It’s Super Fly New Vinyl Thursday at The Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven. Check out this week’s list of new vinyl arrivals:
311 – Mardi Gras 2020
A Tribe Called Quest – Low End Theory
A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders
Ali Toure Farka – Ali & Toumani
Andrew Cyrille – Lebroba
The Animals – The Best of The Animals
Brian Eno – Film Music 1976-2020
Beach Bunny – Blame Game
Weekly Review:
Less than a year after dropping their debut album Honeymoon, Chicago-based indie rockers Beach
Bunny are back with the Blame Game EP.
The four songs ride a peppy wave of upbeat energy that recalls Best Coast, Bleached or The Beths.
(What is about female-fronted indie bands all starting with the letter B?) The Blame Game EP has lots of
big guitars, catchy vocals that are easy for singing along and enough quirks to keep the band indie for a
while longer.
Blame Game’s 15 joyous minutes disappear faster than an ice cream cone in July. The arrangements
built around fuzzy guitars and massive melodies have me drooling over the time when we can all pogo
to these rhythms at a local club.
After the curveballs of 2020 and this year’s calamity, it may be a long winter. Let Blame Game kill those
blues. -Joel Francis
The Beatles – The Beatles: White Album (DELUXE EDITION 4LP, 180 Gram Vinyl)
Beastie Boys – Licensed To Ill
Beyonce – Lemonade [180 gram Vinyl]
Billie Eilish – Don’t Smile At Me
Billy Strings – Home
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
Bon Jovi – Cross Road
Bill Withers – Greatest Hits
Weekly Review:
Soul singer Bill Withers didn’t have a typical career arc. He was 32 years old when his first album came
out in 1970. Fifteen years later, Withers walked away from music, upset at his label. He never released
another album.
While Withers’ contemporaries built their productions around intricate horn charts and rhythms
designed to fill the dance floor, much of Withers’ music stems from his gently strummed acoustic guitar.
Withers time away from the spotlight may have diminished his cultural cache, but his music continued
to influence. When Withers died in April, 2020, tributes poured in from Stevie Wonder, Lin-Manuel
Miranda, Brian Wilson, Chance the Rapper, Kacey Musgraves, Mark Ronson and many more. The
diversity of this group speaks to the reach of Withers’ music.
First issued in 1981, Greatest Hits rounds up 10 of Withers’ best-loved songs. Most of these are songs
you know, even if you don’t know who sang them: “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Just the Two of Us,” “Lean on
Me,” “Use Me.” There’s not a bad song in the bunch, but at 35 minutes Greatest Hits also feels a bit
brief. A solid sampler, Greatest Hits whets the appetite for more. Once you’ve devoured this, move on
to his first three albums. -Joel Francis
Chet Baker – Chet
The Cure – Seventeen Seconds [180 gram vinyl]
Curtis Mayfield – Super Fly
Doug Carn, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad – Jazz Is Dead 5
Weekly Review:
The duo of Adrian Young and Ali Shaheed Muhammad are perhaps best known for their score on the
Luke Cage TV show. Throughout 2020, the pair has released several albums in their Jazz Is Dead series.
As the name implies, for the fifth installment they have partnered with Hammond B-3 organist Doug
Carn. He may not be a household name, but Carns released several influential albums in the 1970s and
has worked with Earth, Wind and Fire, Nat Adderly and many others.
The rhythm section comprised of Muhammad’s acoustic bass, Carns’ organ and drumming from Malachi
Morehead are locked in from the first note and guaranteed to keep your butt moving and head nodding
throughout. Alto saxophonist Shai Golan and trumpet player Zach Ramacier provide the ornamentation,
as on the contemplative “Down Deep” and the chromatic “Processions.”
As with the other volumes of Jazz is Dead, Young and Muhammad have created a space where for their
guest to flourish. Everyone who listens benefits. If you like ‘70s jazz with a soulful edge or a funky slice of
Blackplotiation, Jazz is Dead 5 is for you. -Joel Francis
Dababy – Blame It On Baby
Danny Elfman – Batman Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
David Bowie – Station To Station
Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms [180 gram Vinyl]
Dire Straits – Communique
Dire Straits – Dire Straits
Dire Straits – Making Movies
Durand Jones – American Love Call
Eric Johnson – Ah Via Musicom [180 gram Vinyl]
Eminem – The Eminem Show
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP [180 gram Vinyl]
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Bang!… The Greatest Hits of Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Welcome To The Pleasuredome
Genesis – A Trick Of The Trail [180 gram Vinyl]
Glass Animals – Dreamland
Guided by Voices – Styles We Paid For
The Grateful Dead – Skeleton From The Closet: Best of Grateful Dead
Harry Styles – Harry Style [180 gram Vinyl]
Horace Silver – Song For My Father
Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden
Jeff Tweedy – Love Is the King
Weekly Review:
Jeff Tweedy has been unusually prolific lately and we are all the better for it. When Tweedy’s band Wilco
went on hiatus a few years ago, he used the time to write his biography and release two companion solo
albums.
Undeterred by last year’s pandemic lockdown, Tweedy wrote the book How to Write One Song aimed at
helping everyone uncover her or his inner artist. The concurrent album Love is the King is a mellow, folky
collection of tunes that seems to explicitly highlight how one can turn ordinary thoughts and feelings
into a hummable melody.
“If I may have your attention please,” Tweedy starts on the song “Even I Can See.” “I’ll tell you about my
wife and what she means to me.” On “Opaline” he observes “I hear the police outside my window/I can
hear them talking on their radios.”
Tweedy uses these deceptively straightforward stanzas to flip them into something profound and
hopeful. How a bird’s song can restore the damage inflicted upon your soul by a day of doomscrolling.
