This is another R.E.M. record that I just can’t get into even though I think it’s decent music. “Fables of The Reconstruction” has at least two hits, “Driver 8” and “Can’t Get There From Here.” I’ve tried to listen to it a few times over the last couple days, but I always managed to distract myself with other things. Maybe I’m just missing something.
The pictures of the album jacket below may look upside-down, but that’s how it was originally packaged. Trust me, it was oriented correctly. Those guys were just being arty.
How did we get so lucky? We have two The Partridge Family records. This one is titled “At Home With Their Greatest Hits.” Why do they have to be “at home”? I’ll admit to almost, almost liking “I Think I Love You”, but most of these “greatest hits” just don’t do it for me. Do we have to keep both of these?
Acquired: 1987 – Bought it when I worked at Mother’s Records in Hampton, VA.
The main folks in Opal were David Roback from Rain Parade and Kendra Smith of The Dream Syndicate. Kendra eventually left the band and Hope Sandoval joined Roback to create Mazzy Star. Opal was the record for today, and it’s just a coincidence that I was at my brother’s house tonight and he was playing Mazzy Star. That reminded me how boring that recording is compared to this one. Sure, I like the hit “Fade Into You”, but I like everything on Opal’s “Happy Nightmare Baby.” My favorite is the trippy, riffing, T-Rex-ing album opener, “Rocket Machine.”
It’s hard to know exactly what that means. It doesn’t necessarily mean this five song EP, “1981-1982 New Order”, by New Order is the eighth release by Factory Records. Read more about Factory’s curious numbering system.
This collection of singles is not as synth-heavy as their later stuff. I like it a lot more than I remembered. There are more details here.
This Madness collection of “16 hit tracks”, titled “Complete Madness”, is, of course, excellent. It’s hard to believe they had so many popular singles so early on, but they sure enough did. I noticed that some of the songs are slightly different from the original album versions. I like every song here, but my faves are “Bed And Breakfast Man” and “Grey Day.”
k.d. lang won a Grammy for this record, “Absolute Torch and Twang” so you know it’s decent. I can’t tell if I like this or not. I know it’s good music, but it’s not really my thing. My favorite is “Pullin’ Back the Reins”, which is excellent.
This is the song folks, Killing Joke’s “Eighties” that Nirvana famously ripped off for their own hit “Come As You Are.” It’s pretty much note-for-note the same song, just a little slower and less intense when Nirvana does it. At this point Killing Joke was kinda weirding out, but this is one my favorite songs ever. There are also a couple remixes on this 12 inch single. They’re interesting enough, but I love the original just the way it is. Every time I hear it I want to start a band just so we can play a cover. Even the video is cool, in an eighties sort of way.
Smooth jazz, less talk… Stay tuned to FM 1-0-whatever…
Just kidding. But this 12 inch single of “Breaking Us in Two” is a smooth ballad sort of thing. I do like it, despite the odds. The flip has “El Blanco” and “T.V. Age.” “Breaking” was on the “Night and Day” album and “El Blanco” is the Spanish version of the original album track “Target.” The last song is extended version of “T.V. Age”, also from the same album.
Acquired: 1988 – Promo at our store RIP Records in Norfolk, VA.
I was thinking this Inca Babies record, “Evil Hour”, sounded familiar in some way, but I wasn’t sure why. I thought maybe there was some milder Birthday Party thing happening, but that seemed like a lazy comparison. Then, I read this article about the Inca Babies at Trouser Press. Turns out, I’m not lazy. It looks like this was their last release and apparently they had started finding their groove, but overall this record wasn’t as exciting as I remembered.
Update: Inca Babies’ new site is up and running, and they have a new “best of” called Plutonium out on Cherry Red Records.
With classical recordings I’m never quite sure how to categorize things. Should it be by composer? Orchestra or star musician? The conductor? This record is a performance of Josef Haydn’s “Symphony No. 103” and “Symphony No. 1” by der Münchner Symphoniker, or the Munich Symphony Orchestra to you, Yankee. It’s good. I felt relaxed.
Yesterday I saw an ad on TV for the “Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World…Ever!” For real? How can they be sure? Maybe this Haydn record is the most chill classical album… ever. Did they think about that? I report. You decide.
Want to know what it's like to have brain surgery? Well here's the long version of my experience. Complete with pictures and videos! Read all about the Brain Surgery Experience.
