It’s Marilyn Manson New Vinyl Thursday at The Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven. Check out this week’s list of new vinyl arrivals:
1000 Gecs -1000 Gecs And The Tree Of Clues [Green Colored Vinyll]
All Them Witches – Nothing as the Ideal
Weekly Review:
Stoner rock has always had deep connections to Black Sabbath, and the sixth album from All Them
Witches is no exception. The album starts slowly with chiming bells and ominous sounds give way to a
lone electric guitar. Finally, after two and a half minutes heavy guitars and drums emerge to pummel the
listener. The mood persists through the next song before the tranquil “Everest” (echoing shades of
Sabbath’s “Laguna Sunrise”) clears the palate.
Yet All Them Witches are far from Sabbath knock-off. “The Children of Coyote Women” displays the
band’s Nashville roots with a Southern gothic feel. Finale “Rats in Ruin” ends with a lengthy, triumphant
slide guitar solo as the band continues to build in intensity, almost like “Freebird” for the stoner rock
crowd.
Operating for the first time as a trio, Nothing as the Ideal has such an immersive sound that the organ
sound so prevalent on previous Witches albums is hardly missed. If you are already a fan of Sleep or
Queens of the Stone Age – the standard-bearer of the stoner/desert rock genre – All Them Witches
might seem too restrained. For everyone else, Nothing as the Ideal is a great entry point to the genre:
accessible, inviting and exciting. -Joel Francis
Ambrose Akinmusire – On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment [180 Gram Vinyl, Gatefold LP Jacket]
Bright Eyes – Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
Weekly Review:
It’s been almost 10 years since Bright Eyes released an album and they have not missed a beat. The most recent release, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was is a moving collage of sound. It’s thoughtful, emotional, and offers new surprises every time you listen. It’s a perfectly crafted audio cocktail that if all you saw was the recipe you’d never think the ingredients would work together, let alone form something that blends so effortlessly.
Start with Dance and Sing, the second track on the album (the first track is mostly noise). The song levels up at every turn, starting with just a guitar and piano, adding drums, then bass, orchestra, lap steel, and then finally a choir… It’s an avalanche of sound where the closer it gets to the end the more power it builds. Combined with Connor Oberst’s pensive, stream of consciousness vocals it’s a compelling mix of music.
I’ve probably listened to this album more than any others this year, and I’ve yet to not find something new each time. On Persona Non Grata there is a bagpipe solo and on Mariana Trench we get a taste of Baritone sax. It’s an ever-expanding canvas of sounds, samples and noises. Combine that will the bass playing of Flea (The Red Hot Chili Peppers) and drumming of Jon Theodore (Mars Volta, Queens of the Stone Age) and you’ve got a Jackson Pollock of sound.
The album is a 2x LP with one translucent red and one translucent orange disc, with a cut out through the middle of the jacket that showcases both discs (front and back). It’s a beautiful package for a beautiful album. -Brad Simmons
Betty Davis – Nasty Gal (Gatefold LP Jacket, Remastered)
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
Black Sabbath – Paranoid [Limited Edition. 180 gram Vinyl, Black]
Budgie – Budgie [Limited Edition, Picture Disc Vinyl]
Budgie – Squawk [Limited Edition, Picture Disc Vinyl]
The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds [180 gram Vinyl, Mono Sound]
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique 20th Anniversary Edition [Remastered, 180 gram Vinyl]
The Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill [30th Anniversary Edition]
The Beatles – Revolver [Remastered, 180 gram Vinyl]
The Beatles – Rubber Soul [Remastered, 180 gram Vinyl]
The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
Bob Marley – Legend (180 Gram Vinyl, Special Edition, Reissue
Cocteau Twins – Garlands
Cocteau Twins – Victorialand
The Cranberries – Dreams: The Collection
Collective Soul – Hints, Allegations & Things Left Unsaid
Collective Soul – Collective Soul [25th Anniversary Edition]
The Donnas – Spend the Night
Def Leppard – The Story So Far: The Best Of Def Leppard (180 Gram Vinyl)
Dinosaur Jr – Without A Sound (Gatefold LP Jacket, Colored Vinyl, Yellow, Deluxe Edition, Expanded Version)
Evangeline Gentle – Evangeline Gentle
Ellioitt Smith – self-titled (expanded 25th anniversary edition)
Weekly Review:
Elliott Smith’s seminal self-titled sophomore album gets the white glove treatment for its 25th
anniversary. The album was remastered and paired with a live set recorded in Portland, Ore., almost a
year before the album’s release.
Elliott Smith – the album – is a triumph in a similar vein as Nick Drake’s Pink Moon. If you haven’t heard
Elliott Smith, open a new browser tab, listen to it RIGHT NOW and come back when you’re done. We will
wait. (Hint: You will never be done with Elliott Smith’s self-titled album.)
