News

What’s up Sorry Staters?

I’m feeling a little fried at the moment. Why? Shit, definitely has nothing to do with the Super Bowl. I honestly forgot that was even happening while I was at work on Sunday. I couldn’t even tell you which teams were playing. Seriously. Maybe I’m worn out because I overdid it on the beer and vegan cheese dip while at my friend’s birthday party the other night while homies were doing karaoke renditions of “Freak on a Leash” by Korn? Yeah, that’s gotta be it. I’ve also been working on getting details together for Public Acid’s European tour later this year. More to announce on that front in the weeks to come.

Also, attention NC locals reading this: There are a couple of cool punk gigs coming up in Raleigh, so mark your calendars! I’ll announce the full lineups and get Daniel to include the flyers for these in the next week or two. Here’s what I’ve got cookin’:

-April 2nd- PAPRIKA (NOLA) @ The Pour House
-April 24th- JAIL (DETROIT) @ Neptunes

My staff pick this week is kind of a funny one that caught me by surprise. This past weekend, I happened to quickly pop into a local shop just down the street from where I live called Nice Price Books. Nice Price is a long running store here in Raleigh that sells used books, records, VHS, and other knick knacks. Every now and then, I’ll wander in there and find some cool punk records. I always think to myself, “Huh, I wonder who sold these?” Because I imagine judging by the records, it must be someone I know personally unloading stuff from their personal collection. Who knows?

Anyway, I was lucky enough to grab the Official Bootleg double 7” by Poison Idea. You’re probably thinking, “Geez, Jeff talking about Poison Idea once again! Who woulda thought?” I know, I know. While I do have a sizable chunk of the Poison Idea discography crossed off already in my personal collection, I’ve never stumbled across this double single—or just never bothered to order a copy off of the internet. I always thought the packaging looked cool with what I always refer to as the “Kings of Punk skull” repurposed on a red background. The records also come housed in a cool gatefold 7” sleeve. This super nice copy was mad cheap at Nice Price, so I was stoked to find it. For those unfamiliar, this release came out in 1991 around the Feel The Darkness era. It’s a funny collection, with PI’s take on cover tunes like “We Got The Beat” by The Go-Go’s and “Harder They Come” by Jimmy Cliff. Now, how often will I revisit the saloon blues rendition of “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” on a regular basis? Shit, I dunno, probably never! Kinda funny, but at least these cover tunes are an entertaining listen, if nothing else.

“Plastic Bomb” is also on one of the 4 sides, the only original tune by Poison Idea. To which I was like, yeah cool whatever, I’ve heard this song a million times. I threw the 7” on the turntable, and that all-too familiar piano intro kicks in—but within a few moments, I was like wait a minute… this is different. In all my years loving Poison Idea, I had no idea that this version of “Plastic Bomb” is basically like an alternate mix version. In the intro, the guitar is way more up front and playing a different melody. Even in between the verses, the little lead sections are totally different. Most importantly, the melodic solo that happens after the 2nd “whoa-oh” chorus has this guitar harmony that I’ve NEVER heard before. My mind was blown. I posted a clip of this on my Instagram story, and one of my buddies was like, “Yeah dude, you’ve ain’t never heard Poison Lizzy before?” Haha. Then on the other hand, I had several other people that reacted just like me, like “Wow, I gotta go back and check this out!” It’s funny when you’re so familiar with how a song sounds on a particular recording that when any type of alteration from your expectations makes you do a neck-breaking double take. Now hearing this badass Iron Maiden-esque guitar shred version of “Plastic Bomb”… dare I say, better than the album version?

If you’re interested, I imagine this version of “Plastic Bomb” is available to listen to on the internet. Or perhaps it’s also been included as a bonus track on one of the many Feel The Darkness reissues in recent years? I definitely recommend experiencing this version of the song, especially if you’ve become all too comfortable with the proper album version over the last 30+ years. Anyway, that’s all I have to discuss this week. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Clinton Heylin: Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry (1996, St. Martin's Griffin)

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on what I’ve been reading, but the winter lull in punk gigs has me tearing through books. Right now I’m reading one about John Peel that has me listening to recordings of his old radio programs (this book also introduced me to the John Peel wiki, an amazing resource), and perhaps I’ll have more to say about that in a future installment. For now, though, I wanted to share some thoughts on this book about the bootleg record industry I read a few weeks ago.

As someone who was a teenage music fanatic when Napster et al. completely upended the record industry in the late 90s, I’ve long been interested in intellectual property and copyright. I learned more about the topic during my years in academia, where I studied the 18th century Anglophone world. The rapid expansion of printing technology during this period prompted some of the first attempts to articulate and codify intellectual property law. Also, part of my duties as a first-year English teacher included giving students lessons on the basic principles of copyright. Of course, running Sorry State I also bump against this topic with some frequency, and it continues to interest me. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, but I dove in with some eagerness.

