The exclusive vinyl thread

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Alright, so whereas everyone else is calling the 12" single 12" single, the US are calling their 12" singles Maxis.
I remember though, in the 80s, I used to buy lotsa "Maxi singles" - as they were called - here in Central Europe, and those were always altered album/radio versions, usually extended mixes with a longer instrumental section.
Here - M 12’s
I’ve sold much stuff down the years but still have a bit.
Alright, so whereas everyone else is calling the 12" single 12" single, the US are calling their 12" singles Maxis.
I remember though, in the 80s, I used to buy lotsa "Maxi singles" - as they were called - here in Central Europe, and those were always altered album/radio versions, usually extended mixes with a longer instrumental section.
picture isn’t great. But just for you.
 

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Here - M 12’s
I’ve sold much stuff down the years but still have a bit.

picture isn’t great. But just for you.
That looks fantastic, Janice! :)
I count 41 12 inchers. If you are planning to listen to all of them, and let's say one 12" is approx 15 minutes long, you will only need 37 hours for all of them. Add some time for changing the vinyl, giving each one a quick clean up before listenin, getting another bottle of champagne from the fridge, and fluffing up the beanbag once in awhile, we are at roughly 40 hours. Sounds like a plan.
Now, which one do you like best? There are 5 Suedeheads alone, so I guess that's the one?
 
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Not sure where Hard Rain was recorded from.
Sounds like a question for Lou Waxman.
Lou Waxman must've been quite a guy.
Here he is in the studio. Another of his job titles was "tape op". Still not sure what that could mean.
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He also worked with Laura Nyro, Billy Joel, The Dictators and Blood, Sweat and Tears.
 
Fossil oil, PVC and microplastic, to name just a few. Buying brand-new spick and span vinyl in the 21st century is like driving your fat SUV to the next post office which is just a few blocks around the corner.

So, I decided to set some ethical standards and develop a catalogue of commandments and personal compensatory measures to be applied whenever it comes to vinyl shopping.

1. Thou shalt not buy audiophile reissues which were pressed on more LPs than the original.

The logical conclusion of the current 45 rpm cuts development is that in the future each song of the old albums will be reissued on its own 12" vinyl for the better sound quality. Just imagine how fat these box sets will be (SUV-style) and how many resources will be blown into the wind, just for the better sound of it, whereas future generations will fail at their attempts to perceive a f***ed-up world through uncomfortable gas masks, shaking their heavy and aching heads in disbelief.

I personally think that there should be a vinyl tax, at least on those records that waste too many resources.

As far as I know there is no such thing. There are not even any plans to introduce such measures, neither on the side of the government nor, as a voluntary service, on the side of the producers.

As a consequence, I decided to cut down on my vinyl purchases. My goal in the future is to find high-quality second-hand vinyl, and if I can't find it, then the digital version will do. It's as simple as that.

But I am not a dogmatic purist, so whenever I buy first-hand brand-new vinyl, the same amount of money will have to go to welfare organisations, and there is no compromise. The goal is to reach a point where I donate first and then remember to buy a record as a kind of reward for that.
This will inevitably reduce my first-hand vinyl purchases in the long run, which is probably for the better.
 
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This is a heck of a box set.
Ya gotta be a hot shot to afford it.


Thanks for the advice, Turkey. I will instantly buy the biggest XXL BoX Set available on the market and then launch a YT video which shows me, totally committed to this task, unpacking the whole lotta thang. This will be sent ASAP to my boss, who, at lightening speed, is gonna consider me for the next round of promotions. Thanks, man, heck of a job!
 
Okay, talking about jobs, one of my closer colleagues has been tested 100% CC positive today. Rapid self-test and subsequent PCR test - both defo positive. He is the first of the gang, so to say. Panic at work everywhere, folks, pale in the face, trying to remember when and how (my god, without a mask!) they had last met him, and damn, even TALKED TO HIM. The poor guy, but it had to happen one day to one of us.

