45 rpm Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

More Kicks “Animal”

sfilzen — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 18:38:34 +0000

More Kicks “Animal” 2022. Dirtnap Records. Limited edition (100) Green Noise/Stardumb Records 7″ green vinyl. “Animal” is the first single from More Kicks’ forthcoming LP Punch Drunk and I freaking love it!!!! “Animal” ticks every one of my boxes: punchy power pop/garage, a bit psychedelic and relentlessly catchy and ass-shaking. I fell in love with these Londoners at Dirtnap Fest this past June; it was the first time we saw them perform (I think it was their first US tour) so getting this new release in the mail yesterday was an excellent treat. Side B has two single-exclusive tracks: “The Wind Up,” a crashingly hard all-out rocker with a twangy psychedelic bridge (it’s awesome), and “Ten Miles High,” a sweetly acoustic 60’s-style Americana-ish folk song that Green Noise’s website describes as “Alex Chilton strolling across Abbey Road.” Stay tuned for more about More Kicks on September 15th, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to write about their upcoming LP release on that date 😉

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The Go “Studio Outtakes”

sfilzen — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 18:38:46 +0000

The Go “Studio Outtakes” 1999/2019. Third Man Records. 7″ single, part of the Third Man Vault #41 20th Anniversary Watcha Doin’ package. The 45 has previously unreleased versions of two tracks from the ’99 SubPop Records LP Watcha Doin‘ (upon which a very young, baby-faced and incredibly mopped Jack White appears on guitar): an awesomely messy, lo-fi and sludgy version of “Keep on Trash” (one of my favorite songs from the album) and a densely crashing, kinda psychedelic “Time for Moon” (with weirdly trembly vocals by John Krautner). Like all exclusive Vault releases, there is no internet presence of either track but here’s a live version of “Keep on Trash” that’s nice and messy (but no Jack White).

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Pearl Jam “Angel”

sfilzen — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 17:18:42 +0000

Pearl Jam “Angel” 1994, limited edition 7″ single. Today, July 20th, is Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard’s 55th birthday (b. 1966). “Angel” was a promo-only Christmas single release for Pearl Jam’s TenClub fan club members. “Angel” is a sweet song, more strummy acoustic than grungy and I guess holiday-appropriate. Side B has “Ramblings” recorded live at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, CA on November 5th, 1993. It’s quite the opposite of “Angel” starting off with Eddie Vedder screaming “FUCK ME IN MY BRAIN!” repeatedly as the band starts to wail and shred, with plenty of distortion, ending the song with a threat to “beat the shit out of every barefoot person here.” Merry fucking Christmas (in July).

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Abby Jeanne “Get You High”

sfilzen — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 17:10:38 +0000

Abby Jeanne “Get You High” and “Spellbound” 2019. Hi Fi Records. Very limited edition 7″ colored vinyl and even more limited cassette release. This past weekend Milwaukee’s own Abby Jeanne hosted a “Pop-Up Atomic Records” shop at the Bay View coffee shop, Hi Fi Cafe for her just-released single, “Get You High,” a dreamy track filled with swirls and tension. Side B is a cover of Siouxsie and the Banshee’s “Spellbound,” which Jeanne recreates beautifully, respectfully: not many singers can match Siouxsie Sioux’s piercingly clear vocals but wow, Abby does an amazing job, adding her bluesy touch to the goth classic. The cassette has both of those tracks plus a bonus track – “Get You High (Daniel Ash ‘Paradise Mix’)” – remixed by the Bauhaus/Tones on Tail/Love and Rockets/Pop Tone goth master himself.

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Iggy and the Stooges “Johanna”

