Yeah I stiiill... Smell her on yoooou...
Wow, the wind is really blowing out there and kicking up some serious whitecaps out on the sound (watching the water from the living room).
So, Karen and I do a fair bit of antique shopping. We both love looking at old stuff, and she has such a defined taste (loves chrome, art deco, and simple woodwork and lamps in the arts and crafts style) that half my fun is had in spotting things I know she'll like. Watching her dig through antique malls until her eyes glaze over reminds me of my days on the mean streets of Den-den Town in Osaka, browsing for used games.
One of the ways I keep myself busy is by going through the stacks of old records you inevitably find in these places. I've got a pretty decent vinyl collection and a turntable hooked up to a nice pair of acoustic energy speakers, so, like the used video games it's always fun to keep an eye out for gems. Usually, it's endless mothballed editions of syrupy crooners like Andy Williams, Phoebe Snow, and Crystal Gayle, that you run across, but occasionally these stacks contain plastic sleeved copies of records by the Cure or Thelonius Monk. I mean, who really buys these things anymore, right?
We were in Snohomish yesterday making the rounds of the many antique shops there, when we entered this one in which everything was uniformly collectible and pristine (and viciously overpriced, but hey, it was all great stuff). As Karen was taking a tour, I spotted some records. True to the rest of the store's high quality, I was shocked by what I found here. A lot of early punk, even some seattle grunge bands, good jazz, and everything in plastic sleeves and in near mint condition.
We aren't exactly rolling deep like Scrooge McDuck at the moment, so Karen made me choose one of the five albums I was dying to buy. The choice was obvious. This has got to be one of the top 5 albums I could choose to own in pristine condition on vinyl, and I nabbed it up for $15 tax included! A bit of searching says this 180g British re-pressing uses the original mix the album was recorded under, and should sound better than the CD. Oddly enough, the only copy of Nevermind I ever owned was the casette my parents gave me for Christmas in '91. I listened to that tape until it didn't play right, but never did pick up the CD.
I didn't listen to Nirvana much in the late 90s after gorging myself on them so much in my junior-high and high school years, but sweet lord this album still sounds so good! I am still simply baffled at the turn this band took from producing an album like Bleach (which rocks heavily, don't get me wrong), to this. Minus the two slow songs, which do provide a good change-up pace, and Territorial Pissings, which is more of a three cord speed-freak out (but still lovely), where is the low point on this record? There just isn't one. Some very weird things happened to Nirvana between '88 and '90. Kurt's talents as a songwriter blossomed but also became incredibly efficient and focused. The addition of Dave Grohl's drums and unique backing vocals was also huge.
This shop also had copies of Bleach, the soundtrack to Shock Treatment (looking out
222b!), and the Ramones' first two albums, all in perfect shape for $8 a piece, so I'll be going back.
Played the album once last night at low volume and it sounded great. About to really blast the shit out of it now as nobody's home.
So, Karen and I do a fair bit of antique shopping. We both love looking at old stuff, and she has such a defined taste (loves chrome, art deco, and simple woodwork and lamps in the arts and crafts style) that half my fun is had in spotting things I know she'll like. Watching her dig through antique malls until her eyes glaze over reminds me of my days on the mean streets of Den-den Town in Osaka, browsing for used games.
One of the ways I keep myself busy is by going through the stacks of old records you inevitably find in these places. I've got a pretty decent vinyl collection and a turntable hooked up to a nice pair of acoustic energy speakers, so, like the used video games it's always fun to keep an eye out for gems. Usually, it's endless mothballed editions of syrupy crooners like Andy Williams, Phoebe Snow, and Crystal Gayle, that you run across, but occasionally these stacks contain plastic sleeved copies of records by the Cure or Thelonius Monk. I mean, who really buys these things anymore, right?
We were in Snohomish yesterday making the rounds of the many antique shops there, when we entered this one in which everything was uniformly collectible and pristine (and viciously overpriced, but hey, it was all great stuff). As Karen was taking a tour, I spotted some records. True to the rest of the store's high quality, I was shocked by what I found here. A lot of early punk, even some seattle grunge bands, good jazz, and everything in plastic sleeves and in near mint condition.
We aren't exactly rolling deep like Scrooge McDuck at the moment, so Karen made me choose one of the five albums I was dying to buy. The choice was obvious. This has got to be one of the top 5 albums I could choose to own in pristine condition on vinyl, and I nabbed it up for $15 tax included! A bit of searching says this 180g British re-pressing uses the original mix the album was recorded under, and should sound better than the CD. Oddly enough, the only copy of Nevermind I ever owned was the casette my parents gave me for Christmas in '91. I listened to that tape until it didn't play right, but never did pick up the CD.
I didn't listen to Nirvana much in the late 90s after gorging myself on them so much in my junior-high and high school years, but sweet lord this album still sounds so good! I am still simply baffled at the turn this band took from producing an album like Bleach (which rocks heavily, don't get me wrong), to this. Minus the two slow songs, which do provide a good change-up pace, and Territorial Pissings, which is more of a three cord speed-freak out (but still lovely), where is the low point on this record? There just isn't one. Some very weird things happened to Nirvana between '88 and '90. Kurt's talents as a songwriter blossomed but also became incredibly efficient and focused. The addition of Dave Grohl's drums and unique backing vocals was also huge.
This shop also had copies of Bleach, the soundtrack to Shock Treatment (looking out
222b!), and the Ramones' first two albums, all in perfect shape for $8 a piece, so I'll be going back.
Played the album once last night at low volume and it sounded great. About to really blast the shit out of it now as nobody's home.