The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 25

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

The Byrds - Fifth Dimension LP $3. 

This is a great record. I'm partial to Sweetheart of the Rodeo, but of the truly "Byrdsy" Byrds records, Fifth Dimension towers above the rest. It's got their most iconic song, if not their most famous, (psychedelic monolith "Eight Miles High") and plenty of other good tunes. Before I grabbed this, I already knew some of these songs from the Greatest Hits LP we've had around the house for years, and they're wonderful, but "What's Happening?!?!" knocked me out the first time I played this record. I'm writing about this LP just so I can write about this song. It sounds likes 80s/90s indie rock was birthed a couple decades prior. To me, anyway. Melodic, catchy but reluctantly so. Total slacker vibe. There's not even a verse-chorus structure, or really any structure. It's just a melodic refrain taking turns with dueling guitar leads with some unobtrusive but infectious ticka-tacka drumming. Total bubblegum for the underground rock crowd in my book. David Crosby serves as the regular Byrds whipping boy (and rightly so!) but I have to give credit where it's due. "What's Happening?!?!" is a solo Crosby writing credit, and it's one of the best, most forward thinking Byrd tunes in their canon. Cheers Davey boy, thanks for your contributions.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 24

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Randy Newman - Good Old Boys LP $3. 

Oh man, what a record. Not the first Newman record I dug, but the first where I totally "got" him. Growing up I just knew him as the Toy Story guy. Catchy songs, but seemed totally MOR and milquetoast. But every once in a while I would read a comment about his vicious wit or brazen satire, and I'd always think "Huh? The Pixar house composer?" Well, that vicious wit and brazen satire? It shows up in spades on Good Old Boys, a concept record written from the viewpoint of a racist Southerner. Newman takes no prisoners and everyone is a target. The album's most (in)famous and catchiest tune "Rednecks" skewers both the ignorance of the South and the hypocrisy of the North, all while loading up the infectious chorus with racial epithets. Don't play that one around the kids. And, of course, because this is Randy Newman, the composition and arrangement are top drawer. One listen to melancholy anthem "Louisiana, 1927" and the album's beauty is readily apparent. Or the chilling, queasy chorus of "Kingfish", presaging Tom Waits's own brand of oft-kilter, macabre melodicism. One review I read spoke about how the contemporary reception of Good Old Boys criticized him for being too callous and disparaging of his subjects, while if this record had been released today Newman would have been cancelled immediately for not repudiating his subjects harshly enough. As far as I'm concerned, that means Newman threaded the needle perfectly. It takes a special work of art to cause multi-generational discomfort. I became massively obsessed with Good Old Boys for several weeks and there's no doubt I will be again some day. Randy has made a lot of fantastic records but this is the best.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 23

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Hagerty-Toth Band - Qalgebra LP $3. 

So glad I took a whiff on this one. I lift my voice in praise to the record gods. This sounds exactly like a record Neil Hagerty and Wooden Wand would make, without being a retread. At least in my imagination, don't know Wand stuff too closely and, while I know the Trux discography pretty thoroughly, I'm patchy on solo Neil/Hex stuff. I guess, when it comes down to it, I don't really know what I'm talking about. Except for when it comes to Qalgebra. Because I know this record is a true pleasure. Tightly coiled pop-tinged runarounds (check out the smashing opener "Spindizzy"), slide guitar wandering out in the wilderness, goofy spoken word repartee, breezy wah-wah grooves, wildman collage jammin'. It was the first item in the list that really bowled me over. These songs have legit hooks, pulled off with nonchalant aplomb. Qalgebra is about as good as weirdo-pop gets (and we all know that's really goddamn good). Totally oddball, energetic and super listenable. A steal!

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 22

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Peter Gabriel - So CD $0. 

