albert 14th Sep 2023 | | CD AlbumMark Boone - The Pop Narcotic (1997) | This text taken from an ebay listing:
"The album 'The Pop Narcotic' is unique. It was recorded on an analog eight track in my bedroom while attending college. It was my first time attempting to perform all the instruments and vocals on an album. Brave for me since I was self taught and knew nothing (or so I thought). I had next to no equipment. One acoustic guitar, one electric guitar, one bass, one keyboard, one microphone. I didn't have a stand for the microphone so I literally was holding my guitar up to a mic on a desk. I didn't have the enough tracks to do many vocal takes, so I only had one chance to sing the vocals. I had no monitors only headphones. The fact that these songs even exist defies the odds. These songs went on to win awards and gain airplay internationally. We did get the artistic support of Thomas Dolby and author Ken Follet. I hope you enjoy some of this. It was a huge undertaking and challenge for me. Mark Boone."
The album is not on Bandcamp nor YouTube, you can hear it on Spotify. It has a mixture of styles, alt rock, soft rock, acoustic, even modern classical, sometimes the vocals remind me of David Bowie. Worth checking out.
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albert 24th Sep 2022 | | CD AlbumJericho Jones [Israel] - Junkies Monkeys & Donkeys (2002) | The group previously went under the name The Churchills, in their 1960s psyche days.
On here the music is rock or prog rock.
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albert 13th Sep 2022 | | CD AlbumVarious Artists - Brain In A Box (2000) | A wacky ‘mad scientist’ boxset with 3D lenticular pictures of a brain on 3 sides and humorous captioned images of control buttons. The box is mostly made of stiff card with a fake metallic finish, though the lid is made of metal with a cardboard hinge. Inside is a moulded soft foam holder for the 5 CDs and the 200 page book, though with disappointment at not containing a brain. The package was originally sealed and had a hype sticker.
Note that due to licensing problems a few of the tracks are recordings by other artists, though Rhino made the effort to licence tracks that do at least sound close to the originals.
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albert 7th Apr 2021 | | CD AlbumAlejandro Jodorowsky - The Holy Mountain Soundtrack (2007) | Composed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, Ronald Frangipane & Don Cherry, although it does not state specific track credits.
The soundtrack is from 1973, but the given track titles look suspiciously recent.
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albert 7th Apr 2021 | | CD AlbumAlexandro Jodorowsky - El Topo Soundtrack (2007) | Composed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, (and John Barham for some passages, although it does not state which ones).
Approx 36 minutes
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albert 18th Aug 2020 | | CD AlbumVarious Artists - With Love (2010) | Quite a good compilation this one.
The original LP is dominated by Byrds-like harmony numbers, particularly from The Wildflower, and punctuated by a few garage fuzz tunes, and I will be honest to say that it was the latter fuzz which made me buy it. Happily the bonus tracks help even out the balance.
I have heard several of the tracks before from appearances on other compilations but the sound quality here is up quite a few notches better.
Still available direct from Ace/Big Beat.
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albert 1st Apr 2020 | | CD Album13th Floor Elevators - Sign Of The 3 Eyed Men (2009) | 10/10 for presentation, 2/10 for the supposed remastering job - these are the worst sounding CDs ever, and long suffering fans of the band have had to endure some rotten ones !
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albert 6th May 2019 | | CD AlbumVarious Artists - Ref. 907 (2013) | LP found here.
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albert 21st Mar 2019 | | CD AlbumThe Girls [Boston] - Live At The Rathskeller 5.17.79 (2002) | Recorded live at the legendary Boston venue The Rat, 17 May 1979.
Not the best recording but so few releases exist for this art-rock-absurdist band.
Somehow it sounds better on youtube:
[YouTube Video]
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albert 8th Mar 2019 | | CD AlbumDolly Mixture - Everything And More 1978-1984 (2010) | It's a mystery on how many copies were produced as I have been after the set for a good many years, probably since 2012. It did occur to me that maybe their stock went up in flames at the PIAS/SONY warehouse fire in 2011, there are many items on my wants list that were released around the years 2009-2011 which I have never managed to track down.
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albert 24th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumThe Zombies - Zombie Heaven (1997) | Hidden in the pregap is an aborted take of She's Not There
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albert 24th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumQueens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf (2002) | There supposed to be a hidden track The Real Song For The Deaf in the pregap of track 1.
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albert 24th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumPulp - This Is Hardcore (1998) | There supposed to be a hidden song Cymbal in the pregap of the first track.
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albert 24th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumAsh - 1977 (1996) | Early copies of the CD have 2 bonus songs well and truly hidden in the pregaps of a couple of tracks.
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albert 24th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumThe Adverts - Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts (1997) | These tracks are hidden in what is known as the pregap, which is the countdown before the actual indexed track begins (they could be hidden in the pregap before any track on the CD). Personally I quite like the gimmick because they really are 'hidden' tracks and would not ever be heard if you just played the CD all the way through, so it is good for including bonus tracks that might otherwise be irritating after a few listens or would spoil an album that is perfectly formed without stuff added to it.