Right off the bat, Heylin’s book brought several aspects of the bootleg world into clearer focus for me. He distinguishes between three different manifestations of the bootleg trade: counterfeit releases (unauthorized reproductions meant to pass for, or at least closely mimic, the original item), proper bootlegs (collections of live material and/or unreleased studio sessions, compiled and sold by independent manufacturers), and “protection gap” releases (which I’ll get into below). Heylin spends relatively little time on the counterfeit release trade, for a couple of reasons. First, he’s very interested in the quasi-artistic choices bootleggers make as part of their process (sourcing and compiling material, creating artwork and packaging, etc.), while counterfeiters merely seek to mirror another release as closely as possible. Second, from what Heylin says, the counterfeit record industry in the United States was (is?) controlled almost entirely by the mafia, which limits his access to the key players. Certainly no mobster worth their salt is going to squeal to some nobody music writer.

Heylin does, however, gain access to many of the 70s’ and 80s’ most prolific and notorious bootlegers, most of whom agree to go on the record (albeit under pseudonyms). As one might expect, many folks involved in this illicit trade are real characters, and their shenanigans make for great stories. There are plenty of entertaining anecdotes about sourcing studio outtakes from on-the-take record company and recording studio execs, getting corrupt sound guys to wire recording devices straight into the soundboard, and how the bootleggers got their wares manufactured without ringing any alarm bells. Speaking of the latter, there’s a great story about one enterprising bootlegger who, during a crackdown at the LA pressing plants, repurposed a bunch of old farm equipment into a DIY record pressing machine. The jockeying for position among the bootleggers is an interesting tale, mostly because it was a free-for-all with no rules. If someone came out with a successful title, others would rip it off within a matter of weeks, if not days. Often they’d mix and match previously released material from older bootlegs with things they’d source themselves, creating a dense knot of provenance that no fan hoping to find the best version of their favorite artist’s studio outtakes or live set could hope to unwind. When one bootlegger came up with an interesting marketing idea like distinctive artwork or a label name and logo, their competition made sure it didn’t remain an advantage for long. One of the most visible and notorious bootleg labels was called “Trade Mark of Quality,” but so many people used the name and logo that it was anything but.

One thing that surprised me about Heylin’s book is that most of the bootleggers insist what they were doing was perfectly legal. Certainly there’s an element of feigned innocence here, but on many occasions these issues were litigated in the courts, and sometimes the bootleggers came out on top. Part of this is because of the intricacies of copyright law. Even in the United States, which has the most stringent intellectual property laws in the world, the ability to copyright an audio recording was not definitively established until very late in the 1970s. Before that, U.S. copyright law recognized the copyright on a musical composition (lyrics and music / melody), but not an individual recording of that music. (A couple of months ago I was reading Joey Ramone’s brother Mickey Leigh’s book, and there’s a story about the band hiring him to transcribe the music on the first Ramones album for the copyright office… of course none of the actual Ramones could read and write music.) I found the US’s late adoption of recording copyrights shocking, but other countries lagged much further behind, making way for the protection gap releases I referred to above.

Before a few different international conventions solidified international copyright law in the 60s and 70s, each country had its own unique approach to copyright law. Even when countries signed on to these international copyright treaties (which most European nations did), works that predated the treaty weren’t automatically grandfathered in, meaning they were still subjected to the older laws. For instance, in Germany a recording was only eligible for copyright protection if the performer was German or the performance took place in Germany, so a recording of a Pink Floyd show in the US or the UK fair game for German bootleggers. Each country implemented their laws in different ways, so you had a situation where it might be perfectly legal to commercially release a live concert recording in one country, but not in another. Bootleggers were quick to exploit this loophole (the “protection gap”), manufacturing their releases in countries like Germany and Italy that had looser copyright restrictions and (legally) importing the finished product to markets like the UK and the US. Of course, the recording industry worked tirelessly to close these loopholes, but as the iron curtain became more permeable through the 80s, plants in countries like Yugoslavia and Hungary operated completely outside the umbrella of western copyright law. When that line dried up, the bootleggers found manufacturers in Asia. It’s been a decades-long game of cat and mouse.

Heylin, like the bootleggers themselves, is skeptical the law affords record companies the level of control they seek over products relating to their artists, and reading this book made me realize that many of what I took as basic assumptions of music copyright are not as intuitive as I thought. Why should a record company own the copyright on a live concert recording that I made using my equipment at an event that I paid to attend? As Heylin explains, the record companies would have us believe they own that recording and the rights to reproduce it, but the legal reasoning they rely on is shaky, and there are many examples of it not holding up in court.

By the way, I should note this book came out in 1996, so it’s quite out of date in some respects. Heylin does a lot of hand-wringing about how the CD changed the bootleg industry, but the file-sharing revolution that happened just a year or two later totally changed the terms of that debate. Still, Heylin’s examination of the history of copyright law and the bootleg trade is well-researched and authoritative.

