Tag: Blue vinyl

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Blur “The ballad of Darren”

(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: Blur
Album Title: The ballad of Darren
Year released: 2023
Details: 180 gram, blue

The skinny: From the ‘in case you missed it’ files, I’ve been replaying my top five albums from 2023, albeit in a ‘vinyl love’ post format, every weekend in January and just into February; partially because I love these albums and partially because I have them all on vinyl and want to show off their physical beauty as well. I’ve already shared albums five, four, and three, and today is my second favourite album of 2023. It is an album by one of my all-time favourite bands, reunited once again, producing something beyond expectations. “The ballad of Darren” feels like the culmination of everything Blur has done over the years. It is the sound of a band playing music together and for themselves. This 9th album doesn’t feel like a climax, or like a swansong, and yet, if this does turn out to be the last Blur record, I don’t think we’d have any cause at all to complain. I knew I would purchase it for my vinyl shelves, even before I’d heard the excellent song below, but hearing it cemented things. I was actually away from home on vacation the week it was released but I made sure to stop in at an indie record store in the city I was staying and wouldn’t you know, they just happened to have a copy for me to rescue. And on blue vinyl too!

Standout track: “The narcissist”

 

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Andy Bell “The view from halfway down”

(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: Andy Bell
Album Title: The view from halfway down
Year released: 2020
Details: Blue vinyl

The skinny: If you follow me on Instagram as well, you’ll know that I try to post a picture of what’s spinning on my turntable every Sunday. You’ll also know that this very record was my #sundayspin last week and that I admitted there that I didn’t actually listen to Andy Bell’s solo album, “The view from halfway down”, when it was first released back in October of last year. Even now, I couldn’t tell you why, given how much of a fan I am of all the bands with which he has worked (Beady Eye notwithstanding). By the time I got around to it in December, I had already drafted my list, was deep into counting down my favourite albums of the year on these pages, and found myself kicking my own ass for my tardiness and for not being able to include it. I wasn’t too late, however, to snag a copy of it in blue coloured vinyl, a chance I would not let pass me by. The album only vaguely sounds of his work in Oasis and Ride but the sentiments are there. It is pop music that dances across a shoegaze and psychedelic canvas, a breath of fog on a grimy window, a cloudy sky with just a hint of the light blue beyond. If you haven’t listened to it, do so now.

Standout track: “Love comes in waves”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Stars “The north”

(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: Stars
Album Title: The north
Year released: 2012
Details: Gatefold sleeve, blue translucent vinyl

The skinny: Back in 2012, I had just started collecting vinyl, my wife starting things off by finding a couple of fine used picks in Greenwich Village while in New York. After that, I start visiting physical music stores again and rediscovering of the joy of browsing for music, picking up a record here and there, even though I didn’t have a turntable yet. When Stars released a new album, their sixth, in August of that year, I didn’t hesitate to pick it up. First of all, I saw that it was blue and secondly, a sticker pronounced that it included a download card, so that even though I couldn’t spin the record yet, at least I could listen to its contents. Luckily for me, it was another great album by the Montreal-based indie pop band.

Standout track: “Hold on when you get love and let go when you give it”