Strange Wax Documentary

Our coverage of Vinyl Road Rage continues shortly, but we take a quick break from that to take a gander at this documentary from LM Vision Productions. The clip here is part one of two available, and while it was published online last year we’re just now discovering this…a vinyl documentary always grabs our attention as it’s good to see this lifestyle through other people’s eyes. Sometimes that is a hilarious experience, sometimes slightly painful to watch, but always interesting. What do you think of part one here?

Vinyl Road Rage Day #2: Bloomington Indiana, Louisville Kentucky, Cincinnati Ohio

by Joe Wallace

Day Two of Vinyl Road Rage #3 was filled with highway hypnosis. I went from Bloomington Indiana to Cincinnati Ohio, hitting a LOT of indie record shops along the way.

There are pictures, but they will be posted tomorrow–my camera is charging now and I’ll extract the images later. Suffice it to say that the trip so far has uncovered plenty of great shops.

I can tell you that Bloomington Indiana is great place to stop all around, but especially TD’s CDs and LPs at 322 E Kirkwood Ave. Not only did this shop have no fewer than four Goblin titles on vinyl (more? I lost count!) they also had a copy of the Terror soundtrack, which I have been lusting after for quite some time after letting a copy slip away ages ago, thinking “I’ll grab it later.” Foolish mortal!

Also great–Landlocked Music at 202 N Walnut Ave in Bloomington. Lots of new vinyl, but plenty of used titles to browse too. Like TD’s, this shop has a respectful section of experimental records that deserve a long look if you’re into those sounds (I am). I’ll have more in-depth reviews of these shops and others individually but I HAD to touch on some of the highlights.

Bloomington was much more clean-cut than Louisville, KY, which has a more Austin, Texas vibe to it. Sadly, there were no real rare, bizarre or otherwise lustworthy titles in Louisville. Record shops there seem to emphasize new titles more, and while there are plenty of used bins to pour over, my own personal obsessions went un-fed. Fans of 60s and 70s psych, garage and hippie titles will be pleased and any jazz fan will probably have a lot to crate-dig for.

Cincinnati record shops had to wait–there was a parking lot-style standstill just outside the city and I missed the shops thanks to the traffic. Tomorrow I will hit them and write up some notes later in the evening. Vinyl Road Rage #3 wraps up for the day on Saturday in Columbus where there are more record shops than police officers, near as I can tell.

My Delicious Spaghetti Western Vinyl Record

Now here’s an obscurity–in 1998, Dagored in association with another Italian company called Abraxis (not sure of the exact connection here but both names appear on the record) released this awesome collection of music from a number of obscure spaghetti westerns including more a couple of Sartana films, one called Buckaroo, and Il Segno del Coyote.

Some complain that Ennio Morricone has no representation on this compilation record, but for SOME of us, that’s actually the selling point of the album–you can find Morricone all day, every day in every record store in the land; what you can’t get so readily are the sounds of Francesco De Masi, Bruno Nicolai, Lallo Gori and others on this album.

If you love spaghetti westerns and can’t get enough of those soundtrack sounds, this album is a treat. Bruno Nicolai, for the uninitiated, sounds a lot like Morricone–and with good reason. He was Morricone’s conductor, so there’s a natural progression and influence in style and tone. If you love Morricone, watch out, Bruno Nicolai will soon become a new source of financial strain as you try to collect all HIS great work as well.

New spaghetti western junkies will also come to love and respect De Masi and the other great names featured here.

To whet your appetite, check out the vid clip at the end of this post for one of the better tracks off this awesome compilation courtesy of a fellow Italian movie obsessive on YouTube! This is one of the Bruno Nicolai tracks from Have A Good Funeral, My Friend…Sartana Will Pay which is represented on My Delicious Spaghetti Western.

Turntabling has one copy of My Delicious Spaghetti Western for sale, first-come, first-served. This is an import 180 gram vinyl record in Very Good+ condition. The vinyl has some surface marks that do not affect playback.

Buy the My Delicious Spaghetti Western import vinyl LP from Turntabling for $24.00 plus shipping. This album ships overseas, and shipping may be extra depending on the destination. We will bill you for any excess postage required or refund any excess you may have paid. Turntabling does not inflate shipping charges to make a quick buck!

The OTHER Side of Record Collecting

Laugh or cry, this video is…well, damn.

… Continue Reading

Dario Argento Soundtrack Vinyl For Sale at Turntabling

By popular demand, here’s an ever-growing list of the Dario Argento related titles currently available for sale here. This list is all the vinyl, we’ll post the compact disc collection very soon. Please note that in most cases this vinyl is either out of print or going to be so very soon.

All titles for sale here are sealed and unopened unless otherwise indicated. We actually don’t have any used Argento vinyl for sale here–can’t find any and the people who own these titles hang on to them for dear life–but we have to let you know it’s sealed, regardless.

Goblin Dawn Of The Dead Soundtrack Vinyl LP

Dario Argento acted as a producer on the ground-breaking George Romero undead opus, so it gets included here.

Argento was also responsible for bringing Goblin to the table for the soundtrack so he gets double kudos for this. The bad news is that this Dagored vinyl LP is out of print now and when supplies are gone, they’re gone for good unless the Italian distributor decides to print another run someday. This is now extremely collectible.

This is a new, sealed import vinyl LP. Buy the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack by Goblin from Turntabling for $28.00. These are going fast–when they’re gone, they’re gone for good.

Tenebre Soundtrack Vinyl LP by Goblin

The vinyl LP soundtrack for Tenebre on Dagored Records is even more collectible than Dawn of the Dead. This title is out of print and likely not to return, which means that sealed, unopened copies are worth far more today than ever.