If you’re interested in bootlegs and/or copyright, this is a great read. Heylin’s book is dense but lively, and I’ve hardly scratched the surface of all it offers here. It also got me spinning punk’s most infamous and notorious bootleg, the Sex Pistols’ Spunk. Sadly, I don’t have Spunk on vinyl (shame!), but you shouldn’t be surprised to see me do a thorough analysis of it in a future installment.

Cicada: Wicked Dream 7” (Unlawful Assembly Records) Jeff Young has already proclaimed Cicada the best hardcore band in America, and who am I to argue? For me, Cicada stands head and shoulders above so many contemporary bands because they’re so in tune with the ugliest, weirdest, most underground aspects of classic hardcore punk while still determinedly progressive, dead-set on pushing the limits of their own sound and the genre as a whole. Wicked Dream is crammed with ideas, and while five of its nine songs don’t even reach the one-minute mark, each one feels like it contains a symphony worth of music. Cicada doesn’t give ideas room to breathe and they don’t milk riffs; they get in, make their point (or ten of their points) and get the fuck out, usually within the space of seconds rather than minutes. While you hear nods to the pillars of outsider hardcore—G.I.S.M., Die Kreuzen, Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers—Cicada is on their own trip. The main riff in the first track, “Epiphany,” strikes an uncanny balance between the tightest, most agile hardcore and woozy psychedelia, while the 51-second “Suicide Fuel” launches from another dense, agitated riff, hurling itself through some insanely brief metallic lead guitar runs and into a thrilling bass-and-drums break. The musique concrete / noise piece at the end of side A and the more metal-influenced “Much Worse” might remind you of their fellow Richmonders Public Acid for brief a moment, but it’s quickly followed up by the title track, whose ethereal lead guitar and quirky but mosh-able mid-paced riff make it one of Wicked Dream’s most memorable tracks. And there’s plenty more excitement before the free jazz pig-pile at the end of the ninth track, “Desperation Ceremony.” Despite Wicked Dream’s density, it doesn’t feel like some kind of academic math-core exercise. I love following all these little threads in their music, but Cicada weaves them into a cohesive tapestry that’s just as enthralling from a wider perspective. You can disengage with this record on a micro-level, just letting the vibes wash over you, and you’ll enjoy it just as much. Wicked Dream is just a phenomenal record, and if you want your hardcore punk to deliver all the genre’s trademark speed and intensity while still serving up something new, you’ll agree this is the cream of contemporary hardcore’s crop.

What’s up fellow sorry staters? Another week, another pick! As some of you have picked up on, I have been busy listing some really great used 7"s, so check back this week as I will be listing daily! So often the week just goes by so quick and I realize that I have not really checked out anything new this week. So I have been keeping myself busy listening to things I know. Some killer 90s death metal has been played a lot this week in the warehouse and has put me in the mood to revisit one of my favorite classic 90s death metal bands: Cannibal Corpse.

I am more of a fan of Corpsegrinder’s vocals than Chris Barnes (sorry to all the die hard early Cannibal Corpse fans!) and one of my favorite Cannibal Corpse albums is Gallery Of Suicide. Right off the rip you get one of the best Cannibal Corpse songs, “I Will Kill You.” It’s a non-stop slaughter from start to finish, both lyrically and sonically of course, the only way that Cannibal Corpse knows how to do it! The cover art, like all other Cannibal Corpse releases, is gruesome and besides Tomb Of The Mutilated, one of the grossest and best covers the band has put out.

We still have some really nice and clean used Cannibal Corpse CDs and some rare NESI vinyl pressings in the store as well!

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice week. In classic North Carolina fashion, we have gone from snow to springtime in the matter of a week, although I’m sure the winter weather will return with a vengeance. I’ve been off my movie game the past month or two, but have gotten back on track and have been hitting the theaters heavily recently. One movie I saw the other week was actually a sequel to a movie I wrote about back in October, Basket Case 2, and I can safely say it was one of the most out of left field movies I’ve ever seen. Truly a fever dream of a film. If someone out there listened to my recommendation and watched this, I implore you to watch this sequel. I’m not here to talk about blob coitus though. This past Thursday I went and watched Profondo Rosso (directed by Dario Argento) at the Rialto here in Raleigh for the conclusion of their “Gialo January” series. The movie features an amazing, off the walls score by Goblin. This actually marks the first time the Italian band worked with Argento, and they would go on to work on many more films together, including Suspiria two years later. I can’t lie, and maybe I’m showing my ass here, but I wasn’t completely in love with the film. Not to say it isn’t shot beautifully and isn’t entertaining, including some funny dialogue, but I guess it wasn’t my cup of tea. It also doesn’t help that the theater is next-door neighbors with a hookah lounge blaring music the whole time, but that’s besides the point, not even the bombastic bass could overshadow this creepy and captivating score. The title track is like the Halloween Theme’s cool older cousin that smokes weed. I’m not sure if that’ll make sense to anyone else, but it does to me. This score is not afraid to go out there, but if you’re familiar with Goblin, then you already know this. Come for the Italian murder mystery, stay for the bangin’ Goblin score.

