Simply put, one of the finest LP covers ever. Roslav Szaybo; sleeve concept and design, John Brown; photography, Kari-Ann; the lovely model.
This week TVD welcomes a guest DJ for your Weekend Shots: John Foster is a funny guy who writes depressing songs under the guise of his Sad Crocodile moniker. You may also know him from his design work or various books and web columns. 
The late Tower Records' self-published magazine 'Pulse' crossed my mind the other day. If there ever was a publication with less discerning taste, I've yet to see it. Each CD or artist interview was positively fawning. "Well honey, here we are RIGHT in the Tower Records ready to purchase this new Insane Clown Posse CD but Tower themselves says it's a boatload of crap - so why bother?!" That'd be self-defeating, right? So, every review spoke to SOMETHING redeeming for ANY CD, and let's face it, Insane Clown Posse? (Shite.) What 'Pulse' did have as a feature was something called "Desert Island Discs" -- the ten or so LPs or what have you that you'd want to turn your new pal Friday onto while stranded on the aforementioned desert island -- and just listen to forever. And it was a pretty decent monthly feature. You could tell basically who you'd want to immediately hang out with given their taste in music versus the guy you'd wanna whack with a bat. Which brings me to today's selection: "Together Alone" by Crowded House. I'd turn to Friday and he'd be singing "Well, I've been locked out/ I've been locked in..." and we'd laaaaaugh. He makes great Mojitos too, that Friday.
I'd like to postulate that there are some bands who should never enter a studio and simply play live - forever. Like, just never record. Producers most often simply don't know how to harness the energy and power of a killer live act. The results are too clean, glossy, and well, commercial. Case in point (no pun) are The Plimsouls -- a band I first heard live for the most part via a cassette of the LP right up there. "One Night In America" is a much better example of how the band really sounded, with swagger to its rhythms, grit in the vocals, and spectacularly honed and inventive vocals from Peter Case, who also gets some good duel guitar action with Eddie Munoz on every track. Not only doesn't the band sound slick, like their one Geffen album does, it sounds dangerous, in the best rock 'n' roll tradition. 
"Here at TVD, we're all about breaking new bands. So let us introduce you to a wonderful 6-piece combo from NYC who have big things ahead of them..."
Teardrop Explodes - Bouncing Babies (Mp3)
Mark Saxby, Phil Morris and Phil Payne WERE (we think?) Arnold - initially signed to Alan McGee's Creation Records and later on his Poptones imprint. These tracks come from their demos (recorded over 12 days in a medieval barn in Kent) which impressed McGee so much he released them -- as is. Some of these tracks later appeared on Arnold's wonderful debut "Hillside" which was followed by "Bahama" and subsequently a self-titled EP of new (fantastic) material. Then well, Saxby and Payne now record as Little Massive. So, Arnold - where are you? (Yes, we're big fans...)
"Nobody does it better / makes me feel saaad for the rest..."
Five today from the hugely underrated Marshall Crenshaw from his first LP. Always just loved this cover too...
We're delighted to have been invited to contribute to the interesting international collective known as Fun and Heartbreak. Come join us, won't you?
At one point during the past weekend with the house to myself and a cold one in hand, I blasted last Monday's Daily Wax -- the Joe Jackson Band's "Beat Crazy" followed by the reunited band's '03 release "Volume 4." Now, Joe's taken some serious detours between these two 'band' releases...swing, salsa, film scoring and more -- but you wouldn't know it playing these two LP's back to back. There's a continuity of energy, attack and wit like those divergent musical paths of Joe's were never taken. See what I mean:
Ten live tracks to kick off the first Friday of '08...
TVD kicked this off in '07 and it becomes a regular Friday feature for '08 -- Shuffle Bored. The premise is simple -- the iPod's selections have become predictable and boring, so here's my random five for your random five. List, post, link -- whatever -- just hit us with your Friday five...
I'm not sure how many of you who read TVD with any frequency do so for the the music alone or for the vinyl rips to Mp3, but shortly TVD HQ will have a new addition for the latter -- the ION Audio TTUSB10 pictured above. As with most purchases of this sort, research was conducted, options were weighed, and the dice was rolled in favor of the ION model. When the new turntable arrives (mid-January) TVD will delve into the set-up and usability of the product and will follow the progress from box to broadband. Feedback, advice and warnings from current ION owners quite welcome along the way...
