Category Archives: Retail

Jeff Parker Side Project A Cushicle Introducing The Freakadelic Sessions Released on Ropeadope Digital

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Tortoise/Isotope 217/Chicago Underground/etc guitarist Jeff Parker announced this week from his MySpace page that the first of what is hopefully many releases from his improv jazz side project known as A Cushicle on Ropeadope Digital. Titled Introducing The Freakadelic Sessions, it is based on a live recording on 4/25/06 that is part of a recurring weekly series held on Tuesday nights with No Cover at the Asian Restaurant/Art Space Rodan. 

Jeff says

Ropeadope Digital has released the first in a series of sessions from the weekly gig I have had at Rodan for the past few years. The band is called A CUSHICLE. The release is called Introducing The Freakadelic Sessions. The musicians include: me (Jeff Parker) on guitar, Jason Ajemian on bass and Noritaka Tanaka on drums. We had a tremendous time playing together over the years and developed a truly unique way of improvising, and it is great to finally have something available for the world to hear.

The Freakadelic Sessions release is $7.99 for a 320Kbps mp3 download. CLICK HERE

Rare Thrill Jockey Vinyl Discovered and Back In Stock

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When I was at the Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary shows back in December Bettina Richards told me that there was a cache of out-of-print Thrill Jockey vinyl that was discovered at their UK location. She said there was some Tortoise available among other titles.

Last Friday Thrill Jockey sent out an e-mail announcing that these titles are in stock and available for order. Some of these are impossibly rare and it’s pretty cool that they are back for a limited time. In addition to the vinyl, there are copies of Tortoise’s The Lazarus Taxon 3 CD / 1 DVD boxset that are priced lower than the original $19 price because they have some slight wear from shipping.

Don’t miss out on getting these, there won’t be another chance like this! The titles are limited to two per customer. The following titles are back:

Arbouretum – Rites of Uncovering – Arbouretum put on a great set at the Anniversary show. I reached out to David Heumann, who is also part of the great instrumental group Human Bell– to purchase a copy. The vinyl for Rites of Uncovering has been out of print for a bit with the only other vinyl in existence available from the band on tour.

Extra Golden – Ok-Oyot System – You’ve read some about Obama’s favorite Benga band on playbsides before. This is the group’s debut release on vinyl and a regular spin of mine from 2006.

Gray Market Goods – Soldier of Fortune / We Live in the Future– This is early Tortoise member Bundy K. Brown’s project from 2003. Apparently sample-based. I’ve not heard anything from it.

Daniel A.I.U. Higgs – Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot – 900 copies available from this solo release from Lungfish member Daniel A.I.U. Higgs.

Nobukazu Takemura – 10th This is one of the eclectic electronic artist’s more notable releases. This album includes “Fallslake” which Tortoise covered for the Plum box set (you can hear Tortoise’s version on their MySpace page currently). A Stereolab-sounding song, I think. update: this is now back out of print… SOLD OUT!

Chicago Underground Duo – In Praise of Shadows This is one I’m interested in picking up. Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor’s project.

Archer Prewitt – Three Archer Prewitt– from the venerable Sea and Cake’s third release, and debut on Thrill Jockey (his previous two LP efforts In The Sun and White Sky were released on Chicago label Carrot Top). Usually known as the silent partner in that band, he kicks his vocal talents to the fore and shows that his Anglophile pop whiles are as worthwhile a listen as Prekop, in my opinion.

Trans Champs – Double Exposure The Trans Champs are a combination of Thrill Jockey artists Trans Am and part of The Fucking Champs. This album was made via sharing tapes between the band.

Tortoise – It’s All Around You Wow, don’t miss out on this! It’s safe to say that this is the only Tortoise vinyl in print. Thrill Jockey is only asking a paltry $11 for this, and recent eBay auctions are creeping into the high $20’s. Update- Out of Stock!

While you’re putting your order together, don’t forget to pick up the amazing Plum 7″ box set— there’s only 50 left! The 15th Anniversary MegaMix by Trey Told ‘Em is still around, too.

