Out of the Crates

Today's "Out of the Crates" selections have been supplied by Alan Bumstead. Check out his vinyl blog here.

I’ve made three selections for Active Listener’s Out Of The Crates series, although my selections are not old items found by painstakingly digging through crates – I openly confess, I bought these via the internet while they were still new and (just) affordable, before they sold out that is, and before the price suddenly rose sky high. In that sense, they’re not necessarily hens-teeth rare (which only comes with age), but they have become damn near Kanye West diamond-teeth expensive. The price will come down eventually when second hand copies hit the market in however many years it’ll take for those who bought ‘em’s fortunes to change or half-hearted collectors finally realize that while it felt cool to own a copy at the time, it no longer feels necessary. Nevertheless, I harbour a small nerdy pride at managing to secure myself copies of these while the going was not quite gone and the price not quite offensive.

 

The first is a record that I believe was probably released right at the nadir of LP popularity which was the zenith of CD popularity – around 1999, when albums like the Tindersticks’s Simple Pleasures were produced in such small numbers on vinyl because the vast majority of the band’s fanbase were CD buyers. Except for a scant few European vinyl freaks, who else cared about the vinyl? I bought Simple Pleasures in the year of release, on CD of course. It’s not quite my favourite Tindersticks album, but then it’s certainly on an equal footing with the other four of their run of five brilliant albums, Tindersticks I through Can Our Love. It pops up more often now, but a few years ago, a good vinyl copy was hard to find, and only at usually outrageous prices. I think I paid something slightly less than outrageous courtesy of my pathological near-daily checking of auctions sites a few years ago, and finally landed myself a brand new copy. This album signaled a distinct move away from the dramatic style they’d become entrenched in with Curtains, to something more upbeat, soulful, and danceable. It’s a great listen. If you’ve got the dosh and patience and the tenacity to keep looking, you’ll find a copy within a few months, without too much hassle.

I am an obsessive Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy collector. This man never ceases to amaze me. Naturally then, when I heard about the hard cover “limited to only 300 copies” worldwide release of his interview book with Alan Licht, which included two ten inch records containing six of his songs re-recorded, I jumped on it. Here was the deal though – it could only be purchased by residents in England for a hefty 150 quid. Thus I ordered my copy, had it sent to a friend in London, who then forwarded it onto me for another not unsmall sum of royal airmail postage in fat British pounds. And I am now one of only three hundred suckers in the world with one. Nevermind that the songs on the EPs have since been issued on a single 10” record, with a different cover, titled Now Here’s My Plan. The book of course is available worldwide as a paperback edition. Hey, but at least my double 10” is 45-speed vinyl, a higher quality listen, so take that you single 10” at 33 rpm-owning schmucks! New copies of the hardback/double 10” are already going for 300 euros on Discogs. The songs themselves are enjoyable, though I hesitate to recommend them over the original versions.

I stumbled on a blog just by chance last year and just at the right time too. It mentioned the release of the Calexico LP boxset of albums that had previously been sold on CD only at Calexico concerts, Road Atlas. I got mildly excited, being something of a Calexico fan, and found what must have literally been the last copy going on ebay, mint, and only $140 US – it’s original price. The two web outlets for this mentioned on the Calexico website had both sold out. 1200 copies worldwide I believe. And some actual ma & pa shop in the US still selling their last copy via ebay for $140. Unbeknownst to them, the set wouldn’t appear on ebay again for anywhere near the same price, and is currently selling for well over double that on Discogs. So, I’m glad I got in when I did. Erm…this is where the fun of record collecting spills over into fetishistic emptiness however. Road Atlas is like 12 records, such a monolith, so daunting in fact that I have yet to play any of them. It’s like a project I’ll get to working on one day. But just to prove I’m not in this for commercial gain, I did at least get as far as ripping off the shrinkwrap and pulling all the records out to browse their covers, and read the enclosed 12” booklet, meaning my copy is no longer mint. My saving grace. And that’s the way it should be.

