Recent Purchases of a Record Nature

[davy]

replacing a download with a good ol' fashioned compact disc:



DR. JOHN  in the right place

[RavingLunatic]

i love that greg summerlin cover. what's the music like?

Yeah, that is a cool cover. It's a really great power-pop album that came out last year. Here are the first two songs. The first one's only 54 seconds. The second one is killer. One of my favorite songs from all of last year. The album ends with a reprise of that first song, which I've always found really cool.

Greg Summerlin - All Done In Good Time - 01 - A Warning
Greg Summerlin - All Done In Good Time - 02 - Shine On Where You Want

[RavingLunatic]

haha, i like that Hypatia Lake album title, having no idea who they are.  i think i will just go around saying that now. 

It's actually a pretty cool concept album about a candy factory. Here's a short description from their MySpace page.

Hypatia Lake is a fictitious community in which the songs revolve around the lives of the characters in the town of Hypatia Lake. "Your Universe, Your Mind", introduces you to Jeremiah Freud (the lonely cowboy archetype), the town children, the rebellious candy factory workers, the Clock Faced ones and the Omnipotent Narrator. "....and we shall call him Joseph", follows the life of Joseph Bigsby, who instigated the rebellion in the town's Candy Factory and plays out as a chronological working through of his life as he lay dying on the Candy Factory's floor.

Your Universe, Your Mind isn't as good as ...And We Shall Call Him Joseph, but I love that one. It's a really studio-intensive, has some crazy distortion and studio trickery. But the songs are good too. They share more than a few things in common with the Flaming Lips. I love ths song titles as well:

  1. Opening Scene: A Hollow Star Descends
  2. Scene Two: Joseph & The DeVine Intervention of the Recreational Center
  3. Scene Three: Fishes vs. Lines
  4. Scene Four: Bridgett Fountainhead
  5. Scene Five: Farmers Can Be Jedi Too
  6. Scene Six: The Paradigm of the Introvert
  7. Scene Seven: During Dinner at the Imitation Canals
  8. Scene Eight: He Could Not Save Her From the Cold Blade in the Pale Moonlight
  9. Scene Nine: The Funeral For Martha Bigsby
  10. Scene Ten: There Are Still Stains From the Tears
  11. Closing Scene: Timothy's Militia (How to Blow up a Candy Factory)


Again, I'll post the first two songs, the first of which is a short, intro-type song;

Hypatia Lake - ...And We Shall Call Him Joseph - 01 - Opening Scene: A Hollow Star Descends
Hypatia Lake - ...And We Shall Call Him Joseph - 02 - Scene Two: Joseph & The DeVine Intervention of the Recreational Center

Man, I love the insane guitars that come in at about 2:58 on that second one.


They've got a new album coming out sometime soon called Angels and Demons, Space and Time. They've been saying it will be out soon for a long time now, so I'm not sure what's going on with it.

[slow west vultures]

It's actually a pretty cool concept album about a candy factory.

now i am slightly less interested.  if they're going to use my first name, i want something a little more profound than a candy factory. 

edited to add:  music sounds pretty interesting though. 

[RavingLunatic]

What could be cooler than a worker rebellion at a candy factory? I love concept albums.

[DanielBurns11]

Chuck Ragan - The Blueprint Sessions

Mmm, limited edition [drools]

[graham]

replacing a download with a good ol' fashioned compact disc:



DR. JOHN  in the right place

Great album.  That first song is the funkiest thing a white man has ever been involved with.

[Thermofusion]

Davy or somebody give me a Dr. John primer cuz I've always dug his Last Waltz performance and I'm all about some good old fashioned voodoo pop.  Where should I start?

[WhereTheSlimeLive]

Faust - Faust IV
They Might Be Giants - Lincoln
Cryptopsy - None So Live
Nordvargr/Drakh - Betrayal of Light

all used!

[Thermofusion]

Lincoln's my fave TMBG album, yo.  Good work!

[graham]

Davy or somebody give me a Dr. John primer cuz I've always dug his Last Waltz performance and I'm all about some good old fashioned voodoo pop.  Where should I start?

Start with "Gris Gris".  It's his creepy downtempo voodoo album.  I used to work with a dude who listened to nothing but the most violent misogynist gangsta rap who made me turn off "Gris Gris" because it sounded too evil.  Shit's like walking through a New Orleans cemetary at midnight on Friday the 13th on a shitload of acid.

Then after that, pretty much anything up to about the mid-70s is gonna be solid funky shit.  Not as eerie, but a solid listen nonetheless.  Anything after that's gonna be pretty well worthless.

[slow west vultures]

if it weren't for disappointment/ i wouldn't have any appointments

unrelated,

i wish i would have gotten this sooner, haters be damned.  this blows the pants off of Return to the Sea for me so far.  i could deal with less strings, but i dig the subject matter and sound more.  

