Released on Beggars Banquet in the UK and Big Time in the US, this was the third full length from Daniel Ash, David J, and Kevin Haskins aka Love and Rockets. Love “No New Tale To Tell” from this LP but really all of what they put out.
Hard to find the 80s pressings in decent shape.
My copy—via Crossroads Records in Portland OR—is a 2023 reissue on Beggars Banquet as part of the Beggars Arkive series.
Peterson recorded November 17, 1974 in Tallinn, Estonia (listed as Tallinn Russia) with Niels Pederson and Jake Hanna.
I love finding these 70s era Pablo recordings.
My copy—via Crossroads Records in Portland OR—is a 1976 RCA Indianapolis pressing 2xLP gatefold.
One of the must-haves for any Dylan collector, Blood was Dylan’s return to Columbia after a couple albums on Asylum. “Tangled Up in Blue,” “Simple Twist of Fate,” and “Shelter From The Storm” are my favorites but there’s no shortage of great songs here.
Dylan’s autobiography claims the songs are inspired by Checkov, but Jakob Dylan and others have suggested more autobiographical inspiration – Dylan’s divorce from Sara Dylan was finalized in 1977.
My copy—via Crossroads Records in Portland OR—is a 1975 Santa Maria pressing with black text on the rear cover.
Mose Allison from 1971 with Chuck Rainey and Billy Cobham, recorded at Atlantic Studios and Regent, and produced by Joel Dorn.
Great versions of “Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me” and “If You’ve Got The Money (I’ve Got The Time)” plus nine originals by Allison.
My copy, via Crossroads Records in Portland OR, is a reissue Presswell pressing with lacquer cut by George Piros at Atlantic Studios.
Desmond (who composed Take Five and was a critical part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet) playing here with Ron Carter, Ed Bickert, and Connie Kay – recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in 1974 and produced by Creed Taylor.
One of five albums Desmond put out on CTI in the late 60s and 70s. including Summertime and Skylark (with Gabor Szabo). It’s very fusion, and features Ed Bickert on guitar as much as (or more so than) Desmond.
My copy, via Crossroads Records in Portland OR, is a 1975 issue with Van Gelder in the runouts.
Live album recorded with the Stray Gators on the tour following the release of Harvest. The rear cover lists the venues at which each track was recorded as well as the members of the Stray Gators (Tim Drummond, Johnny Barbata, Jack Nitzsche, and Ben Keith) and special guests David Crosby and Graham Nash.
Reportedly Young didn’t love the tour and this was out of print for years, not released on CD until 2017 – but I think these performances sound great.
My copy, via Crossroads Records in Portland OR, is a Pitman pressing, unfortunately not including the original lyric poster.
Another (like The World Won’t Listen) compilation album from The Smiths, including some BBC sessions plus other singles and B-sides. Came out in 1984 in the UK but was not released until 1993 in the US (instead Sire released Louder than Bombs for the US market).
This LP includes “How Soon is Now?” as the b-side to “William, It Was Really Nothing” – the track was also on US editions of Meat is Murder. Also includes “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” which was also on the William single b-side.
My copy, via Crossroads Records in Portland OR, is a 2011 reissue by Rhino on Sire labels, pressed at Rainbo.
Fifth studio LP from Depeche Mode, released by Mute in the UK and Sire in the US, and recorded in Berlin and London. One of my favorite Depeche Mode albums of all time, starting with “Black Celebration” all the way through “But Not Tonight.”
Core Depeche Mode lineup of Alan Wilder, Andrew Fletcher, David Gahan, and Martin Gore, working with Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller.
My copy—via Crossroads Records in Portland OR—is an Allied Pressing with the embossed cover, with Site and TM under the label logo.
Eleventh studio album (following Rust Never Sleeps) from Neil Young, with one side collecting things recorded throughout the 70s and the second half from 1980 sessions specific to the album.
Young is joined by Levon Helm, Tim Drummond, and Tom Scribner on Side 1, and by Greg Thomas, Dennis Belfield, Ben Keith, and Rufus Thibodeux on Side 2, which was recorded at Gold Star in Hollywood.
My copy—via Crossroads Records in Portland OR—is a Los Angeles pressing with the custom star labels and inner sleeve.
Tenth Neil Young LP and third with Crazy Horse. Mixture of live performances with overdubs and recordings done live in studio. There was a tour also called “Rust Never Sleeps.”
Great collection of songs, bookended by “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)” and “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” – with “Powderfinger,” “Pocahontas,” and “Thrasher” (among others) in between.
My copy—via Crossroads Records in Portland OR—is a Los Angeles pressing on orange Reprise labels, unfortunately sans printed lyrics insert but with original inner sleeve.
Eighties Dylan – 25th studio LP featuring a mix or originals and covers, with guests including Randy Jackson (yes, from American Idol and Name That Tune, and Journey), Steve Jordan, Danny Kortchmar, Sly & Robbie, Mark Knopfler, Alan Clark, Kip Winger, Ron Wood, Clapton, Bob Weir, Brent Mydland, Jerry Garcia, and many more.
Recorded over a series of years in multiple sessions – “Silvio” is probably my favorite track, co-written with Robert Hunter and with guest vocals by Garcia, Weir and Mydland.
I understand not everyone loves 80s Dylan but I do.
My copy—via Crossroads Records in Portland OR—is a Carrollton GA pressing with printed inner liner.
