This Week In Music Geek

Long story short, I got sidetracked today and ended up at a record store I used to frequent... but I hadn't been there in probably a couple of years. The place always had a hit-or-miss but always entertaining used vinyl section. The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways and today I struck gold for a mere $5: A first pressing of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Street Survivors album.


The first pressing of the album featured the eerily prophetic cover photo of the band engulfed in flames. Only 3 days after Street Survivors was released in October 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd were forever decimated by their infamous plane crash, with Ronnie Van Zant (3rd from the left) and Steve Gaines (horrifically in flames in the center of the photo) both losing their lives and the other members forever damaged (some physically... all psychologically). The real life darkness surrounding this album was only magnified by the single 'That Smell' and its chorus:

"Oooh, oooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell?
Oooh, oooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you."

The cover of subsequent pressings of the album, and later CDs, was changed to a different band photo from the same session framed in black. That image remained the album's cover for 30 years until the 30th Anniversary Edition Deluxe CD was released a couple of years ago. Umlaut loves the first vinyl pressing because it's a haunting time capsule from October 1977.

The original gatefold album came with a couple of paper inserts, which was common for albums back then. One insert is a charmingly simple merchandise order form ("Lynyrd Skynyrd - Survival Kit") with which to mail order a t-shirt ($5.98), pendant ($5.00), or a 24-page souvenir photo booklet ($3.00). Postage and handling charges were $1.00 (!). On the flipside of the order form is a charmingly simple marketing survey asking fans what format they listen to Skynyrd on (album, 8-track, or cassette) and a few questions about where the fan lives and their favorite radio station and magazine.

However, it's the other insert that makes my Music Geek head spin. It's printed on red paper and on one side are all of the band and album credits handwritten out. On the other side (also handwritten) are the tour dates for Skynyrd's TOTS ("Tour Of The States") 1977-78... a tour that was never completed. The tour's 45 shows started on October 15, 1977 in Miami and were due to end on February 1, 1978 in Honolulu; Skynyrd's plane went down 2 days after Miami after the tour's second show in St. Petersburg.

The first time I came across a copy of this album some years ago I got chills when I discovered the tour date insert. It's haunting for me to look at the tour dates and think about what could have been for Skynyrd on that tour. It would have included their first headlining appearance at Madison Square Garden on November 10, 1977, a Thanksgiving Day show in Pittsburgh, a New Year's Eve show in Ft. Worth, a San Francisco show (at Winterland) on January 13, 1978, and the tour wrapping up in style with 2 shows in Honolulu on January 31 and February 1, 1978. After TOTS 1977-78 I'm sure the Summer of '78 would have seen Skynyrd headlining stadiums, since they were on the brink of challenging Aerosmith as the biggest American Rock band of the 70's. Sadly, none of that came to pass.

Umlaut listens to alot of Death Metal, Black Metal etc. etc. but few of those bands come close to having the real life violence and darkness that surrounded Skynyrd... and the Southern Boys could easily have kicked Scandinavian ass in a bar fight.

I honestly can't imagine coming across a CD in the near or distant future and having the same kind of historical and emotional reaction to the packaging... and we don't even have to discuss a digital download, right? Part of the mystery that made Rock bands so ingrained in my psyche as a kid was stuff like this. In those pre-Internet days you had to work to find out information about bands, it simply wasn't handed to you by pressing a button.... I've said this in this space before and, yeah, I'm an old fart about it: Because I had to work for that information I valued the bands (and the music) that much more because I had invested something in them. It's harder to invest yourself in bands now since, in this digital age, another band can grab your attention via a single web link e-mail forum post. I know... give me convenience or give me death... but I'll always prefer finding something in a dusty record store bin.

Meanwhile, back in the 21st Century, YES Umlaut already had a copy of this album at home... but I couldn't leave today's copy in the store.... it would have felt like leaving a comrade on the battlefield. So, YES, Umlaut now has 2 mint copies of Street Survivors on vinyl sitting on his shelf. The Geeks shall inherit The Earth.

On a lighter note, how can you not appreciate Artimus Pyle's cutoff jeans and "Vegetarian" t-shirt in the cover photo? The Southern Boys had a sense of humor.

