The Who,Whos Next,180 gram vinyl from back to black

Back to Black is another record distributor from Universal music I absolutely love!,here they've resurrected The Who's Who's Next in it's original glory,but with the exception this is heavier vinyl then the original 1973 MCA release. Back to Black has artists like Elton John,Kiss,Iggy Pop and Black Sabbath in it's catalog to name a few,and their prices can't be beat.I bought this off of Amazon brand new for 12 bucks,the sound is superb!,the only annoying aspect is records cover is protected by a clear plastic cover,with a plastic seal using glue to close,and loses its adherence,so ends up getting stuck to other record covers when you try to remove it,so just replaced it.

Album has no outtakes or bonus material,has the original repo of the rainbow MCA label,and is without a doubt the groups absolute best album. Baba O'riley,the first cut was written by Townsend based on the bands experience at Woodstock,a gorgeous rock tune with a fiddle conceived by Keith Moon. Bargain is the albums shining star,with Daltry giving us his best vocals second to ''Who are you?'',only Paul Rodgers rivals Daltry as rocks best vocalist.

Entwhistle contributes his strained but still listanable vocals in his self penned song ''My Wife'',an incredible rocker with fantastic drumming by the idiosyncratic Keith Moon.For those who are curious about the cover,it isn't real pee on the slab,lol,but was rainwater from a film container photographer Ethan Russell splashed in 3 places.
If you want to go back in time,this is a great album to do it,I give it a firm 10.

Jefferson Airplane Surrealistic Pillow,Sundazed Music 180 gram vinyl

Sundazed re release of the 1967 classic

At the time of this review only the mono version is available from Sundazed,the stereo is now out of print,but can still be found for around 12 to 17 dollars on Ebay,or Amazon.

Surrealistic Pillow released Feb of 1967 was one of the soundtracks to the summer of love along with The Monkees's Headquarters,The Beatle's Sgt. Pepper and The Door's debut album. Despite what it Say's on the back cover Jerry Garcia being the music and spiritual advisor,Captain ''Trips'' had nothing to do with this albums creation. The album was conceived while the band lived in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco with it's mix of folk rock,and psychedelia pioneered by The Byrds,Mamas and The Pappas [one band I absolutely loath with the exception of Mama Cass] The Seeds,and Love [a band genius Arthur Lee had formed].

Now,enter Grace Slick,the absolute cohesiveness of the band,and who without,the group would have gone nowhere. Grace contributes 2 of the albums highlights ''White Rabbit,and ''Somebody To Love'' she penned herself along with her ex husband she had previously recorded with her band The Great Society.Marty Balin is a great vocalist,but sounds a bit strained at times,and should have turned most of the songs over to Grace's pipes,including the gorgeous song ''Today'. Drummer Skip Spence who was considered to be American rock music's version of Syd Barrett had left the band at this point to form Moby Grape,and would be replaced by Spencer Dryden.

Pillow is not perfect,but contains gorgeous songs,a few sounding very dated,but still fun,I never cared for ''Plastic Fantastic lover'',the title is self explanatory,and found it tacky ruining the albums serious content.

Glad to see this brought back again,and 4 stars to Sundazed for a beautiful re release.

The Beatle's Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 2012 remastered vinyl

After the 2009 Beatles catalog was released on compact disc in a mono and stereo box sets,it was also announced vinyl would follow shortly,this resulted due to the successful sales of Abbey Road released in 2007 and took two years for the magic to happen. The one problem with the vinyl revival are that new records that don't have their stamps checked and cleaned can leave pieces of vinyl lodged between a new records groove wall,and encountered this problem with Magical Mystery Tour I was able to fix.

Sargent Pepper changed the direction of rock music,though heavily influenced by The Beach Boy's Pet Sounds released a year earlier it's style makes it one of the most innovative album ever recorded. All the Beatles's 2012 vinyl are taken from the original master tapes using 16 bit,fans are anxious for the mono versions and want to give my opinion on that as it is not my preferred format. Stereo was avoided by many recording artists because of the high cost of the recording equitment at that time,plus,there was a fear it would just be a fad,so many avoided it.Most 60's groups once they saw it caught on re recorded the album a second time to win over those fans,an expensive mistake. The mono version of Sargent Pepper is quite different from it's stereo predecessor,indeed interesting,but lacks the excitement and depth.