B-Sides in the Bins #23 – Chicago Suburbs 3/2/08

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This weekend my wife Sherry was attending a conference for Skin and Hair people at McCormick Place in Chicago. I came along for moral support and some time away– and the hopes of hitting some record stores. Sherry booked a cheap hotel online in Des Plaines North of O’Hare off I-90. Saturday I hung out at McCormick Place loitering at a Starbucks waiting for Sherry. Sunday morning I dropped her off around 10:30AM and I made my way back up to Des Plaines. This gave me the option to hang at the hotel with free parking and to venture out to the surrounding burbs.

A quick search of Google for “record stores near Des Plaines, IL” turned out a mix of interesting and not-so-interesting results. I quickly jotted down three places to try out. The plan being that I’d hit the closest stores first and work my way out.

The first place I tried was promisingly called “The Record Room” on Golf Rd (641 W Golf Rd., Des Plaines, IL). No website. I called first, and the phone company said the “number is being tested” so I ended up driving over anyway. Rest In Piece Record Room! It is now a chiropractic office.

So, the next place I decided I wanted to hit was called “Sunshine Daydream” in Mt. Prospect, IL and has a current website, so that seemed promising. However, their hours are “Noonish to 6PM” on Sundays. I made my way up to the store and it exists and seemed to have inventory. It’s a tie-die, posters, Grateful Dead/Jamband type store. However, it was 12:15, so maybe that wasn’t “Noonish” enough for them. So, I headed back down to a restaurant I passed on River Road called Dick’s River Roadhouse for a Blue Moon (with requisite orange slice garnish) and a wonderful BBQ Grilled Chicken Sandwich. The bar music was some 80’s station (likely XM). Rick Spingfield, Prince, New Order, Toni Basil, etc. The food was served quickly.

After I ate my food and finished my beer I called Sunshine Daydream (2027 E Euclid Ave., Mt. Prospect, IL) to see if they were open– they were. I paid my bill and headed up to the store. As I opened the door, I was overcome by the smell of inscense. The store was pretty much what one would expect for a store that advertises itself as “the hippy general store.” They had a large array of “natural fiber” bags and other clothing– a lot of it tie-died. Posters, rolling papers, gag greeting cards and other sundries were available as well. The rack that had the CD’s was half used CDs and half new titles. Most of the new titles were jambands including a lot of titles that you’d normally only see on the bands’ websites– the Live Phish series, the Wart’s and All moe. series, Dick’s Picks. I think that if someone was looking for any release from the jamband genre this would be the place to go. I flipped through the selections, but didn’t find anything I was interested in. I looked briefly at the Infrared Roses CD that was in the used bin. Infrared Roses is a mashup of a whole bunch of performances of “Dark Star.” I also noted that they had a copy of the Traveling Wilburys Three CD for $7.99. I guess the release of the box set last year really dropped the bottom out of the used market on Traveling Wilburys– I remember seeing copies of the first CD going for over $100! The owner of the place spent the entire time I was in there dealing with some personal issue involving a relative who was freaked out about either moving into a new apartment or getting new neighbors.

From there I ventured over to Disk Replay (13 Golf Center, Hoffman Estates, IL). Disk Replay is a chain used CD/DVD/video game store. There are 4 or 5 in the Chicagoland area. They have a very large DVD selection and two sizable rows of tables of CD’s. The selection was pretty good. Lots of duplicates. They have a “buy three get one free” deal which I took advantage of.

Grant Lee Buffalo – Jubilee (CD, Slash/Warner Bros. 468789-2, 1998) ($4.99) Gold-stamped label promo. I still consider Mighty Joe Moon one of my favorite 90’s albums. I especially loved “Lone Star Song.” I own Moon and Fuzzy. I’ve never heard Jubilee, so I’m looking forward to hearing this. Apparently I only need Copperopolis and I have all of the releases. Jubilee is produced by Paul Fox, who did some great work with 10,000 Maniacs. Helping out on the album are Michael Stipe, Robyn Hitchcock and E. Jon Brion contributes vibes to the album as well.

Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense – Special New Edition (CD, Sire/Warner Bros. 47489-2, 1999) ($7.99) I own most of the Talking Heads releases. I purchased most of them back in the early 90’s, but never bought Stop Making Sense on CD. Frankly, it kind of annoyed me that the original release was a very abbreviated version with only nine of the 16 songs from the movie. I made a cassette of the video tape a long time ago and that was the version that I listened to years ago. It’s great to have this at last.

Reminder – Continuum (CD, Eastern Developments Music EDM 013, 2006) ($3.99) This is why I love to dig through Chicago used bins! Reminder is the side project of Thrill Jockey friend Josh Abrams. I mentioned Reminder’s new EP in B-Sides in the Bins #15. Josh has some help on a couple of tracks from Nicole Mitchell of Thrill Jockey band Frequency. The track “Terradactyl Town” is credited as a remix of “Toy Boat” from Jeff Parker’s amazing solo album The Relatives. Very good cut-and-pastish album. Considering the Jazz bass work Josh does for other artists, it’s interesting to hear such a departure.

Nellie McKay – Get Away From Me (2 CD, Columbia C2K 90664, 2004) ($0.00) This was my “free” CD from purchasing the other three titles. It was sitting in the bin for $2.99! The case and CD’s are in perfect condition. Who knows why it was so cheap! Nellie’s first album. On Columbia, produced by the incomparable Goeff Emerick. This is the album that started it all. Jumps around stylistically from Rap to lush pop a la Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Probably regarded as her best effort, but time will tell. The clock is ticking for the show we’re seeing in Minneapolis. I’m very excited to see her!

I had hoped to spend another day in Chicago, but Saturday nights storms moving to Chicago had us worried about the road conditions so we headed back to Cedar Rapids rather than chance getting stuck in Chicago.

“This ain’t no Mudd Club, or CBGB’s…“

Air – Moon Safari Reissue Blues : What’s Missing?

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Moon SafariPer the folks at Pitchfork (who heard from NME) Air’s landmark album Moon Safari will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a deluxe reissue. This reissue will bundle the original album, plus a disc of bonus material, and a DVD documentary ( Air: Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing directed by Mike Mills, who did the cover art and some of the videos for Moon Safari). The release will happen March 31st on Virgin in the UK and April 15th on Astralwerks in the US.

So, as excited as I am about this release– when this album came out I had a pretty big crush on the lush French sounds– it’s missing songs. For a while I was collecting anything that sounded like Air (Dmitri from Paris, DJ Cam, Mellow, etc.). So, naturally, I have all of the import singles associated with Moon Safari, plus any of the tracks that showed up on compilations like the tres groovy Source Records compilations (Source was the label Air was on initially). It has some of the tracks from the singles, but not all. Here is the tracklist as advertised with where the track came from notated by moi:

Moon Safari:

01 La Femme d’Argent
02 Sexy Boy
03 All I Need
04 Kelly Watch the Stars
05 Talisman
06 Remember
07 You Make It Easy
08 Ce Matin Là
09 New Star in the Sky
10 Le Voyage De Pénélope

Moon Safari Remixes, Rarities and Radio Sessions:

01 Remember (David Whitaker version) (“Kelly Watch the Stars” Single)
02 Kelly Watch the Stars (live at the BBC 1998)
03 J’ai Dormi Sous L’Eau (live at the BBC 1998)
04 Sexy Boy (live at the BBC 1998)
05 Kelly Watch the Stars (Moog Cookbook remix) (“All I Need” Single)
06 Mabrouk (live on KCRW 1998)
07 You Make It Easy (live on KCRW 1998)
08 Bossa 96 (demo)
09 Kelly Watch the Stars (demo)
10 Sexy Boy (Beck ‘Sex Kino’ mix) (“Sexy Boy” Single)

DVD:

01 Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing
02 Videos: “Sexy Boy”, “Kelly Watch the Stars”, “All I Need”, “Le Soleil Est Pres De Moi”
03 Album graphics

So, the rest of the tracks on the bonus disc are new– even to me. That’s enough of a reason for me to buy this.

