PATTI SMITH | HORSES – LIVE AT ELECTRIC LADY STUDIOS
Electric Lady Studios has announced the launch of Electric Lady Records, an ongoing series of carefully curated and limited edition vinyl releases. On August 26th, 2015, the newly formed record company teamed with Patti Smith for a live, recorded performance of her landmark debut LP, Horses, itself originally recorded at the facility in 1975. Recordings from the in-studio appearance will be released on double 180g vinyl for the first time on Record Store Day as the first offering from Electric Lady Records.
Patti Smith’s Horses: Live at Electric Lady Studios doesn’t sound like a live album, and that’s a good thing. Too many concert recordings sound surprisingly flat. Even the most adventurous band can suffer from an audio engineer sticking mics in front of the amps and then leaning back while the tapes roll, ultimately making a glorified bootleg.
The new version of Horses, meanwhile, benefits from being live album cut in a recording studio in front of an audience. Patti Smith and her band celebrated the 40th anniversary of her breakthrough debut, with a performance of the whole record before a small yet excitable crowd of fans and VIPs (Michael Stipe, Liv Tyler, Dakota Johnson) in the mythic space where she originally recorded it, New York City’s Jimi Hendrix–founded Electric Lady Studios.
Their new versions can be raucous “Gloria”, resplendent “Break It Up”, morose “Free Money” and sobering “Elegie”. Smith warbles, growls, hollers and speaks with dramatic effect throughout, as guitarist Lenny Kaye wrests bluesy phrases from his instrument, making each song sound inspired and fresh. The rest of the band – drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, bassist-keyboardist Tony Shanahan and keyboardist-guitarist-bassist JackPetruzzelli – makes the music swell around Smith’s voice. But the best thing about it is the way it sounds on vinyl, the medium Electric Lady chose to release it on in an effort to preserve its fidelity.
Other than crowd noise at the beginnings and ends of songs – a positive side effect of a reverent audience – it sounds like a studio album, but with the unbridled energy of a concert. The sound of the guitars travels between speakers for a more psychedelic impact than the original studio album, and the whole experience is crystal clear, from the squeak of Kaye’s guitar pick striking his strings to Smith’s vocal intricacies.
Smith was in her late 20s when she recorded Horses. Now, in her late 60s, her voice has taken on more depth and grit, deepening the power of every song. You can hear her panting before the final “Gloria” (a surprise at the end of “Land”), and you can hear the tickle in her throat when she raves, “Tonight is a night toparty/ We want to have a good time” in “Land.” It’s an album resurrected and living dangerously.
1. Gloria 2. Redondo Beach 3. Birdland 4. Free Money 5. Kimberly 6. Break It Up 7. Land (pt. 1 “Horses” pt. 2 “Land Of a Thousand Dances pt. 3 La Mer(de) 8. Elegie
“…[for] her hour-long, emotionally captivating performance of Horses in its entirety, the room grew silent…” Interview Magazine
“…the intimate concert from the peerless rock icon was full of more life, fire and spit than practically any other show I’ve ever seen.” Billboard
“[She] wore an Electric Lady T-shirt under her signature black vest and jacket, sound[ing] almost invariably the same as she did on the record…” Rolling Stone Magazine
“…deep into the record’s three-movement penultimate track “Land”… it became transcendent: Smith stepped off the small stage, onto a couch and shoved the mic into the face of a fan to sing ‘Gloooriaaa’ euphorically before hugging him. The fan was Michael Stipe.” Rolling Stone Magazine
The Colorado folk rockers follow-up their surprise hit debut—no pressure at all—in an attempt to either become the American Mumford & Sons or keep it at arm’s length. Four years have passed since The Lumineers released their debut self-titled album. They hit the alternative landscape with such a strong force, it’s a surprise how long it took for them to return. Now after that long wait, the second album, called ‘Cleopatra’ is released. Frontman Wesley Schultz and co-founder Jeremiah Fraites got back to basics when it came time to write for the 11-track collection. And while the raw, jangly guitars, parlor-room piano chords, and marching band snare rolls from the first record remain intact, ‘Cleopatra’ has a welcome, added heft.
LP – Housed in Gatefold Sleeve.
ELIZA and the BEAR – Eliza and the Bear
Just in time to soundtrack your summer and beyond, five-piece Eliza and the Bear unveil their debut album ‘Eliza and the Bear’ and the new single ‘It Gets Cold’. With its fist-in-the-air sensibility and hopeful urgency, the song is both epic and intimate in equal measure. For fans of Of Monsters and Men, Mumford and Sons and Phoenix.
FRIGHTENED RABBIT – The Painting of a Panic Attack
The fifth release from this Scottish indie rock band has occasioned some less-than-glowing notices, which I don’t understand at all. Certainly Scott Hutchison’s songs of alienation and confusion sound cleaner than they ever have, but he’s still the same fucked up witness to life’s messy emotions and whiplash curveballs. If the pristine production—which they’ve been working towards since the get-go—is what brings them to the masses, I can live with that. And so can you
M83 – Junk
Along with Daft Punk and Air, Anthony Gonzalez has done more to make French pop palatable to the international market than anyone. There was a time, not so long ago dear readers, when the idea of French rock and pop stars was a joke. Who’s laughing now, silly Americans?