[Andrew_TSKS]

replacing a download with a good ol' fashioned compact disc:



DR. JOHN  in the right place

Great album.  That first song is the funkiest thing a white man has ever been involved with.

i disagree on the grounds that the drummer for sly and the family stone was a white man.

[jebreject]

Chuck Ragan - The Blueprint Sessions

Mmm, limited edition [drools]

I'm a huge Rumbleseat fan, and liked HWM quite a bit, at least until those last couple albums. But I gotta say, Chuck's solo stuff has been pretty mediocre thus far.

[DanielBurns11]

Chuck Ragan - The Blueprint Sessions

Mmm, limited edition [drools]

I'm a huge Rumbleseat fan, and liked HWM quite a bit, at least until those last couple albums. But I gotta say, Chuck's solo stuff has been pretty mediocre thus far.

I was sort of disappointed with Feast or Famine, but I think that was mostly because of the expectations I put on it. Not that I thought it was going to be the greatest thing ever, but I did expect it to sound a certain way, and when it didn't, I was a little turned off.

But now I've gotten over those preconceived notions and accepted it for what it is, which is a really good record, albeit with some boring parts here and there.

But yeah, I like Rumbleseat more, and of course HWM.

[rockmeamadeus]

Rumbleseat: a band that is right the fuck up my alley that I have never checked out.

[Doctor Bob]

Tarun Bhattacharya - The Art of the Indian Santoor

I've had a burn of this for a couple of years and finally took it upon myself to get a real one.

I already knew it was amazing.

[monkeypants]

I got the new Hold Steady in the mail yesterday.  At maybe three time through altogether, I have mixed feelings about it so far, although I really like some of the individual tunes.  Maybe it's a grower.   Anybody else have an opinion on it yet?

[davy]

Davy or somebody give me a Dr. John primer cuz I've always dug his Last Waltz performance and I'm all about some good old fashioned voodoo pop.  Where should I start?

i deviate slightly from the popular opinion that gris gris is his best album. i think he did his best work in the mid-70s with funk and new orleans standards. my favorite album of his, by leaps and bounds, is gumbo.

but honestly, there are so many excellent and distinct phases to his career (he's releasing worthwhile stuff even now), that probably the most sensible place to start is right here:



DR. JOHN: the definitive pop collection

it's 2 discs' worth and it's affordable: covers all phases, with most weight given to the best stuff. that way, you can decide for yourself. i went straight for the funky stuff (gumbo, in the right place, and desitively bonaroo, the latter two of which feature the meters as backing band). you might like the early phase, the sludgy voodoo stuff. or the 80s jazz phase (not his most popular area of focus, but i think it's underrated...especially city lights, which features the best drummer in the history of the world, steve gadd).

something i haven't ever heard mentioned: dr. john had the best taste in drummers EVER: freddie staehle, ziggy modeliste, steve gadd, herman v. earnest III. unbelievable musicians, all.

[davy]

replacing a download with a good ol' fashioned compact disc:



DR. JOHN  in the right place

Great album.  That first song is the funkiest thing a white man has ever been involved with.

oh! then you haven't heard "everybody wanna get rich (rite away)." 

[davy]

Anything after that's gonna be pretty well worthless.

definitely not true!

in 2006, he released a fantastic album of johnny mercer covers called mercernary. the bulk of his 90s material is probably forgettable, but since 1998's anutha zone, he's rediscovered his groove. pretty much anything after that may be a little glossy, but still worth picking up. (that said, it's obviously still no match for his 70s output.)

it's also worth noting that one of his most well-regarded albums, dr. john plays mac rebennack was released in 1981. ("mac rebennack" is his real name.)

[davy]

i disagree on the grounds that the drummer for sly and the family stone was a white man.

i know i'm quoting up a storm, but this can't go unaddressed.

i am a huge fan of the stone--even shelled out the big bucks for the recent remastered box set--but their drummer was indisputably their weakest link. he had his moments, but by and large his parts are unmemorable and often disappointing. a band that funky and that amazing deserved better.

[Andrew_TSKS]

hah, davy, i will defer to you on any detailed opinion vis-a-vis drummers, and therefore won't argue on that score.

that said, even if that guy was lame, sly and the family stone were pretty damn funky.

oh oh oh! and i forgot that two of the dudes in booker t and the mg's were/are white, which is probably a stronger argument in favor of my original point anyway.

[graham]

hah, davy, i will defer to you on any detailed opinion vis-a-vis drummers, and therefore won't argue on that score.

that said, even if that guy was lame, sly and the family stone were pretty damn funky.

oh oh oh! and i forgot that two of the dudes in booker t and the mg's were/are white, which is probably a stronger argument in favor of my original point anyway.

I'm not saying no white people ever did funky shit, but have you heard the song in question?  Shit makes me want to get down, and I'm not the dancing type.

[Andrew_TSKS]

you got me, i haven't heard the song. i'll check it out.