KMA Saturday Service Week 28 6/7

Welcome to the KMA Saturday Service, Week 28 6/7!

I am releasing this post into the wild today, a day earlier than the usual Sunday Service, as Mike had planned to do a big reveal of his record shop scores from his Ottawa trip WHICH YOU CAN READ ABOUT RIGHT HERE so I said I’d be up for a collaboration post of my own Taranna scores from my recent trip. Collaboration! COMMUNITY! Woooo!

So. Last Sunday, as I mentioned in last Sunday Service, I went to Taranna with my Dad. We just like to go hang out, walk around, look at all the everything that’s different from our hometown. We love the culture mishmash and the… well, we love everything about it. We also eat excellent food. Yes!

And as part of the day, my Dad, great guy that he is, gave me time to dig in the record shops! And holy hell, even though I didn’t have a whole lot of time in each place (not nearly as much as I would take if I was there by myself or with Mike), I still found scores that absolutely had to come home… of course. I think it would be impossible for me to go into these places and walk out with nothing. Seriously. I don’t think it can be done.

Alright, enough yammering. Here’s the big reveal. And because I love you all, review-like blurbs (which is all I can seem to manage, these days, you lucky souls!) are included for almost all items!

SONIC BOOM

LP

Jack Johnson – Live From Third Man Records

Aaaaaand let’s start off with one I haven’t gotten to yet! Haha I’m a superhero! But I have a good reason, so read on…

You see, I had Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew all set to go, but then I happened to walk past the vinyl bin for ‘J’ and saw Jack Johnson’s section with this beauty parked at the front. Begging me to pick it up and take it home… Sorry Miles, I can get my replacement copy of Bitches Brew another time. This Johnson LP, though… What a thing of beauty!

Also super-cool, it’s 12 tracks recorded live, directly to acetate at Third Man. It’s gonna be sweeeeeeet!

Truthfully, I haven’t even opened the plastic on it yet. I’m not done just looking at it…

CD

Good, Pinsent & Keelor – Down And Out In Upalong (2CD)

CD1: Beautiful songs, beautiful words, stellar guitar work. This disc is a gem. Just like the musicians here, when you mix both Sadies and Blue Rodeo sensibilities (and a healthy feel of down east house party), very, very good things happen. Hot damn.

CD2: Spoken word versions of the lyrics (which started as poems) for the songs here, with different musical accompaniment. Some of them sound like Johnny Cash covering the originals! You know, handled poorly, this could have been a useless addition, but honestly I like these versions as much as the album versions. It’s a 2-fer!

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Controversial Negro

Damn! YEAH! The blues is #1!! Haha holy fuck this live disc was a blast. Tracks 1-20 were recorded 1996-11-25, and tracks 21-29 are from 1994-10-30, both dates in Tuscon, AZ .

This one was on my want list for a long time, and I never saw it in the shops. I could probably have found it online, but for some records, the thrill of the hunt is as satisfying as actually finding the damn thing. I found this remaster and it thrilled me, and because it is JSBX, it kicks serious ass. Blues Explosion! Damn! Awww come on! YEAH!

Phil Selway – Familial

This album is friggin’ gold. It’s like radiohead, but also different. In a good way. Does that even make sense. It’s a beautiful drift through tracks that are smartly written, intriguing and beautiful, quite hypnotic. Selway sings well, and clearly. Perhaps that’s the difference. I love the soul horns on A Simple Life, and… oh hell, I loved a lot of things about this. And I get the feeling that repeated plays will offer even more reward. Brilliant.

Sadies – Pure Diamond Gold

Oh boy I do love the Sadies. I’d snap up everything by them, but everytime I go to Sonic Boom their CDs are always full new price and I like to maximize dollars spent and quantity of music bought, so I usually leave their stuff behind. But this one was a used copy at a silly cheap price and I may actually have said ‘yoink!’ as I grabbed it from the bin. Total score.

Crazy instrumentals (what musicianship!), and excellent vocal tunes too. It’s all here. That western feel, the damn blues, that energy, that awesome that only the Sadies properly do. Lots of guests (many named Good, natch), as well as Kelly Hogan and Greg Keelor. It’s Nothing To Me was always a favourite of mine, I’m so glad to have it here.

I love this CD. Love love love love love.

Thank you, Sonic Boom! Once again you have provided me with fantastic goodies!!

SHE SAID BOOM!

LP

Ronnie Wood – 1234

Here’s another one I haven’t gotten to, yet. But I will! I love Ronnie’s playing, and I haven’t heard a bad solo record by him yet, so I have to think this one will be worth it. I got it, in bloody new pristine shape ferchrissakes, and for only $6! Imagine!

Review forthcoming in these pages!

 

CD

Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings (2CD original Columbia long box, with book intact!)

I used to own this, and then for some inexplicable reason, at one point I ditched it. I always regretted that choice. I did receive the 2CD jewel case RM version as a gift, and I’ve enjoyed that very much, but it was always in the back of my head that if I ever saw another reasonably-priced long box, I’d buy it. So I was in She Said Boom! looking for a book for my lovely wife (which I did not find, sadly). I turn around and Boom! (natch), there it was on the top rack above the CDs. A beautiful condition copy of the original old long box, at $14.99. That’s an instant purchase of an absolute classic set!

I’ve already talked about this one in these pages, but you don’t even need to go read it. You know the wonders of Johnson’ work already. As you were.