PARQUET COURTS – Human Performance
Like everyone else, I was turned onto this Brooklyn-by-way-of-Texas quartet upon exposure to their sophomore release, Light Up Gold, and it’s smart neo-indie, especially—again like everyone else—when I heard “Stoned and Starving” for the first time and immediately made it 20, 30, etc. Subsequent releases—either as Parquet Courts or Parkay Quarts—have made progress in tiny increments. Human Performanceis a giant step—not necessarily in composition, they’ve always been good at their Velvet Underground-meets-The Strokes vibe, but in production (which means they spent some time in the studio instead of just bashing the tunes out). Don’t worry. They haven’t turned into Muse or whatnot; but they’ve given some love and attention to the process, kind of like when Hüsker Dü signed to Warner Bros.
TELEMAN – Brilliant Sanity
Yet another in a long line of eccentric, fey voiced English pop bands and, bless ‘em all, they continue to tickle and entertain me. These guys are up there with Dutch Uncles and Field Music, so if you know or like those you have no excuse not to get on this. Teleman return with their second album on Moshi Moshi which was recorded by Dan Carey at his South London studio. The art of songwriting has been the driving force behind Teleman’s second album ‘Brilliant Sanity’: the process of crafting of the immaculate pop song, the dogged pursuit of the perfect hook. The result is an album that appears fastidiously and impeccably made, but also charged with joy. ‘Brilliant Sanity’ shows Sanders as an accomplished and distinctive lyricist, with a passion for the music of words themselves and an eye for the singular image. You can see this preoccupation with strong imagery throughout ‘Brilliant Sanity’ – in the deftness of its song titles – ‘Tangerine’, for instance, or ‘Canvas Shoe’, in its recurrent references to devilry and fire, and in its most lingering lines – a reference to a ‘Chinese burn’ in ‘Glory Hallelujah’, for instance, or in the declaration “Every time I’m alone with you / The air gets heavy and drips like glue” of first single, ‘Fall in Time’.
LP – With Download.
The DANDY WARHOLS – Distortland
The Dandy Warhols spent 2015 writing new music and the band closed out the year with a packed-to-capacity tour of the U.S. West Coast and South including a three-night stint at Los Angeles’ Teregram Ballroom. Signing to Dine Alone was another highlight of the year, not only for the band, but for label owner/founder,
Album 10 reminds us that when they are on their game they were a great link from glam to grunge.
The GOON SAX – Up To Anything
Chapter Music release ‘Up To Anything’, the debut album by Brisbane trio The Goon Sax. Louis Forster, JamesHarrison and Riley Jones are all 17-18 years old. They make pop music. They have refined tastes – they love the Pastels, Talking Heads, Galaxie 500, Bob Dylan and Arthur Russell. On ‘Up To Anything’ they pull off the almost impossible, capturing the awkwardness, self-doubt and visceral excitement of teenage life, while still in the thick of actually living it. Goon Sax songs are both immediately charming and deceptively deep – Sweaty Hands examines a point in a relationship where you’re seen at your worst, while Telephone addresses the heartbreaking realisation that nothing you offer your crush is enough.
CARLTON MELTON – Aground
Record Store Day 2016 Release. A follow up / companion piece to 2015’s well received ‘Out To Sea’ opus released on Agitated Records. 5 tracks of magick-karpet wreck’d psychedelic morass. The raft ran aground, you have to get your ears on and wander the deserted shores of this desolate isle (metaphorically speaking, but you get the ‘drift’ right?) Aim for the high ground, build a fire, look to the horizons and let it all flow. These tracks were from the same sessions that spawned ‘Out To Sea’, there’s a natural flow, a cohesion that makes the whole trip worth taking. Recorded / Engineered by Phil Manly / Lucky Cat studios. 5 tacks, cut at 45 rpm, lush transparent green vinyl in an edition of 600 Copies Only.
Frightened Rabbit’s 2008 masterpiece The Midnight Organ Fight hasn’t become indie canon like other records from that year like Fleet Foxes or Deerhunter’s Microcastle, but it’s become untouchable because it’s the kind of album people connected too. It’s a breakup album and it’s the kind where you can hang on to and obsess over every word if it hits you at the right time in your life. It’s probably the only reason Frightened Rabbit can play the massive Terminal 5 eight years later. When you write an album like that, the expectations for a followup are often tough to reach, and Frightened Rabbit missed the ball by a mile when they followed it with (what is still) their worst record,The Winter of Mixed Drinks. That album put a pretty major damper on their career, but more recently they’ve been quietly establishing themselves as a band with serious longevity. 2013’s Pedestrian Verse was a lot better than expected and it’s still kinda underrated, and the same can be said for singer Scott Hutchison’s 2014 solo album as Owl John.
Painting of a Panic Attack continues this trend. They may never capture the magic of The Midnight Organ Fight again, but Panic Attack has plenty of their best qualities in fine form: anthemic, atmospheric songs, depressing lyrics, and the unmistakable voice of Scott Hutchison.
The album’s bookended by two of its best songs, opener “Death Dream” with its repeated middle section of “you died in your sleep last night” (double meaning presumably intended), and acoustic closer “Die Like A Rich Boy” where Scott suggests “I want to die like a rich boy diving in a hydrocodone dream / You can die like a rich girl by me, oh how the magazines will read.” And after revealing more of the fantasy (“I want to die like a rich boy drowning in a lake that bears my name”), he concludes, “I want to die like a rich boy, even if we’re as poor as we are now.” It’s a Frightened Rabbit sentiment if there ever was one.
