Monthly Archives: August 2010

WTF Bad Album Covers: Static-X Start A War

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Our very first WTF bad album cover since Vinyl Road Rage! Don’t worry, there are plenty more Vinyl Road Rage record store review posts coming, but this week we resume our normal posts, too…and WTF bad album covers are piling up all over the place faster than I can write them up and post them.

First I’d like to say that from a visual perspective, I think this band was much better when it was called Alice In Chains. Maybe they THINK they’re Alice In Chains, but one listen to the tracks off this album and you’ll be begging for Layne Staley to dig himself out of the ground and throttle these guys to death with his bare zombified hands.

This is yet another in a long parade of nu metal “mad faces” album covers, but honestly, the cover makes it look like the mad faces are due to the fact that the hair salon won’t take them as walk-in clients rather than some kind of teeno-angst mongering.

I couldn’t figure out what it was that made me think this Static-X album cover is so wretched until I realized that the mad face dude with his mouth open (catching flies, no doubt) makes this cover look an AWFUL LOT like that Devil’s Bris album by Voltaire.


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Philadelphia Record Stores: Philadelphia Record Exchange

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Philadelphia has its share of record stores, but when it comes to jazz albums, you really should make Philadelphia Record Exchange the very first stop. Located at 618 South 5th Street, this store is a three-story wonder, crammed from top to bottom with jazz, R&B, blues, and yes, there is a rock/modern rock section in the basement.

From the moment you spot the sign on the street, you’ve got stuff to sift through as on good weather days there are crates of dirt cheap vinyl waiting for you outside the store.

Once you get inside, you’ll go down the Philadelphia record store rabbit hole for a long, long time. Since I’m not a jazz collector per se, there was a lot of browsing, but when I hit the soul section the stacks were much harder to resist.

Deco Disco does look pretty cool…regretting that I didn’t pick that one up now. Ahh well, can’t buy them all! The Philadelphia Record Exchange is crammed full of opportunities like these…it all depends on how much cash you can afford to part with on any given day. They really don’t make it easy. One thing I did notice about this shop–there was a constant stream of people coming in and out–the reputation of this store is rock solid in Philly, and with good reason.

It’s your choice. The lady or the tiger? It has to be said, there is a LOT of crap in the basement rock section, but the hidden gems are waiting there for you. I scored the DBs 12 inch single Spy In The House of Love and a lovely copy of the Peter Murphy post-Bauhaus project Dali’s Car with a bit of dilligent digging. Yes, you have to get past Dan Fogelberg first…but it was worth it.

Yes, the Philadelphia Record Exchange is far more slanted towards jazz, soul and non-rock genres…but it’s a refreshing change of pace…and the rock section does have some gold nuggets hidden in there. Don’t miss it.


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Philadelphia Record Stores: Repo Records

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During my visit to Philadelphia, I was very pleased to shop at Repo Records at 538 South Street. From the moment you spot the store, you know you’re in for a crate-digging safari you should set aside plenty of time for. I realize that most of the reviews from this particular Vinyl Road Rage trip are glowing (I had very good luck most of the way) but Repo Records truly deserves the praise.

South Street is full of touristy places to lure you in, but I get the vibe in Repo Records that locals shop here. Like all the good shops on my trip, the staff were friendly and chatty. No sullen-faced wankers who have seen High Fidelity too many times here.

I was pleased to find a good combination of new material and re-issues. There’s so much good stuff coming back on the market these days that a new record collector will have trouble picking their battles. Behold:

Yes, that’s Here Comes Shuggie Otis on 180-gram vinyl, brand new and ready to be discovered by a whole new generation. But I was happier with this discovery which, in spite of its ruined cover was a very pleasant find indeed as I’m a bit of a nut for anything on vinyl related to the Justified Ancients of Mu.

You couldn’t have made me happier if you had given me a white label pressing of a late night drunken collaboration between William Shatner and Mark E. Smith (with Brian Eno playing a MicroKorg through seven echo boxes).

For some reason, the farther east you drive, the more prevalent record stores with basements become. I don’t know why this is, but I’m very pleased that the phrase “bargain basement” is still more than just a cliche.

The Repo Records bargain basement was fab–not just for the usual crate digging, but as a connoisseur of tasteless, poorly thought out or just plain goofy album covers, I was in heaven.

Look at that HAIR. Now THAT’S a SIN.

You people quit your day jobs, decided make a career in music and the best name you could come up with after pondering it for AGES and AGES was….

But I digress. Basically, Repo Records was fun to shop and I crawled around the old, new, and very used bins for quite some time. If you’re in Philly and are tired of all the other South Street stuff, drop into Repo Records and stay a while. Just make sure you’ve got a nice, cool place to stash all that vinyl when you’re done shopping…the trunk of your car might work in November, but in the dog days of summer you need a better plan.


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