This soundtrack is one Argento’s most famous, thanks in part to Claudio Simonetti’s Italo disco stylings on the best-known cuts. Technically speaking this is not a Goblin record–the band wasn’t able to use the name for contractual reasons at the time–but this is classic Goblin nonetheless, if not a completely different sound for the group. Completist collectors should definitely try to get their hands on one of these while it’s still available. Tenebre is a sealed, import vinyl LP pressed on 180 gram vinyl

Buy Tenebre from Turntabling for $30.00 plus shipping.

Four Flies On Grey Velvet Soundtrack Vinyl LP Ennio Morricone

You won’t get Morricone’s haunting score for this early giallo by Argento out of your head for weeks. The whispers, moans and experimental percussion are a lower-volume precursor to the high-octane shrieks and clangs in Suspiria. Some might call that a stretch, but listen to the two soundtracks back to back and you might be surprised.

This too is a highly endangered species on vinyl–when supplies are gone, they’re gone! Just TRY to find this in any used record shop or on eBay for a reasonable price. We have a limited supply of Four Flies On Grey Velvet, they are sealed, 180 gram vinyl LPs on the excellent Dagored label. Get them while they last!

Buy the Four Flies On Grey Velvet vinyl record from Turntabling for $29.00 plus shipping.

Suspiria Vinyl LP by Goblin

The king of the Argento soundtracks, Suspiria features Goblin at the hieght of their creativity and spookiness. This album completely transcends the film its in, standing alone as a sonic accomplishment that demands to be recognized with or without the film.

Suspiria is also out of print and getting more scarce in this form than ever. It will soon be listed as ultra-rare and as with Tenebre, we challenge crate diggers to find one of these in the used bins–we’ve never seen it happen!

We have extremely limited stock of this awesome vinyl record, sealed and unsullied by human hands. Suspiria is a sealed, imported vinyl record on 180-gram vinyl.

Buy Suspiria now from Turntabling for $39.00 plus shipping.

Deep Red AKA Profondo Rosso by Goblin

Goblin’s soundtrack for Deep Red, also known as Profondo Rosso, is a driving prog-filled album that really enhances the film. There are a couple of cheesy moments with analog synth flourishes thrown in for no apparent reason, but these are quickly forgotten when the prog attack kicks in again.

Goblin was in fine form on this soundtrack in spite of being intimidated by the job–they were brought onto the film after Argento fired the original composer…but Simonetti and company stepped up to the task quite nicely. As with so many (all?) of the other titles in the Dario Argento soundtrack catalog, this particular release on Dagored Records is going out of print and is more of a rarity than ever for vinyl junkies.

The Goblin Profondo Rosso soundtrack is a new, sealed vinyl LP on 180-gram vinyl. Buy it now while supplies last from Turntabling for $28.00 plus shipping.

That’s all the Argento vinyl we have in stock currently. Stay tuned for the list of Argento-related CD titles!

WTF Album Covers: Hello Lovers Roger Nusic Here For You Only

Knowing absolutely nothing about this record other than this wacko-jacko album cover, the first thing that springs to mind when I look at the image is, “I remember THAT SCENE in Cannibal Holocaust…” The liner notes for this Roger Nusic album on CD Baby helpfully mention the contribution of a drummer named Sticky Dave Friendly. With a name like that, can a career in porn be very far away?

Unfortunately for Roger Nusic, the album covers only get creepier from here. Feast your eyes on THIS:

I weep for the future.

–Joe Wallace

The Most Expensive Record Ever Sold? 1966 Velvet Underground and Nico Acetate

by Joe Wallace

Since I ran a feature on what could possibly be the world’s most ridiculously expensive record needles, it was only fitting that the world’s most expensive vinyl also get a look–after all, what do you play with a record needle that cost 20 thousand dollars? How about this acetate of The Velvet Underground And Nico, which sold on eBay for more than $25,000?

An acetate, for those who don’t know about the record production process, is pressed before the master is created so vinyl records can be mass produced. It’s used as a reference so an engineer can tell how all the duplicated vinyl records will sound once they roll out of the pressing plant.

According to the fascinating Popspike.com, this acetate of The Velvet Underground And Nico was successfully auctioned on ebay for $25,200 back in 2006, making this one of THE most expensive record sales ever, right next to a rare copy of Pink Floyd’s Meddle album pressed on blue vinyl for $12K and a “SEX PISTOLS – God Save the Queen – GENUINE A&M AMS7284!” for over 12,000 British pounds.

This Velvet Underground acetate looks to be the most likely candidate to be played with the most expensive record needle in the world.

Shure Whitelabel Integrated Phono Cartridge

A hundred dollar record needle? Well, the DJ in me wants to correct that line to read phono cartridge, but yes, this Shure Whitelabel integrated phono cartridge DOES sell for $100+. Since it’s aimed at party DJs and club DJs, it’s built for heavy-duty use rather than casual record spins–there’s something to be said for a record needle built to withstand an evening of abuse in the club.

And since a DJ can write off the expense of high-end record needles as a legitimate business expense, why not?

Replacement needles are essential for any vinyl junkie, but even more so for the people who spin for a living. What some like about this one, aside from the gold plated connectors or the forward mass design made for better center-of-gravity conditions for playing and scratching, is the color scheme. It’s kinda hard to see a black phono cartridge against the black vinyl in the dim light of a club.

Some record lovers thing a record needle is a record needle. Others are quite picky. We fall somewhere in the middle. It’s enough to be able to spin the LPs at home with decent sound quality from a typical, well-designed phono cartridge…but anybody who wants to play for hours on end three or four nights a week? A rugged design plus the Shure Whitelabel cartridge’s adjustable overhang (50mm – 54mm to help maintain the forward and backward adjustment of a standard-mount headshell, letting you tweak the adjustment whether you’ve got an S-arm or a straight-arm turntable) means you should probably take a look at a couple of these.