All this week I’m taking a look back at 2012, beginning here with my top 5 vinyl finds of the past year. I was convinced that in 2012 I hadn’t bought that much vinyl. This just seemed like a busier year and since we bought a house and a dog a lot of the money that I might have spent continuing to rebuild my record collection went to higher purposes. Once I actually started pulling records though, seems this year was about on par with the past one (though it’s still gonna take a LONG time to get my collection back to what it was…I’m starting to think maybe that’s not such a bad thing). While I tracked down some really choice records (many of which I shared on the final Melting Pot of 2012), about 1/3 of them were bought online, so perhaps what I was feeling was the fact that I didn’t do nearly as much digging in actual stores this past year and bought more vinyl online (that might also explain why I didn’t get nearly as many 45s as past years, only getting one 7” in an actual store). But this list isn’t about online records, it’s about the best ones that I tracked down in actual record stores, of which it seems there are more and more each passing month, at least here in LA. So, here are my top 5 vinyl finds from 2012. Those of you who got out and buy vinyl, I’d love to hear what you tracked down this past year. Let me know what you dug up in 2012 here or on our facebook page!
***Honorable Mentions: The Heads – Heads Up [Amoeba Records, Hollywood], Hank Ballard – I’m A Junkie For My Baby’s Love / Love Why Is It Take You So Long? 45 [Strictly Grooves Record Gallery (RIP), Highland Park], Mount Rushmore – ’69 [Pasadena Flea Market Record Swap, Pasadena], Lee Hazlewood – The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood [Atomic Records, Burbank], La Clave – La Clave [Groove Merchant, San Francisco]
5. Harlem River Drive – Harlem River Drive – Roulette Records [Pasadena Flea Market Record Swap, Pasadena]
Harlem River Drive – If We Had Peace Today
Years and years ago I started getting into Eddie Palmieri’s 1970s output and swooned over his mixture of latin and soul flavors. His work with Harlem River Drive struck a particular chord, but for whatever reason, my 2001 ears just didn’t appreciate this album when it was reissued on vinyl and also when I ran into a original copy at Groove Merchant back then. Earlier in the year at the Pasadena Record Swap I spied this album for a solid price but honestly bought it with every intention of throwing it up on Ebay and making a decent amount of money since it is a pretty rare album. Funny thing happened as I was listening to the album to determine it’s condition…I realized that I really love this record. I think part of the problem was that back in the day my ears were stuck a bit in the 1990s, looking for “obvious” samples and breaks or bite-sized groovers to spin out as a DJ. This record had none of those. “Idle Hands” has some serious funk in it (especially with that baritone horn…good God!), but it’s soooo long that I never would have thought to give it a spin. Listening to it under current circumstances allowed for all of the soulful beauty of this album to finally kick in. I only wish this copy wasn’t on dynaflex vinyl, at various times it seems Side 1 is warped (you might even here it on what stands as my current favorite off this album, “If We Had Peace Today”) and I have to shake it up a good bit or remember not to put the record down on a spinning platter before dropping the needle on it, but these are such minor issues for such a classic album.
4. Juice – Catch A Groove – 12” [Strictly Grooves Record Gallery, Highland Park]
From a record that isn’t warped, but seems like it, to a record that IS warped, but doesn’t really affect play is this breakbeat classic that I’ve been on the hunt for in the original for a really really long time. I owned the 45 for about one day, which was as long as it took for me to discover that the 7” doesn’t have the drum break and to trade it with another dealer. I finally ran into the 12” at what was becoming one of my favorite new stores in LA until it unceremoniously closed down in the late Fall, Strictly Grooves. I hadn’t heard about the store during one of my few record buying binges, in this case around my birthday in August, and as soon as I started looking around I REALLY wished I had all that money back since the spot was well stocked with top shelf material, including consignments from local DJs of note. As I made my way through the store I spied the distinctive sleeve of this 12” and was quite overjoyed that the price was just about exactly the same as what Rodney was willing to trade in for several records I’d brought in. I’ve always been interested in learning more about this group. There’s such a good party going on in this song, with some sax work that sounds a whole lot like Gary Bartz, but apparently the group didn’t record anything else. Such as is the case with so many amazing tracks, thankfully we do have the music and, at least for a short amount of time (hopefully to return again!) fine record stores like Strictly Grooves to get the music in our hands that we obsess over.