Hello and thanks for reading. I’m wondering if any readers have ever moved across the ocean with a few thousand records, and how they did it? I’m pretty sure everything is going to for real go down the shitter here in the next four years with the latest dickhead in charge. On top of all his twisted views and tyrannical political agenda, it’s hilariously scary how many times this guy has filed for bankruptcy. Every business he touches fails. Our economy is already bad enough, haha… It’s also insane that he is a convicted felon, cos like 99% of felons are prohibited from voting in presidential elections. I could go on forever, and I’m sure you could too. I really hope he doesn’t privatize the postal service, like he has repeatedly mentioned. It would fuck things up on a lot of levels, including anything that deals with mail ordering records.

Do you remember when media mail did not come with tracking? It was super cheap to ship back then, too. You could pay a little extra for tracking, but that wasn’t the standard (for me at least). It was literally like $2 at USPS to ship an LP. You could ship a stack of 15 or so LPs, and it would still be only like $5. These days, to ship a single LP it’s going to cost $5.38 alone in shipping charges. If you can make it less than 1 lb, you can ship it for $4.63, but LPs more than likely go over that 1lb threshold after they are packed. On the plus side, tracking has been a standard that came with media mail with no extra cost for like over a decade now it feels like.

I feel like tracking numbers are a blessing and a curse, or however that saying goes. It’s obviously nice to have tracking on a parcel for a number of reasons, especially if you are running a distro and need to keep track of everything coming in. But I feel like some people who are just mail ordering a few records trip way too hard about tracking numbers and updates. Do you ever buy a record from overseas without tracking? I definitely do, haha. Yeah, a bit of anxiety could come along with the gamble, but it’s nice just to kinda let the days pass and just have faith everything will go as it should. I know some people have porch thieves and cities like NYC are a zoo, but luckily, I have always had a relationship with my mail carrier, so I was never too concerned about a parcel being stolen cos it was left out or something like that. But yeah, tracking numbers have given me so much anxiety. From both sides, selling and buying.

When I do my own mailorder, my process is a lot more tedious than Sorry State. Packing records is easy enough, but of course there is more to it than that, and I don’t have the website integrations that drastically save time. When I do mailorder, I typically print out all my shipping labels first, then write on the back what the order includes. I could print packing sheets if I wanted to save time, but I don’t think it’s needed since BPDT is pretty basic and I’d rather not add more paper to the process. Man, I remember when I still hand wrote all my packages. I would probably still be doing that if not for Sorry State and learning about a thermal printer, haha, talk about saving time. Anyways, so my process means that everyone in my current mailorder queue got a tracking number, but if there is a ton of orders, some people’s order won’t get packed until the following week. If you’re someone like me, you understand that “shipping label created” doesn’t mean shit. This could mean USPS already has your parcel and it’s actually en route, but USPS neglected origin scans. Or this could mean your label is just printed, and it’s sitting in a huge stack of other orders waiting to be packed on some dude’s desk that scattered with empty beer cans or some shit. I know some people pay attention to these shipping updates, but some don’t.

I feel like Amazon, and online shopping in general, has really changed the threshold of people’s patience when it comes to waiting for their product. Most people expect same day shipping. Luckily at Sorry State, we are generally selling to like-minded punks who understand the layers of a small operation. But there are always exceptions of course. I feel like we generally stay on top of mailorder, though. Every now and again we get slammed when pre-order comes in, but I feel like we got it down pretty smooth.

Anyway, so that’s my perspective from the seller’s side. Do I even need to talk about the anxiety that can come from buyer’s side? We all know that “estimated delivery date” doesn’t mean shit, haha. It sucks when you watch your beloved parcel bounce around places it has no business being. A record we shipped the other day to New York scanned into Puerto Rico? What the fuck? I am sure it will show up though, just hopefully in one piece, haha. One of the worst things is when the parcel goes out for delivery, but then it never shows up, and the tracking updates to like “awaiting delivery scan,” and then you wait for days for it to show up. Or better yet, when the thing scans delivered, but it actually hasn’t showed up, haha! That’s maybe one of the worst. I think what has happened there is your carrier said, “fuck it, I will just scan these delivered” (for a number of different reasons that I will not take the time to explain here) and then deliver them later in the week. I’ve seen that so much, it’s wild. Sometimes they show up the next day, or sometimes it’s nearly two weeks later. Alright, I just wrote way too much about shipping, sorry. At least I am talking to the right crowd, haha. In summary, all I mean to say is that I am grateful for those who are patient with stuff. I wish everyone was like that. Sometimes stuff takes time, and then when it’s outta of our hands, USPS does something crazy with it. But it works out just fine 99% of the time. Update scans don’t really indicate shit at the end of the day. I need to remind myself sometimes to stop checking the status of an incoming parcel. If something seems to be going wrong, I have all the time in the world to worry later if it actually ends in misfortune.

