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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Du Blonde “Homecoming”

(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: Du Blonde
Album Title: Homecoming
Year released: 2021
Year reissued: 2021
Details: Limited edition (limited to 500), signed, reissue, transparent with black, neon yellow and bright pink splatter, came with a small magazine, stickers and two cards

The skinny: Continuing my ‘Vinyl Love’ series that’s highlighting my favourite records of last year, here’s the album that placed number eight on that list. I liked the sound of “Homecoming”, the third album by Beth Jeans Houghton as Du Blonde, right off from the get-go. I hesitated, though, and didn’t pull the trigger on its purchase right away. As time wore on, the grrl-rock-ravaged, salacious glam wore upon me, and I found the collaborations with Ezra Furman, Ride’s Andy Bell, and Garbage front woman, Shirley Manson too much fun to bear. I finally decided the record should be on my shelf, but by this time, it became apparent that I wasn’t the only one to come to this conclusion. All of the initial pressings and variants had sold out. Luckily for me, Du Blonde decided to do another limited run late in the year and this time, I did not hesitate. It’s signed by Du Blonde herself and includes a bunch of stickers and postcards and a hand-drawn zine that explains how she came to create her own record label. And of course, the “Lil Petey’s Pick’n Mix Puke” spatter vinyl looks much lovelier than it is described.

Standout track: “Medicated (feat. Shirley Manson)”

Categories
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”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Coldplay “Parachutes”

(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: Coldplay
Album Title: Parachutes
Year released: 2000
Year reissued: 2020
Details: 20th anniversary, reissue, 180 gram, yellow translucent

The skinny: I’ve already written on these pages about how excited I became when I first heard the single “Yellow”. Given how big that song became and how much commercial radio overplayed it, you’d think (and normally I would’ve thought the same) that I might have gotten sick of the tune by now but somehow this never happened. Indeed, “Yellow” is still my favourite single tune from the year 2000. And the rest of “Parachutes” is hardly a slouch. I bought the album on CD on the back of the aforementioned single and quickly fell for the other nine tracks. And none of this admiration has faded at all despite repeat listens for over two decades*. So when a 20th anniversary reissue of the album on (of course, yellow) 180 gram vinyl was announced last year, I did not hesitate to pull the pre-order trigger. It arrived months later, looking and sounding just as sweet.

Standout track: “Yellow”

*I’ve got the album ranked as number four on my favourites for the year in a series that I am still in the process of working out.