We received an e-mail from the public health office, surprisingly telling us that there won't be a quarantine measure for us. His main infection day was April 16th. Holy shit baloney, there is so much to do at work at the moment, I can't even remember what I did this morning, let alone last week on Friday. I decided to assume that I had not seen him then. Furthermore, I didn't know that there is only one infection day. He is at work every day, and unfortunately I have to say, that I have seen him, not just once, with his mask hanging in a nonchalant manner over just one of his ears, walking from person A to person B, with an alibi coffee mug in his hand.

This morning I noticed a very slight twitch in my throat. We'll see where this will lead us. Could be the beginning of the end. I knew I wouldn't last...

 
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Tears were shed today at the end of side B of the Songs for Drella LP...
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"Hello, it's me" is another example of Lou Reed in all his glory when struck with remorse but also filled with resentment after a close friend's death.




I have one of the many 1990 Central Europe & UK releases on the Sire Label.

After having listened to the full album, I thought that the character in "Suedehead" sounds like Andy Warhol, who had died one year before the Suedehead release. Maybe Morrissey fashioned himself as a resurrection of Andy Warhol back in those days.

I used to listen to this album non-stop in the early 90s, mostly bc I wanted to create the exciting atmosphere of Warhol's Factory in my own humble bedsit which, eventually, had to be cleared and left behind sooner than later.

Back then, best song on the album was "Trouble with Classicists", which I though was just the cleverest thing I'd ever listened to in music. Today I liked "Nobody but you" best, mostly bc it succeeds in making the listener feel pity with the gunshot wounded but still surprisingly arrogant Warhol. It's the sort of humorous commiseration one musters when dealing with an incorrigible sour old person who is dependent on your help.

In general, I find the first-person narrative from Warhol's view a bit strange though, but here it can make me chuckle too.

 
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Some new vinyl finds ready to be washed soon.
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Haven't examined them yet, so I can only give some rough information at this point.

1) Morrissey - We Hate It When Our Friends... is the 1992 US 12" Maxi Purple version. The UK version is black btw. Don't know why the US got this purple one. A-side contains an additional live version of Suedehead, B-Side comes with a triple live assortment of Changed my Plea, Pregnant and Alsatian Cousin. Vinyl looks good. Cover is a bit worn out.

2) Morrissey - Suedehead (Mael Mix) comes on a European 2012 10" ideographic Picture disc, which was produced by the wonderful Stephen Street, and released as a Record Store Day limited to 1000 single. The B-side contains two more exceptional songs, namely the live versions of We'll let ya know and Now my Heart is Full, as recorded in 1995.

3) CCR - Pendulum is my first Jap pressing. Not sure, what exactly had inspired me to get this copy. Pendulum was CCR's last but one studio album from 1970. What I have here is a 1978 reissue on the Fantasy label. I am curious about the sound quality, even though I've learned that not all Jap releases surprise you with a super sound. My copy does not have an OBI strip, which is a real pity.

4) Tomita - The Planets: This is Isao Tomita's rendition of Gustav Holst's 1918 orchestra suite of the same name. The record is an original 1976 US release on the RCA RED SEAL label. The record comes in one of those really thick, smelly and lumberjack style US cardboard covers, which I like a lot coz it is so unusual nowadays, and especially here in Central Europe. I prefer Tomita's version of the Planets. I also liked his version of Emerson Lake and Palmers "Pictures At an Exhibition" much more than the original, I have to say.

5) Cat Stevens - Back to Earth: Actually, I can enjoy listening to Cat Stevens as long as I haven't heard the songs on the radio for a coppola hundred times before. Then he really sucks. This is an original 1978 German pressing, all scratched and yellowed, and smelly too, but with a golden title printed in ink on the back cover. Most of the songs I do not know yet.

6) to be cont'd
 
6) Kurt Vile - Bottle It In: ... is Kurt Vile's 7th album from 2018. I have the blue edition in a gatefold cover plus a fake ringwear. As far as I know, sellers don't like this sort of joke.

7) Tausend Augen _ Westend: ... is the debut album of the retro krautrock NDW band from Saarbruecken on the This Charming Man Records label in Muenster. There is defo more to it than just nostalgia for the 70s and 80s, feels more like a resurrection going strong to reclaim lost musical territory. Lost to who or what? - We can only guess.