But, What’s Missing?

“Sexy Boy (Etienne de Crecy & The Flower Pistols Remix)” (“Sexy Boy” single)
“Sexy Boy (Cassius Radio Mix)” (“Sexy Boy” single)
“Jeanne (with Francoise Hardy)” (“Sexy Boy” Single)
“Kelly Watch The Stars (American Girls Remix by Phoenix)” (“All I Need” single)
“Californie” (promotional flexi-disc, although this did get issued on the 1999 reissue of Premiers Symptomes. I consider this a Moon Safari period track)
“Cosmic Bird” (with Jean-Jacques Perrey) (SOURCELab 3 compilation)

Gary Louris Vagabonds Versions and Bonuses

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Former Jayhawk Gary Louris’s solo album Vagabonds was released on 2/19. From a collector’s perspective this is a pretty interesting release in the bonus releases and tracks that exist.

First there was the Limited Edition 180g vinyl gatefold release which came out ahead of the CD release on January 29th. I couldn’t find how “limited” the release is– at least not from the press releases. I suppose this will only be one pressing.

On the release day last Tuesday, if you visited your local independent record store they might have had a promotional 6-track CD called Acoustic Vagabonds. Based on what I read, the tracks on this CD are based on the tracks from the CD and LP except stripped to Gary’s vocals and acoustic guitar. The songs are “True Blue,” “Omaha Nights,” “To Die A Happy Man,” “She Only Calls Me On Sundays,” “We’ll Get By,” and “Vagabonds.”

Additionally, iTunes and Amazon got in on the action by having digital versions of Vagabonds with unique bonus tracks! The really great thing about these bonuses is that if you wanted just the bonus tracks (like if you purchased the album from other means) you can purchase them individually! The only bummer is that the bonus tracks from iTunes aren’t “iTunes Plus” which means that they– unlike the Amazon tracks– are copy protected.

The Amazon bonus tracks are “Baby Let Me Take Care of You,” and “Fall Day (Demo).” “Baby Let Me Take Care of You” reminds me a lot like Nashville Skyline Bob Dylan with it’s pedal steel. “Fall Day” is a nice layered acoustic guitar instrumental.

The iTunes bonus tracks are psychedelic Byrdsy “Three Too Many,” and a beautiful Simon and Garfunkel falsetto in “Working Girl.”

I think it’s great that Louris and Rykodisc are being so generous with the outtakes and bonuses for Vagabonds– I’d like to see more labels and artists doing this.

Get Vagabonds on CD on CD from Amazon
Get Vagabonds on LP from Amazon
Get Vagabonds on mp3 including the bonus tracks from Amazon
Get Vagabonds from iTunes including the bonus tracks
Gary Louris - Vagabonds (Bonus Track Version)

B-Sides in the Bins #22 – Cedar Rapids 2/22 & 2/23/08

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Friday night Sherry was at a class, so I decided to hit Half Price Books before coming home from work. I also hit CD’s Plus on Saturday while I was out running some errands. I got some pretty cool stuff, including a CD that I was hoping to snag for a review from a label.

Prince – Purple Rain – 20th Anniversary (2 DVD, Warner Bros. 33533, 2004) ($9.98) One of the cool things about Half Price Books is that they get “cut outs” of CD’s and DVDs. They had two copies of this sealed and notched as cut-out. I had purchased not too long ago a copy of the 1997 release. I think it was in one of the bins at Wal-Mart. This was the “Standard Version” that was pan-and-scan 6×9. The 20th Anniversary version is 2 DVD with a second DVD dedicated to extras like a cool documentary on First Avenue where the live performances were filmed, a making of documentary with interviews with Dr. Z, Wendy and Lisa, Jimmy Jam and others. They also have a somewhat embarrassing “MTV Premiere Party” from the movie premiere complete with interviews of John “Cougar” Mellencamp, “Wierd Al” Yankovic, “rising star” Eddie Murphy, Wendy and Lisa, Little Richard who was in full Bible-thumping mode, and a self-important VJ Mark Goodman. An interesting view into the MTV promotional engine. Talk about non-sequitur interviewees! I guess Eddie Murphy and Little Richard make some kind of sense– but the “Wierd Al” and John Mellencamp interviews were certainly a stretch. Little Richard turned his interview into a thing about him and Murphy makes some funny digs about that. Mark Goodman goads Murphy unsuccessfully to do an impersonation of Prince, and then tries to get him to do an impersonation of James Brown. Eddie says, “I’ve already done that” and walks away. The bonuses also include all of the associated videos from Prince, The Time, and Apollonia 6. Wow, “Sex Shooter” was a really horrible song and even worse video.

