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My Top Five Lists, by Joe the hoodlum

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Top 5 “Watch me sell this” albums:

1. Kruder & Dorfmeister- K & D Sessions

2. New Pornographers- Twin Cinema

3. Sloan- Between the Bridges

4. Cathedral- The Carnival Bizarre

5. D’Gary- Akata Meso

Top 5 “you haven’t heard this?” albums

1. My Bloody Valentine- Loveless

2. Beach Boys- Pet Sounds

3. Charlie Parker- anything

4. Black Sabbath- Vol. 4

5. Kate Bush- Hounds of Love

Top 5 music myths that need to be corrected:

1. Classical music is only for old people

2. Nico was a valuable member of the Velvet Underground (John Cale dammit, it’s all about John Cale and Sterling Morrison)

3. Extreme metal is satanic puppykiller music. It’s just awesome kick-ass music. And only most of it is satanic.

4. Ambient music and New Age music are two different things. Good ambient and good new age are the same exact thing, ambient musicians are just better at marketing themselves to college students. James Johnson, Steve Roach, Michael Stearns, Robert Scott Thompson, all great musicians you will find in the New Age section. I skipped out on picking up a lot of CDs over the past few years because they looked too ‘new age” even though I’ve always been big into Eno and Kompakt records stuff. I could have gotten CDs by Tuu and O Yuki Conjugate at clearance for like 3 bucks, but I was spooked by cheesy cover art or song titles. Now I’m buying them new for 15 bucks if they are even available at all anymore. DOH!

5. Guitar Hero is fun. If the kids who spent hours on Guitar Hero used that time to learn the actual guitar, they would be able to play all those songs for real, on an actual musical instrument.

Top 5 bands everyone has heard and the people that influenced them that far less people have heard:

1. Bjork– Kate Bush

2. Sigur Ros– Cocteau Twins

3. Radiohead– Aphex Twin, SND, early Autechre

4. Coldplay– the song “Talk” from X&Y was an exact copy of “Computer Love” by Kraftwerk. The whole song. It angers me.

5. Kings of Leon- vocal style influence from the mushmouthed football coach played by Chris Kattan on SNL.

Top 5 metal guitar riffs:

1. Voivod- Brain Scan

2. Megadeth- Wake Up Dead (at 2:38)

3. Immortal- Tyrants

4. Enslaved- Convoys to Nothingness

5. Darkthrone- Transylvanian Hunger

Top 5 guitar players who few people have heard but more should:

1. Steve Tibbetts

2. Ben Monder

3. Davy Graham

4. Keith Fullerton Whitman

5. Steve Hillage

Top 5 great singers that nobody ever talks about when they talk about great singers:

1. Lena Willemark

2. David Sylvian

3. Cyndi Lauper

4. Daryl Hall

5. Pat Suzuki

Top 5 metal singers:

1. Ronnie James Dio

2. Tom G. Warrior

3. Abbath

4. Lee Dorrian

5. Wino

5 records that I surprisingly like considering that I’m such a grumpy bastard:

1. Jonathan Richman- Jonathan Goes Country

2. Survivor- Vital Signs

3. Kylie Minogue- Fever

4. Vashti Bunyan- Just Another Diamond Day

5. Expose- Exposure

5 artists that others would probably consider a guilty pleasure that I like unapologetically:

1. Christopher freaking Cross

2. Toto

3. Stephen Bishop (the guy who wrote the “It might be you” song from “Tootsie”)

4. America

5. Carpenters

5 records I heard for the first time in the past year that I enjoyed:

1. Orb- Orbus Terrarum

2. Robert Rich/Alo Die- Fissures

3. Huong Thanh/Nguyen Le- Fragile Beauty

4. Krallice- s/t

5. Virus- The Black Flux

5 movies/tv shows I saw in the past year that I enjoyed:

1. The Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner- A Herzog documentary from the 70s about a Swiss Ski Jumper

2. Sunshine- An awesome and mind bending movie about solar extinction

3. Primer- An awesome and mind bending movie about a couple of guys who accidentally invent a time machine and the worlds most confusing plot

4. The Mighty Boosh- A surreal British comedy about a couple of zoo workers who travel to limbo and the arctic tundra among other places- also an endless well of amusing catchphrases

5. The IT Crowd- a british comedy about “a computer genius, a young go-getter, and a man from Ireland”

5 reasons I like records and CDs better than MP3s and Ipods

1. compressed digital files sound lousy and music is meant to be heard through a stereo, not crappy computer (or Ipod) speakers

2. When everything is free and digital it’s just like flipping through cable, music becomes something that has no value unless it grabs you in the first 5 seconds, just like an advertisement.
You learn to ignore anything that takes some time to develop, and everything becomes 15-second sound bite music. Imagine if that happened with movies or books. “I didn’t like ‘the Godfather”. I watched it for 2 minutes and nothing happened so I turned it off and watched ‘Baby Geniuses 2′ instead.” Do YOU want to be the person who likes ‘Baby Geniuses 2′ more than ‘Godfather’? Didn’t think so.

