Tag: 2010s
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Adele, 21, 2011 on XL Recordings
What can you say about Adele, so popular to be parodied in SNL as the one voice capable of uniting all Americans in adoration? This of course was her followup to her debut “19” and was a massive success in its own right with “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” which were sort…
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The Waterboys, Modern Blues, 2015 on Harlequin and Clown
Underappreciated album from The Waterboys on the label Mike Scott created from 2015 – I believe this album (in all its formats) was the the label’s only release. Sides three and four are one track – “Long Strange Golden Road” – in both fully realized and acoustic demo format. The album was recorded in Nashville,…
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Chet Baker, Deep in a Dream, 2017 on Jazztwin
Places where record collectors hang out online are full of threads about “grey market” European pressings of Jazz from the 50s and early 60s. Many of these take advantage of some “loopholes” in coverage of copyright and press vinyl sourced from CDs or existing records ripped to digital. When I picked this up, I worried…
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Peter Buck, Self-Titled, 2012 on Mississippi/Change Records
First solo album by the long-time guitarist for R.E.M., released in 2012 on Mississippi Change records. My copy is from the second pressing, which means it omits the song L.V.M.F. on side two, though it is still printed on the label (and crossed out on the rear cover). He sampled from Sonny Boy Williams’ profane…
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Wye Oak, Shriek, 2014 on Merge Records
Third album on Merge Records and fourth overall for Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, produced by Wye Oak with Nicolas Vernhes (who had worked with Fischerspooner and Dirty Projectors). Artwork by Ashley North Compton My copy via Dyno Records in Newburyport MA
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Wye Oak, The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, 2018 on Merge Records
The most recent full length from Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner, on Merge. The Wye Oak was the largest white oak tree in the US until it died in 2002 (at over 460 years old). There is still a Wye Oak State Park in Talbot County. The album was mixed by John Congleton and mastered…
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Justin Townes Earle, Live at Grimey’s, September 4th, 2014, on BMG.
Though it was recorded in 2014, and released in 2015 on Vagrant Records, my copy is the 2023 Record Store Day reissue on BMG – two 45rpm records in blue vinyl. This was recorded the month Single Mothers was being released but also includes songs that would be on Absent Fathers My copy via Newbury…
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Conor Oberst, Ruminations, 2016 on Nonesuch
Oberst was hospitalized in 2015 in the middle of a tour for the punk band Desaparecidos, and this album was written and recorded in the recovery from that experience. It was recorded in Omaha in just two days, with Ben Brodin as Engineer, Mike Mogis doing the mixing, and Bob Ludwig mastering. My copy is…
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The Alarm, Equals, 2018 on The Twenty First Century Recording Company
The Alarm joined here by Billy Duffy from the Cult. The Twenty First Century Recording Company was set up by Mike Peters back in the 90s. The Alarm have actually put out six records since 2011, though I’ve not followed them as closely as I did back in their heyday in the 80s. They are…
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Bonnie Bishop, Ain’t Who I Was, 2016 on Plan BB
I first heard the title track of this album on a Paste Sampler from 2017 so was happy to find the LP (produced by Dave Cobb) at Dyno Records in Newburyport. Here she is performing it at the Paste Studios: Bishop is from Austin TX (but may now be in Nashville?) and has been putting…
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Jolie Holland & Samantha Parton, Wildflower Blues, 2017 on Cinquefoil
Holland and Parton were the original core of the Be Good Tanyas, later joined by Trish Klein and Frazey Ford. I was (and still am) a massive fan of the Be Good Tanyas, often letting their albums Blue Horse and Chinatown run all day while working. Here they reunite on an album via Cinquefoil Records,…
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Kristin Hersh, Crooked, 2019 on Fire Records
Crooked actually first came out in 2009 (digital/online) or 2010 (CD), but this Fire Records issue for Record Store Day 2019 was the first vinyl issue. Hersh wrote all the songs, produced and played all the instruments, with Steve Rizzo as recording engineer at Stable Sound (his studio at Sandy Point Stables) in Portsmouth Rhode…
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Japandroids, Near to the Wild Heart of Life, 2017 on Anti- Records
Third full length from Vancouver BC rock duo Japandroids, and their first on Anti-. Came with a 24 page booklet insert and poster. There was a ~5 year break after Celebration Rock and lots of incessant touring. I think it’s a more mature record than the previous two and look forward to more. My copy…
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Peter Case, HWY 62, 2015 on Omnivore Recordings
I’ve been a big fan of Peter Case since discovering The Man With The Blue Postmodern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar in the 80s. I didn’t know it at the time but he has a great long history with The Nerves (who recorded the original “Hanging On the Telephone” that Blondie later made big), The Plimsouls (“A…
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Various Artists, If You’re Going To The City: A Tribute to Mose Allison, 2019 on Fat Possum
Fantastic collection on Fat Possum of artists covering songs Mose Allison wrote. Three-sided vinyl, with an etching on the fourth side. Also includes a DVD of Mose Allison: Ever Since I Stole the Blues. Tracklist includes: I had to find a way to get a DVD rip to watch the documentary (you can see it…
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Mary Gauthier, Trouble & Love, 2014 on In The Black Records
Another solid album from Mary Gauthier, with Viktor Krauss, Beth Nielsen Chapman and others. Produced by Gauthier and Patrick Granado. Great songwriting as always: Jagged edges, broken partsWhere you end and where I startGot so tangled up in youThat I can’t tell false from true Fasle from true Part of a set of records I…
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Georg Holm, Orri Páll Dýrason, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, and Kjartan Holm, Circe, 2015 on Krúnk
Two members of Sigur Rós (Holm and Dýrason) working with Icelandic composer Hilmarsson and Georg Holm’s brother Kjartan (touring guitarist with the band) on the soundtrack to The Show of Shows – a documentary by Benedikt Erlingsson on vaudeville, circuses, and carnivals that aired on the BBC as part of Storyville (unfortunately listed as “not…
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Johnnie Frierson, Have You Been Good To Yourself, 2016 on Light in the Attic
Took a flyer on this one at a $10 sale at Vinyl Destination in Lowell, based on my appreciation of other Light in the Attic reissues – it’s really a wonderful collection. Call it lo-fi gospel with some almost spoken word production. Frierson originally put these recordings out on home-produced cassettes in the 1990s but…