As the story goes, Apollonia Kotero replaced Vanity (Denise Matthews) for the lead female part after Vanity broke up with Prince and went solo under a record contract with Motown. So, the remaining members of Vanity 6 (Brenda Bennett and Susan Moonsie) plus actress Patricia Kotero (renamed “Apollonia” by Prince) became Apollonia 6. The Vanity 6/Apollonia 6 girl group was an idea that Prince had for a while and of course created songs for. Apollonia 6 recorded one record tied in with the rest of the records associated with the movie and that was it. Kotero and group were supposed to open the tour with the Revolution and the Time but that never panned out. Interestingly, Prince apparently wrote “Manic Monday” which would eventually go to The Bangles (and likely specifically to Suzanna Hoffs) and “The Glamorous Life” which went to Sheila E. for the Vanity 6/Apollonia 6 projects. Coincidentally, both Vanity and Apollonia have become born-again Christians. Actually, Prince is too, I guess.

The movie is restored to Widescreen and remastered. The old release was really shoddy, and this one is a vast improvement. I see that there is a BluRay version of this available, too. I’ll probably upgrade this copy when I get a BluRay player.

Aimee Mann – Bachelor No. 2 (Or The Last Remains Of The Dodo) (CD, Superego Records, 2000) ($5.98) This is the album that followed the success of the soundtrack to Magnolia. It includes some of the songs from Magnolia– one as an instrumental. Aimee Mann is one of my favorite female musicians and her pairing with Jon Brion is perfect. The songs from Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia and this album would make a nice mix CD. Only “How Am I Different,” “Deathly,” and “You Do” are on both. “Nothing Is Good Enough” appears on the soundtrack as an instrumental.

This was a sealed copy or re-sealed. Aimee’s first release as an independent artist.

Mike’s Mann Mix for the Last Remains of the Magnolia

1. One (from Magnolia)
2. Momentum (from Magnolia)
3. Build That Wall (from Magnolia)
4. Deathly (from Magnolia or Bachelor No. 2)
5. Driving Sideways (from Magnolia)
6. You Do (from Magnolia or Bachelor No. 2)
7. Wise Up (from Magnolia)
8. Save Me (from Magnolia or Bachelor No. 2)
9. How Am I Different (Bachelor No. 2)
10. Nothing Is Good Enough (Bachelor No. 2)
11. Red Vines (Bachelor No. 2)
12. The Fall of the World’s Own Optimist (Bachelor No. 2)
13. Satellite (Bachelor No. 2)
14. Ghost World (Bachelor No. 2)
15. Calling It Quits (Bachelor No. 2)
16. Just Like Anyone (Bachelor No. 2)
17. Susan (Bachelor No. 2)
18. It Takes All Kinds (Bachelor No. 2)
19. Nothing Is Good Enough (Instrumental) (Magnolia)