As R.E.M. looked to record the follow-up to ‘Murmur,’ the bar set for their second album, ‘Reckoning,’ was already exceedingly high.On this day in 1984, R.E.M. released their second album, ‘Reckoning,’ featuring the singles “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)” and “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” . Produced by Don Dixon and Mitch Easter
For R.E.M., 1983 had been a momentous year. Though the Athens, Georgia, quartet had already achieved healthy sales for their independently released debut single, “Radio Free Europe,” and their IRS debut, 1982’s “Chronic Town” mini-LP, their full-length debut, “Murmur”, had exceeded expectations, selling over 200,000 copies
Instead of labelling the sides of the record as “side one” and “side two”, the sides were designated as “L” and “R”. For the cover of Reckoning, Michael Stipe drew a picture of a two-headed snake, which he then gave to artist Howard Finster to fill in as a painting.
Reckoning is the second studio album by the American band R.E.M., released in 1984 by I.R.S. Records. The album was recorded at Reflection Sound Studio in Charlotte, North Carolina over 16 days in December 1983 and January 1984.
R.E.M. rejoined their tried and tested production team at the studios, early in December 1983. Retrospective anecdotes from those involved have since claimed that the sessions lasted for anything from 10 days to three weeks (with the band taking a break for the Christmas period) straddling December 1983 and January ’84, yet what can be relayed with certainty is that all concerned wanted to record quickly and capture a record more representative of R.E.M.’s effervescent live sound. Dixon and Easter intended to capture the sound of R.E.M.’s live performances, and used binaural recording on several tracks. Singer Michael Stipe dealt with darker subject matter in his lyrics, and water imagery is a recurring theme on the record. Released to critical acclaim,
Separated by two weeks of canceled studio time that allowed the band to play a show in Greensboro, North Carolina, go out to see a movie, and shoot a video in the studio. While the studio diary listed 16 days for recording, the album sleeve later claimed the album was recorded in 14 days, while in interviews Buck at times commented that the album was recorded in 11 days. The producers both disputed that the sessions were that short; Dixon insisted that they were at the studio for at least 25 days (during which he worked eighteen-hour days), while Easter said “When I read ‘eleven days’ I thought, what the fuck! It was twenty days, which was still short, but it’s not eleven.”
Few singers can stuff as much complexity into a simple, one-word chorus as Michael Stipe. “I’m sorry” is a bit of a rote sentiment for a pop-rock ballad, but Stipe sells it here, yelping like a wounded dog in the space between verses. He famously refused to lip-sync for the song’s music video, which goes to show how seriously he took the lyrics and the elusive story behind them. Impressive as the vocal performance may be, it’s the other members of R.E.M. who make “So. Central Rain” such a crucial entry in the band’s discography. Peter Buck kicks things off with a riff that may as well double as the manifesto for jangle rock, and the rhythm section shines in a thundering post-chorus that borrows from the playbooks of Television and Joy Division while asserting R.E.M. as a forced to be reckoned with in their own right.
“Reckoning” also yielded two stone-cold classic singles courtesy of “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” and “So. Central Rain (I’mSorry).” Though it had been played live as far back as October 1980, the former was given an extensive studio makeover and eventually emerged as a country-roots anthem featuring honky-tonk piano and emotive vocal interplay between Stipe and Mills. Also Southern gothic-flavored, the glorious, melancholic sweep of “So. Central Rain…” was again accentuated by piano and a lush Stipe vocal, and it arguably remains “Reckoning’s” artistic pinnacle.
This time around, as Don Dixon put it, the group “wanted to rock out a bit more,” and Easter and Dixon were keen to accentuate the fiery, jangly spirit inherent in Buck’s guitar and Berry’s crisp, punchy drumming. To help realize this, Dixon utilized the “binaural” recording technique wherein two microphones were raised off the ground, roughly at the height of the average person’s ears, thus creating a recording that replicates how people actually hear sound. This method ensured that “Reckoning” sounded notably snappier than “Murmur”, not least on the album’s energetic rockers such as “Harborcoat,” the bright’n’breezy “SecondGuessing” and the atypically anthemic “Pretty Persuasion,”
During the recordings there was pressure from I.R.S. Records to try to make the album more commercial. The label sent messages to Dixon and Easter, which the producers told the band that they would ignore. While the producers respected I.R.S. president Jay Boberg, they expressed dismay at the comments he made when he visited during the last day of sessions. Dixon called Boberg “record company clueless”, while Easter said “I got along with Jay Boberg OK […] but now and again he would express an opinion that would make me think, ‘holy shit’, because it would strike me as really teenage.” Buck said he was grateful that Dixon and Easter acted as a buffer between the band and its label. He said that “it got to the point where as much as I respected the guys at I.R.S., we basically tried to record the records so they wouldn’t know we were recording them!”, and explained that part of the reason why R.E.M. recorded the album so quickly was that the group wanted to finish before representatives from I.R.S. showed up to listen to it.
