Vinyl, vinyl, vinyl!

Yes, I’m copying and pasting from a Velvet Blue e-mail. I just ordered the Doug Burr and Telegraph Canyon records, so it’s okay. Everything is available at velvetbluemusic.com

THE PRIDS ‘chronosynclastic’  12″

Everyone’s favorite new band now on beautiful vinyl.  Be sure to see them on the road too, www.velvetbluemusic.com/prids has updated tour dates. + Doug from Built to Spill plays guitar magic on a track !

DOUG BURR ‘o ye devastator’ 12″

This is the first time any Burr recordings have been available on vinyl !  O Ye has been getting so much great press and it’s easy to see why.  It’s an instant classic.

STARFLYER 59  ‘old’ 12 “

First time ever on vinyl, and it’s a picture disk too !  It’s at the bottom in the distro section.  Many consider this to be the bands finest work.  Line up for the record was Martin, Cloud, Swift, and Lenz.

TELEGRAPH CANYON – ‘the tide and the current’  12 “

This sounds absolutely perfect on wax !  They have been touring like crazy but we still have some copies left.  The record was produced by W. Johnson of Centro-matic / Monsters of Folk.

THE LANGLEY SISTERS – ‘queen bee’  7″

3 lovely sisters from London make great sing alongs.  Produced by Ed Harcourt. On white vinyl, with download codes.

KISSING COUSINS – ‘pillar of salt’  12″

5 lovely ladies from Los Angeles, who lay on some guitar !  Produced by Richard Swift. On white vinyl, with download codes for the record + bonus tracks.

RICHARD SWIFT – ‘ the novelist / walking without effort’ 2 x 12″

These are almost gone !  A co-release w/ Secretly Canadian, beautiful gatefold, that comes with a cd of 4 unreleased demos inside !

HELLO VINYL – ‘2 cd compilation’

In case you missed it, we have the opposite here :  We took all the out of print Velvet Blue vinyl and put it into a 2 cd set.  Includes tracks from :  Fine China, Pony Express, Richard Swift, Broadway Hush, Fold Zandura, Bon Voyage, etc.

Episode 47: In a Silent Way

I know I’m not alone in this, as Miles Davis was not exactly an obscure artist, but I really love Davis’ music. In fact, I like most everything he ever recorded, from bebop to cool jazz to fusion. It may be partly due to the overwhelming popularity of smooth jazz that I get the feeling like I’m alone in my enthusiasm for his work or the fact that I usually listen to albums like Big Fun and In a Silent Way in solitude.

One of the things I like the most about him was how he worked with his sidemen. Although he could have justifiably entered a studio like an untouchable genius, he allowed many of them to contribute a lot to his records. Gerry Mulligan, Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams and Joe Zawinul (to name a few) were all responsible for helping Davis constantly re-shape his sound.

At any rate, I open this week’s show with one of my favorite songs Davis ever recorded, “In a Silent Way,” as recorded later by Zawinul on a solo album. It’s an interesting piece for me, as Zawinul is the composer, and he’ recording it how sees fit. That said, it also becomes clear just how much he brought to Davis’ group, as it does feel very similar to Davis’ version.

Enough with the discussion. You can do your own research on all these guys and probably come to similar conclusions. Enjoy the show.

1. “In a Silent Way” – Joe Zawinul (Zawinul/Atlantic/1971)
2. “Rendezvous” – Rheingold (Dreiklangs-Dimensionen 45/Electrola/1980)
3. “Iles Dans L’espace” – Mandre (Two/Motown/1978)
4. “I Just Want to Love You” – Dexter Wansel (Voyager/Philadelphia International/1978)
5. “Destiny” – Simple Minds (Life in a Day/PVC/1979)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1415312/47radiofreeraytown.mp3″

Radio Free Raytown – Episode #47 (7/16/10)

Third Annual Black Friday Record Store Crawl

For the third year in a row, I will make the rounds procuring records on Black Friday.  This year, however, I’m inviting anyone to join.  (And trust me, if you think I’m giving out trade secrets, I could give you a running start and still beat you to the choice records.)

I’m giving you my itinerary, so you can meet up at any point along the way.

