Needle Time

  Public Image Limited - Happy? [208 605 GER 1987 24-Bit FLAC] It's John Lydon's 66th birthday today, so to celebrate, here is a brand new rip of the Happy? album from 1987. Quite a few have asked for this ....and it is a significant upgrade on my old November 2018 rip. John Lydon and his ever rotating band of musicians stick the Public Image Limited name on what is essentially a polished eighties rock album. If it wasn't for the spiky ginger one's gritty and discordant monotone, Happy? could well be an album by any of a string of eighties hair-rock bands, however none of that lot had the late John McGeoch rocking out with the riffs. Is this really a PIL album, it is a zillion miles from Metal Box , after all those rifts and splits, my jury is out - however it is an entertaining listen and it does sound great when cranked up really loud, especially with all that McGeoch guitar which saves the record from eighties polished mediocrity. I am indebted to long time blog fo...

  Placebo - Placebo [MOVLP1093 EU 2018 24-Bit FLAC] Originally released an a very rare vinyl album in 1974 on Harvest Records, it is time to attempt a new rip of this album, released on white vinyl by Music On Vinyl a few years back. This rip is a significant improvement on my attempts back in February 2019. MOV have used the Record Industry plant in Haarlem, NLD to press this version. We know that plant are capable of decent quality pressings (all those Be With/KPM library albums were pressed there), however this is on colored vinyl and we will have to get over a little bonus noise in the quieter sections. Still, this album is essential and no other label has the rights to release it in better quality. To be honest, the noise isn't all that bad, only sporadic and gives me some confidence to track down black vinyl versions of the other two Placebo albums. Placebo was formed by Marc Moulin (out of Bruxelles francophone commune, Ixelles) in 1971 and has no connection with nineties c...

  Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters [APJ 084 USA  2021 24-Bit FLAC] As it is a Sunday evening, you usually get some jazz, this week you get two jazz albums. Both in similar styles (funky & innovative), however they vary geographically and in the quality of the finished product. After Donald Byrd last week, it only seemed right that Herbie should follow next. Good copies of Head Hunters are extremely difficult to find these days, with Music On vinyl swamping the market with substandard product. I originally had in mind a 1977 Japanese repress from my usual source of Japanese vinyl, however without an obi, such records are not really worth the investment. So for the some cost (around fifty quid), I happened upon this 2021 repress on Chad Kassem's Analogue Productions label, imported from the US.  This version is mastered from the original analogue reels and pressed onto superior quality vinyl in limited batches by Kassem's own Quality Record Pressings plant in Salina, Kans...

  Joy Division - Still [FACT 40 UK 1981 24-Bit FLAC] I notice from social media that 'Joy Division' are reissuing Still as a fortieth anniversary edition in, what looks like, a maroon sleeve on clear vinyl on February 11th - I make that a 40 years, four months and 3 day anniversary. Will I be buying it? Well no, I will not. I bought the original as a young lad of fifteen years in Manchester nearly forty years ago and feel no need whatsoever for a new pressing of unknown heritage on noisy, cheap clear vinyl - I am assuming this release will possibly be the Frank Arkwright 2015 digital remaster, regurgitated for the diehard collector (only 10,000 pressed!) or the new fans and the curious.  You might well have realised by now, that I am losing interest in digitally mastered recordings pressed onto analogue & poor quality plastic. Perhaps if a company like MFSL or any of the many newer high quality labels had been offered that chance to master & press from the original an...

  After This - Fields [12 OPA 012 UK 1986 24-Bit FLAC] Surprisingly, Fields is one of the most requested re-ups (I usually delete old links after about a year), so I decided to give the vinyl a good clean and re-rip in a choice of resolutions. This will be the last time I rip this record, it does sound really great and I don't think I will ever be able to improve on this After This. I can't say that I know much about After This, the sleeve says very little and internet research reveals nothing, except that the songwriting credit goes to Richard Lowe who seems to have been involved with nothing else. This gentle and cheery synthpop single was produced by former Associate and Paul Haig collaborator Alan Rankine, and released on Les Disques du Crepescule's British subsidiary Operation Afterglow.  Fields evokes good memories of decent Scouse synth acts such as OMD or China Crisis, whereas the more mundane Hollow Hills on the flip-side does lack the sparkle of the A-side. Some...

  Stockholm Monsters - Fairy Tales [FAC 41 UK 1982 24-Bit FLAC] How on earth do I follow that last post? How about this.... and while I will never make a habit posting 176.4kHz seven inch singles, I thought why the hell not! Fairy Tales was the debut single by Burnage ruffians, Stockholm Monsters, released by Factory Records in January 1982 in a very expensive leather effect sleeve conceived by Mark Farrow, printed by Garrod & Lofthouse and paid for by Tony Wilson.  Fairy Tales was produced by Martin Hannett and shows off his trademark delayed snares, the flipside was produced by band mentor, Peter Hook. Original Monster Ged Duffy has recently put his story into print and produces a really good read if the Mancunian music scene from the seventies through to those Factory years & beyond is your thing. You also get a chance to improve your Burnage dialect and discover who really are the bin dippers. A1 Fairy Tales B1 Death Is Slowly Coming

