alive records Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

The Witches “A Haunted Person’s Guide To”

sfilzen — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:51:44 +0000

The Witches “A Haunted Person’s Guide To” 2011. Limited edition clear yellow (but looks orange) vinyl, Alive Records. Detroit psychedelic garage rock. A Haunted Person’s Guide is a comp of the band’s catalog from 1996 to 2007. It’s on the jangle end of garage, not much in the way of dark hypnotic sounds as some psych garage can be. There’s some strong blues inspiration, especially on one of my top tracks “Why Do U Make Me Feel Like That” which has some excellent slide guitar and an ass-meets-tambourine shaking beat. That track first appeared on The Witches’ 2002 album On Parade. The 60’s organ garage sound makes a little cameo on the fun and mildly funky “She Got Some Kinda Thing” (off the 2001 album Universal Mall). There’s some spooky shit, too, as both their name and the comp record’s title suggest like “The Haunted Regulars” (from the 2007 Thriller!) and the monster-mashy “Creepin’ Thru Yer Galaxy” which I think is unique to this comp.

The post The Witches “A Haunted Person’s Guide To” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

The Nerves “One Way Ticket”

sfilzen — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 18:16:15 +0000

The Nerves “One Way Ticket” 2008. Alive Records. Jangly, garagey, power pop. A collection of tracks recorded for their first EP The Nerves (1976), demos and live recordings. I was exactly today years old when it clicked that The Nerves wrote and first performed “Hanging on the Telephone,” a UK hit for Blondie in 1978. The original is great, as is the rest of the collection. The title track “One Way Ticket” and “Paper Dolls” pretty much set the bar for the power pop sound that continues to evolve 50 years on. “Walking Out on Love” veers hard into a punk pop sound – this song was recorded by The Breakaways, formed by Peter Case and Paul Collins after The Nerves dissolved and before Case left that band and helped found the more well-known The Plimsouls in 1978 (just one Plimsouls song on this comp, “Thing of the Past” recorded live in 1979). The other Nerves member, Jack Lee, also has a track on One Way Ticket: a straightup rocker “It’s Hot Outside.” The live tracks on Side 2 are a bit raw, a lot messy – and quite muddy – but full of snotty energy; these are from July, 1977 on the Magical Blistering Tour tour with The Ramones, recorded in Schoenberg, Illinois (Chicago-area). The most exciting of these is “Come Back and Stay” which, again, I was today years old when I realized this is an original Nerves song – I have only ever heard Paul Young’s new wave/blue-eyed soul interpretation from 1983 (which I loved then and still do today) which went to #22 in the US and to #4 in the UK. And since there are zero videos of The Nerves that I could find, will include Paul Young in 80’s acid wash jeans here:

The post The Nerves “One Way Ticket” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Gyasi “Here Comes the Good Part”

sfilzen — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 21:24:44 +0000

Gyasi “Here Comes the Good Part” released yesterday, February 11th, 2025. Limited edition bubble gum & lemon colored vinyl (Alive Records), along with autographed record sleeve and poster. We first discovered Gyasi a couple of years ago up in Appleton at Mile of Music and were blown away by their performance. Outrageously glam in appearance, dead-serious about rock-n-roll.

Gyasi at Mile of Music, 2022

Here Comes the Good Part is Gyasi’s second LP – it’s my first listen (just came in the mail) and I love it! There’s a ton of 70’s T. Rex glam (“Baby Blue” especially) and Bowie (“Grand Finale“), but also a lot of other influences. My picks: The opener “Sweet Thing” – 60’s jangly psych-rock vibes. “Lightning” is straight-up fantastic rock: notes of Tom Petty plus some buzzy Jack White-style guitar: SO good. “Snake City” has its roots in stomping blues (with harmonica!). “Street Life” is Zeppelin-esque and a dead-ringer for both Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, same with another hot rocker “Cheap High.” The riffs on those plus “Star” are killer. While not my favorite, there’s even some bossanova notes (and saxophone!) on “23.” I’ll have this album on repeat for awhile and fingers crossed he tours soon and plays a show we can get to.

The post Gyasi “Here Comes the Good Part” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Gyasi “Pronounced Jah-See”

sfilzen — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 18:30:14 +0000

Gyasi “Pronounced Jah-See” 2022. Alive Records, limited edition purple translucent vinyl. AMAZING glam rock, my favorite new-to-me band at this past weekend’s Mile of Music Fest in Appleton, Wisconsin. T. Rex/Ziggy Stardust/New York Dolls vibes for days, with dashes of Zeppelin as their nods to the past, infused with modern Ty Segall, Black Keys and White Stripes blues-garage riffs. Despite the very not-glam hour and weather (hotter than fuck at 3:00 p.m. in full sun), Gyasi put on a fantastic show and I was hooked from the first note and strut of sparkles and platform boots.

