Tag: 1994

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Lowest of the Low “Hallucigenia”

(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.)

Lowest of the Low 'Hallucigenia' on vinyl

Artist: Lowest of the Low
Album Title: Hallucigenia
Year released: 1994
Year reissued: 2018
Details: Black vinyl, 2 x LP, part of five album box set, autographed and limited to 300 copies, (box set includes booklet, lyrics sheets, poster, and stickers)

'Hallucigenia' pronunciation

Box booklet 'Hallucigenia' blurb

Box 'Hallucigenia' stuff

Box lyric sheet reproduction Bit

Box booklet 'Hallucigenia' paraphenalia

Box booklet 'Hallucigenia' lyric sheet

'Hallucigenia' Black Monday lyrics

'Hallucigenia' insert 1

'Hallucigenia' insert 2

'Hallucigenia' inside gatefold

'Hallucigenia' back cover

'Hallucigenia' on the turntable

The skinny: Last weekend, I took the opportunity to do a Vinyl Love revisit of Lowest of the Low’s “Shakespeare my butt…” (my favourite album of 1991) and it also served as an introduction to the next four weeks of Vinyl Love posts. I finally broke down and purchased the “Shakespeare my box” vinyl box set just after Christmas this year using money received as gifts. The box includes the group’s first four records, as well as a bonus disc of rarities and b-sides, not to mention a 24-page full colour booklet and various other goodies. No regrets at all. The only reason I had put it off so long was because I already had the debut and hoped that the other albums would be released individually. “Hallucigenia” was a big part of why I finally bit the “Bullet”*. Interestingly, I was originally disappointed with Lowest of the Low’s sophomore album when it was released in 1994 but I grew to love it over time and many of these tunes became personal favourites in their catalogue. This first ever pressing to vinyl is done over two discs and side four, includes 3 B-sides that weren’t on the original release.

Standout track: “Black Monday”

*The pun was not intended but appreciated after re-reading what I wrote.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Weezer “Weezer”

(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: Weezer
Album Title: Weezer
Year released: 1994
Year reissued: 2016
Details: Mobile Fidelity, limited edition, numbered 011775, 180 gram, transparent blue

The skinny: Just over three weeks ago, fellow blogger Super Dekes over at Thunder Bay Arena Rock posted a review of Weezer’s self-titled album (also widely-known as ‘the Blue album’) and mentioned how he had finally gotten a copy of it on vinyl the previous summer. Coincidentally, I had tracked down a vinyl copy of it myself that very week and when I told Deke so, he suggested I also write a review. Well, I figured one of my ‘Vinyl love’ posts would work just as well, so here we are. I actually saw Weezer live before I heard this album. They opened for shoe gazers Lush at Toronto’s Warehouse in the summer ’94 and at the time, I was only vaguely aware of “The sweater song”. Nonetheless, I was blown away by their set – all crunchy guitars and Beach Boys harmonies – and told Rivers Cuomo as much when I spotted him at the merch table. A friend of mine in university later dubbed a copy of the album for me to cassette and I played the hell out of it. This debut is still Weezer’s most successful piece of music in my books, a classic, and though I spent a few dollars more than did Deke, it was well worth it to procure this limited edition Mobile Fidelity release. They do such a great job all round, what with the remastering, the pressing, and the immaculate packaging. Splendid.

Standout track: “The world has turned and left me here”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Cranberries “No need to argue”

(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 Cranberries
Album Title: No need to argue
Year released: 1994
Year reissued: 2020
Details: 2 x LP, 25th anniversary, limited edition, clear vinyl, gatefold sleeve, essay printed on inner sleeves, bonus tracks

The skinny: I’d been wanting to add this record to my collection for many years now but the only pressing that seemed to be readily available was the one by Plain Records that by all accounts, is subpar at best. Then, The Cranberries’ debut album, “Everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we?“, was reissued in 2018 for its 25th anniversary (which I bought) and so I figured if I could just be patient, a 25th anniversary reissue of “No need to argue” would soon follow. And this release is definitely worth waiting for. The sound and the packaging is impeccable, the album proper pressed across three sides and some bonus tracks included on the fourth side. My wife Victoria and I were both fans of the album back when it was originally released. Of course, we were both quite young back then and were still getting to know each other but we had this album in common. When I lost interest after “No need to argue”, Victoria continued to follow them. However, she’s yet to listen to the record with me since I got it last fall because she is haunted by how frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan passed a couple years ago. But maybe soon…

Standout track: “I can’t be with you”