Monday, November 10, 2008

R&S Records

Label of the month: R&S Records

After a string of seminal releases in the late '80s and early '90s, R&S Records slowly slid into obscurity. But now, the imprint is back and better than ever, with releases celebrating its past and looking firmly into the future. RA's David Stubbs investigates...

"James Brown," Henry Rollins once spat contemptuously, "could never have come from Belgium!" And yet, this unassuming lowlands country, victim of the truism that you'd be hard pressed to find ten famous people who came from the place, has played a key role in the development and delivery of dance music, especially as the '80s turned into the '90s. Groups like Underground Resistance acknowledged as much when they cut their "Belgian Resistance" single, while in 1991, Joey Beltram remarked in an interview, "The Belgians were the first people who could relate to me. Belgium was very, very advanced."

So much so that Renaat Vandepapeliere founded the Belgian R&S dance label back in 1984, the name deriving from the initials of his own name and that of his partner, Sabine Maes. Vandepapeliere had worked as a DJ, playing soul, jazz fusion and funk as well as electronic, but had become frustrated with the way that American imports were treated when they reached Belgium. "Working in a music shop and seeing what happened when imports came in, there was a very bad habit in Belgium, when an import became very big in the clubs, someone would go to the studio and make an imitation of it, a copy, which was cheaper but also rubbish. I always had a difficulty with that. So that's why we started—so that we could license the original stuff."

Initially going under the name Milos Music Belgium, the couple released a single vinyl 12-inch by forgotten Belgian duo Big Tony. As the '80s wore on, however, Belgium was attracting international attention for homegrown movements such as New Beat (big, electro-brutalist floorstompers fronted by the likes of The Lords Of Acid and Jade 4U), as well as the more visually arresting likes of Front 242, whose sample-heavy "electronic body music" flirted dangerously with terrorist chic and geopolitics on tracks like "Funk Ghadaffi."

A bluffer's guide to R&S

Aphex Twin - Analogue Bubblebath
Along with "Didgeridoo," here was where Richard James, AKA Aphex Twin, announced himself to the world, taking the post-acid scene to a darker, more fertile place with this sombrely anthemic classic.

Second Phase - Mentasm
The temporary AKA of Joey Beltram, Second Phase and "Mentasm" was a pivotal '90s release, a perverse, pitch-black variant on acid with a rogue strain of Black Sabbath-style heaviness whizzing round its circuitry.

Human Resource - Dominator
"I wanna kiss myself!" snarls the rapper with meta-narcissistic robo-insistency on this sternly hedonistic Eurodisco milestone, the mutant "Mentasmic" riff erasing like windscreen wipers on full power throughout.

Jam & Spoon - Stella
First released in 1992, "Stella" opened up a skylight for those who found the R&S oeuvre stifling at times. It's a mellow-cholic masterpiece, all galloping keyboards and a respirating synth pulse which anticipates everything from LTJ Bukem to the lush, minimal techno of Kompakt.

Radio Slave - Eyes Wide Open/Incognito
R&S come right up to speed with this storming release from the much-respected Matt Edwards, AKA Radio Slave, two minimal, bass and percussion-led dancefloor-to-air odysseys which easily evoke R&S's best traditions: Pleasure and discipline."It was quite radical and paved the way for what we know as techno-house," says Vandepapeliere of those times. "The whole Belgian scene opened doors for the entire world. Of course, tracks were made all over the world, Belgium was not exclusive, but the audiences here were really open to electronic music very early on. They are very open-minded, still today. That's why it was a special place at that time, especially in clubs like Boccaccio, in my home town of Ghent. When people opened up similar clubs in other countries you really felt that this new music was going to unite us all."

Despite the fact that Renaat himself was never personally that interested in the likes of Front 242, the group helped establish Belgium as an unlikely fulcrum of new electronic music. In 1981, Marvin Gaye had taken a lengthy sabbatical in Ostend, prior to recording his album Midnight Love. By the late '80s, it seemed less far-fetched for Derrick May to be flown over by Renaat from Detroit to Belgium instead. But this was prior to the era of DJ culture, the rise of which personally dismayed the label owner.

"For artists like Derrick, their dream back then was making records. When the DJ became the star, to me that's when things went all wrong. When they were earning thousands of pounds, playing just the music that the public wanted in short sets—I thought it was better when they made records which came from the heart."

