Record Store Day Gems

Let me start by saying that Record Store Day 2010 has to have been the most fun I have ever had in a record store.  (Well maybe with one exception, but that was a long time ago and barely believable.)  The special releases by the Record Labels were exceptional, I was impressed by the participation of the bands and all of the press.  Hopefully the event will continue to grow, and all of the record stores stick around to enjoy it.  We had a twelve hour party here at Looney Tunes and I am sure the other stores where the day was celebrated were no different.

So what did you buy this Record Store Day John?  I am glad you asked.  I have again succeeded in over coming the temptation to buy one of everything and have chosen just 4 items from artists that I already collect.  I resisted all the colored vinyl, picture discs and high demand, big dollar investment items and stuck with the music that makes me feel good.

1- Album Leaf’s “There Is A Wind” 12″ EP.  I find Album Leaf’s music perfect for winding down after a long day and, as with most collectors,  I am a sucker for b-sides and rare tracks.

2-Charlotte Gainsbourg “Heaven Can Wait b/w IRM” 7″ Single.  Though I can live without Beck’s bleeps and wonks, I will take all of this kitten that I can get.

3-Flogging Molly “Devil’s Dance Floor b/w No More Paddy’s Lament” 7″ Red Vinyl.  I especially love No More Paddy’s Lament, a song about getting over the dark past and celebrating your ascent back to the top.  The energy of the live version on this record really gets your Irish up.  I drank and danced thru the entire first listen.  The only one to see it was my dog, Dylan, fortunately he’s Australian and always game for a jig.

4-The Doors “People Are Strange b/w Crystal Ship” 7″ single.  I have never met a Doors record that I did not buy and with only 2500 made this was a done deal.  The artwork on this record was killer.  The classy black, white and silver outer sleeve and the heavy weight vinyl, this was so well done I cold resist and I am not alone, we ran out of this one early.

Keep listening

Mr Johnny Rock

Album Review Mumford & Sons

Band: Mumford & Sons
Album: Sigh No More
Label: Glassnote Records
Release Date: February 16, 2010

By John Ramacca.

$12.99

I am always up for another folk rock band. A genre where you are either good enough to stand out or you will forever be banished to the coffe houses in your own town. Many newer folk rock artists are creating incredible music, Glenn Hansard, Johhny Flynn, William Elliott Whitmore & White Buffalo to mention a few worth checking out.
This English quartet is pushing for the small stages at the best coffee houses in the World, their sold out dates in NYC, Paris, Glasgow, London Dublin and Belfast this month show they are getting there. The music is strongly flavored by string picking and vocal harmonies but don’t expect it stay there for long. The album moves from simple to beauitiful to complex to whimsical to cheerful to remose. These songs lends themselves to driving in the country side and singing along. The musicianship is easily appreciatedand the final product would be appealing to any old folk rock fan. Fans of James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Harry Chapin, Kris Kristofferson and Richard Thopson would certainly enjoy this record. The harmonies would appeal to CSNY fans as well. “Little Lion Man” would be the catchy, sing along, hi-lite track of the CD but it is one in a album full of great songs.

Album review David Gray “Draw The Line”

Band: David Gray
Album: Draw The Line
Label: Mercer Street Records
Release Date: September 22 2009
By John Ramacca