3. You miss out on any album art and design. Part of the music listening experience is sitting and reading the liner notes and looking at the art while listening to a CD for the first time.
That little square in the corner of your Itunes doesn’t count.

4. Listening to a record, you have to actively put it on, pay attention to it, and flip it when the side is over. Babysitting the record makes you pay attention to it.
It’s a more rewarding music listening experience, you end up noticing details and depth that makes it much more enjoyable and interesting.
On your computer or Ipod you just hit a file on Itunes and let it burble on for hours as wallpaper for your internet surfing or whatever. With records and CD’s you have invested money in a physical piece of music and you learn to invest time in listening to it accordingly, and reap the rewards. With free digital you have invested nothing in it, and you will probably get little out of it. Records teach you to pay attention to music; MP3s teach you to ignore music.

5. Having an awesome MP3 folder never got anyone laid.

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My Top Five Lists, by Steve the hoodlum

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Steve’s Top Fives

Steve Wiley - Professional HoodlumI must note for the record that doing this is a lot of fun.  If I had more time, I could have made up fifty more.  I believe with all my heart that music and movies are an amazing thing – and that they are good for my soul.

If you do too… or you want to debate the lists… or you have some lists of your own… come down to the store and we’ll chat.  Thanks for reading.  Steve

Music


“You Don’t Have this Album” albums (like Jack Black’s comment on Blonde on Blonde).

Beatles – Abbey Road
Van Morrison – Moondance
Rolling Stones – Let it Bleed
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
Steely Dan – Countdown to Ecstasy

“Watch me sell this” albums (like Cusack about Beta Band).

Paul Pena – New Train
Les McCann and Eddie Harris – Live at Montreaux
Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters – Muddy and the Wolf
Budos Band – Budo Band II
Breakestra – Hit the Floor


Albums that used to be considered Metal in my high school years.

Judas Priest – Hell Bent for Leather
Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy
AC/DC – Powerage
Def Leppard – High n’ Dry
Rush – 2112

Artists I didn’t like at first, but love now.

Bob Dylan
Joni Mitchell
Television
Radiohead
Elvis Costello

Groups that critics hate, but I still love.

REO Speedwagon (pre High Infidelity)
Nazareth (Hair of the Dog and prior)
April Wine (up to Nature of the Beast… not including “Just Between You and Me”)
Boston (first two albums only)
Journey (“Journey” through the non-puppy stuff of “Escape”).

Albums critics love, but I still don’t get no matter how hard I try (I’m still trying)

Nirvana – Nevermind
Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
John Coltrane – Ascension
Jeff Buckley – Grace
Captain Beefheart – Trout Fish Replica

Jazz that Always Sells When you play it in the store

Grant Green – Any
Miles Davis – Anything non-”scroncky”
John Coltrane – Ditto
Jimmy Smith – Any
Diana Krall – Live in Paris

Albums to listen to on the road

Wes Montgomery – Talkin’ Verve
The The – Dusk
Bobby “Blue” Bland – Touch of the Blues
Barenaked Ladies – Gordon
Anything that jams… cause there just isn’t time to kenny on the road.

Songs about the Music or Movie Industry

Barenaked Ladies – “Box Set” (as witty as any song I’ve ever heard)
Joni Mitchell – “Free Man in Paris”
Eagles – “King of Hollywood”
Van Morrison – “Big Time Operators”
John Cougar – “Cheap Shot” (any song that starts with “Well the record company’s going out of business… they price their records too damn high” is gonna do alright in my book)

Note: Could I have used Frank Zappa – Joe’s Garage?  “A guy from a company we can’t name…”

Jazz albums to recommend to a jazz rookie

Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
Dave Brubeck – Time Out
Charles Mingus – Ah Um
Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong – Ella and Louis
John Coltrane – Blue Trane

Blues albums to recommend to a blues rookie

Willie Dixon – I Am the Blues
Howlin’ Wolf – The London Sesssions
Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Self Titled
Muddy Waters – At Newport
Etta James – At Last

World music albums to spark up your party.

Various Artists – Sabroso! The Afro-Latin Groove
Various Artists – Viva Cubop 2 (or 3… they are both good)
Los Amigos Invisibles – Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey Into Space
Manu Chao – La Radiolina
Mongo Santamaria – Skin on Skin/Anthology

Jam Band albums

Widespread Panic – Space Wrangler
God Street Wine – 1.99 Romances
Allman Brothers – Live at Fillmore
Big Head Todd and the Monsters – Midnight Radio
Derek and the Dominoes – Live at the Fillmore

Politically-motivated musicians

Michael Franti
Frank Zappa
Carlos Santana
Crosby, Stills, and Nash
Gil Scott-Heron

Note: There are many more… amen and hoka hey to those musicians that fight the power and the corporatocracy!!

