Digging through the vinyl for Roxy Music

I would really, really, really like another Roxy Music album… but… alas… its most likely not going to happen.  Sigh.

Anyway, I was flipping through the vinyl looking for something interesting and stumbled across Country Life.  This jacket pictured here is not the first copy I purchased, but the second.  The first, a U.S. release, had a front cover of the trees minus the women (essentially the back cover).  The jacket pictured here is the U.K. release.

As you might guess the U.K. cover (original) was just a tad controversial in the U.S.

Surprisingly (at least to me), you can now purchase the CD/album with the original cover… although I’d be shocked if you found it at Wal*Mart.  Honestly, I be shocked if you found any Roxy Music release at Wal*Mart.

Digging through the vinyl for the Imposter

The Imposter?  Well, Elvis Costello, but the Imposter is what it says on the label:

Not the most exciting jacket, but this one was somewhat designed to fly under the radar (i.e. the alias of the Imposter). As you can read, the a-side is Peace In Our Time and the b-side is Withered and Died.   Its a bit odd because Peace In Our Time is the last track of Goodbye Cruel World, but that latter is credited to Elvis Costello and the Attractions. I can’t explain it, but as Olivia would say “It’s Elvis!”.

Digging through the vinyl for Adam and the Antz

This one is for Julie, who’s birthday occurs this week and who was quite frantic over a rumor that Adam might be touring (he’s not). Here’s an early Adam single, pre-war paint years.

Just a tad risqué on the back cover, but “ooh la la” as it states in the lyrics. This is the Decca release from 1978 with Young Parisians on the a-side and Lady on the b-side.

I must credit Adam for two things in my life.  First, a number of years of writing the letter “Z” in the backward fashion shown on the cover of this single.  Second… and I’m a little fuzzy here on memory… I do believe his was the first “alternative/new wave” album I purchased.

Digging through the vinyl for Big Country

Bill posted a video to FB the other night from Big Country so I thought I would dig through the vinyl and see what I could find.  I came up with this limited edition 7″ that is essentially a poster with a single tucked in its folds:

The a-side is Fields of Fire and the b-side is Angle Park.

I saw Big Country at WFU in the early eighties (that’s about the best I can do to date it).  I believe Wire Train opened, but don’t hold me to that either.  There are two things I do remember.  First, the pre-show tunes were all Motown classics, which at the time I thought quite strange.  I later learned that BC was a big fan of Motown. Second, this was one of the rare shows where a band repeated a song.  They played In a Big Country twice (once in the main set and once in the encore).

The Tallest Man on Earth and John Vanderslice

I shook hands with the Tallest Man on Earth. How many people can say that?  I have to admit I knew absolutely zero about the Tallest Man on Earth before this show.  Post-show I now know that  his real name is Kristian Matsson, he’s from Sweden and that if he comes to your town you should definitely go see him (you should go see JV too).

He played somewhere between 8 to 12 songs and even tossed in an encore of sorts (if an opening act can include an encore).  The crowd was definitely into it and that’s a rarity for many opening acts.

Pictures here.

As for John Vanderslice, what’s not to like? This time out he had a full band (drummer, guitar, bass and keyboards).  That in itself brought a new take on songs such as Pixel Revolt and Exodus Damage. If I counted correctly there were 14 songs with the band, two solo songs and the traditional, acoustic encore in the middle of the crowd (17 in total and their is a picture of the set list in the collection).  I don’t know of better way to say it, but John is just cool.

Pictures here.

Elvis

You would think in all my years I would have seen Elvis Costello at least once, but I never have.  Until last Sunday evening.  Olivia drove up from Columbia and we made the trek to Cary for his show with the SugarCanes.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Elvis has been all over the musical road with some music that I truly love and some that… well… I’d rather listen to something else.  When I learned that this show was going to have more of a country/blue grass feel  I started getting eapprehensive.

The first couple of songs were complete unknowns to me, but it wasn’t bad.  And then they played Blame it on Cain and I knew things would be fine.  The core set was 21 songs.  The encore included another nine for total concert time at just two hours, thirty minutes.  There were ten songs that I recognized and Olivia reported that he covered 11 of 13 songs from his latest CD (which I had not heard).

All-in-all a good show and I’m glad I got to see him.

p.s. Olivia, being the diehard fan actually got her picture taken with Elvis. As you might imagine, she was a wee bit excited afterwards.

Here We Go Magic-al Grizzly Bear

This was a show where if you had asked, I could not have told who I wanted to see more.

Here We Go Magic opened and quite frankly impressed the hell out of me.  They were good back in March, but this time they nailed it.  Even the audience was into it, which is somewhat of a rarity for an opening act.  I think they played about 8 to 10 songs, covering material from their self-titled release.  I really hope they come back this way again. PLEASE.

This was third Grizzly Bear show and each has had its own charm (I still favor the first show at Local 506, mainly because the vocals were so dead-on perfect and just the intimacy of the club). Covering songs from both Veckatimest (their latest) and Yellow House, the set was a dozen songs and a one song encore.  I loved it. My only regret… and its only a potential one… is that they will forgo playing clubs of this size. I hope that’s not the case, but if it is I’ll have a couple of great shows in my memory.

Pictures here and here.

X

After a most excellent dinner Julie and I made our way over to the Cradle to once again see X.  We were mightily impressed the last time they came through and we were mightily impressed this time.  The set list, which I never could quite count, had to be something just under 30 songs. I know there were four songs in the first encore, including a sweet acoustic number with just Exene and John Doe.  Unfortunately, we didn’t stay for the second encore so I have no idea about the the final song total (but obviously it was a lot).  I didn’t get the shake Billy Zoom’s hand this time, but I did get to pat him on the back as he came into the audience during the acoustic number.  How the man doesn’t sweat in that black leather jacket is beyond me.

Pictures here.

Digging through the vinyl for XTC

Since Olivia was talking XTC earlier this week on FB, I figured I’d pull out an unbelievable album from the group — English Settlement. Pictured is the UK version.  Those unfortunate souls who bought the U.S. version got the shaft with five less songs.  I was one of those unfortunate souls, but didn’t realize it at the time.  I was unaware the other five songs existed until the UK (import) showed up one day at Schoolkids.  Talk about being pissed and happy at the same time.  

If you don’t have the full version, absolutely get it.  You’re missing some gems as in Fly on the Wall and Down in the Cockpit.

The Portland Triangle

Three of Portland’s best made the trek across the country for a visit at Local 506.  Point Juncture, WA opened and I must confess they were the band that I came to see.  I had picked up a few songs from here and there and had liked what I had heard.  They didn’t disappoint even with the technical difficulties. Really need to get their Heart to Elk CD when the budget allows it.

The Shaky Hands was the middle act.  I almost caught these guys in July of 2007 when they were a headliner for a show at the Vera Project in Seattle.  I saw Boat at that show, but had to leave early. Any way, I like some of the songs a lot and some left me kind of bland.  I felt like they were searching for a particular sound but hadn’t found it.  Their drummer was something else.

The Thermals were the headliner.  I missed them the last time they came through so I was happy to catch them this time.  I was rewarded with a whopping 21 song set.  It was also packed, which is really surprised for a band from the Northwest.  Shows how much I know about who listens to what around here.  They get the award for the most enthusiastic drummer who did more than his fair share to get the crowd going.

Pictures here.