I will finish off here with some brief words about ZYKLOME A. I don’t know shit about Belgian punk/hardcore honestly. ZYKLOME A was my introduction, and I learned about a few more bands from some compilations that were also released on Punk Etc: namely Alle 24 Goed! and Second Time Around. Some favorites from those comps are SUBVERSION and CAPITAL SCUM. SUBVERSION is such straight DISCHARGE worship, it’s sick. Game of the Arseholes reissued some of their material on a 7”. If you’ve never heard it, check it out. So, this ZYKLOME A reissue is super-duper nice. It includes their tracks from the aforementioned comps, their tracks from the MORAL DEMOLITION split, the Made in Belgium LP tracks, and some live shit. Oh man, there is an unreleased song from their Alle 24 Goed! recording session as well, actually. I was kinda disappointed at first when I saw they separated that track and started off side D with it, followed by the live shit. But after I heard the live stuff, I was stoked. The sound quality of the live material is excellent. It sounds like it’s gotta be direct from the board, and mixed well. It was recorded in 1984.

Alright, let me back up a bit. So, this discography was released by a label based in Antwerp, Belgium called Ultra Eczema. From my understanding, this reissue was done as a tribute to Markus, ZYKLOME A’s singer, who passed away some years ago. The reissue is super deluxe and obviously done with love. I explained what material they compiled already, but I didn’t really explain it comes on two separate discs. They each come in a printed inner sleeve, housed in a gatefold jacket. The really sick thing about this reissue is this killer 75+ page booklet that comes with it. It’s printed in color and it’s loaded up with tons of photos, flyers, scans of old adverts and zines, and most importantly, the label conducted an interview with some of the band. This reissue actually came out a few years ago, and I think it just had pretty poor distribution in the US. It was distributed well overseas, and the label is now left with some dead stock. We were lucky enough to get these at a very low cost, so they are retailing for only $30. I really can’t get across how insane of a price that is for how nice this thing is. I am glad we were able to get these copies and pass on the deal to everyone else. If you’ve loved them for ages or if this is your introduction to ZYKLOME A, this is a great way to get all their material in one place with killer extras—all for a great price. I consider this one essential. Alright, that’s all for today. I blabbed for too long about shipping earlier. Cheers and thanks for everyone for your support.

Greetings to you all. Thanks for taking the time to read the Sorry State Newsletter. It’s greatly appreciated and hopefully you get some useful information out of it and a brief distraction from “other stuff” that is going on. Music and the arts in general are especially important right now and have real power to unify, to soothe, to entertain, to inspire and to communicate truth. For our small part, it is an honour to pass on information and to highlight cool shit that you might like.

Writing for the newsletter is fun and a privilege, but in the company of my colleagues can be a little tough sometimes. We boast some bona fide credentials and talent amongst the team, and attempting to pen anything as interesting as theirs is always a challenge. Speaking for myself only, but I really struggle to pull the words out of my head sometimes, and can stare at a blank screen for a while. Partly because my head is full of too many other “life” things, which makes it difficult for me to concentrate, and partly because I love music and the artists that created it so much that I don’t want to do a poor job talking about something (especially if others have done it way better) or simply “phone in” a review of a record or whatever. Believe it or not, it matters to me. As it does all of us here. You don’t work at a record store and small label thinking you’re going to be super rich. If anything, it’s the complete opposite. As Daniel says, a vow of poverty. I have committed to that philosophy over the years and have chosen records over almost everything else in my life. Clearly that has been to my detriment, but at least my soul got to take in some killer shit, and hopefully I enriched other peoples’ souls by sharing and passing on knowledge of good stuff. Whether that’s been as a DJ or as a shopkeeper, the goal has always been to evangelize and pass on and to keep alive quality human artistic expression. I’m happy to play a minuscule part in that and always will.

One of the best and most exciting parts of buying and selling records is when you score a great collection. Sorry State (touch wood) has historically had good luck with that, but we’re always looking for the next cool pick up. The holiday period cleared out the bins significantly at the store and we needed replacements. I love seeing our compatriots at other record stores picking up cool collections, but admit to getting envious sometimes. So, it was a blessing from the vinyl gods that delivered a large collection to us just recently. From the collection of a music industry insider who worked from the mid 1970s through to the late 1990s and acquired, multiple in many cases, promo copies of records he was involved with. We have tons of (mostly) un-played promo copies of cool Jazz, Rock, Pop, Country, Classical, Soundtracks and more besides, which we will work on pricing and getting into the store and listing directly to our online channels as well. The store saw the first fruits of that collection hit the bins last Friday and will see more to come over the next few weeks, but many titles will go straight up online, so make sure to scan our listings. A lot of these will be sealed or unplayed copies too.

