The Faint - Danse Macabre (2001)

Saddle Creek Records ■ LBJ 180

(Originally LBJ-37 on same label)

Released August 21, 2001

(This compilation released November 1, 2012)

Engineered and Produced by Mike Mogis and The Faint

Side One:	Side Two:
Agenda Suicide Glass Danse Total Job Let the Poison Spill from Your Throat Violent	Your Retro Career Melted Posed to Death The Conductor Ballad of a Paralyzed Citizen

Though it ended up one of the most brief hiatuses I've taken, early June's was instigated by a work-related trip to Council Bluffs, Iowa, which happens to be right next door to Omaha, Nebraska. I currently live in an area where there are barely handfuls of record stores for a good 60+ miles, so hitting a larger college town (like I myself used to live in) was a blessing and a curse: I flew back with a shoulder bag filled with vinyl, and a suitcase veritably lined with CDs. While there, I took occasion to visit the store that the Saddle Creek label operates there in their hometown, inspired more than anything by the associations it has with Cursive, a fellow fan of whom I discovered I was working with (who also shared a love for The Format and a handful of others--and ended up passing me a copy of Cursive's The Ugly Organ on green vinyl!). While I was in there, I did walk out with a copy of Cursive's I Am Gemini, having failed to pick it up already, and (rather amusingly) did finally get a copy of Whiskeytown's Strangers Almanac, an album by a band from the area I last lived in, but thought I should really pick up a record the label itself put out (I Am Gemini being on CD). The Ugly Organ wasn't there (and, as mentioned, I serendipitously acquired it later in the same trip anyway!), so I wandered about until I ran into this.

I remember around the time this album came out, the band was pretty darn hot around the internet, though I was still in my formative musical explorations. I did glance at them, but moved on before anything took hold, eventually picking a copy of the album up on CD many years later. When this edition was released, I first stumbled into the CD/DVD version last year, and suddenly realized I'd really missed something. That was what pushed me to add to it this vinyl version--it's actually the "deluxe edition" which contains not only a second 12" of bonus tracks (remixes and b-sides) but also that self-same 2xCD+DVD set I already have, albeit in far more inconvenient format for a portable medium.

When it originally came out, the record used a different cover, but the rights to use it were thoroughly rejected--even more than a decade later, which is why it continues to use the cover above. Though this new cover was used for the later pressings, for this deluxe reissue it was re-tinted in neon pink instead of its original blood red. It's a weird colour, very eye-catching, and actually feels more appropriate in a strange sort of way--though the red, black, and white colour scheme of the original issue fit nicely with the cynical overtones of the record and its goth-y vibe, the pink hits on the fact that those are not the whole, and it's a ridiculously danceable record (or so I would guess, being as I lack the skill at such activities, personally).

Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots (2011)

ATO Records ■ ATO 0093

Released February 15, 2011

Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by David Barbe

Mastered by Greg Calbi

Side One: Side Two: I Do Believe Go-Go Boots Dancin' Ricky Cartoon Gold Ray's Automatic Weapon Everybody Needs Love Assholes The Weakest Man Side Three: Side Four: Used to Be a Cop I Hear You Hummin' The Fireplace Poker Where's Eddie The Thanksgiving Filter Pulaski Mercy Buckets

I came in to the Drive-By Truckers at a curious time: I was still working at Borders, and participated in the (extremely limited--about five stores) testing for vinyl sales. It was around 2008-2009, and the selection was largely limited, leaving me unsure of what actually led to titles appearing there. Certainly, it was a store in the Southeast (although a unique town within the state and region), and the Truckers do not suffer the absence of a following there. It did lead to my very mild introduction to Ryan Adams, which has served me well, though I didn't actually do anything with it for years. I saw our copy of DBT's 2008 album Brighter Than Creation's Dark. The art by Wes Freed was intriguing, and the title, too--I was reluctant, as I was still overcoming a lot of my resistance to "twang" in music, and the band's name was a dead giveaway for containing just that. At some point, I gave in and did pick up a CD copy of that same album, and found myself falling for it rapidly.

It wasn't long before I was going to see the band and buy all their albums--indeed, in 2010 I saw them play two shows on two concurrent nights, which was quite an experience. But the curious time is something that involves knowing about the band's history--initially responsible for a pair of interesting but often thought to be somewhat "slight" early albums (Gangstabilly and Pizza Deliverance), they really broke through and into their own with 2001's Southern Rock Opera, which addressed some of the issues that would in some way typify the band as both people and a musical entity--the "holy three" of frontman Patterson Hood's childhood in Alabama: football, via Bear Bryant, race politics in George Wallace, and music in Lynyrd Skynyrd. Some overlap, some confusion, some mixed signals and messages, all adding up to "the duality of the Southern Thing" as Hood wrote on that album. After its release, Jason Isbell joined the band and they released their most acclaimed pair of albums: 2003's Decoration Day and 2004's The Dirty South. To this day, many clamour for Isbell (now solo and successful at it, as I will prove here later on) to rejoin, even if only in brief or for a tour, or what have you, but he left after A Blessing and a Curse in 2006--and that's where 2008's Brighter Than Creation's Dark came in.

