Pretentious Record Store Blog

From the very moment it starts, It’s a Shame About Ray transfixes and mesmerizes me like maybe no other record before or since. Beautiful and serene while at the same time completely lonely and bittersweet, Evan Dando’s melancholy voice shines through pitch perfectly in his magnum opus. Luckily for all of us mere mortals, Rhino decided to release a deluxe version of this 30 minute marvel of a modern masterpiece with outtakes, b-sides and a full concert DVD as well as a smörgåsbord of liner notes and interview snippets.

She takes me on a rocking stroll
If you won’t wave guess I won’t know
As by I roll I hope you’ll throw a smile at me

At the time of it’s release, the It’s a Shame About Ray was initially overlooked. Although extremely well lauded and well reviewed, especially in Europe and with the British Press, it wasn’t until their throwaway cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” helped break The Lemonheads into the mainstream and into the arms of both MTV and the zeitgeist.

Unfortunately, Dando and company were immediately derided by long time fans for taking a turn from their Bostonian punk roots and into the public spotlight. People should have seen it coming. What was Lovey if not the perfect bridge of a punk past to a perfect pop future? They already had the songs down, they just needed to evolve a little bit, thrown some polish on it and let them shine. It’s A Shame is that resulting shine.

A ship without a rudder is like a ship without a rudder is like a ship without a rudder

With his perfect cheekbones plastered all over seemingly every magazine cover, Evan Dando became an unwitting product that was being force fed to America. Fanzines like Die Evan Dando Die sprung up posting venomous hate towards Evan. The constant scrutiny and negative reaction forced Dando away from the spotlight and helped produce an equally stellar follow up Come on Feel the Lemonheads.

In the mix tape soundtrack of my life, It’s a Shame About Ray is Side A to Come On Feel’s Side B and you can simply rewind the tape and play it again, Sam.

Happy 4-20! To celebrate you should go to a record store. And you shouldn’t go to any old record store, but an independent record store filled with Pretentious Record Store Guys like me. Seriously, why go to a mall and pay $20 to buy from a pimple faced high schooler with a smock when you can go to an indy record store and pick up something for $18 from a 34 year old college dropout.

Yesterday wasn’t just a song by The Beatles, but it was also Record Store Day (4-19). Even though you’re a day late and a dollar short, you should follow the most pretentious of pretentious music magazines guide to celebrating the festivities. So, without further ado, here is Pitchfork’s Guide to Record Store Day.

You have to love Adam Duritz and the Counting Crows. Listening to August and Everything After as well as Recovering the Satellites and you can’t help but feel their pain. A lot of people can sing, but very few people can make you feel when the do it. Duritz and the Crows do both with panache. Their newest disc, Saturday Night and Sundays Mornings is their best album this century and very much follows in the footsteps of the first two. I was excited when I heard the Crows perform on Sirius Radio via the Howard Stern Show. Many bands put out good CDs but then disappoint when you go see them live. The Counting Crows put out really good CDs and then put on an excellent live show. If you haven’t seen them, I encourage you to buy a ticket and take the ride when they come through your town.

How to Write a Counting Crows Song in 5 Steps:
Step One: Pick a Girl: Elizabeth, Maria, Ms. Potter, etc.
Step Two: Pick a City: Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, etc.
Step Three: Add some weather, usually rain.
Step Four: Add a line about the circus
Step Five: Reference Dylan or the Dead

Shake it up, throw in some melody and then you’ll have a Crows song. Of course selling it like Duritz and company do is another thing entirely.

Looking back on all the great music of the 1990s, I’m stunned at how much truly great stuff was put out and also at the amount of crap that was allowed to be produced as well. This isn’t a Best of the 90s list, only my favorite records of the 90s; albums that I keep coming back to time after time because I love them so much. Maybe you like these and maybe you don’t. Either way, this is my list and these are my faves. Enjoy.

