Archives

Purchase log, 2023-11-14

[John Zorn / Masada - The Complete Studio Master Takes]

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
  • Faith No More, King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime
  • Mudhoney, Mudhoney
  • Pixies, Tromp le Monde
  • Robert Schumann, Album fur die Jungen, Op. 68 (Rico Guida)

Reissues

CD
  • John Zorn / Masada, The Complete Studio Master Takes
Vinyl
  • ART-SCHOOL, LOVE / HATE
  • ART-SCHOOL, REQUIEM FOR INNOCENCE

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Purchase log, 2023-06-20

[Guided By Voices - Under the Bushes Under the Stars]

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
  • millennium parade x Shiina Ringo, WORK / 2045
  • Queens of the Stone Age, In Times New Roman
Vinyl
  • SYML, The Day My Father Died

Catalog

CD
  • Clan of Xymox, Clan of Xympx
  • Echo and the Bunnymen, Echo and the Bunnymen
  • fIREHOSE, Raging, Full-On
  • Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, The Swell Season
  • Guided By Voices, Under the Bushes Under the Stars
  • Minutemen, Post-Mersh, Vol. 2
  • Peter Gabriel, Us (Remastered)
  • Pixies, Bossanova
  • The Cure, Pornography
  • The Magnetic Fields, Holiday
  • The Mekons, I ❤ The Mekons

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Purchase log, 2022-10-11

[Judy Tenuta - Buy This, Pigs!]

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
  • Charlie Puth, CHARLIE
  • Hajime Chitose, Niji no Fumoto
Vinyl
  • Beyoncé, RENAISSANCE
Files
  • Sassyblack, BLK

Catalog

CD
  • Echo and the Bunnymen, Songs to Learn & Sing
  • Pixies, Death to the Pixies
  • Robbie Williams, Swing When You’re Winning
  • The Clash, London Calling (Deluxe Edition)
  • XTC, Rag & Bone Buffet
Vinyl
  • Department of Eagles, In Ear Park
  • John Coltrane, Ballads
  • Judy Tenuta, Buy This, Pigs!
  • Philip Glass, Low Symphony
File upgrades

These albums were purchased as MP3 downloads and upgraded to FLAC.

  • Dylan Rice, Fits and Fevers
  • Gaytheist, Hold Me … But Not So Tight
  • Gaytheist, Stealth Beats

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Purchase log, 2022-05-03

[Alban Berg - Alban Berg Collection]

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
  • Pixies, Live from Coachella

Catalog

CD
  • Alban Berg, Alban Berg Collection
  • Ice-T, O.G. Original Gangster
  • The Dream Syndicate, Days of Wine and Roses

Reissues

Vinyl
  • DEVO, Oh, No! It’s Devo
  • The Cure, Pornography

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Favorite Edition Rewind: 1988

[The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues]

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.

I had discovered so much music in 1987 that at the time, I thought 1988 was a dud by comparison. Over the years, I’ve discovered that is not the case. The Favorite 10 doesn’t change from the original list, but look at that expanded list.

  1. In Tua Nua, The Long Acre
  2. Midnight Oil, Diesel and Dust
  3. Kronos Quartet, Winter Was Hard
  4. The Sugarcubes, Life’s Too Good
  5. Enya, Watermark
  6. Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman
  7. Living Colour, Vivid
  8. Duran Duran, Big Thing
  9. Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
  10. The Dead Milkmen, Beelzebubba

Other favorites from the year:

  • Stephen Sondheim, Into the Woods
  • John Adams, Nixon in China
  • Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, Savvy Show Stoppers
  • Camper Van Beethoven, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
  • Sarah McLachlan, Touch
  • Erasure, The Innocents
  • Sade, Stronger Than Pride
  • The Pogues, If I Should Fall from Grace with God
  • The Waterboys, Fisherman’s Blues
  • The Godfathers, Birth, School, Work, Death
  • Camouflage, Voices & Images
  • Ambitious Lovers, Greed
  • Iron Path, Iron Path
  • Toni Childs, Union
  • R.E.M., Green
  • Throwing Muses, House Tornado
  • Pixies, Surfer Rosa
  • N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton
  • Information Society, Information Society
  • Ofra Haza, Shaday
  • The Smiths, Rank
  • Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams

I guess I really limited the expanded list 10 years ago so I wouldn’t have to do so much writing. The Pogues, the Waterboys, the Godfathers, Ambitious Lovers, Ofra Haza, the Smiths and Lucinda Williams would not have appeared on that list — I’ve discovered those albums only in the last 6 years.