Out of The Crates

Martin Nunez a.k.a Sir Psych has invited us for a virtual tour of his record collection for today's "Out of the Crates". His selections have been made based more upon how much he likes an album rather than how rare it is. They all happen to be pretty rare anyway. That Sagittarius LP almost made it into my "Out of the Crates", so nice to see it here.
Enjoy!

 

CONDELLO: PHASE 1

I love this lp so much. I won't go into his previous works, which I own, but will deliver the love I have for this lp. The first song I heard from this lp was "The Other side of you". As soon as the intro of the song switches to the amazing vocal work and lyrical delivery I was automatically mesmerized with his sound and style. I had to get the lp and as soon as possible. I was in Arizona at the time, and none of the record stores I went to had it. Being he was a Phoenix musician, I thought it would be easy to claim. I was wrong. I did end up finding it sometime in the late 90's, at Aron's Records in Hollywood,Ca.(RIP) for a measly $5 I believe. I know it was cheap, but as soon as the needle hit the groove, and the lovely ballad "Crystal Clear" filled the airwaves, my liking for the perfect love song switched to the loving of one. More pop oriented, but the 2nd side opens strong with the psych number of " Dr. Tarr Professor Feather". Full of phasing, it is one of my favorite pop psych numbers. It's is one of my go to albums when I feel a bit country, or in the mood for a great pop song. Mike Condello exited our universe in 1995 with a tragic death, but he left us with a memorable piece of words and music.

 

SAGITTARIUS: PRESENT TENSE

I found this LP years ago by digging through PDQ Records (RIP) in Tuscon, Az. I bought it on the cover alone. Now I found so many records on my own, and this is one that I always held up high. This one has perhaps one of my favorite songs EVER with "Song to the Magic Frog". With its gentle touches of harpsichord and acoustic guitar, and soft harmonies, the song builds with each stage of the song, to a full orchestrated bridge, and back then ending on an abrupt ending to the perfect song. But at least the lp continues to deliver more pop psych throughout every cut on the album. The album opener of "Another time' had me convinced that this album was special. A few years later I discovered more genius of the men behind this album, Gary Usher and Curt Boettcher. More discoveries came to life with the age of the internet with their other releases, but this LP holds my heart.

 

THE HOBBITS: DOWN TO MIDDLE EARTH

Another one I bought on a whim in the early 90's. Jimmy Curtiss released his best work ever on this one, and held nothing back with pure pop genius behind the boards. I can't pick one song on this album that I like more than the other. I do enjoy The Hobbits other releases, but this is the LP from theirs that I didn't want to end. Pop songs crafted on this lp start with the perfect back beat and everything else that is added to it just makes it better. Perfected orchestrations, grunt guitars, fantastic key work, but the hooks are what make this LP such a sing-a-long. An easy skippable approach to music that carved a small dent in the 60's and a life time effect to my ears, mind, and heart.

 

THE STAINED GLASS: CRAZY HORSE ROADS

I had bought a 45 of "Lady in Lace" in an ebay 45 lot, and went into research mode to find their discography. The 45's were much easier to come across , and with their A and B sides combined from their singles, that alone would make a fantastic lp. When I got my hands on the LP I was shocked to see them hanging from a tree and expected to hear some heavy rock riffs instead of their pop psych singles, but as soon as I heard the opening track "I sing, you sing" I knew it was a safe bet that this LP would be special. From start to finish it was a refreshing journey of riffs to harmonies to slow orchestrated moments and ending on a high note with the most poppy way to to talk about the end of the world. They had strong vocals and sound for a three piece. Possibly one of my favorite west coast LPs released in the 60's.

 

BLAIR SMITH: ECHOES/VISIONS OF MOLLY

A lot of mystery came over this 45 with me, and it was a welcome number in my 45 collection. Such a soft, delicate, approach to psychedelia it's not even funny. It is one of my favorite 45 releases ever and is praised upon when I share it with people for the first time. From pounding out of the speaker to quiet, dim lit, hazy headphone nights, this 7'' never loses it's  touch on me.