3. Laurindo Almieda – Brazilliance – World Pacific [Atomic Records, Burbank]
Laurindo Almeida – Noctambulism
This record is not particularly rare. It’s on this list because without a doubt it’s the record that I listened to more than any other in 2012, even though I didn’t run into it until just about the time we moved into our house. Day after day after day I would listen to this album as I would unpack, clean, wash dishes, sweep, or just sit on the couch and stare out of the windows that we now can call our own. It’s a gorgeous sound produced by Almeida and Bud Shank, well worthy of the popularity of these recordings. Though I’ve seen a number of difference copies of this record, I think the distinctiveness of this particularly version, with the glossy jacket and black label on the vinyl, convinced me to buy it a few days before we moved in. When I listen to “Amor Flamenco,” or “Noctambulim” (which I only just now realized was synonymous with sleepwalking) I hear the sound of pure serenity and comfort and I feel very thankful to be where I’m at in this moment.
2. Becky & Sandy – I Know Where I’m Going – Mission Records [Record Jungle, Montebello]
Becky and Sandy – I Wish We’d All Been Ready
From the comfort and serenity of Laurindo Almeida we have the polar opposite feeling with this devotional LP from the Lewis Family. As I mentioned before, I found this after a solid day of going through just about every single record at Montebello’s Record Jungle, a true diggers delight if there ever was one. I can’t really call this a “bizarre” record, because growing up in the American South, and especially listening to AM radio on very late night drives throughout the South, I know this is more connected to some very deep religious beliefs. What’s still striking to me about this album and others like it, is just how much doom and gloom there is spread throughout (which is why I coined the term “Doom Gospel” to describe it), no where better on display than on the track “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”:
Life was filled with guns and war,
And everyone got trampled on the floor,
I wish we’d all been ready,
Children died, the days grew cold,
A piece of bread would buy a bag of gold,
I wish we’d all been ready,
There’s no time to change your mind,
The sun is coming you’ve been left behind.
A man and wife asleep in bed,
She hears a noise and turns her head, he’s gone,
I wish we’d all been ready,
Two men walking up a hill,
One disappears and ones left standing still,
I wish we’d all been ready,
There’s no time to change your mind,
The sun has come and you’ve been left behind.
Antichrist is now in power,
Mark of the beast speaks of the final hour,
I wish we’d all been ready,
Now ride forth the horsemen four,
Famine, Pestilence, Death and Bloody War,
I wish we’d all been ready,
There’s no time to change your mind,
The sun has come and you’ve been left behind.
Life was filled with guns and war,
And everyone got trampled on the floor,
I wish we’d all been ready,
Children died, the days grew cold,
A piece of bread would buy a bag of gold,
I wish we’d all been ready,
There’s no time to change your mind,
The sun is coming you’ve been left behind.
There’s no time to change your mind
How could you have been so blind,
The Father spoke, the demons died,
And you’ve been left behind.
Even Hollywood directors would have a hard time making an apocalypse movie that would contend with that imagery. The sermon from David Lewis on the flipside of Becky and Sandy’s music is equally doom-laden, all of it worth far more than the measly $5 I paid for this LP. Truly one of my all-time top finds.
1. Nancy Priddy – You’ve Come This Way Before – Dot Records [Groove Merchant, San Francisco]
Nancy Priddy – We Could Have It All
Nancy Priddy’s debut and only release lands at the top spot simply because it’s the record that I dug the most of the year. Buying vinyl at Groove Merchant is a bit of luxury these days, but during the spring of last year I was able to make the yearly pilgrimage and even though there were several fantastic albums I picked up that day, I’m still most thankful for having the good sense to pick this one off the wall and give it a listen. I’m absolutely sure that I’ve passed by this record multiple times, in throwaway or dollar bins, judging it entirely by the cover as some hokey 1960s singer-songwriter tuneage. Instead, the album serves as a reminder to always give records on Groove Merchant’s wall a listen if you don’t recognize them, but also to be more careful with how I judge unknown records by their covers. In fact, it’s likely that in years past I would have just skimmed by the Becky and Sandy LP, but thankfully I’d learned my lesson from running into this album from Nancy Priddy.