Pylon – Gyrate Plus (CD, DFA 2181CD, 2007) ($5.98) This is one that I’d hoped would come to me as a promo for review, but at $5.98 used, it was worth buying. I was surprised to see its spine looking up at me from the bins. Pylon was one of the seminal Athens, GA bands and were contemporaries of the B-52’s. Started as a kind of side project for its members who really thought of themselves more of an art collective. They were inspired by the B-52’s very stripped down approach (at least in the early days). I think you can hear a lot of similarities in the tribal dance beats and angular guitars. I became familiar with Pylon through the documentary “Athens, GA Inside/Out” and their performance of “Stop It.” When I got to college in the late 80’s I met a guy named Tom Lally who had the Pylon records on vinyl. These were on the now-defunct DB Recs label. I had made a tape of Gyrate and Chomp. Pylon broke up after Chomp just as they were asked to open for U2. Pylon reformed in 1990 for Chain on the now defunct Sky Records. I bought Chain when it came out and the 1988 Hits compilation on DB Recs. Other than the few tracks on Hits, the tracks from Chomp have not seen re-release. I hope that DFA is planning to reissue Chomp as well.

Listening to these songs again for the first time since the Nineties, I can tell that my remedial bass-playing skills are very influenced by Pylon– especially the track “Volume” on Gyrate. Pylon got back together last year and played a handful of shows to promote this re-issue and there are a couple of them available via BitTorrent.

R.E.M. are fans of Pylon and covered “Crazy” on their Dead Letter Office album of B-Sides.

Click Here to visit Southern Shelter’s page of live mp3’s from Pylon.

Iron and Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog (CD, SubPop SPCD 710, 2007) ($7.99) I got this one from CD’s Plus. I was happy to have stumbled into this one. I was really impressed with Sam Beam’s collaboration with Calexico for the In the Reins EP. Shepherd’s Dog picks up nicely from there. Full instrumentals provided with help again from Joey Burns and Paul Niehaus. Very nice percussion one this record makes it kind of a toe-tapper for me. Sam’s voice is one of my favorites in indie rock today. Brilliant record, I can’t recommend it enough.

The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season 3 Released– $1.99 Download!!

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In between his non-stop touring and working on his own albums, Lyrics Born seems to work in guesting on other artists’ albums (Tommy Guerro, Galactic, RL Burnside) as well as contributing a track to other projects (NBA2K6). Frankly, I’m not sure how he fits it all in!

If you’re a completist, you went out and bought all of the releases, however, since 2005 LB has been releasing the audio equivalent of a Holiday Newsletter your Aunt sends out recapping the great things your cousin did that year. The Lyrics Born Variety Show releases are a non-stop mix of rare mixes, collaborations, contributions and songs that are exclusive to the release.

The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season 3 will be released on CD soon, but in the excitement surrounding the impending release of Everywhere at Once on April 22nd LB pushed the digital download of Season 3 early to help build the excitement– there are four songs on this mix from the new album!

Not only are we blessed with the early release– for a limited time you can download the release for $1.99!! Once the physical release drops, the download price will become $9.99, so take advantage of this price!

By the way— Track 9 is my favorite Mash Up of all time by Party Ben called “Callin Out on Sunday.”

Tracklisting:

01. Intro
02. Do It Up, Do It Big – Lyrics Born ft. Joyo Velarde & Jake One (Exclusive)
03. Stax On The Table (LB What It Look Like?)* – Macka Dang Dang ft. Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) (Exclusive)
04. Let Me In, Let Me Out (Count Remix) – Tommy Guerrero ft. Lyrics Born (Everywhere At Once Bonus Track)
05. What U Need – Galactic ft. Lyrics Born
06. Meow Mix – (Exclusive)
07. I Like It, I Love It (Everywhere At Once Track)
08. Cake Walk (Remix) – Lyrics Born ft. The Gift of Gab (Blackalicious) & Mike Meezy (Exclusive) (Everywhere At Once Track)
09. ?????? (Mash Up) – U2 vs. Lyrics Born
10. Badder Than Bad – Lateef ft. Lyrics Born (Exclusive)
11. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah – Lyrics Born ft. Lateef & Big Cee (Exclusive)
12. Have Mercy (Remix) – RJD2 ft. Lyrics Born & Pigeon John
13. Hott 2 Deff – Lyrics Born ft. Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) & Joyo Velarde (Everywhere At Once Track)
14. Rewards And Consequences – (Exclusive)
15. It Go – (Exclusive)
16. This Is What We Fought For?* – (Exclusive)
17. I’m Just Raw (Re-Opened And Remixed) – Lyrics Born ft. Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Pigeon John and Herb Alexander (Primus)
18. Shake It Off (HypoKriticaL Remix)

*Exclusive Lyrics Born Variety Show In-Studio Recording / Previously Unreleased

Click Here to Listen to Track Samples and to order The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season 3 Download.

