New Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel - i/o.

It's on order but won't arrive for a few more days. I'm considering taking the day off from work.

I used to get so excited and anticipatory for new releases and it's nice to feel that old excitement again. I've been looking forward to a new Peter Gabriel record for years.  

There's a dark-side and a bright-side mix. I don't really know if I'll be able to tell the difference. He's been releasing one song at a time for the past year on the occasion of full moons. I've listened to four or five of these tracks but not more than once. I want to experience the record like the old days when a new record would be previously unheard on release day. 

I want to hear one song at a time as if it's the first time. In some cases it will be. I haven't heard any of the recent releases yet and don't recall the tracks heard months ago. 

I wouldn't have ordered it online if I could feel any amount of assurance that I could find a physical copy locally. But that assurance doesn't exist, so I'll be watching for the delivery truck coming around the corner. I might need to monitor my blood pressure hourly.

While I'm waiting for the Peter Gabriel to be delivered .... This arrived today and was heard late evening. 'Floa' by Mammal Hands. From 2016 on Gondwana Records. 

I'm attempting to become a completist .... of the band and possibly the record label. 

Vega Trails

I noted here a few days ago that I had been listening to a band called, Mammal Hands. That find has led to the discovery of several other bands exploring different jazz directions ..... Robohands, Ghost Funk Orchestra, Phi-Psonics and the recording that I've been obsessed with for the past week, "Tremors In the Static' by Vega Trails.

Their only recording to this point. A trio featuring double-bass and saxophone. From 2022 on Gondwana Records, which is proving to be another record label loaded with extremely top quality recordings.

If I trace the entire lineage of this path, it started a year or two ago with (radio) channel surfing while driving home one afternoon and stumbling across an interview with members of Gogo Penguin, which eventually led to discovering, Portico Quartet and then all the others mentioned here. Each band foreign to me prior to that fruitful drive home from wherever.

And here I am, with this record by Vega Trails receiving daily listens for the past week. 

..... And hoping they're preparing to release another.  

Sidenote: The problem with getting this new 600-ish page book titled: 'Mixing Up the Medicine,' full of essays and photos on Bob Dylan, is that I don't know where to start. 

The Search

Just a few notes on the eternally ongoing search for (mostly vinyl) music ....

• KEEP THEM UP HIGH!! If you, the seller, wishing to make $$$, place your records in a crate, on the floor of an antique shop, thrift store, record store, etc. .....  I'm most likely not going to waste my time bending over, putting stress on my already stressed-out knees and back and attempting to read titles that are too far away from my ability to focus with my near-sighted vision. So, unless there's the unmistakable mint condition, holy grail that I've been seeking for my lifetime sitting on top, there's a good chance that I won't be flipping through that crate.
• Just a pet peeve of mine ..... Attention twenty and thirty-somethings. "Vinyl" is both the singular and plural. I don't know or care if it's acceptable in a game of scrabble, but 'vinyls' is not a valid word. 
• I'm a huge fan of cover art. So, don't let your dog or cat chew on the spines of your record covers and then expect to slap a premium asking price on it when you decide to sell later in life. And the spines are as valued by me as the face.
• I prefer maintained and managed clutter over extreme organization in places selling records. (Though a little organization is appreciated.) With clutter there is always the accompanying mystery of what you might find. 
• A freebie now and then keeps me coming back for more. I know one guy who when I'm checking out, if I have four or five $10-$20 records, he'll peel the price sticker off the $5 record and say: "No tag, no charge."  The world needs more people like this. Purveyors of kindness.
• Keep the "greatest hits" records to a minimum. If I'm a fan of a particular musician, I want all the songs. And eventually when I need even more, I'm going to want the alternate takes. false starts, b-sides, demos and outtakes too. The greatest hits are fine for the casual fan but for those of us who might drop into your shop on weekly whims, we want more.

Friday Playlist

I have no reason for ......  or a common unifying theme regarding this playlist other than these songs are in my head lately, likely for historical significance in my world.

• Branford Marsallis - The Peacocks .... I've had this song title in my head for three or four days. I don't know why. I remember it from a cassette that I own .... the title not the actual song. It's been recorded by others, but this is who I associate it with.
• Jackson Browne - Rock Me On the Water .... A twitter friend asked people to name a perfect album that was released the year you turned sixteen. This was his first and my introduction to JB's music that would come to mean so much to me through the 1970's, 80's and 90's.
• Neil Young - Out On the Weekend .... Another that's been bouncing around my head for a few days and from another perfect album released the year the I turned sixteen. I recall hearing it once in a movie theater .... from a mix of songs played before the coming attractions. I always though I had a decent stereo setup at home but hearing it that day on the theater sound system was a total knockout.
• Neil Young - Like a Hurricane ..... "I am just a dreamer, and you are just a dream. You could have been anyone to me."
• Son Volt - Drown ..... I was in the new local Barnes & Noble that open up last week and noticed that they had three Wilco vinyl records for sale. But no Son Volt. And in my humble opinion, Son Volt is the stronger band that emerged from the Uncle Tupelo breakup. And I don't care about anyone else's contrary opinion.
• Willard Grant Conspiracy - How to Get to Heaven ..... I just noticed that there is now the complete song on YouTube. For years there's been nothing but a 20-some second snippet. 
• Poco - Good Feeling to Know .... Introduced to this song by the older brother of a friend. I listen now and hear so much of the classic Eagles harmonizing sounds. But Poco came first.
• Danny O'Keefe - Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues .... Heard on the radio a week ago and it's been playing in my mind since.