Monthly Archives: September 2011

Legendary Pink Dots Vinyl

For Sale, Media, Vinyl Finds

The Turntabling Collection (my pretentious-yet-accurate name for the inventory of vinyl and CDs I sell online at at conventions) includes several titles by the one-and-only Legendary Pink Dots.

Those who don’t know the Dots aren’t hip to their unique brand of audio surrealism, psych-tinged epic journeys into the imagination that recall the best of Syd Barrett and like-minded fellow travelers. But if any or all of that description sound good, you owe it to yourself to become what some used to call a “Dotty phrend”. Here’s a selection of titles you should get to know:

Legendary Pink Dots Asylum double LP.

This is the record some reviewers and Dots fans describe as LPD at their most crazy, psychotic and creative. Standout tracks on this one include Echo Police, which sounds oddly reminiscent of the Liquid Sky soundtrack in places–at least at the start.

This is one of the older releases in the massive LPD catalogue, and the double vinyl presentation is pretty amazing. The artwork alone is worth a look…the album? One of the most unique even for the band itself. Here’s a video clip of LPD performing Echo Police from the Asylum album, shot live in 2008.
 



 

 

The Legendary Pink Dots album Island of Jewels is half experimental and half structured, featuring plenty of surreal wanderings, but does have a playful side at times. Some nice sax interludes give this a–dare I say–50s beatnik vibe in spots, which is not a bad thing for a fan of the Naked Lunch soundtrack.

Some fans call this album a must-own, others say it’s their least favorite in the collection. The band is like that–inspiring rabidly devoted followings but with wildly opinionated and divergent opinions on the group’s output. Call this one a good sampling of what you can expect from the rest of the band’s recordings and you probably can’t go wrong. The wild mood swings are all here, the sonic experimentation, the light-and-dark shifts…pretty fine, if you ask me.

The Legendary Pink Dots vinyl record The Golden Age shows you a side of the Dots that many love–surreal, beautiful, with a touch of what I call “morbid hippie”. Nobody does that quite like the Dots, with tracks like “Even The Vegetables Screamed”. The wonderful “Hotel Noir” is reminiscent of some other great LPD albums (The Lovers comes to mind–another essential title to find).

“The Month After” even has a little Simon Boswell/Italian horror soundtrack vibe going on there…very nice. I’m also sure it was unintentional, but no matter…

 

There are plenty of 12-inch singles which are sought-after too, including something brilliant called the Pre-Millennial Single and a wonderful little 12-inch called Princess Coldheart. This is a prime example of Dots storytelling at its finest–bizarre, twisted fairy tales that meld ancient medieval imagery with modern technology. Acid music? You’ll know for sure on the first listen–here’s a sample of that single, courtesy of YouTube. (see below)
 



Apparently Jeff Bridges Really Loves Bad Album Covers

Blogs

The Jeff Bridges official site (yes, THAT Jeff Bridges) has a collection of truly wretched album covers. He’s a particular fan of karate preachers, The Handless Organist (need a HEADLESS organist to create a matched set, really) and the I Love My Life guy, who oddly enough does not display this album cover on his own site. (Insert snarky observation here.) Too bad, as it’s a classic.

For those just tuning in, Jeff Bridges is not related to Todd Bridges of Diff’rent Strokes fame, but it would be pretty interesting if he was. Bridges has a singing career in the works and has appeared on more than a couple of stages and TV shows doing his brand of singer/songwriter strumming complete with backing band.

His official site is really interesting–it’s a lot more personal than your standard band page, owing mainly to the hand-drawn graphics and handwritten messages. That’s an awesome touch, and for some reason is a little reminiscent of Daniel Johnston. Don’t ask why, it’s just a first impression thing. And yes, it’s meant as a compliment.

…and We’re Back!

Record Shops, Vinyl Finds, , , ,

Was a great, sleep-deprived and vinyl-riffic road trip to Pittsburgh and back again. Loads of great vinyl finds and good times, and the two-day horror movie marathon and camp-out at the Riverside Drive-In was awesome fun. The normal Turntabling posting schedule (such as it is) resumes once more now that I’m off the road.

