The Best Day Ever (Retrospect)

I used to go to school in South Jersey. Camden, New Jersey, specifically. While going to school in Camden I lived in another city sixty miles away. To make my sojourns to school more enjoyable I would frequent a record store within the general vicinity.

One day while perusing the vinyl section of said record store I stumbled upon the soundtrack to Better Off Dead. I was overwhelmed with happiness. BOD is one of my all time favorite movies. It meant a lot to me when I was approximately 12 and has retained a sacred place within my psyche. My joy was instantly doubled when I saw RIGHT BEHIND the BOD soundtrack...the Revenge of the Nerds soundtrack. What did I do to deserve this windfall?

So aside from nostalgia and wackiness what do these records have to offer the listener? Oh I don't know, how about some of the strangest new wavey songs by sound engineers and people you've never heard of. Flash in the pan is perhaps the term you should use to describe the "artists" on these records. All of the songs are either overly atmospheric OR super triumphant. Had I had these soundtracks on cassette in elementary school my life would have been much, much easier. Now if I can only find the soundtrack to Rad.

Oh Canada

I have a complicated relationship to Canada. I am regularly detained by authorities whenever I fly there. You see, when I was 23 I tried to get into the country, but had recently lost my identification and was questioned and returned to Buffalo, New York. My friends continued on to Toronto and returned around 5:00 AM to pick me up from the middle of downtown Buffalo. This was pre-9/11, post Strange Brew. I slept on the steps of a large public obelisk. It wasn't much fun.

So, I harbor some ill feelings to my northern brothers despite the other nice things they have given me: Rush, Subhumans, Nomeansno, Bossanova (the band, not the style)...umm, whatever other cultural things come from Canada...

So, I have basically forgiven Canada for all of their trespasses against me. I mean I am anglophilic, and Canada definitely helps to fuel that flame. A former English colony, etc., etc. BUT having just finished reading Chester Brown's Louis Riel, A Comic-Strip Biography, I am once again mad at the north. You should read it, it is awesome. Louis Riel was a Metis (mixed blood Native American/French) who fought for the rights of the indigenous peoples of Canada. It was Riel who named Manitoba. He ultimately wanted what Americans want(ed) local representation by their peers. He eventually went sort of crazy and believed himself to be a prophet and wanted to split the Northwestern territory from Canada, but his initial intent was good. The part where he went crazy was (I believe) a response to the adversity he experienced at the hands of the English.

Anyway, this book/comic is pretty great and because it is history it is available in libraries. Chester Brown's drawing style is minimal, stark and sort of abstract (yet realistic?!). Black and white, classy.

Creation vs. Factory

I am, admittedly, a record collector. This collecting generally takes the form of English record labels that have gone out of business, but maintain a “legendary” status and were headed by “personalities.” “Niche coffee table labels” in the parlance of Momus (Click Opera-IMomus). Two examples are Factory Records (1978-1992, boss/personality: Tony Wilson; sadly, Tony Wilson passed away this year) and Creation Records (1983-2000, boss/personality: Alan McGee). Initially, I primarily collected Factory, but since amassing much of the back catalog have moved onto Creation. My collecting (and that of many of my peers) has root in my teen years when I listened to alternative radio in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time the alternative and college airwaves were saturated with Creation (My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Swervedriver and Teenage Fanclub) and Factory (Electronic, Happy Mondays, Joy Division, New Order and Revenge) bands. I had no choice but to like this stuff, really.

In recent years collecting Factory releases has been quite faddish with the rise of modern bands influenced by Joy Division and New Order and the general Factory aesthetic. This collector frenzy was further aided by the release of 24 Hour Party People in 2002. Since that time the general collecting market has cooled with the advent of Freak Folk. Collectors (the generation x variety) have turned their gazes to Buffy Saint-Marie, Roy Harper, Vashti Bunyan and Bert Jansch records and other folk and Americana releases. However, 2007 is set to usher in another phase of popular Factory collecting with the re-release of the Joy Division back catalog and the release of Control (awesome, sad).

One label that doesn’t seem to have the same reputation as Factory, but is still very, very cool is Creation Records. The storied history of Creation is well known (Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, etc.), but the furthest reaches of the catalog are not. Creation collectors are fetishistic, but not with the devotion of Factory collectors. For this reason alone it is easier to collect Creation releases. Second hand Factory releases have become quite expensive despite many of them being amassed onto compilation CDs (see all the anthologies and compilations by the great record label LTM). Some of the Creation bands have had retrospective CDs and double CDs (Revola and Sanctuary) released but generally the original releases are available in affordable second hand shops and mail order distributors.