Beyond-obvious Jamming Rock Guitar Albums

Michael Schenker Band – Built to Destroy
Pat Travers Band – Makin’ Magic
Blind Melon – Blind Melon
Robin Trower – Bridge of Sighs
Riot – Fire Down Under

Albums for my hippie-chick sister.

Josh Rouse – 1972
Traffic – Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys
Faces – Ooh La La
James Hunter – People Gonna Talk
India.Arie – Acoustic Soul

Wicked Guitar Jazz Albums

Mel Brown – Chicken Fat
Grant Green – Live at the Lighthouse
George Benson – New Boss Guitar
Boogaloo Joe Jones – Legends of Acid Jazz
Gabor Szabo – The Sorcerer

Albums I discovered at the ASU Hoodlums

Michael Franti – Everyone Deserves Music (and Stay Human… both are great)
Paul Pena – New Train
Wayne Shorter – Adam’s Apple
Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson – It’s Your World
Taj Mahal – Taj Mahal

Albums discovered at the new Hoodlums

Meters – Fire on the Bayou
Roy Hargrove – Earfood
Albert King – Born Under a Bad Sign
Kings of Leon – Only By the Night
Bud Powell – The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1

Vintage albums that I have only discovered recently

Patti Smith – Horses
Laura Nyro – Eli and the 13th Confession
Quicksilver Messenger Service – Happy Trails
James Gang – Rides Again
Faces – Every album!

Great current artists for middle-aged cats who still explore music

Spoon
Kings of Leon
Shins
My Morning Jacket
Band of Bees

Sunday-morning albums

Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark
Bebel Gilberto – Tanto Tempo
Doobie Brothers – What Were Once Vices
Zero 7 – Simple Things
John Coltrane – Love Supreme

Classic albums my kids love the most

Crosby, Stills, and Nash – Self-titled
Wings – Band on the Run
Have a Nice Decade – The 70′s Pop Culture Box
Beatles – Revolver
Steve Miller Band – Greatest Hits: 74-78

Steve’s Movies

Movie sequels

T2: Terminator 2
Godfather 2
Aliens
Star Trek 2: Search for Spock
Toy Story 2

Movies you’ve probably never seen

Lonestar
Cookie’s Fortune
The Player
Big Picture
Best Seller

Teenage flicks

10 Things I Hate About You
16 Candles
Breakfast Club
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Porkys

Most resembling real-life high school (in my experience)

Over the Edge
Dazed and Confused (except for the hazing crap)
Juno
Some Kind of Wonderful
Valley Girl

Concert Videos

Led Zepplin – 2-DVD set
The Band – Last Waltz
Rolling Stones – Ladies and Gentlemen… the Rolling Stones
Pink Floyd – Delicate Sound of Thunder
Ray Charles – O’Genio: Live in Brazil

Animated movies that I still love as an adult

Toy Story
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
The Aristocats
Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Note: I just watched Wall-E last night…pretty impressive.

Movies that blew me away at the theater

The Thing
Terminator 2
The Matrix
Die Hard
Lord of the Rings

Movies that left me thinking for days

Broadcast News
The Matrix
Bulworth
Seven
What the Bleep?

Westerns

Outlaw Josie Wales
The Unforgiven
Silverado
Tombstone
Lonesome Dove (although the book is still better)

Movies that actually scared me

The Shining
The Excorcist
Silence of the Lambs
Friday the 13th
The Omen

Comic-book movies

Batman Begins
Sin City
Spiderman
Superman (the original)
Flash Gordon

R-Rated action/adventure I am excited to show my kids when they are ready

Boondock Saints
Terminator
Escape from New York
The Warriors
Escape from New York

R-Rated comedy I am excited to show my kids when they are ready

Animal House
Vacation
Office Space
Stripes
Caddyshack

Mainly kid-friendly movies/TV shows I’ve shared with my ten-year old.

The Princess Bride
Weird Science
Star Wars (although number three is pretty heavy)
Short Circuit
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Misc.

Things the music industry could do to get its head out of its butt

Lower prices on CD and vinyl
Eliminate Loss-leading at the corporate joints
Eliminate exclusives
Scrap the “Special Editions” and give us all the good stuff for a fair price
Stop re-issuing things over and over and over.

