Looking ahead: October-November 2021

[sungazer - PERIHELION]

sungazer, PERIHELION, Oct. 11

YouTube musicians Adam Neely and Shawn Crowder finally unveil their debut album after a pair of EPs.

Olivia Newton-John, Physical (Deluxe Edition), Oct. 22

This album was wildly successful at the time, buoyed by a nascent promotional tool called the “music video.” The deluxe edition of Physical includes one of the first video albums produced by a pop artist. Sorry, Beyoncé fans.

Spice Girls, Spice (Deluxe Edition), Oct. 29

In the UK, this deluxe edition of the Girls’ debut album is accompanied by five color vinyl reissues, each featuring a member the group. I’d probably opt for the Mel C one, but I already have this album on LP.

Jason Isbell and 400 Unit, Georgia Blue, Nov. 26

Jason Isbell makes good on his promise to record a cover album of Georgia artists if the run-off election in January 2020 sent a pair of Democrats to the Senate.

Vinyl

Kylie Minogue, Fever, Oct, 15
Sinéad O’Connor, So Far … The Best of Sinéad O’Connor, Oct. 15

National Album Day in the UK looks like Record Store Day Lite from a distance, but this year’s focus on women artists has some nice reissues in the pipeline. Honestly, Fever should just be perpetually available on vinyl. Every special pressing sells out fast and fetches exorbitant prices on Discogs. I have So Far on CD from when it was first released, and it’s an excellent compilation.

Old 97s, Fight Songs, Oct. 29

I would have preferred a vinyl reissue of Satellite Rides, to be honest.

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Purchase log, 2021-09-21

[Dawn Upshaw - Knoxville: Summer of 1915]

I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.

New releases

CD
  • Jeremy Denk, Mozart Concertos
  • MONO, Pilgrimage of the Soul

Catalog

CD
  • Emmylou Harris, Duets
  • Emmylou Harris, Profile
  • Emmylou Harris, Profile II
  • Imagine Dragons, Night Vision
  • Johnny Cash, Unchained
  • Joshua Bell, Romance of the Violin
  • Kesha, Warrior
  • Lady Gaga, Born This Way
  • Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg / Sergio and Odair Assad, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg / Sergio and Odair Assad
  • Ne-Yo, Year of the Gentleman
  • Sam Hunt, Montevallo
  • Suzanne Ciani, The Velocity of Love
Vinyl
  • Dawn Upshaw, Knoxville: Summer of 1915

Reissues

CD
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jesus Christ Superstar (Deluxe Edition)
  • Metallica, Metallica (Deluxe Edition)
Vinyl
  • Guided By Voices, Isolation Drills

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Purchase log, 2021-09-14

[CZARFACE / MF DOOM - Super What?]

I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.

New releases

CD
  • Czarface / MF Doom, Super What?
Vinyl
  • Art of Noise, Noise in the City: Live in Tokyo 1986

Catalog

CD
  • Alison Moyet, Singles
  • Can, Tago Mago
  • Cracker, Kerosene Hat
  • Funkadelic, Funkadelic
  • Grizzly Bear, Friend EP
  • John Coltrane, Crescent
  • John Coltrane, Impressions
  • Keith Jarrett, Solo Concerts: Bremen / Lausanne
  • Kraftwerk, Computer World
  • Linda Ronstadt, Greatest Hits
  • Living Colour, Live at CBGB’s
  • Nas, Illmatic
  • Robbie Williams, Life Thru a Lens
  • Slick Rick, The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
  • Sugababes, One Touch
  • Whiskeytown, Strangers Almanac
  • Soundtrack, Heavy Metal
Vinyl
  • Gaudeamus String Quartet, Crumb: Black Angels / Raxach: String Quartet No. 2 / De Leeuw: String Quartet No. 2

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Purchase log, 2021-09-07

[Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers - Ramble in Music City]

I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.

New releases

CD
  • Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers, Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert
Vinyl
  • Deafheaven, Infinite Granite
  • Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers, Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert

Catalog

CD
  • Sister Sledge, We Are Family
  • The Rolling Stones, Some Girls
  • Tim McGraw, Live Like You Were Dying

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Looking ahead: September-November 2021

[Tomosaka Rie - Cappuccino / Escalation]

Explosions in the Sky, Big Bend, Oct. 1

I haven’t really cottoned to Explosion in the Sky’s soundtrack work, but I’m hoping this release feels more like an album than a cue sheet.

John Coltrane, A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle, Oct. 8

At first, I thought this album was just a reissue of Live in Seattle, till I took a closer look at the title.

Renée Fleming, Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, Oct. 8

I wonder if John Green would be interested in reviewing this album.

The Replacements, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, Oct. 22

The Replacements had, at best, a periphery influence on my teenage listening habits, and yet I’ve bought just about every deluxe edition of their albums. Clearly, I’m making up for lost time.

R.E.M., New Adventures in Hi-Fi (Deluxe Edition), Oct. 29

I’m ambivalent about this album. I had sold it for cash a long time ago, but I picked it up again from the thrift shop. I don’t know if it holds up well.

ABBA, Voyage, Nov. 3

I can’t lie — I’m pretty damn excited about a new ABBA album in 40 years. The singles preceding the album sound like time hadn’t stopped for the quartet, and the world definitely came back around to them.

