Air – Moon Safari Reissue Blues : What’s Missing?

Moon SafariPer the folks at Pitchfork (who heard from NME) Air’s landmark album Moon Safari will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a deluxe reissue. This reissue will bundle the original album, plus a disc of bonus material, and a DVD documentary ( Air: Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing directed by Mike Mills, who did the cover art and some of the videos for Moon Safari). The release will happen March 31st on Virgin in the UK and April 15th on Astralwerks in the US.

So, as excited as I am about this release– when this album came out I had a pretty big crush on the lush French sounds– it’s missing songs. For a while I was collecting anything that sounded like Air (Dmitri from Paris, DJ Cam, Mellow, etc.). So, naturally, I have all of the import singles associated with Moon Safari, plus any of the tracks that showed up on compilations like the tres groovy Source Records compilations (Source was the label Air was on initially). It has some of the tracks from the singles, but not all. Here is the tracklist as advertised with where the track came from notated by moi:

Moon Safari:

01 La Femme d’Argent
02 Sexy Boy
03 All I Need
04 Kelly Watch the Stars
05 Talisman
06 Remember
07 You Make It Easy
08 Ce Matin Là
09 New Star in the Sky
10 Le Voyage De Pénélope

Moon Safari Remixes, Rarities and Radio Sessions:

01 Remember (David Whitaker version) (“Kelly Watch the Stars” Single)
02 Kelly Watch the Stars (live at the BBC 1998)
03 J’ai Dormi Sous L’Eau (live at the BBC 1998)
04 Sexy Boy (live at the BBC 1998)
05 Kelly Watch the Stars (Moog Cookbook remix) (“All I Need” Single)
06 Mabrouk (live on KCRW 1998)
07 You Make It Easy (live on KCRW 1998)
08 Bossa 96 (demo)
09 Kelly Watch the Stars (demo)
10 Sexy Boy (Beck ‘Sex Kino’ mix) (“Sexy Boy” Single)

DVD:

01 Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing
02 Videos: “Sexy Boy”, “Kelly Watch the Stars”, “All I Need”, “Le Soleil Est Pres De Moi”
03 Album graphics

So, the rest of the tracks on the bonus disc are new– even to me. That’s enough of a reason for me to buy this.

But, What’s Missing?

“Sexy Boy (Etienne de Crecy & The Flower Pistols Remix)” (“Sexy Boy” single)
“Sexy Boy (Cassius Radio Mix)” (“Sexy Boy” single)
“Jeanne (with Francoise Hardy)” (“Sexy Boy” Single)
“Kelly Watch The Stars (American Girls Remix by Phoenix)” (“All I Need” single)
“Californie” (promotional flexi-disc, although this did get issued on the 1999 reissue of Premiers Symptomes. I consider this a Moon Safari period track)
“Cosmic Bird” (with Jean-Jacques Perrey) (SOURCELab 3 compilation)

Gary Louris Vagabonds Versions and Bonuses

Former Jayhawk Gary Louris’s solo album Vagabonds was released on 2/19. From a collector’s perspective this is a pretty interesting release in the bonus releases and tracks that exist.

First there was the Limited Edition 180g vinyl gatefold release which came out ahead of the CD release on January 29th. I couldn’t find how “limited” the release is– at least not from the press releases. I suppose this will only be one pressing.

On the release day last Tuesday, if you visited your local independent record store they might have had a promotional 6-track CD called Acoustic Vagabonds. Based on what I read, the tracks on this CD are based on the tracks from the CD and LP except stripped to Gary’s vocals and acoustic guitar. The songs are “True Blue,” “Omaha Nights,” “To Die A Happy Man,” “She Only Calls Me On Sundays,” “We’ll Get By,” and “Vagabonds.”

Additionally, iTunes and Amazon got in on the action by having digital versions of Vagabonds with unique bonus tracks! The really great thing about these bonuses is that if you wanted just the bonus tracks (like if you purchased the album from other means) you can purchase them individually! The only bummer is that the bonus tracks from iTunes aren’t “iTunes Plus” which means that they– unlike the Amazon tracks– are copy protected.

The Amazon bonus tracks are “Baby Let Me Take Care of You,” and “Fall Day (Demo).” “Baby Let Me Take Care of You” reminds me a lot like Nashville Skyline Bob Dylan with it’s pedal steel. “Fall Day” is a nice layered acoustic guitar instrumental.

The iTunes bonus tracks are psychedelic Byrdsy “Three Too Many,” and a beautiful Simon and Garfunkel falsetto in “Working Girl.”

I think it’s great that Louris and Rykodisc are being so generous with the outtakes and bonuses for Vagabonds– I’d like to see more labels and artists doing this.

Get Vagabonds on CD on CD from Amazon
Get Vagabonds on LP from Amazon
Get Vagabonds on mp3 including the bonus tracks from Amazon
Get Vagabonds from iTunes including the bonus tracks
Gary Louris - Vagabonds (Bonus Track Version)

B-Sides in the Bins #22 – Cedar Rapids 2/22 & 2/23/08

Friday night Sherry was at a class, so I decided to hit Half Price Books before coming home from work. I also hit CD’s Plus on Saturday while I was out running some errands. I got some pretty cool stuff, including a CD that I was hoping to snag for a review from a label.