Reasons vinyl is better than CD

Better Artwork
Fuller sound (depending on quality of Vinyl and year of CD pressing)
Funner to search for
Lots of stuff not on CD
Cheaper (used vinyl only)

Reasons CD is better than vinyl

More durable
Easy to skip songs
Takes up less space
Can be transferred to digital without hassle
Sound quality (depending on quality of vinyl and year of CD pressing)

Shows I have attended since moving to the Phoenix Area

Pink Floyd – Phoenix Municipal Stadium – 1988
Horde Tour – Compton Terrace (w/Allmans, Big Head, Blues Traveler…) – not sure what year
Paul McCartney – Sun Devil Stadium – 1989
Steve Winwood – Union Hall – 1997?
Lindsay Buckingham – The Roxy

Shows I have attended outside of the Phoenix Area

Boston – Bismarck Civic Center – 1978
Van Halen – Winnipeg Arena – 1984
AC/DC with Fastway – St. Paul Civic Center – 1985?
Roy Hargrove – Village Vanguard NYC – 2004
Pearl Jam – Easy Street Records – 2005

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Posted in Random Babbling of a Record Store Geek, The Music | 5 Comments »

Top Five Lists from the hoodlums at Hoodlums

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

The kids at Changing Hands invited us to come with some Top Five lists in honor of our co-presentation of High Fidelity on November 28th (6:00 PM at Changing Hands… the full story is here).

Little did they know – that while the movie may not entirely describe Hoodlums to a tee – it certainly is right on target with its point that record and video store geeks will gladly give you their opinion about music and movies at the slightest request.

So we made up some lists… hopefully you’ll like ‘em.  We’d love to see your lists too.  Write ‘em in a comment, bring ‘em down to the store, or better yet, come down to Changing Hands before the movie and we can have a lively discussion… then we will watch the flick (for FREE).

And now, here are the hoodlums at Hoodlums’ Top Fives.

The Common Assignment

Each employee was asked to do two specific lists: 1) Five “You Don’t Have This” albums… in reference to Jack Black’s Blonde on Blonde comment; and 2) Five “Watch me sell this” albums in reference to John Cusack’s Beta Band comment.  Beyond that, while I did provide a list of possible topics, they were told to put down whatever they want.

Let’s start the one we all answered, then we’ll branch out into each hoodlum.

1. Top Five “You Don’t Have That?!!” Albums

Steve

Beatles – Abbey Road
Van Morrison – Moondance
Rolling Stones – Let it Bleed
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
Steely Dan – Countdown to Ecstasy

Kristian

Note: Being the ultimate rebel of us all (and having the ability as an owner to scrap “assignments”), Kristian made his “You Don’t Have This” different.  His list is the Top Five Countries/Regions I Don’t Believe You Have Any Music From

Brazil
Jamaica
Louisiana
West africa
Cuba

Joe

My Bloody Valentine- Loveless
Beach Boys- Pet Sounds
Charlie Parker- anything
Black Sabbath- Vol. 4
Kate Bush- Hounds of Love

Maria

At Last!-Etta James
Street Songs-Rick James
Doolittle-The Pixies
Celia y Johnny-Celia Cruz
The Score-Fugees

Andy

Bruce Springsteen – Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ
Whiskeytown – Strangers Almanac
Neil Young – Harvest
Beatles – Rubber Soul
Counting Crows – Recovering The Satellites

Justin

Love – Forever Changes
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
Led Zeppelin – II
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless

Wasef

“You Forgot It In People” -Broken Social Scene
“Loveless” -My Bloody Valentine
“Moon Safari” -Air
“Kick Out The Jams” -MC5
“The Shape of Punk to Come” -Refused

2. Top Five “Watch me sell this” albums

Steve

Paul Pena – New Train
Les McCann and Eddie Harris – Live at Montreaux
Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters – Muddy and the Wolf
Budos Band – Budo Band II
Breakestra – Hit the Floor

Kristian

Shuggie Otis
Meters
Thievery Corp.
Nina Simone
Calexico

Joe

Kruder & Dorfmeister- K & D Sessions
New Pornographers- Twin Cinema
Sloan- Between the Bridges
Cathedral- The Carnival Bizarre
D’Gary- Akata Meso

Maria

El Cantante the Originals-Hector Lavoe
Strawberry weed-Caesars
ultimate collection-the Temptations
mediocre-Ximena Sarinana
self titled-Ceu

Andy

House Of Fools – Live And Learn
Hanson – The Walk
Eric Hutchinson – Sounds Like This
Dr. Dog – We All Belong
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings – 100 Days 100 Nights

Justin

Deerhunter – Microcastle
Warren Zevon – s/t
Jay Reatard – Matador Singles
Nick Cave – Dig Lazarus! Dig!
T. Rex – Electric Warrior

Wasef

“Night Ripper” -Girl Talk
“Classics” -Ratatat
“The Crane Wife” -The Decemberists
“Smile” -Lily Allen
“Armchair Apocrypha” -Andrew Bird

Don’t stop here – we’re just getting started.  Now you have to see each hoodlums’ warped individual lists. We did movies too. You can click on the list to go directly to your favorite employee’s list.

Steve’s Top 5 Lists

Joe’s Top 5 Lists

Justin’s Top 5 Lists

Maria’s Top 5 Lists

Andy’s Top 5 Lists

Note: Kristian isn’t doing any more. You’ll have to come down to the store and pick his brain.  I assure you – it’s full of good stuff.