Over the weekend, I filled up a few boxes of more potential sellers for the store, but because we got busy with other things they remained in the trunk of my car, and I ended up bringing them home. The temperature has been in the 60s this weekend, so there are no worries of them being too hot or cold. However, I brought them inside just in case. That gave me a chance to pull out one or two that I didn’t know and that looked interesting to check out. The perfect way to spend my Sunday between watching the football. I only had time to listen a few of the many cool records and have gone with something new to me for my “pick” this week. I could have easily picked one of several more obviously cool and known titles. There are loads of those in this collection, and many that come with a price tag reflecting their desirability. But instead I’ve gone with a cheaper one. I have a soft spot for records that aren’t too expensive but still pack a punch and provide for some good listening. Also, like Daniel, I don’t mind having lower grade copies of records that would otherwise be a lot more expensive. If the vinyl is mostly clean and decent and plays without major noise and/or skips, I’m okay. Certainly, jackets don’t have to be spotless for me. Obviously, I prefer a nice copy without damage, but I can live with a seam split or some writing on the back, etc. Just no mold from moisture exposure. I can’t do that. The copy I am about to talk about is decent, has a punch hole and plays well. I only pulled jazz records from the collection, so if that’s not your bag, you can be excused. LoL.

Up is pianist Rupert Cobbett and a record he released in 1976 called Sensitive Cat on the independent Soul Deep label out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

I was drawn to the title first. I consider myself a sensitive cat and have a poorly sensitive cat at home currently. Then there was a cartoon sketch on the back of the jacket depicting a cat playing keyboards with the black keys spelling out progressive. Cool. That and the nature of the Soul Deep private label intrigue coupled with the photo of Mr. Cobbett on the cover and the dedication to the “Jazz Freaks” of the industry on the back all shouted out to me to drop the needle and see what sounds came out of the speakers. I’m happy to report a winner. Not an out and out classic or an essential banger, but a decent record that would appeal to anyone who likes 70s Jazz Funk and electric keyboard led music. I was a little skeptical as the first track began as it sounded mainstream, and I was fearful this might be a lame cocktail lounge record. This song called Just One Reason was hyped on the front cover as being a hit single. I don’t know about that. Maybe on the Holiday Inn bar scene it was. LoL. Although at halfway through that song, I heard some cool percussion and signs that there might be better to come. The second track, On Three Legs, quickly proves that to be the case. Producers might want to get their samplers out for elements of this track. There were some tasty beats in parts, and the piano playing was top-notch. Rupert has the chops to be spoken about alongside big names like Ramsey Lewis and Herbie Hancock when it comes to this particular period of piano based jazz.

The rest of the musicians on the date are allowed to demonstrate their talents as the album continues. The third song, Ultra Wave, gives both the drummer some and the bassist space to groove and show what they can do. Side one ends with my favorite cut so far. Called Seven Heaven, it has an Afro-Funk sort of groove going on and would appeal to fans of groups like Cymande and War, or perhaps even Mandrill. Not as heavy or overtly funky, but the song has a nice groove to it and features some tasty flute work.

Side two opens with Bad Rooster and more tasty drums that surely have been sampled (or need to be) and progresses in a Stanley Turrentine and Freddie Hubbard on CTI records sort of fashion. The drummer keeps the groove going throughout and would make Steve Gadd proud. As the song gets into a bit of a breakdown, this sweet synth sound comes in. Really cool.

The next song, Play The Game, gets into a Latin Funk light type of groove. There’s some more tasty flute and bass parts and consistent percussion and drums.

They lose me a little on the third track called Ballad Acoustics, as they take their foot off the gas a little, but it’s still a nice track in the vein of something Vince Guaraldi might play on one of the Charlie Brown TV Specials soundtracks that I love so much. Beautiful piano playing and deft bass lines.

The album closer is called What It Is, and is the only song with vocals. The song has a Caribbean sounding vibe to it and doesn’t quite fit in with everything that proceeded it. It isn’t that bad of a song, but it isn’t that great either, and seems to be an odd addition. I wonder what the thought process was behind including that, and whether it was recorded at a different time to the rest of the album.

So yeah, there you have it. Worth checking out and keeping an eye out for if you like the type of Soul Jazz that labels such as Muse or Black Jazz were releasing at the same time. You can click here for a link to listen to the song Seven Heaven and get a taste.

Rupert Cobbett released a second record on the same Soul Deep label, his own I believe, the following year in 1977 called Peaceful Morning that’s in the same vein as Sensitive Cat. Looking at Discogs, it seems like people are paying good money for a copy of that one, and the same might be said about the first one now too, although the median on that one is still at $20. I think tracks from the second album have been sampled and compiled on to mix tapes, which has raised their profile and hence has more people on the hunt which, in turn, raises the price.

