vinyl Archive

Vinyl Find: Raven – Don’t Need Your Money 7″

This one is going way back… all the way back to 1980. We’re talking pre-Kerrang! here folks (which didn’t launch until ’81). While there were more professional acts on the scene — Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Saxon, Def Leppard, and Diamond Head to name a few — who had all signed to major labels, out of Newcastle came a small label that would become home for a much scrappier group of British heavy metal bands.

Neat Records was responsible for introducing punters to the likes of Raven, Tygers of Pan Tang, Tank, Blitzkrieg, Fist, and most notoriously Venom. For Americans who don’t know, Neat was the precursor to American metal labels like Metal Blade and Megaforce (especially since Brian Slagel cut his teeth reviewing Neat vinyl and John Zazula sold a ton of them). This gem here, procured from a nice chap in the UK via ebay, was the sixth single released by Neat in 1980. Unfortunately for Americans, we only got to see the bad Raven. I’m talking the era where they started wearing BMX motorcycle gear, staged pro-wrestling matches during their shows, and wrote really really really bad songs like “On and On.” The Raven on this single however, was a fantastic band. A great example of punk creeping into Metal to give it a little more energy. Still somewhere between bluesy heavy rock and speed metal, with that great raw and dirty mix. You can’t deny the energy on “Don’t Need Your Money.” Such a fantastic old school riff. “Wiped Out” matches it perfectly. Combined together, 8 minutes of hi-energy old school metal and out.

Raven - Don't Need Your Money

Raven - Don't Need Your Money

Raven - Don't Need Your Money

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Vinyl Find: Electric Frankenstein – Listen Up, Baby! 10″ EP

Give full credit to Sal Canzonieri and the guys from Electric Frankenstein — they took the Misfits’ horror-meets-punk n’ roll ethic and ran with it. Every Electric Frankenstein single, EP, and album is its own collectible. Not only for the music, but for cover art as well, many of them designed by renowned poster and outsider artists. Case in point, the Listen Up, Baby! 10″ EP released by Frank Kozik’s Man’s Ruin label back in 1998. Kozik ran Man’s Ruin as one-half art project, one-half indie label that focused entirely on hard-hitting punk, stoner rock, doom, heavy rock, sludge, psych-rock, and whatever else suited his fancy. In some ways, Kozik and Electric Frankenstein were the perfect match. Maybe that’s why this EP has always been my favorite piece of work from the band. Stellar cover art by Kozik and some of EF’s best songs including the title track, “Neurotic Pleasures,” and “Social Infections.”


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Vinyl Find: Two Sides of the Coyote Men

Brought to you by the same great label that served up The Mummies and Supercharger, Estrus Records. Found this one at Gimme Gimme Records in the East Village. A bombastic collection of over-the-top punk n’ roll, served up Dictators style. And yet, who thought a bunch of guys in Lucha Libre masks, singing punk songs titled “I Swing” and “Action Slacks” would hail from Newcastle? As far as I can tell, this is the only full-length The Coyote Men released. Estrus doesn’t have it available anymore but you can still find it via a few mailorder sites or eBay.

Two Sides of the Coyote Men

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Vinyl Find: Entombed – Out of Hand 12″ single

Entombed Out of Hand singleWhat can one say about this amazing gem I found at Monster Melodies in Paris. It’s my favorite Entombed track off of my all-time favorite Entombed album. While I understand that purists may disagree, no matter how amazing the first two Entombed albums are (especially Left Hand Path), the death n’ roll style makes Wolverine Blues one of the best heavy metal albums of all time (who gives a crap if it wasn’t pure death metal). The perfect melding of Motörhead, Black Sabbath, and Venom with that incredible chainsaw guitar sound. The “Out of Hand” single also has my two favorite covers by Entombed: a really down-tuned ultra-heavy rendition of Kiss’ “God of Thunder” and a very Swedish death-metal version of Repulsion’s “Black Breath.” I also think this is a stellar cover courtesy of drummer Nicke Andersson, who started jumping away from cliche’d death metal album covers and began creating more iconic designs (something he would continue to do for the Hellacopters and now Death Breath). Here it is in ten minutes of head-crushing heaviness: the birth of death n’ roll.

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Vinyl Find: Lemmy Kilmister and Wendy O. Williams cover “Stand by Your Man”

I found this rare little gem at the awesome Monster Melodies in Paris. Sadly, this is the EP that broke up the classic lineup of Motörhead (Lemmy Kilmister, Fast Eddie Clarke, and Philthy “Animal” Taylor). Apparently, Clarke couldn’t stomach the idea of Lemmy singing a duet of Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man” with Wendy O. Williams and walked out during the recording sessions, leaving the band altogether. It is a shame, especially since this is great 7″ and right in line with Motörhead’s output up until that time. The duet between Lemmy and Wendy O. is of course stellar — hypercharged, bombastic, and great fun. Philthy Taylor drives the song with his drumming while Lemmy and Wendy O. trade off on the verse lines. The b-side version of “No Class,” with Wendy O. singing in Lemmy’s place, is actually quite good as well. Her scratchy, raw vocals fit the song and give it a slightly punkier feel. Despite what I’ve read in various places (including Wikipedia), the Plasmatics and Motörhead do not cover each others songs on the b-sides. Clarke did not play on the recordings (and even bailed on producing the EP). So it is actually a mix of Motörhead and Plasmatics members playing all the songs together — Lemmy on bass, Philthy on drums, Wes Beech on rhythm guitar, and Richie Stotts on lead guitar. If you can find it, this one is worth it for the rendition of “Stand By Your Man” alone.

