Even More Vinyl Road Rage Random Images

Vinyl Road Rage posts have gone from Cleveland to Philly and we’re not done yet! I’ve got a lot of New York City record stores to get through and there are a few posts that haven’t gone up yet from Ohio and Pittsburgh yet to come. New York comes first though–I’ve been posting these in chronological order. In the meantime, here is another collection of Vinyl Road Rage images collected from the trip. There were 1500 photos in all! Not that you’ll see all those here, but I have picked some of the best….

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Detroit Rock City? As Long As Archer Record Pressing Stays Open

Discovered on the incomparable Analog Apartment, which we love. Please, please, PLEASE, Archer Record Pressing Plant, do not close, EVER. Three minutes of vinyl junkie bliss.

Vogue Picture Records 1946-1947

I discovered a fascinating blog post at COLOURlovers (a craft blog, not a vinyl blog) called Unusually Colored Vinyl Records. It featured a variety of impressive colored vinyl productions including the Man Or Astroman release, “Your Weight On The Moon” on  glow-in-the-dark vinyl pictured above. But the REAL treasure in this blog post was the mention of some seriously vintage post-war vinyl produced in Detroit by a company called Sav-Way Industries.

The Vogue Picture Discs are amazing for their detail and the instant visual reference to the  post war era when they were made (1946-1947) but the real stunner for me was the visual theme of the Marion Mann track, “You Took Advantage of Me”.

Decades before The Tubes put out Mondo Bondage, here’s a very racy post-war vinyl record implying all sorts of naughty things with this picture. There are some 74 Vogue Picture Record titles in this collection, which you can view more of at the University of California Santa Barbara, but none of them are quite as provocative as this one.

Sure, it COULD be argued that this was an innocent depiction of the song’s theme, but lest we forget, post-war culture in the 40s was filled with double entendres created to titillate and amuse while maintaining “plausible deniability” in a so-called respectable society. Mondo bondage indeed!

–Joe Wallace

For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis

Even if you don’t know the name Hipgnosis, you know the work. Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, 10CC, a whole slew of bands that all got the benefit of amazing, surreal cover art by the geniuses at Hipgnosis, which Throbbing Gristle/Coil member Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson joined in 74.

One of the very best designs by the group, for our money, is the work Hipgnosis did on the 10CC album cover for How Dare You? which manages to tell a complete story without actually conveying any plot information whatsoever.

The CD version of this album is often given the short shrift, sometimes missing one or more panels that reveal the whole tableaux. The album version of How Dare You is the one to see as it has the entire spread of carefully crafted Hipgnosis images. Amazing. Keep your Houses of the Holy, we love 10CC better.

For the Love of Vinyl gives a detailed look at 60 Hipgnosis designs and features guest commentary from musicians including Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason. This is a pretty amazing tome, and is in fact written by the founders of the design group itself, so you know you’re getting the stories right from the source. Recommended.

Edwige Fenech

by Joe Wallace
Images via the super-awesome Cinebeats

What do the movies All The Colors Of The Dark, plus Case of the Bloody Iris, and the uber-crazy

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh have in common? These films and many, many more prominently feature one of the best-loved Italian actors of the 60s and 70s, Edwige Fenech.

When you see your first Edwige Fenech movie, you’ll remember her instantly–she’s got eyes as memorable as Karloff’s and a screen presence just as distinctive. She was never the heavy in her best-known roles, and it’s a shame–she would have made a great villain. Regardless, at Turntabling, Fenech is much like Ennio Morricone; if you see either name in the credits (preferably both together!) you know you’re in for a good time even if the rest of the film is a pile of nonsense.

We’re huge fans, in case you haven’t noticed…and hope by throwing up a few choice tidbits for the uninitiated we can lure more viewers into the Cult of Edwige. Submitted for your enjoyment are three trailers featuring the incomparable Ms. Fenech, who has since the glorious days of 60s and 70s giallos has become a producer in her own right while still taking acting roles (including a small part in Eli Roth’s Hostel 2.)

Edwige Fenech in one of her best roles in Case of the Bloody Iris.

This is how it all started round the Turntabling digs…we especially loved her with the short hairdo in the beginning of the film. How did she get from near-pageboy to the shiny black mane she’s famous for? In the space of a few seconds she’s transformed…but no matter, GREAT movie. There are plenty of twists, and don’t miss the great nightclub wrestling sequence that seems to be a Jesse Franco moment even though he was nowhere near this production. What is it about sleazy nightclub scenes? Italian cinema from this era is full of them. Not that we’re complaining….

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is chock full of the strangeness we’ve come to expect from the better movies in the giallo genre. The party scene with the paper dresses (which get ripped off in a party-crashing freakout) is a classic, and the scene where Edwige Fenech falls down in the rain (seen here) is worth the price of the disc alone. GREAT stylish visuals in this. A must-see.

