gullbuy music review

May 18, 1999

Blondie

title

Blondie

label

Chrysalis

format
CD

Their first album from 1977! This record originally came out on the label Private Stock. It has not been available for years in the US (the second record 'Plastic Letters' has not been either), but we now have it courtesy of the "Made in Holland" pressing. As far as I'm concerned the first two Blondie records are all you need to own to fully appreciate this band. Both records are great!

---Carl, May 18, 1999

Elf Power

title

Come On

label

Little Army

format
CD

Athens band covering Sonic Youth ("Cotton Crown", from the Sister LP), Flaming Lips ("Felt Good To Burn", from Hit To Death In The Future Head), T-Rex ("Hot Love", which was a 1971 #1 single), Headcoats ("You Make Me Die"), Jesus & Mary Chain ("Upside Down") from their Barbed Wire Kisses LP, Robyn Hitchcock ("Listening To The Higson's") which appears on his 1985 live album Gotta Get This Hen Out, plus a Kincaid remix of one of their own tunes ("Separating Fault" from the When The Red King Comes LP). This CD was a tour-only release intended as a treat for Elf Power's existing fans.

---Carl, May 18, 1999

Ultravox!

title

The Island Years

label

Spectrum

format
CD

This is a compilation of the years that John Foxx fronted Ultravox!, before they dropped the exclamation point from their name and were fronted by the awful (at least to me) Midge Ure. All their best stuff is here, with the strange exception of "Saturday Night in the City of the Dead" & "Wide Boys" from their first record. We still have a scratchy copy of that in our library though, so not all is lost. The best thing about this compilation to me (besides the low price for an import) is the inclusion of "Young Savage", which is a GREAT song that was only out as a 7inch.

---Carl, May 18, 1999

Thievery Corporation

title

'DC 3000' b-w 'Meeting With His Majesty'

label

Eighteenth Street Lounge Music

format
10inch

This 10" has two songs not on the great new remix record by this great Wash DC duo. Both of the songs are really nice. The A-side moves like something from 70's stock music of the type seeing so much reissue these days, and the B-side is a great reggae-ish song that really grabs you and sticks in your head, complete with vocals.

---Carl, May 18, 1999

Seam

title

'Sukiyaki' b-w 'Heroes'

label

Ajax

format
7inch

A cover of the 1963 Kyu Sakamoto hit backed with a cover of the David Bowie/Wallflowers classic. Both these songs may have been on earlier Seam releases somewhere, but we don't have them in our collection, and this a brand new reissue.

---Carl, May 18, 1999

Karl Smith

title

The Sky Is Beginning To Bruise

label

Bad Jazz

format
7inch

Karl Smith (from Australia) now fronts the much tipped acoustic band Sodastream. This 4 song EP is an oddity for the Bad Jazz label, in that it is acoustic guitar/violin/vocal music as opposed to the electronic or spacey music usually presented on the label. The only thing consistent about Bad Jazz releasing this EP is that the music is honest and of high quality.

---Carl, May 18, 1999

Miss Mend

title

Living City Plan

label

Piao!

format
7inch

Joe Dilworth played drums on early Sterolab records such as "Peng!" and the recently reissued "Switched On", which compiles early singles. Miss Mend has a Swedish vocalist (Lisa Rosendahl) and members from all over the world. There are 3 songs on this EP.

---Carl, May 18, 1999

Vyvyan

title

'Going Out' b-w 'Mickey'

label

Abuse

format
7inch

Young all girl quartet from England who do not have an LP yet, but who have several EP's which we have. The B-side of this single is a cover of the Chinn & Chapman penned Toni Basil classic 80's song.

---Carl, May 18, 1999