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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Austin's Record Store Day Finds 2012

"Hey I'm going to start coming back to the blog. Just a little at a time but I'll write a post tonight. A fallow up to the other RSD post!
COME JOIN US ON FACEBOOK!

-Austin Lovelace"

As much as I want to call Record Store Day a gimmick because of the contest it has become, I can't help but say that it was fun trying to beat everyone else to the albums you want. In any case, half the albums I wanted were limited copies and the amount of massive luck I needed to get those albums was impossible to achieve. In the end I just picked up what I found and wanted so I'll talk about what I got, which is very different from what I wanted....

I' m trying to upload the songs on these records to our Youtube but if not you'll just have to wait. 

1. Gary Clark Jr. - HWUL Raw Cuts Vol. 1
Raw is the closest thing, comprehended by the human mind, that can be used to describe what this guy can do live. To be honest I think this guy's albums are good-average but his videos and lave performances are incredible. The song writing on his albums can be great to just being a back up to his masterful guitar playing but live his skills are enough, especially when you can hear new material. This thing displays new songs that sound as good as "Bright Lights", like "If You Love Me Like You Say", and There is also a live version of "Bright Lights" on this that is orgasmic. I can't wait till he puts out a new album.

There's also a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Third Stone From The Sun" that was incredible.


2. The Cure - Entreat Plus 
Like the Gary Clark Jr. record this is live BUT all of the live songs are from "Disintegration". Maybe you've heard of it? I guess it's blasphemy but my favorite Cure albums are "Boys Don't Cry" and "Blood Flowers". That"Disentagration" one is a close 3rd though. I figured this record would give them a chance to jam out which is why when I had my record player set too fast, I thought it was awesome till I heard the chipmunk come on the mic. I honestly thought it was one of those old school pop songs that I love (news flash: "Disintegration" is slowed down pop songs) but alas it was not (it was not a 45 *facepalm*). Regardless of my first impression, The Cure are great live but they don't do anything out of the ordinary. You can expect more atmosphere because live they're very melodic and they build to impress the croud but they never drew any songs out or changed solos and melodies. It was still a good buy even though, like "Entreat", left me only slightly more over whelmed that the original album.  


3. Blitzen Trapper - Hey Joe (actually on my wish list)
It's a cover but I'm a huge fan of Blitzen Trapper A HUGE FAN. To be honest this cover isn't the greatest thing ever but there is a B-Side called "Skirts on Fire" that show cases the country direction that the band has been moving to ever seance their last album, and it's good. It's also thick yellow vinyl so FUCK YEAH.


4. The Byrds - I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better b/w It's No Use
Anybody who's a fan of 60s rock knows that this is just a reissue of one of the most famous Byrds songs, in their early days, but I love the song like a mad man. It's one of the best early 60s psychedelic pop songs and it's catchy as hell. Even more than that it has a B-Side that is an alternate version of "It's No Use" which has one of my favorite opening/closing guitar solos EVER and it's on of the first songs that showed what the Byrds would soon become!

(Sexy blue translucent vinyl)


5. Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies
Call them a guilty pleasure, call them copy cats, call them what ever you want but I love the hell out of this band and this hit song. Just the playfulness of the speedy banjo and the ruff bass melody behind it. Everyone has heard this song but the B-Side is a rare single, "A Prayer for Me In Silence" and one of their slowest songs and one of their most folky. I can see why it's a B-Side but I still love it. (Yes I've heard "The Pouges" and "The Dropkick Merphies", yes I love them too).

(Sexy red translucent 7")


6. Portugal The Man - I Got it All (This Can't Be Living Now)
One of my favorite albums of last year, that wasn't a top 25, was  Portugal The Man's "In the Mountain, In the Clouds". There are complaints that it was too coherent or there was enough variety but I dug it anyway. "I've Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now)" is one of my favorites off the record and the psychedelic pop/house effects just leap off the vinyl when you play it. There is also a decent remix that changes the beat of the song greatly and lets the vocals soar without the music behind it. Nothing special but I'm glad to have it.


7. Paul Revere & the Raiders - Ride Your Pony b/w You're a (Bad Girl) (actually on my wish list)
This band is really nothing more than an average 60s pop act that got through on their novelty status but I can't act like like RSD isn't either. All in all, this was my novelty buy for this years 5th annual novelty RSD. 

1 comment:

  1. A year late on this post, but can't help to reply to your stupefying indiotic review of Paul Revere & the Raiders one of the GREATEST American rock & roll bands of all time who knew what rock & roll was all about: FUN! Yeah you cram all of that so verrry sensitive Cure crap and emtional drenching hurt artists you hoist so highly on the rest of you list above. Just give the the floor-filling Northwest Stomin' sounds of The Raiders any day over the rubbish you praised above.

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