Tag: Dream Pop

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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
Tunes

100 best covers: #67 The Sundays “Wild horses”

<< #68    |    #66 >>

I’m not really a huge Rolling Stones fan. However…

However, there are some of their tunes that I really like, mostly from their very early days. I purchased a copy of their compilation “Hot rocks 1964-1971” on cassette tape back when I was in high school and listened to it quite a bit on my Walkman. So I definitely recognized this cover by The Sundays when I first heard it. I distinctly remember being in the car, not far from home in Bowmanville, the town in which I spent my formative years. I was listening to the new music preview on CFNY on the car stereo and they were having some sort of cover song special. I particularly remember this fact because they also played another great cover song, one that will figure in later on this list so I won’t mention it here.

This cover by The Sundays was actually my introduction to the band. I really enjoyed the sound, which I would much, much later identify as dream pop, and thus, made a point of remembering their name. Still, it was a while before I made the connection between them and their big single, “Here’s where the story ends”, which I’d heard many times on the radio and now easily count as favourite by them. To this day, The Sundays are one of those bands that make me smile every time I hear them, even despite their often sad melodies.

Interestingly, their cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Wild horses” feels a bit more upbeat than the original, the acoustic strumming a bit more peppy than the sad lethargy and pining for home felt in Keith Richards’ electric accoutrements. Mick the balladeer was always enjoyable to me and on their original, he’s all very late night and tired, the mood slow burning and sobering, right to the bitter end, which closes up right around the six minute mark. The Sundays recorded their cover almost twenty years later and rather than a late night booze can, theirs evokes a vacuous chamber where all sound wavers and melts. All except for Harriet Wheeler’s vocals, which, instead, dance on a cloud, the quiet whispers and the plaintive and aching vocals, all call out into the wilderness, scream out to you for an embrace.

Do I prefer the cover or the original? Tough call, that one. Both are evocative of their time and place and energy. What do you think?

Cover:

The original:

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Doves “Some cities”

(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: Doves
Album Title: Some cities
Year released: 2004
Year reissued: 2019
Details: double LP, white vinyl, limited edition, numbered 0624

The skinny: Back at the beginning of July, I shared photos of Doves’ first record, “Lost souls” and talked about the excitement of having one of my favourite bands back together and active. The announcement of their reunion in late 2018 was well met and by all accounts, the run of live shows that kicked it all off in 2019 were triumphant and exciting. Of course, that was all followed by the reissue of their first three records on limited edition, coloured vinyl, of which I ordered all of them (I shared photos of their sophomore record, “The last broadcast“, as soon as I received them). And then came the ultimate news of all, the prospect of new material, their first in a decade. They’ve been teasing us with a few new songs over the last month or so, then, they dropped the early September release date on us, and you better believe that I pre-ordered it, a sort of birthday present to myself. Anyway… here’s the final one of last year’s reissues, Doves’ third album, 2004’s “Some cities”. It’s beautiful looking and beautiful sounding, like all their records. Come on September…

Standout track: “Walk in fire”