Tag: Salem MA
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Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy, Blind Date Party, 2021 on Drag City
Cover album collection conceived (and partly recorded?) during Covid, featuring many Drag City artists covering their favorites. Among the standouts are a “Deacon Blues” (Steely Dan) cover with Bill MacKay and a “She Is My Everything” John Prine cover – but all the tunes are great. Callahan and Billy sent songs to collaborators with apparently…
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Chris Stapleton, Traveller, 2015 on Mercury Nashville
This was the debut album from Stapleton, on the border of southern rock and old-school country, featuring his cover of “Tennessee Whiskey” previously recorded by David Allen Coe—a song he memorably performed with Justin Timberlake at the Country Music Awards show. I love his voice and his songwriting. Production by Stapleton and David Cobb, recorded…
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U2, Out of Control in NYC (Live at the Ritz, 18 March 1982), 2023 on Mind Control
Another in a recent series of bootlegs that claim to be from FM broadcasts, based on EU rules around copyright of radio broadcasts. I’m not sure in some cases if they even ever were broadcast. Although the record claims to be March 18th, 1982, it seems to actually be from March 17th, the first of…
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The Sugarcubes, Life’s Too Good, 1988 on Elektra
This is the first album I ever heard featuring Björk Guðmundsdóttir, and it was the debut album for the Icelandic band, which became a college radio hit. I heard it via a friend who (like me) was bound that summer from Minneapolis to Boston to go to Boston University—obviously someone much cooler than me. It’s…
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Ray Price, Ray Price’s Greatest Hits, 1961 on Columbia
I came to Ray Price via Willie Nelson, who did a tribute album of Ray Price songs (For the Good Times) and a 1980 duet album with Ray Price (San Antonio Rose). Great traditional / classic country songwriting and performance. This compilation, out in 1961, obviously doesn’t follow Price into the 60s, 70s, 80s, and…
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The Blow Monkeys, Wicked Ways, 1986 on RCA
The Blow Monkeys were a really interesting UK pop / new-wave band in the 80s, and “Digging Your Scene” was their big hit in the US. This single was also from the Animal Magic LP that hit was from. Fronted by the self-titled Dr. Robert (Bruce Howard), the band included Mick Anker (bass), Neville Henry…
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Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Reactor, 1981 on Reprise
This was the last album for Young & Crazy Horse on Reprise before the five album run on Geffin. Some would consider this a kind of punk or even post-punk (is 1981 too early for post-punk?) version of Neil Young & Crazy Horse. It sometimes gets listed as one of their least successful records—the lyrics…
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Golden Smog, On Golden Smog, 1992 on Crackpot Records
Golden Smog were a “supergroup” of sorts (see the hype sticker) with members of The Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, The Replacements, and Run Westy Run. When this EP was released in 1993 it was not pressed on vinyl. The band members all used pseudonyms in the credits, and the songs are all covers, by: Michaelangelo, Har,…
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Mazzy Star, Among My Swan, 1996 on Capitol
This was Mazzy Star’s third album out in 1996 on Capitol. (I posted their sophomore album in the last few weeks: So Tonight That I Might See). It would be their last album until a re-formed Mazzy Star put out 2013’s Seasons of Your Day on their own label. It was produced by Hope Sandoval…
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U2, Songs of Surrender, 2023 on Island
This album features re-recordings of U2’s own songs, re-interpreted from their 2023 vantage point. It was something of an accompanying record to Bono’s memoir (Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story) and the AppleTV documentary Bono: Stories of Surrender. The vinyl editions (2 x LP) only have 16 songs, where some of the other editions had more…
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The Decemberists, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, 2015 on Capitol
Seventh studio album from Portland Oregon’s The Decemberists. The album was a bit of a return to the band following a hiatus of a couple of years after The King is Dead. So many great songs here, many of which get stuck in your head for weeks. My favorite is maybe a toss-up between “Carolina…
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U2, How to Re-assemble an Atomic Bomb, 2024 on Island
Let’s see if the title gets flagged by the bots. This was the “shadow album” released alongside the 20th anniversary edition of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and features songs from the sessions for that album. Basically any U2 vinyl I don’t already have (or don’t need an upgrade copy) is on my wantlist,…
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Mazzy Star, She Hangs Brightly, 1990 on Capitol
Debut album from Mazzy Star, fronted by Hope Sandoval and founded by David Roback (originally as Opal before changing singers). If you only know them from “Fade Into You” (which is a fantastic song, of course) it is worth going back to this debut album (as well as their third LP Among My Swan). This…
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Acoustic Alchemy, Red Dust and Spanish Lace, 1987 on MCA
This was the debut album from Nick Webb and Greg Carmichael, aka Acoustic Alchemy. They’d later be on GRP after MCA acquired the jazz label. Great album that is also fantastic sounding – recorded by Klaus Genuit at Hansahaus (Berlin). My copy—via Residency Records in Salem MA—is a KM Records pressing that included an original…
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Bill Callahan, Resuscitate!, 2024 on Drag City
This was the follow-up to 2022’s Reality – a live double album recorded at Thalia Hall in Chicago, on March 6, 2023. Callahan is joined by Matt Kinsey, Jim White, and Dustin Laurenzi – great band captured midway through this tour. I’ve yet to have the chance to see Callahan live, but this feels like…
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Bill Callahan, Reality, 2022 on Drag City
Some people write this as Ytilaer, based on how it appears mirrored on the cover and labels. Drag City’s website lists it as YTI⅃AƎЯ, and on discogs they call it Reality, which is what I think of it as. Whatever you call it, it’s the eight solo album Callahan’s put out on Drag City. Recorded…
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James Taylor, Walking Man, 1974 on Warner Bros.
I became a James Taylor fan in the 80s via a CD of Greatest Hits but as I’m rebuilding my vinyl collection have been picking up his early 70s albums. Walking Man was his fifth, out in 1974 on Warner Bros. (after his debut had been on Apple Records). It was less successful commercially than…
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Chris Stapleton, From A Room: Vol 1., 2017 on Mercury Nashville
Stapleton was a fairly successful Nashville based songwriter for more than a decade before his 2015 debut LP Traveller, as well as fronting a bluegrass band (The Steeldrivers) and a southern rock band (The Jompson Brothers). Ironically his big hit – “Tennessee Whiskey” is a cover of a David Allen Coe song (written by Dean…