sfilzen — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 20:31:49 +0000

Iggy and the Stooges “Johanna” b/w “Purple Haze” 1975/1988 Revenge Records, limited release (2000 copies) on green vinyl. “Johanna” was recorded in 1975 by Iggy Pop and James Williamson and then appeared on their 1977 album Kill City on Bomp! records, however the Stooges frequently performed “Johanna” in ‘73 and ‘74 before the band broke up. From Allmusic: “Interestingly, “Johanna” was a leftover Stooges song, which can be heard in bootleg releases of the band’s record company-rejected demos. The Stooges had been playing a heavy and sleazy version of blues-rock, influenced by the trashy sounds of mid-‘60s garage bands, as well as the Doors, neighbors the MC5, and some British blues acts. Like early Aerosmith, they at times resembled a more raw and less nuanced version of the Rolling Stones. Both the Stooges’ demo version and the Kill City recording of “Johanna” demonstrate Pop’s reverence for the Stones, in his almost cartoonishly exaggerated aping of Mick Jagger’s vocal idiosyncrasies and soul stylings. On the Stooges version, Pop sounds a little less musical, more talk-singing over a typically unsubtle Stooges heavy driving riff. The Kill City version finds a more finessed vocal delivery over a grooving R&B-type arrangement, complete with saxophone by John Hardin. [The version on this 7″ is the Kill City version]…Pop is the romantic on “Johanna,” not the sleazy street hustler who wants to be your dog. He explores the conflicts of a hot-and-cold relationship: “I’ve been a bitch and I know it too/Johanna/I hate to say it but I’m coming home to you.” The newly clean and sober Pop seems here to have found a new addiction. The Kill City arrangement, though not as aggressive as the Stooges version, is no less passionate.”

I’m a bit less clear on the background of their cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.” It only appears on posthumous Stooges anthologies and the 7″ liner notes simply state that Iggy is on vocals and Williamson plays lead guitar so it’s probably also from the Kill City sessions. It’s super-muddy, fuzzy and raw with Pop’s vocals kinda faded through a dark echo chamber.

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Depeche Mode “Leave In Silence”

sfilzen — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 17:33:35 +0000

Depeche Mode “Leave In Silence” 1982. Last week we were vacationing at a cabin in way way up north Wisconsin and each year we drive out about an hour west to Superior (and Duluth, MN). There used to be a shockingly great used record store in Superior – Vinyl Cave Records – which closed in 2016 and transferred a lot of its inventory to Globe News, the business next door that is a weird mix of magazines, tchotchkes, crappy candy and now, records. This was one of several Depeche Mode singles we acquired; this copy from Spain on Victor/RCA (and subtitled “Partir en silencio”).

“Leave in Silence” was Depeche Mode’s sixth single and it hit #18 on the UK charts. A different version of the song with a running time of almost a minute longer was included on A Broken Frame, the band’s second LP. The song is darkly beautiful, lush in minor. The video, though, is comically awful and does not match the mood of the song at all; the band hated it too, choosing not to include on their Some Great Videos VHS compilation.The B-side of the single has “Excerpt From: My Secret Garden,” an instrumental remix of “My Secret Garden” (which also appears on A Broken Frame). The track is a good match for “Leave In Silence” as it too has a succulent feel: the remix’s intro starts with a keyboard effect that recalls the dripping of water off of overgrown greenery in a hidden garden.

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Belinda Carlisle “Mad About You”

sfilzen — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 15:51:18 +0000

Belinda Carlisle “Mad About You” 1986. Today, August 17th, is Carlisle’s 60th birthday (b. 1958). “Mad About You” was the first single from her debut solo album Belinda after the breakup of the Go-Go’s in ‘85. It hit #3 on the US charts and is also significant (to me) for having Andy Taylor of Duran Duran featured on the track’s guitar solo; he also appears in the video, complete with his guitar-solo grimace. “Mad About You,” and the video, instantly bring me back to June ‘86 when, on my summer break before high school, I attended an arts camp on the campus of UW-Platteville. MTV was usually on in one of the common rooms of the cinderblock dorms we were housed in and inevitably “Mad About You” would be playing as I strolled through. The song has a perfectly pop summer vibe, all 80′s gloss and bubbly energy. Side B of the 7″ single has the track “I Never Wanted a Rich Man” which also appears on Belinda and was written by former fellow Go-Go Charlotte Caffey. It’s got a kinda country-pop lilting twang to it with a 60′s girl-group dowoppy subtext and is not a song I particularly care for.

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Bob Burns and the Breakups “Hydrostatic Heart”