Fender Frontline in Home #2 Arrived…

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I came home today to the new Fender Frontline in Home– the second issue! The cover and inside cover are promoting the new Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Strat and Twin with the line art logos for Crossroads Antigua which is a charity that supports a treatment center for chemically dependent people and their families. There will be 100 guitars with 50 matched to amps. These guitars are going to be handcrafted at the Custom Shop to Clapton’s specifications and each with the smiling sun logo that he designed. The guitar is $20000 and the guitar/amp combination will be $30000.

Other new and interesting items in this catalog include the Joe Strummer Tribute page. I got to see one of these up close in King of Prussia, PA at Sam Ash. While I really like the idea of this tribute guitar, I have a hard time justifying over $800 for a Mexican telecaster. Plus, it doesn’t look as good up close. It is one thing to be relic’d, but the matte black finish makes it look kind of fake. Just my opinion, of course!

This issue also includes the new California Series Sonoran SCE Custom Acoustics. These are kind of cool looking– coming in some vintage “surfy” colors with painted headstocks. I’d consider one of these. It certainly would look nice hanging next to my other Fenders since it has a CBS Strat-looking headstock on it.

Another free T-shirt!! Again, you need to do a “test drive” at an authorized Fender dealer. This time you don’t need to test drive something in the catalog– which is an improvement. Test drive any Fender product. Last time I went to Guitar Center and the only thing they had was the “VG” Stratocaster from the catalog. This T-Shirt looks much nicer than the last Test Drive– this one has a ’52-ish Telecaster leaning against a classic Twin amp with a simple Fender logo under it. Still on a black Tee. I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!

A focus on the Squier Artist Series with the Avril Lavigne Telecaster with the nifty Cheap Trickish black and white checkered pickguard. Basses from Pete Wentz, Mike Dirnt and Frank Bello. I guess it is cool to bring the Artist Series into the budget line. Also a Rockband ad showing the new Stratocaster controller for Rockband. That’s cool. Much cooler than the Rockstar SG’s.

New Super and Vibro Champ XD amps that are hybrid Tube with digital effects. Seems cool, but if you end up doing digital effects aren’t you killing why you have tubes to begin with? Plus, they say “tube powered” does that mean they use tubes in the power stage only and not part of the tone stack? I’m sure tube purists everywhere have made their decisions…

I see a new Mexican Telecaster called the Blackout Tele. A Standard Mexican Telecaster with maple neck, dressed in black with a three-layer black pickguard and 6-saddle bridge. Has a third chrome “lipstick” style pickup between the neck and bridge. Seems pretty unique and really sharp. I may need to try one of these to see what interesting sounds come with the extra pickup. The Power Teles have the extra single-coil, so maybe they sound like that.

If you haven’t signed up for Frontliine in Home– you should if you’re into Fender products. Click Here to find the signup page.

B-Sides in the Bins #18 – Cedar Rapids 11/07

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I made a couple of trips to HalfPriceBooks this month. One trip was because I had a 50% off One Item coupon and the second trip was because I had a bunch of books to sell. Nothing crazy rare, but some collection builders.

What I bought:

Hard Promises – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (LP, Backstreet BSR-5160, 1981) ($2.99) This was with the 50% coupon. I got the incredible “Running Down A Dream” documentary DVD/CD set for my birthday in October and it got me thinking I should try to get more Tom Petty vinyl. My daughter bought me Southern Accents last year for one of the gift-giving holidays so I already had a start. There were copies of Damn the Torpedos in the bin, too, but this was in better condition than those. This is the second of the three albums produced by Jimmy Iovine starting with Torpedos and ending with Long After Dark. A pretty good album that shows Petty at the peak of his 80’s game. Of course, “The Waiting” is still a classic, but other standout tracks are “A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me)” and “Insider.” “Insider” is a duet with Stevie Nicks and one of my favorite songs from Petty’s catalog. I especially like the live version on Pack Up the Plantation.