I’ve checked that album online and liked it too. Maybe I’ll find a copy in this current collection we are still going through. There might be one. If he had the first, why not the second? It would make sense. Keeping my fingers crossed. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy listening to Sensitive Cat with my sensitive self and my actual sensitive kitty cat.

Cheers everyone. Thanks for reading and supporting us and supporting everyone else that is trying to put the good word out and do good things. We’re in this together. It’s going to be rough, but if we find community in music and other interests, then we might just make it. Keep the faith.

-Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Holy shit, it’s February already? While I’ve got some news about cool stuff I’ll be up to in the Spring, seems like it’s shaping up to be a pretty mellow February and March. That’s fine. I was on another episode of Analog Attack’s What Are You Listening To? podcast the other night. If you feel so inclined, go experience some visuals with my auditory word vomit in addition to the written word.

Alright, let’s dive in:

Am I crazy? I always thought that Eternally Yours was the 3rd Saints album… Don’t know how I Mandela-effected myself with that incorrect factoid. I feel like I’ve even had discussions about how quote-unquote, “some classic punk band’s third albums are where they really hit their stride.” Like Machine Gun Etiquette being a primary example. As much as I’ve listened to I’m Stranded ad nauseum over the years, I love Eternally Yours so much. But I will say, I have a bad habit when I really love a particular album by a band, I fail to dive deeper into the band’s catalog. In the case of The Saints, I’ve neglected Prehistoric Sounds for far too long.

Now that I know the proper chronology of the band’s discography, it makes perfect sense that Prehistoric Sounds would be the natural evolution from Eternally Yours. On Eternally Yours, it’s almost like the experiment of using a horn section on the opening track “Know Your Product” was a cautious stepping stone on the journey to the bluesy/soul-influenced sound of the third album. Now digesting the sonic palette of Prehistoric Sounds more closely, I’m like damn dude, this record is SO horny. Hehe. But seriously, I think when I was younger, the shift in musical style and instrumentation might have been a barrier for me to get into this record. Listening now, I’m like, “No dude, this is fucking great.”

Granted, this is a seismic shift from the incredibly guitar-heavy riff-forward sound on The Saints’ first album. I’ll admit, the first couple songs are a slow burn for me. The opening track “Swing For Crime” opens with this slow and sweet, but melancholic swell of melody and then launches into a kinda Bo Diddley rhythm. But once the record gets to the third cut, “Every Day’s A Holiday, Every Night’s A Party,” then count me in—I’m signed, sealed, and delivered. Singer Bailey’s cool and aloof, and somewhat fed-up delivery of, “Champagne and misery, where are you? Let’s have another drink,” captures a particular mood. The songwriting on this record really is top-notch, lapsing and waning, which makes the slow numbers feel extra brooding. But in turn, the up-tempo numbers feel even more lively. In my current revisiting, tracks like “Church of Indifference” and “Everything’s Fine” are working their way into my top 5 favorite Saints tunes.

The bubblegum pop/doo-wop flavor of “Take This Heart of Mine” is the most Ramones-feeling track on the whole record. Feels like if you turned up the horn section in the mix even more, then the song could work on End of The Century. Then the song “Security” opens with this big horn section riff and groove that stands out as even more retro from the rest of the songs on the record. In fact, the song feels so upliftingly 60s-sounding, that I thought to myself that this must be a cover. I admit, I did have to go double check. And sure enough, it’s an Otis Redding song. That checks out. They also end the album with an Aretha Franklin tune as the finale. And ya know what? I think it rules.

It is funny, on a track like “The Prisoner,” I’m sitting here thinking to myself, “Damn(wink wink), what a great bass player!” Then I was like, oh yeah duh, it’s Algy Ward. For some reason, I thought Algy left The Saints after Eternally Yours to go join The Damned. Turns out I guess he left The Saints after one genre boundary-pushing album to go record another one. How ‘bout that?

Apparently, Prehistoric Sounds was a commercial flop when it came out, which caused The Saints to be dropped from their label. This makes me think, I wonder if people look back at this record in retrospect with reverence, or if it remains a divisive album even among Saints fans? My opinion on these “Music On Vinyl” pressings is usually kinda whatever, but I really think this pressing does the record justice. Compared to the previous Saints albums, I think the production on Prehistoric Sounds is so bright and clear. This might sound weird, but it’s so easy to listen to. It’s like candy for the ears. That, and the adventurous choice to commit to the expanded instrumentation, along with the nerve to lean into the soulful influences, makes for an interesting listen. And the thing is, it’s not like the supposed seismic shift in sound on this record is way out there or inaccessible. It still sounds like The Saints. Go figure. And I think it’s brilliant.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my ramblings. The Saints rule. Aaaaand, that is all. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

The Only Ones: The Peel Sessions Album (Strange Fruit Records, 1989)

This week’s piece will (hopefully) be on the shorter side as I’m running late on this week’s newsletter. Thankfully, there isn’t too much to say since I’ve already written about the Only Ones a couple times in my staff picks section, so check those two pieces for more background info on the band. I ran down my take on the band’s studio discography last summer, but I was missing one piece of the Only Ones puzzle: the Peel Sessions! I never really thought about chasing down the Only Ones’ Peel Sessions until I saw Mike talk about this album on an episode of What Are You Listening To? some months back. Mike enthused about this record and I knew I had to have it, but it took me quite a while to find a copy. I ended up having to order this one from Japan.