This is my dad's domain but I figured "fuck it, it's free". My most vivid memory of Peter Gabriel is him looking like a buffoon in a 90s SNL performance, trying (and failing) to synchronize pathetically simple choreography with his 40-something bandmates. Yet, some people talk about him like he's "an artist" so, for zero dollars, the edification was worth the price. Pete sings like Sting so that sucks, but I found a lot to enjoy otherwise on So. Both Kate Bush and Laurie Anderson pop up on the record, which shouldn't have surprised me given his appearances on their records, and while Pete ≠ Kate nor Laurie, it does say something that he asked them to be on his record. He's not the visionary that Bush or Anderson are, but he uses the Fairlight a bunch and comes up with plenty of interesting textures. He can also write a hook ("Big Time" and "Sledgehammer" are dumb fun for the whole family), even if he doesn't know when to edit. (The verses of "In Your Eyes", great. The chorus of "In Your Eyes", barf.) So was his big hit record, and it works very well as an 80s hit record; now, for the first time, I'm interested in exploring what Gabriel did before achieving hitmaker status.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 21

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Joni Mitchell - Hissing of Summer Lawns LP $3. 

One of my great accomplishments of the past several years is finally "getting" Joni. I now understand that Court and Spark is a work of towering genius. Joni at the peak of her powers as far as I can tell. But Hissing of Summer Lawns just may be the second highest summit she scaled. Overall, I like this one more than Ladies of the Canyon (even though it's a sick record), Blue or For the Roses. The focus isn't razor sharp as on Court (though I suppose the inclusion of the funky clavfest "Raised on Robbery" and concluding with a goof off rendition of "Twisted" suggests that Joni wasn't too enamored with focus), but Hissing Lawns carves new, exploratory chutes for her songwriting. Some songs sound like direct continuations of Court and Spark (the lovely lilt of "Edith and the Kingpin" or the sophisticated slink of the title track) and they rule, but just check out "The Jungle Line", the first commercial release to employ sampling. And, yeah, that's Joni jamming on a Moog (and on an ARP elsewhere on the record). Can't imagine anyone was expecting that when she was widdling away on her dulcimer. The songs are there as usual but Joni gets more impressionistic as well, both in her arrangements (the silvery glow of "The Boho Dance", the vocal/synth duet "Shadows and Light"), and in her interludes ("Shades of Scarlett Conquering" and the outstanding "Harry's House/Centerpiece", one of the album's masterpieces). Cinematic (before that adjective became a cliché) and luxuriously self-assured that it's making all the right moves (it is), this is a great fucking record.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 20

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

The Beach Boys - Holland LP $3. 

Holland, the last great Beach Boys LP as far as I can tell, is not one to miss. First, let's get the bad out of the way. Blondie Chaplin sings two songs which aren't that good, they sound like The Beach Boys chasing the contemporary early 70s sound, and the one thing The Beach Boys did just about better than any mainstream act was never chase trends. Now that I've slung my arrows, I can state in good conscience that the rest of the record is stellar. "Steamboat" is such a cool, narcotic trudge Total poptone trail blazer. The three-song "California Saga" is a classic Beach Boys concept triptych. And, goddamn, "The Trader" belongs in the pantheon of the very best Beach Boys songs. Think of your favorite Beach Boys song right now, there's an 85% chance "The Trader" is better than it. The second movement is perfection. The pinnacle of Carl's contributions. Go Carl!

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 19

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Camper Van Beethoven - Key Lime Pie CD $1.50. 

Just a drop dead beauty of a record through and through. Always wrote these guys off because of the dumb name and they weren't punk enough when I checked them out as a teen. My write off became regret in 2023. One more data point that a rock band with a violin player is the sound of the angels. CVB manages a magic trick few bands pull off which is synthesizing a grab bag of genres (reggae, klezmer, whathaveyou) into a coherent whole rather than attention-seeking pastiche. Even the instrumental tracks, that usually bloated albums and bored listeners in this era, are sweet. Truly dripping with classics but "When I Win the Lottery" is best, hope I can karaoke it one day.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 18

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Tim Hardin - Tim Hardin 1 LP $3. 