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Posted in The Music | 4 Comments »

Bon, where are you now?

Monday, October 27th, 2008

Two nights ago, Chris at Mac’s asked me if we would be carrying the new AC/DC CD, or if it was true that it was only going to be available exclusively at Wal-Mart.

At that point, Chris and the four other poor souls sitting around the bar had to listen to me get worked up on the subject for about the next ten minutes.  As anyone who knows me will tell you, if there’s one thing I can do – it’s rant about the idiocy of the music industry.  You don’t want to get me started.

Then again, that’s what blogs are for, right?  So consider me officially “started”.

I’m upset with AC/DC.  But more importantly, I’m disappointed.  Disappointed to lose another of my favorite bands to a complete and total sell-out to the corporatocracy.  Why do I say “complete and total”?  Because selling your CD exclusively at the world’s most boring department store is about as rock and roll as eating toast with your Grandma.

AC/DC isn’t the first of my favorites to weasel into this kind of a deal.  The Eagles were the initial instigators of this particular business model (for the same reasons – which I will get into later) – which was another mutation of prior corporate-loving maneuvers by the Stones, U2, and a ton of other big bands.

But AC/DC… at Wal-Mart?  Holy hold-the-rebellion, Batman.

This is a band that I looked to when I was continuing to learn how to rebel, and they set the example that a rock band is supposed to set for young, impressionable little trouble-makers.  The former AC/DC lead singer, Bon Scott, used to say being a bad boy ain’t that bad.  Bon gleefully bragged about being a problem child.  I still remember reading the “letters to the band” on the back of High Voltage album cover…. now that made trouble look like fun.  AC/DC helped teach me to be a hoodlum.

The first time I saw them was in Minneapolis with Fastway.  The boys and I drove nine hours from North Dakota.  It was one of the highlights of my young life.  Since then I’ve seen them numerous times.  I was even fortunate enough to meet the entire band on Valentine’s Day (my wife was cool enough to go with me after the initial show had been canceled due to Brian Johnson’s father’s death).  They were super gentlemen and incredible professionals, as I have told anyone who would listen since.

So it killed me when I heard that they had gotten in bed with the all-time champion of retail blandness and, in my opinion, one of the leaders of our country’s movement away from non-American manufactured product (read “No Logo” by Naomi Klein).  I am proud to say that I haven’t been in a Wal-Mart since 1992 (when I moved from Flagstaff), but now AC/DC says I’m going to have to visit again if I want to buy their CD.  Sorry Angus, but I don’t intend to go to Wal-Mart unless it is the last store on Earth (which might be their mission statement for all I know).

Trying to be fair, I said to Kristian, “Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on AC/DC.  It isn’t like they are the only band to sell out”. He said, “Sure you should be.  Just imagine what they would have said in the late seventies if someone would have asked them to sell their album exclusively at Sears?”  Wow, that’s a great point.  I’d like to think of Bon punching someone.  That’s the AC/DC I know and love.  Rough, rowdy, and rebellious.

But that AC/DC doesn’t exist anymore.  Today’s AC/DC is scared and safe. Old and totally willing to not-rebel.

You see… with this deal they get paid no matter what.  They don’t have to put the album out in the open market – and let it stand on it’s merits.  They’ve made their sale… to the company that won’t sell your album if there is “objectionable material” on the cover.  Oooh, that’s rowdy.

But wait, there is another layer of safety.  On the open market, the album isn’t being used as a promotional tool to sell toilet paper and Holiday decorations, so it would be priced based on Columbia’s (their label) still-ridiculous superstar list price of 18.99, which requires more consumer risk.  Since Wal-Mart’s main concern isn’t profit on the CD itself, it will get peddled for roughly ten bucks, which requires less of a financial decision on the part of the consumer… essentially making the CD an “impulse” item.

This is incredibly important for one reason: AC/DC doesn’t seem to be able to make good albums anymore.  That’s the real reason that all of these old bands are making these deals.  They can’t cut the artistic mustard anymore. – and they don’t dare fail in the open market.

In my opinion, AC/DC made a bunch of great albums with Bon, but the only truly great album they made with Brian was Back in Black.  For Those About to Rock was half-ass at best (which was apparent the minute you heard the title track), and it was still the second best post-Bon effort.  There have been a few good tracks here and there, but even though I consider myself a lifelong fan, I no longer own any of the subsequent albums.

I don’t want to say it.  You might not agree.  But to me, that’s the way it is.  And the reason they made this money-making, yet disgraceful, deal.  Because people like me, who buy albums and are AC/DC fans, haven’t been buying AC/DC albums, and they want to get paid.

That’s what I call a sellout.

Does it mean I won’t listen to Powerage again?  Hell no.  It just means that I will never look at the band the same again.  Just like the Eagles… and U2… and the Stones.

