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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Crash Test Dummies “The ghosts that haunt me”

(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: Crash Test Dummies
Album Title: The ghosts that haunt me
Year released: 1991
Year reissued: 2019
Details: Black vinyl, reissue

The skinny: A couple of songs from this very album have already seen the light on these pages: the Winnipeg folk-rock band’s cover of The Replacements’ “Androgynous” and their first huge and at the time ubiquitous hit, “Superman’s song”. It was in that latter post that I went on about how I bought the cassette tape on the back of that song, how it spent a lot of time in my Walkman, and how I likely would’ve worn it out had it not been stolen first. I also mentioned how I would love to have it on vinyl and since that time, noticed that the Crash Test Dummies’ sophomore album, “God shuffled his feet”, was getting the reissue treatment. And yeah, it probably did better commercially but I was still partial to the debut so I held out. One day last month, I was scrolling through the Amazon Vinyl pre-orders list, as I sometimes do, and I found this sitting there for the taking. There was no hesitation. I received it a few days ago and it’s already hit my platter a few a go-rounds. Just like the old days.

Standout track: “The ghosts that haunt me”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Oasis “The masterplan”

(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: Oasis
Album Title: The masterplan
Year released: 1998
Year reissued: 2016
Details: Gatefold, double LP, 180 gram

The skinny: So here’s one of my more recent purchases and having it pretty much completes my Oasis vinyl collection. Not that I have everything they ever released, but I think I have the ones now that really matter. When I brought the disc up to the counter at one of my favourite local shops, the clerk mentioned what a great album it was as he put it in the bag. To which, I agreed and commented on the fact that it was likely one of my favourite B-sides compilations ever. The clerk’s response: “It just speaks to how prolific they were at the time.” And he was so right. This amazing collection of songs were “throwaways” from the short period around the recording of just their first two records. It’s definitely worth a spin if you haven’t heard it and you love yourself a bit of early Oasis.

Standout track: “The masterplan”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Doves “The last broadcast”

(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: The last broadcast
Year released: 2002
Year reissued: 2019
Details: Limited edition, reissue, 2 x 180 gram, orange vinyl, numbered 0177

The skinny: My first words of the year on this blog was care of a post counting down my top 5 Doves tunes. I was fresh off the excitement generated the previous month that one of my all-time favourite bands was putting an end to their hiatus and getting back to performing live. Back in January, we didn’t know if this meant anything more but the success of the first spate of live shows and the interest generated with the buying public has got them talking and working on new material. And yes, they have reissued their first three albums as 180 gram, double LP, numbered, and coloured vinyl. You can be sure I jumped on those pre-orders as soon as they became available and now I’ve got them in my grubby hands. Their sophomore album, “The last broadcast”, is my favourite of all their albums (though the debut is a very close second) so it had to be the one to first hit my turntable on Friday and yes… once again this morning. Can’t wait to spin the others…

Standout track: “There goes the fear”