Some of the differences between the labels:

* Creation lasted longer than Factory meaning that there is more product to collect (This also means that many of the releases are not as good. More doesn’t always mean better. The low quality releases-for both labels-are pretty interesting, though!).

* Creation covered a period of activity necessarily neglected by Factory (but covered by Factory Too): 1992-2000. In a way, Creation filled the void left by Factory, releasing shoe gaze and Britpop records, the next logical step(s) (sometimes contemporaneous, as well) after the Happy Mondays, Madchester and acid house.

* Creation didn’t have the same cataloging system as Factory, meaning that Factory has many cool items (pins, etc.) within the discography that are not actual musical releases. While this makes the Factory catalog quite interesting it means that finding these anomalies are problematic and pricey.

So new collector, before you go crazy and spend all your hard earned dough on Factory singles, consider visiting your local record store or online retailer for some Creation swag. My plan is to slowly review some of the more unique Creation releases. That being said, some of the stuff I care about are pretty well known. Nonetheless…

Jesus and Mary Chain-Upside Down/Vegetable Man 7” (CRE 012)

And with this release JAMC were unleashed upon the world. After this 7” the band were to relocate to a major. However, this slab of sonic pop-noise nihilism set the template by which future generations of music would be judged and the blueprint by which Creation would operate for the next half decade. “Upside Down” has been included on many JAMC comps, so the real catch here is the cover of Syd Barrett’s “Vegetable Man”. The Barrett cover is propulsive and buried under layers and layers of feedback. Wonderful. This record has been repressed many times, but is still hard to find for less than $30.00.

Bobby McFerrin's Spontaneous Invetions

Listen, despite the odvious evil associated with the terrible, terrible song "don't worry, be happy" Bobby McFerrin is actually super rad. Or at least this record is rad. I don't know where this falls within his discography and it would likely deplete my energy and sap my resolve to like this if I were to do any background research. I mean what if this falls after the aforesaid "don't worry, be happy"? Anyway, this record is great. Put it on, take a shower. Flip it over, put on your clothes. Fin. The perfect shower record? You barely even have to listen to the thing...Thats it. It passes the time and you get to hear a guy with a relatively deep voice scatting about who knows what. Here are some facts you need to know about this particular release which I think will bring you over to my way of thinking:

1. he is shirtless and shoeless on the cover...funny stuff
2. Herbie Hancock is on this record (HH wrote Axel F, dude)
3. Bobby covers The Beatles, Joan Armatrading and Richard Carpenter
4. Robin Williams (yes, him) is on this in all his super annoying mid '80's glory
5. I found this on the street...I got it for free...also important

THE CALM 12"

It’s well known that I like shoegaze. While your typical shoegaze band was playing the Byrds with more feedback and through lots of crazy effects Calm plays slowed down hardcore with a smattering of haze. Let me back up. I don’t really know what genre this falls into…maybe spacerock? I don’t really know man. Calm fills the gap from Mohinder to Her Space Holiday, Duster and possible other bands I don’t know about (Cattle Decapitation? Jenny Picollo?). Mohinder ruled, Calm slayed and those other bands I don’t care about. So Calm is the penultimate band by these dudes. The Calm 12” surfaced sometime in the mid 1990s and immediately became one of my favorite records. Thumbnail (from Knoxville, TN) played with Calm a few times in California their roadie (he of Patrick Patrick fame) told me they were dope live, a mixture of Karp and Smashing Pumpkins. Dag…. This 12” is loud and quiet at the same time, as well as, fast and slow. If you turn it up reallllll loud you get the most out of it.

VAN 100-JM Lapham "Lost in Edit Mixes" 7"

Static Caravan (staticcaravan.org) is amongst the best record labels of this here modern age and they have just released a cracker jack of a good seven inch for their one-hundreth release. This release sees JM Lapham from the Earlies de-mixing or re-mixing or saving the unmixed components of two tracks from Static's back catalog to excellent effects. Tunng's "Tale From the Black" (from Van 72) is made more ambient and vocalless. The other track is an electronic track from errr, maybe, Tomcats in Tokyo or Bronnt Industries Kapital or D_Rradio. Maybe Magnetophone? Its reallll familiar, but I can't place it. Anyway, it is rad and sounds like it could be the soundtrack to a documentary about a frog or better yet a toad. One toad. The artwork is hand collaged from past releases (mine is from the Ted & Ray 7") and the vinyl is lathe cut. A class act all the way. The artwork here is from their website and doesn't represent the actual record...