Archives

Purchase log, 2024-07-23

[Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels - The Last Roundup]

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
  • Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique
  • Fun., Some Nights
  • Josh Ritter, The Beast in Its Tracks
  • Pinback, Autumn of the Seraphs
  • Wire Train, Wire Train
Vinyl
  • Weezer  Weezer (White Album)

Reissues

CD
  • Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels, The Last Roundup

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Purchase log, 2023-10-03

[... And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Tao of the Dead]

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
  • Lady Gaga, Joanne
  • Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams (Deluxe Edition)
  • Pinback, Information Received
  • Pinback, Offcell
  • The Shins, Wincing the Night Away
  • Soundtrack, Lone Survivor
Vinyl
  • Talking Heads, Talking Heads ’77

Reissues

CD
  • Jason Isbell, Southeastern (10th Anniversary Edition)
Vinyl
  • …, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Tao of the Dead
  • TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain

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Purchase log, 2019-10-01

[The Replacements - Dead Man's Pop]

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, Sound and Fury

Catalog

CD
  • Aretha Franklin, Young, Gifted and Black
  • Dolly Parton, Jolene / My Tennessee Mountain Home
  • Dr. Dre, 2001
  • Dusty Springfield, Dusty in Memphis
  • Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Imperial Bedroom
  • Goldfrapp, Black Cherry
  • Gossip, Music for Men
  • Prince, Dirty Mind
  • Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, 100 Days, 100 Nights
  • Scissor Sisters, Night Work
  • The B-52’s, Funplex
  • Tracey Ullman, You Broke My Heart in 17 Places

Reissues

CD
  • The Replacements, Dead Man’s Pop
Vinyl
  • Pinback, Summer in Abaddon

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Looking ahead: August-November 2019

[NUMBER GIRL - DESTRUCTION BABY]

Perfume, Perfume the Best “P Cubed“, Sept. 18

One new song out of a 52-track career retrospective? I think I’m fine.

The Replacements, Dead Man’s Pop, Sept. 27

Don’t Tell a Soul was the first album I bought from the Replacements, so I’m interested to hear this period of the band’s history expanded on this boxed set.

Cocco, Star Shank, Oct. 2

Three years is pretty much the average gap between Cocco albums these days, now that she’s diversified into fashion, films, stage acting and literature. So she’s right on schedule.

Vinyl

Explosions in the Sky, The Rescue, Aug. 16
Explosions in the Sky, How Strange Innocence, Aug. 16

Explosions in the Sky wrote and recorded The Rescue in two weeks, and it’s a surprisingly tight album given its self-imposed constraints. Previously available only at the band’s shows, it gets a vinyl reissue for the band’s 20th anniversary.

Pinback, Summer in Abaddon (15th Anniversary Edition), Sept. 27

During my days as a record store employee, I got the impression Pinback was a fairly mellow band. So when I found this album at the thrift store, I was taken aback by how boisterous it was.

NUMBER GIRL, Kanden no Kioku, Nov. 3
NUMBER GIRL, DESTRUCTION BABY, Nov. 3

Just as Universal was starting to neglect NUMBER GIRL’s albums, the band reunites and gives the label a reason to dig into the archives. Oh, thank goodness.

Midnight Oil, Breathe Tour 97, Nov. 29

I’m unclear about whether this album was actually released on Record Store Day 2019. It showed up on the list, only to disappear as the April date approached. But it’s up on Discogs, so … where was it available? And is this reissue vaporware?

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Favorite Edition Rewind: 2004

[Madvillain - Madvillainy]

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.

The first half of the 2004 list has remained unchanged. The last half has undergone extensive revision.

  1. Arcade Fire, Funeral
  2. Eluvium, An Accidental Memory in Case of Death
  3. Kicell, Mado Ni Chikyuu
  4. Dylan Rice, Wandering Eyes
  5. The Killers, Hot Fuss
  6. Madvillain, Madvillainy
  7. Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose
  8. The Streets, A Grand Don’t Come for Free
  9. Mindy Smith, One Moment More
  10. STRAIGHTENER, LOST WORLD’S ANTHOLOGY

Other favorites from the year:

  • Pinback, Summer in Abaddon
  • SUPERCAR, ANSWER
  • Kanye West, The College Dropout
  • ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, Solfa
  • Bonnie Pink, Even So
  • Fuji Fabric, Fuji Fabric
  • Sacha Sacket, Shadowed
  • m-flo, Astromantic
  • The Butchies, Make Yr Life
  • Scissor Sisters, Scissor Sisters
  • ZAZEN BOYS, ZAZEN BOYS II

A lot of these revisions are retrospective. I listened to SUPERCAR’s ANSWER when it was reissued on vinyl, and I didn’t find the album as engaging as I originally thought. I’ve come to like Hot Fuss more as time has passed, and I don’t feel as much attachment to Van Lear Rose.

My growing appreciation for hip-hop means Madvillain and The Streets knock Quruli’s Antenna off the list entirely.

I’m still a bit skeptical about keeping Mindy Smith in the Favorite 10, or bumping STRAIGHTENER into the upper echelon. I picked up Pinback’s Summer in Abaddon from Goodwill out of curiosity, and I have a sense that in short time, it will nudge Smith or STRAIGHTENER down to the extended list.

As we go further back to the start of the Aughts, the extended list grows longer. A lot of great music came out at the start of the century. If the Internet hadn’t splintered the mass market, it might have been a galvanizing golden age of popular music.

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Purchase log, 2018-06-12

[Pinback - Summer in Abaddon[

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
  • Clannad, Landmarks (Remastered)
  • Clannad, Sirius (Remastered)
  • Daft Punk, Random Access Memories
  • Guided By Voices, Human Amusements at Hourly Rates
  • McCoy Tyner, Song for My Lady
  • Metallica, … And Justice for All
  • Pinback, Summer in Abaddon
Vinyl
  • Mazzy Star, She Hangs Brightly
  • The Books, Thought for Food

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