  ZZ Top - Various British & German Twelves [24-Bit 88.2kHz FLAC] I take absolutely no responsibility for what is about to happen! I will be watching the hit count meter on this one as I follow up Meat Loaf earlier this week with more American rock legends from Texas. If he doesn't mind, I would like to put the blame solely at the feet of penguinflight who donated these five twelves to the old ESWA blog in 2016. They were among a lot of boxes of really good stuff and I know he has been eagerly awaiting my attempts at real rock rippage. Here you are old boy, these actually sound great ...enjoy, keep well and keep safe.  ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin' W 9693(T) UK 1983 A1 Gimme All Your Lovin' A2 Jesus Just Left Chicago B1 Arrested For Driving While Blind B2 Heard It On The X ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man W 9576(T) DEU 1984 A1 Sharp Dressed Man  B1 I Got The Six B2 La Grange ZZ Top - Sleeping Bag W 2001 (T) UK 1985 A1 Sleeping Bag B1 Party On...

  The Pastels - Up For A Bit With The Pastels [GLALP 021 UK 1987 24-Bit FLAC] Glasgow's The Pastels formed in 1981 thus predating most similar indie-pop acts by several years, and that includes The Smiths and The Jesus And Mary Chain. It took them six years, six singles and four record labels to finally release Up For A Bit... on Glass Records in 1987. I acquired this album pre-release, it still has the promo sticker kindly affixed by my Cartel sales rep and surprisingly it hasn't had much play for about thirty something years. Let there be no doubt, this record is an indie-rock classic from a greatly overlooked band, with oodles of fuzzy pop and some great melodies. Get sucked into the majestic Ride , the wonderfully twangy glitter pop of Crawl Babies and the psychedelic fuzz-drone of Baby Honey (always a personal favourite). As I mentioned, The Pastels pre-date C86 but ended up getting dragged along on the breed's coat tails as they attempted to distance themselves fr...

  Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell [EPC 12-7018 UK Red Vinyl 1979 24-Bit FLAC] I guess, like many of you, our youth was tarnished by this record. It came out around the same time as Metal Box but likely appealed to a very different audience. Michael Lee Aday sadly passed away after contracting Covid, in Nashville a few days ago - A larger than real life character, he will be remembered best by me for Rocky Horror Picture Show and his unusual role in Fight Club . This red vinyl UK 12" pressing  has sat in penguinflight 's boxes for a few years now, it seems fitting that it finally gets to grace these pages. A1 Bat Out Of Hell B1 Heaven Can Wait

  Public Image Limited - Second Edition [2WX 3288 USA 1979 2LP Promo 24-Bit FLAC] I've ripped my copy of Metal Box a few times over the years, however this edition came my way recently and just had to be ripped! I've always found the mastering on Metal Box to be a little shrill, and often wondered how the album would sound when mastered as a 33rpm long player. The band's American label, Island Records (via Warners) declined the opportunity to expensively mirror Virgin's triple 45rpm tin edition and instead sent the reels to Sterling Sound Inc in New Jersey for mastering and then to the highly regarded Capitol Records Pressing plant in Los Angeles. Virgin Records adopted this format and title for subsequent UK versions of the album from around February 1980 onwards. Here are the results, my recent acquisition is a 1979 original pressing - complete with the gold embossed promo stamp as shown. I couldn't resist the opportunity to create a 176.4kHz archive. Turn this...

  The Deirdre Wilson Tabac ‎- The Deirdre Wilson Tabac [BEWITH029LP UK 2018 24-Bit FLAC] Before we change tempo and step up a few gears, how about a little psychedelic soul to kick off the week? The short career of The Deirdre Wilson Tabac began with their  The Other Side Of Life single for RCA in 1969 before their only album for the label the following year. Slipping below most radars, this album was recorded in Philadelphia in 1969 - a mix of self-penned numbers and covers, it was later to find favour in specialist markets mixing progressive funky jazz-soul with complex sixties psyche pop arrangements.  This is the one-off 2018 quality repress courtesy from Manchester's Be With Records and it was a joy to rip. Enjoy.... something different. A1 The Other Side Of Life A2 (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay A3 Let's All Join Together A4 Get Back A5 Angel Baby B1 The Last Thing On His Mind B2 I Can't Keep From Cryin' Sometimes B3 Look In My Face B4 Mag...

  Donald Byrd - Places And Spaces [BN-LA549-G USA 2021 24-Bit FLAC] Over the last few years, those nice folks at Blue Note have contracted Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio to master new quality vinyl pressings of key legacy releases from their back catalogue using the original analogue reels. The results are spectacular..... Originally released in 1975, Places And Spaces was an album of disco-soul and punchy neo-funk from jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd which spawned classics such as  Change (Makes You Want To Hustle) and his most famous single,  Dominoes .  A1 Change (Makes You Want To Hustle) A2 Wind Parade A3 Dominoes B1 Places And Spaces B2 You And The Music B3 Night Whistler B4 Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)