The recording sessions were difficult for singer Michael Stipe, who, among the band, was particularly worn out by the group’s 1983 tour schedule. Getting usable vocal tracks from Stipe was difficult; Dixon recalled that he and Stipe would show up around noon each day before the rest of the band, but that “he was kind of shut down, and it was difficult to get him to open up”. While recording the song “7 Chinese Brothers”, Stipe sang so quietly that Dixon could not hear him on the tape. Frustrated, the producer climbed a ladder to a spot above the recording booth Stipe was in and found a gospel record titled The Joy of Knowing Jesus by the Revelaires, which he then handed to the singer in an attempt to inspire him. Stipe began reciting the liner notes from the album audibly, which enabled Dixon to move on to recording the vocal track to “7 Chinese Brothers” properly (the initial recitation take was later released in 1987 as “Voice of Harold” on the later compilation Dead Letter Office.
For R.E.M., the frenetic touring of 1983 continued unabated after the release of “Reckoning”. The band’s second tour of duty in small-scale UK and European clubs was already underway when “Reckoning” was released, and, during the summer and early autumn of ’84, their Little America tour of the US saw them stepping up to larger auditoriums such as LA’s Hollywood Palladium and San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre, in California, and to New York’s Beacon Theatre on the East Coast.
Stipe and company continued to chalk up further successes before 1984 wound down, with their awards for Best Group and Best Album (for “Reckoning”) at New York’s CMJ New Music Awards ceremony in October gratefully accepted in their absence by Mitch Easter and I.R.S. personnel while the band were performing their highly anticipated debut tour of Japan. A further round of European shows – with R.E.M. again conquering cavernous indoor halls such as London’s Lyceum and Dublin’s SFX Theatre – then steeled the group for the British studio sessions which would result in their groundbreaking third album, 1985’s “Fables Of The Reconstruction”.
The Clash’s first album came out in 1977, the same year the Sex Pistols historic album “Never Mind The Bollocks” debuted — though the Clash self-titled LP was delayed two years in the U.S., where it was given a revised track listing and a release after their second album came out in the States.
It was an exciting time for rock ‘n’ roll. The politically potent and emotionally charged songs on The Clash represented a new era. “No Elvis Beatles or the Rolling Stones” as one of their songs memorably declared.
On this day (April. 8th) in 1977: The Clash released their debut, self-titled LP on CBS Records in the UK (& a thousand new punk bands were born!); it reached number 12 on the UK albums chart, but would not be released in the US until 1979 (with a modified track listing); the album’s front cover photo, shot by Kate Simon, was taken in the alleyway directly opposite the front door of the band’s ‘Rehearsal Rehearsals’ building in Camden Market; drummer Terry Chimes did not appear in the picture as he had already decided to leave the group – he was credited as ‘Tory Crimes’ on the sleeve…Recorded between three weekend sessions 10th-27th February at the CBSstudios 3 in London and the National Film School studios in Beaconsfield, By the third of these sessions the album was recorded and mixed to completion, with the tapes being delivered toCBS at the start of March. It cost £4000 to produce.
The subject of the opening track, “Janie Jones“, was a famous brothel owner in London during the 1970s. “RemoteControl“ was written by Mick Jones after the Anarchy Tour and contains pointed observations about the civic hall bureaucrats who had cancelled concerts, the police, big business and especially record companies. CBS decided to release the song as a single without consulting the band. “I’m So Bored with the USA“, developed from a Mick Jones song, entitled “I’m So Bored with You”, condemns the Americanization of the UK. “White Riot“ was The Clash debut single. The song is short and intense, punk style of two chords played very fast (5 chords in total song). Lyrically, it is about class economics and race. “Career Opportunities“, the opening track of the second side of the album, attacks the political and economic situation in England at the time, citing the lack of jobs available, and the dreariness and lack of appeal of those that were available.
“Protex Blue”, sung by Mick Jones, is about a 1970s brand of condom. It was inspired by the contraceptive vending machine found in Windsor Castle toilets. The song ends with the shouted phrase “Johnny Johnny!”, “johnny” being a British slang term for a condom.
The version of “White Riot” featured on here was not recorded for the album. Instead, they used the original demo version, recorded at Beaconsfield Studios before the band signed to CBS.
Junior Murvin’s “Police & Thieves“was added to the album when the group realised that the track listing was too short. Another cover the band played at these sessions was Bob Marley’s “Dancing Shoes”. “Garageland“ was written in response to NME writer Charles Shaar Murray’s damning review of a Clash early appearance at the Sex Pistols Screen on the Green concert – “The Clash are the kind of garage band who should be returned to the garage immediately, preferably with the engine running”It was the final track recorded for the album.
Tracklist
Janie Jones
Remote Control
I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.
White Riot
Hate & War
What’s My Name
Deny
London’s Burning
Career Opportunities
Cheat
Protex Blue
Police & Thieves
48 hours
Garageland
On April 16th, record stores across the UK will unite to celebrate the beauty of vinyl for Record Store Day. The RSD website describes the event as “the one day of the year when over 200 independent record shops all across the UK come together to celebrate their unique culture.” In reality, that often means a scrum for exclusive releases but the all-round good vibes in record stores across the land makes it a can’t miss day in our calendar.
In the UK, this year’s event will take place on April 16th.
As always, there’s a whole host of fancy coloured vinyl, limited edition pressings and several reissues you can get your mitts on. We’ve already picked a few highlights here but you can see the full UK release list on their website.
Arrive early. If you’re planning to go to one of the big shops, we strongly advise you to get in the queues in plenty of time. Most shops will open around 9am on the Saturday, but there will be people queuing hours before that.