Sneakily one of my most listened to the records of the year. Have played it regularly since getting it. Interesting blend of folk, blues and soul. Gentle enough to drop the needle immediately upon waking. "Reason to Believe" is an all-timer. Supposedly, the string arrangements were added without Hardin's knowledge which lead him to break down into tears. I feel bad for Timmy, things seem tough enough based on all the sad-eyed songs littering the record, but I actually love the strings and vibraphone and all the stuff artist-hating producers dubbed onto records in the 60s. Also the record, runs through 12 songs in 27 minutes. Peak album efficiency, anywhere except the hardcore arena, in which case it would be four times too long.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 17

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

The Rolling Stones - Between the Buttons LP $4. 

Hot take alert: I've always thought the Stones were a legendary singles band with zero classic albums (feel the same about Depeche Mode.) I, however, stand corrected with Between the Buttons. This is a killer record. Filled to the brim with great tunes and relentlessly eclectic too. Jagger's questionable and generally lame lyrics aside, "Yesterday's Papers" drives hard on a rollicking harpsichord(!) lick. Earworm fist pumpers like "Connection", "My Obsession" and "Let's Spend the Night Together". Ornate ballads like "Ruby Tuesday" and "She Smiled Sweetly" (well familiar to any Royal Tenenbaums fan). A sticky as bubblegum, organ bopper "Complicated". Then, of course, "Cool, Calm & Collected" sounds like it was recorded in a saloon across the street from an ashram. "Who's Been Sleeping Here" nods toward to their rustic blues future but it's better than a lot of the stuff they made when they got deep in it. I've already mentioned 2/3rds of the track list, so I'll wrap it up, but I could go on. The Stones really brought it in all ways on this one. I am very happy to be proven wrong. "Connection!"

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 16

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

John Phillips - John Phillips (John, the Wolf King of L.A.) LP $4. 

The one Mama/Papa that couldn't "sing" but got to be in the band for one small reason: he wrote the songs. As you might expect, Phillips's self-titled debut (subtitled John, the Wolf King of L.A. on the LP label but not on the spine) is original tunes from top to bottom, and he gets to sing them. I quite like his voice, it's wispy (and slightly lispy) without being weightless, with an endearing softness that keeps you coming back. Opener "April Anne" is now one of my all time favorite songs. The opening pedal steel lick... what a way to fuckin' kick off a record. The lyrics, on the page, are just kinda late 60s horseshit, but when listened to, they are pure poetry. Every syllable perfectly chosen for its silvery sound, rather than literal meaning. I got addicted pretty quickly and I'm showing no signs of stopping. There were several unorthodox decisions made on the record that you have to learn to love. Some easier (the bum note in the opening guitar figure of "Topanga Canyon"), some harder (Louis Armstrong-style scatting on the otherwise stunning "Down the Beach"? You're out of your mind, Johnboy!). The peculiarities are part of the ramshackle fun though, with songs this strong and vibes this warm and inviting even the wrong moves feel right in time. One of my favorite discoveries of the year.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 15

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

The Moberlys - The Moberlys LP $5. 

I first heard Seattle's The Moberlys when I was 12. My dad had given me a 2xCD compilation of forty years of Northwest Rock Music for my birthday and "Sexteen" made the cut sandwiched between "Potential Suicide" by Wipers (classic) and "Night Shift" by fellow Seattle power pop outfit The Heats. Despite this early introduction, The Moberlys mostly just existed on the periphery for me, though I did encounter some of the songs on their eponymous 1979 debut along the way. (I swear I've heard "Papa Loves Mama" in a TV commercial or something but couldn't dig up any of evidence of this.) The Moberlys were one of those stories where the band had split before the record even came out. There's even a note "The Moberlys were together from May 1978 to September 1979" on the back jacket, something I don't recall seeing on any debut record. Jim Basnight, the songwriter/bandleader, would continue to make music and reform The Moberlys at various points. Musically, The Moberlys is some sort of connective tissue between the first Modern Lovers record and the first Weezer record. Lackadaisical, tongue-in-cheek slacker-punk attitude abounds, but there is a true bond to pop music of the early 60s. Some songs come across like direct homages to this style ("Give Me Peace" and "Papa Loves Mama") but the band is its best when it melds the retro-stylings with the contemporary crunch and jangle of the late 70s ("Last Night" and "Live in the Sun"). For fans of the gentler end of the late 70s punk continuum.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 14

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul LP $3. 

