Tag Archives: vinyl collection

#627: B is for The Boomtown Rats

It is difficultto put into wordswhat The Boomtown Ratsmeant to me as an aspiringpunk rocker and 16 year-old.Attracted mostly to music from across the bigpond, XTC, Elvis Costello, and these guys, these guysespecially, gave voice to every creative vibration pulsating through my little brain. Bob Geldof, that gangly, Irish punk, with his imprecise, manic, snarlingContinue reading “#627: B is for The Boomtown Rats”

#625: B is NOT for Blake, Sexton, a.k.a. Sexton Blake

Because the band is named after a literary person, a fictional British detective, and not a real person, I’ve discovered I have misfiled Sexton Blake in the B’s. Needless to say, I did not listen to this record from Sexton Blake after finding the mistake, and filed Plays the Hits, a collection of 80’s cover tunes, post-haste,Continue reading “#625: B is NOT for Blake, Sexton, a.k.a. Sexton Blake”

#624: We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk about Record Store Day on Black Friday

It’s Black Friday Record Store Dayand I am boycotting the experience. I thought I was going to pay a visitto my local neighborhood record storebut they really don’t need my supporttoday because they get my supportprobably a couple times a month, sometimes every single week, and the titles offered this year arenot very enticing. IContinue reading “#624: We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk about Record Store Day on Black Friday”

#623: B is for Black Midi

I heard Black Midithe first time in the video for “John L,” a.k.a.“John 50,” which must have been the first single from the 2021 Cavalcade album, the band’s sophomoreeffort. Visually insane, a group of dancers in nude-beige body suits, in clown-like white face, wearing wigs, cavortingand contorting wildly around some obelisk figure with armsand a single eyeball. Musically, it was like a marriage between King Crimson and Primus, but weirder, noisier, aContinue reading “#623: B is for Black Midi”

#621: B is for Björk

Who needs verses and choruses? Bridges, too. Who needs ’em?Recognizable melodies? Passé. Björk, as much as I love her, as much as I find herabsolutely irresistible as a creative force of singular visionand equally singular persona, gets weirder and weirder witheach new album. Fossora, an album consisting instrumentallyof woodwinds, horns, drum machines,some synthesizers, voice choirs,andContinue reading “#621: B is for Björk”

#620: B is for Bird, Andrew

I He’s a whistler. He does the whistlingfor Walter, the muppet, in one of the Muppet movies.More than a decadeago (maybe two!) an intern of mine turned me on to Bird.Back in the oughts of this 21st century, I usedto purchase records for download, before streamingwas a thing. For a shorttime I subscribed to aContinue reading “#620: B is for Bird, Andrew”

#619: B is for The Bird And The Bee

If I said Inara George and Greg Kurstin to you, I liketo think you’d follow upwith, say no more, say no more. It’s more likely that you would not say that, but not totallyout of the realm of possibility.Simply put, the pop duo makes infectious synth popmasterpieces; she’s a great singer, and he’s a geniuskeyboardContinue reading “#619: B is for The Bird And The Bee”

#618: B is for Big Country

I totally sidestepped these guysas a teenage new wave rocker. Decades later, for $3.00, I thoughtI should probably look into, beyond that one eponymouslytitled hit single, what I wasmissing. Not much, it turns out. But that one tune, you know, “In a big country, dreams stay with you like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside”Continue reading “#618: B is for Big Country”

#617: B is for Beyoncé

I One of the most unlikelymusical surprises of the last few yearsis the extent to whichI grew to love Beyoncé. Heretofore, completely outof my wheelhouse (at least I suspected), I’m tryingto remember the first experience that won me. I think it happened whenI watched the album-lengthfilm of Lemonade. The sheeraudacity of that projectintrigued me, theContinue reading “#617: B is for Beyoncé”