Category Archives: colored vinyl

Dec 04 2023
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colored vinyl, reissue, vinyl

Nick Lowe • Quality Street [LP]

First released ten years ago as a CD and picture disc LP, NICK LOWE’s Quality Street is one of my favorite Christmas records of the last decade or so. Its subtitle, “A Seasonal Selection for All the Family,” is about right unless there are a bunch of headbangers in your household. But you do get a nice assortment of originals, covers and traditional holiday songs done the way Gentleman Nick likes to roll these days: smooth ’n’ easy, with a taste of wry humor. In 2013 when this was first issued I picked up the picture disc, which was cut at 45 rpm to help with the fidelity, but being such an item (regardless of speed) it suffers from a bit of additional surface noise you wouldn’t typically expect on vinyl. So then I bought the CD – not only was the sound quality better, but it was playable in the car. So that’s been my go-to every Christmas since then. When I read that YepRoc was doing a limited (1,000 copies) run of it on red vinyl, AND that they were adding a 7″ single with two songs that had only been issued as downloads, I jumped on it.

Some of Quality Street’s best songs are Nick’s. “Christmas at the Airport” is a tale of being stranded you-know-where when you’d certainly rather be somewhere else, a bit wistful and melancholy but a sweet lil’ song. “A Dollar Short of Happy,” too, is on the slightly sad side but also a winner. (It was co-written with Ry Cooder.) Covers-wise, the hands-down, stone-cold winner is “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day,” the Roy Wood perennial that may have overstayed its welcome in the UK but here in the States that original single barely troubled the charts. Nick’s version here has nice calypso vibe to it that really is a treat to hear. I love it! (And I love the original, too, and even have some positive feelings for the so-so Cheap Trick live version [with Wood].) What a cool song – I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it in the stores during the holiday season. And I used to create music programs for retail and restaurants so I know what it takes to make the cut. Ol’ saint Nick nailed it. Another goodie here is “North Pole Express,” though there is no writer credit and the publishing is “copyright control” so who knows who wrote it? But it’s a toe-tapper regardless of whose pen it came from, so don’t miss it. The traditional tunes here are somewhat abundant but Nick and his fellow musicians do some interesting arranging so as to lighten the likelihood of burn-out. “Children Go Where I Send Thee,” for instance, is like a rockabilly version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” but nowhere near as haggard!

As for Quality Street’s bonus 45, you’ll thrill to both “Winter Wonderland” and “Let It Snow” as recorded by Nick and Los Straitjackets (who aren’t the band on the main album) in 2020 and available until now only as digital files or streamers. The big-holed 7″ comes in a “generic” company sleeve (but which appears to be created solely for this release) like the early ’60s British sleeves, and is a nice touch. These are peppy takes on seasonal faves that won’t likely make you groan when you put ’em on.

I don’t think you should miss this one. Place your order now and get Quality Street on vinyl before it’s gone, or else you’ll have to make do with non-physical formats that don’t lend themselves to being wrapped and put under the tree as a gift for a loved one – especially if that loved one is yourself. – Marsh Gooch

4/5 (YepRoc YEP 2330, 2013/2023) (available here)

 

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Aug 08 2023
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10" vinyl, colored vinyl, Limited Edition, reissue, vinyl

Nick Lowe • Dig My Mood (25th Anniv. Ed.) [LP+10″]

Twenty-five years ago when NICK LOWE’s Dig My Mood was first released, I was twenty-five years younger. I mean, duh!, but my point is: I was not ready for a mature record. Of any sort. Still in my mid-thirties, I was in thrall to harder-edged music, still thinking that my alliance was with the punks, new wavers, and college rockers. Nick Lowe had been a member of that group, at least in terms of the “new wave” label given his music up until then. By 1997 I had been a college radio DJ, a writer for Seattle’s local music paper, The Rocket, and played in rock bands – not to mention “slaving” away at my day job, putting together music programming for restaurants and retail establishments. What had not occurred yet was, as Nick’s friend John Hiatt may have termed it, that slow turning indicating I had graduated into adulthood. But, being a longtime Lowe fan, I duly picked up Dig My Mood when it came out. And I didn’t really dig it.