The iconic and ridiculously christened Hot Buttered Soul is a record I've read about for so long but never actually listened to. When a beat-to-hell copy showed up in the bargain bin at my local shop I knew it was time to change that. The hype is real. It indeed kicks ass. Orchestral psych-soul epics. The source of countless hip hop samples (including on a couple of MF Doom tracks) and the forefather of trip hop (heavy Portishead fumes on "Walk on By"). Towers over the other Isaac Hayes records I have, his debut, which is fine but not too exciting (even Ike thinks so), and the Shaft 2xLP which actually is cool just not as cool as Hot Buttered Soul. I've heard Black Moses is similarly riveting so that's my next Hayes target.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 13

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Black Sites - Prototype EP 12" $3. 

I compare my relationship to techno to my relationship with peaches. I enjoy both but don't have an appetite to constantly consume either. If I have one great peach from a farmers market that will probably satiate me until next year. Kinda the same with techno and this year's farmers market peach was this 12" by Black Sites which I bought knowing nothing about other it was on the PAN label (home to great avant-garde releases from Eli Keszler, John Wiese & Evan Parker, Ben Vida etc.). I pretty much buy a PAN record any time I come across one and they rarely disappoint. I'm too ignorant to know if this is "avant-garde techno" or "regular techno" nowadays but it bangs hard. I lean a little toward the former because there is some interesting stuff with combative time signatures and some noisy timbres, but maybe all techno does that now?

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 12

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Wendy Carlos - Switched-On Bach LP $1.50. 

Ongoing debate: Is Switched-On Bach a radical groundbreaking achievement or did it preemptively narrow and limit the scope and definition of what a synthesizer should do, before the world at large even knew what a synthesizer was? I tended to lean toward the latter viewpoint before picking up a copy of the record. Now, I feel like I've been overthinking things a bit. Is Bach's music traditional? Yes. Is Bach's music "Western"? Yes. Does Bach's music kick ass? Yes! And Carlos's arrangements and performances were indeed radical. There's a valid argument to using new technology to create "new" styles of music never heard before but there's an equally valid approach to take something so familiar as to be boring and to transform it into something novel and electrifying (har, har). I mean, reanimating J.S. Bach's ghost with farting sawtooths is pretty anti-establishment. Especially in 1968.

Crumbelievably, Switched-On Bach is somehow not on youtube, so hit your local bargain bin. You may enjoy songs from the other records I wrote about here:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 11

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies LP $5. 

Muswell Hillbillies (a pun on their home borough of Muswell Hill in North London) is The Kinks' Sweetheart of the Rodeo in a way. Just as The Byrds went 'n rode the Learjet all the way to Nashville to change up their sound, The Davies boys venture down a new aesthetic boulevard by channeling various strains of old timey Americana roots music to animate their English social class portraiture. I particularly like when they dip into a little Louisiana jazz, such as on "Alcohol". Coming after Lola closed out the classic 60s Kinks period with an exclamation point, Muswell Hillbillies is an overlooked record (at least I don't hear anyone talk about it) but a worthwhile one.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 10

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Duran Duran - Rio LP $4. 

