BLUES MAGGOS on Sundazed vinyl - the trip of the month!

Sundazed come through with to stone psychedelic classics from the Blues Magoos - what other label would even think of doing the Blues Magoos?

What a treat. Two underground psychedelic garage slabs of pure fun. Electric Comic Book is the best of the two, and sounds better at that, but both are great records, wonderfully remastered, well pressed (United sure has come to be much more reliable) and it seems that Sundazed are getting with the program and starting to use polylined inner more and more. Good job, that.

Psychedelic Lollipop is the earlier record, and a bit less trippy, but really, this band was just a fun garage band that got into the psychedelicness of the times.

I loved the recent Sundazed reissue of the Yardbirds "Little Games" which was a real revelation for me. These two are even better. Highly recommended, particularly Electric Comic Book. It even has the comic book inside!

NEW RELEASE Round Up - BEADY EYE, REM Collapse Into Now vinyl!

New releases on vinyl from Beady Eye (Oasis minus Noel) and R.E.M. to catch up on.

Let's go to Beady Eye first. Two LP set on 180g vinyl that is a pretty nice pressing in a good gatefold, and that cover is pretty cool. I think this is a better record than the last several Oasis LP's and Liam is having a whole lot more fun. Nothing to take too seriously here. A good solid rock record with a great British vibe and attitude.

REM's Collapse Into Now is a surprisingly strong record after the band had been drifting on several prior records. Not a bad song on the record and this could be considered a return to the earlier REM, from a mid life perspective. The playing is at a level only mid career musicians can really achieve, and this is one I can highly recommend (and a good Warners pressing also) - for a change for REM.

TRAFFIC John Barleycorn Must Die 2011 Deluxe Edition:

Just in from Amazon UK (with the usual shitty careless packaging) is the 2011 Deluxe 2 CD set of the classic Traffic record, John Barleycorn Must Die.

Disc one is the original album, sans bonuses, newly remastered. Although the last remastering was roundly criticized on the loser boards, I found it to be pretty good, particularly considering it's no great recording to start with. I have a Japanese SHM-CD of that remastering from a few years ago, and truthfully, while there are differences - principally the much more powerful bass of the new version - overall I prefer the SHM-CD, as I find tonality on the new remaster to be not as true, and nowhere is this more so than in the Fender Rhodes sound on Empty Pages. If you don't have this on CD, feel good to get this. If you do, purchase depends on the attractiveness of the second disc.

The prior remaster had two totally lame, unfinished bonus tracks that highly detracted from the experience and which should never have come out. Thankfully, they are not here, but alternate mixes of Every Mothers Son (no big difference) and Stranger To Himself (the electric guitar pushed back in the mix and an acoustic guitar previously barely audible moved up) show that time after time, the right decisions were made originally. There is also an early version of the title track that is different, charming, rougher, and has an organ part that while interesting was wisely omitted for the released take.

Of more interest is the unreleased Live At The Fillmore record here in what must be pretty much it's entirety and intended release configuration. It's not hard to see why it was not released. Honestly, the band as a trio on stage had multiple challenges to overcome, as any bass had to be provided either by Winwood or Wood on organ bass pedals, through Rhodes bass, or other contrivances. This is a major impediment, and though the performances are spirited, they are a bit rough and thin, and soon after this, Traffic dealt with the issue by expanding their touring lineup. It is an interesting set, though - two cuts, in alternate night performances, were on the prior CD issue. All in all, I like the live set, so I think it's a worthwhile purchase, just don't expect any sonic revelations from the main album.

On a more trivial note, more worthy of the SHTV forum, I thought Universal screwed up the cover by oddly moving the Traffic logo to the top. Take a look and see what I mean - it just looks a bit weird. I'm keeping my SHM-CD though - it has the cover right.

Sonic Youth - Simon Werner A Disparu vinyl LP

Another candidate for record of the year 2011. Sonic Youth return with what will come, over time, to be considered a masterpiece - and it's a soundtrack album, go figure. Simon Werner A Disparu is the soundtrack to a French film. It's all instrumental. It touches back to the Sonic Youth roots in a grungy at times, trippy, experimental vibe, but looks forward too, in it's soundscapes and textures that in some ways place Sonic Youth in the camp of bands like Pelican, Red Sparowes and other instrumental rock sound painters, although nothing here can remotely be considered metallic. There is a lot of melody, an intricacy and sentiment at the heart of this great music. Guitar is often at the fore, although there is piano at times also, and the textures of the rhythm section are hypnotic.

The vinyl, no doubt digitally sourced, is quiet and sounds fantastic. A five doobie experience to be sure. Highly recommended.

WIRE Red Barked Tree on vinyl - great album, junk pressing.

The return of Wire, the great UK underground band, is very welcome and their new "Red Barked Tree" is quickly becoming one of my favorite records of 2011. This is a record that, along with the new Gang Of Four, shows that 1980's acts can return just as vital, or even more so, when they have something new to say and aren't just reuniting for a cash grab or to play the oldies.

