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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Spiritualized “Let it come 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: Spiritualized
Album Title: Let it come down
Year released: 2001
Year reissued: 2014
Details: 2 x 180 gram

The skinny: Those of you following closely along with my backwards trip through Spiritualized’s discography* might recognize an album sized gap here. I never have been a fan of the fifth album, 2003’s “Amazing grace”, being the one album I couldn’t get into and so I never expect to add it to my vinyl shelves. In fact, I wasn’t particularly fond of this fourth album in 2001 by the group, but as the years passed, I came to realize that very little Jason Pierce could have produced would have held a flame his previous studio release** and I’ve grown an appreciation for “Let it come down”. The version I purchased for my shelves and is represented in these photos is the 2014 reissue by Plain Recordings. It’s pressed to two discs in 180 gram vinyl but other than that, it’s pretty bare bones, containing only a portion of the original artwork I remember from the compact disc copy I had back in the day. Still, I am glad I have it to give a spin on the old turntable now and again and drift off to space with J. Spaceman.

Standout track: “Stop your crying”

*Especially those of you familiar with said discography.

**More to come on that in a couple weeks.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Spiritualized “Songs in A&E”

(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: Spiritualized
Album Title: Songs in A&E
Year released: 2008
Year reissued: 2012
Details: Limited edition, 2 x LP, white, gatefold sleeve

The skinny: Continuing the backwards trend through the Spiritualized records on my vinyl shelves, we come to their 6th studio album, 2008’s “Songs in A&E”, aka the album that got me excited about one of my favourite bands again. It had felt to me like Jason ‘Spaceman’ Pierce had lost a bit of momentum with his previous two albums but when this one arrived, a whole five years after its predecessor, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Named for the period of time that he had spent in the hospital after a brush with death, this album felt like a different approach to a similar destination but one that revelled in its journey. And whenever I think of this album, I remember seeing the band supporting its release in Toronto with an afternoon slot at the Virgin festival and being tickled pink by a toddler-aged fan singing along to all the tracks and dancing with his father. Like the rest of the records that will be featured in this series, my copy is a reissue (this one in white) and was plucked from the racks of one my favourite indie record stores*.

Standout track: “Sweet talk”

*I’m pretty sure this one was found on the racks at Rotate This in Toronto.

 

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Cults “Cults”

(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: Cults
Album Title: Cults
Year released: 2011
Year reissued: 2022
Details: Limited edition, 10th anniversary, gold foil, signed

The skinny: Here’s a recent record purchase that illustrates the current state of our vinyl collecting woes. Dream pop duo Cults announced the special edition 10th anniversary pressings of their incredible self-titled debut back in June 2021. I remember thinking the price a bit steep and the projected December delivery date a bit far out but I jumped on it anyways. I had fallen in love with this album back in 2011 and its retro sounding wall of sound escapades. It had been on my vinyl collection wish list for a while and I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen a whiff of it at any of my local record shops. I opted for a the gold foil version and of course, I went for the signed option, given that it wouldn’t cost me anything more. I had nearly forgotten about ordering it when last Christmas rolled around but then, I saw an update on their Instagram account explaining how it was wildly delayed. I completely understood and went on with my holidays. Later news was that it would be delivered in February but then that month sailed by without further updates. I checked in with the online shop in April and was told it was pressed but no shipping date had yet been provided. The band finally received them in June, nearly a year after the reissues were initially announced, and I got mine near the end of July. No harm, no foul, because as you can see, it’s lovely. But between you and me, with the rising costs of these things, the delays, and delivery charges, my purchasing has slowed to a crawl this year.

Standout track: “Go outside”