All The Colors Of The Dark isn’t as glorious as the first two, but it’s still a HELL of a good time and there is so much Edwige Fenech in this you’ll wonder why you didn’t get to it sooner. She carries the movie as a woman who is being stalked, tormented, and ultimately lured into a cult full of Satan-worshipping freaks. How can you go wrong with psychedelia AND Satan?

WTF Album Covers Joe Gibbs Pot-Free Reggae Christmas

by Joe Wallace

Yes, that’s a great big old marijuana plant or two on the cover of the Joe Gibbs Reggae Christmas album. At Turntabling, we tend to sympathize with Anthony Bourdain, Don Letts, and Peter Tosh when it comes to legalization of the herb–after all, what are malt, hops, and barley? The presence of George Washington’s favorite plant on this album cover is laugh-inducing, but it doesn’t necessarily make it a BAD album cover all by itself…so what gives, Gibbs?

I’ll tell you what gives. The WTF factor for yours truly (aside from having a powerful case of the munchies just LOOKING at this cover) comes when you compare the cover for this vinyl record with the cover for the Joe Gibbs Reggae Christmas album available for download on Amazon.com.

Is this even the SAME ALBUM? Nicely sanitized and pot-free, we’re guessing this makes the world safe for the kiddies who don’t want to come downstairs on Xmas morning to find a nice big fatty in their Christmas stocking. Well, darlings, that’s all YOU. Me, I kind of like the idea of having a glazed Christmas, thanks.

I bet poor ol’ Joe Gibbs had NOTHING to do with any of this–some record company hack or Amazon corporate doink decided that purple sticky wasn’t appropriate for Christmas. After all, it’s marketed at the kiddies, right? Can’t have the rugrats wondering why Mom and Dad are giggling so much and eating all the fruitcake.

Video DJ Series: Scratching and Mixing

by Joe Wallace

For the record–I put very little stock in many of these “learn how to DJ” tutorials. Learn to mix and scratch like a pro? I’ve got a better idea–why not teach yourself how to mix and scratch and become a pro? Watching somebody in a goofy hat turntabling on a DVD isn’t my idea of a good time.

That said, I was intrigued by the lineup on the DJ Series Digital Scratching and Mixing DVD. This disc boasts interviews with Robert Moog, Herbie Hancock, and Wally Callerio, just to name a few. What does Robert Moog say on the DVD? I’m intrigued, since in my mind he’s the Godfather of analog synth goodness. Herbie Hancock isn’t such a stretch, but Moog is the wildcard here, at least to me.

If you’ve seen this, by all means drop a comment here–I’d love to know if the Moog thing is a goofy name-dropping ten second cameo or if it’s a quality interview worth the price of the disc to see…

What Do Anthony Bourdain and Vinyl Records Have in Common?

by Joe Wallace

As of late I’ve become addicted to Anthony Bourdain’s writing. Bourdain is a kindred spirit–he’s got the kind of take no prisoners attitude and and a love for grit and realism that I find refreshing in the world of overly nice and excessively coiffed media ding-a-lings. In another life, I spent far too much time working in television to see things any other way, especially ON television.

I’ve been digging old episodes of No Reservations, the weekly Bourdain globe-hopping food frenzy, and what did I find in an old collection from 2007? Anthony Bourdain tackling Jamaica in all its ramshackle glory. The food makes me want to brave the trip, but the most exciting part of that particular episode for me was the look behind the Jamaican music industry, complete with in-house vinyl record pressing operations at some of Jamaica’s busiest and most ambitious local recording companies.

There was some amazing footage not only of vinyl records being pressed, but also the sink-or-swim no-nostalgia ruthlessness of these record labels when it comes to product that just isn’t selling well. Jamaica being poor as it is, can anyone blame these record labels for hacking up the unsold stock, melting it down and pressing another potential dancehall hit?

The vinyl-centric part of the clip below comes about three minutes in, but the entire show is really worth a watch as it’s an eye-opener for anybody who isn’t hip to Jamaica food, culture or the truth behind the Marley tee shirts. As Don Letts points out, a lot of people who don’t actually live in these conditions tend to romanticize poverty, Rastafari, and the place in general. To paraphrase Letts, the ghetto isn’t something people want to do anything but escape from. I found Bourdain’s no-nonsense approach to the good and bad of Jamaica to be very refreshing…and the look at the record biz there? Priceless for a vinyl junkie and dub lover like me.

Twin Peaks Forever!

Say no more. I watched this trailer for Twin Peaks on YouTube and now I am back at the Twin Peaks Gold Box re-watching the whole damn thing. David Lynch really did something special with this…

Suspiria LP Temporarily Sold Out

Demand has gone crazy for the Argento titles…the Suspiria vinyl album is temporarily sold out (more are on the way) and there aren’t many copies left of a few of the other Argento LPs–the vinyl is going fast lately, probably thanks in part to an excellent post today on Listverse.com called 10 Brilliant Giallo Films.

MikeR wrote up a very nice collection of films including one of my  favorites–Death Walks On High Heels.  Not very keen at all on A Blade In The Dark, but his other selections are spot on…more posts like these, please!

–Joe Wallace