Vinyl love: The Rentals “Q36”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Rentals
Album Title: Q36
Year released: 2020
Year reissued: 2021
Details: Limited edition run of 500, reissue, 2 x LP

The skinny: The Rentals’ fourth album, “Q36”, took me by surprise and managed to come in at number six on my Best albums of 2020 list. Funny thing is, if I had to redo the same list, this album would probably land even higher on it. I had previously known about the Matt Sharp (ex-bassist of Weezer) fronted band from their ubiquitous 90s alt-rock hit “Friends of P.” and then, much later on, I had become fascinated with their third album, 2014’s “Lost in Alphaville”. However, the self-produced concept double album, “Q36”, really captured my imagination and my heart with its retro futuristic, David Bowie glam rock verve and splendour. The problem for me was that I came very late to party and the original run of 500, pressed to translucent gold vinyl, sold out well in advance of its oft-delayed release date last year. When that original run was finally mailed out, Matt Sharp took to social media vowing that a second, regular black vinyl run would be forthcoming. However, what with the much publicized vinyl production delays, it took almost a full year for him to make good on his promise. Of course, I was right on it and am super happy with my purchase. It sounds amazing.

Standout track: “Conspiracy”