Tag Archives: vinyl

Vinyl Blogs to Watch: Egg City Radio

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A blog that features posts on albums by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sonic Youth, AND Jim “Gilligan’s Island” Backus, Bobcat Goldthwait, plus Dee Dee Ramone in his rappin’ phase?  That’s a blog I personally think could be the greatest thing of all time. Egg City Radio has been at it since 2007 and I sincerely hope it never ever EVER stops. The image for the Jim Backus album alone made it worth the search–having searched through Egg City Radio’s archives I can say this is a work of demented genius.

I’m fully aware that there are other highly eclectic vinyl collector blogs out there, but I’ll be damned to Satan’s personal, private hell and have cocktail wieners jammed into my eyeballs for all eternity if Egg City Radio isn’t THE most delightfully insane collection of musical contradictions ever under one roof. Who else has the balls to run a review of PiL’s Commercial Zone LP back to back with a music library LP for The Price Is Right? This is someone I seriously need to read on a daily basis.

This is quite possibly my favorite blog of all that I’ve seen this year. Seriously.

Vogue Picture Records 1946-1947

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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

Is the Record Store Dead?

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vinyl1by Joe Wallace

I’m throwing this question out because I’d really like to know what Turntabling readers think (there’s a hint–post your opinions in the comments section!) about the state of indie record stores in America. In the last two years we’ve lost a LOT of good ones, but the ones that have survived seem to be in it for the long haul.

One of my favorite indie record shops, Laurie’s Planet of Sound in my Lincoln Square, Chicago neighborhood, is a good example of what I’m talking about. Recently Laurie’s revamped the store setup–once upon a time CDs were the main event judging from the placement and display of the compact discs. But now the shiny disc has been almost marginalized and vinyl is front and center.

It was a brilliant move and one that was long needed–CDs aren’t totally extinct, but they’re really for people with old car stereos and people resistant to going all-digital. There are enough digi-resistant folks out there that the compact disc will probably limp along for a decade or so more, but the writing is on the wall.

Laurie’s will survive if the local vinyl junkies come out and support. I’m one and I do. But what about the record store in general? Do you think it’s an endangered species? Chicago has more vinyl shops than I can name here-literally. In or near Lincoln Square alone we have Laurie’s Planet of Sound, Deadwax, and until only recently, Metal Haven which died in spring of 2010. Elsewhere in Chicago there is the local chain of Reckless Records shops, Dave’s Records, Dusty Groove America, and the recently-opened Leland Hardware Records.

Are they all running uphill here? I personally think not, partly because of changing business tactics (bravo, Laurie’s Planet of Sound) and partly because of a (painfully slow) economic recovery which keeps trying to happen. And then there’s US. The few, the rabid, the vinyl junkies.


For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis

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For the Love Of Vinyl 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 74.10cc How Dare You

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.