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Favorite Edition Rewind: 1989

[De La Soul - 3 Feet And and Rising]

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.

It shouldn’t be a surprise the largest expansion in my collection focuses on the late 1980s, i.e. my high school years. The Favorite 10 list from these years won’t see much change, as 1989 demonstrates, but the expanded lists risk becoming ridiculously long.

  1. The B-52’s, Cosmic Thing
  2. Camper Van Beethoven, Key Lime Pie
  3. Julee Cruise, Floating Into the Night
  4. Faith No More, The Real Thing
  5. Steve Reich, Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint
  6. Fugazi, 13 Songs
  7. Emmylou Harris, Bluebird
  8. Tears for Fears, The Seeds of Love
  9. Madonna, Like a Prayer
  10. Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation 1814

Other favorites from the year:

  • The Replacements, Don’t Tell a Soul
  • Hoodoo Gurus, Magnum Cum Louder
  • All About Eve, Scarlet and Other Stories
  • XTC, Oranges and Lemons
  • De La Soul, 3 Feet High and Rising
  • Nirvana, Bleach
  • Pixies, Doolittle
  • Wayne Horvitz / The President, Bring Yr Camera
  • John Zorn, Spy Vs. Spy
  • Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir, Le Mystère de Voix Bulgares, Vol. 2
  • Nakamori Akina, CRUISE
  • Depeche Mode, 101

Fugazi displaces The Replacements, who made a shot for the charts by cleaning up their sound.

I saw this ad in Pulse magazine and scoffed at it:

[I came in for U2. I came out with De La Soul]

Today, I nod my head and say, “Yeah, that’s about right.” But it took 30 years before I had enough life experience to understand how breathtaking 3 Feet High and Rising is.

Nevermind introduced me to Nirvana like the rest of the world, but I prefer Bleach.

The events in Nakamori Akina’s life at the time CRUISE was released overshadowed the maturity of the album. It’s not ground-breaking the way Fushigi is, but it’s an album that could have only been recorded after it.

I saw Depeche Mode in concert in 2017, and 101 ruined my experience of it. I had been listening to 101 in the weeks leading up to the concert, and understandably, the band stacked the set list more toward recent work than “the hits”.

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Looking ahead, August-September 2016

[Madonna - Bedtime Stories]

UA released a new album earlier this year. Cocco will release her next album in a few weeks. Utada Hikaru is on the release schedule for September. Would it be too much to ask for Shiina Ringo to drop some news about new album as well?

The Bad Plus, It’s Hard, Aug. 26

Covers have always been a special treat from the Bad Plus, and this album marks the second time the trio dedicates an entire album to other people’s music. Or third if you consider The Rite of Spring a “cover”.

Jack Ingram, Midnight Hotel, Aug. 26

First, Jack Ingram was a part of a new generation of country rebels that included the brothers Charlie and Bruce Robison. Then at some point, he traded in the rebellion for a spot at the top of the country charts. Now he’s back to his indie roots.

Eluvium, False Readings On, Sept. 2

I’m still looking forward to a new album, despite not warming up to the last two albums.

Pansy Division, Quite Contrary, Sept. 9

Pansy Division isn’t the first punk band with gay members, but they managed to go further than most, opening for Green Day and Rancid during the ’90s. New albums from the band are few and far between these days.

Utada Hikaru, Fantôme, Sep. 28

When Utada Hikaru announced she was taking a break from pop music, I figured she was making good on her promise to retire early. So her return is a welcome surprise.

Pixies, Head Carrier, Sept. 30

Well, maybe they worked out the kinks since Indie Cindy

Vinyl

Madonna, Bedtime Stories, Aug. 16
Madonna, Ray of Light, Sept. 13

A 2013 European reissue of Ray of Light might still be floating around online merchants for a not-so-exorbitant price, so the real treat is the reissue of Bedtime Stories.

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