Saturday, November 10, 2012

Vol.3 Episode 47



If you all have been following my postings over the past two years, we are coming up to the end of this volume. Every year my job needs me to start putting in more hours because of the christmas rush. This year they have started me working those extra hours earlier than in the past. I have started those extra hours this past Thursday. I will be working to get the last few posts out sooner than later but they will be going up on Saturdays at the earliest. I will also do my best to get up a good Thanks Giving post and dont forget about the 2012 round up after Christmas but before New Years.

There are quite a few releases that are coming out this month that will probably be put up in posts in Vol. 4. They will also probably show up in the 2012 round up list too.

Well, the chunklet orders for the Man or Astro-Man? 7" have shipped. Some floks have gotten their orders already. I am still awaiting my order to come in the mail. maybe later today? I am hoping to get this included in the last three posts for the year. The third will probably be in the first few posts for Vol. 4 as, of course, will the new album coming out next year.

On we go...

This is a split 7” released this last week on SpeakertreeRecords. I have been a fan of Big Troubles since their release on SlumberlandRecords last year. As a matter of fact, Slumberland turned me on to this release. You can get this release not only from Speakertree but Slumberland is also selling it through their web page too. I had never heard of Speakertree until this 7”. They are a small record company that has only put out a few releases. I believe that this is number six of all of their releases. I will be keeping my eye on them in the future and checking out their previous five releases as well. I think that there is for sure one other release that I am interested in from a band called White Laces. I listened to the track on the record companies’ page and liked it a lot. It is limited in pressings though so I may have to get it sooner than later. This split single comes in many color combinations. The one that I got is light blue with just a little bit of grey swirl mixed in. It is very pretty and simple. The outer jacket is just a folded piece of paper with a graphic on each side representing each band and song. The colors are the same on each side with slightly different art work.

The first song, the A side, is from Lilys. The song is called Well Traveled Is Protest. I am not sure what that even means but the song is good and that is what is important to me. The song is a very smooth song that makes use of acoustic guitar and bass along with a processed organ sound that has a high pitched ring. I am not sure if that was intentional or not but it gives a very different organ sound. The first time I listened to the track I wondered if the organ part was a mic feedback sound. As the song progressed I could hear the actual organ behind the ringing sound and that was when I knew what it actually was. They lead singers voice reminds me of some of the alternative singers from the late 90s. I like the song but I don’t think that I will be hunting anything down by the group in the future.

The second song, the B side, is by Big Troubles. The song that they gave for this release is called Comb My Hair. The song starts out with some clear tones and breaks into some really nice guitar distortion. It next to the 60s style distortion that makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I think that this song is actually better than anything they put out on their slumberland release except for the first single, Sad Girls, from that release. There was something special about that single. This single is very close to being just as good as Sad Girls if not on an even keel with it. There is something very mellow about this song and its composition that just works.

I would recommend both of these songs to anyone looking for mellow current shoegaze styled music.

This is their third album and the only album that got them any accolades. It was released in 1986. They were a synthpop group that had Latin freestyle influences. This album was their first major label release. I picked this record up last summer when I was buying some 80s releases that I had on my list for years.

There were three singles released from this album. I think that it is interesting to note that Shep Pettibone did the mixes for each of these singles. He was responsible for many of the popular remixes that were done in the 80s including the most famous versions of New Orders Blue Monday and Bizarre Love Triangle.

The first single released from this album is called I Can’tWait. The song was originally recorded in late 1984 and was featured on the band's now-rare second album Tha's Right the following year. It became a popular radio track in and around the band's hometown of Portland, Oregon. Credits on the back of the single indicate that the Poolside LP was originally to be called The Point of No Return. The song was remixed overseas, and this new version connected with the rest of the nation. This remixed version is the one that appears on Poolside.

This was a song that I remember recording on cassette tape as a kid. This is part of why I picked up the album. As a kid I always thought that the version that I had recorded from the radio was a remix of the original version. It was a remix of the original version but the original version appeared on the previous album. After listening to this track from the record, I found that the version that I had been listening to from that cassette was probably an edited radio mix. The original version of the song on this album is longer but still keeps to what I had as a kid. So, the version of the song that I remember as a kid was not a remix but an original edited for time version of what is on Poolside. When I write my own music I always find it hard to cut parts out. I guess I am not a very good editor but how do artists and mixers know the best parts to cut out of a song and still make it work? It has always been an audio mind bender for me.

The second single released from this album is called Pointof No Return. It is a good dance track but the song is not all that great. Shep did his best to give it a good remix to keep the public interested in the group but sometimes it is hard to put a good shine on crap. It is a good beat with classic 80s synth sounds though. It is hard to say no when the music is better than the vocals/lyrics.

The third single from this album is called Don’t Let Me BeThe One. This is another track with an awesome beat and classic 80s synths. That is really why I like this album. great beats and classic 80s synths. The vocalist has a very nice voice but I just cant get myself to care about what she is saying. Maybe it is because when I try to focus on what she is saying all she is saying is about relationships, whether about breaking up or getting together. It is just so boring the way she lays it out.

This is a great album if you are looking for great 80s music. There is only one hit on here but the music is still good enough to get the whole album in my opinion.

This is the groups’ fifth album. It was released in 1985. This was a breakthrough album for the group. They had a huge hit with What You Need. I thought that the only album that I needed from this group was Kick. How silly was I? Then, about six months ago I heard What You Need on the internet and thought to my self that this was an amazing song. I thought I had the song but couldn’t find it any where I looked in the house. When I ran across it in my local record store I snapped it up quickly and am very happy that I did. It is not as good as Kick but there are some great tracks on this album especially at a price tag of only a couple bucks.

There were three singles released from this album. The first was What You Need (the opening to the video in this link is not the version that I talk about in this post). From Wikipedia: After the album Listen Like Thieves was recorded and ready to be given to the record label for inspection, producer Chris Thomas was worried that the album didn't have a hit. As Andrew Farriss recalled in a 2005 interview; "What You Need is another example of a huge hit that essentially took no time at all. We'd already finished the Listen Like Thieves album but Chris Thomas told us there was still no hit. We left the studio that night knowing we had one day left and we had to deliver a hit.” They obviously made a hit because this song is amazing. The opening of this song is amazing but simple. It is a drum fill to a guitar chord that hangs there and another guitar note that gets played in an odd pattern. There is some perfection in those opening measures of that song. Then the actual song kicks in and it is pure bliss of a rock song. If you haven’t heard the song you should. If you have you already know what I am talking about.

The second single from this album is called Kiss The Dirt(Falling Down The Mountain). The guitar tone on this track is wonderful. If I could get that tone I would totally use it in one of my songs. I have talked about this in the past but it makes me feel warm like when I have a fleece blanket on while watching TV. The backing of the song is done with what sounds like a classic 80s wood pipe synth sound. I have problems picking the right sounds for my own music and probably would not have picked this sound for the song but it works so well within the song. I guess I could have messed up the whole thing if I were the producer.

The last single from this album is called Listen Like Thieves and is the title track for the album. This track is good but lacked something to make it stick in the charts longer. I can’t even remember hearing it on the radio as a kid and I listened to the top 40 channel at the time. It is a good song but not a great song.

I think that with the lead single, What You Need, this album is good enough to own. It is not a great album but that single makes the album.

That is all I have for now...

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