QUARANTINE LISTENING: A VINYL HEAD'S JOURNAL

DJ Shadow Endtroducing..... (1996) Mo Wax/FFRR Dateline: Sunday, April 12, 2020 Record Store Day 2019. I head into Newbury Comics determined to get Baby Huey: The Living Legend. I had it in my heart of hearts the couple of days prior.  It was iron clad, set in stone.  Baby Huey.  Case closed!  I go into Newbury on Kamikaze mode because I know that I will be in and out but... for some reason. Maybe because someone copped it? Or maybe I passed by it? I don’t know?  I couldn't find Baby Huey. What??? I guess it was bound to happen because that's a sought after album.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.  So after trying to MacGuyver a Plan B, I ended up finding my way to the hip hop section, skimming, digging, shimmying and stumbled upon my life on an album cover. Two guys at a record shop digging in the crates.  Ah...just for the album cover alone that was good enough for me.  Now, I heard of DJ Shadow and I also heard dynamite t...

Return To Forever Romantic Warrior (1976) Columbia Records Dateline: Saturday, April 11, 2020 Return To Forever is one of those groups who I would love to have seen live back in the day.  The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report too.  It just feels like magic happens whenever these bands would play.  The unexplained becomes explained.  I can’t forget The Headhunters either with Herbie Hancock. It feels like whenever you catch a Return To Forever show, you better come with it because you're gonna be in for a ride. You get out of breath when the opening drums kicks off.  The pace is like a cheetah in the open land.  The precision is sharp.  The level is high.  It's like drinking five or six Red Bulls.  You have to stay on course or you're gonna get left behind.  It's like the Fusion Frankenstein concocted zoom juice in the lab and seeped it into their instruments.  The monster was unleashed to the audience and ...

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Trout Mask Replica (1969) Straight Records Dateline: Saturday, April 11, 2020 I was introduced to Captain Beefheart by Questlove of The Roots. No, I don’t know Questlove personally but I feel like that we’re spiritual musical brethren. I can go to him and he can hip me up with the most freshest choice selections.   If there was one person that I can count on as far as musical knowledge, it's Questlove. He introduced me to stuff that I never would have thought that I would dig like getting me into Pet Sounds.  Obviously, the name Captain Beefheart caught my attention. He just sounds like a dude that lives on another planet or was mistaken for a pirate.  So, me always looking to quench my musical thirst did a little checking. As it turns out I when I was onWikipedia...I know, it’s not the most reliable of source but I doubt they would butcher someone’s discography.  I stumbled across Trout Mask Repli...

Miles Davis Get Up With It (1974) Columbia Records Dateline: Saturday, April 11, 2020 Someone said on the comments section on YouTube about Miles Davis’ song “Billy Preston” from this album that digging into Miles’ electric output is like discovering a whole genre of music to explore. It’s one of the truest statements said about Miles' electric period. It’s like opening Pandora’s Box, getting sucked into the vortex and not coming back. This album to me is like The Bizarro ride at Six Flags. First you you get ready for the climb up.  Slowly the intensity builds.  The ride keeps rising and you have this feeling of "I don't know what I just signed up for feeling in your stomach."  As you rise to the top.  You wait.  Some people has their eyes open, some of them are closed but you don't know what's going to happen regardless.  The wait is more nerve racking then the ride itself.  Then all of a sudden, you drop deep down into ...