Tag: 1990

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Happy Mondays “Pills ‘n’ thrills and bellyaches”

(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: Happy Mondays
Album Title: Pills ‘n’ thrills and bellyaches
Year released: 1990
Year reissued: 2015
Details: 25th anniversary, reissue, 180 gram, yellow, RSD exclusive

The skinny: A few weeks ago, I shared photos of my translucent yellow, 20th anniversary copy of Coldplay’s debut album, “Parachutes”. For this edition of ‘Vinyl Love’, I decided to keep with the same colour scheme and another anniversary edition, of yet another classic alternative rock album. Picked up on Record Store Day 2015, this Rhino Vinyl reissue of Happy Mondays’ seminal third album wasn’t even on my radar when I ventured into one of my favourite independent shops that day. Indeed, I didn’t even know it was on the list of releases ahead of time but when I saw it on the shelf, the snap decision was made. And it’s one for which I’ve been thankful I’ve made ever since. Not only is the 180 gram slab of yellow vinyl quite pretty and the original album art as confusing and as arresting as ever, but the sound is amazing. “Pills ‘n’ thrills and bellyaches” is one of the greatest examples of what made Madchester so much fun: a swirling conundrum of punk DIY, druggy psychedelics, and dance floor ready beats. “You’re twistin’ my melon, man!”

Standout track: “Step on”

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Lush “Gala”

(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: Lush
Album Title: Gala
Year released: 1990
Year reissued: 2016
Details: translucent vinyl, disc one in limited Origami box set, Record Store Day 2016 release, limited to 2000

The skinny: This year’s Record Store Day was scuppered back in April for obvious reasons and the Plan B was to split the usual special releases between 3 separate ‘drops’ at the end of August, September, and October. I wasn’t able to make it to any of my local shops for the August drop but hope to get out in a couple of weeks for September’s drop. In the meantime, I thought I’d share this, the first in a five part series on the Lush box set, “Origami”, that 4AD put out for Record Store Day 2016. This set includes a reissue pressing on coloured vinyl of each of Lush’s twelve inch releases. Disc one is “Gala”, a compilation 4AD originally put out as an intro to the band in the US, gathering together material already available in the UK from the band’s first bunch of EPs and a couple of rarities. The track below is one of my all time favourites from the comp and really, by the band, and appeared at number 8 on my Best Tunes of 1990 list.

Standout track: “De-Luxe”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Depeche Mode “Violator”

(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: Depeche Mode
Album Title: Violator
Year released: 1990
Year reissued: 2014
Details: 180 gram, gatefold

The skinny: A couple of weekends ago, I started spinning some Depeche Mode and sharing snaps of the few albums I own of theirs in my vinyl collection (yeah, I need few more), all in a bid to stir up the creative juices and finish my Top Five Tunes post that featured their best tunes of the 90s. Well, it worked. I posted that on Friday and if you’ve read it, you’d know that 60% of the songs on that list come from this very album (and the song below wasn’t even one of them). To say that “Violator” is my favourite Depeche Mode album is an understatement. Isn’t it everyone’s? Nine tracks and each one is incredible. Not a skippable track in the bunch. One of many reasons why it was a must for my vinyl collection when I first started collecting again. And this 180 gram reissue sounds perfect. That’s all there is to it. It’s perfection.

Standout track: World in my eyes”