While Vandepapeliere certainly harboured some utopian ideas about dance music, in those initial, post-rave years, the music was becoming darker, and heavier, with a sense of heaving claustrophobia characterising clubs like Boccaccio. By 1991, this was reflected in the In Order to Dance series inaugurated by R&S, which collected together the various singles they issued. These included early works by Moby, Model 500, but also Joey Beltram, whose "Energy Flash" and "Mentasm" (released under the name Second Phase) helped define a grimly hedonistic shift in dance, in which the music became hurts-so-good, hard work full of punishing dirges typified by murky bass and neon throbbing.

"The year after we released 'Mentasm,' two years after, every record that came out sounded like 'Mentasm,'" recalls Vandepapeliere. "It was a compliment, in a way, for Joey, for the label, but it was also annoying. That was the mentality of commercial labels, though—copying, not creating."

He also introduced the world to The Aphex Twin, whose "Didgeridoo," based around a single note on the traditional antipodean instrument showed that it was possible to dispense with a tune altogether and have a huge hit. "He came up with something original there, for sure," says Vandepapeliere. "I always say, no one ever came close to Richard (James), no one. Many tried, no one came close. He is unique."

With cuts by CJ Bolland, Human Resource and Golden Girls' "Kinetic," gloriously remixed by Orbital, DJ Hell and Jaydee, R&S appeared to set the tone of the 1991 dance scene, the music matching the intensity and high temperatures physically experienced on the European dancefloors at the time. "The main club was Omen in Frankfurt, which I went to every week, then spread to Holland. Talk about claustrophobia. Christ! It was very intense and very real in a way I don't see today." Elsewhere, dance music was being reduced to a very very macho, 'ardkore. And yet, despite having been regarded as a champion of that sort of music, Vandepapeliere never really cared for it. "If you listen back to the records we made back then, it wasn't just noise for the sake of noise. Those were always funky records," he protests.

"I never was into the idea that 'electronic music = no emotion.' Personally, I need some soul, or funk, or a little melody mixed in. Some emotion. Otherwise it does nothing for me. My philosophy has been, always put out records that women would dance to. Make records for women. If the women dance, so will the men."

A history of the R&S logo:


Vandepapeliere was also aware of, among other things, the new ambient wave and to that end he signed the likes of Future Sound Of London and Jam & Spoon, as well as inaugurating the Apollo label for chill-out releases. "This was a side I wanted to give to R&S, to open up the idea of what we were about, that we were open to anything." Other subsidiary labels included Diatomyc (acid) and Global Cuts (house) which reflected the diverse strands of '90s dance music.

One of R&S's crowning moments came in 1994 when Vandepapeliere inugurated Radio Republica, a pirate radio station hosted by techno pioneers such as Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. "I went to National Radio and told them, I had all these guys, Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May, they were always around, 24 hours, all round my house. I said to the radio director, why not have them come in, late at night, maybe, and broadcast? But he said no, nobody's interested. And so I rented my own satellite and said 'Let's go.' Now, today, they have a regular station full of all the leftfield DJs who were considered outlaws back then."

Come the late '90s, though, despite key releases by the likes of Dave Angel and Ken Ishii which kept the Detroit-via-Belgium flag fluttering, things weren't going so well for R&S and Vandepapeliere himself was becoming disaffected with a music industry with whom he was now forced to go into joint business: "I went into commercial ventures with major labels. But they were obsessed with financial plans and projections and always the question, 'Where is the next hit?' This was never what we were about." The growth of DJ culture further soured Vandepapeliere's relationship with the dance music world. "The whole scene gets monopolised by certain sounds and DJs who are already popular and that leaves very little room for new talent to get in. That's OK, but there need to be platforms for new talent."

Eventually, Vandepapeliere took a lengthy sabbatical, during which time he opened a stud farm for breeding horses for jumping events and dressage. However, in 2006, nostrils freshened by a prolonged exposure to nature, he decided the time was right to relaunch R&S: "First, having been away from the scene, no longer in the middle of it, I had the objective perspective of an outsider. Second, my lawyer agreed to take over the business side of things—he said, 'Relax, take care of your horses, I'll see to that.' Also, I have a new A&R guy called Dan Foat, he came in, I said to him, 'Don't sleep, go out every night, see what you find.' And he's been great."

