Category: Vinyl

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Pixies “Come on pilgrim… it’s surfer rosa”

(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: Pixies
Album Title: Come on pilgrim… it’s surfer rosa
Year released: 2018
Details: 3 x LP, 180 gram, gold, 30th anniversary of “Come on pilgrim” and “Surfer rosa”

The skinny: We’re just a handful of days removed from the start of Ottawa Bluesfest, the local 9-day music extravaganza that I try to attend in some capacity every year and have been doing so in most cases for just over fifteen years. With my health issues this year, I’m certain I won’t be attending every night but I did purchase a full pass and there are a few bands performing that I am definitely going to try to see. Pixies is one of these acts and I’ve been spinning a bunch of their tunes in preparation. I purchased this special edition 3 LP box set collecting together “Come on pilgrim” and “Surfer Rosa”, two of the band’s first ever releases, a few years after it was released, when I found it while browsing Toronto’s Rotate This on a Boxing Day. Released in 2018 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the former’s release, the three discs were pressed on gold vinyl. Included with the mini album and LP was the group’s first ever recording, a live performance from 1986. It was a great find all around and with the Boxing Day discount, a worthwhile purchase.

Standout track: “Gigantic”

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: New Model Army “The love of hopeless causes”

(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: New Model Army
Album Title: The Love of hopeless causes
Year released: 1993
Year reissued: 2025
Details: Music on Vinyl reissue, 180 gram, flaming orange and red vinyl, numbered 1686/2000

The skinny: I received this record in the post a couple of weeks ago, being my most recently procured disc, and I’ve given it quite a few spins already on the ole turntable. It’s an album I never thought would grace my collection so when I saw Music on Vinyl was doing a special edition pressing there was no hesitation. It was an instant purchase. New Model Army was the first band I ever saw in concert and it just so happened that they were touring for this, their sixth studio album. It was my friend Tim that got me into their folk infused post punk and when he mentioned to me that they had been scheduled to play Lee’s Palace in Toronto in the summer of 1993, I was all in. Spinning this beautiful 180 gram pressing on red and orange flaming vinyl brings back all those memories of listening to these songs, prepping for the show, and the day of the concert itself, driving to and then taking the subway in from Scarborough town centre and then rushing to catch the last subway out after the show. Yup, I still know all the words.

Standout track: “Bad old world”

 

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: James “Hey ma”

(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: James
Album Title: Hey ma
Year released: 2008
Details: original pressing, standard black vinyl

The skinny: James, one of my favourite ever bands, was recently announced as part of the lineup for this year’s CityFolk festival, one of the local music festivals, but unfortunately, I will unlikely be able to make the show given the timing. Still, it got me thinking about the other two times I saw the band, especially the first, when my wife and I drove to Montreal for their stop there on the tour supporting 2008’s “Hey ma”. We had already been big fans of their earlier work but this*, their 10th studio album and their first since reforming after an almost six year absence, made us even bigger fans. It was my very favourite album in the year of its release and this wasn’t just a nostalgia vote. “Hey ma” was a return to the sound of their best work and kicked off a string of very good albums that continues to this day. I picked up this original pressing more than five years after its release from one of my favourite local record shops. I just happened to be flipping through their racks one day and there it was. No hesitation, purchase made and there have been no regrets. It’s hit my turntable more times than I can count. So good.

Standout track: “Hey ma”

*And the show, of course.