Thank you She Said Boom!, I never fail to find gems in your shop.

BMV

They have a ton of vinyl, when they used to have none, but I only had time to quickly skim through (my Dad was ready to go before I was even really started haha!), and I got to dig through the 3-for-$10 CD bin. As seems to be tradition now, the Legendary Klopeks CD was still there. Will anyone ever buy it? Part of me hopes yes, because it’s a fun disc, but part of me will be sad if we go there and it’s gone. It’s like visiting an old friend every year!

LP

Gowan – Strange Animal 

33 1/3 promo single, for performance only, not for sale. Contains three alternate mixes of the tune, including the Jungle Mix, the Video Mix, and the Animal Oriented Radio (AOR, natch) mix. Sweet!

Sadly, I have not had time to listen to it yet, but I will! I also need to take my own picture of the LP itself, as I could not find an image of it anywhere online. The image above is a still from the Strange Animal video. You knew that.

All in good time! Hm. That’s 3 LPs so far that I haven’t had a chance to spin, this week! Clearly i am not spending enough time with my turntable…

CD (all from 3-for $10 bin)

Aerosmith – Gems

Well this was a fucking blast! I grabbed this because I own the red covered 10 track Greatest Hits disc. But I knew there was another version out there with extra tracks on it, and I’d never seen that one in the shops, and I was looking for Chip Away The Stone… So here it was! For $3! And what a great disc of bluesy ballsy rock. It’s real testimony to the strength of early Aerosmith that they could put out two Hits sets without any duplication of tracks, and have it all be so rockin’ and pleasing. In fact, I’d say both discs should go hand in hand for a full picture! I will say that the sound quality can really vary from track to track, so whomever did the collection didn’t spend a whole lot of time on getting the volumes matching. But who cares? Highly enjoyable.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon OMPS

When I was going through the 3-for-$10 bin I got 5 discs easily. The 6th seemed elusive, until I came across this one in the very last row of the bin. I love this film, and I knew the soundtrack was strong, so I was happy to snag this one. Tan Dun and Yo Yo Ma (and orchestra) did a stellar job on this music. I was right back in the film, as I listened, the stunning scenery, the epic fights, the powerful story… Through the good headphones, I swear you can even hear him breathing as he plays. Damn.

Now, I found A Love Before Time cheesy then, and I still find it cheesy now (both English and Mandarin versions are included here). Sorry, CoCo Lee, it ain’t for me. It sounds like those CDr discs they’re schleping from sidewalk tables in Toronto’s Chinatown (only better produced). I’d stick to the epic soundtrack tracks, thank you very much. They’re incredible.

Greg Keelor – Gone

I sure do love me some Blue Rodeo, so when I found a Keelor solo record in the bin, it was an instant no-brainer. Album opener When I See You feels like Greg’s best Leonard Cohen impression, and I liked it. Most of the album is stripped back, acoustic and piano late night introspective songs, it has a real good feel. There are a couple of tunes that seem like they might pick up speed, but they don’t really mean it. I didn’t like need the last track, Land Of Crow, with its spoken word whatever. And the first track I played was track 8, because it says Lucknow in the title, which is a town near to where I was raised. I didn’t like the lyrics of the song, he doesn’t seem to know what he wants. Ah well. In all, I can’t knock the album for those two tracks. It’s a great effort. Recommended for turning the lights low, having a tasty beverage at hand, and letting the late night become the wee hours.

I Mother Earth – Dig

I owned this album way back in the day, and I remembered loving it. As usually happens, at some point I decided to ditch it for other things. I’ve always been silly that way.

So how does it sound today, in 2016? Fucking great! It’s grungy as was popular at the time, and it’s funky punky like early Chili Peppers, and jazzy bluesy metal as hell too (also awesome). There’s a level of musicianship and ability here that transcends a lot of the other bands of the time, and the whole thing came back to me as though I hadn’t ever sold it off and had just played it last week. This is the real shit, pure and simple. Welcome home, friend.

Slipknot – Slipknot, and Iowa

Back in 1999 this would have fit right in. I suppose this is called Nu Metal (?), heavy metal with a some electronics mixed in, and wearing its influences on its many sleeves. I heard Ministry, Slayer, Prodigy, Primus, other bands of this genre, almost rap in places, and so on… Make the lyrics very angry and scream/growl them, wear horror masks that obscure identities, number the band members, call your fans maggots (which they’re proud of), play loud, super-fast, and make it all fucking heavy (which I liked!)… and you get Slipknot.

There are big songs spread over these two albums, like the singles Wait And Bleed, Spit It Out, Left Behind, My Plague… and many others that I found satisfying. With song titles like People = Shit, Eyeless, The Heretic Anthem, and Disasterpiece, it’s pretty easy to figure out what these guys are selling. And they sold a ton.

I won’t listen to these all the time, but sometimes there’s an itch that only Slipknot can scratch, and I happily paid $3 each for these.

Thank you, as always, BMV! I wish I’d had more time in your shop. I get the feeling I could have spent A LOT more…

IN SUM:

A fantastic day of finds, and all of that with only a few minutes in each place. Imagine what I could have done with more time… No matter, I am very happy with all of these scores!

PS: I also got a CD for Mike at Sonic Boom, but I’ll let him reveal that one (should he choose to do so with a review? hm? 🙂 ) when he receives it. It should be at his place shortly…