At 29, Foat is only old enough to have experienced R&S's first great wave of activity via mixtapes made by his older brother. However, he senses that with a recession looming, the energies of the very early '90s, another era of economic downturn, are coming back to roost once more. "Dance music comes in cycles," he says. "Other youth cultures come and go, but this one is still here. And it's times like these when shit usually happens—acid, punk, whatever. It's people putting two fingers up to the world."

Foat is looking to take R&S out of its underground comfort zone, matching producers with vocalists, not concentrating solely on techno and looking to sign bands like Manchester's Delphic Project—"four guys doing dance music but in the bigger scheme of things." Vandepapeliere confirms that future R&S releases, however diverse, won't be farmed out to subsidiaries, but will remain under the R&S banner to affirm the new eclecticism of the label. "One release might be a dance record, the next a surprise," he says.

Among the first fruits of the new R&S is the superb Radio Slave single "Eyes Wide Open/Incognito," which reminds us that dance music, enabled by 21st technology to discover new intervals in microbeats, is still very much an evolving medium. Vandepapeliere, meanwhile, is still dreaming new electric dreams of his own.

"During my sabbatical, I met this engineer who has this concept of a 'high end party.' We're talking interactive technology, holograms, an audiovisual mix, a new way of experiencing live music for a generation more steeped in technology. It'll cost a fortune and it's not set up yet, but that is my dream. I am serious. It'll be really, really far out. I tell you, if you were to take ecstasy while experiencing this, you would die. It would be too much."


SOURCE: http://www.residentadvisor.net

Vinyl comes around at Twin Ports music businesses

By PETER PASSI, Associated Press


DULUTH, Minn. - Do you miss vinyl records? Are you a young person who is a fan of the old-school technology? In an age of increasing music downloads and shrinking CD sales, at least one old form of recorded music is enjoying a resurgence. We're talking vinyl.

Duluth's Electric Fetus opened a "Vinyl Room" about four years ago, dedicating the lower level of its building to records, both new and used. Justin Kervina, manager of this downstairs operation, said that at first it seemed a precarious endeavor. But for two solid years running, Kervina reports vinyl sales have been growing steadily.

Yet another record shop arrived in the Twin Ports this September with the opening of the Vinyl Cave on Belknap Street in Superior, Wis.

"It's a lot more tooth and nail in the Cities, but I was glad to see another shop open up here," said Kervina, predicting that a growth in the local supply of records will further stimulate the turntable crowd.

National record player sales have been climbing. Through July of this year, 43 percent more new turntables have been sold than during the first seven months of 2007, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. New turntables include USB cables that can plug directly into a computer so you can make digital copies of vinyl albums.

Steve Kidera, the association's communications coordinator, speculated that a large number of secondhand turntables also are being sold, although these transactions aren't tracked.

Tom Unterberger, co-owner of the Vinyl Cave, said it's difficult to pigeonhole today's record buyers.

"We see a real mix of people, from kids who are 16 to 18 years old to people who grew up listening to records," he said. "A lot of people seem to be rediscovering vinyl. They're drawn to the artwork and the packaging. And they're also realizing that records have a warmer sound than CDs."

The Vinyl Cave is jammed with more than 300,000 record titles.

While used records account for the lion's share of vinyl sales, a growing number of contemporary artists now are pressing records in addition to CDs. Recent record-producing ranks include the likes of Wilco, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Metallica, Ray LaMontagne and Death Vessel.

"It's what the cool artists do," Kervina said.

Sales of new vinyl records during the first six months of this year surged 77 percent compared with the same period last year, according to Billboard magazine.

Alan Sparhawk, a founding member of Low, a Duluth band, said he has consistently pushed to prominently release his work on vinyl, as well as CD. Sparhawk said his band sometimes had to fight for a vinyl release of its music in the past, but now it has become much more common.

"There are tons of arguments about the virtues of digital versus analog recordings. But there's something lost in the digital transition of vibrations into a bunch of zeros and ones. It's almost like going from 3-D to 2-D," he said. "If you're really listening in an ideal environment, there's something more human and real about the vibrations from a record."

While used records account for the lion's share of vinyl sales, a growing number of contemporary artists now are pressing records in addition to CDs. Recent record-producing ranks include the likes of Wilco, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Metallica, Ray LaMontagne and Death Vessel.