Red Barker Tree is a tight, powerful and exciting statement from the reconstituted Wire. Unfortunately, the vinyl qualifies as among the worst pressings in history. Virtually EVERY pressing of this album is defective - and so far, I have tried 5 at home, and looked at over 30 pressings in local record stores - virtually all are defective, ranging from multiple dimples in the vinyl on all, to major scuffing and no fill, even to a sandpaper like texture on a number of second sides. I finally got one that, while it has dimples and a scraping sound through most of side 1's first track that is present on all, doesn't play too badly. But still, this is a case of drop dead great music ill served by some numb brained decision to cut costs by using the worst eastern bloc pressing plant that could be found.

But get this record. It's one of the best rock records of the year, at once a return to and a vital 2011 take on the new wave/post-punk era. You just might want to go for the CD on this one.

NEW vinyl reissue label - CLASSIC REISSUES - Gentle Giant - Harmonium - awesome!!

Go nuts, friends in the USA - there is a new vinyl reissue label on the scene, and it's only for us Canadians.

Of particular interest is the new reissue of Gentle Giant's Acquiring The Taste - in my opinion, along with Three Friends, the best of the GG catalog. And what a reissue this is! It's a Pallas pressing, very well done - flat, clean, dead quiet. The cover is to a very high standard, a great quality job and a well reproduced gatefold - easily better than an original. There is an original Vertigo swirl label - cool touch.

The sound is amazingly good. Immediately I noted the very full, warm bass. There is an uncanny clarity and depth, but still, a warm, vibrant, 'alive' sound. The midrange is warm and full - unlike many contemporary American remasterings, there is no scooping out of the mids to produce that 'audiophile' tinkly sound that appears on the surface to be more clear and detailed, but misses the music by a long shot.

If you can get it sent to you, pay the bucks and do it. It's that good.

Harmonium was a very popular French Canadian proggy/folkish group with a large Quebec following that still exists today. Their first self titled album has been reissued on the Classic Reissues label along with their more proggy and better second, Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquieme Saison. Both sound far better here than originals and are to the same high standard sonically as the Gentle Giant. No doubt these reissues will sell like hotcakes in Quebec and French Ontario. Many thanks to Classic Reissues for getting these back into print.

A great start to what hopefully will be a major new player in the vinyl reissue market. Support them by placing an order now.

HEAVENLY SWEETNESS BLUE NOTE VINYL - Sam Rivers, Blue Mitchell!!

Last year I wrote about the Heavenly Sweetness vinyl label out of France, where the real jazz is still happening. Their first batch of Blue Note titles was adventurous and generally very well done, but let down by the shitty inner sleeves they used that caused a lot of damage to the otherwise high quality pressings.

I got some of the latest 2011 batch recently, and that is all fixed - they now come in a high quality polylined inner, quite thick - better, actually, than the poly lined inners I regularly get from American manufacturers. So here we have a very high quality product in every respect - so on to the music.

This latest batch is still quite adventurous, the Blue Mitchell "Bring It Home To Me" is a great middle Blue Note date with the great Junior Cook on tenor, Harold Mabern at the piano, and Gene Taylor & Billy Higgins bringing up the rear. Th sound is uniformly excellent - vibrant, detailed, deep - clear, with a solid bottom and a good midrange presentation - more extended than an original Blue Note, a bit less warm and fuzzy, all around a great example of modern analog vinyl mastering. Mitchell has long been under-rated (some of his later Mainstream label are even better than his more conservative BN's), Cook is, well...a cooker. He's hot here. Mabern is funkily punchy, and Higgins is an always reliable groover. Highly recommended.

Out of another planet is Sam Rivers great "Contours", probably his finest Blue Note recording. Although Fuschia Swing Song is regarded more highly by many in the more conservative BN crowd, Contours is much more representative of Rivers' vision, and has a better supporting cast - Hancock, Carter and Chambers. This record is at once free, swinging, deeply exploratory, and solidly in the mainstream of the mid-60's avant-garde that follows records like Crescent, Out To Lunch and the like. It's great, great record and essential to any good collection.

Heavenly Sweetness has given Contours all the love it deserves, the original NY BN I have here is very good, but lacks on the bottom end - no doubt that is what the tapes give. Here, Carter is somewhat more forward, but not so much so that one would think an artificial bass boost has been given. Rivers' great tone - on tenor, he used at this point a 1950's SML tenor that had a bigger bore and consequently a darker tone than the typical Selmer MkVI most tenors used, and that shows here well as it should.

Both highly recommended, particularly the Rivers. Look for Duke Pearson's The Phantom to come soon. Although overall the sound of these can't quite match the exemplary Music Matters 45 rpm BN series, it comes very close to the Analogue Productions BN's - and bests that series by many light years in choice of titles.