Today's finds

Yardbirds - Little Games (1967)

Killing Joke-s/t (1980)

Linn County-Fever Shot (1969)

I found all of these at the local store, We Buy Music. I was basically just bored today, so I spent a couple hours just browsing the store, and as I was about to leave, the store owner mentioned to me he had this pile of boxes, full of records, that he hadn't yet gone through to put out on the floor. There was a ton of stuff in there I was interested in, but I found this Yardbirds record and the first Killing Joke album. The Yardbirds record is ok, it has Jimmy Page on it, so that is what made me purchase it, but there are a number of amazing songs on there mixed with weird and mediocre psychedelic songs. 

I was more excited about finding the Killing Joke album. I have been keeping an eye out for this record ever since I began collecting records. The only reason being is that it has the song "The Wait" that Metallica covered on their $5.98 Garage Days Re-Revisited ep. I have always wanted to find the original vinyl versions of all the songs that Metallica covered on that ep, since it was the first thing I ever heard from Metallica, and also one of the first metal albums I ever heard. The Killing Joke record is only the second one I've managed to get. Having the Misfits Last Caress and Green Hell on vinyl is just too easy (well, at the least the reissues anyways), so I was never that motivated to seek out the other songs by Diamondhead, Holocaust and Budgie, but now that I have the Killing Joke record, I might be more motivated to finish off this search. 

The rest of the Killing Joke record is actually pretty amazing too, its very hard and gritty, mixing post-punk, industrial, and metal, which would probably turn out incredibly shitty if done today, but sounds great when its from 1980. I recently saw that this record was reissued and had been pondering picking it up, but I got lucky today in finding an original EG pressing.

The Linn County record was free, its pretty beat up, and I had no idea who they were, but I was curious in hearing it. It had the look of a late 60s hard rock/heavy blues album, a style of music I really love, so I figured I would take a chance. When the owner told me it was free, I was surprised as hell. Sometimes this guy is pretty weird about pricing, but maybe the terrible economy is hurting him and he needs to encourage more business? The record isn't bad, and I guessed correctly on the style. It sounds a lot like a mediocre version of the first Allman Brothers Band album, but not a bad find for free! 

Christmas Eve playlist

Back to the vinyl! Yesterday my wife and I made a nice dinner to celebrate Christmas Eve. Not that we care so much about the holiday, but it is a great excuse to drink and stuff our faces. Here is what accompanied us throughout the cooking, eating, and cleaning up.

While we were cooking, we were listening to some Madness and Carl Perkins. The Madness record my wife brought to the collection, and the Carl Perkins record I picked up a weeks ago from a flea market my suegra suggested I go to to check out the vinyl they had. Usually when we cook a big meal it takes a long time, but the preparation went pretty quickly and we didn't even finish the Perkins disc.

While we ate dinner, we listen to a couple more mellow albums. I actually just found the Alex Keack record yesterday from Krazy Kat Records for a quarter, and it was the best 25 cents I spent in a long time. I was expecting a surf record, but this is more lounge/exotica along the lines of Esquivel. It was a great surprise from Crown records, which I had blogged about in my first ever post. The Perez Prado disc was probably not the best dinner music, the voodoo suite is great but a little dark and my suegra hated it.

After we finished dinner, we jammed out to a little Yardbirds while doing the dishes. I also just recently picked this disc up at Charlies for a meezly ten bucks, original mono issue and all.

The menu:

-Spinach salad w/feta, olives, and red onions

-Cheese plate with and Irish cheddar, some kind of white cheese from Seattle's Pike Place Market, and smoked mozarella

-Penne pasta with pesto, roasted tomatoes, kalamata olives, and portabella mushrooms

-Veggie casserole with zucchini, mushrooms, onions, green chile, marinara sauce and cheese

-Garlic bread

-Champagne (we didn't want to wait until midnight, so why not for dinner?)

-Dessert: Apple Pie and Chocolate Mousse cake from the local Flying Star cafe.