June 2022 Vinyl Spin Challenge - Red (N&G's Version)

12 – Sad Beautiful Tragic A bit of a tough track about isolation, longing, and waiting for something that will never work out.

Play a sad, beautiful, tragic album


Joke’s on me, I had queued up Wildflowers to spin for the other theme because I’ve just never really connected with Tom Petty and…well it fit this time. So let’s go for a frequently spun choice for the other theme.

Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps

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10 – The Last Time – At this point, this was a rarity in the Swift catalog – a true duet. I think it’s her first male-female collaboration on a mainline Swift album (she did have some features elsewhere) and man does it have a lot of Gary Lightbody on it.
Play an album featuring vocalists of at least two genders

The Burning Hell – Baby
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Mathias Kom was touring quite literally full-time when Baby was recorded and released. The Burning Hell had evolved from a solo project to an expanding and collapsing rag tag ramshackle collective of musicians, before settling into a more traditional (but still shifting often) band format in the subsequent years. Mathias remains a brilliant songwriter and I still adore The Burning Hell (I'm excited for their new album to drop in two weeks!). Still, I feel this album may be hard to knock off its pedestal as my favourite Burning Hell album. There are too many particular elements that come together on it that were a product of time, timing and geography which would be un-repeatable if anybody were to try - including delightful duets with Jill Stavely ("The Things That People Make, Part 2") and Jenny Omnichord ("Everything Will Probably Be OK")



 
13 – The Lucky One – Sharing a title with an Allison Krauss song and is one of the rare Swift songs that appears to be about someone that isn’t in her personal circle in some way. For one of my money one of her most interesting tracks for the variance if nothing else. Also, 13 is a big Swiftie "number watch" - she often releases songs, merch, album announcements, etc. on the 13th of the month.
Play an album that had (either for you or others) substantial anticipation prior to its release.

In 1979, high school junior me saw AC/DC on the Highway To Hell Tour with Bon Scott epitomizing everything a rock and roll front man should and could be. He was totally electric. My stub from days of yore before they looked like a computer printout, you printed at home or, worse yet, you showed a code on your phone...

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Shortly after, Bon overestimated his abilities and tragically died.

AC/DC wasted no time in replacing him. In less than a year, a new singer was in place and a fresh record was released. I couldn't believe they'd moved on so fast. And while Back In Black made musical strides, added the great voice of Brian Johnson and eventually became the second best selling album in history, I still missed the personality, voice and swagger Bon brought to the band.

AC/DC - Back In Black

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09 – Stay Stay Stay - Cutesy as heck and definitely a bit of a daydream about one of those ideal relationships, which after like the last eight tracks is a nice change.
Play a palette cleanser (the music you go to when you just need to take away all the emotions of the world)

SADE DIAMOND LIFE (1984 EPIC, first UK press)
Sade's voice envelops space and shields you from everything that's not right in the world.

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13 – The Lucky One – Sharing a title with an Allison Krauss song and is one of the rare Swift songs that appears to be about someone that isn’t in her personal circle in some way. For one of my money one of her most interesting tracks for the variance if nothing else. Also, 13 is a big Swiftie "number watch" - she often releases songs, merch, album announcements, etc. on the 13th of the month.

Play an album by a retired female musician.

I got a cube filling up too quickly and a week off to, among other things, spin some wax. This was one I was looking forward too but it needed a real clean and the right day. I was able to grab a really beat up OG of this one from a thrift bin, and while she definitely has some more prominent releases (Ella and Louis is a frequent flyer here), this is a great Monday morning spin with a large iced coffee.

