Get Your Wax Packs

When I was in elementary school, there was a small market around the corner from the campus. I would stop by the store before or after school and buy a pack of Wacky Packages. Packaged like baseball cards, they were a series of stickers that parodied popular consumer products. For example, a classic was Crust toothpaste. It sounds dumb now, but I loved them. I carried my set of stickers, carefully bound by a rubber band, everywhere I went.

As I grew older, I collected sports card. Today, I collect vinyl records.

The Secret Audio Club has created a product that will likely appeal to people who have similar stories to share. Theh company  is about to release its Wax Packs Series No. 1. It is set of 7-inch records packaged like baseball cards, featuring new music, acoustic covers, and B-sides from several artists.

The artists involved are Such Gold, Austin Lucas, PJ Bond, Podacter, Arliss Nancy, Banquets, John Moreland, Half Hearted Hero, Broadcaster, Aspiga, Boxer, The Hundred Acre Woods, Gifthorse, Broken Field Runner, Casual, Crybaby, Marathon, Fire When Ready, and Placeholder. 

Pre-orders are being taken. One pack costs $6, and a hobby box of five different records is $28.

For more info, visit the Secret Audio Club.

Pre-orders Being Taken for Tim Kasher Vinyl

Tim Kasher’s new solo album, Adult Film, has an Oct. 8 release date.

Saddle Creek is taking pre-orders for a color vinyl version that is limited to 500 and says it will ship two weeks before the release date.

A vinyl bundle that includes the album on color vinyl plus two 7-inch discs is available for $35.

The Head And The Heart Prepare Second LP

The Sub Pop label reveals that The Head and The Heart will release its sophomore album, Let’s Be Still, on Oct. 15. It comes two years after the band’s outstanding self-titled debut.

A fall tour is also on the way.

Sub Pop hasn’t released pre-order information yet, so stay tuned.

Pearl Jam Album Coming

Pearl Jam announced that it will release its 10th studio album, Lightning Bolt, on Oct. 14.

Produced by Brendan O’Brien, Lightning Bolt (Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records) marks Pearl Jam’s first studio album since Backspacer, which was released nearly four years ago in September of 2009.

Lightning Bolt is available for pre-order at pearljam.com. The vinyl costs $24.99. The first track off of the album, “Mind Your Manners” is out now.

The band also announced a fall North American tour.

Elton John to Release New Album

Hi Vinyl Fans,

Elton John is about to release his first solo album in seven years, The Diving Board, on Sept. 24. It is produced by T Bone Burnett.

Now, John has had a massive career with mammoth hits. He’s a big-time icon, who somehow remains sorely under appreciated. His 2006 album The Captain & The Kid, a sequel of sorts to the 1975 masterpiece, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, was stunning, full of rich melodies, poetic lyrics, and assured singing. It showed how timeless Elton John and his longtime collaborator, Bernie Taupin, remain.

I'm counting on the new album to be just as good.

Pre-orders are being taken for a deluxe box set, featuring a specially designed and embossed box that will hold the CD and 180-gram vinyl versions of the album, a DVD of the Capitol Records Studios performances and behind-the-scenes, a case-bound photo book, and an exclusive art print. The cost for this special box set is $159.99.

The two-disc, 180-gram vinyl album sells by itself for $24.99.

Check them out here.

Thriftstore Masterpiece

Hey Vinyl Fans:

Sorry for the long absence. It has been a busy few months, a hectic year. It has been much busier than I would like, but all-in-all that’s a good problem to have.

I hope everyone is having a summer filled with wonderful vinyl finds.

I wanted to tell you about the July 9th release of Thriftstore Masterpiece’s Trouble Is A Lonesome 

Town.

The project features an all-star cast, including  Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), Frank Black (Pixies), Courtney Taylor-Taylor (The Dandy Warhols), Eddie Argos (Art Brut), Pete Yorn, and others.

The idea behind Thriftstore Masterpiece is to pay homage to undiscovered albums. Cool idea. For its first effort, the group re-imagines Lee Hazlewood’s 1963 album, Trouble Is A Lonesome Town.

The project, which will have a revolving cast, is taking suggestions for its next album.

For more information, visit the project’s Web site.

Record Store Day 2013 Releases

Are you ready for April 20?

In March, I half-heartedly think to myself that maybe I'll skip Record Store Day this year. After all, who needs the long lines and the mad rush to grab the records that you want? Last year, I even saw a young woman crying at Amoeba in Berkeley.

Then, I see the list of RSD releases and get excited. There's always a few items that I really want to get.

What are you most excited about?

Here's a preliminary list of this year's special Record Store Day releases.

New Patty Griffin LP Coming

Patty Griffin is set to release American Kid on May 7. 

Her first on the New West Records label, the album is expected to be released on vinyl. If I’m not mistaken, this will be the first of Grififn’s seven LPs to get the vinyl treatment.

The singer-songwriter, who was recently part of Robert Plant's Band of Joy, deserves to be more widely known. A few years back, she toured with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, and Dar Williams. They would sit in a line across the stage, taking turns singing. At the San Francisco performance, Griffin stole the show. No easy feat. She won over the crowd with a soaring performance of her song "Mary."

On her  stellar 2002 album 1000 Kisses, Griffin performs Bruce Springsteen's "Stolen Car." I think it is one of the best covers of a Springsteen song.

If American Kid comes anywhere close to her earlier efforts, it's going to be great.

The song “Ohio” off the new album can be heard at Griffin’s Web site.