Blog Note: In spite of their claim to “exclusivity”, it is actually quite easy for a scrappy little record store like ours to carry the Black Ice CD without ever setting foot in corporateville.  The question is, knowing our personal feelings on the subject, do we stock the CD for customers that really want it?  After all, many people don’t feel the way we do, and they want to hear it.  By stocking it – we do move one more sale from the corporatocracy to a local merchant – but we do reward a band that sold out.

Blog Note 2: AC/DC, after feeling the backlash of this deal, attempted to make right by giving the vinyl version of the album exclusively to an indie distributor.  For the record, we don’t think any CD or LP should be exclusive anywhere… but we have learned to live with the sad reality of the practice over the years.  In spite of vinyl’s resurgence, its still no where near the popularity of the CD, so in this case it was too little; too late.

Blog Note 3: I could have posted a similar take on the Guns and Roses deal… but GnR couldn’t even put together two solid albums when they were hot, so you already knew that album was going to need some corporate help.

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Posted in Random Babbling of a Record Store Geek, The Music Biz | 5 Comments »

My kind of critic

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Last Wednesday, I had an opportunity to interview author Tom Moon about his new book, 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.

I might have to rethink some of my wariness about critics.

I was a bit nervous prior to the interview.  You see, I ain’t James Lipton.  I have absolutely no interviewing experience.  In fact, I’m not even a very good listener.  Yet I was about to interview a guy who had himself interviewed guys like Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, and Tom Waits.  To further increase the tension… there was a really good-sized crowd.  Our friends at Changing Hands said they had been getting calls all day, and that they had increased the set-up size of the event.   But I was armed with three pages of questions… and I loved the book, so I figured “Hey rookie boy, you can do this”.

Back to the wariness.  I’m not anti-critic, I just think that critics tend to be music elitists, bound by a certain set of unspoken rules about their art that doesn’t allow them to get down in the trenches and enjoy music like the rest of us.  You know, the ability to like what you like, whether others like it or not.  They seemingly can’t like McCartney better than Lennon (a few might agree to go with Harrison… but they just can’t go with the cute, poppy one that co-wrote most of the songs and had the most post-Beatles success… until Wings broke up anyway).  They can’t like Gilmour better than Waters.  They can’t say “That Dylan album was weak”.  You get my drift  Accordingly, even though there was no trace of it in the book (OK, the book included Lennon and Harrison albums… but no McCartney or Wings), I was prepared for pretentiousness.

Anyway, when Tom Moon walked into the backstage area (read: the offices at Changing Hands), I knew I was wrong.  Within minutes, we were talking about the sad “non-available” status of so many of the great recordings in the book and his earlier visit to our friends at Easy Street Records in Seattle.  Janet from CH had to tell us to save it for the audience.

Once we were introduced and I got through the initial nerves of opening the interview, things started to flow.  Tom was very talkative and very much into what he was doing.  He was everything I wish more critics would be: Positive, uplifting, passionate, and totally willing to admit to the trials and tribulations of building such a list.  Most importantly, he was promoting good music from all across the spectrum of time and genre… instead of whining about bad music or the music industry (which tends to be the general angle of many critics and reporters these days).

Tom talked, and I listened.  It was great.  I still had two full pages of questions when they gave me the “go to the audience questions” sign.  When I did go to the audience, hands shot up everywhere. A half hour later, when I got the “wrap it up and let Tom sign autographs” sign, there were still many, many audience questions left unanswered.

After the signing, Tom came over the store and we talked some more.  He was totally blown away at all of the titles from the book that we were featuring (including 36 in our listening posts),  and very excited about the interview format of the event (he said it was a refreshing change from just “presenting” on his own).

I could have asked him questions for five more hours, and we tried to get him to have a beer with us so we could do just that, but unfortunately he had to go.  So we set him up with one of our new Hoodlums shirts, and sent him on his way.

If your out there Tom – thanks for the great night – and the fantastic book.  As a fellow music fan, I cannot recommend it enough (it’s available at Changing Hands).

Last but not least, if you want a recording from the book, on CD or vinyl – we will be providing a 10% discount on all 1,000 titles from now until our Grand Opening Party on October 11th. If you can’t make it by then – don’t worry – our prices are still sweet, and we always stock this kind of quality music.

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The Blue Note that will always stay

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Well, the pullin’ of the CD collection is almost done.  The same amount of CDs as the original Hoodlums – 1,500.  It was just as painful as the first time.  It was for a good cause.  With my stuff and Kristian’s, and the rest of the stuff we collected over the past ten months, our customers are going to be impressed with the used selection.

Six hundred of my contributions were jazz, blues, and world.  The last section I did was my Blue Note CDs.  I love my Blue Note CDs.  I have them in a special  CD rack.  They all have the same white spine, and there are 225 of them… and it makes me happy just to look at them.

Did I say there “are” 225?  I meant there were 225.  I didn’t want to do it.  I had to do it. You can’t build a great section without Blue Note.  Any good jazz fan knows that.

