Part two of the TVD Record Store Club’s look at the new and reissued releases presently in stores for October, 2019. Part one is here.
NEW RELEASE PICKS: Sarah Pagé, Dose Curves (Backward Music) Harpists aren’t as rare on the scene as they used to be, but theirs is still a fairly uncommon instrument. Some may know Montreal resident Pagé for her playing in The Barr Brothers, who are described as both rootsy and indie folky, but Dose Curves is my intro to her work, and it’s a wide-ranging treat for adventurous ears. There’s certainly an abundance of plucked beauty passages (e.g. closer “Pleiades”), but the opening title-track is reminiscent of cello or viola in an avant context, while “Lithium Taper” uses her homemade pickups and pedal setup to cultivate an appealing ambient field. Notably, the entire LP (in an edition of 222 copies, most of them already purchased) is one unaltered performance, and it delivers a major artistic statement. A
REISSUE/ARCHIVAL PICKS: Booker T & the MG’s, The Complete Stax Singles Vol. 1 (1962-1967) (Real Gone) Starting with that instrumental R&B cornerstone “Green Onions” and then rolling through 28 more sides up to “Silver Bells,” the flip to their ’67 Xmas 45, this is a smart way to amass this band’s prime work on either CD or 2LP. Featuring Booker T. Jones on Hammond, Steve Cropper on guitar, Al Jackson, Jr. on drums, and either Lewie Steinberg (early) or Donald “Duck” Dunn (joining in 1965) on bass, theirs is one of the most distinctive sounds in the genre, often imitated but never duplicated, partly because others struggled to attain the appropriate measure of tight and lithe. As Stax’s house band, this is only part of their story, but these chapters are essential, all taken from mono sources. A
Gary Numan, Replicas – The First Recordings & The Pleasure Principle – The First Recordings (Beggars Arkive) To commemorate the 40th anniversary of these two seminal and groundbreaking post-punk electronic pop-rock albums, Beggars is issuing the early recordings of both on 2CD and 2LP, Replicas (co-credited to Tubeway Army) on sage green wax and The Pleasure Principle on orange. Note that neither set includes the actual released albums, so if you don’t have those, you still need ‘em. And anyone interested in the abovementioned styles does need ‘em (they were both reissued by Beggars in 2015). With this said, it’s difficult for me to rate either of these sets as must-haves, but they are both wholly worthwhile documentations of works in progress. If you love the finished LPs, you’ll probably want ‘em.
That each set includes a Peel Session does substantially increase the value, though both have been previously released on wax. Plus, Numan was creating rapidly in this era, and these collections magnify his development (leaving Tubeway Army behind in the process) without getting bogged down with the ephemeral. These ears retain a special affection for the Replicas material, mainly because there are still traces of the band’s punk beginnings in an overall attack that’s sharply focused on the future, but it’s Pleasure that captures him in full flower, and this dive into its gestation wafts a pretty sweet aroma. It should also be mentioned that the 2CDs offer extra stuff, in the case of Replicas just a third early version of the title track, but Pleasure has six (and six unreleased cuts, two of which are on the wax). B+/ B+
Sacramento, CA | Record Spinners: The History and Closure of Dimple Records: John Radakovitz stands in front of a makeshift assembly line in the back warehouse of Dimple Records in Roseville in July. One by one, he picks up a record, places it gently in a sleeve, affixes an orange price sticker to the front and sets it aside. Music has been at the core of John’s entire adult life. He’s made a career of trading tonal poetry captured on vinyl, then magnetic tape, then polycarbonate plastic disks — and somehow, in this era where millions of people lease music encoded as zeroes and ones, the company he cofounded more than four decades ago is still going strong. People still walk into his seven stores scattered throughout the Sacramento area, and they’re buying music, movies, video games and books, both new and used. But John knows many people are walking into his stores for what could be 
