My Weirdest Record: A Musical Seance by Rosemary Brown
I’ve been reading and writing about music for most of my life, but when I found out about Rosemary Brown, I was convinced that I found the strangest story in the history of popular music.
A rather common British widow living in a quiet London borough, Rosemary Brown appeared from out of nowhere in the late 60s with a rather bold statement: she was a psychic medium, and history’s greatest classical composers, including Beethoven, Chopin and Brahams, were contacting her from beyond the grave to share “new” musical compositions with her.
Vinyl Review: Maniac Soundtrack (Death Waltz Edition)
It’s weird buying a soundtrack to a movie that you have no plan on actually seeing, isn’t it?
Well, that’s what I did with the soundtrack to Maniac, the latest high-end vinyl only release from Death Waltz Recording Company. And I’m glad I did, because while I have no desire to see the Maniac remake produced and co-written by High Tension director Alexandre Aja and starring Elijah Wood, it sure does have one hell of a fantastic score.
Unboxing Gallery – Envy: Invariable Will, Recurring Ebbs And Flows
Envy is a Japanese post-hardcore/post-rock/post-metal/post-whatever band that has built up quite the following in both their native country and in the states. To celebrate their 20th anniversary, Temporary Residence has released this, Invariable Will, Recurring Ebbs And Flows, a massive box set that includes every single song the band has ever commercially released.
Did I say massive? I said massive right? Because holy hell this thing is massive.
Vinyl Review: David Bowie – Heathen (V&A Exclusive Music On Vinyl Edition)
David Bowie’s Heathen is a tremendous record. First released in 2002, it was the closest he came to mainstream success in over a decade, and his first “rock” album that was worth listening to since his work in the early 80s. It showed his amazing staying power as a creative force, and was a surprising return to form for an artist that many critics had written off (once again) by that point.
Sadly though, it’s been nearly impossible to get on vinyl since its original release. No one was buying vinyl in 2002, so when labels were generous enough to press copies of albums, they were typically in very limited, one-off runs. Hence, copies of Heathen have become somewhat collectible over the years, going for close to $100 on auction sites.
Thankfully, that madness can come to an end, thanks to Music on Vinyl stepping up to the plate and re-issuing the record on high-quality 180 gram vinyl.
However, with that comes an entirely new madness in the form of a maddeningly rare variant.
Vinyl Review: Black Sabbath – 13
13 is Black Sabbath’s 19th studio album. It’s their first album with Ozzy on vocals in 35 years, and the first in 19 years to feature Geezer Butler on bass. It’s been in development in one way or another for over 10 years, and is the first album of original material from the band to be released under the Black Sabbath name in 18 years.
That’s a lot of history. Thankfully the album stands up to most of it.
David Yow – Tonight You Look Like A Spider (Monolith Edition)
The Jesus Lizard were one of the most intense noise rock bands of the 90s; a loud, abrasive, and downright confrontational act who assaulted their audiences with concentrated blasts of distorted noise. At the center of it all was David Yow, a singer whose angry, howling vocals served as an exclamation point to the band’s already caustic and violent sound.
Now, 14 years after the group called it quits, David Yow is back with his debut solo record, Tonight You Look Like A Spider, and it’s even more in-your-face, brutal and disconcerting than anything The Jesus Lizard ever put out.
Just not in the way you might expect.
Limited Editions. Unlimited Bullshit.
On Monday, Death Waltz Recordings, a small label out of the UK that specializes in vinyl reissues of horror movie soundtracks, announced their biggest release to date; a 2LP edition of the score to John Carpenter’s legendary horror film The Fog. It was a strictly limited release, with just 700 copies on clear vinyl, and only a scant 200 available on pure black vinyl.
The Fog hasn’t been pressed on vinyl in 30+ years, so the announcement made fans of the soundtrack flock to Death Waltz’s official website to score a copy. In fact, so many flew to the site at once that it crashed. Making matters worse, when the site came back up, it was flooded with errors, and many who thought they had the release in their shopping cart had not. By the time it was all sorted out and fans could navigate the site with ease, all copies of the soundtrack had sold out. And since it was a limited edition release, anyone who didn’t snag one of the 900 copies is now out of luck for good. No more are going to be made.
Um…why?
This is a song about Dig Dug by the guy who sang Dream Weaver
I have no idea why.
I need to know more about this song. I need to know how this happened. Someone, anyone, help me. Someone out there has to have inside information as to why Gary Wright (The Dream Weaver) was so moved by motherfucking Dig Dug that he decided to craft a pop song about it,but then decide to release it as “Digital Air” and not his own name (but while still giving himself the writing credit under his actual name).
This is the kind of shit that keeps me up at night.
Heartbreaking sidenote: the b-side is labeled as “Berzerk” but it’s really just “Dig Dug” again! I would murder someone to hear Gary Wright’s take on “Berzerk.”
Click here to download and WATCH OUT FOR THE ROCK!
Mostly-Retro, home of the real shit: songs about motherfucking Dig Dug.
Vinyl Review: Mother Love Bone
A great band in their own right, today Mother Love Bone is best known as the band that begot Pearl Jam. After lead singer Andrew Wood tragically died from a drug overdose in 1990, just months before their debut album Apple was set to be released, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard kept on trucking, recruiting Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready (and an revolving cast of drummers) to form Pearl Jam later that year.
After they struck it huge, Mother Love Bone’s label Mercury Records decided to cash in, and released this self-titled compilation in 1992, a grab-all that included the band’s single LP Apple, their 1989 EP Shine, and some odds and ends to fill it out. Effectively, it’s an entire discography on one album.
But strangely enough, it was never released on vinyl, probably because its length required a 2LP set, and since it came out at a time where almost no one was buying LPs, it most likely didn’t seem cost-effective.
But how the times change. And now, some 21 years after the fact, Mother Love Bone gets its vinyl debut.
It’s just too bad that Music On Vinyl was chosen to release it.
Vinyl Review: Queens Of The Stone Age – …Like Clockwork
From 1998 to 2009, Josh Homme released at least one album every year. Between Queens of the Stone Age, The Desert Sessions, Eagles of Death Metal and Them Crooked Vultures, he proved himself to be one of the hardest working people in hard rock, right behind occasional Queens and Vultures cohort Dave Grohl. But since 2009 we’ve hardly heard from Homme at all, with no album or even a guest appearance on someone else’s work save for a track on Grohl’s Sound City soundtrack.
Now Homme is finally back, and he brought the Queens of the Stone Age to boot, with …Like Clockwork, the group’s first outing since 2007’s disappointing (at least to me anyways) Era Vulgaris. Perhaps sensing that his absence may have lessened his rock stock, Homme brought the big guns with him for the group’s return. Like Clockwork (I’m dumping the ellipses from now on) is practically a who’s who of Queens collaborators; former members Dave Grohl, Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan and Joey Castillo all drop in for the occasional track, as do Homme’s friends Trent Reznor, Brody Dalle (The Distillers, Homme’s wife), Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters…oh shit, I just figured out how they got their name) and Elton fucking John.
So many big names, it’s like a Blind Faith record up in here.