"It's what the cool artists do," Kervina said.

Sales of new vinyl records during the first six months of this year surged 77 percent compared with the same period last year, according to Billboard magazine.

Alan Sparhawk, a founding member of Low, a Duluth band, said he has consistently pushed to prominently release his work on vinyl, as well as CD. Sparhawk said his band sometimes had to fight for a vinyl release of its music in the past, but now it has become much more common.

"There are tons of arguments about the virtues of digital versus analog recordings. But there's something lost in the digital transition of vibrations into a bunch of zeros and ones. It's almost like going from 3-D to 2-D," he said. "If you're really listening in an ideal environment, there's something more human and real about the vibrations from a record."

SOURCE: http://www.startribune.com

NEW VINYL RELEASES

11/18/08 RELEASE DATE

Ace Hood - DJ Khaled Presents Ace Hood Gutta [2LP]
All Night Drug Prowling Wolves - All Night Drug Prowling Wolves
All The Saints - Fire On Corridor X
Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out (180 Gram Vinyl)
Belle and Sebastian - BBC Sessions [2LP] (Gatefold 180 Gram Vinyl)
Ben Webster - Atmosphere For Lovers And Thieves (180 Gram Vinyl)
BigBang - From Acid to Zen [LP]
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - Going Back To Acoustic (180 Gram Vinyl)
Common Market - Tobacco Road [2LP]
Cyne - Pretty Dark Things [2LP]
De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead [LP] (180 Gram Vinyl)
Dead Can Dance - Garden of Arcade Delights Ep [Deluxe Edition 2LP 180 Gram Vinyl]
Dead To Me - Little Brother (includes digital download)
Drew Andrews - Only Mirrors (
Enforcer - Into The Night [LP]
Final Solution - Brotherman: OST Performed by the Final Solution [LP]
Ida - I Know About You
Ida - Tales Of Brave Ida
Ida - Ten Small Paces
Jimmy Radway & the Fe Me Time All Stars - Dub I
Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid - Nyc
Killers - Day & Age [2 LP] (180g + mp3 download card with photo + poster)
La Dusseldorf - La Dusseldorf [180 Gram Vinyl]
La Dusseldorf - Viva [180 Gram Vinyl]
Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You
Mudvayne - New Game [LP]
Player / Kommander - On The Eve Of Absolute Getdown [LP]
Primus - Sailing The Seas Of Cheese [180 Gram Vinyl]
Scott Walker - Tilt
Son House - Father Of The Delta Blues: Complete 1965 Session [2 LP] (180 Gram Vinyl)
Various Artists - Eccentric Soul: Twinight's Lunar Rotation [4 LP]
Virgins - Miscarriage [LP]
Was (Not Was) - Boo! [LP]
Decemberists - Always The Bridesmaid: A Singles Series Volume II [12'']
DJ LBR ft. Fatman Scoop - One More BREAK b/w Serato Scratch Live digital time coding [PICTURE DISC] [12'']
Killers - Human b/w A Crippling Blow [12'' Picture Disc]
Luca Bacchetti - No Time To Get Back EP [12'']
Asobi Seksu - Me & Mary b/w Breathe Into Gla [7'']
Joan Of Arc - My Summer-Long High Wipeout [7'']
John Barrett - Bass Drum Of Death [7'']
Killers - Human b/w A Crippling Blow [7'' White Vinyl]
Monsieur Jeffrey Evans & The Southern Aces
Sanctified/Spread A Joyful Noise [7''] (Colored Vinyl)
Sad Horse - North Portland Music Series Vol. 2 [7'']

As always, I want to extend a hearty thank you to DJ Spyder for this up-to-date information. Stop by his blog and be enlightened with his great thoughts and stories! http://dj-spyder.blogspot.com

Top Selling Vinyl Records

As always, I want to extend a hearty thank you to DJ Spyder for this up-to-date information. Stop by his blog and be enlightened with his great thoughts and stories! http://dj-spyder.blogspot.com


