Monthly Archives: April 2018

Press Play is our Monday recap of the new and FREE tracks received last week to inform the next trip to your local indie record store.

No Name Hotel – Blood on Sky
Kuwaisiana – Gashxi (گشِّي)
The Right Here – More Delusions
Stephen Karl & Handsome Animals – Cyndi
David Hopkins – C’est La
Peelander-Z – Yeah Yeah Yeah
Oberon Rose – A Place In The Sun
The Fretless – Jenny Bear (Live)

TVD SINGLE OF THE WEEK:
Donna Missal – Thrills

Jodee Lewis – Buzzard’s Bluff
The March Divide – Get In Line
Sleepspent – Something
Mickelson – No Such Luck
Echo Bloom – Song For Steven
PBG The Prince – Movie Star
M3tymes – The Life & Tym3z of a Hustla
Marz Money – Lying

If I’ve never come forward publicly about the indelible mark I made on rock history at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1971, it’s because I’m still peeved that Deep Purple saw fit to slander me as “Some stupid with a flare gun” in their big hit single “Smoke on the Water.” Firing that flare gun into the roof of the Montreux Casino may not have been the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but STUPID? I was EXCITED, and I just happened to have a flare gun on my person, and one thing led to another and before I knew it the rattan ceiling was on fire and all manner of shrieks were freaking towards the exits.

But enough personal history and on to Deep Purple, a band that I’ve always had reservations about. I find the English heavy metal avatars ponderous, plodding, and unduly portentous, and if you don’t know what I mean I direct you to “Smoke on the Water,” which is the very un-lightweight little ditty they’ll probably best be remembered for and which I can only describe as a very stoned dinosaur stomping in slow dazed circles to the accompaniment of one gargantuan and omnipresent guitar riff.

That said, Deep Purple–who after a lot of early creative experimentation and moments of serendipitous genius finally settled upon a sound that combined elements of prog rock and the grinding blues-based hard rock that would become known as heavy metal–had their moments, and lots of them are to be found on their sixth and most commercially successful LP, 1972’s Machine Head. From its very metallic (the title’s stamped in steel!) cover to its far-out boogie numbers Machine Head is one wild ride, what with Ian Gillian’s shriek, Ritchie Blackmore’s blazing guitar, Jon Lord’s “I am two separate gorillas” organ, and the positively intimidating drumming of Sir Ian Paice, who has yet to be knighted but certainly ought to be lest he become angry and start throwing punches.

Deep Purple originally intended to record this baby at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland, but that was before, well, I’ve already broken my long silence about the fire that “burned the place to the ground.” After deciding that it probably wouldn’t be a very good idea to record their next album atop a smoking ruins, they retreated to the empty Grand Hotel at the outskirts of Montreux, and with the help of the Rolling Stones’ mobile recording unit proceeded to make this surprisingly uptempo (by D.P. standards) piece of music history, which the very clear-headed Ozzy Osbourne has called one of his ten favorite British LPs of all time.

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Friends, not only are we living in the material world, we’re living in the physical world, one in which the lovingly assembled Concert for George—the live performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall in memory of George Harrison one year after his passing—has arrived on store shelves for the first time on vinyl. And we have a copy of the 4-LP box set to, yes, physically mail to one of you.

In some manner not unlike John and Yoko’s Wedding Album for its sense of bequeathing a bit of the experience for those not in attendance, the Concert for George box set captures the spirit of the evening in both presence and tone. The 4 180-gram LPs are housed in weighty and well-designed sleeves, and the pull out book functions much like the evening’s program for the listener.

As to the performances, they’re spirited and often moving—Ringo’s “Photograph” written with George a particular highlight, as well as Paul’s solo intro to “Something” on the uke which swells into a full band undertaking. Just lovely (and never maudlin). And hey, if you’re thinking you might miss George’s vocals, Jeff Lynne bears an eerily similar tone to that of Mr. Harrison.

First things first—some official background on the release: In honor of George Harrison’s 75th birthday (February 25), the Grammy®-winning, 8-times platinum release Concert for George, is available for the first time on vinyl, released as a 4-LP Box Set. Says Olivia Harrison, “We will always celebrate George’s birthday and this year we are releasing Concert for George in a very special package in memory of a special man.”

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“I have always loved records as a whole. Even when I was a kid it was very important for me to hear the whole record, in order, from start to finish. I liked going through the journey, some songs good, some songs bad. Seeing where the artist would place the “hits” vs. where they would place the deep cuts. What songs they would open with, and which songs they would close with.”

