various artist - Experiments In Audio Rocketry: A Mostly Acoustic Compilation

I'm not sure how I didn't own a copy of this until I came across one for a penny in an online auction. I was on board with 1-2-3-4 Go! from the jump, picking up copies of the Splitting Teeth 7" and the "Power Of Ten" comp when they came out. I booked a show for House On Fire when they stopped off in Baltimore during their first our, and Foundation came up from Richmond often enough that I've seen them half a dozen times. "Experiments" has a loaded lineup, headlined by Against Me!, NOFX, Jesse Michaels, and the Lawrence Arms.

Longtime readers will note a recurring theme here, wherein I correctly identify myself as an idiot. There are so many things I slept on b/c I was too punk, or too young, or too broke to dive headfirst into. It's nice that with age has come self-awareness, and a healthy sense of humor about my youthful obstinacy. it's also quite possible (likely?) that the record store I worked at in 2003 just passed this over, on account of a focus on noise rock and metal in the buying regimen.

At any rate, it's never too late to listen. This was worth waiting for.

Discogs

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R.E.M. - Animal's Attactions

Here is another Italian bootleg I found at the Goodwill; this time, it's R.E.M.'s live appearance on MTV Unplugged in 1991 (minus a few songs from that session). I'll never cease to be amazed how these guys managed to become the biggest band in the world for a few years on the back of jangle pop and mandolin leads. It's pretty cool, when it gets right down to it.

I'm pretty sure this got overlooked at the store due to the AH-MAH-ZING cover art. DOGS IN HAWAIIAN SHIRTS?!? WHERE TO BEGIN? Who wouldn't regard this a legitimate release worth $3 plus tax?

Discogs

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The Stranglers - 10 Track Collectors Album

One of my all-time favorite film openings is from Jonathan Glazer's 2000 debut, "Sexy Beast". Ray Winstone's Gal gallumps around his Spanish pool, his internal dialogue soundtracked to the Stranglers' "Peaches". The scene ends with a boulder crashing into the pool, narrowly missing Gal and setting off one of the best crime films of the 21st century, not to mention the source of myriad "cunts" and "fucks".

This was the first time I remember hearing the Stranglers.

I'd guess that has something to do with their fairly limited exposure in the States, or that their punk releases weren't particularly easy to find over here when I was coming up, or that they started out a pub rock band (a genre I ignored until my mid-30s) that was a bit older and more proficient than their first wave brethren. At any rate, it'd take me a while to get hip to how good their early bass-and-keyboard led sound was, or how progressive and uncompromising they were as a band.

This collection came out in 2006, a giveaway packaged into the August 6th edition of the Mail On Sunday. Released a month ahead of "Suite XVI", it's split evenly between acoustic and live versions of a number of their hits. Second vocalist Paul Roberts does the singing, so don't go into this expecting it to be definitive. For that, I'd suggest picking up Parlophone's 2018 "The Classic Collection" CD reissue series. But as far as free shit goes, this is far better than a sharp kick in the ass.

Discogs

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