TOP 25 CURRENT LP'S
for week ending November 7, 2008

Q-Tip - The Renaissance [2LP]
John Legend - Evolver [2 LP] (180 Gram Vinyl with Download Insert)
Streets - Everything Is Borrowed [LP]
Metallica - Death Magnetic [2 LP] (in Stoughton jacket)
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree [LP]
Lady GaGa - The Fame [2LP]
Game - LAX [2 LP]
People Under The Stairs - Fun DMC [2LP]
Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It [LP] (includes download insert)
Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul [2 LP] (180 Gram Vinyl)
Robin Thicke - Something Else [2LP]
Knux - Remind Me In 3 Days [2LP]
T.I. - Paper Trail [2 LP]
Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night [2 LP] (180 Gram includes vinyl-only bonus track)
AC/DC - Black Ice [2LP] (180 Gram Vinyl Gatefold sleeve)
Cassandra Wilson - Loverly [LP]
Roots - Rising Down [2 LP]
Cure - 4:13 Dream [2 LP]
Amy Macdonald - This Is The Life [LP]
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III Volume I [2 LP] (red cover)
Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads - [LP]
Nas - Nas [2 LP]
Various Artists - Verve Remixed 4 [2 LP] (180 Gram Vinyl)
Kardinal Offishall - Not 4 Sale [2LP]
Greyboy - 15 years of West Coast Cool [2LP]


TOP 25 CURRENT REISSUE LP'S

for week ending November 7, 2008
(classics reissued this current year)

Nina Simone - Remixed & Reimagined [LP]
Peter Tosh - Legalize It [LP]
John Coltrane - Blue Train [LP] (120 Gram Vinyl plus CD)
Skatalites - Stretching Out: Volume One [LP]
Coldplay - Viva La Vida [LP] (includes free CD)
Metallica - And Justice For All [2LP]
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage [LP] (120 Gram Vinyl plus CD)
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced? [2 LP] (180 Gram Vinyl)
Lee Morgan - Sidewinder [LP] (120 Gram Vinyl plus CD)
Cannonball Adderley - Somethin Else [LP] (120 Gram Vinyl plus CD)
Art Blakey & Jazz Messengers - Moanin' [LP] (120 Gram Vinyl plus CD)
Michael Jackson - Thriller (25th Anniversary) [2 LP] (Gatefold Sleeve)
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping [LP] (180 Gram Vinyl)
John Lennon - Rock N Roll [LP][4 Color Single Jacket 180 Gram Vinyl]
Michael Jackson - Thriller [LP] [Picture Disc]
Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols [LP] (180 Gram Vinyl)
Paul McCartney & Wings - Band On The Run [LP] (180 Gram Vinyl w/ Download & Poster]
Band - Music From The Big Pink [LP] [4 Color Gatefold Jacket] [180 Gram Vinyl]
Horace Silver Quintet - Song For My Father [LP] (120 Gram Vinyl plus CD)
Sam Cooke - One Night Stand - Live At The Harlem Square Club [LP] 180 Gram
Band - The Band [LP] [4 Color Gatefold Jacket 180 Gram Vinyl]
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold As Love [LP] (180 Gram Vinyl) (Gatefold Jacket and includes booklet)
Verve - Urban Hymns [2LP] [4 Color Single Jacket 180 Gram Vinyl 2 Inner Sleeves w/photos]
Queen - A Day At The Races [LP] (180 Gram Vinyl)
Replacements - Tim [LP] 180 Gram Vinyl


TOP 25 CATALOG LP'S

for week ending November 7, 2008
(in print releases prior to 1/1/08)

Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers [LP]
Mobb Deep - The Infamous [2 LP]
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx [2 LP]
AC/DC - Back In Black [LP] (180 Gram Vinyl)
A Tribe Called Quest - Peoples' Instinctive Travels & The Paths Of Rhythm [2 LP]
Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle (Explicit Version) [2 LP]
Emily Jane White - Dark Undercoat
A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders [LP]
A Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes & Life [2 LP]
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory [2 LP]
KRS-One - Return Of The Boom Bap [2 LP]
Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below [4 LP]
Various Artists - Death Row Greatest Hits (Explicit Version) [2 LP]
Game - Doctors Advocate
Erykah Badu - Worldwide Underground [LP]
Pussycat Dolls - PCD [LP]
Snoop Doggy Dogg - Tha Doggfather (Explicit Version) [LP]
Nas - Illmatic: 10th Anniversary Platinum Edition [2 LP]
Dj Flare - Hee Haw Breaks
KRS-One - I Got Next [2 LP]
Common - Finding Forever [2 LP]
M.I.A. - Arular
KRS-One - KRS-One [2 LP]
Red Hot Chili Peppers - By The Way
A Tribe Called Quest - The Anthology [2 LP]


