The Murder City Devils - R.I.P.

When I got this record I only had two Murder City Devils album - Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts and Thelma. I was just getting into the band so it felt a bit wrong to hear their last-ever show next, but I knew copies wouldn't be that easy to find at any later point. Plus, at £8 it was a steal. I bought it in Brighton just before returning to Australia for my second semester out there; I made time to record it onto cassette before going back but after getting there was disappointed to find that I'd managed to not hit record on the second record, so for the first six months of owning this album I could only listen to the first half.

I love The Murder City Devils. Not enough bands I listen to sound anything like them - there's such an energy and power and sense of a good time - they're the sort of band that make you want to get drunk and throw yourself around to punk-rock bands (although the band will almost certainly not be as good as The Murder City Devils). This album captures their live show in a raucous and fairly shambolic way - the notes in the sleeve concede to this point but also imply that it couldn't really be any other way for a band like this. I never saw them live (something I still long to correct now they're playing shows again) but I think I would have enjoyed it greatly. As a live album, this is fairly terrible and as a final show it's also a strange one, but all that adds to its charm.

A lot of the album sounds great - the band had such a good sound - but there are some weaker moments. One Vision of May and Midnight Service suffer from what sounds like a combination of exhaustion and bad timing, which is a shame because they're great songs; Spencer has some mic issues during That's What You Get and Idle Hands, although someone steps in for some very deep backing vocals, which works well . I Want a Lot Now, Dancing Shoes, Boom Swagger and Broken Glass all sound fantastic; 18 Wheels gets played with such incredible energy that I'm impressed every time I hear it. Strangely, (for a final show) they play two new songs, Waltz and Grace That Saves, the latter of which gets the prime place of being the last song they'd ever play (until they reformed). It's not only strange because you'd typically go out on a familiar high, but also because it's just not a very good song - it drones and feels half finished, which is a shame. Had they gone out on 18 Wheels it would have been perfect.

There are a few really touching moments of stage chat throughout - at the end of Bear Away one of the band announces that it's the last show they're ever going to play with a real tremble in his voice; "these boys love you more than you will ever imagine" at the end of Boom Swagger; and when Spencer announces the last song. Each makes you feel really sad that they're breaking up, but glad they existed in the first place.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve

Tracks: 19

Cost: £8 new

Bought: Borderline, Brighton

When: 11/01/06

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

Snapcase - Designs For Automotion

For me, there are two distinct periods of Snapcase - everything before End Transmission and End Transmission itself (which I guess includes Bright Flashes). I've written before about how much I love that album at length, so I'll not gush too much now. I'm a fan of the first three albums too, but they're different and share far more in common with each other than they do with End Transmission. Sure, there are huge similarities, but the ways in which End Transmission differs is what makes it so excellent.

On Designs For Automotion, and the first two albums, Snapcase are a much more straight-forward hardcore band and they do it well. Designs is a great record - it's full of energy and the vocals, one of the things that I always felt separated them from most hardcore bands, are perfect. Songs like Are You Tuned In? and Twentieth Nervous Breakdown are brilliant examples of their sound and style. The album barely pauses for a moment, which is great but I guess also is what separates it from End Transmission; those moments on the last record where the wall of sound breaks down to just one or two instruments is one of the things I enjoy about it the most.

I fund this copy of Designs For Automotion in Borderline Records in Brighton, which I'm not sure still exists. I was back from Australia for Christmas, visiting some friends and squeezed in a little record shopping. The fact that this record cost me a mere £4 still amazes me. I think it was new and had, presumably, been sitting on their shelves for six years. I also picked up Adore by the Pumpkins and R.I.P. by the Murder City Devils for very little each, so it was a good haul.

I knew the album well by this point as a year beforehand I'd bought all of Snapcase's albums on cd for tenner on eBay. My cd copy of Designs came with a bonus disc featuring an extra song (Less Than Convenient), two live songs from Progression Through Unlearning (Caboose and Zombie Prescription) and three of the worst remixes I have ever heard in my life. There's not much to Snapcase's music that lends itself to late-90's remixes so I really have no idea what the fuck they were thinking. One of them is so (intentionally) glitchy that it's basically impossible to listen to. I rant about my dislike of remixies of rock songs regularly, but I think those three might be the very reason I have such strong feelings. I've gone off-tangent, but my memories of this album are entwined with my memories of those terrible remixes.

So that rant aside, a great album and an excellent find.

Format: 12", 24x12" insert
Tracks: 11
Cost: £4 new
Bought: Borderline, Brighton
When: 11/01/06
Colour: Transparent yellow
Etching: none
mp3s: no

The Smashing Pumpkins - Adore

Rather shockingly, I think I may have never actually played this record until now. I bought it shortly before going to Australia and I'd owned the cd for years, so there's a good chance it's never graced my turntable until now. One of my reasons for writing this blog was so that I wouldn't neglect my vinyl, and it's safe to say that's working here.

Adore was the last of the proper Pumpkins albums that I bought on cd (I finally picked up Pisces Iscariot a short while afterwards) and the last that I bought on vinyl too (on a very successful record shopping trip to Brighton). I like it, but it gets a bad rep and it's hard not to think about that, or compare it to the other albums. It may not be the Pumpkins's finest work, but it's not a bad album by any stretch, it just stands out against all the other albums so much. Tear was always my favourite song, but the singles Ava Adore and Perfect were pretty good too. I miss the traditional Pumpkins sound from the songs though. Like most people in their twenties who loved the Pumpkins as a teenager, if I need my fix of Pumpkins (they're a hard band to go cold-turkey from) I usually opt for Siamese Dream, even though I was more of a Mellon Collie fan before. I suppose none of the things I really love about the Pumpkins are here. Playing it now, the lengthy For Martha stands out better than it used to. I'm a big fan of that song today.

One of the coolest things about the vinyl version of Adore is that the cover contains about twice as much of the picture as the cd does; whereas before it looked like a woman in a dress against a strange background (in black and white), you see that it's in fact a huge red flower and her dress forms some of the petals. Studying the two, you can see that they're actually different pictures from, presumably, the same shoot (note the different position of the arms). I have no idea why they decided on the smaller one for the cd because this one looks great.

The worst thing about the vinyl version of Adore, however, is that it's a monaural record and basically sounds shit. It's amazing how little I notice how good stereo sounds, but this record makes me realise it. Maybe it sounds better with a mono needle/turntable (another reason I haven't played it more is that I was worried my stereo needle would damage the vinyl). It seems like a strange choice, given that this is the Pumpkins at their most experimental and with a sound that would probably benefit from stereo. Also missing is the final track on the cd 17 (along with the poem that accompanied it) which I always thought was a nice way to finish the album, despite being just 17 seconds of piano. The fourth side is blank, but with the markings of some concentric circles on the disc, but not actually etched in; one-sided records are often completely free of any markings so I'm not sure why these are here. Despite what I hoped, they're not 17 in any hidden format.

So a nice record for any Pumpkins fan, but one that's more for looking at rather than playing.


Format: double 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 15
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Borderline, Brighton
When: 11/01/06
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no