In case you aren’t a jazz fan… Blue Note is a label.  I don’t mean “label” like the profit-driven’, customer-suing, high-pricin’ conglomerates of today – I mean a founded-by-jazz-lovers, independent label of yesterday.  It purveys mainly hard-bop, a swinging, jamming type of jazz just meant for generally rockin’ tempo kind of guys like me.

Anyway, it took a long time – but when I was done – sixty of my beloved Blue Note CDs were in the box on the way to the store.

How will I cope?  Starting September 20th, I will sell those Blue Notes to customers and get them hooked on the awesome power of hard-bop done right.

But for now I am going to make a list – because record store geeks like me love to make lists.

Here are sixteen Blue Note CDs that would NEVER leave my collection under any circumstances.  Note: Don’t worry, we’ll have them at the store new… and they are priced to sell.

Cannonball Adderley – Somethin’ Else (recommended by the Eastside gang over a dozen years ago)

Art Blakey – Moanin’ (One of my first; one of the most obvious; one of the best.  You’ve probably heard the title track).

Kenny Burrell – Midnight Blue (That great groovin’ guitar on the intro – I can hear it in my head – so now I must play it while I type the rest of the list)

Donald Byrd – Live at the Half Note (I had it in my car to test it out, and on the way home Blaise at KJZZ played “Jeannine”.  I looked at the CD on my passenger seat and knew it was destiny)

Sonny Clark – Sonny’s Crib (Sidemen: Coltrane, Byrd, Fuller, Chambers, Taylor… how could it not be great?)

John Coltrane – Blue Train (Coltrane’s only Blue Note album and some say his personal favorite.  I always think of the scene in Singles where Campbell Scott is lying on the floor hating life, and the title track is blaring).

Lou Donaldson – The Natural Soul (There’s more than one Lou that will stay, but this is the tops)

Grant Green – The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark (The mighty Grant will always be my favorite Blue Note artist.  The man can groove with a guitar like no one else.. oh, ok, Wes.)

Grant Green -  Idle Moments (I just said he was my fave, so he gets two on the list.  As it is, I could have put Blue Breakbeats or Live at the Lighthouse on here as well, as both were instrumental to my love of Blue Note.  The Green section will always be stocked).

Freddie Hubbard – Open Sesame (I saw Freddie at Birdland.  He was a bit nutty… but it was cool to see a legend.  Many great albums… on many labels.).

Hank Mobley – High Voltage (Hank has more critically-acclaimed albums, but I couldn’t care less, because this one jams the most for me).

John Patton – Let ‘em Roll (Recommended by a customer in 1999, this has Grant Green on guitar… and it for me is the ultimate Hammond/Guitar delight  Except for the one sappy ballad… all Blue Notes have one… the other five songs just fly)

Wayne Shorter - Adam’s Apple (On Kurt Elling’s live CD, he calls Shorter “one of the three greatest composers of all time”.  I don’t know who the other two are – or if I would go that far – but this CD will show you how good he is.  The first song has given me twenty dollars of happiness by itself… with Wayne and Herbie just workin’ it).

Horace Silver – Song for My Father (Horace is my close second fave behind Grant.  The fact that Steely Dan musically used the title track adds an extra dose of cool to this CD – but there are about nine Horace albums that I love)

Jimmy Smith – The Sermon (3 songs; fantastic players; recorded on my birthday – the day, not the year… I ain’t quite that old – it is obvious pick of many fine Jimmy CDs on Blue Note)

Stanley Turrentine – Rough and Tumble.  The song “Feeling Good” is one of the greatest songs ever.  The ensemble, featuring Grant, Pepper, Blue, and Duke and the mighty McCoy (who just sprinkles in the sweetest little fills on the song) is outstanding.  The puppy songs (2,5) are really puppy, but the four that jam… jam enough to make it a keeper.

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I’m not a real critic, but I get to interview one.

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

I’m not a real critic.

Well, that’s not exactly true.  In the sense that I evaluate things on a scale of “you really need this in your collection” to “don’t bother” – I guess I do critique for living.  But when it comes to being a real critic, I don’t really have the chops for it.  Hell, I’m not even a good record store elitist

Why?  Simple; because I love too many bands that aren’t critically-acclaimed.  I grew up in a small town in North Dakota, and as I mentioned somewhere on the site, there really were only three kinds of radio stations: Country, religious, and other.  We sorta got what we got.  So when I heard music, it didn’t matter if it was soul, R&B, bubble gum, rock   I either liked it or I didn’t like it.  By the time I got to college, I started to become a lot more discerning, and of course, I was affected greatly by joining the music business in 1987, but when it comes to the artists of the sixties, seventies, and early eighties (I graduated HS in 1983), it was too late: I liked a ton of critically-trashed bands of old.

