Mother Love Bone - Apple

I always thought I should have got more into Mother Love Bone and, listening to Apple now, I still don't know why I didn't. The album always felt like this tussle between 70's and 80's glam rock and 90's grunge, and that conflict got in the way of me being able to really enjoy it; it's a key part in the beginning of grunge, but the hard rock part felt dirty, tainting its status as an album that started the genre that defined the 90's.

I'd read about the band before I heard them, and their connection to Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog and Soundgarden was irresistible; how the singer, Andrew Wood, died just before this album was released and that Chris Cornell wrote most of the Temple of the Dog album as a tribute to him (naming it after a line in Man of Golden Words), essentially introducing Eddie Vedder to the other guys in Pearl Jam. I got the Temple of the Dog album in 2004 and loved it. I occasionally thought about getting a copy of this album on cd when I saw it come up on eBay, but for some reason never did.

In 2007 I had one of the best charity shops finds ever, and picked up this and Soundgarden's Louder Than Love for less than a fiver each - the wonders of the age when people priced things before Discogs. Both were in great condition considering their age so I snapped them up. I never found anything even half as good in that shop again. It really is a huge album, and if you can get past the glam-rock leanings, it's really great (although I have to make a real, conscious effort to do so). Stardog Champion has a brilliant riff and, actually, the same can be said for Holy Roller too (a song only ruined by the spoken-word section and the use of the word "love rock"). Heartshine is another great song. The second half doesn't reach such heights after that point, although the closer is nice. Looking at the song titles I've written here, you can see where that dirty glam-rock feeling comes from.

Anyway, as I wrote this, I just managed to knock some Lego onto the record as it played. My heart sank. Luckily it's just left a surface scratch and still plays fine. That comment about it being in great condition now seems a bit like I was tempting fate. Definitely going to review where my X-Wing model sits now.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 11
Cost: £4.80 second hand
Bought: Oxfam Books and Records, Winchester
When: 23/07/07
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

U2 - The Joshua Tree

For reasons I've never really been all that sure about, I own a U2 album. There was a day, at one point in the past - Friday 14th November 2003, to be exact - when I thought "yes, today I'm going to buy this U2 album". I don't remember there being much build-up; I don't think I spent much time thinking "U2 are a band I might want to get into". I think I was starved of good music in Lancaster a bit, but that doesn't make sense - just weeks beforehand I'd gotten into Far and Bad Brains for the first time, and the next day I bought a Fugazi record. It was, evidently, a very confusing time.

I found this in the Oxfam books and records shop in Lancaster - not long beforehand I'd picked up a water-damaged copy of the Lull EP by the Pumpkins and a while later I found a Centro-matic album; it was a mixed bag. Given that the town was heavily influenced by the university, not a lot of good stuff ended in Oxfam. I think every time I'd been in there in the two months I'd been at university, they'd had at least one copy of The Joshua Tree on vinyl - maybe I just got subliminally convinced into buying it (although the repeated notion that people are keen to give copies away is hardly a great selling point).

If you're going to own any U2 albums, surely The Joshua Tree is the only one to own? The thing plays like a Best Of album - can you imagine squeezing Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, With Or Without You and Bullet the Blue Sky all on one side of vinyl? Running to Stand Still stands no chance next to those four, but then they come back on side 2 with Red Hill Mining Town. Regardless what you think about U2, that's incredible. The back end of the album is a bit weak, but Exit is way heavier than I remembered. Mothers of the Disappeared is definitely an anti-climatic end though - I doubt in 1982 they weren't thinking that one day they'd be playing the album straight through, and having to end on that song.

Listening to it now, I'm wondering if I'm even that ashamed of owning this. I know Bono is clearly a twat but these are, without doubt, huge pop songs. It also sounds lovely, way nicer than I remember it sounding. I've cranked the volume far louder than one really should when listening to U2, but it is produced (by Eno, no less) brilliantly. I've also just noticed it was recorded by Flood, who produced Mellon Collie. I've not listened to this album in years - possibly more than 10 - but I'm thinking about giving it a spin again now. There are albums I've bought that I've still not played yet, but I'm considering bumping them to play U2 for the second time in one evening. What's happened to me?