Not sure what exactly prompted me to buy this, other than wanting to support my local record store by cleaning out its bargain bin. I never particularly liked the singles (well "Save a Prayer" is fun and has one of the dumbest/funniest music videos of all time) but I grabbed it anyway. After many listens, I'm still not a great fan of Le Bon's vocal style (which I now realize is what has kept me at arm's length) but it's a actually cool record otherwise, brimming with energy and great synth sounds. Plus, the finale "The Chauffeur" is legit and totally worth the price of admission. Like a John Foxx track snuck onto a hit commercial pop record.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 9

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Emmylou Harris - Luxury Liner LP $5. 

A nice collection of songs from Emmylou here. You have a pair of tunes penned by close collaborator Gram Parsons (the title track and the elegiac "She", arguably his best composition) as well as Susanna Clark, plus selections from classic old timers A.P. Carter and the Louvin Brothers, and even a rousing honky tonk version of Chuck Berry's "(You Never Can Tell) C'est la Vie". The centerpiece is Townes Van Zandt's immortal "Poncho & Lefty", as it's spelled on the jacket, which had been languishing in obscurity for years until Harris introduced it to a wider audience. Harris does justice to both the song's melancholic and mythical natures. The song has gone on to be a country standard (having Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard turn it into a smash hit single will do that) but if I'm not hearing Townes sing it, I hope I'm hearing Emmylou sing it.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 8

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Lewis Furey - Lewis Furey LP $4 CAD. 

This marked my first proper introduction to the work of violinist, pianist and Leonard Cohen collaborator, Lewis Furey. I'd loved his playing on Cohen's best album New Skin for the Old Ceremony (an all timer if there ever was one) but had not realized he had a solo career until I came across this record, his eponymous 1975 debut. From the jump, the art pop tango of, ahem, "Hustler's Tango" signals that you are heading down the path of a very peculiar album. Theatrical in all the best ways, Furey's limited vocal range and sardonic delivery forms the center to a strange set of ever shifting spokes that cycle around him on any given track. At times you might hear a little Cohen influence in there, but this is a really singular work. Furey seems to synthesize a galaxy of styles: Kurt Weill, Marc Bolan, James Taylor, Lou Reed, ornate chamber pop, cabaret jazz, dissonant avant-garde composition and more. The arrangements are reconfigured from song to song, just as likely to feature trombone as marimba as castanets as banjo. It is an inspiring album to say the least. Furey's influence can be felt in the music of fellow Canadian Owen Pallett (formerly Final Fantasy) who unleashed their own singular brand of idiosyncratic neo-classical art-pop for 21st century listeners.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 7

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Neil Young - Harvest Moon CD $0.50. 

Neil has been a very slow grower throughout my life but progress was made in 2023, thanks in part to the acquisition of Harvest Moon, my first taste of the 90s Neil albums. Not a perfect record by any means, there's a dumb song about a dog for instance, but it's solid throughout and features some pinnacles of my NY experience thus far like "Dreamin' Man" and especially the wistful "One of These Days" which played constantly on my brain radio for two weeks straight during the summer.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 6

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

The Byrds - (Untitled) 2xLP $2. 

The Byrds' only "double album" (and only untitled album, through a hilarious misunderstanding with Columbia) is not a true double album. The two records are split between live recordings and studio recordings. The first LP is solid (opener "Lover of the Bayou" is a highlight) with rocked up renditions of famous Byrds tunes. I was hyped to check out the sidelong version of "Eight Miles High" which I'd imagined as a proto-Spacemen 3 psych-feedback-implosion but it's more of a middle-of-the-road 60s rock freakout, in my book. The second LP is where my real listening occurs as it's the studio LP they affixed the live record to. It's a really strong album, not as many peaks as some other Byrds albums but consistent throughout while maintaining their trademark eclecticism. Whether the Velvets-lite vibe of extended closer "Well Come Back Home", the lonesome, Sweetheart of the Rodeo-esque ballad "Yesterday's Train", the pure glee of the Leadbelly cover "Take a Whiff of Me", or the album's best remembered song, country rock supernova "Chestnut Mare" (so stupid! so catchy!), there's good reason to add (Untitled) to every Byrds home library.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 5

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Flatliner - Black Medicine 12" $3. 