This is actually a reissue of what originally came out in 1961 (also on Riverside) as Sunday at the Village Vanguard, credited to the Bill Evans Trio “featuring Scott La Faro.” La Faro died in a car accident less than two weeks after the gig was recorded. Evans on piano, La Faro on bass, and Paul Motian on drums. Produced by Orrin Keepnews.
Not sure why Riverside reissued this credited to just Bill Evans, but happy to find a pressing from the 60s in great shape. An absolute must have.
My copy via Crossroads Records in Portland OR.
Young’s debut solo album. It can be tricky to keep all the chronology straight here, as someone who came to Young much later in his career – but this is following his departure from Buffalo Springfield and before the first Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young record. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (with Crazy Horse) was the followup.
Great songs here: The Loner, The Old Laughing Lady, and I’ve Loved Her So Long. The tracks produced by Jack Nitzsche and Ry Cooder, the rest David Biggs. It sometimes gets credited as having been released in 1968 (wikipedia for example) but I believe it actually came out in January of 1969. (See this Village Voice ad citing Jan 22nd, 1969).
My copy is a 1970 US Pressing, with Neil’s name in black on the cover (first pressings left the name off) and “Stereo” at the bottom of the labels. In my collection via Crossroads Records in Portland OR.
This is the third solo album from the former R.E.M. guitarist, all on Portland OR’s Mississippi Records. Frequent Buck collaborators present here include Scott McCaughey, Kurt Bloch, and William Rieflin. Buck’s wife Chloe Johnson adds harmony vocals on “Saturday Sunday Monday” and Jeff Tweedy guests on “World Spins Around You.”
It’s a mixed bag – I love Peter Buck but sometimes think he needs an editing eye – but some great stuff.
Recorded at Type Foundry in Portland by Adam Selzer.
My copy, with the “Helicopter” cover, via Crossroads Records in Portland OR – there’s also a version with a “Car” cover.
Dylan’s debut album – what a wonderful record. I’ve had multiple different copies, trying to find the best balance of pressing and condition. My current one is a repressing with the Columbia label with gold type around the outside, which was in use from the 70s into the 90s. The “PC 8579” means it was a discounted repressing – they started using the PC prefix in 1973. Comparing to the all the details here, it’s probably a late 70s pressing. The runouts are a mix of metalwork from Pitman and Santa Maria (Columbia record pressing plans in NJ and CA respectively).
Mostly traditional folk songs here, plus “Song to Woody” (which features prominently in the recent Dylan biopic A Complete Unkown) and “Talkin’ New York” – all recorded in 1961 at Columbia in New York.
Not a bad version in the bunch, but one of my favorites is “Baby Let Me Follow You Down.” Via Crossroads Records in Portland OR.
Collection of live recordings featuring the Gerry Mulligan Quartet on the A-Side and the Gerry Mulligan Sextet on the B-Side. The quartet here is with Jon Eardley, Red Mitchell, and Chico Hamilton; the sextet with Bob Brookmeyer, Zoot Sims, and Larry Bunker with Eardly and Mitchell.
The A-side was recorded at Stockton High School in November 1954, the B-Side at Hoover High School in San Diego.
My copy is an original mono pressing on Pacific Jazz from 1955, via Crossroads Records in Portland OR. The sleeve is pretty worn, but the vinyl sounds great.
Mike Scott, the creative force behind The Waterboys, has continued to make interesting music and evolve their sound – here incorporating more contemporary pop sounds. It’s a double album, with a third record of “blue variations.” Some of the tracks have lots of instrumentation (strings, brass, overdubs) and some seem to be recorded on the fly with just guitar or piano and drum machine with Scott singing solo.
Among guests, there some fiddle via Steve Wickham (who played the violin on “Sunday Bloody Sunday”), brass and string arrangements by Trey Pollard, and bass from Patterson Hood’s dad David Hood.
It’s a big sprawling three record collection but I love it. Still so much talent!
My copy is the 3xLP Deluxe edition, via Crossroads Records in Portland OR.
This was a compilation of tracks previously issued on three different 10″ records issued by Pacific Jazz in 1952 and 1953: PJ LP-1, PJ LP-2, and PJ LP-5.
Besides Mulligan and Baker, the musicians include Larry Bunker or Chico Hamilton (drums) and Carson Smith or Bob Whitlock (bass).
The cover painting is by Keith Finch, part of a series in which Pacific Jazz worked with West Coast artists. The back cover notes “Reproductions of the cover painting suitable for framing are available to you at 50c per copy postpaid.” Wonder if they’d honor that nearly 70 years later.
My copy looks to be a 1957 pressing (see “REmastered REissue” on the labels) from RCA’s Hollywood plant. The cover has seen better days, but the vinyl is in great shape.
Via Crossroads Records in Portland OR.
Bowie’s penultimate release, coming three years before Blackstar and a decade after Reality. Produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, and recorded at The Magic Shop in New York City in 2011-2012.
Musicians include Earl Slick, Gerry Leonard, Sterling Campbell, Zack Alford, and Gail Ann Dorsey.
I love the cover, which starts with the cover of Heroes as though someone just put a post-it note over an existing cover.
My copy via Crossroads Records in Portland OR, was released as a 2xLP with a CD included containing the same 17 tracks.
Seventh full length from Mark Oliver Everett (aka “E”) and Eels. Hombre Lobo as you might guess is Spanish for Werewolf. The MySpace Transmissions EP of live tracks was released to promote this release. Everything they do is just interesting and cool.
There’s also a documentary called Tremendous Dynamite: Making Hombre Loco if you buy the CD/DVD version:
My copy via Crossroads Music in Portland OR.
