In the late 80’s, during a brief windowin the reign of the artist formerly known as Prince, later formerly knownas the artist formerly known as Prince,I became somewhat obsessed with the guy’s music, inparticular with the stuff he was puttingout then, decidedly psychedelic, unabashedly provocative, musically innovative. This, Sign of the Times,my favorite Prince album,Continue reading “#838: P is for Prince”
Tag Archives: vinyl records
#837: P is for Porcupine Tree
I heard Steven Wilson’s solo stuffbefore I ever picked up an album from Porcupine Tree. A shape-shiftingprog rocker, Wilson is the singer-songwriter and guitar player behind this band and its massive catalog of 34 years, a solo artist with a formidable catalog of 26 years, and has become a kind of wizard studio engineer who,Continue reading “#837: P is for Porcupine Tree”
#835: P is for The Polyphonic Spree
Some of us remembera band from the early to mid 90’scalled Tripping Daisy. They had a hit called “I Got A Girl,” a super silly but super catchy post-punk, grunge-adjacent tune rightalong the lines of The FlamingLips’ “She Don’t Use Jelly.” This was their only hit. I likedthe song but never bought the album. IContinue reading “#835: P is for The Polyphonic Spree”
#832: P is for The Pineapple Thief
Progressive rock, at its worst, becomes all about the enormous chopsof each member of the band. For me, at its best, those chops are coupledwith and secondary to great songs, memorable melodies, strong pop hooks, and smart lyrics. The Pineapple Thiefhas found the perfect prog rock recipefor me. Bruce Soord is an accomplishedsongwriter, has aContinue reading “#832: P is for The Pineapple Thief”
#800: M is for Mew
I haven’t listened to any radioother than NPR for decades now,and music television doesn’t exist,so mostly, I learn about new musicby sampling things on the streamingservice, getting a recommendation from a friend, or by accidentally stumbling upon something new on the inter webs, you know, in the way that everyone and their dogdiscovered Angine deContinue reading “#800: M is for Mew”
#615: B is for Belle and Sebastian
I I had never consideredthe origin of the band’s name. I googled that. Now I know it comes from a French children’s book about a boy and his dog. I wonder if Belle is the dogor Sebastian is the dog, and the reason for my hesitationis the surprising placementof the names in the title. Wouldn’tContinue reading “#615: B is for Belle and Sebastian”
I’m Going to Listen to Everything, Redux
Nearly 100 poems ago, I wrote about the desire to listen to every record in my collection from A-Z. This is a bit of a pattern for me, as, more than twelve years ago now, I made a similar claim about my CD collection, that I would like to listen to at least a singleContinue reading “I’m Going to Listen to Everything, Redux”
On the Thirteenth Day of 2024: Home Alone with Snow and Old Records
My brother and my brother-in-law both bequeathed to me their record collections. In my brother’s case, he let me cull and pick out things I knew I wanted in my collection. My brother in law just gave me a big ol’ box. Finally, after years of storing these things in my basement, I went throughContinue reading “On the Thirteenth Day of 2024: Home Alone with Snow and Old Records”
#395: Poem on April 22, 2021
On April 16 of 2020 I wrote a poem about turntables. I even used this image as an illustration. Having forgotten about that poem, as one does, I set out today to write another poem about turntables–a little bit in keeping with today’s prompt from Napowrimo to write a poem in which an object becomesContinue reading “#395: Poem on April 22, 2021”
#361: Turn, Turn, Turntable
Some very old things are new again, especially this gem, the turntable. Certainly, you’re not going to see a cassette tape renaissance, or, god-forbid, an 8-track tape revival, or a home stereo reel-to-real reprise, or a digital audio tape come-back, but you are going to see turntables, turn, turn, turntables. Some old technology is deadContinue reading “#361: Turn, Turn, Turntable”