This here, btw, is the record label's logo.
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Who is the guy behind Moz?
 
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While I am listening to one of my fav vinyl records, Gong's Flying Teapot, let me quickly echo the remains of a distorted dream I had this morning, featuring Morrissey and Mrs Dwyer who came around for a visit to meet her son who lived with me (and others) in these student digs. Don't know where exactly, but folks were speaking English. I heard someone say "Good morning ladies and gentlemen", which sort of gave Mrs Dwyer's presence an actual contour, which was impressive, and I thought, "Like mother, like son". I felt inclined to start a conversation, but failed miserably, as I couldn't think of anything intriguing enough, not even for a small talk situation. I remember her hair, which had an orange glow to it, and was kind of in-your-face filling the room. It felt as if she dropped a seed there too, and Morrissey started searching the room secretly, and had already rummaged through all my stuff, including a set of photographs. Last words I heard were like "This is only part one of many parts" before I woke up, completely knackered but also invigorated in a way, as if I had witnessed the effects of an electrified bond.
 
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Started listening to some of the new records.
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CCR's "Pendulum" from 1970 was available as a 1978 Japanese reissue on the Fantasy label, so I grabbed it, hoping to find out more about the myth-enshrouded superb sound quality of Japanese vinyl records.

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I was surprised about the record's sharp- and hard-edged music and corresponding sound quality. Would've expected something different, as I have mostly only known selective songs from CCR's earlier catalogue. The album has everything I want in a rock record, which, let's say it, is not much, it's the basics: I want powerful vocals, energetic musicianship and versatile songs that do not sound generic. I must say that even the album's two hit singles, "Have you ever seen the rain" and "Hey Tonight", are still persuasive despite their hit-single staleness.


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Despite its many pops and crackles, the record stills sounds fab. I don't need any audiophile reissue for this kind of music. It's difficult to say inasmuch the Jap pressing has been crucial for preserving its spiritedness.
Each single song has its own distinct character, the musical style and influences are rich in variety without sounding willfully diverse. CCR know how to play 'em all. Sometimes though, the arrangement feels a bit too quickly strung together, one song following the next without much of a connection, as if they had wanted to get over and done with it soon and then go home for dinner.


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Anyways, the record comes as a gatefold. Fav song after two listens is Pagan Baby for its bawling.



Very good album.
 
The 2021 CAN Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered, Repress, Stereo, Gold edition of Future Days (orig. 1973) arrived this minute. Looks as if I got the GSA version. There is also a European and a US edition.
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Can has to wait though, as there are still lotsa other records waitin' to be listened to.

In addition, four lil Mozzers were squeezed into the picture as they had been washed, brushed, scrubbed and dried with the most recent batch of vinyl records a coppola days ago.

Lemme show ya some more images of this big event here in town:

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The 2009 Somethin' is squeezin' my skull 7" Polydor single is in super condition. Comes with an artwork print on the inner bag. The Bowery At Night by William Louis Jnr. Sonntag from 1895. Though they seemingly do not go together, the two images (front cover photograph by the a kneeling Michael Muller and the Sonntag painting) have many things in common, if you take a closer look: Electrification, and the guitar bridge resembling the train tracks, Mozzer's skin all alight, the blue sky, and Mozzer hangin' on to Ramone like a train passenger who was too late and now is clingin' to the last carriage and flyin' along coz only stone and steel accept his love which doesn't seem to be the worst thing that happened to him that day.

And the Europe & UK 2011 Glmorous Glue 7" single, a digital remaster, on Major Minor. Let's not forget its B-side, the previously unreleased demo of Safe, Warm Lancashire Home, produced by the previously mentioned Stephen Street.
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Was able to listen to all of em this week, but as usual, couldn't dive into all records adequately and deferentially, due to time issues. My mind was full, again.
But here I am.
The 10" picture disc single of the Mael bros' Suedehead Mix is a nice one, I think. It's a playful thing and deserves our attention. I have no information about its story of conception though. Not sure, if the Mael brothers had a vision when mixin it up.
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But, as it is the case with all picture discs, this cannot be good for the needle, neither in the short nor in the long run.
It was sort of scratching and ice-skating along on the vinyl's painted surface, and sounded like a blade on an ice rink, which is always a beautiful sound, but not when it comes from the stylus on my record player.