The hidden tracks here are excellent despite being alternate versions of songs on the album and I think it would have been wiser of the manufacturers to have left a 30 second gap at the end of the excellent album closer "Great British Mistake" and then to have the extra tracks play.
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albert 11th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumBroadcast - The Noise Made By People (2000) | [YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
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albert 11th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumBroadcast - Haha Sound (2003) | performing Winter Now on CBC.
[YouTube Video]
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albert 11th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumBroadcast - The Noise Made By People (2000) | Official Warp channel on youtube, (maybe).
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
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albert 11th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumBroadcast - Haha Sound (2003) | Official Warp channel on youtube, (maybe).
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
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albert 11th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumBroadcast - Tender Buttons (2005) | Official Warp channel on Youtube, (maybe).
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
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albert 11th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumBroadcast - Tender Buttons (2005) | and some videos made by Wonder Muddle / Mrs Muddle
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
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albert 11th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumBroadcast - Work And Non Work (1997) | [YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
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albert 11th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumBroadcast - The Noise Made By People (2000) | Some videos by Wonder Muddle / Mrs Muddle
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
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albert 11th Aug 2018 | | CD AlbumBroadcast - Haha Sound (2003) | Some videos by Wonder Muddle / Mrs Muddle.
[YouTube Video]
[YouTube Video]
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albert 11th Apr 2018 | | CD AlbumPink Floyd - Discovery (2011) | At my old work place we had a special book-scanner which scanned right up close to the edge, meaning you didn't need to flatten the book (it just hung over the side).
Alas I don't have this box set, and anyhow the old work place got closed down through Tory cuts :(
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albert 11th Apr 2018 | | CD AlbumCaptain Beefheart And His Magic Band - The Legendary A&M Sessions (1998) | When looking at these kinds of releases I think the first step clearly must be one to decide whether it is a single or not a single, and generally if it is a single then there is a lead track being pushed. In this case the purpose of this CD is stated as "The Legendary A&M Sessions" with none of the tracks being pushed above any other, so we can conclude it is not a single. The original retail price would be another indicator.
The idea of maxi-singles, mini-LPs etc seems to be a hangover from the days of vinyl when mini-LPs often got pressed onto 10" vinyl playing at 33, and maxi-singles were usually 4 track EPs playing at 45 and generally held songs that were past their sell-by date, or were misfits - neither single or album material. When the disco age came along so did the idea of putting a single onto a 12" format for a louder and better defined sound, and unfortunately messed things up with notions on physical formats.
Personally I would like CDs to be categorised as either as a single or an album, and that's it. People may have forgotten but when CDs were originally produced there were actually 2 size formats to distinguish between a single and an album and the tray on your CD player had an indentation to accommodate the smaller discs.
If we are going to have a CD mini-album then why not have a CD bloati-album to describe those releases that include surplus bonus tracks tacked onto the end. The length of the album seems to me to be irrelevant, this release is currently categorised as a CD Album and that's good with me - it also makes things easier when looking through collections.
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albert 8th Apr 2018 | | CD AlbumVarious Artists - Too Late, Too Late Volume 1 (1993) | Document set themselves an unenviable task of releasing 'complete recordings CDs' from very early recording artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, because in those days if a record was popular, but the master was worn out, then the record company just got the artist back into the studio to re-record the song. Hence numerous alternative versions with fluffed/forgotten lyrics and such.
This CD, if I can remember correctly, is the result of collectors around the world feeding back to Document to say they had an alternative version on their particular copy of a 78.
Although Document seemed to exist as a sort of grey market/semi-bootleg operation they did produce excellent CDs without the dreaded noise-reduction that spoils many official releases. Document gave you the scratches, hiss and wear from the actual pressing and the original CDs were originally properly manufactured and had notes. Sadly I have to say that recent CDs I have bought come on CDr and have cheap insert slips.
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albert 1st Apr 2018 | | CD AlbumTindersticks - Amsterdam February 94 | This is a great early live concert by Tindersticks.
Unfortunately it was manufactured by PDO during their disastrous 'silver plated' phase, which means that the CD will tarnish and eventually become unplayable. The same fate happened to original copies of Tindersticks first album on CD.
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albert 25th Jan 2018 | | CD AlbumThe Thirteenth Floor Elevators - Easter Everywhere (2011) | The reality of the Charly tapes is that they are painful to listen to.
I bought the hyped Sign Of The 3-Eyed Men box set which promised the very best quality ever heard ...and it turned out to be the same rubbish source tape with a bit of digital tweeking. Charly released this CD soon afterwards.
The travesty is that Charly were apparently offered the use of the actual multi-track master tapes, FOR FREE, but they refused the offer.
Charly might own some kind of copyright on The Thirteenth Floor Elevators which stops other companies from releasing, but there is no need to subject the buying public to same old sub-standard mix time and time again.
Read more here (old thread) and here.
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albert 2nd Dec 2017 | | CD AlbumVarious Artists - Rockabilly (2017) | From what I can remember , this compilation suffers from a slightly muffled sound quality indicating that they might have dubbed off vinyl then applied click removal. Or maybe its just a bootleg.
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