compilation

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Stranger Things 4 – Soundtrack From The Netflix Series 2LP compilation. I usually steer clear of soundtracks because I’m not the greatest fan of compilations in general; when I throw on a record, I usually want to hear an artist’s idea seen through from start to finish as well as all of the developments included along the way. I want to seen an album grow and develop and see the things...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Voodoo Rhythm Records Label Compilation Vol. 5 LP. I confess that label compilations have never been my favorite thing. Not that I’m definitively against the form (I have heard some good comps over the years, and labels like Sub Pop, Killrockstars, Epitaph, Fat Wreck Chords and Pirates Press have a longstanding history of having produced some pretty great ones), it’s just that many of the compilations I’ve heard (and this includes...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP From Elvis In Nashville set by Elvis Presley. Many detractors may (and have) claimed that the Seventies were a period of decline for Elvis Presley. Over a decade into his career, the singer had already scaled several mountains; Elvis had already broken through and helped to establish rock n’ roll as the dominant musical idiom of the twentieth century, had already written and recorded an enduring songbook of hits, had...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Oi! This is Streetpunk! 2020 compilation from Pirates Press Records. This far into the evolution of punk rock, it has reached the point where the myriad sub-genres that punk produced are easily able to stand on their own as well as having a dedicated, autonomous fanbase which doesn’t necessarily rely on crossover appeal to get over with listeners. Simply said, hardcore bands don’t have to hope for some runoff fans from...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the For Family and Flag Volume 1 compilation album. After the 3LP, red-covered release entitled One Country, One Flag was released two years ago, the idea that punk rock compilations were still a viable format (by then Punk-O-Rama had been retired by Epitaph and so had most of the other compilations that used to get given away for free at Warped Tour – only Fat Music For Fat People was still sort...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the One Family, One Flag 3LP compilation from Pirates Press Records. Now twelve years after the last installment came out, the whole world seems to have changed a couple of times but punk fans have started looking back and feeling some nostalgia for the great punk compilation series Punk-O-Rama is pretty understandable. Punk-O-Rama was once an impressive beast, the release of which used to be hotly anticipated every year; once, Punk-O-Rama young...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Mid-Century Sounds – Deep Cuts From The Desert 2LP compilation. It might not be the first location which comes to mind when one thinks of “music hot spots” (and there is some irony in saying that – believe me), but those in the know are well aware of just how rich and the artistic soil is in the state of Arizona. Arizona was, of course, the birthplace of such grand musical...

Artist: Pink Floyd Album: Cre/ation – The Early Years 1967 – 1972 Label: Pink Floyd Records/Columbia/Sony Music As every fan of the band knows, there have been three eras in the history of Pink Floyd: the first, Syd Barrett-fronted psychedelic period, the second (epic) Roger Waters-fronted period (which gave us albums like Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were Here and Animals) and the final David Gilmour-fronted incarnation which has produced albums like The Division Bell and...

As most any fan of Eighties and Nineties underground rock can tell you, the creative soil of the time was very fertile but the labels which tended it always carefully ensured that any artist they collected from it always fit within their very specific image. The handpicked stable that Alternative Tentacles kept, for example, was a group of very intelligent maniacs who regularly took a confrontational stace as they attempted to expand their audience’s minds. Conversely, Sub Pop’s crew of...