Plus, I still get a huge hit out of actual 50s pressings. Deceased is de facto retired and she put out enough for numerous careers sooooo

Ella Fitzgerald - Sings the Cole Porter Songbook

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10 – The Last Time – At this point, this was a rarity in the Swift catalog – a true duet. I think it’s her first male-female collaboration on a mainline Swift album (she did have some features elsewhere) and man does it have a lot of Gary Lightbody on it.
Play an album featuring vocalists of at least two genders

The Subways YOUNG FOR ETERNITY
(2005 City Pavement Record Company; 2020 reissue)

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11 – Holy Ground – Time heals all wounds right? This one is about looking through the bad in the past to recognize the good that was and getting a bit of healing from it, so…
Play an album with religious/spiritual themes

MAVIS STAPLES
HAVE A LITTLE FAITH (2004 Alligator Records; 2019 club reissue)

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11 – Holy Ground
Play an album that someone else introduced you to (even if you don’t talk to them anymore)

I've told this story before, but when my youngest daughter started 3rd grade she volunteered to help a new student get familiar with the campus. Those girls are just finishing 9th grade, and have been best friends the whole time. We've gotten really close with the parents as well over a shared love of music. Just went and saw Tori Amos with them on Saturday.

Anyway, they've been helpful in introducing me to songs / albums / bands that I missed out when my kids were younger and I was less music focused. This is one of those albums.

Belle & Sebastian ~ Dear Catastrophe Waitress

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12 – Sad Beautiful Tragic A bit of a tough track about isolation, longing, and waiting for something that will never work out.

Play a sad, beautiful, tragic album

Nothing more tragic than a greek tragedy. And this take is most definitely sad, beautiful, and tragic.

Anais Mitchell ~ Hadestown

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09 – Stay Stay Stay - Cutesy as heck and definitely a bit of a daydream about one of those ideal relationships, which after like the last eight tracks is a nice change.
Play a palette cleanser (the music you go to when you just need to take away all the emotions of the world)

SADE DIAMOND LIFE (1984 EPIC, first UK press)
Sade's voice envelops space and shields you from everything that's not right in the world.

View attachment 142250
@Turbo you definitely are a smooth operator
 
13 – The Lucky One – Sharing a title with an Allison Krauss song and is one of the rare Swift songs that appears to be about someone that isn’t in her personal circle in some way. For one of my money one of her most interesting tracks for the variance if nothing else. Also, 13 is a big Swiftie "number watch" - she often releases songs, merch, album announcements, etc. on the 13th of the month.

Play an album that had (either for you or others) substantial anticipation prior to its release.

Back in the CD-R / Dimeadozen trading days, there were lots of unreleased Neil projects that circulated in various forms. I don't know that a acoustic studio version of Hitchiker (the song) ever surfaced before this being released - although you did have the electric version that was on LeNoise ~ 35 years after he recorded it in '76. So finding out that Neil was going to release this, and other "lost" albums rightfully generated a lot of anticipation.

Neil Young ~ Hitchhiker

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13 – The Lucky One
Play an album that had (either for you or others) substantial anticipation prior to its release.

David Bowie - Blackstar

I drifted away from David for about 10 years, between Reality and Next Day. By the time Next Day came out I was back on the Bowie Bandwagon. When Blackstar was announced there was quite a bit of anticipation. The usual hyperbole of “best since Scary Mounters” and it is definitely in my top 10 Bowie. A copy leaked online about 2-3 weeks before the official release and I must have listened to it 20 times. I got the album on the day of release, and the rest is now history sadly
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13 – The Lucky One – Sharing a title with an Allison Krauss song and is one of the rare Swift songs that appears to be about someone that isn’t in her personal circle in some way. For one of my money one of her most interesting tracks for the variance if nothing else. Also, 13 is a big Swiftie "number watch" - she often releases songs, merch, album announcements, etc. on the 13th of the month.
Play an album by a retired female musician.

John Lennon & Yoko Ono Double Fantasy
(1980 Geffen; 2014 reissue)
Stealing @ranbalam's pick from yesterday's challenge for today's. Yoko Ono has been retired from public life for about 5 years.

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12 – Sad Beautiful Tragic A bit of a tough track about isolation, longing, and waiting for something that will never work out.
Play a sad, beautiful, tragic album

Raphael Saadiq – Jimmy Lee
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Inspired by and named after Saadiq's brother who died of a heroin overdose, Jimmy Lee swerves from the retro soul of his previous albums to explore addiction, stress, family dysfunction, financial burden, mortality and the mass incarceration of young black men and still manages to turn in a beautiful R&B album that continues to reward through many listens. One of my favourite albums of 2019.
 
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