Oh, sure, I could appreciate the musicianship, since Nick Lowe had always surrounded himself with top-notch players. Some of the guys on Dig My Mood had even played on some of his previous releases. But I just couldn’t get into the songs. “Faithless Lover,” “Man That I’ve Become,” all the rest, they were not “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass” or “Cruel to Be Kind” or even “Raging Eyes.” Nick had grown up (well, jeez, he was in his mid-40s by then) and I hadn’t. Now, a song’s title doesn’t necessarily mean its lyrics are going to be youthful or mature, but there’s not a title here that sounds like “Crackin’ Up” or “Shake That Rat.” Alright, I think you get my point: I have grown up. Nick Lowe continues to be grown up (though he does employ his youthful wit on occasion), and his records – in an adult way – get better and better. (See my previous reviews of Nick’s stuff here.)

It’s a treat to hear Dig My Mood on this new vinyl reissue. Limited to 1500 copies, you get the original album with its dozen songs including Nick’s renditions of his own tunes (as mentioned above) as well as stellar covers of Henry McCullough’s “Failed Christian” and Ivory Joe Hunter’s “Cold Grey Light of Dawn.” As a bonus there’s a five-song 10″ EP that includes one studio recording (the great “I’ll Give You All Night to Stop”) and four live cuts, including “Cruel to Be Kind,” “Half a Boy and Half a Man,” and a nice solo rendition of the aforementioned John Hiatt’s “She Don’t Love Nobody.” All five tracks appeared on a fabulous box set, The Doings, back in 1999. (The live tracks also appeared on the 1997 CD single of Dig My Mood’s “You Inspire Me.”)

If you’ve been a Nick fan for awhile then this is a worthy addition to your collection, with real nice colored vinyl (blue for the LP, yellow for the 10″) and a great mastering job. I love the sound of Dig My Mood… now that I’m old enough to appreciate it. – Marsh Gooch

3.5/5 (YepRoc YEP-2635, 1997/2023)

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May 01 2023
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CD, colored vinyl, vinyl

The Damned • Darkadelic [CD, LP]

THE DAMNED are still with us. That’s basically a good thing, for it’s hard for me to imagine my life without these clowns in it. I started listening to them in my early 20s and have never stopped. The problem is, they’re just not what they used to be – which is to be expected, but still…

This week saw the release of Darkadelic, The Damned’s fourth album of new-material in the 21st century, and it’s quite similar to their last one, Evil Spirits. I declined to review that one at the time because I felt it was nowhere near as good as 2001’s Grave Disorder, a genuinely great album, so I just couldn’t do it. Still, this new one, though flawed, has some great moments. I’ll go with “Beware of the Clown” and “The Invisible Man” as the two tracks that positively stand out, but the bulk of the rest of the album feels a bit like “generic Damned” to me. And I hate to say this! I love these guys! But there’s just something missing. There’s a vague “phoning it in” feel, for one thing, and then there’s the production. Right from the start Darkadelic feels like it’s missing some top end, sounding a bit muffled until Dave Vanian’s voice comes in and tells you that the mix itself is a bit off. With Evil Spirits, with production by the great Tony Visconti, it was more an issue of the songs themselves. This time the songs are better but the production isn’t. At least they still rock.

Oh, what is a Damned fan to do? Well, in my case, I am always interested in what they’re up to so I stay tuned in. You may likely find you like Darkadelic, if only because  – despite their name – The Damned are still with us. Hallelujah. – Marsh Gooch

3/5 (earMusic 0217847EMU, 2023)

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Apr 26 2023
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cassette, CD, colored vinyl, vinyl

Robyn Hitchcock • Life After Infinity [CD, CS, LP]

For a guy who’s just turned 70, ROBYN HITCHCOCK hasn’t seemed to have slowed down. In fact, he has just released Life After Infinity, an all-instrumentals album available on all formats (including cassette tape) that is his second full-length release in six months. While Shufflemania! was more like a standard “band” album*, this one’s pretty much just Robyn on instruments and UK pal/co-producer Charlie Francis on bass and percussion. (He also did the mix and mastering, trainspotters.)