TOP 25 VINYL SINGLES

for week ending November 7, 2008
(can include 12" and 7" singles - current and catalog)


Jay-Z & T.I. - Swagga Like Us (feat. Kanye West & Lil' Wayne)
Kanye West - Love Lockdown [12'']
Jadakiss - By My Side (feat. Ne-Yo)
M.I.A. - Paper Planes - Homeland Security Remixes
Nelly & Ashanti - Body On Me (ft. Akon)
Nas - Hero (feat. Keri Hilson)
T.I. - Live Your Life (feat. Rihanna)
Ne-Yo - Closer
LL Cool J - Baby (ft. The-Dream) / Rockin' With The G.O.A.T.
Rihanna - Disturbia
India.Arie - The Heart Of The Matter
Mariah Carey - Touch My Body / Remix feat. Rick Ross and The Dream
Brutha - I Cant Hear The Music ft. Fabolous
T.I. - Whatever You Like b/w Swing Ya Rag (feat. Swizz Beatz)
Sterling Simms - All I Need ft. Jadakiss
Lloyd - Touched By An Angel
Electrik Red - Drink In My Cup
Rihanna - Umbrella (feat. Jay - Z)
CSS - Move
Plies - Bust It Baby Part II (feat. Ne-Yo) b/w Who Hotter Than Me
Nelly - Party People (feat. Fergie)
Kevin Rudolf - Let It Rock (feat. Lil Wayne)
Git Fresh - Booty Music
B.O.B - Haterz Everywhere (feat. Wes Fif)/Cloud 9
Ne-Yo - Miss Independent

SOURCE: http://dj-spyder.blogspot.com

Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales

Week Ending 11/08/2008


1) 45rpm - Lester Tipton "This Won't Change" / "Go On " La Beat 17867 - $5,999.99 Start: 5,999.99 Bids: 1

2) LP - Leaf Hound "Growers Of Mushrooms" Decca UK - $3,420.00 Start: $1,500.00 Bids: 11

3) 12" - Led Zeppelin "Road Box" SEALED - $2,918.86 Start: $1.00 Bids: 35

4) 45rpm - Tamala Lewis "You Won't Say Nothing" / "If You Can Stand Me" - $2,810.00 Start: $9.99 Bids: 25

5) 45rpm - Al Williams "I Am Nothing" / "Brand New Love" Palmer 5011 - $2,800.00 Start: $999.00 Bids: 2

For the second time in less than two months Lester Tipton's La Beat 45 comes in at #1, and from the same seller too - one more rare record found in the bottom of a box (they always are) that the seller didn't realize was there (we never do). This one sells for several hundred dollars less than it twin, at just a penny below $6k.

Next, one of the better Psych treasures, Leaf Hound's Growers Of Mushrooms bids up past $3.4k for the #2 spot. At #3 is a unique collection of Led Zeppelin's complete catalog, all on audiophile 12" 45 RPM records. "The Road Box" as its called sells for more than $2.9k.

Two more Northern Soul 45's take the #4 and #5 spots. First, a Tamala Lewis 45 bids up $10 past $2.8k, and next, the better known and previous #1, Al Williams "I Am Nothing" on Palmer sells for exactly $2.8k.

As always, I want to thank Brian over at http://ccdiscoveries.blogspot.com for this great information.

Classic Rock Videos

The Beach Boys - Surfin' USA [Live]

Album Cover Art

We are all the way to #43 on the Gigwise.com top 50 most sexy and dirtiest album covers (as put together by their staff):


43. Queen Adreena: ‘Drink Me’ – (here is what Gigwise had to say) "Katie-Jane Garside is naked in fetal position, not exactly sexy but with the album title of ‘Drink Me’ a different connotation could be suggested for the image. Are we being encouraged to consume Garside in a sexual manner?"

Sophomore album for UK indie rock act formed from the ashes of Daisy Chainsaw. 'Not since Jane's Addiction has a rock band combined such a strong artistic bent with such unpredictability' - Kerrang!. 'With songs that are sharp stabs of guttural punk-devil rock dementia - Queen Adreena's star is emphatically born' NME.