“I was born in the era of CDs, so vinyl was not something I listened to as a youth. It wasn’t until I got to college and hung out with some friends who had a record player. I was immediately drawn to the larger size. Seeing the artwork better and not dealing with plastic jewel cases.

I found a record player for myself and started getting some vinyl at the local record store. I was in Santa Cruz at that time and Logos and Streetlight Records had great dollar bins. I would dig through those and whatever looked interesting I would get. One dollar wasn’t too much of a risk. And if it sucked I would just give it to a friend or donate it back. I always liked how vinyl kind of forced you to listen to the record in full. I mean, you could drop the needle on any song, but I found people tended not to do that.

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The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle has a knack for the numinous; more than any musical artist I know, more than Van Morrison even, he possesses the amazing capacity to part the invisible veil that separates us from our spirit selves. His best songs brim with transcendence, captured in remarkably vivid detail and concrete metaphors that bring home the fact that we are so much more than mere flesh and blood.

On 2004’s We Shall All Be Healed he gave us “Against Pollution,” which offset a fatal liquor store shooting against a lovely and moving evocation of a final reckoning that is totally personal; “When the last days come,” he sings, “We shall see visions/More vivid than sunsets/Brighter than stars/We will recognize each other/And see ourselves for the first time/The way we really are.” On 2012’s Transcendental Youth he bequeathed us “White Cedar,” on which he sings, “Like a star come down to walk the Earth in radiant array/I saw the light of my spirit descend the other day/I was standing the bus stop on North East 33rd/When I got the word/I will be made a new creature/One bright day.”

Darnielle is without a doubt the best lyricist working in the field of rock music; a storyteller of mesmerizing subtlety, he has the uncanny ability to speak through his characters, who tend to be outsiders and down-and-outers who seem dead set on repeating the same mistakes over and over again but possess just enough hope to believe they’ll find a way out. Or in some cases, enough stubborn defiance to proudly sing while the ship sinks. I direct you to “No Children,” in which a man in a doomed marriage sings hopefully about taking one final fateful swan dive to the bottom: “I am drowning/There is no sign of land/You are coming down with me/Hand in unlovable hand/And I hope you die/I hope we both die.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Who Came First is the debut solo record by Pete Townshend, first released in 1972. The album collected together tracks from Townshend’s private pressings of his tributes to Meher Baba, Happy Birthday and I Am, as well as demos from the unrealized concept album Lifehouse, part of which became The Who’s classic Who’s Next album.

To celebrate the 45th Anniversary, the album will be released as a 2CD-expanded version, featuring eight previously unreleased tracks, new edits, alternative versions, and live performances. Also included in the eight panel digipak are new sleeve notes provided by Townshend himself, the original poster from the 1972 release and a 24-page booklet which contains rare images of Meher Baba and Townshend in his recording studio. The cover photo of Townshend, taken by Graham Hughes (who also shot the cover of The Who’s Quadrophenia), has been updated for this release.

Who Came First has been remastered by long-term Pete Townshend and The Who collaborator Jon Astley using the original master tapes. CD1 consists of a remastered version of the original album and CD2 includes unreleased tracks, alternative versions, and live performances.

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“My first vinyl purchase. Well… I should really talk about my second. If I dare mention my first it could possibly strip me away of all street cred I thought I once had. It may be so embarrassing that you could possibly have deep regret asking me to do this interview. It may be so bad, that you may think, how could this girl really have come from Rock and Roll royalty?”

“It’s that embarrassing. Oh god, I’m doing it… Wait, ok, in my defense I was late into my 6th year of life on this planet. I was in total and complete awe over what I had just witnessed. The greatest movie of my life to date! Eyes wide, completely mesmerized. I must have watched this movie over 100 times. I learned every dance move. Every song. I want to be her! I need to be her! I need leg warmers, I need a bandana around my forehead, wait, I need a flowing chiffon Ice Castles dress, I need rollers skates!! I NEED to be her!! But wait, there’s more! She could be a throw back jazz singer in the perfect cigarette girl outfit, a cowgirl, and ’80s electric goddess, a work out queen…she was everything. A muse. My muse. Here it goes…

Xanadu. Yes. That Xanadu. The ridiculous movie soundtrack featuring Olivia Newton John on the cover looking as glorious as ever. I will never forget this experience. It was quite emotional and traumatic.

I had saved up months of allowance to get this album. It was all I could think about. If only I could get the album, then I could read the lyrics in the liner notes, I could learn who she really was, and then I could figure out how to get to Xanadu. I could get the address to that art deco building in the photo and be free from the shackles of my crazy hippy life as I knew it. Xanadu. That’s where I needed to be. And I could only get there through the pertinent information located in the secrets of this particular vinyl.

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