I wrote about many Holodeck releases back in the day, pretty strong quality across the board. The Troller LP is great. The BOAN record is still one of my favs from the 2010s. And, of course, the label is most notable for being Survive's initial springboard, pre-Stranger Things. So when a Holodeck release popped up in my local bargain bin, it was a no-brainer buy. Don't know any of the details on this Flatliner duo (thankfully, they do list all the equipment they used so we know this is legit. Did you build that MFOS Modular yourselves?) but I don't need to in order to enjoy this 45rpm 12". Firmly situated in the instrumental, this-could-definitely-be-a-synth-score-for-a-movie-I've-never-heard-of genre and quite a strong example at that. Lead off track, "Blasted Highway" is the most exemplary (wait, is "Blasted Highway" a movie I've never heard of?). Very on brand for Holodeck. Another satisfied customer.

A playlist of tunes from each of the records I wrote about, I'll add a new song each day:

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 4

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Judy Collins - Wildflowers LP $2. 

There are few artists more "bargain binny" than Judy Collins. Go to any bargain bin anywhere, there will be at least one Judy Collins LP taking up residence. I guarantee it. I had ignored her records for years because I forgot the cardinal rule of record buying: price ≠ quality. I finally took a chance on Wildflowers at my local shop because it had a Leonard Cohen song that he'd never recorded (along with a couple other Lenny cuts). Turns out Wildflowers is chock full of cool stuff, obviously the version of Joni's "Both Sides Now" is legendary (so I legendary that I had totally forgotten about it!) but Judy's own "Albatross" is a brilliant piece of pre-Kate Bush baroque pop. Two dollars very well spent.

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 3

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine CD $2. 

Growing up, I'd always written off NIN as 90s mall-goth bullshit but I keep hearing year after year that they're amazing. Well, general population of people who say things about music on the internet and on podcasts, you've won. I finally gave Pretty Hate Machine an earnest listen after acquiring this CD and I dig it. I was surprised at how catchy this is, basically a meaner, hard edged Depeche Mode. Not fully committing to an NIN journey yet (I don't know how many more albums of Trent's lyrics I can handle) but this is a cool record, and one of the most successful independent releases of all time which I hadn't realized. 

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 2

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

Donovan - Fairy-Tale LP $2. 

I'm a big fan of Don's psychedelic pop sorcery (Wear Your Love Like Heaven was a majestic bargain bin discovery some years ago) but I had never bothered to dip into his preceding folkie, "I am English Dylan" phase. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that era is also damn good, based on this record anyway. Don's rendition/arrangement of the traditional "Candy Man" fuckin' slays! Literally one of the best songs I heard in 2023.

The 25 Bargain Buys of Xmas: Day 1

Much of my calendar year, every year, is spent sifting through record store bargain bins, estate sales, etc. and digging into the acquisitions. I win some and lose some, but I never write about it on AuxOut even though it accounts for a huge portion of my listening and discovery. In honor of the season of presents, I am celebrating some of the gifts bestowed upon me by the record gods during 2023.

 

Alice Cooper - Love it to Death LP $3. 

I probably first learned about Alice Cooper from watching Wayne's World as a little kid (wonderful performance by the way, I learned so much about Milwaukee). I didn't realize for a long time that Alice Cooper was a person but also a band, a band that Alice Cooper was in and then left. (My head is still spinning.) And, also, that not all of their songs are about Frankenstein, though Love it to Death does have "The Ballad of Dwight Frye" which is pretty fuckin' close. This is one of the earlier records by Alice Cooper (the band) after they'd blown town. The sandy Southwest was just not ready for these boys from Phoenix. Thankfully, Detroit welcomed them with open arms. The Coops definitely contracted some blood diseases from the Stooges and MC5 via bar brawls or blood oaths which mutated with their uncontrollable power pop urges. You could build a car listening to nothing but "Caught in a Dream".