Columbia

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Bruce Springsteen’s Covers Volume 1 – Only The Strong Survive 2LP. As open as Bruce Springsteen’s fans have become to the singer’s experimentations and his desire to push boundaries as the tape rolls in the studio, that doesn’t mean the singer’s fans are incapable of being apprehensive when they hear how far from the norm The Boss has strayed “this time,” in advance of hearing the results. Certainly, when word got out...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP Twentieth anniversary vinyl reissue of Elephant by The White Stripes. I’m not so proud that I cannot admit I didn’t like The White Stripes when the band first appeared on the great, big, popular radar with “Fell In Love With A Girl” in 2001. I didn’t like White Blood Cells at all, in fact; crammed in tight quarters with The Strokes, The Hives, The Vines and all the other “The”...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Humble Quest LP by Maren Morris. It’s funny how, as good as each of the eleven songs on Maren Morris’ Humble Quest are, trying to pin down their appeal will probably take listeners a minute. For example, when “Circles Around This Town” opens the A-side of the album, listeners will be able to appreciate the “hard work will pay off” root which informs the song as well as the pop-country heart...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Monsters LP by Tom Odell. When it comes to Tom Odell’s fourth album, Monsters, it’s very likely that listeners will find themselves wondering if context does indeed inform musical creation, to a degree. The reason for that is simple: as soon as a stylus sinks into the A-side of Monsters and “Numb” opens it, an image of Ed Kowalczyk (the once-and-again singer of York, PA’s Live – for the unfamiliar) in...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into PWR/UP by AC/DC. For basically the last thirty-eight years, AC/DC has tried a few different things and taken a few different turns to try and grow up (or age up? Or act their age?) with limited success at most. Every time the band has tried to move forward from the callous one-liners and double entendres that first helped to make them famous (Flick Of The Switch was the first occasion), AC/DC has...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP edition of Ring Spiel ’95 by Mike Watt. As many Ground Control readers are already aware, we have a particular affinity for vinyl records. The sound of them is (obviously) a very big part of that, but the medium’s ability to draw out different aspects of the music contained on it can change the listening experience too; because vinyl has a few more limitations than other media on which music...

Judas Priest Turbo 30 (Legacy/Columbia/Sony Music) Skim through the catalogues of any number of rock bands who have enjoyed a lot of popularity and, invariably, it’s easy to find the fly in the creative ointment that fans abhor; that album was Into The Unknown for Bad Religion, it was Unmasked for KISS and Metallica has yet to live down Load. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time for those albums or maybe they were just weak and generally ill-advised...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day 2017-issued 2×7” set by Alice In Chains. Over the last few years in particular, Record Store Day has really seemed to cater to a “collectible” market over a market wherein fan interest is the focus. That has proven to be a little frustrating; because of it, record stores get glutted by people one day a yearhoping to score something they can resell – not necessarily something they can...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day Exclusive Release pressing of Alice In Chains’ Live Facelift 12” EP. While readers may be familiar with parts of Alice In Chains’ new Black Friday/Record Store Day release, Live Facelift, it’s nearly guaranteed that they don’t know the whole thing. They may know some of the songs – like the performance of “It Ain’t Like That” because it was the song which was playing in the background as...

Artist: Mike Watt Album: “Ring Spiel” Tour ’95 Label: Columbia/Legacy/Sony Music Ever walked into a record store and, digging through a vast and vastly disorganized bin of CDs, come across a genuine treasure of the sort that no one ever expects to find? That was the feeling which overtook me when I opened my copy of “Ring Spiel” Tour ’95. Now, I’m familiar with plenty of the back story behind that period of time in Mike Watt’s life; the bassist...