If you’ve been a longtime fan you’ll know that Hitchcock has included instrumentals on his releases before, most notably on 1984’s I Often Dream of Trains, which had some really lovely tunes and textures amongst the 14 songs that made up the original release. I can’t say there’s anything spectacularly different here – and that’s a good thing. There are some beauties here, for sure, and they’re all as fleshed out as you’d hope. Indeed, what I do detect as different is that there are a handful of tunes with the kind of sound beds you’d expect to hear on one of Eno’s ambient records. On top of that you’ll hear acoustic tunes such as “Nasturtiums for Anita” and “Mr. Ringerson’s Picnic,” “Tubby Among the Nightingales” (which sounds like something from George Harrison’s Wonderwall Music), and the double-header “Daphne, Skipping” and “Pleisosaurs in the Desert,” in which the first tune makes its way into your psyche and is followed by the second, which starts out sounding like the first one in reverse but goes somewhere else.

Life After Infinity is a gorgeous little album and in some ways it’s unlike anything in Robyn Hitchcock’s discography. You really get a chance to hear all that beautiful instrumentation, unhindered by concerns of where the vocals will sit in the mix. A nice addition to this man’s oeuvre, which numbers nearly 40 albums! – Marsh Gooch

3.5/5 (Tiny Ghost [no number], 2023)

* (A band album in which the instruments were tracked separately at different studios around the globe; it was recorded during lockdown.)

[There are no examples of the songs from this album on the Internet at the time of this writing, so please enjoy these instrumental samples from the above-mentioned I Often Dream of Trains.]

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Mar 29 2023
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CD, colored vinyl, vinyl

The No Ones • My Best Evil Friend [CD, 2LP]

I’ve been gearing up to reviewing this, THE NO ONES’ second release, My Best Evil Friend, for awhile now. So prolific is my friend Scott McCaughey* that I find it hard to come up with new adverbs ’n’ adjectives to describe what he’s done. And this time – dare I say it! – he may have authored his Sgt. Pepper. (And by saying that I know I have doomed this release to a very long shelf life, good or bad.)

“‘Don’t drop out!’ – No way, I’m here to stay” sings Scott on album opener/sorta-title-track “KLIV,” a paean to the San Jose radio station he grew up listening to in the ’60s. The lyrics are basically a list of song titles, band names and phrases associated with listening to the Top 40 AM station of his youth (mine was 93 KHJ outta L.A.). What follows are 17 more odes to rock ’n’ roll and radio, sort of a c*****t album (though not explicitly stated as such) and a damned good one at that.

Throughout My Best Evil Friend, the band – made up of McCaughey, Peter Buck (his mate from The Minus 5 and R.E.M.), Frode Strømstad and Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen (they of Norway) – tackle various genres of rock but seemingly without specifically setting out to do so. Though I detect little dabs – or is that tabs? – of psychedelia here and there, along with power pop and other subgenres of rock, there are only a few instances of “hey, let’s do a girl-group type of song” or “this one oughta sound just like the 13th Floor Elevators!”-type shenanigans here. One of them, barely, is “Song for George,” a pastiche of Harrisonian grooves that sounds familiar without being overtly Beatley. Likewise, “Blue Cheer Captain” and “Phil Ochs Is Dead” have an R.E.M. vibe to them; that kind of thing can’t be helped when 1/4 of your band is 1/4 of Athens’ Fab Four. (But the songs aren’t about R.E.M., anyway.) All told, My Best Evil Friend comes off as a very personal – just what is “Band With No Head” about? – life story, starting with birth (“KLIV”) and working its way to the inevitable (“Solo in the End”) and beyond (“The After Party”). It’s a very upbeat album, though there’s a definite melancholic nostalgia lurking beneath the sunshine superman vibes. 

I wasn’t expecting to like The No Ones’ latest anywhere near as much as I do. After all, the band’s first album (The Great Lost No Ones Album) got kind of, errrr, lost in the early Covid shuffle and I hadn’t really given it a second shake in the ensuing couple of years. I mean, McCaughey’s release schedule – he being a member of this band, The Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows and solo artist Scott The Hoople – rivals that of Neil Young’s! (As a matter of fact, McCaughey has already done an album of NY covers, Neil (Vol. 1) and has two more on the way with another solo collection AND a Minus 5 one too!)