The sound?,absolutely incredible!,though parts of the album seem a bit subdued,an improvement over the 2006 cd. The album is printed from original source art,a painstaking process,includes the original cardboard cutout as contained in the 1967 release. This is a ''total'' Paul album John Lennon would jeer in his song ''How do you sleep''? [So Sargent Pepper took you by surprise]. I had the original 70's copy of the LP,and can tell you,this is a great improvement.

So my review?,a splendid time is guaranteed for all!,lol

Simon and Garfunkel,Bookends from Sundazed

My copy of the album reviewed

I remember taking  $20.00 out of my wallet, approached the cashier at the Music Factory here in New Orleans,placed this album on the counter as I was purchasing it for $ 18.00 and exclaimed ''absolute masterpiece!'',he firmly agreed and a masterpiece it is! Paul Simon can rival Paul Mccartney in his songwriting tour De force,although approaching his subjects with a darker take.Bridge over troubled water far exeeds Let it Be if you were to place both songs back to back  as being exceedingly more beautiful,there was even talk on Larry King during a McCartney interview of both geniuses collaborating on an album together called ''The 2 Pauls.

This is Sundazed Music at their best,the packaging and vinyl are top quality,and even includes original poster [pictured].Originally released in 1968 from Columbia Records,Bookends remains one of my altime favorite albums,though did not sell as well as Bridge over troubled water,I would consider this the duos absolute best effort.



Poster contained in album,try getting this with a compact disc,lol


Opening with the poignant ''Save the life of my child'' filled with haunting background screams you won't forget and America,the ultimate ''seeker's song'' and lyrically brilliant! The 5th cut of side one is called voices of old people,this is Art's contribution.Art had visited several Jewish nursing homes and interviewed their residents who discuss their hardships of aging,and fits perfectly into the theme of this classic.

Side two rocks with the witty ''Fakin it'',AND,the albums highlight ''Mrs Robinson'' also the soundtrack from the 1968 coming of age film of the same title starring Dustin Hoffman.. Paul teases us with the ambiguous lyric ''hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes [an I.U.D,lol?,or perhaps her vibrator?],put it in your pantry with your cupcakes.

In closing,this is an album no collection should do without,I had the original pressing stolen along with my entire record collection during an apt break in while I lived in Dallas,so great to have this back!

ABBA ,The Visitors 180 gram vinyl

Love Revisited 180 gram vinyl from Sundazed Music

ABBA The Album

Now,you might ask ABBA?. These Swedish Delights sold more albums then the Beatles,Elvis and Michael Jackson in the 1970's,and excluding their saccharine disco period that to me was unbearable,these masters of pop released some of the most gorgeous songs in musics history,rivaling even The Beatles in some cases.

Re released in 2008,this 180 gram vinyl LP is one of the groups best efforts,with no disco to spoil it's charm. Opening with The Eagle with leas vocals by Anni,a beautiful song inspired by Richard Bach's Johnathon Livingston Seagull that singer Neil Diamond made a soundtrack to the motion picture a few years earlier.

Now,the second song ''Take a chance on me'' stayed at #1 for 3 weeks on the UK's charts,then side 1 ending with ''The name of the game'',in my opinion,ABBA's greatest song. ABBA is defiantly an acquired taste,and not for everyones musical palate. The Album [the lp's title] falls at # 3,The Visitors being my personal fav,and their last before the group called it quits. It's unfortunate that they had to ruin the magic during their disco period,guess they wanted to compete with their competitors at the time The BEE GEES,but that aside,this is a gorgeous recording on high quality vinyl in stirdy packaging. All of ABBA's recordings have been re released on vinyl,theres even a boxset that sells for close to $ 200.00,and my advice with sets is if you have 1 album thats defective,it's hard to return entire package,plus the heavy disco lp Voulus Vous and Waterloo are two albums you could do without.

This band will be missed,a great shame they disbanded in 1982,and highly recommend this album.