Most importantly, though, be patient. We know you’re going to be sweating it out thinking your record will have gone but racing around and pushing people out the way will kill the vibe for everyone. Soak it up and enjoy the day.
Don’t just take our word for it – Banquet Records (@BanquetRecords) in Kingston suggested that shoppers should “bring some cash, bring a smile, bring an open mind, bring a smart phone” to the event and the crew at Jumbo Records (@JumboRecords) in Leeds say to “try to come with a list of alternatives in case your first choice of record is unavailable or sold out” and most importantly – “enjoy yourself!” Wise words.
Things you should definitely not do
Be a dick and sell them on eBay after. Seriously – everyone hates that person. We know they’re exclusive, but it devalues the whole day if you make a bigger profit on a record than the shop you brought it from.
Also, holding extra copies of a record while you wait for your mate to come into the shop is a big no.
Several artists will be releasing exclusive CDs and cassettes that you can nab on the day. The Flaming Lips will be releasing a reworking of their ‘Clouds Taste Metallic’ exclusively on CD and Metallica will also be exclusively releasing a live show from 2003 on the format. For those über-hipsters who are trying to bolster their cassette collection, there will be the chance to pick up Marilyn Manson’s career-best album ‘Antichrist Superstar’ on the old-school format.
This special edition RSD piece was originally released in the UK in 1965. Never before released in the U.S. it is the Animals fourth British EP, cut at Kingsway Studios in London at 45 RPM snf pressed on 10″ vinyl for audio fidelity. Limited to 3000. tracklisting
How You’ve Changed, I Believe To My Soul, Let The Good Times Roll, Worried Life Blues
Record Store Day’s Best Coast 7″ features two never-before-released b-Sides from the band’s California Nights’ recording sessions. Beautifully packaged in a white sleeve and limited to 3000 copies.
“Late 20s”/”Bigger Man”
Record Store Day’s “Disquaire Day” series of 7″ singles in support of our friends in France. This special edition Doors‘ single features a live version of “Roadhouse Blues” backed with “A Feast of Friends.” Limited to 4,000 copies on white vinyl.
Though they’ve released five albums of original songs over the years,
The Feelies are known to break into covers, especially during their encores. On this special limited edition EP for Record Store Day, TheFeelies “Uncover” some of their favorite songs by some of their biggest influences; Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Doors and Patti Smith. This special EP plays at 45 RPM and is limited to 1200 copies.
Side One :
7 Days (Bob Dylan) Take It As It Comes (The Doors) Side Two
Dancing Barefoot (Patti Smith-Ivan kral) Barstool Blues (Neil Young)
Record Store Day offers the alternative version of Tusk from Fleetwood Mac’s deluxe box set as two LP set on 180 gram black vinyl. Limited to 5,000. Side 1
1. Over and Over
2. The Ledge
3. Think About Me
4. Save Me a Place
5. Sara Side 2
1. What Makes You Think You’re the One
2. Storms
3. That’s All for Everyone
4. Not That Funny
5. Sisters of the Moon Side 3
1. Angel
2. That’s Enough For Me
3. Brown Eyes
4. Never Make Me Cry
5. I Know I’m Not Wrong Side 4
1. Honey Hi
2. Beautiful Child
3. Walk a Thin Line
4. Tusk
5. Never Forget
Two new tracks from the upcoming Hope Sandoval & TheWarm Inventions album, which will be released later in 2016. Features the songs “Isn’t it True” and “She’s in the Wall” on 7″ color vinyl. Each unit is numbered.
To mark the start of a year of Everything Must Go 20th anniversary activity, we are releasing a special edition single of “A Design For Life” exclusively for Record Store Day. Replicating the deluxe packaging and design of the original ADFL singles, the 12” single will be housed in a printed inner sleeve inside a copper Mirricard outer sleeve. Limited to 4,000. SIDE A
1.Manic Street Preachers – A Design for Life
2.Manic Street Preachers – Dead Trees And Traffic Islands SIDE B
1.Manic Street Preachers – A Design For Life (Stealth Sonic Orchestra Remix)
2.Manic Street Preachers – Mr. Carbohydrate The band Nothing releases this 12″ vinyl Pressed on white vinyl, this limited edition Record Store Day release features a song off the band’s latest album on the a-side and a deluxe silk screened b-side – featuring a new track, exclusive to this RSD record. Only 2000 copies made.
“ACD (Abcessive compulsive disorder)”/”Suns and lovers (2016)”
At a Songs:Ohia show in the early ’00s, Jason Molina said to the artist William Schaff that he would love to see himself depicted as one of Schaff’s signature, skull-headed creatures. The two struck up a pen-pal friendship and Schaff sent Jason his picture. In return, he asked for a recording of the Townes Van Zandt covers Jason had performed that night. The pair of Van Zandt covers included here, recorded at Molina’s home on the north side of Chicago, symbolize not only the creative turn Molina’s songwriting had taken (seen in his forthcoming MagnoliaElectric Co. release) from sparse and jagged indie rock to rootsy folk rock, but also a sonic bond between two friends who loved each other’s work very deeply. After learning of Molina’s death in 2013, Schaff spent days pouring over his lengthy correspondence with his friend, with Molina’s oeuvre on repeat. He created the painting that graces the cover of this release in the process: Apropos of everything, a skull-headed creature in flight. This special 7″ release is limited to 3500 copies worldwide.
