A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 3LP Record Store Day-pressed edition of the Centennial Collection by Robert Johnson. It’s difficult to accept the idea that such a broad and storied sound as rock n’ roll can be traced back to a single point in history but, in many ways, that case is easily made when one considers the influence of Robert Johnson. As everyone knows, Johnson became the king of the Delta Blues singers and the auteur...
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...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Christmas In Hollis” 12″ Picture Disc single coming out on Black Friday 2016 from Run-D.M.C. I must confess that I have never been a fan of Christmas carols and Christmas songs. While I understand the idea of having a song in one’s heart around the holiday season, I’ve always thought that the idea of professional musicians recording albums of the same standards with their own small creative stamp on them pretty...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day reissue of At Budokan – The Complete Concert 2LP by Cheap Trick. While the 1970s are known for lots of things which happened musically (like the break-up of The Beatles, the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, John Bonham and Elvis Presley, the birth of both punk and disco and many other events), perhaps one of the biggest deals was the concept of a live album...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Gangsterville” single by Joe Strummer, being reissued for Record Store Day 2016! With the benefit of hindsight, the first thing listeners will notice about this single’s title track is how well it dovetails with the final days of The Clash, and where they were when the wheels finally fell off with Combat Rock in 1982...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day-released Goodfriend LP by Matthew Sweet. Chances are, if you grew up anywhere within the reach of a rock radio station’s signal between 1989 amd 1996, you have more than a few memories for which Matthew Sweet’s music provided the soundtrack. Between 1989 and 1996, Sweet was everywhere; a string of singles including “Sick Of Myself,†“Girlfriend,†“The Ugly Truth,†“Time Capsule†and “Evangeline†got heavy...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day-issued Live At Grimey’s LP by Justin Townes Earle. For some reason, it always feels a little awkward to review the work of a second generation musician. Maybe it’s because the easiest comparison to make (be it positive or negative) is to the artist’s progenitor; like, how easy is it to look at Sean Lennon’s work and not see John Lennon or Yoko Ono in the periphery, and one...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Johnny Cash’s Record Store Day-issued Koncert V Prague LP. It’s incredible how great a difference ten years can make for a musician, but even more amazing is when it’s actually possible to hear that difference in their performance. In 1968, for example, Johnny Cash recorded his classic Live At Folsom Prison album; at the time, the singer was already developing a pretty serious drug problem (he’d become addicted to pills). It wasn’t...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Citizen Dick RSD-issued Touch Me I’m Dick 7” Freelance journalist and novelist Joshua Foer once opined that “Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. … If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound ro blend unmemorably into the next – and disappear.†It might seem unlikely, but Foer’s logic is also applicable to the music industry; to wit, I contend that it I spend...