Day Fifty-Two - Needle Scratch: The Two Dollar Pistols with Tift Merritt

Yep Roc Records ■ YEP-2015

Released October 26, 1999

(Vinyl released December 11, 2012)

Produced by Byron Mckay and John Howie, Jr.

Engineered by Byron McKay

Mastered by Tim Harper

Side One:	Side Two:
If Only You Were Mine Just Someone I Used to Know We Had It All Suppose Tonight Could Be Our Last	Counting the Hours (I'm So) Afraid of Losing You Again One Paper Kid

This will mark the second time I've fiddled with the alphabet in writing here, but I think my reasons have been solid in their non-arbitrary nature at both times--last time, I was covering an album on its release, and this time, well, I'd just been hoping to see a Two Dollar Pistols vinyl release to put up here anyway, and within days of stating this "aloud" this appeared before me for order, which I proceeded to place immediately (of course!). In and of itself, that would be a bit of a cheat as there are other albums I've deliberately looked up to keep my end-of-letter lists short, but this one is a release by someone who has been open and supportive of both of my attempts at writing, including this very blog. That, too, wouldn't necessarily dictate shifting the order of writing, but the fact that it's his birthday? That, I can make an exception for.

Day Forty: The Clash - Combat Rock

CBS/Epic Records ■ FMLN 2/PE 37689

Released May 14, 1982

Mixed by Glyn Johns

Side One:	Side Two:
Know Your Rights Car Jamming Should I Stay or Should I Go Rock the Casbah Red Angel Dragnet Straight to Hell	Overpowered by Funk Atom Tan Sean Flynn Ghetto Defendant Inoculated City Death Is a Star

There has not yet been a poll more frustrating than the one for The Clash. I own four of five albums on vinyl (no, there aren't six, you're imagining things), and at no moment was there a completely clear choice from the people I know who participated. I had three people whose votes I could guess, and all ended up confirming to me that I'd guessed correctly. One unsurprisingly went up for Sandinista!, not because it's weird, but because he likes weird things. Another went for Give 'Em Enough Rope because he felt he'd paid it the least attention, and undeservedly so (I'm inclined toward the same, and my copy was a rather special gift, actually). Another went for Combat Rock because it was a favourite of his (which I knew). I had a few more conversations--two who noted their Clash-y inexperience, one suggesting his exclusive familiarity with London Calling meant perhaps he should choose a different record to learn something, another suggesting that because she only knew London Calling, it would be most comfortable to read about. And let's face it: usually we all read about the records we know already unless we're deliberately seeking one out.¹ There's not much frame of reference to understand the description of the unfamiliar, after all.

Day Thirty-Eight: The Church - Untitled #23

Unorthodox/Second Motion Records ■ LP-SMR-012

Released March 6, 2009

Recorded by Jorden Brebach, timEbandit Powles, David Trump, and David Skeet

Mixed by David Trump with timEbandit Powles(S1-1,2,3; S2-4), Jorden Brebach (S1-4; S2-1,2,3; S3-1,2,3,4), timEbandit Powles (S4), and Marty Willson-Piper (S3-3)

Side One:	Side Two:
Cobalt Blue Deadman's Hand Pangaea Anchorage	Happenstance Sunken Sun LLC* Operetta

Side Three:	Side Four:
On Angel St Lunar Insanity* Space Saviour	So Love May Find Us*

Back when I wrote about Burning Airlines' Identikit, I decided to be a smartypants and ask J. Robbins and Peter Moffett for opinions on where to go with that entry, and got different responses from each. It did, however, help to decide which release to go with that time. When I started planning ahead for my next polls (after the onslaught around artists starting with "B") I saw that I had the Church in the running. I actually typed up that poll (Untitled #23 vs. Starfish) and then decided that, since he had actually passed along my previous writing about the Church (now and forever the most popular post on that blog, as a result!), I would ask Steve Kilbey for input here. After doing so, I started pondering asking Marty Willson-Piper, and maybe even Peter Koppes, just to get a well-rounded set of responses, if I could, but I was surprised to get a response from Mr. Kilbey almost immediately. Without any demands, he simply told me he'd prefer I write about Untitled #23, without question (as I had asked specifically if he had a preference). When that response came in, I thought about it. I realized that, most likely, he said this because, well, if there's a Church album people know about--it's Starfish. It seemed, then, like it would be the right thing in all senses to follow his wishes. I took down the poll (few if any even saw it), and marked Untitled #23 for writing today.