Radiohead

The Bends

The Lemonheads

It’s A Shame About Ray

Mother Love Bone

Mother Love Bone

A Tribe Called Quest

Low End Theory

Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

The Verve

Urban Hymns

Guns and Roses

Use Your Illusion 1 & 2

Pavement

Slanted and Enchanted

Pearl Jam

Ten

Superdrag

Regretfully Yours

The Beastie Boys

Ill Communication

Modest Mouse

The Lonesome Crowded West

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Orange

The Lemonheads

Come On Feel The Lemonheads

Notorious B.I.G.

Ready to Die

There are very few comics that serve as a sublime example of what happens when images and words collide on a blank sheet of paper. In that rare instance when that comic comes around you cherish it and hope that it never ends. 100 Bullets is one such comic. Unfortunately, the series has just begun its final arc before the curtain falls and one of Vertigo’s longest running series comes to an end.Brian Azzarello is the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award winning writer of 100 Bullets, which he created with artist Eduardo Risso. 100 Bullets is second only to Hellblazer as the longest-running title from DC’s Vertigo imprint, and Azzarello and Risso’s unbroken run on the title is second only to Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley on Ultimate Spider-Man for the longest consecutive issue streak by a creative team in the last 15 years. Recently, Azzarello launched a new ongoing Vertigo title, Loveless, with artist Marcelo Frusin.

I am a HUGE 100 Bullets fan and was thrilled when I was given the opportunity to interview Brian. In the first part of my expansive interview, Azzarello talks about 100 Bullets, Loveless, the American vs. European comic market, and punching lead singers of rock bands in the face. Check it out on Playback:STL.

Come back next week for the second part of the interview, where Brian talks about the Batman: Gotham Knight DVD (a companion to this summer’s blockbuster Dark Knight film), his superhero work, the long delayed 100 Bullets game, and why Bruce Wayne is the man.

1) The Beatles -Revolver

2) The Beatles -Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

3) The Beatles -The Beatles (White Album)

4) The Beatles -Abbey Road

5) The Beatles -Rubber Soul

The Kinks are the second greatest band ever. They give The Beatles a tight run for the prize of being the best, but ultimately they come in as 1a. Wes Anderson can’t seem to make a movie without featuring at least two of their songs in the film (see Rushmore through Darjeeling).

So if you were a novice and wanted to jump into the Ray and Dave Davies pool of excellence where would you begin? Rolling Stone, still good for the occasional music article and always on point with their political and journalistic endeavors, released this handy, dandy guide to the albums of The Kinks.

Enjoy.

The Kinks: Essential Album by Album Guide

Vinyl is way better than CD.  When you listen to a record it’s warmer and has much more body than a CD, causing it to sound much fuller.  It’s like a nice, fine wine as opposed to a boxed pink wine.

Whether or not you spin the black circle you can at least admit it to yourself, Ted, that MP3s are violent.

But it’s not just MP3s, but CDs that started this trend and the number one reason for this is Steve Jobs.  That’s right, Mr. Digital Music, Appleman himself has led to the decline of music with Apple’s ProTools.

Nick Levine wrote a fantastic piece about it entitled “The Death of High Fidelity”.  Click on the link and get some knowledge for yourself.

As for me, I’m always in the know; I’ve always been an analog baby.

Viva la Vinyl!

Evan Dorkin is pretty much the man. Besides the fact that he is a multiple Eisner and Harvey Award winner, Evan has worked for every major and just about every minor comic publisher, weaving his mainstream work with the Big Three with his own indie comics published through Slave Labor Graphics. Here is a quick run through of his amazing work: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Comic, Milk and Cheese, Dork and World’s Funnest to name just a few.

Honestly, the guy and his wife and partner in crime Sarah Dyer are a one stop shop for comics and animation. Collectively they have written for Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Superman Adventures, Shin-Chan and Yo Gabba Gabba.

I can’t tell you how excited I was to have the opportunity to interview one of my favorite comic writer/artists, not to mention a creator who has had a HUGE influence on my own work.

Check out the interview on Playback:STL.

And for more Evan Dorkin madness, check out his blog, Big Mouth Types Again, as well as his and Sarah’s website, House of Fun.

Enjoy.

1) Nada Surf - Lucky

2) Vampire Weekend - s/t

3) Magnetic Fields - Distortion

4) The Whigs - Mission Control

5) Cat Power - Jukebox