The two live recordings of "We'll let ya know" and "Now my time is up" are rich and lush in sound. Moz seems to be a bit sniffly in parts though.

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This above photo of the "We Hate it when Our Frank becomes successful" copy shows ya why it's important to wash them records before puttin em on the turntable, especially when ya got em second-hand. All dusty during sunset. The camera eye was pretty harsh and nitpicking that evening.
I was surprised to see that this 12" Maxi single comes as a 33 rpm, even though there is so much deadwax still available. Not sure about why this happened. The British 12" is a 45er in black.

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(above: We Hate It, sitting in a fountain of youth.)

The live recordings on the B-Side do not belong to my favorites among live recordings, I must say. In some parts they've highlighted the guitars too much, which, in this case, they shouldn't have done. To my ears one of em was many times completely and strangely out of tune.

Fav: Plea
Prefer this live version here. Should be considered for the next B-side of the second 12" single taken from the new album:
 
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While listening to this album today, I was thinking about something completely different from this music. Or maybe it is not really that different.
So, imagine an ordinary man on the one hand, and a man of importance and distinction, due to his professional life achievement, on the other hand. Both of them have children who are playing for the local hockey club. The ordinary man, of course, knows who his child is socializing with. The moment of realization had struck him hard, in a titillating way. In the following years, he tries everything to be noticed by the man of distinction. So, he will make sure that his own child starts to socialize with this other man's child more often, not just on the hockey field. Ideally they will become life-long friends, the families will connect, Christmas cards will be sent to each other and maybe even vacations spent together, which will give the ordinary man, in the years to come, many opportunities to prove his worth, his reliable character, his good sense of humour, his exemplary fatherhood, his charming wife - and he wouldn't mind sharing her with him -, and of course his unshakeable loyalty. In order to achieve all that, he only has to be noticed by the other man once, and this moment has to make him shine in a favorable light so stunning, an overwhelming blaze of glory, that the other man HAS to notice him. He cannot wait for destiny to send him such a moment, so he has to construe it himself. One day his child comes home from the hockey training, with a sullen look on the face, telling him that his hockey coach had criticized him in front of the team. Our ordinary man immediately knows what he has to do...
 
View attachment 71888

Was able to listen to all of em this week, but as usual, couldn't dive into all records adequately and deferentially, due to time issues. My mind was full, again.
But here I am.
The 10" picture disc single of the Mael bros' Suedehead Mix is a nice one, I think. It's a playful thing and deserves our attention. I have no information about its story of conception though. Not sure, if the Mael brothers had a vision when mixin it up.
View attachment 71889

But, as it is the case with all picture discs, this cannot be good for the needle, neither in the short nor in the long run.
It was sort of scratching and ice-skating along on the vinyl's painted surface, and sounded like a blade on an ice rink, which is always a beautiful sound, but not when it comes from the stylus on my record player.

The two live recordings of "We'll let ya know" and "Now my time is up" are rich and lush in sound. Moz seems to be a bit sniffly in parts though.

View attachment 71894

This above photo of the "We Hate it when Our Frank becomes successful" copy shows ya why it's important to wash them records before puttin em on the turntable, especially when ya got em second-hand. All dusty during sunset. The camera eye was pretty harsh and nitpicking that evening.
I was surprised to see that this 12" Maxi single comes as a 33 rpm, even though there is so much deadwax still available. Not sure about why this happened. The British 12" is a 45er in black.

View attachment 71895

(above: We Hate It, sitting in a fountain of youth.)

The live recordings on the B-Side do not belong to my favorites among live recordings, I must say. In some parts they've highlighted the guitars too much, which, in this case, they shouldn't have done. To my ears one of em was many times completely and strangely out of tune.

Fav: Plea
Prefer this live version here. Should be considered for the next B-side of the second 12" single taken from the new album:

All the US 12’ run at 33rpm.
 
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