The comfort of a hand buried inside your own. How the love of a good partner is better than eating a
tomato off the vine.
At times, Love is King plays like Farmer’s Almanac proverbs for indie rockers, nuggets of homespun
insight wrapped in twang and twine. It’s easy to imagine the starting point for these songs appearing
during restless late-night hours when your brain won’t shut up, but the conclusions are usually found
when the curtains are opened to let the light in. -Joel Francis
Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland [180 gram Vinyl]
Johnny Cash – The Essential Johnny Cash
Kurt Vile – Speed, Sound, Lonely KV
Weekly Review:
The death of John Prine last spring was a warning that COVID-19 was going to be a ruthless assassin.
Indie singer/songwriter Kurt Vile pays tribute to his friendship with and admiration of Prine on this
excellent EP. Vile put aside his electric guitar for acoustic instruments, giving the album a laid-back,
country-folk feel.
Although the release’s five songs were recorded in spurts over four years, they hang together nicely. A
cover of Cowboy Jack Clement’s “Gone Girl” rests comfortably next to a pair of Vile originals: the start-
stop “Dandelions” and relaxed “Pearls.”
But Prine is the heart and soul of this release. Vile opens with a faithful cover of Prine’s “Speed of the
Sound of Loneliness.” Later, Vile and Prine duet on “How Lucky,” recorded at one of Prine’s last sessions.
The performance flows like a warm conversation and feels like a bear hug from your best friend.
Speed, Sound, Lonely KV isn’t a major statement like, say, “Walkin on a Pretty Daze.” It is a modest
release that sounds like a comfortable afternoon visit from an old friend and reminds you to celebrate
the people who lift your spirit while they are still around. -Joel Francis
Kansas – The Point of Know Return [180 Gram Vinyl]
Kendrick Lamar – Untitled Unmastered
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Infest the Rats Nest
The Kinks – Best of The Kinks 1964-1970
The Kinks – Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
The Kinks – Something Else By The Kinks
Lamb of God – Hourglass: The Vinyl Anthology
Le Deal – Jazz Traficantes
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Second Helping
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Street Survivors
Mac Miller – Swimming
Marvin Gaye – Every Great Motown Hit of Marvin Gaye
Matthew Harshall – Sending My Love
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
Miles Davis – On The Corner [180 gram Vinyl]
Miles Davis – Live In Europe 1969 [180 gram Vinyl]
Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West
Morphine – Cure for Pain [180 gram Vinyl]
Nas – Illmatic
Nine Inch Nails – Quake [180 Gram Vinyl]
Nirvana – Unplugged In NY
Otis Redding – Lonely and Blue: The Deepest Soul of Otis Redding
Outkast – Stankonia
Paul McCartney – McCartney III [180 gram Vinyl]
Peter Tosh – Mama Africa [180 gram Vinyl]
Pixies – Doolittle [180 gram Vinyl]
Portishead – Dummy
Post Malone – Hollywood’s Bleeding
Prince – Purple Rain [180 gram Vinyl]
Public Enemy – What You Gonna Do When The Grid Is Down?
Pylon – Gyrate [140 gram Vinyl]
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magic
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Greatest Hits
Rihanna – Loud
Rihanna – Talk That Talk
Run The Jewels – RTJ4
The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed [180 gram vinyl]
Sara Bareilkes – Amidst The Chaos [180 gram Vinyl]
Sleater-Kinney – Hot Rock
Sturgill SImpson – Cuttin Grass
Sturgill Simpson – Sound & Fury
Sturgill Simpson – High Top Mountain
Sacbe – Sacbe
Twisted Sister – Come Out and Play
Weekly Review:
Twisted Sister fought their way to the top of the Long Island bar scene (documented in the excellent film
“We Are Twisted F-ing Sister”) and dropped a major-label debut that sold over a million copies and had
a Top 40 hit, but the Clinique quintet fizzled out after the release of this album in 1985.
The album opens ominously to the sound of clinking glass bottles and a rising chant before the drums
and guitar slam into gear. It’s a cinematic metal moment that stands up to anything Ratt, Quiet Riot,
Dokken or the other hair metal bands of the time were offering. The other metal tracks are also very
good: “Kill or Be Killed,” “The Fire Still Burns” and “Lookin’ Out for No. 1.” If the band would have put
these four songs on a stop-gap EP they’d likely have continued to fill arenas and exist in the same
rarified air as Motley Crue.
The problem with Come Out and Play lies in its other six tracks. “You Got What We Want,” “Out on the
Streets” and “I Believe in Rock n Roll” are mall metal, designed to race up the charts and let suburban
kids pretend to rebel. Even worse is the power ballad “I Believe in You” and the two covers released as
singles.
More than 35 years later, Come Out and Play still sounds like a band trying to have it both ways and
winding up with neither. -Joel Francis
Tame Impala – Currents
Tom Petty – Wildflower & All The Rest
Traffic – The Studio Records 1967-1974
Tyler The Creator – Igor
Tyler The Creator – Goblin
Uncle Tupelo – Anodyne
Van Halen – Fair Warning [180 gram Vinyl]
Various – Friday: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Various Artists – Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968
Various Artists – Singles Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Waylon Jennings – Original Outlaw
Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil
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Here’s where we talk about the virus. We are all freaked out. We are all nervous and anxious. We are OPEN. If you want to come shop in person put on your mask and we will say hello, give you a virtual high five- a virtual hug if we know you that well- and we will keep our distance. We love all of our customers and are glad to keep this little bit of normalcy in these crazy times. With that being said, we will also offer various other ways to get your vinyl fix. We have always shipped music and we will continue to do so. We also offer curbside pick up. Call us, pay, call us when you are outside and we will deliver your freshly sanitized purchase to your car.
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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, Dave and Max
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