CD – $9.99

Things got kind of hectic at the end of last year and I never got around to giving a listen to David Gray’s Draw The Line CD. Sure I listened to it in the store but never took it home and gave it an active listen, free of distraction and duty. David Gray has never released a bad album and I will give a listen to anything he does. After three weeks in my car’s rotation I have to ask, “why aren’t people talking about David Gray?” We just had the Grammy’s and there was no mention of this CD. I sold thousands of CDs this Christmas but so few were David Gray’s and few were better. Each one of the eleven tracks on Draw The Line demonstrates not only Gray’s maturation as song writer and a performer but also his ability to add variety to his style. Style? That’s right style. That rarely talked about gift that allowed Frank Sinatra to walk through life untouched. The reason why you can identify a Willie Nelson song before he sings a word. I know what you are saying, David Gary is no Sinatra. Of course not but David Gray’s signature is all over this CD just like Sinatra is on MY Way or Willie is on the Red Headed Stranger. You cannot sing along to these songs without sounding like David Gray, like you cannot sing along to Dylan’s Lay Lady Lay without sounding like Dylan. The lush, rolling piano the well thought out lyrics and impassioned vocals all let you know you are in David Gray land. The lyrics to “Nemesis” force you have one of those “man I wish I wrote that” moments. Gray writes “‘Neath an avalanche – soft as moss, I am a creeping and intangible sense of loss, I’m the memory you can’t get out of your head, but if I leave now you’ll wish you were somewhere else instead. I’m the manta ray, I’m the louse, I am the photograph they found in your burned out house I am the sound of money down the drain, I am the pack of lies that keep you sane.”
Track one reminds you of the influence of Elton John upon this pianist/composer/performer. The cello in “First Chance” pulls the listener into the song like the rabbit hole into Wonderland, the entire composition is a well weaved fabric, beautiful and flowing. The frailty of the piano intro into “Transformatoin” brings the listener onto equal ground with the speaker and allows the everyday experience in the lyrics to come across as “in the moment” real. The real treasure on this CD, the great musical moment is the duet with Gray and Annie Lennox on Full Steam Ahead. Annie Lennox has become known for the haunting desperation of her vocal style, it won her a Grammy for her work on Lord Of The Rings and easily could have done so again here on Full Steam Ahead. This track got far more attention in the UK where the duo performed it all over TV. You can youtube those performances. The first time I heard this song I thought both voices were Gray’s, but the I realized that it was Lennox singing in David Gray’s style. Does Draw The Line have the pop appeal of White Ladder, no, but it does not need it to stand out as the better album. David Gray is better artist than he was in 1999 and that is proven on Draw The Line. As for those Grammy people, those folks would have you believe that there were only 5 albums released last year, there were more, so keep ignoring them and keep on listening.

If It SmellsGood,Burn It

One of my favorites roles that I play here at Looney Tunes is that of Incense Buyer. I get to search the world of fine aromas and bring into the store a selection of incense cones, sticks and oils that create that unique and pleasant bouquet that strikes you as soon as you enter the store. I know our customers are burning the incense I buy as the perfect accompaniment to a hot bath or shower, a night of listening to music, alone or with friends and for those precious moments of meditation and solitude. Incense is burned at large parties to cover the many smells and at small parties to cover…fewer smells. I have taken all of this into account when selecting the incense that we carry here at Looney Tunes and I am excited to announce all of these new incense items that I we have brought in for 2010.
Satya,the makers of the famous and best selling Nag Champa incense,have recently released five new fragrances,
Blessings, Rain Forest, Fortune, Romance and Jasmine Blossom.

For those customers who have asked for more incense cones we have added a full line of R.Expo’s Namaste Incense Cones.

We changed the loose incense sticks we carry to the Black Berry company. Black Berry incense is oil dipped sticks instead of powder coated. The oil dipped incense is cleaner to handle, smells less like wood and the fragrance is stronger. Come on into the store and mix and match from the 40 different fragrances we carry.

I recently added a full line of incense oils and oil burners. The oils are actiuvated by tea lights which fit safely into the lower chamber of the burner. The oil never comes in to contact with the flame. The heat of the candle releases the fragrance into the air.

We carry several other types of incense in the store,come on in to Looney Tunes and sniff your way through our incense section.
Enjoy
John

Johnny’s best cds of 2009

It has long been my belief that music is part of mood, much like temperature and lighting and fragrance. Certain songs or albums fit into a mood like a puzzle piece. Just as Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim fit into a cocktail party, Mazzy Star fits into candle light, Greig’s Peer Gynt Suite matches the dawn and the Drop Kick Murphy’s make beer taste better. We have all had our mood killed by an out of place song blaring like bright lights in a previously dark room. I also know that my opinion of albums depends entirely upon my mood. In light of these views I have decided not to rank the best cds of the year but rather to list the extremely well done albums that I have been recommending all year. On a scale of one to five these cds would all have been a four or better.

