various artists - A Dirty Shame (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

I'd had this idea once that I would gather all the soundtracks from John Waters' filmography, and post them here, along with my thoughts on the film and sounds. Clearly, I've not followed through until now, and I don't think I'm going to do it, but better to disclose, I suppose.

This is, at this late date, the final feature from the Baltimore auteur, a development that makes me sadder every single day. While a lot of folks don't think highly of "A Dirty Shame", I like it just fine. I love the ongoing images of Tracy Ullman manning the register at a High's Dairy Store, Johnny Knoxville hanging out on Harford Road, Selma Blair flouncing about northeast Baltimore. By the time this came out, I had a few friends who'd bought houses out where this was shot. I still lived downtown, so I took joy in calling them neutersm teasing them for finding housing outside the Beltway.

"He who fucks nuns/will later join the church," the saying goes. And the author types it up in a comfy suburban apartment, overlooking a pool turning green in the fall's light.

The soundtrack reflects Mssr. Waters' taste to a T; a mix of rockabilly, jump blues, rhythm & blues, novelty cuts, and early rock 'n' roll. James Intveld's score gets represented with "Let's Go Sexin'"; fine advice, if I've ever heard it. It's all enough to make a Balmer boy miss home, to lust for a RoFo 2-piece and a roll, a trip to Sherri's Showbar, some late night hangs Holiday House.

Discogs

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various artists - Steal This Disc 3

In fact, I did not steal this disc. I paid a dollar ninety-nine for it mere weeks ago.

A quick one, as I prepare for a full-day training session on my Sunday. It's fascinating how the music you're introduced to at an early age shapes your entire listening existence. While I didn't own an exact copy of this in the early 90s, my early CD collection was littered with Ryko releases. The Bowie and Zappa reissue series, Hendrix's Radio One sessions and "Live at Winterland" set, "Hardcore Devo" Vols. 1 & 2, and Mission of Burma's Ace of Hearts output all populated my shelves before I graduated high school. They were mostly appointed in the distinctive green Rykodisc jewel cases, making them stand out that much more amongst the other pieces of my slowly-growing collection.

This one broadens my decidedly-narrow view from junior year. There are a trio of Beatles-adjacent tracks from Ringo, Badfinger, and Paul McCartney's brother. Rykodisc really leaned into world music with the likes of 3 Mustaphas 3 and the Oyster Band. I had no clue Jerry Jeff Walker and Evan Johns had put out records on Ryko until I snagged this; Nils Lofgren was less surprising, as was a Henry Kaiser project.

I don't know if it says more about the priorities of the music industry or the tastes of listeners that you just don't get this sort of awesome shotgunning any more. I suspect it's the former; I know that amongst my own aging group of freaks that we're even more likely to acknowledge that we want to listen to Ornette Coleman, Lack Of Interest, Wendy Carlos, and Barbara Dane, often times one right after the other.

The fold-out cover, exhibited below, is just the cherry on top of a collection that still fucking slaps.

Discogs

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various artists - Hi Records - The Early Years Vols. 1 + 2

I grabbed this off a shelf at Value Village a number of years ago b/c I'll check out anything that came out of Memphis. And while this has no more in common with the likes of Al Green and Willie Mitchell than a record label and city, this was a pretty rad find, chock full of sounds that I wouldn't typically check out.

Ace Cannon is the one name I was familiar with going in, making an early appearance backed by Bill Black's Combo. Along with Bill Black's Combo, there are other names to look deeper into here: Gene Simmons, Tommy Tucker, Jerry Jaye, and Jay B. Loyd all turn in multiple cuts from Hi's first round of singles, released over the first couple years of the label's existence.

If you're into the depths of early rock 'n' roll, this is a good one to tune into.

Discogs

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various artists - Zeppelin Classics

1/13/23: UPDATED WITH NEW DL LINK

Another P-Vine "Classics" comp. For my money, Thin Lizzy > Zep. But Brock Samson is a fan, so respect must be paid. And as much as I'd like to sit here, talking shit, Plant/Page/Jones/Bonham had fantastic taste and great influences. So this, like the previous one, makes for a pretty compelling comp. Imagine my joy when I found this one at Goodwill for a measly three-spot.

Discogs

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The Cramps - Psychedelic Jungle / Gravest Hits

In the before/before time, I had a pretty reliable rule: if a bar had the Cramps on the jukebox, they were going to be my type of gin joint.

I'm partial to their earliest work, featuring the late Bryan Gregory on guitar alongside Poison Ivy. But this set, released by I.R.S. all the way back in '86, offers the best of both worlds: the second LP from the Cramps, 1981's "Psychedelic Jungle", and their 1979 12" "Gravest Hits". "Jungle" is rad as its one of Kid Congo Power's' earliest appearances on vinyl; he replaced Gregory after the Cramps' first LP, and began doing double duty in the Gun Club in 1982.

This is so trashy. It makes me want to sniff glue and watch some Joe Don Baker movies. I want to stomp on feet and eat a plate of cake and go back to drinking $2 whiskeys in a shitty part of town and put about 20 Cramps on the jukebox and wake up with a painful, delicious headache from too much fun.

Discogs

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