Out Of The Crates

Out Of The Crates is a new feature here, which gives readers the opportunity to show off the most treasured items in their record collection.
Cal from the "Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy" psychedelic radio show ( see here ) holds the reins this time.

White Hills
First off is my copy of the first White Hills LP, Heads on Fire. I initially discovered this album on Amazon.com. It was listed for a reasonable $15 or something, so I bookmarked it and decided to give it some thought. I kind of forgot about it until the band released some more critically acclaimed albums (around 2010) that caught my attention. I returned to the bookmark only to find a single copy for about $60. Sheesh. I scoured the web for a while and discovered it was "Out of Stock" virtually everywhere. At this time, I was about to travel cross-country to All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in New York, where White Hills were slated to perform. I decided I'd just wait til then and see if they had any at their merch table. While there, I was actually able to meet Ego Sensation (bassist) and chat for a bit. I told her that the only copies of the record I could find were going for $60-100, and she thought that was crazy. "It's a good record, but wow..." she said. Unfortunately, they sold out a long time ago, leaving me right back where I started.
After a while, I almost gave up on the search, until one day I was killing some time at a local Denver shop called Wax Trax, not really even looking for anything. Skimming through the 'W's, I discovered this brand-new copy for like $13.50. Overjoyed was I.

Thee Oh Sees
Next up is a couple signed records from the outstanding freak-out garage tremor merchants, Thee Oh Sees. Not much to say about these, except for that I will probably not be parting with them any time soon. And John Dwyer is one rad dude.

The American Analog Set

The American Analog set is an absolute nostalgia-trip for me, doing their little slow-core/shoegaze/alternative thing better than anyone else I've heard. Their first two albums are pure bliss, and more psychedelic-ly inclined than their new-millinium material - which are still very collectible. This, their 1996 debut LP on the tiny Emperor Jones label, has no pressing number-hype attached to it, ("limited to 500 copies!" etc.) but is next to impossible to find. A prized possession for sure.

The Black Angels

I recently found a SEALED copy of the limited and very hard-to-find Black Angels' debut, (first-pressing, with the oh-so-cool embossed gatefold) for a criminally low cost. I know how much this thing goes for at auction, so I almost felt bad about buying it. It's the only 'sealed' item in my collection - which I also feel kind of weird about. I should probably just open the damn thing, huh?

Steve Tibbetts

Lastly is Steve Tibbetts self-released debut. I seem to have a treasure trove of incredible music that very few people can care about, and this album embodies that notion perfectly. My dad has a lot of these old solo-acoustic guitar albums - most of which are of the thrift-store variety rather than the collector's wet-dream Fahey/Graham/Basho variety - so I just thought this was another one of those. I remember listening to this expecting some mellow new-age folk, or maybe some jazz, only to have my mind turned inside-out by time the needle hit the runout groove of side A. Side B is even more explosive, and makes this one of the few albums that I will actually classify under pure genius. The music really cannot be compared to anything. The story is great too; Steve originally recorded it in a late-night, clandestine manner after he graduated from Macalaster College (and was no longer allowed to use their studio) and released it by himself (almost unheard of in the '70s). It made no sense to almost any of the radio stations or record companies he sent it to, leaving him with about 200 hand-numbered copies that he didn't know how to get rid of. He recorded more commercially successful releases through the '80s, but this one remains a gem of obscurity, and a high point for his career.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, and if you'd like to hear a radio show I did with some more of the rarest records in my collection, go here: http://archive.org/details/CosmicTonesAncientProteinStringsOfTheGeneticCode
None of the show's featured albums are mentioned above, but below is a picture of some of them. (included are the second Tibbetts record, Robbie Basho, Sandy Bull, Six Organs of Admittance, and more).

Send your photos and descriptions to nford150@gmail.com if you want to be published next.