Learned a few interesting things about my own vinyl collecting habits while on the road. Maybe it’s just personal bias in favor of one system over another, but I find vinyl graded with terms other than the Goldmine standard (G, VG, VG+, NM, NM-, M) seem to be MUCH less than advertised when you inspect the records.

“Very Fine” and “Exceptionally Clean” seem to be much closer to bullshit in my opinion–“exceptionally clean” or “very fine” lead one to expect a record in at least VG+ or NM- condition. Instead what you get in many cases is an overpriced VG.

What’s the difference? I know a lot of people out there have a hard time with record grading, but my own criteria, fussy as it may be, is basically this: if a record has more than a couple of stray marks on it, it can’t possibly be better than VG+. If a record looks used, but well taken care of (shiny, without more than two glaring marks or scratches that don’t affect play) it’s probably VG or VG+. I think records in VG+ condition are great purchases, and many of the ones in my own collection are VG+.

I will buy a record that looks VG+ any day of the week. I love NM vinyl best of all the “pre-owned” grades, but sometimes you’ll pay more for them because they’re more sought after–a NM version of a rare title is a wonderful find. But VG+ is just fine for anyone who plans to play the record often.

Near mint is just that–a record that’s used but looks pretty damn close to when it came out of the shrink wrap with some leeway given for the age of the record. Mint is either just out of shrink wrap and played once or twice or still sealed. In my experience–and it’s all VERY subjective, naturally==I think people who collect are really into NM, but many of those who buy from me at shows like HorrorHound Weekend or Cinema Wasteland buy to play the albums often and are perfectly happy with VG+ or VG.

The records graded “Very Fine” or “Exceptionally clean”, I’m not too impressed with as the perception is (for a hardcore record buyer and seller of vinyl) that somebody’s trying to sidestep the condition issue. That’s not always the case, to be fair, but it was really glaring on this trip how untrustworthy grading systems can be. Always inspect your vinyl!

I’ll have to do a full post on this stuff a bit later on, methinks.

–Joe Wallace

Turntabling On The Road

Events, , , , ,

Turntabling is on the road starting Thursday morning September 8, 2011–not a Vinyl Road Rage, but rather a vinyl buying trip in Pittsburgh to shops already covered by Turntabling…places like the uber-fantastic Jerry’s Records in Squirrel Hill and Eide’s in downtown Pittsburgh.

One of the highlights of the trip is a two-night double feature at the Riverside Drive-In on Route 66, N. Vandergrift, PA. Monster-Rama features both Dr. Phibes movies, the Bava classic Black Sabbath (with Boris Karloff in color) and the Vincent Price end-of-the-world vampire doom-fest Last Man On Earth. Me and the crew from Kitley’s Krypt are camping out at the drive-in, literally, for both nights. Plenty of beer and insanity awaits.

Rest assured, there will be updates from the road! Images from record shops and drive-in movie madness abound, but most of the instant-gratification updates will be via the Turntabling Facebook page, which is actually my personal page but also where I do most of the Turntabling FB stuff at, too. If you haven’t connected with me there, feel free–I love hooking up with Turntabling friends there.

Also, if you’re placing orders for vinyl or CDs from Turntabling, know that your orders will be shipped on my return next Tuesday. Thanks for your support-it means a great deal.

If you’re curious to know what I’ve got in the way of rare, obscure, hard-to-find and just plain cool vinyl records and CDs, have a look at my current list of titles for sale from the Turntabling Collection. I have plenty in the way of soundtracks, goth/industrial, obscure and really weird vinyl/CDs…over 200 at present and MUCH more to be added when I return. The Turntabling Collection is ever-growing and coming to a convention near you. Stay tuned for the latest appearance dates for shows like Horrorhound Weekend, Days of the Dead, Capricon and many others.

–Joe Wallace