-Black Crowes “Warpaint Live” (Best live album of the year)
-Stephen Marley “Mind Control Acoustic” (Stephen channels his father better than any of his siblings.)
-Van Morrison “Astral Weeks Live @ the Hollywood Bowl”
-Built To Spill “There Is No Enemy” (If you like Neil Young you have got to give these guys at least one listen.)
-Ben Harper & The Relentless 7 “White Lies for Dark Times”
-Morphine “At Your Service” (Great alternative to guitar rock)
-Jeff Beck “Performing This Week: Live @ Ronnie Scott’s”
-Mastodon “Crack The Skye” (Metal album of the year)
-Swell Season “Strict Joy” (sequel to the Once Soundtrack)
-Alice In Chains “Black Gives Way To Blue” (one of the surprise albums of the year.)
-Leonard Cohen “Live In London”
-Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood “Live From MSG” (These two make each other better)
-Mark Knopfler “Get Lucky” (mellow morning music)
-George Harrison “Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison” (Best hits collection of the year. I didn’t know how much I liked George Harrison until I listened to this CD beginning to end.)
-John Mayer “Battle Studies” (soft rock in the classic style, I’m surprised I like it too.)
-Neil Young “Dreamin’ Man Live ’92″ (No politics, just the music. That’s how I like my Neil)
-Brandi Carlile “Give Up The Ghost” (Excellent follow-up to a super break out album.)
-MV & EE “Barn Nova” (I took it out of a pile of cds and got blown away. They have been described as the combination of Indian raga style composition with Appalachian folk and post-psychedelic electrical experimentalism. I’m not sure what that means but it is very good. J Mascis guests on it too.)
-William Elliot Whitmore “Animals In The Dark” (Power to the common man!)
-Kings Of Convenience “Declaration Of Dependence” (I hate to
describe a band as sounding like another but these guys have the feel of Simon & Garfunkel. The compositions have the benefit of 40 years of music evolution but vocal harmonies beg comparison.)
-David Rawlings Machine “A Friend Of A Friend” (I thought I was done with Bluegrass after the “O Brother Where art Thou” craze but this CD is just different enough to stand out and is exceptionally well done.)
-Jason Mraz “Jason Mraz’s Beautiful Mess: Live On Earth” (Not what I normally like but he is such a cool person and his voice is among the best in music today. He is at his best live, what greater compliment can an artist receive?)
-Phish “Joy” (Once I heard that Phish fans hated this CD I listened to it immediately, I think it is the best CD Phish have ever made.)
-Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions “Through The Devil Softly” (Enjoy with candle light.)
-Black Crowes “Before The Frost” (I was never a huge fan of this band but every thing they have done since Warpaint has been brilliant.)
-Dethklok “Dethalbum II” (Not an every day listen but its a great soundtrack when I have to get stuff done. Far betterthan a soundtrack to a cartoon should be.)
-Iron & Wine “Around The World” (I was forced to listen to CD this at work until I liked it. I liked it long before I admitted to it.)
-Air “Love 2″ (A slight return to their Virgin Suicides CD but different enough not to be covering themselves. I don’t know if this one will stand the test of time but for this time it is exceptional.)
-7 Worlds Collide: Sun Came Out (A charity album to support Oxfam, an organization committed to fighting poverty and injustice in the world. Neil Finn got together a lengthy list of artists including Wilco, Johnny Marr, KT Tunstall, members of Radiohead, Bic Runga, Sebastian Steinberg of Soul Coughing and Lisa Germano and in three weeks time had created two CDs worth of music that will keep your interest the whole way through. A must for any fan of the Finns, Crowded House, etc.)
-Bob Mould “Life & Times” ( I was never a fan of Mould’s, I always found him to be boring. I don’t know which one of us has changed but this CD caught my attention right away and I still enjoy it.

Until next time, listen and enjoy.