various artists - Rap-A-Lot Greatest Hits

This comp doesn't fuck around.

When it says "Greatest Hits" on the cover, it's not telling any lies. It's Houston hip-hop history, writ large, leading off with their first sons, Geto Boys. All the heavy hitters are here: UGK, Scarface, Juvenile, 5th Ward Boyz, Z-Ro. Every single cut present shows how crucial RAL was in showcasing hip-hop outside the industry strongholds of NYC & LA in the 80s and 90s. It's weird to me to see that Rap-A-Lot hasn't put out new music in nearly a decade; they were omnipresent throughout the establishment and growth of my musical taste. When you encounter that sort of tastemaker, you just kind of assume they're always going to be there, tipping you off to something new and incredible.

It's also hard to believe that I picked this up for a buck after it'd been sitting on the shelf in one of my regular haunts for a few weeks. I was glad to give it a new home.

Discogs

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various artists - Manifestation VII

A lot of people will tell you that you need to have experienced Manifestations 1 through 6 to truly understand Manifestation VII.

I say, just dive right in. You'll still get plenty out of this regardless of context or history.

Discogs

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Mineral / Jimmy Eat World / Sense Field

Sense Field (photo by Josh Withers)

A quick one, as I'm uploading about a gig of music for your listening pleasure.

This three-way split is about as peak 90s emo as it gets. Mineral, Jimmy Eat World, and Sense Field were, in 1997, about as close as one could get to mainstreaming emo. Mineral was on Crank!, and in between the release of their first and second LPs. Jimmy Eat World was a year off from recording "Clarity", and were a quartet of Arizona kids gutting it out in basements and VFWs with the slightest bit of support from Capitol Records. Sense Field had very quietly been signed by Warner Bros. the year before, and their record "Building" was actually showing up in Sam Goody. It was a weird time, especially since a lot of us had been around for all the post-Green Day/Offspring hullabaloo, and it felt like the mainstream was trespassing in the scene again.

Despite the tension present for a bunch of 19- and 20-year-olds having their youth exploited for the first time, this a pretty great non-album release. None of these recordings are available elsewhere, and Crank! pressed this on nine different colors of vinyl. It's veritable Pokemon of a split single! You get Mineral covering the Willie Nelson-penned classic "Crazy". You get Sense Field ripping through a demo version of "Every Reason", which I think tops the version on the "Part of the Deal" EP. However, the standout here is the Jimmy Eat World track, "Secret Crush", a ripper of a jukebox track at 3:08. This was the song that got me willing to listen to Jimmy Eat World.

Did I play this record on my radio show a lot? You bet I did. Did I put "Secret Crush" on a mix tape? For a girl? What am I, an amateur? You're damned right, I did. I'm sitting here, puzzling to remember if this was made for a tour, or for shits and giggles. I'm very pleased at how well it all holds up for me. I can see why the majors had an eye on developing this for a bigger audience.

Discogs

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