1. I’ll Be Here In The Morning
2. Tower Song
The Record Store Day alternate version of American Alternative rock musician Matthew Sweet’s third studio album “Girlfriend” features home demos, session recordings and live performances. Limited to 4,000 copies. Side A
1.Divine Intervention
2.Girlfriend
3.Day For Night
4.Thought I Knew You Side B
5.Looking At The Sun
6.Does She Talk
7.You Don’t Love Me Side C
8.Someone To Pull The Trigger
9.I’ve Been Waiting
10.Winona Side D
11.Girlfriend
12.Cortez The Killer
13.Isolation
Following the previous Record Store Day release of Kiss My Amps, Kiss My Amps Vol. II features deep tracks, hits and handpicked covers of The Byrds, Little Feat, The Monkees & The Traveling Wilburys. Pressed on 180g vinyl.
1. So You Want to Be a Rock N Roll Star (Live Beacon Theatre)
2. I’m Not (You’re Steppin Stone) Live Beacon Theatre
3. Love is a Long Road (Live Fonda Theatre)
4. Two Gunslingers (Live Beacon Theatre)
5. When a Kid Goes Bad (Live Fonda Theatre)
6. Willin’ (Live Fonda Theatre)
7. The Best of Everything (Live Fonda Theatre)
8. Tweeter and the Monkey Man (Live Beacon Theatre)
9. Rebels (Live From Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival)
10. A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me) (Live From Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival)
Lucinda celebrates Record Store Day by offering exclusive remixes from her new THE GHOSTS OF HIGHWAY20 album, including Faith and Grace in it’s truest form, and as it was intended, a full 18 minutes long! Limited to 3000 copies.
Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice said that the band never really gave “Leaving You” a physical release so they chose Record Store Day to do it. It also includes the band’s favorite B-side track “White Leather,” with beautiful artwork created by Eden Sailor. Limited to 1500 copies.
“White Leather” b/w “Leaving You”
Ezra records cover songs from artists like Beck, Arcarde Fire and the Replacements and presses them on 12″ silver vinyl for his Record Store Day release. Limited to 500 copies. “A good song takes you far,” sang JacksonBrowne on tour in the 70s. It’s true, and very strange– how these little three-minute compositions crafted on a whim in a bedroom end up bringing us out on planes and highways, into bars and ballrooms and radio stations, pouring out our hearts and lungs for those who themselves were pulled out of their rooms and into the world by the power of song. Browne understood this: he himself was covering Danny O’Keefe’s perfect ode to the bizarre bittersweet life of a traveling musician, and when I listen to it crammed in a van full of instruments speeding across rainy Germany, it hits hard.
I have always played other people’s songs, alone and with friends, at home and on the road. I know our audiences’ main interest is in our original songs, and for that I’m honored. But I can’t seem to stop playing covers. Every time we are preparing to go on tour I can’t help assembling the Boy-Friends and demanding that we learn a new cover song to play live. I listen to so much great music and just ache to be able to inhabit it more fully. I want to be Beck or Melanie or Jackie Wilson. So this record is me playing dress-up, with the help of my incredible band. (Don’t miss that point– the Boy-Friends are an incredible band that can do anything, without whom my voice would not be in your earholes.)
Thanks for indulging us in these cover versions, pieced together from studio recordings, recordings made on tour in backstage rooms and hotels, and a live show in Austria. I’d like to point out that we’ve included a song from every decade since rock’n’roll has been a viable marketing category, the 1950s through the 2010s. You are encouraged to look up the original versions if you’ve never heard them. They blew my mind.” Beck – Devil’s Haircut/Melanie – The Good Book/Arcade Fire – Crown of Love/Replacements – Androgynous/ LCD Soundsystem – I Can Change/Jackie Wilson – Higher and Higher/Little Richard – Ready Teddy
Electric Lady Studios has announced the launch of Electric Lady Records, an ongoing series of carefully curated and limited edition vinyl releases.On August 26th, 2015, the newly formed record company teamed with Patti Smith for a live, recorded performance of her landmark debut LP, Horses, itself originally recorded at the facility in 1975. Recordings from the in-studio appearance will be released on double 180g vinyl for the first time on Record Store Day as the first offering from Electric Lady Records.
1. Gloria 2. Redondo Beach 3. Birdland 4. Free Money 5. Kimberly 6. Break It Up 7. Land (pt. 1 “Horses” pt. 2 “Land Of a Thousand Dances pt. 3 La Mer(de) 8. Elegie
Carlton Melton “aground’ side A:
upon your return / simulacra / phildelayphia.
released ( record store day ) April 16th 2016 on Agitated Records.
andy duvall – drums/guitar , clint golden – bass , rich millman – guitar/synth , phil manley – guitar on ‘phildelayphia’.
recorded and engineered at el studio by phil manley.
mastered by john mcbain at JPM Mastering.
video footage – andy duvall.
Electric Lady Studios has announced the launch of
Electric Lady Records,
an ongo
ing series of carefully curated and limited edition vinyl releases.On August 26th, 2015, the newly formed record company teamed with Patti Smith for a live, recorded performance of her landmark debut LP, Horses, itself originally recorded at the facility in 1975. Recordings from the in-studio appearance will be released on double 180g vinyl for the first time on Record Store Day as the first offering from Electric Lady Records.