Go Insane – Lindsey Buckingham (LP, Elektra E1-60363, 1984) ($1.00) Unfortunately, this is a Columbia House repressing, but it is really clean and for a buck I can’t complain. It is missing the record sleeve (I think). It has a plain white sleeve. I would have expected other artwork or something. Go Insane was Lindsey’s second solo release. This record was met with mixed reviews due to it’s odd use of sampled sounds like splashes and metal clangs. When Fleetwood Mac reconvened for 1987’s Tango In The Night, Buckingham produced the record and gave it the same sampled textures. When this record came out I listened to it a lot on my Walkman I remember. My family was and are still big fans of Fleetwood Mac and Lindsey Buckingham so when this record came out we bought it right away and it became part of family trips in the car stereo. The finale track– a celtic “D.W. Suite” is a tribute to the late Beach Boys drummer and vocalist Dennis Wilson. There is a sample of Ed Sullivan saying “Ladies and Gentlemen– The Beach Boys!” in it.

Gold – Ryan Adams (CD, Lost Highway P2 70256, 2001) ($5.98) Another one for the Ryan Adams collection. There isn’t much more I can add to what’s been said about Gold. It is probably the most consistent record in Adams’s catalog and likely most accessible. Brilliant and classic tracks like “New York, New York,” “Answering Bell,” “La Cienega Just Smiled,” “Rescue Blues,” and “When the Stars Go Blue” anchor the album and show Adams at the top of his songwriting.

Don’t Sleep on This– Thrill Jockey Online Exclusives: Plum, Mega Massive Mix, and Prekop Book

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As previously mentioned (here, here and here), Thrill Jockey has three items that any fan of the label needs in their collection– and they are mucho limited editions so you should jump on these while they are available. I checked, and as of today these are still available. I’m not going to tell you again!

Super Epic Thrill Jockey Mega Massive Mix by Trey Told ‘Em — This is a mega mix of almost all of the Thrill Jockey artists and is available to anyone who went to either of the 15th Anniversary shows in London on November 12th or coming up in Chicago on December 14th. However, they aren’t denying this to folks who can’t make it to either show so for a limited time you can order this directly from Thrill Jockey. Trey Told ‘Em is a project of Gregg Gillis aka blog-darlings Girl Talk and Frank Musarra from Hearts of Darkness. At $12 this is a deal! I’m sure it will be worth 5x that on eBay later. Available as a pre-order. Will ship after 12/18 following the Chicago show.

Plum 7 Inches Box Set — This is a set of ten 7″ singles of Thrill Jockey artists covering each other. These are 180mg records. Tortoise, Sea and Cake, Califone, Howe Gelb, Zincs, Pullman Pit Er Pat, David Byrne, Mouse on Mars, and the list goes on. Will not be available as a download or on CD. Available as a pre-order. Will ship after 12/4.

If you pre-order these together you get a $2 discount on the order. However, it will hold the shipment until 12/18 when the Mega Mix is released.

“Photographs” book by Sam Prekop – As mentioned earlier, this is a book of black and white photographs by Sam Prekop that he has had in exhibits. Nice hardback book published by Presspop Gallery and is available from Thrill Jockey mailorder. This book comes with a CD of instrumentals by Prekop that are inspired by the pictures. I ordered this one separate from the Box set and megamix last week so I have it. The CD is relatively short (20 minutes) and is comprised of mellow electronic music. Good stuff.

BTW: I am going to the Chicago Anniversary show. Apparently in addition to the surprise guests, there will be some “Rare Merchandise” available. I can see this is going to be an expensive trip! Maybe I can get TNT on vinyl for less than 50 freakin’ dollars!