This Week In Music Geek

This might be the most beautiful thing Umlaut has seen all year by one of my favorite bands:

KYLESA STATIC TENSIONS WOODEN BOX SET 2XLP



The Kylesa “Static Tensions” Wooden Box Set contains the following:

• Solid wood box made of pine and birch, with silkscreened cover artwork
• Screenprinted 12×24 wrap around cover on metallic purple paper
• Turntable slipmat with cover artwork
• Full color A2 sized poster of album artwork
• 8 page full LP sized booklet of lyrics and art
• Sticker
• 2xLP, 45 R.P.M. vinyl version of Static Tensions on exclusive “Purple Haze” colored vinyl
• All boxes individually hand-numbered 1-150

Although the run is 150 copies, only 115 copies are being sold via the 20BuckSpin website. Oh, here's a video of Laura of Kylesa talking about this Music Geek's wet dream... although the German interviewer is a LOSER ("I'm actually not a vinyl collector..")..



YES! Umlaut scored a copy... Now I just have to wait and see what number copy I get in the sequence. The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth! This message was posted on the 20 Buck Spin site later in the day:

Kylesa Box Sets Gone
December 10, 2009

Unbelievable. You maniacs cleaned us out in 30 minutes!
Now please bear with us as we sort through this madness.
Thanks to all who ordered for your support of Kylesa and 20 Buck Spin.

This Week In Music Geek

Umlaut's beloved Acid King just completed a highly successful European Tour... and to celebrate the 10th (!) Anniversary of their seminal album Busse Woods, Kreation Records has issued this beautiful 12" picture disc:

LIMITED EDITION OF 500
Tracks:

Electric Machine
Silent Circle
Drive Fast, Take Chances
39 Lashes
Carve The 5
Busse Woods

Click HERE to order your copy directly from the band. DO IT.. NOW.

"Head down to the woodside,
With your knife and your mind,
Look right down at the table,
Carve the 5..."

Swap

Here in the 21st Century, it's hard to remember how much work and toil it required to be a Music Geek before you could find everything you wanted on the Information Superhighway... Remember driving or taking public transit for hours simply to visit a record store? Me too. Remember going through all of the dealer ads in every issue of Goldmine in hopes of finding that elusive import-only promo 7" single? Me too. Remember calling the dealers in those ads to make sure they still had that elusive import-only promo 7" single? Me too. Remember having to visit a post office to get a postal money order to pay for that elusive import-only promo 7" single?? Me too. Remember attending local collector shows and record swaps and spending all day going through dozens of bins and boxes at dozens of dealer tables? Me too. How old are you really?

For Umlaut, the big Music Geek events back in The Day were the college radio records swaps at the University of San Francisco (KUSF) and Foothill College (KFJC), and the huge collectors show that happened twice a year at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. Sadly the KFJC now happens infrequently (if at all?) and the San Mateo event is long gone. However, it's nice to know that the KUSF Rock 'n' Swap is still held 4x a year.

I hadn't been to the KUSF swap in years and years... and upon entering I was struck by a slight wave of nostalgia seeing all of the dealer tables. Despite the amazing weather outside, the swap seemed well attended by both dealers and Music Geeks alike.

The Rock 'n' Swap is good mainly for those folks looking for vintage vinyl and dodgy concert bootlegs; some of the dealers have probably been lugging their crates of records around for decades. It's Old School and not the best place to go if you're looking for anything released after, like, 1993.

It's always fun rifling through bins of albums and 7" singles, and it's weird how second nature it is for me to pull a record out of its sleeve, hold it with my fingertips and flip it over, all the while holding it at an angle in the light to check how clean the record looks. If only this skill could be used for a practical career here in the 21st Century.

On the flip side (pun intended), some aspects of an Old School event like this wears thin for Umlaut here in the 21st Century... Such as $30 for an "original pressing" of Slayer's debut album? Really?? 30 bucks? No non-CD tracks... No special packaging (gatefold sleeve, bonus 7" single, insert poster, etc..)... No special vinyl coloring... 30 bucks? Really??

Anyway, I spent 6 bucks on two items:

• The Clash - 'English Civil War' b/w 'Pressure Drop 7" single (CBS 7082 - 1978) for 2 bucks...
• Iron Maiden - 'Aces High' b/w 'King Of Twilight' and 'The Number Of The Beast' (Live Version) 12" single (EMI - 1984) for 4 bucks.
  