I’ve had Pronounced Jah-See on repeat since we picked it up at the show on Friday afternoon and I love every single track. The opener “Burn It Down” is an all-out glam rocker, followed by the blues stomper “Tongue Tied“: think Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney dressed in sparkles and heels. “Androgyne” is, I’m guessing, autobiographical and so damn catchy, bendy blues guitar celebrating individuality. “Black Strap” goes big and heavy; “All Messed Up,” the strutting “Fast Love” and “Walk On” go straight-up early 70’s T. Rex/Ziggy era Bowie with shredding guitar. “Little Tramp” feels earlier T. Rex, more psychedelic English folk (there’s flute!). “Feed Your Face” would be comfy hanging out on pretty much any Ty Segall album and “She Don’t Care” on a Jack White LP. (I should reiterate here how much I love Ty Segall and Jack White.) “Kiss Kiss” is so fun, like Zeppelin and New York Dolls had the most fabulous baby ever. “Swordfight” does not appear on the vinyl release but is on the digital version: not only is it a heavy-duty head-banging rocker but it also makes me laugh — there absolutely was air-sword during their performance and it was glorious. The opening lyrics of the closer “Godhead” sum up Gyasi nicely: “Well me and all my friends, we sparkle and we preen, outcasts writing fables…” I cannot wait for Gyasi to swing back through our area; I am utterly smitten with the music, the look, the performance – they are the full package and without irony: just pure straight-up genuine love for glamorous and heavy rock and roll. Including several videos here as they are all too good to miss.

The post Gyasi “Pronounced Jah-See” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Soledad Brothers “The Hardest Walk”

sfilzen — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 20:57:18 +0000

Soledad Brothers “The Hardest Walk” 2006/2021. Alive Records, limited edition blue and gold splattered vinyl. Punk blues from Ohio, The Hardest Walk is Soledad Brothers 5th and final album. It’s lo-fi garage blues that at times smashes the blues like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion like on “White Jazz” (I think there might be some theremin!) or takes it straight into the garage like The White Stripes on “Downtown Paranoia Blues” (it’s worth noting that Soledad Brothers more likely influenced White Stripes than the other way around). The Hardest Walk also goes slow-mo honky tonk a la The Rolling Stones on “Crying Out Loud” and straight-up hard-driving blues in the spirit of R.L. Burnside: “Crooked Crown,” which is one of my favorites, reminds me a lot of JSBX’s Judah Bauer’s – and his brother, Donovan’s – side project 20 Miles who were active in the late 90’s. “Dark Horses,” whose chorus supplies the album’s title, is the saddest of the sad style of blues which is followed – on Side B – by the sunny upbeat rocker “Good Feeling.” Soledad Brothers even throw in some buzzy glam garage with “Loup Garou.” The Hardest Walk is a lot of things but it is most definitely NOT boring.

The post Soledad Brothers “The Hardest Walk” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

The Black Keys “The Big Come Up”

sfilzen — Mon, 15 May 2017 14:47:20 +0000

The Black Keys “The Big Come Up” released on yesterday’s date, May 14th, fifteen years ago in 2002. White vinyl on Alive Records. May 14th was also Dan Auerbach’s birthday (b. 1979). The Big Come Up was The Black Keys’ debut album, famously recorded in Patrick Carney’s freezing cold basement on an 8-track tape recorder, providing the recording with a lo-fi grainy quality that mimicked their deep blues influences. They cover a couple of these: Junior Kimbrough’s “Do The Rump” and the traditional blues song “Leavin’ Trunk” (originally credited to Sleep John Estes and recorded over the years by Taj Mahal, Harvey Mandel, Tedeschi Trucks Band and probably many others). Also: the main riff on “Busted” is heavily influenced by “Skinny Woman” by R.L. Burnside. The Black Keys bring a garage punk inspiration onto the album with a cover of The Stooges’ “No Fun” which only appears on the vinyl release, as well as classic rock on their rendition of The Beatles’ “She Said, She Said.” The Black Keys’ originals are also stellar, my favorites include the boogie blues “Countdown” and the raucous “Yearnin,’” and the 60′s go-go tinged “Them Eyes.”

With the release of this debut album, The Black Keys helped (along with The White Stripes and other less well-known bands) usher in yet another blues renaissance to popular music. On the back cover of the record, Denise Grollmus writes “…when you place this record on your turntable you’ll suddenly realize that – somewhere, somehow – there are people who are rekindling the life of truly soulful music. At first, the quality of the recordings may force you into nostalgic distance. You may be thinking to yourself that it is impossible for two young white men in 2002 to have made such a recording. Think again.”

The post The Black Keys “The Big Come Up” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

The Germs “’Round and ‘Round”

sfilzen — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 14:29:07 +0000

The Germs “’Round and ‘Round” b/w “Forming (Version 2)” 2004. Alive Records, purple vinyl. “’Round and ‘Round” was originally performed by Chuck Berry (the B-side to 1958′s “Johnny B. Goode”) and appears on The Germs’ posthumously released ‘81 EP What We Do Is Secret and seems to be a nod to David Bowie’s 1971 version – Darby Crash was a major Bowie fan – the staccato rhythm and phrasing very similar to Bowie’s. The first version of “Forming” was The Germs debut single, released in ‘77, and that iteration is still my favorite, raw and rhythmically awkward, the ending has Crash bemoaning “We’re playing it all wrong. The drums are too slow, the bass is too fast, the chords are wrong, this is making the ending too long…ah, I quit.“ Version 2, on this 45, was cut “with future X drummer D.J. Bonebrake taking over for the departed Donna Rhia – Don Bolles was on hiatus; Crash’s monotone had evolved into a frantic, discordant wail; Pat Smear’s guitar is both looser and stronger, and Lorna Doom’s bass playing sounds kind of/ sort of professional. In short, they’d grown from an inept garage band figuring out how to put the pieces together to an inept punk band who, for better or worse, knew just what they wanted to do, and it’s their strength and confidence that makes all the difference in the world. The two versions of the song bookend the excellent compilation CD (M.I.A.), which ultimately tells you everything you really need to know about the Germs.” (Allmusic)

The post The Germs “’Round and ‘Round” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.