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Vinyl Find: A Bunch of Stiff Records

A Bunch of Stiff RecordsI have been wanting to post this one for a while now. I originally found this in the East Village during Record Store week back over the summer and still listen to tracks from it pretty regularly. What’s not to love here? It’s an comp of the first acts signed to Stiff Records in the late 70s, with most of the songs having a very raw and punchy feel. Favorites include a nice over-the-top version of “White Line Fever” by Motörhead, a stripped down rendition of “Less Than Zero” by Elvis Costello, and the standout in the group, “I Love My Label” by Nick Lowe (which you can’t help but sing along to).

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Vinyl Find: Milt Jackson & Ray Charles — Soul Brothers

Ray Charles and Milt Jackson - Soul BrothersOn a lazy Sunday afternoon, just prior to heading out to a local bar, I had some extra time to go rummaging in the bins of record shops off 1st Avenue. While digging through the new arrivals bin at one of the shops, I stumbled on to this great meet up between Milt Jackson and Ray Charles. The album was recorded in 1957, prior to Charles attaining any notoriety (as one can see by Jackson getting front billing on the album). It’s a stellar jazz album, made even better by Charles infusion of soul and laid back groove to songs. Both “Blue Funk” and “How Long Blues” slide in low and long, a lazy southern swing that instantly sweeps you along. Amazingly both musicians step outside their normal realm, with Jackson playing some great blues guitar and piano, and Charles actually playing alto sax. Also points go to the renowned bassist Oscar Pettiford for giving the rhythm section the right swing and bounce. This is a definite must-play for lazy summer mornings and evenings.

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Vinyl Find: Iron Maiden — Maiden Japan 12″ EP

Iron Maiden - Maiden Japan EPI first became a die-hard Iron Maiden fan during the Piece of Mind era. So my preference has always been for the stretch of albums that included The Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, and Powerslave. Recently however, I’ve been going back to rediscover the Paul Di’anno era, especially the Killers album which is pretty damn stellar in terms of songs and musicianship. Part of my recent return to this time in Maiden’s career has to do with how hungry the band was — they were starting to build a reputation as a great live act and the songs at this time were still tough, punky, hi-energy barnstormers. Also, the Killers era marks the first appearance of Adrian Smith who would finally give Maiden that signature twin-guitar attack that makes them so notable. Listening to the Maiden Japan EP — recorded right before vocalist Paul Di’anno left the band — I’m still blown away at the band’s over-the-top playing. Both Dave Murray and Adrian Smith make the record. Their guitar playing — with the tone having a great thickness and punch not found on some of the later records — has the swagger of two young guys just going for it. And yet, they’re locked in step perfectly. Listen to the version of “Remember Tomorrow” and you’ll hear what I’m talking about.

It is interesting to note that Maiden Japan wasn’t produced by Martin Birch. Instead, longtime sound engineer Doug Hall mixed and produced the album with the band. This actually gives the EP a unique sound when compared to most Maiden discs. The guitars have more thickness and Steve Harris’ bass has more bottom end (and less of his signature click clacky sound).

A few things I never knew:

  • Apparently there was a limited edition cover produced in Venezuela that had mascot Eddie holding up the decapitated head of singer Paul Di’Anno. Manager Rod Smallwood rejected the cover because Maiden were looking for a new lead singer at that time. But 25,00 or so were still produced and you can find them on eBay if you’re lucky.
  • The live version of “Remember Tomorrow” on Maiden Japan is the same recording included on the B-side of “The Number of the Beast” single, except with Bruce Dickinson’s vocals overdubbed over Paul Di’anno’s original performance (in spite of the band claiming that the later B-side was recorded in Milan, Italy during 1981).
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Vinyl Find: Anvil — Metal on Metal

I’m going to continue the run through old school Metal history — and albums produced by Chris Tsangarides (see Tygers of Pan Tang’s Spellbound) — with the original kings of Canadian metal, Anvil. I found this tour promo version of the classic Metal on Metal at A-1 Records in the East Village. While some of the songs don’t hold up as well now, there are three all time classics on here that any self-respecting metalhead should have in their music library: the instrumental “March of the Crabs,” “666,” and of course the title-track which still kicks like a mother. Sadly it never got much better for these guys, as you’ll see in the new documentary coming out about the band. But Metal on Metal is still worth it’s weight.

Anvil - Metal on Metal

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Vinyl Find: Tygers of Pan Tang — Spellbound

One of the all-time great (and too often forgotten about) New Wave of British Heavy Metal Albums. Released at the same time as Iron Maiden’s Killers, Tygers of Pan Tang’s Spellbound just tears it up. It was their second album, with two new members, so the band had a lot to prove. In addition, they were competing with the likes of Priest, Maiden, Saxon, Def Leppard, Angel Witch, and Motörhead who all released stellar albums around this time. And the album still holds up to this day (as opposed to say Angel Witch’s debut). The opening track “Gangland” and “Don’t Stop By” are still in heavy rotation for me in the old school metal mix. Both Rob Weir and John Sykes (who would go on to play with Thin Lizzy and a ton of other bands) do a stellar job on guitar and new vocalist (at that time) Jon Deverill just belts it out, sticking with more guttural singing rather than trying to mimick Rob Halford or Bruce Dickinson.

Tygers of Pan Tang - Spellbound

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