use. Apparently he was influenced by the Strokes and he even has a song called “This Is It” on it (which might be a flip on the Strokes album Is This It). Apparently, he has in recent years said that he made the worst record he could in Rock N Roll. Well, I really like it, and it seems to be the only Ryan Adams album my wife will listen to other than parts of Love is Hell (which was recorded around the same time. I guess this is the beginning of my Ryan Adams on vinyl collection.

Zzz Records also sells record flats for $1 apiece. I picked up a record flat for Beck’s Modern Guilt. (actually, I picked up two of them). I also bought some LP mailers.

What I didn’t buy: I almost picked up a fricken MINT copy Suitcase Full of Blues by the Blues Brothers. In fact, I’m still kind of kicking myself for not picking this up. I also considered the Smithereens rare Live EP that is on Enigma on CD.

Free Downloads: Pieta Brown with Bo Ramsey at Daytrotter!

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A cool and unexpected offering from Daytrotter– Pieta Brown with hubby Bo Ramsey performing tracks from her fantastic 2007 release on One Little Indian Remember The Sun plus a couple of unreleased tracks.

I think it is really admirable that Daytrotter, which calls its home The Quad Cities (specifically Rock Island) and chooses to occasionally feature regional acts to the watching planet.

I hope that they had the opportunity to record Bo as well. If not, they should try to get him on the schedule.

Click Here to read the article on Pieta Brown at Daytrotter and download yourself some mp3’s.

While I was putting this article together I noticed that Pieta will be playing in Marion, IA at the very cool Campbell-Steele Gallery on October 10th. Campbell-Steele is the home of the funny and musical Liar’s Holographic Theatre. Tickets are 25 smackers, but the art gallery is a very intimate place to see performances and Pieta would be a wonderful artist to see there.

Damp and Cool, Crisp and Warm — The Country Canvas: Pieta Brown

B-Sides in the Bins #29 – Boston – Newbury Comics 7/31/08

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My last business trip to Boston was happily full of music between seeing Sheryl Crow and getting to run to Newbury Comics before dinner the next night. Thankfully, the restaurant we were going to was just down the street from Newbury Comics. I had hit their website before we went out and they had listed in their Top 100 Vinyl Records sale that Beck’s new album Modern Guilt was on sale as was Endtroducing by DJ Shadow. I was disappointed to find out that these were apparently on-line only, and not in-store. I still picked up a couple of records, though.

Beck – Modern Guilt (LP, DGC Records B0011630-01, 2008) ($14.99) This album just begged to be released on vinyl– from its retro Blue Note-looking sleeve, to the production by Danger Mouse– so I was happy when they announced its release. The record is a hefty 180g slab, and there is a sheet included with lyrics and credits. In addition there is a code to download 320Kbps mp3’s of the album that were ripped from vinyl! I downloaded them promptly and compared them to my other 320Kbps rip from CD. Before the first track “Orphans” you get a needle drop sound and after the last track of side one “Youthless” sound of the needle lifting again. This is repeated for “Walls” and “Volcano” on side two. Cute. The coupon says “This higher quality sound has been taken directly from the vinyl playback — offering a broader sound spectrum to enhance your audio experience.” Well, I don’t know about that. It’s a pretty good rip, but even 320Kbps is compressed. They should have offered .wav’s if they wanted to maintain the fidelity. I read a lot of reviewers complaining about Modern Guilt dismissing it as Beck fronting Gnarls Barkley and other really clever criticisms. This is probably my favorite Beck album next to Sea Change which was another misunderstood Beck album.

Arbouretum/Pontiak – Kale (LP, Thrill Jockey Thrill 201, 2008) ($12.99) This is an interesting release in that the only physical media will be vinyl. Thrill Jockey, consistant with all of their vinyl releases in the last year also includes a coupon for a free mp3 download which is great. BTW: all of the mp3 downloads from the Thrill Jockey store are 320Kbps, so there is someone there who gets it. This is a split release between Arbouretum and Pontiak. This is the third release for both bands. I saw Arbouretum at the Thrill Jockey 15 shows last December and was floored by their live performance and their 2007 release Rites of Uncovering is in regular rotation for me. Both bands try their hand at covering John Cale songs in amongst original songs. Arobouretum tackles “Buffalo Ballet” from Cales very influential and groundbreaking 1974 album Fear. “Buffalo Ballet” is a beautiful song and Arbouretum’s take on it leaves it pretty much in tact other than adding some sludgy distortion goodness to it. (Note to self: go buy Fear) Pontiak takes on two songs “The Endless Plain of Fortune” from Cale’s brilliant Paris 1919 album from 1973 and “Mr. Wilson” from the 1975 follow up to Fear, Slow Dazzle. The original tracks for both bands are great and stand up well against their recent releases. I especially dig the track “Green Pool” from Pontiak in which the slapback echo vocals ride the wave of a circular guitar line and slinky bass to a crest that fits nicely next to their very delicate take on “Mr. Wilson.” “Green Pool” ends waaaay too soon. I hope they jam a bit more than the 3:27 lets them do in a live setting.

I’m still bummed that Pontiak didn’t make their show in Iowa City due to the floods. I’m hoping they’ll be back soon.