I was in Spain recently, sat on a rooftop bar overlooking Madrid and, for reasons none of us could figure out, they were playing exclusively U2 for hours. Despite our obvious feelings towards U2, we couldn't help but enjoy it. It's very strange.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve, 12"x24" insert
Tracks: 11
Cost: £4 second hand
Bought: Oxfam, Lancaster
When: 14/11/03
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

The Smashing Pumpkins - Lull

This record has seen better days. The sleeve was water-damaged when I bought it but did mean that it was bargain £1 in the Oxfam Books and Records shop in Lancaster. I'd only just moved to Lancaster for university and was disappointed to find that the record shop in town had closed between my open-day and me arriving. The Oxfam shop had some interesting things on occasion but rarely anything brilliant (with the exception of a Centro-matic cd, which still seems quite out of place).

Whilst I wasn't that keen on buying a water-damaged record, for £1 it seemed more than worth it to hear three old Pumpkins songs I didn't know. Blue was on Pisces Iscariot, which I didn't have a copy of at that point, and a live version of Slunk was on Earphoria. This 12" remains the only place where I have a copy of the acoustic Bye June (although all of these songs feel like they should have found their way onto one of the many recent reissues). Despite the water-damage, the record itself is in perfect condition.

Very early Pumpkins isn't my favourite era, but I do really enjoy it. Rhinocerous and Blue are both great songs. Slunk has a slightly less finished feel to it, but I can imagine being excellent live at the time (I'm constantly floored by how good that band were live when I watch those old performances). Bye June is listed on the record as a demo, which makes me wonder how it would have sounded had it reappeared anywhere else with the rest of the band. It's a fine song.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 4
Cost: £1 second-hand
Bought: gig
When: 03/11/03
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

When I was 16 or 17 it was announced that Oxfam was going to open a dedicated books and records shop in Winchester. This was pretty exciting news because whilst MVC and HMV were keeping us in new cds we also knew that second-hand and charity shops often contained some bargain gems on both cd and vinyl. When it opened I was, of course, disappointed; most of the stock was from 70's pop bands and a lot of it was quite expensive - they had some supposedly rare Beatles records in the racks for £50 or so, getting gradually more and more knackered (although I did get a copy of Dirty by Sonic Youth on cassette for £1.50 not long after it opened). It wasn't as great as I hoped, but I still regularly checked the stock for any pleasant surprises.

On the 23rd of July 2007, there were two very pleasant surprises in the racks - someone had donated a copy of Louder Than Love by Soundgarden and Apple by Mother Love Bone, both on vinyl in reasonable condition and for less than a fiver each (I assume they were from the same person - it's an easy assumption to make). It was a little grunge-rock treasure trove that day. I wonder if the same person had donated any other records but someone else had got there first. Either way, an excellent find.

That day wasn't the first time I heard Louder Than Love though. My friend Guy had leant me a copy when we were at college and I hadn't enjoyed it that much. I think I had all of Soundgarden's albums at that point except for Louder Than Love and Ultramega Ok (the latter of which, criminally, I still don't own) so it was a bit different to the sound I'd been used to. Superunknown was huge for me back then (and still now) and Badmotorfinger had some massive hits. Louder Than Love wasn't so easily accessible and for years I thought I simply didn't like it. Years later when I found this copy in Oxfam I knew I had to give it a second try and I'm glad I did.

Ugly Truth is a bit of a slow opener but Hands All Over and Gun set the tone for the rest of the album much better. Loud Love is pretty excellent too but the highlight of the album is Big Dumb Sex, which is far more enjoyable and catchy than you might expect from a song with the chorus "I wanna fuck, fuck, fuck you". The reprise of Full on Kevin's Mom caps the album off in excellent style. In fact, there seem to be an awful lot of songs that are probably about sex on this album, something not so obvious on any other Soundgarden album. Perhaps touring left them in a certain frame of mind. That cover is one of my favourites too - I'm a big fan of the energetic-live-picture-album-cover and this is a prime example. Listening to it now, I still see why I wasn't taken by it all those years ago, but I'm glad I gave it a second chance because it's a huge album.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 12
Cost: £4.30 second hand
Bought: Oxfam Books and Records, Winchester
When: 23/07/07
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no