Pardon the delay of like two months on this, but I got drunk and lazy. C'est la vie, correctement? Non? French? bluuuuh...
Aight here it comes...
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I'm not typically a fan of using records as anything else other than for having music on them. Fuck the urbanly outfitted who've put album covers into frames (why cage your gems and make it that much harder to get the discs onto the plate?). Please fire your designer, you bars and nightclubs with vinyl all over your walls (it's all random music the designer found in dollar bins that your clientele aren't going to be interested in anyway). I get it: the aesthetic is "cool"; album art is "cool"; but still...I just fucking hate the reappropriation of something that can still serve its intended purpose.
These jams I've kept for some sort of sentimental value I put on them long ago, which has been lost and forgotten.I probably just attached something to them, but really I was thinking, "Man I'm cool for having these."
I feel like these don't fall into the same category of misusing records as the junk I'd described a few lines upward. These just used records to promote special nights. I remember getting the Halo ones like, "these are way better than any flyer," and it really makes you think that the night is being set up to be something other than just another weekend. These aren't like, "oooOOooh look a record!" These cover up all the labeling and simply promote the nights (I don't know if it was exactly that effective though, because I don't think I even went to either of these events...)
--blah blah blah...I'm bored with talking about why I specifically don't like some things and not other things. (I really prefer just having no sense or bearing to my opinions). Let's talk music!
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Let's start this the way the BeeGees love you: inside out.
I'm not going to explain the Red Bull ThreeStyle competition to you, but that's what this was promoting for, the very first one that was held here in Edmonton. When I had initially posted the photo for this post, it ended up sparking the conversations of how awesome this event was; conversations not only about the night itself, but what a push it gave for the local heroes here.
This piece of vinyl itself, is the best of this episode. A pair of songs by Bobbie Gentry, a singer I'd never heard of in my life until this point.
-Sweet Peony is just a beaut of a song to the point I don't really have a point of reference for. Country? Dolly Parton? It's music like this that makes me feel I need to keep digging more and more to figure it all out.
-Flipped over Hushabye Mountain is an eery track that has that feeling of 70s children's movies that fucked you up and made you never want to sleep. Spine tingly, but good and will make you feel alive.
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I actually have four of these Halo anniversary 45s. So, um...I guess...I'm talking about four records...
-Robbie Nevil - Wot's it to ya. This is a terrible 80s song, that sounds like it's by a fluent American English speaking singer. Wot the fuck is wrong with his spelling? The worst part of this 45 is that the B-side seems to be like an extended version of the song! This was a record rightfully used as a free giveaway because really it's just garbage...that I now consider in my possession...
-Next: more garbage. Greg Kihn Band - The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em) / When the Music Starts. The Breakup Song is that Bryan Adams sounding song that has that "aw uh aw uh uh aw aw aw" hook in it. You know it. You for sure will. And I dare you to not look it up and then have it obnoxiously stuck in your head for a forever. When the Music Starts is when the music should have ended! You see, because this song is terrible. I'm not even going to keep writing about it.
- Kim Carnes Crazy in the Night (Barking at Airplanes) / Oliver (Voice on the Radio). Kim Carnes, that unmistakeable voice behind Bette Davis Eyes. Oliver is a pretty boring typical 80s ballad that I listened to once and didn't try to figure out what it all meant. Crazy though could maybe be pushing for like the number five spot of my top 80s female songs. I may just be going delirious from having gotten out of bed so early today and I'm sure this song would annoy the shit out of me if given 5 more listens. I think I'll stick with Bette Davis Eyes. So, again...I've got some garbage here.
-Finally, the only record out of these four really worth a few listens if it weren't for unfortunate label placing and a crack somewhere in the grooves: Wilson Pickett - Search Your Heart / Hey Jude. Some great old soul right here. Search Your Heart is a big, bad plea for a girl to let him back in. Horns, check. Choir, check. Big ol' voice, check. You can't really go wrong. Then the flip is his cover of Hey Jude. It's motherfucking Hey Jude, ya dink, not that hard to fuck up, and he doesn't, I guess.
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This took a lot of energy and I'm sure you can read me losing my hold over my ADD by the end of it, but fuck [hehehe re:butt fuck] at least it's done.
Thanks for reading, you big dumps. Go do something!
