Tag: Vinyl Records
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Now Spinning: Bill Black’s Combo – Plays Tunes by Chuck Berry
What an absolute blast this one is to listen to, which somehow serves as a pinnacle, last gasp and tribute to early rock ‘n’ roll all at once. Bill Black, of course, is legendary for teaming with Scotty Moore to back Elvis on his first sessions at Sun Studios. Black would remain with Elvis until […]
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Now Spinning: Herbie Mann – Memphis Underground
Funky Friday music with this classic from Herbie Mann and a frighteningly loaded cast of supporting musicians. Few, if any, musicians can compete with the constant musical open-mindedness and curiosity of jazz flutist Herbie Mann. He would quite literally explore a different genre or set of influences with every single album – Impressions of the […]
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In Defense of the Humble Record Changer
A couple of weeks ago, I repaired the record changer function on my Garrard A70 and shared a video of the record changing mechanism in action with a vintage HiFi Facebook group I belong to, and was amused by a few scattered comments like ‘If you are too lazy to change the record yourself, you […]
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Now Spinning: Plant And See
Plant And See was a very short-lived but extremely unique late sixties group that mixed the standard psychedelic rock sound of the day with a wider palette of influences than your typical garage rockers, leading to a southern gumbo of sound featuring an earthier, swampy funk edge. The band had only very minor success, and […]
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Exploring Tom Petty’s Stereo Setup
I’m a fierce advocate for everyone enjoying music however they like, the key words are joy and music, not gear. So I’m not one to judge, but as someone with a deep passion for the gear, I’m always fascinated by how people listen to music. So I loved this look into Tom Petty’s 1978 stereo […]
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Now Spinning: The Rolling Stones – Flowers
While The Rolling Stones 1967 release Flowers is hardly an unknown album, in their intimidatingly massive catalog, the album is an overlooked gem, if also a slight misfit in their discography. Much like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones early albums were issued with slightly altered tracklists, which stemmed from cultural differences between British and American […]
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Now Spinning: John Mayall – USA Union
Once John Mayall’s latest guitar hero departed for the Rolling Stones, Mayall risked sharing a legacy much like The Yardbirds: more famous for the guitarists he employed than his own talents, as Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor graduated from Mayall’s blues school on their way to classic rock titans. But instead of fading […]
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Now Spinning: Juke Boy Bonner
One of the first suggestions I’d offer to any collectors of old blues records – always buy Arhoolie Records releases. Arhoolie Records was formed by a young blues aficionado Chris Strachwitz, who traveled to Texas as a young man to record Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb and many more, beginning with simple field recordings. From those […]
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Now Spinning: Robert Hunter – Tales of the Great Rum Runners
The world lost one of the very best lyrical poets last week with the death of Robert Hunter, principle lyricist for the Grateful Dead as Jerry Garcia’s longtime songwriting partner. Though Hunter was fairly reclusive compared to the rest of the band, he was, apart from Garcia, the most quintessential member, combining folk imagery, strains […]
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Now Spinning: Gary U.S. Bonds – On The Line
Gary U.S. Bonds threatened to fade into obscurity after a brief run of hits in the early ’60s before Bruce Springsteen resuscitated Bonds’ career twenty years after its heyday by pairing him with the E Street Band. The E Street Band was firing on all cylinders when they went into the studio with Bonds and […]
Box Full of Records 