Yeah, I know.. the purchases were pretty old fart boring.. but it was that kind of event, dude. Umlaut now owns all of the original formats of the 'Aces High' vinyl single (7", 12", picture disc); it's something I had never planned to accomplish, it just happened, man. If only this accomplishment could be used for a practical career here in the 21st Century.

My purchases seemed even more old fart boring after Umlaut friend Ray scored a copy of 7 Seconds - Praise on vinyl (never reissued on CD). Nicely done, my brother.

Umlaut saw a couple of old friends / familiar faces... and it was cool to see a good number of young Music Geeks amongst all the old timers... I smiled when a youngster standing next to me at a dealer table pulled out an album and excitedly said to the dealer "I've NEVER seen this Blue Öyster Cult album before!!!"

Unfortunately, the kid was excited about the shite Club Ninja album... but at least he was trying. An "A" for effort kid, just keep studying and you'll be alright.

Umlaut tends to be dogmatic in his opinion that the Old School ways are über alles... but then the Information Superhighway gives him things with just a couple of mouse clicks... like 'Fuck The Mummies', the unreleased album The Mummies recorded for Crypt Records back in 1991 that I illegally downloaded this morning.

I guess, with that reality check in mind, Umlaut is simply thankful that he can travel in both the Old School world and the New World here in the 21st Century.

Hope I die before I get old.

Castle Keeper

Not long ago, Umlaut was going through his old albums (Note for the kids: I'm referring to VINYL... not CDs... and I wasn't scrolling through my iTunes playlist..) and in the course of my vinyl flipping, I came across an album I'd forgotten about:

Castle Donnington - Monsters Of Rock
Various Artists
Polydor Records (PD 1-6311 - 1980)



To use that Music Geek cliché: This album changed my life.

In 1981 I was just becoming aware of a whole world of Hard Rock bands that were not being played on the local FM Rock radio stations. The majority of these bands were from Europe and I had started reading about them in imported music magazines that the local Tower Records would get from England. One afternoon I rode my bike to the local Record Factory for my weekly visit.

(Note for the kids: In those pre-Internet days you had to physically visit what were called "record stores" to see what new "albums" had been released.. Yes, it required a lot of work to be a Music Geek in those ancient times.)

On that fateful day, the Castle Donnington album caught my eye in the racks; it featured recordings from a huge August 1980 outdoor concert in England. A couple of the bands featured were ones I'd either read about or who I'd recently heard for the first time. The track listing of the album ran like this:

Side 1:
Stargazer - Rainbow
Loving You Sunday Morning - Scorpions
Another Piece Of Meat - Scorpions
Backs To The Wall - Saxon

Side 2:
All Night Long - Rainbow
I Like To Rock - April Wine
Don't Ya Know What Love Is? - Touch
Road Racin' - Riot

Saxon was one of those bands that I'd read about in the English magazines.. Rainbow and the Scorpions had some radio airplay, but this was still a good year or more before the Scorps broke big in the U.S... and I had seen April Wine at the San Jose Civic on The Nature Of The Beast Tour ('Sign Of The Gypsy Queen'..). I would soon become acquainted with Riot from listening to their track (which was followed by the release in '81 of their classic album Fire Down Under..)... and I had no clue who Touch were and I still don't! Once I got the album home, I played air guitar quite heavily to it over the next several weeks, especially to the Scorpions and Saxon tracks.

However, I was more intrigued by the album cover than the music... I couldn't stop staring at the aerial shots of the concert site on the album's cover. Holy shit!! Look at the size of that crowd! Where the hell is that place?!

At that time I'd been to around 5 or 6 concerts in my short life (Blue Öyster Cult, Cheap Trick, The Who, Van Halen..) but the concert on the cover looked like nothing I'd experienced. I had been to a couple of Day On The Green festivals within the confines of Oakland Stadium, but the concert on the album looked like it was in the middle of nowhere! It looked like Woodstock, but it wasn't a fucking Hippie concert!