1. Gloria 2. Redondo Beach 3. Birdland 4. Free Money 5. Kimberly 6. Break It Up 7. Land (pt. 1 “Horses” pt. 2 “Land Of a Thousand Dances pt. 3 La Mer(de) 8. Elegie
Exactly four decades ago on December 13th, Arista Records released Patti Smith’s debut album, “Horses”.
Horses is the debut studio album by American musician Patti Smith, released on December 13th, 1975. Smith, a fixture of the then-burgeoning New York punk rock music scene, began recording Horses with her band in 1975 , with John Cale being enlisted to produce the album. With its fusion of simplistic rock and roll structures and Patti Smith’s freeform, Beat poetry -infused lyrics, Horses was met with widespread critical acclaim upon its initial release. At the time she recorded Horses, Patti Smith and her band were favorites in the underground club scene along with acts such as Blondie and the Ramones.
The historical importance of Horses is inarguable, above and beyond any particular aesthetic considerations. It introduced, fully formed, a daring new mystic voice in popular music. It referenced a classic persona, that of the androgynous poet/rocker, and gave it an exciting twist: the poet/rocker in question was a woman. And for listeners outside of New York, it was the first real full-length hint of the artistic ferment taking place in the mid-’70s at the juncture of Bowery and Bleecker.
The word “punk” would later be attached to everything CBGB-related, but Horses is more punk in its attitude than in its sound. It takes a cabaret approach to rock, and by cabaret I mean Brecht/Weill, not the Sweeney Sisters. Richard Sohl’s graceful keyboard work drives the arrangements more than Lenny Kaye’s scratchy guitar, and although the band can work up a good head of steam, it tends to do so in a knowingly theatrical way. This music has a deeper affinity to Van Morrison lapsing into animal noises on “Listen to the Lion” than to the primal power of the Ramones.
While we’re on the subject of animal noises, it must be acknowledged that Horses is not always a pleasant listening experience. Smith didn’t intend it to be. Over the course of its 44 minutes,
That is the abiding message of “Gloria” and “Land,” the garage-recitative suites that are Horses’ two centerpieces. The message is conveyed more through the music’s overall mood, the swells and surges of the band, and the sound of Smith’s voice—harsh edge, yearning center—than it is through her words (which, truth be told, verge on gibberish at times, especially during “Land”). And that message further confirms that this album could only have been made by people who were young and starstruck in the ’60s.
It’s true, you don’t have to be familiar with “Gloria” as rendered by the band Them or “Land of 1,000 Dances” version as rendered by Wilson Pickett to appreciate what’s going on here. But it sure helps a lot if you are, and if you subscribe to the notion that three chords and the truth are really all that matters. To quote David Bowie, “Till there was rock, you only had God.”
These holy orgiastic moments are necessary to counterbalance the rest of the disc, much of which—“RedondoBeach,” “Birdland,” “Break It Up,” “Elegie”—is fixated on death. One curious irony about Horses is that an album so closely associated with the beginning of something (punk) is itself so concerned with endings. Its celebrated opening line, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine,” now seems far less significant than its closing ones: “I think it’s sad, it’s much too bad, that our friends can’t be with us today.”
When PattiSmith sang those words, the foremost person in her mind was Jimi Hendrix. Horses was recorded, after all, in the studio he’d built, Electric Lady on 8th Street; Smith had met him there at the studio’s opening party, only weeks before he died. But she was also singing for other departed counterculture heroes like Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Brian Jones. She and her baby boomer peers felt, with some justification, that their lives had already been permanently altered by loss.
The cover photograph for Horses was taken using natural light by American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe a close friend of Smith’s, at the Greenwich Village penthouse apartment of his partner Sam Wagstaff. Smith is depicted wearing a plain white shirt which she had purchased at Salvation Army on the Bowery and slinging a black jacket over her shoulder and her favorite black ribbon around her collar. Embedded on the jacket is a horse pin that Smith’s friend Allen Lanier had given her. The record company wanted to make various changes to the photo, but Smith overruled such attempts. The black and white treatment and unisex pose were a departure from the typical promotional images of “girl singers” of the time, but Smith maintains that she “wasn’t making a big statement. That’s just the way I dressed.”
Forty years later, those losses appear minuscule compared to what Smith has suffered since. Her parents. Her brother. Her artistic kinsman Robert Mapplethorpe, whose photography helped make Horses such an arresting statement. Her bandmate Richard Sohl, whose playing so enlivens the album. And then there are Smith’s listeners, you and I. For how many important people in our own lives are we grieving, and for how many more that we’ve never even met, in New York, Paris, Charleston, San Bernardino, Colorado Springs? In 1975, the final moments of “Elegie” must have been chilling. Today, they’re a guaranteed tearjerker.
All of which is a long way of saying that the kind of pretentiousness and self-indulgence on display in Horses is the kind everyone needs from time to time. It’s a positive thing to be reminded of Smith’s wild-eyed belief in the power of rock to provide catharsis, to soothe, to heal, to transform. Unlike many of her generation, she’s never given up that belief. She was still proclaiming it loud last Sunday through her very presence on stage with U2 in Paris. Would the world be a healthier place if more of us shared her faith? It could be worth a try.