Day Thirty-Seven: The Chemical Brothers - Brotherhood

Virgin Records ■ 5099923481817

Freestyle Dust ■ XDUST9LP

Released September 2, 2008

Produced by The Chemical Brothers

Side One:	Side Two:
Galvanize Hey Boy Hey Girl Block Rockin' Beats Do It Again	Believe Star Guitar Let Forever Be Leave Home

Side Three:	Side Four:
Keep My Composure Saturate Out of Control	Midnight Madness The Golden Path Setting Sun Chemical Beats

I believe I have managed, at this point, to cover my reluctance regarding compilations, so I'll let that pass. Part of that is because, more importantly, I'd never listened to the Chemical Brothers (Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons) before this. In fact, I slit the shrinkwrap just today to listen to this. I respected groups and artists like the Chemical Brothers or the Crystal Method or Daft Punk from afar, but was generally reluctant to touch on the intentionally repetitive segment of electronic music (also touched on briefly, this time with the Caustic Window compilation). I didn't understand it, really, and associated it strongly with actually going and seeing electronic artists perform, which I'd never done. Having actually done it now (to see French synthpop artist David Grellier, aka College), I don't know if the whole process makes sense to me personally. I enjoyed it, but man was that a confused audience. No one was sure how to clap or respond in general.

Day Thirty-Four: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Safe as Milk

Buddah Records ■ BDS-5001

Released September, 1967

Produced by Richard Perry and Bob Krasnow

Engineered by Hank Cicalo and Gary Marker

Side One:	Side Two:
Sure Nuff 'n Yes, I Do Zig Zag Wanderer Call on Me Dropout Boogie I'm Glad Electricity	Yellow Brick Road Abba Zaba Plastic Factory Where There's Woman Grown So Ugly Autumn's Child

On the heels of an album for which my college and high school best friend and roommate is responsible, here's another one that fits that same bill. I'd already mentioned that John started listening to Captain Beefheart in those days, but this is actually the only chunk of it that carried over to me. While he was experimenting with Can, Beefheart, classic 60's rock (which I grew up on and, for a little while, knew better as a result--though he eclipsed my passing, rudimentary knowledge quickly), and other more experimental music, I was delving further into extreme metal, my obsession with a Japanese band (whose albums were not released on vinyl after about 1989, and would require a complicated process to order on vinyl, nevermind their rarity even in their home country), and periodically picking up much "safer" releases in the same fashion of semi-impulsive, but educated purchases.

Day Thirty: Lindsey Buckingham - Gift of Screws

Reprise Records ■ 512970-1

Released September 16, 2008

Produced and Mixed by Lindsey Buckingham

("Gift of Screws" and "Wait for You" co-produced by Rob Cavallo; "Wait for You" mixed by Mark Needham

Engineered by Lindsey Buckingham, Ken Allardyce, and Mark Needham

Mastered by Bernie Grundman/Bernie Grundman Mastering

Side One:	Side Two:
Great Day Time Precious Time Did You Miss Me Wait for You Love Runs Deeper	Bel Air Rain The Right Place to Fade Gift of Screws Underground Treason

I'm a bit conflicted here. In a few weeks or months, we'll run into Fleetwood Mac proper. We won't see any Green or any Welch (I have none of the former, as I haven't gotten around to it, and only a CD of the latter), and so the focus will, obviously, be Buckingham/Nicks-era Fleetwood. The focal point will be for me (as ever), Buckingham. So, then: do I address my thoughts on Lindsey's musical place in my world now, or save it for then? How could I split it, were I to do both? Should I just give in and repeat information, but write it differently when I get there? I'm honestly not sure. I think the best approach is to go ahead and provide the background that establishes why I even have this album, which ties into all of that. So, pardon me for a moment while I briefly delve into my interactions with the last era of Fleetwood Mac.

Day Twelve: At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul

Earache Records ■  MOSH 143

Released November 14, 1995

Produced by Fredrik Nordstrom, Co-Produced by At the Gates

"We are blind to the worlds within us, waiting to be born..."

Side One:	Side Two:
Blinded by Fear Slaughter of the Soul Cold Under a Serpent Sun Into the Dead Sky	Suicide Nation World of Lies Unto Others Nausea Need The Flames of the End

This is actually an interesting title to discuss, as it actually also puts me in the awkward place of talking about a classic album, which was something I intended to somewhat avoid by going through my own record collection instead of a set of albums pre-determined by history or anything of the kind. Naturally, I'm not defiant about classics and do own plenty (and far more if we look at my CD collection), but I'm occasionally peculiar about how I purchase vinyl in particular.