Vinyl Blotter, Vol. 2

If my luck at record stores is any indication of how my finals go, I'm going to ace the civil procedure exam tomorrow. Another great day of finds at my new favorite record store and subject of the first Vinyl Blotter, Hymie's Vintage Records. Eight records for $18. You can do the math. And it's not like these were the typical ubiquitous records you find in the $2 bin. I didn't buy another copy of Rumors, Born to Run, or The Doobie Brothers' Greatest Hits. I bought these:

1. Sticky Fingers (The Rolling Stones)

Could be the most famous bulge not associated with Al Gore. Yes, this is the famous 1971 album that features a (working) zipper on the Andy Warhol-designed cover. It's kind of weird and I'm a little afraid that it's going to damage my other records (umm, not in the way you're thinking -- but because of the zipper protruding, sicko), but it's an awesome record. With "Brown Sugar," "Wild Horses," and "Bitch," it's another bluesy stab at rock by a great band smack in the middle of my favorite era of theirs. And it was only $2. At Electric Fetus, it would've been at least $12.

2. Rocks (Aerosmith)
Another band with a lead singer best known for his lips and drug use. Another great album from their mid-70's peak. Another steal at $3.

3. & 4. Ram (Paul McCartney) & Band on the Run (Wings)

Is it bad that Paul is my favorite Beatle? Sure, John was more angsty and more "high art" minded and George was more mystical and Ringo was...on Shining Time Station, but has there been anyone more melodic than Macca? I love his bouncy basslines and pop-centric arrangements on these albums. They aren't up to the standards of his other band, but these two albums are right on their heels.

5. Hank Williams' Greatest Hits
For when you're so lonesome you could cry. I take Hank over Dierks Bently, Big & Rich, or almost any other mainstream "country" musician any day. 

6. Endless Summer (The Beach Boys)
Ok, so this isn't Brian Wilson's artistic statement like Pet Sounds or SMILE, but these instantly recognizable summer songs are just what I needed on a drizzly, cool May day. And, at 50 cents, how could you go wrong?

7. The Shirelles
A short (18 min) compilation of this 1960's girl band that will sound great on a lazy August weekend evening.

8. Texas Flood (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
One of the best blues records ever.

The point of this post and this whole Vinyl Blotter series of posts is not to try and convince people that I have "good' taste in music. It's to try and convince people to explore music outside of the mainstream. Sure, all of these bands were or still are "mainstream," but the point is that they're not being force-fed to the public on the iTunes homepage or on KS95. For less than the price of a song, you can find music either forgotten or shoved into some niche (oldies, classic rock, country western) and therefore ignored by most casual music listeners. I write about vinyl so much because it's something I really enjoy doing and sharing. Each time I dig into a dusty crate, it's like an instant history lesson. So this is what people used to listen to. I find myself thinking about who the previous owner was, why they bought the album -- why they decided to sell it. I love new music too, but discovering influences it makes it all the more enjoyable. It's listening to the band Girls and hearing Elvis Costello's exaggerated snarl. Or hearing Dusty Springfield in Cat Power. Or the Shirelles in Beyonce. And while it's easy to fall into a "spot-the-influences" trap, it's also easy to think that the music that comes out today somehow came out of a musical test tube, with no antecedent. Kind of like teaching creationism in schools ;o)