Finally, an album that suggests Los Angeles isn’t a perma-sunny Instagram stream of kale smoothies, Coachella outfits and crystal healing ceremonies. It, too, has disillusioned millennials who can’t make rent, date a decent other and catch a break. That’s the city that Bleached attempt to capture on their second album, though, disappointingly, their peroxide-pop garage-rock is hardly Broad City-goes-punk. Instead, there are familiar tropes about going to shows, being wasted and chasing boys, from Wasted on You (“getting high off the drug that I call you”) to the Weezerish Wednesday Night Melody (“drag the needle on the groove today and waste away”). Occasionally there are moments of wry greatness: grunge homage Desolate Town evokes LA’s surfeit of dead-eyed hipsters (“said you were in a band/why am I not surprised”), while Sour Candy sounds like it’s speeding down Sunset Strip in a Chevrolet. Their songs are both catchy and as casual as a shoulder shrug, but you just wish those worms had dug a little deeper.
“Wednesday Night Melody” from ‘Welcome The Worms’ by Bleached, out on Dead Oceans on April 1st, 2016
On Tuesday, March 8th, Record Store Day held their press conference to celebrate record stores and the launch of the 2016 Official Release list at Electric Lady Studios. Among the panelists were Lenny Kaye of The Patti SmithGroup, Brian Sella of The Front Bottoms, Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz, SamCalagione, founder of Dogfish Head Brewery, Lee Foster of Electric Lady Studios and Wendy Schneider, producer/director of The Smart Studios Story.
Just as Record Store Day celebrates independent record stores of all sizes and specialties, the list is varied and covers nearly every genre of music. Once again this year, nearly 60% of the titles are from independent artists or released through independent labels and distributors.
Several artists, including Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Shawn Colvin & Steve Earle, Jason Molina, Brandi Carlile, Florence + The Machine, Regina Spektor, John Grant, New Barbarians, and over a hundred more will release exclusive tracks for Record Store Day.
Metallica is the official Ambassador of Record Store Day 2016 and is helping RSD support and honor the victims of last year’s tragedy in Paris with the release of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, Metallica! – Live at Le Bataclan. Paris,France – June 11th, 2003, a CD featuring a live recording from the club, with the band, distributor Think Indie, Record Store Day and independent record stores donating proceeds to Fondation de France’s Give For France charity. In addition, Twenty One Pilots, Anthrax, and The Doors will be releasing Disquaire Day 7” singles in a show of solidarity and to celebrate the relationship between Record StoreDay and Disquaire Day, between French record stores and US record stores, and between American and French lovers of music, art and culture. In addition, Record Store Day will see special releases from French artists Air, Erik Satie and Metal Urbain, as well as a recording of Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers’ 1977 final gig, also at Le Bataclan in Paris.
Record Store Co-founder Carrie Colliton said, “Record Store Day is not about a single genre of music or a single format, but Record Store Day has drawn a whole new audience of music fans into the world of independent record stores. This year’s line-up should continue to do that and we’ll hopefully continue to introduce the next generation of record buyers to both vinyl and the unique world of the record store.”
“Eat It” was the decisively-titled Humble Pie album that made its chart debut exactly 43 years ago and progressed into the top 15, during a five-month chart run in the US.
The album saw the British rock band growing ever more confident and autonomous. A double LP and their seventh studio release, Eat It was the first Humble Pie record to be made in Steve Marriott’s new home studio, ClearSounds, in Essex. What resulted was a set showcasing the group’s influences in an ambitious and imaginative way.
This album showcases the dynamic diversity and talent of Steve Marriott’s gritty bluesy vocals with some funky soul mixed in throughout along with straight ahead blistering rockers. The band is right on and they deliver an extremely energetic powerhouse combination on this double album that overall ranks with their best along with Smokin’andPerformance Rockin’ The Fillmore.
Each of the four vinyl sides was themed, showing both the current direction of Humble Pie, and where they’d come from. Side one had them rocking their way through four new Marriott compositions; side two featured R&B covers such as Ike & Tina Turner’s ‘Black Coffee,’ Ray Charles’ ‘I Believe To My Soul’ and the much-covered soul number probably best known by Otis Redding, ‘That’s How Strong My Love Is.’
Side three of “Eat It” was comprised of four more Marriott songs, but this time performed in acoustic style; side four was recorded live, with the band’s own ‘Up Our Sleeve’ alongside the Rolling Stones cover ‘Honky TonkWomen’ and Holland-Dozier-Holland’s Motown gem ‘(I’m A) Road Runner.’
“Hard rock and blues accompaniment blend perfectly on this double LP,” Assisting the British quartet are ClydieKing, Venetta Fields and Billie Barnum, whose unison singing acts like horns to the band’s guitar lines.”
The band led into the album’s release with some shows in Britain, including one at the London Palladium. But in the week it hit the US chart, they were on the road there for extensive touring, augmented by Japanese dates in the spring. The album was on the UK chart for two weeks in April 1973,
Steve Marriott – Guitars, Harmonica, Keyboards, Remixing, Vocals
The band Nothing releases this 12″ vinyl Pressed on white vinyl, this limited edition Record Store Day release features a song off the band’s latest album on the a-side and a deluxe silk screened b-side – featuring a new track, exclusive to this RSD record. Only 2000 copies made.
Following the previous Record Store Day release of Kiss My Amps, Kiss My Amps Vol. II features deep tracks, hits and handpicked covers of The Byrds, Little Feat, The Monkees & The Traveling Wilburys. Pressed on 180g vinyl.
