Category: Reviews – Classics

The Dils – Live! [Reissue] LP + CD

The Dils Live! [Reissue] LP+CD (Porterhouse Records) While plenty of punk bands have been well exposed since the public became interested in learning about the early days of the L.A. punk scene (X’s catalogue has been reissued by Fat Possum Records, Porterhouse reissued (MIA) by The Germs and other labels have reissued titles by The…

August 21, 2022
Jane’s Addiction – “Stop!”/”Three Days” and “Been Caught Stealing” 12” singles

Now thirty years and several significant cultural movements later, it’s difficult to get a sense of how much excitement and promise there was surrounding Jane’s Addiction at the height of the band’s fame. Simply said, the band represented a way to transition from the staid, well-established values and forms evident in classic rock to the…

March 28, 2022
Richard Hell and the Voidoids – Blank Generation [reissue] LP

Richard Hell and the Voidoids Blank Generation (Record Store Day 2017 40th Anniversary reissue) (Sire/Warner Brothers) Not so very long ago, I was muddling through the stacks at my favorite record store when the sight of something surprising gave me pause. There, on a reasonably cool spring day, I found a copy of the Record…

February 23, 2022
The Lorrainas – Party ‘Til It’s Dark [Reissue] LP

The Lorrainas Party ‘Til It’s Dark LP (Reissue) (Surfin’ Ki’ Records/Mom’s Basement Records) Sure, this vinyl reissue of Party ‘Til It’s Dark – The Lorrainas’ first and only full-length studio album – may seek to re-introduce material which is now seventeen years old, but anyone who hears it will excitedly admit that the music sounds…

February 16, 2022
The Vapids – Charm School Dropouts [Reissue] LP

The Vapids Charm School Dropouts LP (reissue) (Surfin’ Ki’ Records) For almost three decades now, The Vapids have been one of the hardest working bands in Canada. Since the day they started in 1993, The Vapids have never stopped working; the band has toured regularly as well as doing one-off shows from their home base…

February 16, 2022
Neil Young – Young Shakespeare LP

Neil Young Young Shakespeare LP (Reprise Records/Warner Brothers) One of the more interesting things that has happened since the CoVid pandemic basically put the entire North American live music schedule up on blocks for a while has been the outflow of live releases which have appeared – a cultural moment at which Neil Young has…

September 25, 2021
Infinite X’s – S/T (Standard Edition black vinyl reissue) LP

Infinite X’s s/t (Standard Edition black vinyl reissue) LP (Jealous Butcher/Chainsaw) After Longstocking met its end in 1997, singer/guitarist Tamala Poljak was clearly still riding some residual inspiration when they began assembling the music which would become Infinite X’s’ debut album. When the time finally came to start recording, the group of players assembled to…

July 30, 2021
The Avalanches – Since I Left You (4LP Deluxe reissue)

The Avalanches Since I Left You 4LP (20th Anniversary reissue) (Astralwerks/Universal Music) While I have serious reservations about a reissue which features enough remixes to occupy half of the medium into which the title is pressed (the 4LP reissue of Since I Left You presents the album pressed into two LPs, and features enough remixes…

July 30, 2021
Longstocking – Once Upon A Time Called Now LP

Some events simply defy the laws of probability – and that Longstocking never got a fraction of the attention the band deserved is definitely one of them. Seriously – how did the band get overlooked as much as it did? They were in the right place (in Los Angeles) at the right time (from 1995…

July 15, 2021
Tom Petty – Wildflowers & All The Rest 3LP

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Wildflowers & All The Rest 3LP reissue by Tom Petty. Author Rae Carson once wrote that, “Some people, the best ones, are motivated more by the chance to prove themselves than by a command to serve. It is the work itself that calls them onward, especially…

May 11, 2021