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What’s up Sorry Staters? Good to be with you for another SSR newsletter. I’m writing whilst battling a severe headache, unfortunately. It is something that has just started being a problem. It’s my eyes and looking at screens that does it, so after five decades of perfect vision I am going to have to see about getting my eyes checked and glasses. So, writing anything this week is a struggle, and I will not be giving you all a long ass review on anything. It was so bad yesterday I couldn’t even go down the pub and celebrate Liverpool winning the league. I’ll make sure I’m with people for the final day and trophy lift, though. Fantastic win and I’m made up.
There have been a ton of cool records come through the store these past few weeks, both new and used. We also just got over Record Store Day and I have to say there were a lot of worthy releases this year. Depending on your tastes, of course. Mine are broad, so it cost me this year. I feel guilty and almost ashamed to brag about anything that I got because I really should not be spending so much on records. Before anyone gets their panties in a wad, I didn’t take anything that we didn’t get multiple copies of, and the last thing I grabbed was left unsold at the end of the day, so I didn’t feel like I took it from anyone that had lined up outside all morning. I can promise you we would not do that to you, our customers. That would be lame.
Since RSD there have been plenty of good new releases, I thought. I’m a big fan of The Liminanas, and their new album Faded is them at their best still, after a dozen plus years of solid albums and singles. This one features vocal guest appearances from Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream and also Jon Spencer, he of Blues Explosion. Kudos to adding another great cover of Louie Louie to the books. Sounding more like Serge Gainsbourg if he was having a go himself. Great stuff.
Daniel told me to check out Craneo, an L.A. punk garage band, and I liked the record a lot. Good time rock and roll riffs in the vein of Oblivians and The Dirtbombs, etc. and sung in Spanish. If that’s your bag, check them out.
Arriving the same day was another record Daniel said I might like, and that was Robert The Record. We got a few reissues of this one that originally came out in 1986. The record is credited to Robert, but is the work of ?Fog. They were from Auckland, New Zealand and were an arts collective also known as ?Fog Enterprises. The question mark is intentional and correct. Just like so much cool music that comes out of NZ, these guys sound familiar and have detectable influences, but also sound unique and ahead of the curve. The sound here is Alternative Rock with an Indie twist and some Post Punk for good measure. Hard to pigeonhole, which is always a good thing in my book. The reissue comes with a decent size booklet with interviews, photos and relevant info. I can see why Daniel appreciates this record, as there is a Fall-like approach to their music and the fact that they were members of an underground community. Always full marks for that. Investigate.
We had a cool midweek show this week where locals Paranoid Maniac and Scarecrow warmed the crowd up for Jail, visiting from Detroit, as part of their southern tour. A show they almost didn’t make, as their van broke down just a few miles out of town. Luckily, a hero who goes by the name of Larry swooped in and saved the day and helped the guys get to the venue on time to play a kick ass set. The lads dropped off a couple of copies of their long player, which we might already be sold out of, but go see them if they are in your town.
John Scott and I were jamming several of the reissues of South American Cumbia, Garage and Post Punk that came in this week. I would definitely steer you towards Mercenarias from Brazil if you like more experimental DIY Post punk. They were around in the 80s. We’ve had reissues of their stuff before and there’s a cool collection on them from Soul Jazz Records. The one we got in has a bunch of demos and live recordings.
Los Saicos from Peru recorded a handful of cool garage singles in the mid-1960s that sounded as if they could have come out of the Pacific Northwest and been part of the scene with The Sonics and The Wailers, etc. These recordings have been reissued before, but this edition comes with a nice booklet containing lots of unseen photos.
We will hopefully start to add more titles like this one from Vampi Soul, Cumbia Cumbia Cumbia!!! It’s a banger start to finish and delivers exactly what the title promises. Like Los Saicos, all these artists are from Peru. You’ll never find half of these records as originals, so a compilation like this is essential.
Okay, I can barely look at the screen anymore. No joke. Damn stupid aging body.
There was one Record Store Day release that both John Scott and I had our eyes on and wanted, and that was the mystery-colored Easter Egg shaped vinyl limited to 1500, Peanuts’ The Easter Beagle. I mean, who wouldn’t want that? With a cool picture of Woodstock in his pad chilling and listening to his funny looking Hi-Fi as artwork, hell yeah! Anyway, with the internet already listing said record for $300 before the actual day and knowing it would be popular, JS and I did the right thing and did a little catch and release, making at least two people happy. There was also a full length of alternate recordings to Vince Guaraldi’s Jazz Impressions Of A Boy Named Charlie Brown album. That was cool. To ease the feeling of missing out on those gems, I went home and pulled out my Peanuts related records and put on one called Good Grief! It’s a nice collection of some of the more popular Charlie Brown themes and was released originally back in 1968, but kept in print throughout the 1970s and 1980s. At the time, though, this was one of only a few vinyl records where fans of the Peanuts specials could hear some of the themes heard on the shows. It wasn’t until the late 1990s and the CD reissue era when we could hear more of the music. More recently there have been a whole series of vinyl reissues of the various specials, which we have stocked, and I know I and John Scott have talked about here in the newsletter. You really need these for the tons of great music that are on them and all the cool photos and information that each came with.
So yeah, that’s all I got for you this week I’m afraid. Back to lying down in the dark for me.
See you around these parts or at the store next time you’re passing through.
Cheers - Dom