The album's cover got my imagination spinning: What had it been like to BE in that huge, sprawling crowd? How did people GET to that concert?? What was ENGLAND like?? Will I ever VISIT England?? THAT many people KNOW about these bands?? The picture on the back cover showing a British Bobby directing concert traffic on a English country road only added to the foreign intrigue of the album for me.

The Castle Donnington album changed my life because it helped me realize there was a whole other world of bands and other fans far away from my bedroom in the S.F. Bay Area suburbs... It made me want to find out and explore this other world of loud music... to hear those loud foreign bands... to visit those foreign lands... to meet those foreign people who also liked loud music.. and eventually I did all of those things. It set into motion my attitude about music in general; while this space tends to rant about Hard Rock / Metal, you might be surprised by the reality of Umlaut's music collection here in the 21st Century. For those who give a shit, I'm listening to that last CD by The Kills as I type this...



Anyway, I later learned that Judas Priest had also played that 1980 Castle Donington concert but had not been included on the album; BUMMER. A year or so after buying the Donnington album, a penpal in England traded me his copy of the concert's program (I think I sent him a Van Halen tour program in return), so I was able to experience the event vicariously via the merchandise. Better late than never!

As far as I know the Castle Donnington album hasn't been reissued on CD... but I could be wrong. However, Saxon's complete performance from that day was issued on CD in 1997.

Click HERE for some eyewitness accounts of Castle Donington 1980... and if I'd seen this footage back in 1980 my teenage brain might have exploded along with Ritchie Blackmore's amp...

Rainbow > Ritchie Blackmore > Smashed Strat > Exploding Amp > Fireworks
Castle Donington 1980

After all these years, I JUST noticed that they misspelled Castle Donington on the album cover! Funny...

This Week In Music Geek

As I've stated in this space before, Umlaut loves 7" singles... Loves... them. This week a package arrived from across The Pond for me (!). What could it be!? Why.. It was the new release by Regal Recordings:

Paul Weller (The Jam) and Graham Coxon (Blur)
'This Old Town' b/w 'Each New Morning' and 'Black River'
Limited Edition of 5,000 copies

For the newbies, Regal Recordings has a history that's spanned 93 years:

Regal Recordings was founded in May 1914 and was soon releasing records with brilliant titles like 'Come On Baby, Fox Trot' and 'The Elephants Marched Around March'. EMI took over the label in 1932 and merged it with Zonophone records a year later. Regal Zonophone became home to acts including George Formby and The Salvation Army.

In 1967, two of pop's hottest producers - Denny Cordell and Tony Visconti - signed to Regal Zonophone, bringing with them acts like The Move and Procol Harum and, later, Joe Cocker and Tyrannosaurus Rex. However, when the production deals ended in the early 70s, the label folded.

In 1995, Parlophone revived Regal, establishing it as a magnet for new, innovative talent, including The Beta Band, and now, LILY ALLEN and BABYSHAMBLES.

I must say that this is one of the most amazing 7" singles I've ever seen.. Not because of the packaging (no picture sleeve), but because of the record itself. It's a 7" single mastered at 45rpm on the A-Side and 33 1/3rpm on the B-Side (to accomodate 2 songs) and it's probably the thickest single I've ever held in my geek hands! I swear it's like holding a plate. Amazingly old school... and the level of quality extends to the 4mil thick mylar archival quality protective sleeve (embossed with the Regal logo) that protects the 7" and its paper sleeve.

Music Geeks have orgasms over this kinda shit.

It's a piece of art.. Pop Culture art, yes... but art nonetheless.. and something that was created without a shred of cynicism about music or the music business. This 7" is something pure.. Cue The Who song 'Pure And Easy', dude.

What's that? Oh.. what about the music?... Right.. The songs are fookin' gleat! How could they not be, considering that two BritPop legends are involved. What's that? Uhh... no... I didn't play the 7" to hear the songs (ARE YOU MAD!??)!

While the 7" is limited to 5,000 copies, Regal offers the songs as digital downloads for the 21st Century kidz who have no sense of history or tradition.. and who are just plain fookin' boring... OR who don't want to ruin the mint condition of their limited edition 7" single (only 5,000 copies pressed... EVER!) mastered at 45rpm on one side and 33 1/3rpm on the flip side and housed in a nice paper sleeve and protected by a 4mil thick mylar archival quality protective sleeve (embossed with the Regal logo).