My Best Evil Friend is available as a 2LP vinyl affair (color vinyl on initial pressing) and single CD. You get 18 songs on vinyl and only 12 on disc, so do yourself a favor and buy the wax – if only to not miss out on one of the best songs The No Ones have ever committed, “All the Stupid Days.” Whichever format opted for, I can’t imagine any rock ’n’ roll fan feeling less than severely delighted with their purchase. – Marsh Gooch

5/5 (YepRoc YEP 3048, 2023)

* Scott and I know each other from his early days (c. 1980s+) in the Seattle music scene when he was fronting Young Fresh Fellows. I used to shop at the record store he worked in, too, and he turned me on to a LOT of good music!

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Jun 14 2021
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12" single, colored vinyl, Limited Edition, record store day, vinyl

Record Store Day 2021, Part 2 [Vinyl]

Here are a few more RSD purchases we’ve felt the need to dissect. Please note that none of this was free – getting review copies just ain’t what it used to be! So, working from Z backwards…

THE ZOMBIES – Oddities & Extras (Varese Vintage VSD00020-05) – It’s hard to tell what songs have been on what Zombies compilations. Basically, they only released two actual albums, Begin Here and Odessey and Oracle, so everything else has likely been encountered either on the stellar 4CD Zombie Heaven box set from 1999 or on one of the countless comps that have made the rounds ever since a number of us decided that the band belonged in the same echelon as The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Who et. al. I’m pretty familiar with just about all of the baker’s dozen songs here on Oddities & Extras, but being a near-completist I needed to add this to the collection. It’s a pleasant enough platter, especially with “She Does Everything for Me,” “Just Out of Reach” and the cover of “Goin’ Out of My Head,” but I can’t help feeling this may be surplus to my Zombies needs.

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS – Ice Hockey Hair EP (BMG CAT491EP) – A 4-song EP, pressed on unnecessarily 180-gram vinyl, this one also feels a little surplus… to my SFA needs, that is. Gotta say, though, that “Ice Hockey Hair” is a classic in the lush, semi- Britpop vein that the Furries embraced. Of the other three tracks, “Smokin’” is also good, “Let’s Quit Smoking” is a different arrangement of the former (basically), and “Mu-Tron” may just be an excuse for one of the SFA guitarists to use his so-named guitar effects pedal. Being a 12″ (as opposed to a full-on LP), this one is likely to stay shelved for awhile. Not because the song isn’t any good, but because it also appears on the “greatest hits” album, Songbook (The Singles, Vol. 1).

THE KINKS – Percy (BMG CAT488LP) – I’m kinda scratching my head on this one… I get that any album from the Lola-era Kinks is worth reissuing, but why – oh why?! – did they make it a picture disc? This isn’t a typical album from the band, being a soundtrack to a seldom seen 1971 comedy film, with some instrumentals, a “Lola” blues jam and the like, so maybe they decided to have a little fun with it. I mean, one side of the picture disc is a closeup of the image on the front cover, as in, the cartoon man’s groin covered by a big leaf. (The other side is the full cover image.) To be fair, this pic disc is pressed on extra thick vinyl so it actually sounds pretty good. And let’s not forget: This isn’t exactly a proper Kinks album, so you’re not likely to take Percy for a spin very often. It’ll probably stand up to the half dozen plays you’re likely to give it. The textured cover is a nice touch (replicating the original), too.

THE FLAMING LIPS – The Soft Bulletin Companion (Warner 093624885016) – With most of the tracks “Soft Bulletin outtakes, stereo versions of Zaireeka tracks and unreleased songs from the era,” this Companion – a 2LP vinyl representation of a 1999 promo CD – is nice in a humble kind of way. Granted, these days I find myself mimicking Wayne Coyne’s high-pitched, practically falsetto singing voice (“when you got that spider bite on your arm”), but there are some good songs here, and I am very much a fan of this era of the Lips. So, its presentation is fitting: as if it were a generic white album cover, with black and white stickers slapped on the front and back, a coffee stain here, a pen mark there; the colored vinyl itself is silver and the labels are of the “promo copy” variety. There’s scant info about the tracks themselves, but I have faith that most Flaming Lips fans will be aware of their pedigree. The cover of Skip Spence’s “Little Hands” is certainly more tolerable (even pleasant) than the songwriter’s own version. – Marsh Gooch

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Mar 06 2021
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box set, colored vinyl, reissue, vinyl

Elvis Costello & The Attractions • Armed Forces [Super Deluxe Edition]

Here’s the ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS’ big box set I’d been waiting for. From the guy who I originally panned when reviewing his first two albums for my junior high school “newspaper,” Armed Forces – the 1979 album has passed its 40th birthday – still stands as a monumental new wave LP. In fact, calling it new wave almost denigrates it. The fact of the matter is, many record labels were looking for acts with that “edgy,” “sharp,” “barbed” sound after EC and his Attractions dropped this bombshell on the ears of those who were searching for something beyond the usual rock.

