A visitor to the Halls of Rock, Should-be Townsman Chad, sent along the following question through a Townsperson for our independent label honchos and members of bands who’ve self-released records over the years: Where do you store your unsold CDs?
As a follow up, is there a way to gracefully rid one’s storage space of these leftovers?
While away I read in a 2-week old People magazine that was left in our cabin by some previous visitors that a 30-year anniversary edition of Billy Joel‘s The Stranger was recently issued, probably with bonus tracks and other stuff that would make revisiting the original album even more painful. Talk about soundtracks to my high school years! That album covered another annoying undercurrent, and I was reminded of The Stranger‘s prevalence at social functions like school dances, weddings, and – I suspect – Bar Mitzvahs. My prime Bar Mitzvah-attending years (as a peer, that is, not a friend of the parents) predated Joel’s breakthrough album, but I feel safe in suggesting that Billy Joel is the king of Bar Mitzvah Rock. I could be wrong – who’s more deserving of Bar Mitzvah Rock Royalty? What artists or songs make you relive Bar Mitzvahs from your past? (For those of you who’ve not had the honor to attend a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, feel free to substitute another coming of age religious event.)
Clash fans of the world, rejoice! In addition to Wolfgang’s Vault featuring an entire Clash show from 1979 this week, there’s also this to savor:
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You gotta hand it to Chubby Checker. This guy found a niche and worked it all the way to inner Earth.
After a bit of success with this novelty song:
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Title says it all.
I’ll start with Dinosaur Jr.
Thu Jul 31, 7:24 AM ET
LONDON – A British auction house says it will sell a tape recording of The Beatles…
…Cameo Auctioneers says the reel-to-reel tape was recorded in 1964 and was recently found by a man clearing out his father’s attic.
Full story here.
Rock Town Hall has acquired one of the never-before-heard songs from this tape. Clip after the fold.
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This is it. I’ve wondered for years if I could ever pinpoint the exact moment that R.E.M. effectively alienated me (and in turn, gained mass appeal.) And it dawned on me today that this song was it!
This song stands out as a turning point for the band. Metal Circus, Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning all have a very similar sound and sensibility. Fables starts to ankle though. I blame money. All of sudden these guys had the money to get their stuff “properly” produced. It often makes me wonder if they’d had the money would I dislike the earlier stuff?
The sound and sensibility on Fables has an undercurrent that is identifiable with the earlier works but this song in particular does not. It is a foray into uncharted, and unwanted by me, territory.
The precise moment when R.E.M. started sucking is:
Duets with Elmo shortly followed.