Kidz these days don't even fucking know...

===
Later that same night:

Steven B. wrote:
Unless you have one for me too I cannot bear to read this... :(

Umlaut wrote:
Sorry, dude....

Steven B. wrote:
no worries - I am ordering it on ebay as we speak!

Umlaut wrote:
Of course you are... HA!

This Week In Music Geek

Umlaut loves 7" singles. Loves. Them.

Recently, the hot shit new English punk band Gallows unleashed their new single 'Abandon Ship' in 3 different versions: CD single, black vinyl 7" single (B-Side = a cover of Black Flag's 'Nervous Breakdown'), AND a one-sided 7" single with one side etched.

Ohmigod, the one-sided 7" single with the etching is one of the most beautiful Music Geek things I've ever seen:



Is it possible for a man to love a 7" inch piece of vinyl from England? Yes. Yes it is.

This Week In Music Geek: The Fratellis

Yes, a skeleton in Umlaut's closet is that I can be freakishly obsessive over fag BritPop bands... The latest: Scottish sensations The Fratellis. The lads have fun edgy lyrics and, in a nice Music Geek move, have released a trio of saucy limited edition shaped 7" vinyl picture discs since the release of their debut album:

Music Geeks love this kinda shit... and for the record (pun intended) I really do think The Fratellis are the best thing since The Libertines... Although when I recently asked someone if they liked The Fratellis the response I got was "They're too happy and Scottish for me..."

Anyway, all of my Old Metal friends can now call me a fag, but I know that deep down you still like me.

This Week In Music Geek

In recent weeks Umlaut has been on one of his 7" single binges... Music Geeks know what I'm talkin' about. Anywho, here are the results:

Black Sabbath - Turn Up The Night (Phonogram 1981)
Picture disc

Grinderman - Get It On (Mute 2007)
Numbered #236 / 1000

Grinderman - No Pussy Blues (Mute 2007)
Numbered #128 / 2500 with poster

Krokus - American Woman (Arista 1982)
B-side = Long Stick Goes Boom

Lords Of The New Church - When The Blood Runs Cold (I.R.S. 1985)
European Tour single

UFO - Doctor Doctor (Crysalis 1979)
Clear vinyl + live shot with Schenker

Besides all that vinyl geekdom, a new song by Heaven And Hell titled 'The Devil Cried' has been posted 21st Century style HERE. I guarantee you this will be the only song released on a major label this year that begins with the line "One fine day in Hell..." DIO!

On a final note, this pic of horrible MTV mallrat favorites Fall Out Boy is in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly wherein the guitarist is wearing..... a Carcass - Heartwork shirt???


For the newbies, Heartwork has just about the most perfect guitar tone of any Metal album in the history of mankind... Was that a bit too fanboy? Anyway, how this influences a crap emo band like Fall Out Boy is something my tiny mind can't comprehend.

"Vocabulary of muted diction, precise thought to miscomprehend..."

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

The 3 Wise 7" Christmas Singles
(From the Umlaut Archives)

The Greedies - 'A Merry Jingle'
(Vertigo Records - 1979)
Members of Thin Lizzy and the Sex Pistols

Redd Kross - 'Super Sunny Christmas'
(Insipid Records - 1991)
Sophia Coppola on the back cover...

Spinal Tap - 'Christmas With The Devil'
(Enigma Records - 1984)

'Tis the season...

The Kinks - Live in London - Christmas 1977

Bonus 7" Stocking Stuffer from the Umlaut Archives:

T.Rex - 'Christmas Bop'
(Marc Bolan Fan Club Single - 1982)

Happy Birthday to you.. You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too..!

SHAPES!

From the Umlaut Archives: The 1983 Iron Maiden shaped picture disc for "The Trooper" (EMI Records EMIP5397).


If anyone ever comes across The Pogues shaped picture disc for "A Pair Of Brown Eyes" please contact Umlaut. It's my Holy Grail. The disc is shaped like Ireland!

Picture Discs Rule.. Of course, you NEVER NEVER play them! NEVER.

The Geeks shall inherit The Earth.

"The bugle sounds and the charge begins, but on this battlefield no one wins..."