1. We will start at Benetti’s Coffee Experience at 6:00 for caffeination.  We’ll leave for Half Price Books in Westport.  Although it opens at 7:00, we”ll arrive around 6:30 because there was a really long line last year.  The store hands out bags with $5 gift cards and coupons.  The store has a 20% off sale the entire day, and one lucky person in that first 100 gets a gift card for $100.
2. Next, we’ll stop at Mama’s 39th Street Diner for breakfast.  They have the best omelettes and pancakes in town, so we have to go.  I might even get some of their amazing carrot cake, too.
3. After breakfast, we’re going to Streetside Records.  The store has been selling used records for a while now, but I got wind that it’s fallen into a serious stash of music that will be “priced to sell.”  It opens at 9:00.

So yeah, see you bright and early on Friday!

Take care of your records.

Sunday Spin Setlist (10/11/09)

I am playing some records at Benetti’s Coffee Experience on Sunday, to kick off the store’s weekly Sunday Spins.  I will have a sign-up sheet for you to bring an album next week, so will hopefully I will be providing fewer records each week.

Most of the time at these events, I will play entire sides of albums.  To keep things mixed up, I have chosen only to play one side of each album.  I’ll occasionally break from this and play an entire album if warranted, like when I play A Love Supreme in a few weeks.  (I already anticipate people’s criticisms about only playing half of these albums, but trust me, you will still get plenty of deep album cuts and non-singles.)

Since album sides usually run about 20-25 minutes, you can plan on a different side about every half hour.  I’ll start at 6:00, so plan accordingly, if you want to hear a particular record.  (I’ve included links describing the albums, so do your homework.)

1. Duke Ellington – 70th Birthday Concert (side 1)
2. Ray Charles – Greatest Hits (side 1)
3. Oscar Peterson – Night Train (side 2)
4. The Supremes – Where Did Our Love Go (side 1)
5. The Kinks – Kinkdom (side 2)
6. Buddy Miles – We Got to Live Together (side 2)
7. Yes – Close to the Edge (side 2)
8. Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters (side 1)
9. Jimmy Cliff – The Harder They Come (side 2)
10. Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model (side 2)
11. XTC – Black Sea (side 2)

Oh yeah, and I’m going to post the next episode of Radio Free Raytown tomorrow morning, making your Friday even better!

Poptek, The Lips and The Langley Sisters

Ruetschle plays Exotic Destinations

I want to pass along some random pieces of news.

First, everyone should be familiar with Poptek Records from Dayton, Ohio.  Not only do they release some great pop music, but Andy Ingram also sends out a song every month to subscribers of his mailing list.  Sign up today.

Next, I have to talk about the new Flaming Lips album that comes out next week.  (Am I the only one who ponders the antiquated notion of release dates in our post-Napster age?)  A friend of mine gave the MP3s to me last week, and I love the album.  Anyone who knows me should know that, although I own quite a few of their albums, I really don’t get into much of the Lips’ catalogue.  Honestly,  I’ve just always been more of a fan of Mercury Rev.  That said, this new album, Embryonic, is amazing.  The band is clearly not playing to the crowd on this one, the drums sound like trash and Wayne’s voice is treated as an instrument again.  Anyway, I just want people to be aware of this super-cool limited edition release of the album with crazy artwork.

The Langley Sisters, a new addition to the Velvet Blue Music roster

Last, I’ll just copy and paste from an e-mail that Jeff Cloud at Velvet Blue Music sent me about one of his new bands, The Langley Sisters (who will be featured in an upcoming episode of Radio Free Raytown).  This release sounds like a must-have for us vinyl nerds who dig limited edition junk.

The Langley Sisters are three lovely, young ladies from London, who craft songs from a forgotten era.  Their gorgeous string, horn, and piano sections should pretty much separate them from most everything else in your inbox today !  The single for the track “Queen Bee” will be a limited edition vinyl, each jacket numbered, on white vinyl, and will of course include a download code.  We should also mention that the tracks were recorded and produced by the fabulous Mr. Ed Harcourt.  Late October release.

See them on the road :

09/14 Glasglow @ King Tuts w/ Paloma Faith
09/15 Manchester @ The Ruby Lounge w/ Paloma Faith
09/17 London @ Scala w/ Paloma Faith
09/20 London @ Spice of Life
10/10 London @ The Hootenany