On the back cover of this record, Only Ones guitarist John Perry notes that, when people want to know what his old band sounds like, he always points them toward the Peel Sessions rather than the studio albums. Like so many bands, the Only Ones benefitted from the quick-and-dirty Peel Sessions approach, which forced bands to record and mix four songs in a single day-long session, albeit with the assistance of the BBC’s world-class audio engineers and equipment (though Perry’s description of the primitive 8-track mixing desk might be construed as a complaint). The Peel Sessions Album compiles tracks from four sessions the Only Ones recorded between 1977 and 1980, and while their choice to jumble up the tracks rather than present them chronologically seems curious, it actually works really well. The uniformly high fidelity makes all the recordings sound of a piece and the band’s lineup stayed the same throughout their run, so there are no jarring transitions. And by starting with a track from the 1980 session—the song “Oh Lucinda” from Baby’s Got a Gun—the record gives a quick kick in the pants to anyone who thinks the group’s later material is totally without merit. Not that every track appears here in its best version. “Another Girl, Another Planet” doesn’t have the kick of the classic single version, and “No Peace for the Wicked” misses the lushly textured production of Only Serpents Shine.

Curiously, this seems to be the only vinyl issue of the Only Ones Peel Sessions. They didn’t have one of the 80s Strange Fruit sessions LPs with the classic cover design, and other issues of their sessions have only been on CD. I actually just ordered one of these CD reissues for myself: a 2002 double disc that pads out this album’s track list considerably, adding the two Peel Sessions tracks omitted on this collection (one each from the band’s two 1978 sessions), a seven-song Radio 1 in Concert session from 1978, and two short sessions recorded for The Old Grey Whistle Test. If there’s anything there worth reporting back to you about, I’ll be sure to do so.

The Massacred: Nightmare Agitators 12” (Active-8 Records) After two scorching 7”s, Boston hardcore punk band the Massacred brings us their debut twelve-song LP. The Massacred’s two EPs are some of the strongest, most memorable punk records of the past several years, and anticipation was sky high for this record. As expected, it’s a total monster, but it took me a few listens to warm up to it. When I first sat down with Nightmare Agitators, I felt like the Massacred de-emphasized some of the strongest cards in their hand. One thing that sets the Massacred apart from legions of other hardcore bands is their speed and precision. They aren’t the fastest band in the world, but they may be the tightest, each note delivered with deadly precision and the bass, drums, and guitar locked together in a way that multiplies their impact exponentially. While that sound still forms the backbone of Nightmare Agitators, it’s fleshed out with more mid-paced material, and the different instrumentalists’ parts often complement one another subtly rather than remaining in rigid lock-step. There’s a lot of variation in tempo on this album, with three fully mid-paced songs and lots of other half-time sections within songs, even getting downright slow and sludgy on the intro to “Lie in Ambush.” The Massacred’s other big calling card on the EPs was their huge vocal hooks (“schizophrenic… in-saaaaaaanity!”), but those are also less prevalent on Nightmare Agitators. The chorus for “Lie in Ambush” stood out as great on first listen, but the vocals seem more submerged in the mix on Nightmare Agitators, and it took a few listens for the rest of the record’s choruses to lodge themselves in my brain. Those may sound like criticisms, but by de-emphasizing these more immediate aspects of their sound, the Massacred opens up opportunities to develop other strengths. The title track is a standout in this regard, a mid-paced song that builds tension through the verses, then goes through this wild chorus section that starts with a catchy lead guitar hook, builds to a climactic gang chant, then abruptly downshifts into a rolling tom part. It’s unexpected, but it’s my favorite part on the record. “Extermination” ends the album with another standout mid-paced track, the menacing march erupting in squeals of abstract noise guitar that scald your eardrums before settling into an eerie, phaser-drenched melody as the song fades out. As much as I love the blistering speed picking on “The Gash You Can’t Close” or “Detest,” they hit even harder as tactics employed within a more comprehensive assault. This kind of stripped-down punk often doesn’t survive the transition from 7” to 12” vinyl, but the Massacred stepped up to the challenge here, delivering a solid 25-minute full-length that not only avoids repeating itself, but is dense and imaginative enough to propel you through many repeated plays.