Hartlepool, UK | Rare signed The Jam album up for grabs at Hartlepool charity music event: Music fans can win a rare album signed by all three members of The Jam and help raise money for two worthwhile causes at an upcoming event. Hartlepool DJ David Halcrow, his wife Tracey and Hartlepool March of the Mods organiser Kev McGuire are staging a day of music and fundraising at the Corporation Sports and Social Club in Whitby Street. It takes place on Saturday, November 2, from 2pm until late and will feature a mix of top local live bands, DJ sets, food and raffles. The main raffle prize is a rare three record vinyl album by The Jam autographed by Paul Weller, Rick Buckler and Bruce Foxton. The day is raising money for the Chemotherapy Unit at the University Hospital of Hartlepool and 12-year-old Grace Measor from Seaton Carew who has been undergoing 
Los Angeles, CA | The Get Together Indie Label Fair Will Make Its L.A. Debut At The MOCA: On Nov. 15 and 16, the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Downtown Los Angeles will turn into an indie music lover’s mecca with its first edition of The Get Together: Record Label Market & Music Fair. After throwing three successful seasons of the Come Together in their home in New York City, Other Music has paired up with L.A. concert/event power team Spaceland and the MOCA to bring their indie artist vinyl/merch fair and music showcase extravaganza to Southern California. Following a kick-off party the first night, on Sat. Nov. 16, the marketplace will officially launch at 11 a.m., until 5 p.m., with a chance to shop merch and vinyl from a large selection of indie labels from around the world, including Future Classic, Fat Possum, Brainfeeder, Cosmica, Domino, Matador, Mexican Summer, Ninja Tune, Rough Trade, Stones Throw, Big Crown, Sub Pop and Young Turks. The event website reveals that more labels and programming additions will be added and also notes that “you can meet and mingle with the teams behind the records you love,” 
Requiem for a Record Store: All Things Must Pass, a documentary about the rise and fall of Tower Records, is worth a look. It’s one of those interesting stories that are relevant to me because it’s ephemeral and generational. It’s like watching a doc about free weekly newspapers thick with ads, repertory movie theaters that showed old films, or even as recent as video rental stores; all things that were big in “our” time — baby boomer’s time — and have since faded. But whatever age you are, you may find it of interest. I’d wondered how they managed to get interviews with people like Bruce Springsteen and David Geffen until I found out the director was Tom Hanks’ son Colin. As Colin’s dad nostalgically depicted in That Thing You Do, back when I was a kid, records were sold in places like TV and radio stores, department stores, and five-and-dimes (a pretty anachronistic phrase now). A few record stores existed mostly for the classical and jazz fans (I can’t really call them “crowds”) and were smallish hobby and collector stores. We boomers have lived through the whole era of the giant record superstore, rock-driven places like Sam Goody in New York and Tower Records, which started in 1960 in Sacramento and made its first giant leap to San Francisco in 1967. Its early claim to fame was completeness; 
Winnipeg, CA | Get the record straight: Vinyl lovers have new Osborne location to search through bins for long-lost favourites. On Sunday, Brent Jackson, the 39-year-old owner of Old Gold Vintage Vinyl, an eclectic, pop-up record shop that recently landed a permanent address in Osborne Village, will be one of 90 vendors taking part in Rockin’ Richard’s Record and CD Sale. This will be Jackson’s 20th appearance at the twice-a-year sale in Winnipeg, the second largest of its kind in the country. And while the hip-hop, funk and soul DJ again devoted a chunk of time in the days leading up to the event debating which albums to bring along and which to leave behind, he admits he could have 
Boston, MA | Streamed music and digital images have driven the comeback of vinyl and printed photos: The resurgence of vinyl records in a time of digital music and streaming is a story of how innovation can make technological comebacks possible. In the summer of 2019, the sales of vinyl albums are on the verge of becoming the largest source of revenue from physical sales in the music industry. This follows 15 years of upward trend – today, while remaining a niche product, the vinyl record may well eventually survive to be the only analogue medium for music, as the sales of CD continue their downward spiral. Researchers in sociology and consumer culture have shown how this trend goes well beyond nostalgia – buyers of vinyl are attracted by its status as an object, its physical presence. This attraction matters even more today, as most of the time listening to a song does not involve buying 
