I Love Record Covers With Pictures of Records on Them #3 - Elvis

I'm sure Elvis had so many gold records he didn't know what to do with them all.

Elvis Golden Records (RCA 1958)

A compilation of singles believed to be the first greatest hits album in rock n' roll history.  Unfortunately, the one I have is fake stereo.  Not to worry, I've got the box set of all the '50's masters in glorious original mono.

So let's talk about the cover a bit.  Since Elvis had so many gold records, he evidently just hung them from his ceiling.  I'd call that creative adaptive re-use.  It reminds me of my mother-in-law. She used to hang those unwanted solicitation CD's from AOL on her fruit trees to scare the birds off.

The Chad Mitchell Trio Visits Campus

The Chad Mitchell Trio  - Mighty Day on Campus (Kapp 1961)

They may have visited a campus, but it appears they didn't learn much about etymology.

Allow a brief lecture by Professor Dunton.

The word trio derives from the latin root of three.  It means a group of three.  If you look at your group Mr. Mitchell, you will see there are four of you.  This would then be considered a quartet.   Test on Monday.

Etymology aside.  The guy on the right with the banjo is none other than future Byrd Roger (nee Jim) Mcguinn.

Sonic Youth Recorded a Song Just for Us

Sassy Magazine was a short lived publication directed at insecure teen girls.  It gave tips on how to be fashionable and hip to those who had nary a clue.  It groomed them to be future hipster fashion victims and annoying vegetarians.

In the November 1990 issue, they promised 2000 people could win a Sonic Youth single.

Their contribution was the apt New York Dolls cover - Personality Crisis.

Sonic Youth - Personality Crisis b/w Dirty Boots (demo version) (David Geffen company 1990)

Their cover of Personality Crisis takes one of the New York Doll's most rockin' numbers and delivers it in a laid back acoustic style.  Kim Gordon takes the lead vocal with occasional guitar freakouts from Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore.

The B-Side is a demo of the lead off track from their album Goo.

Re: Sonic Youth.   Too bad they broke up with the divorce of Thurston and Kim.  The other three should get back together without her.  It would still be a great band.  C'mon Thurston, Lee and Steve.  Waddya say?  I promise to go see you when you play California.

and Re: Sassy   This wouldn't be the first (or last) time I bought a dumb magazine to get a record or CD.  I did it for REM and David Bowie

REM gets Sassyl

I Love Record Covers with Pictures of Records on Them #2 - The Clash

The Clash - London Calling b/w Amagideon Time/Kick it Over (CBS 1980)

UK 12" single

Retro 'teens with records' illustration.  Cool difference here is the accurate depiction of the iconic albums shown.

I spy....
1.  The Beatles - Please Please Me
2.  The Sex Pistols  - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
3.  The Rolling Stones - 1st LP
4.  The Clash - 1st LP
5.  Bob Dylan  - Highway 61 Revisited  (The back cover of the UK Version).
6.  Elvis Presley - 1st LP


Makes me want to dance just thinking about them.

Vitaphonic

Warner Brothers Records started as a reaction to one of their contract players having a hit on a labe1 owned by Paramount.

Their first releases consisted of tie in records for their stars.  The first artists outside the fold to be signed were The Everly Brothers.

The Everly Brothers - A Date With the Everly Brothers (Warner Brothers 1960)

Warners was the first film company to present sycronized sound in movies through a process they called Vitaphone,.

Since every company had a special name for their hi-fi systems that really meant nothing, Warners had to come up with something.

Why not use it somehow......Vitaphonic High Fidelity

I Love Record Covers with Records On Them #1 - Les Baxter

A mildewy thrift store find

Les Baxter's Young Pops  (Capitol 1960)

Lots of records on this one without sleeves.  A coincidence - they're all on Capitol.

The record iconography carried over to the back cover.

As is common for inner sleeves of the era - Capitol bragged about the quality of their stereo recordings are better than anyone else's.  Their term 'Full Dimensional Stereo' carried on until the end of the 60's.

Pink Floyd Hits a Wall Creatively

Before I dive into this particular post, let me preface by saying I love Pink Floyd up to and including Animals from 1977


So here we have a 45 that was an outtake (aka not good enough) from an entire album that was made up of outtakes (The Final Cut)  from Pink Floyd's heretofore worst album  (The Wall).   I've said it.  Deal with it.  Extra added collectors edition bonus rant at the end of this post.

Pink Floyd    - When The Tigers Broke Free b/w Bring the Boys Back Home (Columbia 1982)

This single was originally to be included on the 'final' Pink Floyd album The Final Cut.  This was an album made up of outtakes from The Wall which sort of played into the movie.  When the final track listing for The Final Cut was compiled, this one didn't make the final cut.

Roger Waters was so proud of Pink Floyd's second worst album that he decided to have it made into a film.    This particular 45 contains 'special pictures from the movie.'  Why waste a good track. Tie it into the movie and put a bunch of special shit in the packaging.

The track itself is an orchestral bombast with vocals that only features Roger Waters.

So why do I hate The Wall so much?   Up until this time, Pink Floyd was a band with little ego.  Massive success didn't go to their heads.  Well 3 of their heads at least.  Roger Waters decided after Dark Side of the Moon that he was the only one capable of writing lyrics.   He proclaimed himself leader of the band.    The others kind of played along for a while in stoner passivity.  When it came time for The Wall, Waters presented the band with two choices for the next album.  The Wall or The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking.   He brought in an outside producer and kicked Rick Wright (who wrote Us and Them) out of the band.   The others became withdrawn - much like The Beatles in the Let it Be film. The Wall became a vehicle for Water's megalomania and anger!  I just hated it from the get go.

Years later it was a joy to see Waters get testy because his Amused to Death album flopped.  I saw him in an interview say the public was stupid for not buying it.   But now, he's turned The Wall into his Hamilton. 

The best comeuppance (IMHO) is after Live8.  A Pink Floyd reunion occurred.  It was awesome -  despite MTV's coverage of the live event so botched that they had a do-over live broadcast a week later.     Waters suggested to the other three they keep it going.   They all said 'nah'

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

When The Clash pulled a single from the Combat Rock LP, they chose Should I Stay or Should I Go?   The cover was adorned by the current US president.

The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go? b/w First Night Back in London (Epic 1982)

The B-Side was not on the LP

The single didn't go beyond initial expectations and soon went out of print.  Shortly thereafter, it began to get some airplay, so Epic reissued it in early 1983.

The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go? b/w Cool Confusion (Epic 1983)

By the time it was reissued, The Clash had sacked their drummer.   The picture sleeve reflected this as the band was whittled down to three.

In addition, the B-Side was yet another non-LP track.  To the best of my knowledge, this is the only place in the world it appeared on vinyl (or styrene in this case).

I would be remiss if I didn't credit drummer Topper with much of The Clash's success.  He had the ability to count beyond the typical punk rock 1-2-3-4 which enabled the band to adopt many different styles.  This gave The Clash the ammunition it needed to grow and progress.