sfilzen — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 23:11:30 +0000

Bob Burns and the Breakups “Hydrostatic Heart” b/w “Losing My Head” and “Acid Reflex” 2006 on clear vinyl. Plastic Idol Records. Buzzy, lo-fi garage punk out of Stevens Point, Wisconsin (a town I’ve always considered one of the gateways to “up north” – it’s about an hour northwest-ish from where I grew up and now we drive through it each summer on our way to and from way-way up north where we spend a week in a cabin in the woods. Not much in Stevens Point other than a university and a surprisingly good sushi restaurant). Allmusic says of Bob Burns and the Breakups, “Based out of Wisconsin, these drag-strip rioters play fast and furious punk that owes a slight nod to godfathers like the Stooges and Saints, as well as various blinked-and-you-missed-‘em acts from the Killed By Death set. Yet the mondo fuzz guitars, drunk-drummer tempos, and frontman Bob Burns’s sucker-punch vocals place the band firmly in the post-Crypt Records era.” And from Gearhead Records’ website: “Revved up and stripped down. Raw punk rawk framed in catchy tunes that clock in under 2 minutes. When you’re listening to Bob Burns and the Breakups you know you’re in the midst of the muffled screams of insolent youth and the double- barreled middle-finger salute to unsuspecting business types. Hailing from the sleepy college town of Steven’s Point, WI the band, which formed in 2003, mixes hints of late 70s punk ala D.O.A., Fear, The Dils and The Middle Class with a heavy trashy dose of The Devil Dogs and New Bomb Turks.” (Their 2007 LP Terminal Breakdown came out on Gearhead)

“Hydrostatic Heart” is fast and punchy, super-high energy. Same with “Losing My Head,” but with even more manic fuzz. “Acid Reflex” is stuttery and off-kilter, the weird rhythm mimicking the reflux referred to in the title’s play on words.

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X “Adult Books”

sfilzen — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 12:18:31 +0000

X “Adult Books” b/w “We’re Desperate” 1978 Billy Zoom Music/Dangerhouse, unofficial reissue on red vinyl. The album Los Angeles, on which both “Adult Books” and “We’re Desperate” appeared, was released on this date, April 26th, 1980; the single released just about 40 years ago (June ‘78). “We’re Desperate” is one of my favorite tracks from the groundbreaking punk album, along with “Johnny Hit and Run Paulene” and the Doors cover “Soul Kitchen.” Allmusic says about Los Angeles “ X’s debut, Los Angeles, is considered by many to be one of punk’s all-time finest recordings, and with good reason. Most punk bands used their musical inability to create their own style, but X actually consisted of some truly gifted musicians, including rockabilly guitarist Billy Zoom, bassist John Doe, and frontwoman Exene Cervenka, who, with Doe, penned poetic lyrics and perfected sweet yet biting vocal harmonies. Los Angeles is prime X, offering such all-time classics as the venomous “Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not”…and two of their best anthems (and enduring concert favorites), ”Nausea“ and the title track [“Los Angeles”]. While they were tagged as a punk rock act from the get-go (many felt that this eventually proved a hindrance), X are not easily categorized. Although they utilize elements of punk’s frenzy and electricity, they also add country, ballads, and rockabilly to the mix.”

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The White Stripes “Merry Christmas from…the White Stripes”

sfilzen — Sat, 23 Dec 2017 23:28:25 +0000

The White Stripes “Merry Christmas from…the White Stripes” 2002. Third Man Records/XL Recordings. The White Stripes recorded Side A’s “Candy Cane Children” in 1998 and it appeared on the Flying Bomb Records label’s Surprise Package Volume 2 along with Rocket 455 (“Santa Ain’t Coming for Christmas”) and The Blowtops (“Sidewalk Santa”). It’s classic early White Stripes: lo-fi, sparsely recorded bluesy garage punk and, later, die-hard fans would call themselves Candy Cane Children. Side B is simply adorable; Jack White reads “The Story of the Magi” from the Gospel of Matthew. Meg White sings a rather shaky a cappella version of “Silent Night,” adorably forgetting the lyrics, giggling a bit as Jack prompts her with “ron yon virgin” (which is incorrect – it’s “round yon virgin” – and she notes this to him at the end of the song).

Why don’t you open me up?

Candy Cane Girl
Don’t you know your name, girl?
Twelve people gonna ask you just the same, girl
What a world
Christmas once again, girl
That’s three hundred and sixty four tears, girl

So when Christmas finally comes
And nobody’s got a gun
And you think it might be fun
To hang around
Think again girl

Why don’t you open me up, huh?

Candy Cane Boy
Don’t you know your name, boy?
Nine people gonna tell you just the same, boy
You’re alone, son
In the middle of a million
And nobody knows how to talk to children

Oh, when Christmas finally comes
And nobody’s got a gun
And you think it might be fun
To get a new toy
Think again boy

Oh, when Christmas finally comes
And no one’s got a gun
And you think it might be fun
To make a stand
Think again man

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