Sting, The Bridge, Nov. 19

I guess I still care because there is a part of me that fondly remembers a younger Sting in various forms of undress.

Vinyl

Robbie Williams, Life Thru a Lens, Sept. 24
Robbie Williams, I’ve Been Expecting You, Sept. 24

The Ego Has Landed was one of my most played CDs of 1999, and it collected the best bits of Robbie Williams’ first two albums. About 20 years later, I would find I’ve Been Expecting You at the thrift store. So I have to say I’m very much tempted to drop cash on these vinyl reissues, even though I haven’t heard Life Thru a Lens in its entirety.

AJICO, Fukamidori, Nov. 3
AJICO, AJICO SHOW, Nov. 3
AJICO, Setsuzoku, Nov. 3
Hatakeyama Miyuki, Diving into your mind, Nov. 3
Tomosaka Rie, “Cappuccino / Escalation”, Nov. 3

Japan actually has its own Record Store Day event that focuses on domestic releases, but it’s separate from Record Day, which happens annually in November. While Record Store Day focuses on independent retailers, Record Day in Japan looks similar to National Album Day in the UK, where larger retailers are involved with the festivities.

Past Record Days in Japan have included reissues of NUMBER GIRL, YEN TOWN BAND and a number of Studio Ghibli soundtracks. For me, AJICO is the biggest news coming out of this year’s crop, but I’m also immensely pleased to see Hatakeyama Miyuki’s Diving into your mind getting a reissue. The Tomosaka Rie 7-inch single pairs two of her biggest hits, “Cappuccino” and “Escalation”, the A-side written by Shiina Ringo.

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Purchase log, 2021-08-31

[Deafheaven - Infinite Granite]

I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.

New releases

CD
  • Deafheaven, Infinite Granite
Vinyl
  • Death Cab for Cutie, The Georgia EP

Catalog

CD
  • Cyndi Lauper, True Colors
  • Danger Doom, The Mouse and the Mask
  • Jeff Mangum, Live at Jittery Joe’s
  • Neko Case, Blacklisted
  • Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
  • Slaid Cleaves, Broke Down
  • The Pursuit of Happiness, Love Junk
Vinyl
  • Edgard Varèse, Arcana / Intégrales / Ionisation (Zubin Mehta, Los Angeles Philharmonic)
  • Elliot Carter, String Quartet No. 2 / String Quartet No. 3 (Juilliard String Quartet)

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Purchase log picks, August 2021

[Ashanti - Ashanti]

Deafheaven, Infinite Granite

I bet the metal fans hate this album. Since I’m more of a post-rock / shoegazer fan, I find it brilliant. Also, gutsy. It takes bravery to risk change that alienates a portion of your fan base.

Ashanti, Ashanti

I sold this album when cash got short, but “Foolish” is one of those songs that just pop into my head for no reason. So on a recent trip to the thrift shop, I welcomed this album back in my collection and discovered how well it’s held up since its release. Yeah, it’s a bit long — as albums of the CD era are wont to do — but the best bits overshadow the filler.

Gang of Four, 77-81

This sprawling boxed set of Gang of Four’s first two albums contains a full live album, an EP of singles and a cassette tape of early demos.

I bought the vinyl version back in March, but I also wanted to pick up the CD boxed set as well. The packaging is stark but beautiful. My only objection is the digital downloads that accompany the CD set. The sides of the digitized cassette are not broken down by track. But I have to admit, that is punk as fuck.

Jam and Lewis, Volume 1

Yeah, it’s about damn time Jam and Lewis took top billing. There are singers of whom I probably would never have heard if they hadn’t worked with Jam and Lewis.

Cyndi Lauper, True Colors

Similar to ZZ Top’s Afterburner, True Colors followed an immensely popular album, and while its predecessor had more hits, this album is the better collection of songs. Despite incredibly corporate covers of the title tracks in subsequent years, the original has some daring arrangement choices, particularly the fake ending with just percussion, an underrated technique in pop production.

Jeff Mangum, Live at Jittery Joe’s

If you are a fan of On Avery Island or In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, there is little you’ll find objectionable on this solo live album.

Camper Van Beethoven / Cracker, The Virgin Years

The compilation was only made available as a promo, but it’s one that ought to get an official release. As the title indicates, it compiles tracks from two Camper Van Beethoven albums and two Cracker albums, all released by Virgin in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

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Purchase log, 2021-08-24

[Sturgill Simpson - The Ballad of Dood and Juanita]

I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.

New releases

CD
  • Sturgill Simpson, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita
Vinyl
  • Utada Hikaru, One Last Kiss EP

Catalog

CD
  • Fine Young Cannibals, The Raw and the Cooked
  • Leonard Bernstein, Children’s Classics
  • Stars, Set Yourself on Fire

Reissues

CD
  • Gang of Four, 79-81

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Purchase log, 2021-08-10

[Drive-By Truckers - Plan 9 Records, July 13, 2006]

I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.

New releases

CD
  • Art of Noise, Noise in the City: Live in Tokyo, 1986
  • Drive-By Truckers, Plan 9 Records, July 13, 2006

Catalog

CD
  • Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor
  • Ashanti, Ashanti
  • Carly Simon, The Best of Carly Simon
  • Shannon Wright, Over the Sun
  • Spiritualized, Let It Come Down
Vinyl
  • Kraftwerk, Autobahn

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