Archives

Purchase log, 2022-12-06

[Charlie Puth - CHARLIE]

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

Vinyl
  • Charlie Puth, CHARLIE

Catalog

CD
  • 3 Mustaphas 3, Heart of Uncle
  • Anton Bruckner, Mass No. 1 in D Minor / Motets (John Eliot Gardener, Vienna Philharmonic)
  • Beyoncé, B’Day
  • Beyoncé, I Am … Sasha Fierce
  • Disclosure, Caracal
  • Jamie Xx, In Colour
  • Kenny Chesney, Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates
  • R.E.M., 20th Century Boys, Vol. 2
  • Soul II Soul, Club Classics, Vol. 1 (10th Anniversary Edition)
Vinyl
  • Guadalcanal Diary, Flip-Flop
  • Radiohead, Kid A
  • The Meters, Cissy Strut

Reissues

Vinyl
  • Duran Duran, Astronaut
  • Duran Duran, Red Carpet Massacre

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Purchase log, 2022-08-30

[Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Scream]

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

Vinyl
  • Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale and the Right Steppers

Catalog

CD
  • Camper Van Beethoven, La Costa Perdida
  • Sinéad O’Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (Limited Edition)
  • Siouxsie and the Banshees, Juju
  • Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Scream
  • Smashing Pumpkins, Lull
  • Steven Wright, I Still Have a Pony
  • U2, War (Deluxe Edition)
  • Wire, 154
  • Wire, Chairs Missing
  • Wire, It’s Beginning to and Back Again
Vinyl
  • Alexander O’Neal, Hearsay
  • Amanda Shires, To The Sunset
  • Christine and the Queens, Chaleur Humaine
  • Eugène Ysaÿe, Six Sonatas for Violin, Op. 27
  • Guadalcanal Diary, 2 x 4
  • Patrick Cowley, Muscle Up
  • Prince, Chaos and Disorder
  • Sam Hunt, Southside
  • The Faint, Danse Macabre

Reissues

Vinyl
  • Silk Sonic, An Evening with Silk Sonic

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Purchase log picks, January 2019

[Toto - Hydra]

Guadalcanal Diary, 2 x 4

I remember seeing Guadalcanal Diary albums filed in a section of Jelly’s Books and Music reserved for “modern rock”, the precursor of “alternative rock” that would distinguish itself from “classic rock”. I wouldn’t explore the band’s albums till nearly 30 years later. Of their four albums released in the ’80s, 2 x 4 is one of the two essentials, the other being Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man.

Perfume Genius, No Shape

I’ve stayed away from Perfume Genius because the 30-second samples I’d hear of various tracks made me conclude I’d be bored at full-length. No Shape garnered a lot of favorable press in 2018, and the thrift store price point convinced me to jump in. I’m glad I did.

Robert Palmer, Secrets

You should own this album for “Doctor, Doctor” alone, but like the rest of Palmer’s early output, this album is reliably funky.

SUPER JUNKY MONKEY, AIETOH

SUPER JUNKY MONKEY albums can get intense for their length, so this four-track EP is the perfect encapsulation of the band. I grabbed this release from the Evil Sharing Networks in the early 2000s and pined for the day I could afford to order it from overseas. Nearly 20 years later, I would get it on Amazon Marketplace for under $5.

Toto, Hydra

Toto IV gets most of the accolades, and while Hydra didn’t capture the mind share of its predecessor, it has some solid tracks, including one of my favorite Toto singlse, “99.”

Tags: , , , , , ,

Purchase log, 2019-01-01

[Yaz - Upstairs at Eric's]

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.

Catalog

CD
  • Danish String Quartet, Wood Works
  • DJ Krush, Meiso
  • Guadalcanal Diary, 2×4
  • Laurie Anderson, Mister Heartbreak
  • Laurie Anderson, Strange Angels
  • Lou Reed, New York
  • Perfume Genius, No Shape
  • Sinéad O’Connor, Am I Not Your Girl?
  • Styx, Paradise Theatre
  • Van Halen, 1984
Vinyl
  • Aphex Twin, Richard D. James Album
  • Yaz, Upstaris at Eric’s
  • Yaz, You and Me Both

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Favorite Edition Rewind: 1984

[Thompson Twins - Into the Gap]

A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.

And now we enter some new territory. I didn’t start collecting music in earnest till 1985, and I wouldn’t start exploring catalog music till 2005. Raiding thrift shops has allowed me to fill in a lot of history, which is why were expanding the range of this retrospective to as far back as 1978. Today, we start with 1984.

  1. Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George
  2. The Replacements, Let It Be
  3. Soundtrack, Amadeus
  4. Andersson / Rice / Ulvaeus, Chess
  5. Art of Noise, Who’s Afraid of? … the Art of Noise!
  6. Madonna, Like a Virgin
  7. Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain
  8. Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA
  9. Arvo Pärt, Tabula Rasa
  10. Thompson Twins, Into the Gap

Other favorites from the year:

  • Guadalcanal Diary, Walking in the Shadows of the Big Man
  • Nena, 99 Luftballons
  • Eurythmics, 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)
  • Sade, Diamond Life

I was much more into arcade video games — the classic era of Pac-Man and Galaga — than music in 1984. The only album I owned from that time is 99 Luftballons. Everything else I would discover later.

My 12-year-old self would not have known what to make of the Replacements or Arvo Pärt. He would have scoffed and wretched over the idea that Madonna or Prince could rank on such a list. They were his brother’s albums, after all.

He certainly did not have the sophistication or patience for two LPs of Mozart, although he might have really liked watching Amadeus.

And he would have definitely protested the inclusion of Bruce Springsteen on the list, all the while gazing lustily after the cover of Born in the USA.

He would have totally understood the Thompson Twins, though.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Purchase log, 2018-03-27

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.

Catalog

CDs
  • 808 State, Ex:el
  • Carole King, Tapestry
  • Guadalcanal Diary, Flip-Flop
  • Shudder to Think, Pony Express Record
  • Squeeze, Babylon and On
  • Terence Trent D’arby, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’arby
Vinyl
  • French Kaiser Frith Thompson, Live, Love, Larf & Loaf
  • The Human League, Crash

Tags: , , , , , , , ,