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Greetings Sorry Staters. Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter and for all your support. Whether that’s from reading this, using our webstore or visiting us in person. It means a lot. You guys treat us so well. One of you even calls on each of our birthdays to wish us the best. How nice is that? Talking of birthdays, one of the gang, Seth, celebrated the other day (soz I couldn’t come out) and had people over. He took the opportunity to give Daniel this totally amazing diorama of the Sorry State store that is so f’in cool. Like a fantastic, detailed doll’s house but full of miniature punk and metal records instead. We’re still figuring a way to display it at the store, but will post pictures once we have it installed properly. Nice one Seth.
Another busy week for us at the store made especially so by Record Store Day, which will have happened by the time you are reading this, but right now it’s Thursday for me writing and we still have several boxes of RSD titles to be delivered. This year the day falls on 4/20, which should make it fun if you live in a part of the country where enjoying the herb won’t land you in jail. For those of you reading outside of the United States, I understand how confusing it is to look at America and figure out how life and citizens’ rights can change drastically depending on which state or even county one lives in. Trust me, it’s a major head fuck for many of us and now with the attack on women’s rights going on it’s just getting worse. Please dear God can the voters make all this Maga shit go away in November? Please.
Back to Record Store Day. Without getting into a big debate about the pros and cons of it, I still feel there is cool stuff getting released. As a music lover first and foremost, and someone who’s preferred listening format is vinyl records, I appreciate when an unreleased piece of music is made available or when a super rare and hard to find record gets repressed. If they do it right and keep the price accessible, then what’s not to like? Anyway, did you find something cool for yourself? I’ve got my beady eye on one or two things, so we’ll see whether I’m able to snag something once the day is done. It does seem that there are a few things we ordered where we didn’t get as many copies as we wanted. Such is the case with more and more stores getting in the game. No big deal.
In other store news, we recently acquired a decent cassette tape collection. Jeff teased with a glimpse of some last week. Lots of cool Metal, Indie, Alternative and hip-hop titles and covering the 90s era where vinyl versions of some of these either don’t exist or were pressed in small quantities and can be tough to find. Tapes, although having their own shortcomings, can sound great and for the most part are a cheaper way to collect music than vinyl records. We’ll be putting these guys out on the floor as space permits over the next week or so. Local tape heads come through and check them out. I snagged one by female rapper Antoinette that I didn’t know about from 1989 called Who’s The Boss? I liked it. Good funk sample-based stuff similar to Salt ‘N’ Pepper and MC Lyte. Recommended. There were also a ton of cassette singles which I am still trying to match covers with tapes. I found a Public Enemy Fight The Power taken from the Do The Right Thing soundtrack. Cool ‘cos it has the extended version on it.
Vinyl wise, we got a bunch of cool stuff in this week. Obviously, the latest Taylor Swift was top of everyone’s want list, but in addition to that I can highly recommend the Montaña record. These guys are from Spain, and you can read all about them in Jeff’s staff pick elsewhere in this newsletter if you haven’t already. Cool post-punk stuff.
My pick for you though is the reissue of the Aspirations album by Australian punkers X. A killer record that will fit right in with your Saints, Radio Birdman and Victims LPs. We just got in a repress of this record from the good folks at Dirt Cult Records.
X were from Sydney and formed in 1977, recording their debut in late 1979 for a 1980 release. Original pressings have been tough to score over the years, but several labels have kept it in print, so finding one isn’t too tough, but due to the quality of the music any version has become desirable, hence this most recent pressing being made available to satisfy the marketplace. I don’t own an original,but have a repress from the early 00s. To be honest, I only discovered the band for myself in the 90s from hearing the single I Don’t Want To Go Out on a compilation. My radar was already tuned to the Australian scene, although my preferences were for the 60s groups in the main. However, anything like Radio Birdman and The Saints from the punk era hit the spot too.
X chose their name at the same time that the Los Angeles X were forming and both bands were unaware of each other. The Australian X was formed by bass player Ian Rilen, who left Rose Tattoo (he would rejoin them later in the 80s), and guitarist and vocalist Steve Lucas, guitarist Ian Krahe and drummer Steve Cafiero. The band played the Sydney scene and quickly became popular with those clued up on the punk music coming from the UK and USA. Krahe became known for his guitar playing style whereby he didn’t use a pick and would bloody his hands thrashing away. He would sadly pass away before the band recorded Aspirations. So as a three piece and with Lobby Loyde of Rose Tattoo producing, they recorded their debut, apparently in five hours. Loyde would end up in the producer’s chair for X’s second and third albums later in the 80s. Most people seem to agree that their second LP At Home With You from 1985 is their strongest record, but there is something about the raw, short and sharp impact of their debut that appeals. It is short too, just over a half hour but in the world of punk that almost seems like a double album opus. My favorite track is I Don’t Want To Out, which has a great funky bass line and a funny vocal chorus. That cut was selected for a single release and good luck trying to find one of those. There are a lot more good songs on the album: opener Suck Suck followed by Present and then Simulated Lovers are all worth the price of admission. They even make like The Jam and throw in a cover of the Batman theme for good measure.
If you dig this period of the band and like good Aussie pub rock/punk, then definitely check out Live At The Civic ’79, which was released by Dropkick Records 2004. It’s a good quality recording done for radio at the time. In addition, Dirt Cult have put out a 7” E.P. called Hate City that has tracks recorded as early as 1977 and are the only ones to feature the original four-piece line-up. We have a few available along with the current repress of the Aspirations album. Check ‘em out. My only complaint with the current reissue of the album is the changed artwork and the lack of any insert with band and track information. Not that you need a full bio necessarily with the internet, but some details and some photos might have been nice. Still, the music is what counts, and Aspirations is a great punk record worthy of any collection and this version will deliver the sounds to you if nothing else. The artwork change was apparently sanctioned by only surviving member, Steve Lucas, so it is with reason and not bad, but I prefer the original.
Okay, I must stop here and get this in before deadline. Thanks for reading.
Cheers - Dom