Dubbed “The Complete Armed Forces,” this behemoth includes LPs, EPs, 7″ singles and booklets galore in a large clamshell box adorned with the original US album cover on the outside (which was actually on the inside of the UK/European versions) and the UK/European front cover on the inside (which was on the back of the US version), all of which was designed by the magnificent Barney Bubbles. The 12″ assortment includes the original Armed Forces in a 13-track version that incorporates both the US and UK track listings (in the very cool origami-like unfolding cover of the foreign versions), a Live at Hollywood High and Beyond album (half of the tracks that appeared on a 2010 CD of the entire concert but considerably more than the three that appeared on the 7″ EP included with the original album), and a blistering ’79 concert recorded at the Pink Pop Festival in the Netherlands. EP-wise – all 10″ vinyl – you get an 8-song volume called Sketches for Emotional Fascism (most of which have appeared on previous Costello releases), a 6-song concert recorded in Australia (Riot at the Regent, quite good but too short!), and a 4-songer called Christmas in the Dominion which is also way too short. The singles feature original artwork for three 7″ releases, but the B-sides aren’t always the same as on the originals (except on one where it is!). Maddening! And the sleeve for “Accidents Will Happen,” which was originally cleverly printed inside-out (as in, “accidents will happen!”), is printed right-side-out, which at least gives you the chance to see what the whole thing looked like without having to take the sleeve apart. As for the “booklets galore,” these are all designed to look like old comic books, pulp fiction novels and other pre-1979 printed materials, with insides that include Elvis’s notes on the songs and their geneses, his handwritten lyrics as they appeared in his notebooks, etc., and all the credits for this humongous undertaking. In all, it’s a shitload of Costello music and ephemera that is going to be way too much for most people but not enough for many of the rest of us.

I think, in all, this “complete” Armed Forces is pretty fabulous. The sound quality is the best yet for the core album (my opinion, even better than the MoFi pressing) and the live concerts sound brilliant. I do wish the Riot at the Regent and Christmas in the Dominion records contained the complete concerts (future marketing opportunities!), but I can handle those coming out separately later on. This box itself is awfully expensive ($200 for the black vinyl version, $260 for the color vinyl) but is likely to come down in price. And if it’s just the music you want, you can find that available as high resolution downloads online. But if you like your box sets in the extravagant variety (not exactly punk rock, but, hey, whatever) then this is one you should have in your armory. – Marsh Gooch

4.5/5 (UMe B0031761-01, 2020)

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Oct 21 2020
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CD, colored vinyl, record store day, vinyl

Young Fresh Fellows • Toxic Youth (Back to the Egg) [LP, CD]

Record Store Day “Drop 3” is the last of the RSD 2020 triad that make up what would have been last April’s normal single-day event. One of the two records I am/was hoping to get is YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS’ Toxic Youth (or as it is also known, Back to the Egg). Recorded three years ago but only now seeing the light of day, it’s a great addition to the Fellows’ discography.

To start with, Toxic/Back is both a first and a last. It is, indeed, the first YFF record in eight years. Just as important, Youth/Egg is the last album recorded at Seattle’s legendary Egg Studio, the nest in which many Fellows releases were laid (or is that hatched?). The story is that in 2017 Conrad Uno, Egg’s patriarch (or is that rooster?), had decided to retire and close the studio, word got back to the Freshies, and they  booked one last weekend there before Egg went the way of the dodo bird. Since they’d gone in with just three songs and came out with seventeen, you’d be tempted to call it a success. Yet it took another three years for those results to show up on wax… was it delayed because of subpar quality? Band member Scott McCaughey’s stroke in late 2017??  Who knows??? One thing we do know: Once it finally got a release date – the original Record Store Day, April 2020 – Toxic Youth got delayed again thanks to that pesky coronavirus pandemic. Well, it’s finally out this Saturday (knock on wood) and it’s an honor to get to share my own opinions about it just slightly ahead of time.

