Saturday, January 16, 2016

ABCs of My Vinyl Collection (Letter A, Part 5)

I know this is weird, but whatever format I choose when I buy my first album from a band is usually the format I stick with for future purchases from them. The only explanation I have for this is, perhaps, that I like having all of the band's music in one place, not some with the CDs and some with the vinyl. Unfortunately, back in 2010, I bought the self-titled debut from Allo Darlin' on CD. So, in my house, all three of their albums are on the inferior format. I do, however, have the 'Europe'-era singles on 7", and they are beautiful... great art on heavy stock by guitarist Paul Rains, brilliant pastel-colored vinyl and, most importantly, quality B-sides that weren't available on the 2012 album.

"Golden Age" is the B-side from "Northern Lights," the final single from the album and, in my opinion, the best of the band's non-album tracks. It's sunny, optimistic and chock full of jangle. Truthfully, though, I love every song from the 'Europe' era, and I proclaimed this album the best of 2012. Think I'll put it on right now. I dedicate this one to MisterPrime, a reader that sent me a review of the band's Nottingham stop in the fall of 2014. Hope you're doing well, mate.

"Golden Age"

7 comments:

drew said...

I love Allo Darlin'. Have seen them in very intimate gigs in Glasgow a few times now and for the most they were great only once they were below par to me anyway.

kevinpat said...

I like jangle. I had to go to i-tunes (boooo!) to hear the track. Zippyshare keeps whacking me w/somehting that wants to "fix my mac". I'd like to clean their clocks because it's very difficult to remove the block it puts on. So I'm hesitant to use it. So I listen on i-tunes if it's there. While listening to the 30 second snippet, and granted that's not enough to get the whole flavor, I did get to view a beautiful sleeve illustration. It looked like a Chinese drawing of a man in a boat. Beautiful. Kinda matched the music. Made me think of what a beautiful collection of picture sleeves you must have Brian. Rarities, independent and individual. I've always love the 45 as a medium for music, ( a child of the sixties) but I especially adored the accompanying picture sleeve if I was lucky enough to get one. As a kid I usually had enough changed saved for one or two singles at a clip. At times I would choose the one with the picture sleeve in sacrifice of the record I really wanted. Motown, my favorite sound, rarely had picture sleeves. But I did get a few which I treasure. Sorry I digress…..

Yesterday I checked my vinyl collection which is separated in a few categories. The category closest to where you are drawing from has Adam and the Ants as the first in alphabetical order. Hahahahaha. Kings of the Wild Frontier. I just had to play it. It is something I've been to visit a few times in the past year. It just makes me laugh, cheer and sing along to the whole ridiculousness of it all. Ant music. Hahahaha. Loud, silly but catchy and way fun if one is just looking for sheer entertainment. And I must admit I have a few singles (w/picture sleeves) by Mr. Ant. I LOVE the song "Stand & Deliver"!! With pistol shots and all! As catchy as a flu virus in the walk-in clinic! Just pure silly fun. But that's just me. Happy Sunday y'all!

Brian said...

Hi Drew. Surprisingly, Allo Darlin' have played Seattle in support of all three albums, but they have always played early all-ages shows at a place that is popular with youngsters. I would have been going by myself, and I'm an old guy, and it all just felt creepy. So, I have never seen them.

Kevinpat, Sorry for your zippy problems. Not my favorite delivery system either. It's my third file sharing service since I started this thing, and I have seen complaints from other readers on other blogs too, but I'm not sure where to go next... or if it would actually help. I have Adam & the Ants in my collection too. Now that you've mentioned it, kind of wished I hadn't passed it over, but I'm keeping the letter A to about 7 or 8 posts to keep on schedule. You are so right about picture sleeves, and I hate that Motown and many of my '60s singles don't have them.

TheRobster said...

Re: Zippy - I never have any problems with Zippy loading ads or any such nonsense. Maybe it's because I use AdBlock in my browsers which prevents such things even being seen. I aso never get ads on YouTube which is always a plus.

kevinpat said...

Thanks Brian. Please know I was not complaining about the Zippyshare you use, and I never got whacked from your Zippy shares. And thanks Robster. I had Geek work on my mac & they did. I'm pretty sure they used Ad-block but I'm not all that tech savvy. I'm usually able to get to hear the songs you post if I don't know them already. Thanks guys.

Misterprime said...

Cheers, Brian. Can't complain. I sympathise with your middle-aged dilemma - I was toying with going to see Hinds next month till my fifteen year old daughter informed me that her 'indie' mate would be going! My January recommendation is Pete Astor's new album - it's got a bit of a propulsive late-Velvets chug about it, it's vocally very charming and it's available on beautiful white vinyl...!

Brian said...

MisterPrime, love Spilt Milk. I got a chance to interview Pete Astor a few weeks back. Check it out if you can.