So I often debate the in-and-outs of artists and albums that make my fellow indie record store geeks tremble.  And because of this fact, I’d probably wouldn’t qualify as a real critic.

But we’ll see soon enough… because I get to compare notes with a real critic.  On September 24, a guy named Tom Moon, who used to be a critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, is coming to Changing Hands to peddle his new book 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die, and they have asked me to ask him some questions.  (Full details here)

Oh, I’ll ask him some questions alright.  Like “As a critic, are you legally allowed to tell me about some of the critically-bashed stuff in your collection?” If not… let’s hear it my friend.  Everybody has some.

That might actually be a question, but I have plenty of specific ones… about all the great titles in this book… what it is like to be a critic… how long does it take to compile a huge list, etc.  Check out the website, grab the book at Changing Hands (save your receipt for your Hoodlums’ discount) and see what you think…

… then send me, or post, any questions that you might have.  Better yet, come to the event and ask him yourself.

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The Fine Art of Contributing Your Collection.

Monday, August 18th, 2008

Record store geeks aren’t like normal music fans.  You probably knew that.  You may have even made a smart-ass comment about it at some point (I heard an old standup routine on HBO last week about record store clerks thinking they are rock stars… and it cracked me up).  It’s OK, we know we’re geeks.

Maybe you are one of us, and you think “geek” is too strong. How about “obsessive collectors”?

Anyway, it’s midnight, and I am pulling CDs from my collection to contribute to the used stock at the new Hoodlums.  If you happened to read the post on “Gutting the Collection” (which I assume no one ever has… just like I assume no one will read this… yeah, I know it’s a paradox), you know this is my third time.

Just in case you are an obsessive collector, and you ever have to pull apart your collection for some tragic reason (not that opening a new Hoodlums is a tragic reason), here’s a tip or four on how to do it:

If the CD isn’t opened yet; chances are you can safely trade it in without remorse.  If every time you have looked at a CD you have said to yourself, “I’m going to listen to that someday”, but you still haven’t listened to it… you are having a pipe dream.  Pull it now.

Don’t forget to watch and listen for gems. Even though I just said pull the unopened stuff, you just never know, do ya?  Luckily, I put on the Eddie Harris/Les McCann Live at Montreaux CD when I was pulling in 1998, or I would have missed one of the greatest jazz CDs on Earth.  If you sense a potentially unlistened-to gem, throw it in and listen to it while you pull the rest.

Try to overcome your completionism with a small dose of reality. You don’t need 15 Jackie McLean CDs, Steve… you don’t need 15 Jackie McLeans.  Keep the ones you know are good, check the discography on AllMusic (it’s very trustworthy on the good stuff) for a five-star you might have not listened to yet, and let the other ones go.

If you have listened to an album three times through, it is in your collection for life. Three full listens is a lot if you have a big collection, so you’ve already invested a considerable amount of time on that sucker.  Besides, even the toughest-to-get albums have started to show their worth after three spins… so if you haven’t scrapped it by now, move to the next CD.

Of course, although these tips may help a little, they will not take away the pain of ripping through your collection, no matter how good the cause is.  But take heart, you can start building it up immediately (believe it or not, I bought about twelve CDs in Denver when I was there… even knowing I had to pull when I got home).

Note: If you are going to gut your own collection of used CDs, used records, or used DVDs – we recommend trading them in at Hoodlums.  If you are building the collection, and pulling nothing, we recommend Hoodlums for that as well.

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Gutting the CD Collection… again.

Saturday, August 9th, 2008

This the third time we have built a new Hoodlums (pics of each prior location here).  Each “building a record store” effort has been very different.. except for one nasty little project that remains the same:

Gutting my personal CD collection to help build up the store’s used CD Sections!!

The first time, when we opened Hoodlums in 1998, it ended up being 1,500 CDs – a little more than half my total collection (built since the mid-eighties, including eight years managing/working at Wherehouse and three more at Zia).  The second time, when we expanded the store in 2001, it wasn’t as drastic, about 500 CDs, but due to the improved nature of the overall collection, it was still a batch of beloved CDs.

This time it could get even uglier.

My collection has grown again… and (I dare say) improved in quality, so the damage could be more significant than the first two attacks.  This is particularly true because the new store is going to have bigger jazz, blues, and world music sections.  That means I have to go hard at three sections that I have worked hard to build over the seven years since I did this last (see geek in picture).

Oh yeah, we’ll have a ton of used rock CDs in our used section – so those’ll need to get hacked too.

Luckily, my buddy Paul at Twist and Shout told me how many times he’s had to pull from his collection – including a recent pull that doubled my entire collection but barely dented his – and made me feel better about what I am about to do (see the “Oracle Paul” post).

One more small note of comfort: Kristian has to pull too – so I at least have a partner to share my pain.

Anyway, if you are a customer – come in and take advantage.  In the meantime, I’ll probably whine my way through the process on the blog.

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