Out Of The Crates

This is the first part in what I hope will become a regular feature on the site - although this will depend upon input from your fine selves, so it's entirely up to you whether we see more of this or not.
There's something in my psychological makeup that makes me unable to ignore a record collection when I visit a house for the first time, and all social etiquette becomes a secondary consideration.
I'm assuming this is something that affects other vinyl lovers as well and offer as an outlet for those urges "Out of the Crates" - an opportunity for readers to share some of their most prized vinyl finds for other record lovers around the world to drool over.
The format is simple -
Dig out a few of your most treasured vinyl finds, take a few nice pictures of them, and send them in to me at nford150@gmail.com with a bit of a narrative about the records and why you treasure them so. Easy, and we all love the opportunity to show off our record collection a little don't we?

I'm going to start the ball rolling with a few picks from my collection.

Simon Dupree & The Big Sound - Without Reservations
I set myself the difficult and quite possibly fruitless task of digging through all the $4 sale bins at Christchurch, New Zealand's Penny Lane until I could find myself a bargain.
My patience was eventually rewarded when to my surprise this original N.Z pressing on the Blue Parlophone label jumped out at me from amongst a particularly unpromising looking stack of Mantovani LPs.
The vinyl itself looked to be pretty well used, but as is often the case with these old N.Z pressings, it played exceptionally despite looking like it'd been run over.
Ten years later it's still my go-to record when I feel the urge for a one-man mod soul party, and while their later psych stuff is generally more well regarded I've got a major soft spot for this sucker.

Ginhouse
This was a particular surprise when I stumbled across it, as it was one I'd assumed would be on my wants list until the day I died.
I'd had a digital copy for years and loved it, but found that it had been a particularly poor seller in it's native England, and was still not held in particularly high regard by collectors even now.
Assuming that it wouldn't have been pressed anywhere else in the world then, imagine my surprise when I pulled out this tidy looking Australian pressing on the Interfusion label for a very reasonable $50. Even with a textured cover it was in pretty good shape.
Wolf People fans should do themselves a favour and check this LP out - it's got the same sort of atmospheric, very English mixture of hard rock, folk and prog that "Steeples" has, and is ripe for rediscovery.
Now, if only the sleeve artist had been paying attention the day they covered faces in art class.

Affinity
There was a time when I'd buy absolutely anything on the Vertigo label ( which isn't a cheap hobby ). I've grown more selective over the years and pruned a few titles back, but one I'll never voluntarily part with is this great jazzy prog rock album. It's a N.Z pressed gatefold with a beautiful sleeve by Keef ( also responsible for the first Black Sabbath cover ), and is the pride of my Vertigo Swirl collection.

The Third Rail - Id Music
This is one of the best finds I came away with after spending a day going through pretty much every record at Auckland's Real Groovy. What makes it particularly good is that it isn't the album I thought I was buying, but is even better. When confronted with tens of thousands of records my mind tends to play a few tricks on me, and when I thought I'd found myself an original U.S copy of the Inner Sounds of the ID for $25.95 I was rapt.
Needless to say, I was less than pleased when I discovered my mistake, but having paid for it I gave it a listen.
Despite it's origins as a bit of a dubious cash in, it's a fascinating mixture of Four Seasons style pop with inventive psychedelic studio trickery, and unlike so many pop psych albums of the sixties, actually deserves the very cool psychedelic sleeve it's housed in.  Occasionally too cute for it's own good, but mostly full of psych pop gems.

The Smashing Pumpkins / David Bowie - All The Young Dudes / Jean Genie 7"
As a huge fan of both Bowie and the Smashing Pumpkins in my formative years it was vital that I bought this when I spotted it on ebay.
It features the two duets by Bowie and Billy Corgan from Bowie's 50th Birthday Bash in 1997 with no other Smashing Pumpkins in sight.
It's a bootleg of some sort I presume, although the manufacturers have elected to press it as a white label "not for sale" promo to try and stave off the law.
I've never seen another copy of this offered for auction, so am curious if anyone can shed any light on it's origins or it's legality.
Whoever put it out did a pretty good job anyway - it sounds great and the creepy photoshopped cover looks as good as can be expected for a late nineties release.

Your turn now - send photos and info to nford150@gmail.com