As Mott The Hoople once said, rock ’n’ roll is a loser’s game, and it’s a game the Young Fresh Fellows have been winning (or is that losing?) for (gag! I feel old!) nearly 40 years. GULP. Regardless of, or despite their relative obscurity, from their very first outing back in the early ’80s, Seattle’s Fab Four have been creating kooky, clever cult rock for the masses – it’s just that the masses never got the memo. Too bad! Those of us who did get it, we got it. Whether it was with “Rock ’N’ Roll Pest Control,” “My Friend Ringo,” “Taco Wagon” or any number of other hooky, cheeky tunes, the Fellows could always be counted on for a great time.

Young Fresh Fellows say “Vote!”

Times changed throughout the Eighties and Nineties and though they didn’t exactly stay young they pretty much stayed fresh on their handful of sporadic releases. And that was okay with the fans. But when the YFF guys took on other projects (playing with their original groups [Fastbacks, for instance], playing with big name rock bands [R.E.M., for instance]), we lamented what we thought might be the end. So today we have Toxic Youth – I don’t really know what the title means – and I can tell you it’s a killer record! Opening with “November” and heading into quintessential Fellows stuff like “Never Had It Bad,” “Gear Summer 2013” with its ’60s organ, “Alien Overlords” and drummer Tad’s “Black Boots,” this release was worth the waits. THEN there’s Side 2 and that’s where Back to the Egg really fries! “She’s By Request” has this wobbly, eerie lead vocal from Scott, telling the story of of a late night TV encounter with some actress that I can’t figure out. I really like this one and figured it was gonna be my favorite on this toxic green vinyl record until I got to the grand finale, “Bleed Out.” OMG. This is like the YFFs detailing their own career and demise, explaining “I’m married to this life / Gave my body and soul / When I take the final knife I will bleed out rock and roll.” Yes, I honestly believe that Scott, Tad, Jim and Kurt will and DO bleed rock ’n’ roll.

If Toxic Youth/Back to the Egg were the final Young Fresh Fellows album you could truthfully say – based on this album alone, let alone Topsy Turvy or Totally Lost or Gleich Jetzt – they played a loser’s game and won. Cleaned up. Mopped the floor with almost every other band there ever was. – Marsh Gooch

5/5 (YepRoc YEP-2722X, 2020)

P.S. – It may be a bit late in coming, but having known Conrad Uno of Egg Studio and Popllama Products fame for 30-something years – and having worked for and recorded with him at Egg myself – I’d like to thank you, Uno, for your contribution to the Seattle music scene and the rock ’n’ roll world at large. “What a humble guy.” Cheers! And say hi to Emily.

 

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Oct 01 2020
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CD, colored vinyl, vinyl

NRBQ • In-Frequencies [CD, LP]

Just the fact that NRBQ has been around for over fifty years is pretty amazing. Can you believe they’ve never put out a collection of rarities and unreleased tracks? It’s true. In- Frequencies remedies that dour predicament with sixteen recordings that fell through the cracks (or were lucky enough to roll off the chopping block the first time around).

You’ve got to hand it to the ArQive 50 crew because they somehow put together a cohesive collection of tunes from a band that has never been able to settle on a style long enough for any rock critic – let alone fan – to pigeonhole them. As I have said in previous NRBQ reviews (and as any fan will attest), that’s a big part of what makes the Q so great. Why settle for one flavor of ice cream when you can have 31? In-Frequencies covers not only the various Q styles, but the different lineups of the band. There’s plenty of cuts representing the Big Al Anderson era, like “Let Me Tell You ’Bout My Girl” and a soundcheck recording of “It’s a Wild Weekend” that’s better than the album version, as well as a good helping of tracks from both the original and latest lineups. There’s also a cut by the legendary Dickens, “Sho’ Need Love,” which is not only super rare but has an awe-inspiring backstory (click here!) that you’ve got to check out. From the humorous (“Sourpuss”) to the super sweet (“April Showers”) to the just plain weird (an alternate version of “Everybody’s Smokin’”), it’s all here.

