John Cale - Comes Alive (1984)

Extremely hard to find live album from John Cale released in 1984. This album took me about 4 weeks to download from a torrent, so I thought I would upload it for anybody who has been searching for this album as hard as I was.

Link in the comments.

Bedhead - WhatFunLifeWas (1994)

Awesome album by Bedhead, a rock band from Dallas, TX. Fans of Codeine, Low and Red Housepainters sould enjoy this.

Link in Comments.

Courtney Love - Nobody's Daughter Demos (2009)

This is "Nobody's Daughter" the way original producer Linda Perry envisioned. With the leak of the original versions of Samantha and Sunset Marquis last week, we finally have the full record the way it was recorded with Linda.

Courtney is very focused on the lyrics here, with each song telling a tale sadder and more tragic than the next. From Pacific Coast Highway "Now they're coming to take me away, what I want I will never have, I'm on the pacific coast highway with your gun in my hand..." to Happy Ending Story "Hey for every end in tragedy, I will twist your heart out..." to For Once In Your Life "I am the only perfect choice, I've met my match I've lost my voice, and when you're gone It gets so cold, I swear I'm too young to feel this old, this old...".

The album is filled with lyrical gems, and it stands as confirmation that Courtney is one of the best and most underated female lyricists alive. However, as it stands here, I don't think this album is great enough to gain back the respect Courtney lost in the music world over the past 10 years. I think she made the right decision in scrapping this version of the album and going into the studio with "Celebrity Skin" producer Michael Beinhorn. Even if that means we have to wait another year for the album.

Tracklist:

1. Pacific Coast Highway
2. For Once In Your Life
3. Letter to God
4. Samantha
5. Car Crash
6. Loser Dust
7. Sunset Marquis
8. How Dirty Girls Get Clean (Pop Version)
9. Happy Ending Story
10. Stand Up Motherfucker
11. Nobody's Daughter
12. Never Go Hungry Again

Link in the Comments (UPDATED LINK)

Martin Phillipps & The Chills - Sunburnt (1996)

This is one of my favourite New Zealand albums of all time. While everyone seems to agree that The Chills second album Submarine Bells is a classic kiwi record, I would argue that this album is superior. Due to the revolving door of musicians that make up The Chills, the only constant member Martin Phillipps decided to brand this outing as Martin Phillipps & The Chills (the rest of the band this time around was made up of members of XTC and Fairport Convention). And while the name may be different, the sound is not - it is gorgeous, sunny, subdued and beautiful jagle pop. And unfortunately, this album was the last we saw of The Chills.

I love everything about this album. It is probably tied for first place as my favourite kiwi pop album along with Bike's 1997 album Take In the Sun (which I will upload at a later date).

Take a listen!

Link in Comments

Del Shannon - The Further Adventures of Charles Westover (1968)

This is Del Shannon like you have never heard before.

I was pretty familiar with Del's work - I knew of his foray into country with his Hank Williams cover album, and I knew of his work with Tom Petty and of his Traveling Wilbury-style material with Jeff Lynne, but for some reason this album went under my radar. I'm sad it took me so long to discover it, because it is awesome psychadelic pop and easily the most ambitious album Del ever made. And it must have shook him - he didn't make another record for 13 years after this.

If you want to hear something a little different from one of the best songwriters of the rock and roll era, give this a try.

Link in comments

The Walkabouts - Satisified Mind (1993)

This is one of my favourite cover albums of all time. The Walkabouts chose some really random and really awesome songs to cover. From John Cale to Mary Margaret O'Hara to Patti Smith, all done in a really awesome country-meets-rock n' roll style. Check out the full tracklist below!

1. Satisfied Mind (Jack Rhodes)
2. Loom of the Land (Nick Cave)
3. The River People (Robert Forster)
4. Polly (Gene Clark)
5. Buffalo Ballet (John Cale)
6. Lover's Crime (Pewee Maddux)
7. Shelter for an Evening (Gary Heffern)
8. Dear Darling (Mary Margaret O'Hara)
9. Poor Side of Town (Johnny Rivers)
10. Free Money (Patti Smith)
11. The Storms Are on the Ocean (The Carter Family)
12. Feel Like Going Home (Charlie Rich)
13. Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone (Traditional)

Link in the Comments

Volcano - Volcano (2004)

This album was a one off side project of Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) with Bud Gaugh and Michael Happoldt from Sublime. It is a much better album than the previous Meat Puppets record Golden Lies four years earlier, and serves as somewhat of a precursor to their 'comeback' album Rise to Your Knees in 2007. Volcano is a laid-back punk-infused country album that had a lot of potential, but has sadly been forgotten about over time.

For some odd reason Volcano has been out of print since it was first released in 2004. Definately a must have for Meat Puppet fans.

Link in the Comments

Phil Ochs - Greatest Hits (1970)

My first post is an album I just managed to track down recently. It seems that a lot of Phil Ochs other albums are pretty easy to find, but this album didn't seem to be anywhere. I managed to find a torrent for it, and it managed to download after sitting on it for almost 2 weeks. So to save someone else who has been hunting for this album the annoyance of waiting for a torrent, I figured my first upload here my as well be this.

This is Phil's last studio album (not actually a 'greatest hits'), recorded in 1970 and produced by Van Dyke Parks. Gone are the politcal overtones that was the mark of the majority of his previous songs, and in their place are glossy, superficially cheery country songs, which were more accessible than almost anything Ochs had recorded up to this point. However when you look past the upbeat songs and sunny production, you find a very depressing undertone which is hard to ignore:

The rebels they were here
They came beside the door
They told me that the moon was bleeding
Then all to my suprise,
They took away my eyes.
And it seems that there are no more songs.
A star is in the sky,
It's time to say goodbye.
A whale is on the beach,
He's dying.
A white flag in my hand,
And a white bone in the sand.
And it seems that there are no more songs.

--No More Songs

This is a great country album, and a decent place to start if you are not aware of Phil Ochs. It is a real shame this album is out of print.

Link in the comments.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! My intent is to post albums here that I love and especally albums that are difficult to find. I know a lot of people go blog hunting for rare albums that you can't get very easily, so I thought I would start posting albums on my own blog that I have stumbled across and that I know other people are trying to get a hold of. I will try and stick to posting albums that are rare or out-of-print, but really anything that strikes me my end up on this blog!