The live set is reportedly the earliest known recording of Smith in concert. It’s just him and a guitar in a
coffee shop for a little over half an hour. Only one song from his upcoming sophomore release is in the
set, and just two songs from his debut appear. Smith doesn’t really talk much, except when he brings
Neil Gust onstage to help with “Half Right,” which the pair had just written together that day. It’s all very
casual – just a guy, his guitar and his songs. Except that guy happens to be Elliott Smith, which is why
we’re talking about that otherwise nondescript day more than a quarter of a century later and why you
are going to have to buy this album. -Joel Francis
Elizabeth Cook – Aftermath
The Heliocentrics – Telemetric Sounds
Jason Isbell – Live from Alabama
Johnny Burnette – Johnny Burnette & the Rock ‘N’ Roll Trio
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin 2 [Remastered, 180 gram Vinyl]
Loren Oden – Adrian Younge presents Loren Oden: My Heart My Love
Love – Love [180 gram Vinyl]
Lauryn Hill – Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Marcus King – El Dorado [180 gram Vinyl]
Marilyn Manson – WE ARE CHAOS
Modest Mouse – Modest Mouse : Lonesome Crowded West
Nas – Illmatic
PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love
PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love – Demos
Panic! At the Disco – A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out
Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother (180 Gram Vinyl, Gatefold LP Jacket)
Pink Floyd – Final Cut [180 gram Vinyl, Gatefold LP Jacket]
Primus – Sailing the Seas of Cheese
Prince – Purple Rain [Remastered, 180 gram Vinyl]
The Pretty Things – Get The Picture
Queen – Night at the Opera [180 Gram Vinyl]
The Raveonettes – Pretty in Black [Crystal Clear Vinyl, Limited Edition, 180 gram Vinyl]
The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed 50th Anniversary Edition [180 gram Vinyl]
Rolling Stones – Goat’s Head Soup
Weekly Review:
The Stones’ 13th U.S. long-player has a reputation for being the album that ended the band’s incredible
hot streak. A new four LP anniversary set tries to correct this history, with mixed results.
“Dancing with Mr. D” starts the record on a tepid note and it takes the last two songs – “Angie” and
“Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” – to rescue the side. The second side is better just because it
doesn’t try as hard. “Silver Train” recall’s the better moments on Exile on Main Street. “Winter” is a
beautiful downtempo number to which anyone who has experienced a season that just won’t let go –
meteorological or otherwise – can relate. The performance is so good it almost makes up for the malaise
plaguing the weaker numbers.
The big draw in the outtakes that come with the new deluxe version is “Scarlet,” a jam featuring Jimmy
Page that was recorded about a year after Soup’s release. The outtake “Criss Cross” is so strong I’m not
sure why it didn’t make the album. Strangely, early versions of “Waiting on a Friend” and “Tops,” songs
recorded during the Soup sessions but weren’t released until 1981’s Tattoo You, are nowhere to be
found. The concert shows the Stones were still a top-notch stage act in 1973, but the four Soup songs
they burn through in the middle of the set clearly aren’t on par with the surrounding material.
Is Goats Head Soup better than remembered? Maybe, but probably not. Either way, it’s certainly fun to
play pretend with the wealth of material in this collection. -Joel Francis
Rage Against The Machine – Evil Empire [180 gram Vinyl]
Selena – Ones [Re-Release, Limited Edition, Picture Disc Vinyl]
Slipknot -Slipknot [Limited Edition]
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
Sonic Youth – Evol
Sonic Youth – Sister
Spoon – Everything Hits At Once: The Best Of Spoon
Stevie Vaughan – The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble
The Talking Heads – Talking heads: 77 [180 gram Vinyl]
Weezer – Weezer (Blue Album)
Weezer – Weezer [Green Album]
XTC – Oranges and Lemons
Weekly Review:
Oranges and Lemons is an album you will know within a few moments if you love, yet will continue to
display new twists and bring joy over repeated listens.
Newly remastered with the band’s approval, XTC’s 11 th album opens with a few seconds of studio
trickery before Andy Partridge’s vocals, a popping bass and guitars more jagged than jangly burst in.
“Mayor of Simpleton” brings another dose of ear candy, while Colin Moulding’s “King for a Day” is a
better Paul McCartney song than the man himself was writing at the time.
A double album, Oranges and Lemons combines the fully formed songwriting on Skylarking, the band’s
previous album, with the psych pop of their Dukes of Stratosphear projects. The vivid colors and
psychedelic artwork are echoed throughout the album. Producer Paul Fox – best known at the time for
his work with the Commodores and Pointer Sisters – gives everything a bright ‘80s sound. Vintage mind-
bending ‘60s production sounds like backwards guitars, Indian percussion and sound effects frequently
creep into songs.
There may not be an overarching concept or message threaded through the 15 songs on Oranges and
Lemons, the songs hang together through virtue of their day-glow aesthetic. Bright and poppy, they
sound very much of their time, indebted to another time, yet somehow, also, timeless. -Joel Francis
XTC – Skylarking (200 Gram Vinyl)
Yo La Tengo – Electr-o-Pura
Weekly Review:
The third album with bass player James McNew, Yo La Tengo’s Electr-O-Pura often gets overlooked
because of the classic albums recorded before and after its 1995 release. While Electro-Pur-A doesn’t
have the indie rock cred of Painful and the commercial appeal of I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, it
still has a lot to love.
“Decora” opens the album with a squeal of feedback and Georgia Hubley’s reassuring voice, while
“Pablo and Andrea” is a beautiful pillow that rests on Ira Kaplan’s gentle singing. Nestled in between is
“Tom Courtney,” possibly YLT’s best song. Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground are an obvious
touchstone, but you can also hear the influence of Joni Mitchell and the Beatles pop up across the
album’s 14 impeccable songs.
Electr-o-Pura has never fallen out of print, but for its 25 th anniversary, the one-hour album is now spread
across four sides of vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve. It is the perfect excuse to add this jewel to your
collection.
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
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Enjoy the music and we will see you soon. Your loving Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven staff:
Sherman, Gordon, Cat, Matt, Dylan, Doyle, Heather and Max
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