It’s highly likely that In-Frequencies is the first in a series, since it’s a sure thing that NRBQ has a lot more in the can than just a single CD’s worth. It might be wise to focus further volumes on, say, live cuts or the real out there material that was too Q for a standard album, if only to make those collections more pigeonhole-able than this one. Regardless, this single CD (also available on vinyl and limited edition colored vinyl) is a pretty good selection of rare NRBQ stuff for that rare fan who doesn’t have everything. – Marsh Gooch

3/5 (Omnivore OVCD-393, 2020)

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Sep 16 2020
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cassette, CD, colored vinyl, Limited Edition, vinyl

Tanya Donelly and the Parkington Sisters • Tanya Donelly and the Parkington Sisters [LP, CD]

Well, it sure is a mighty long title for an eponymous release. TONYA DONELLY AND THE PARKINGTON SISTERS’ new album of cover versions doesn’t have a clever title but it does have an interesting vibe/concept. I must confess a few things at the outset: I was a big fan of Belly, Donelly’s ’90s alternative rock band, back in the day; I was drawn to Tanya Donelly and the Parkington Sisters due to that first confession and the track listing of this release; and, I had no idea who these Parkington Sisters were until I looked ’em up on the internet.

Donelly was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist with Belly, who put out one excellent album, Star, and a very good album, King, plus a host of compelling singles for 4AD Records (or Sire here in the States). The Parkington Sisters are Rose, Sara and Ariel (plus sometimes Lydia; I mean, she’s always a sister of theirs but not always in the group), and have been putting out light pop/indie music together since 2010. Donelly was approached by American Laundromat Records to make a covers album and decided that these Parkington Sisters would bring the right vocal and instrumental vibe to whatever songs got chosen, and so, here we are.

This 9-song excursion into other people’s music opens with a moody, violin-heavy version of The Go•Go’s album cut, “Automatic.” Already knowing that song gave me the idea that this might be an interesting album, with the songs included being mostly cunning and not cloying choices. (I’m very glad they didn’t go for “We Got the Beat”!) That’s followed by a Leonard Cohen tune I’m not very familiar with (actually, most of them fall in that category), “Dance Me to the End of Love.” Others are covers of songs by Echo & The Bunnymen (“Ocean Rain”), Crowded House (“Devil You Know”) and Mary Margaret O’Hara (“You Will Be Loved Again”). The ones I was more interested in were “Let Me Roll It,” first done by Paul McCartney & Wings on Band On The Run (1973), a more uptempo and electric tune than most of this album – and though it’s not one of Wings’ most obvious songs, it’s ultimately a safe – but enjoyable – choice. Two other covers I felt were definitely obvious choices. One is “Kid” by the Pretenders, though Donelly’s reasoning for choosing it makes sense: “[It] was [considered] actually on the heels of a conversation that we’d been having about children.” I initially would’ve gone for a Chrissie Hynde tune with a little more balls but then that wouldn’t have fit this lighter-vibed album (imagine “Tattooed Love Boys” with violins!). The other is The Kinks’ “Days,” a Ray Davies tune that is probably his most-covered song and definitely a no-brainer. I think Donelly could have given “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” or “See My Friends” a real go, though she’s the kind of singer who’s not going to cover a song if it doesn’t have a personal meaning to her, so maybe my choice doesn’t speak to her the way her choice does. What do I know? I’m just a rock critic. Finally, I do like the version of the Mike Nesmith song, “Different Drum,” first done and made into a hit by Linda Ronstadt when she was still with The Stone Poneys. It is kinda soft, true, but it’s a sweet song and it’s nice that Tanya and the Parkingtons wanted to pay tribute to Ronstadt.

American Laundromat is covering all the bases by offering this album in a variety of colored vinyl versions, as well as on CD and even cassette. You’ll have to go to the website to figure out what is still available and where.

Overall, Tanya Donelly and the Parkington Sisters is a nice album, with light fare that’ll be great to put on at dinner and serve as enjoyable background music. That’s not meant to be a “dis,” just that, once you’ve given it a first listen it’s not gonna be a go-to album when you wanna rock out. Put it on when you want to relax, however, and it’ll be just fine. – Marsh Gooch

2.5/5 (American Laundromat ALR-0051, 2020)

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