Prince – Purple Rain – 20th Anniversary (2 DVD, Warner Bros. 33533, 2004) ($9.98) One of the cool things about Half Price Books is that they get “cut outs” of CD’s and DVDs. They had two copies of this sealed and notched as cut-out. I had purchased not too long ago a copy of the 1997 release. I think it was in one of the bins at Wal-Mart. This was the “Standard Version” that was pan-and-scan 6×9. The 20th Anniversary version is 2 DVD with a second DVD dedicated to extras like a cool documentary on First Avenue where the live performances were filmed, a making of documentary with interviews with Dr. Z, Wendy and Lisa, Jimmy Jam and others. They also have a somewhat embarrassing “MTV Premiere Party” from the movie premiere complete with interviews of John “Cougar” Mellencamp, “Wierd Al” Yankovic, “rising star” Eddie Murphy, Wendy and Lisa, Little Richard who was in full Bible-thumping mode, and a self-important VJ Mark Goodman. An interesting view into the MTV promotional engine. Talk about non-sequitur interviewees! I guess Eddie Murphy and Little Richard make some kind of sense– but the “Wierd Al” and John Mellencamp interviews were certainly a stretch. Little Richard turned his interview into a thing about him and Murphy makes some funny digs about that. Mark Goodman goads Murphy unsuccessfully to do an impersonation of Prince, and then tries to get him to do an impersonation of James Brown. Eddie says, “I’ve already done that” and walks away. The bonuses also include all of the associated videos from Prince, The Time, and Apollonia 6. Wow, “Sex Shooter” was a really horrible song and even worse video.

As the story goes, Apollonia Kotero replaced Vanity (Denise Matthews) for the lead female part after Vanity broke up with Prince and went solo under a record contract with Motown. So, the remaining members of Vanity 6 (Brenda Bennett and Susan Moonsie) plus actress Patricia Kotero (renamed “Apollonia” by Prince) became Apollonia 6. The Vanity 6/Apollonia 6 girl group was an idea that Prince had for a while and of course created songs for. Apollonia 6 recorded one record tied in with the rest of the records associated with the movie and that was it. Kotero and group were supposed to open the tour with the Revolution and the Time but that never panned out. Interestingly, Prince apparently wrote “Manic Monday” which would eventually go to The Bangles (and likely specifically to Suzanna Hoffs) and “The Glamorous Life” which went to Sheila E. for the Vanity 6/Apollonia 6 projects. Coincidentally, both Vanity and Apollonia have become born-again Christians. Actually, Prince is too, I guess.

The movie is restored to Widescreen and remastered. The old release was really shoddy, and this one is a vast improvement. I see that there is a BluRay version of this available, too. I’ll probably upgrade this copy when I get a BluRay player.

Aimee Mann – Bachelor No. 2 (Or The Last Remains Of The Dodo) (CD, Superego Records, 2000) ($5.98) This is the album that followed the success of the soundtrack to Magnolia. It includes some of the songs from Magnolia– one as an instrumental. Aimee Mann is one of my favorite female musicians and her pairing with Jon Brion is perfect. The songs from Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia and this album would make a nice mix CD. Only “How Am I Different,” “Deathly,” and “You Do” are on both. “Nothing Is Good Enough” appears on the soundtrack as an instrumental.

This was a sealed copy or re-sealed. Aimee’s first release as an independent artist.

Mike’s Mann Mix for the Last Remains of the Magnolia

1. One (from Magnolia)
2. Momentum (from Magnolia)
3. Build That Wall (from Magnolia)
4. Deathly (from Magnolia or Bachelor No. 2)
5. Driving Sideways (from Magnolia)
6. You Do (from Magnolia or Bachelor No. 2)
7. Wise Up (from Magnolia)
8. Save Me (from Magnolia or Bachelor No. 2)
9. How Am I Different (Bachelor No. 2)
10. Nothing Is Good Enough (Bachelor No. 2)
11. Red Vines (Bachelor No. 2)
12. The Fall of the World’s Own Optimist (Bachelor No. 2)
13. Satellite (Bachelor No. 2)
14. Ghost World (Bachelor No. 2)
15. Calling It Quits (Bachelor No. 2)
16. Just Like Anyone (Bachelor No. 2)
17. Susan (Bachelor No. 2)
18. It Takes All Kinds (Bachelor No. 2)
19. Nothing Is Good Enough (Instrumental) (Magnolia)

Pylon – Gyrate Plus (CD, DFA 2181CD, 2007) ($5.98) This is one that I’d hoped would come to me as a promo for review, but at $5.98 used, it was worth buying. I was surprised to see its spine looking up at me from the bins. Pylon was one of the seminal Athens, GA bands and were contemporaries of the B-52’s. Started as a kind of side project for its members who really thought of themselves more of an art collective. They were inspired by the B-52’s very stripped down approach (at least in the early days). I think you can hear a lot of similarities in the tribal dance beats and angular guitars. I became familiar with Pylon through the documentary “Athens, GA Inside/Out” and their performance of “Stop It.” When I got to college in the late 80’s I met a guy named Tom Lally who had the Pylon records on vinyl. These were on the now-defunct DB Recs label. I had made a tape of Gyrate and Chomp. Pylon broke up after Chomp just as they were asked to open for U2. Pylon reformed in 1990 for Chain on the now defunct Sky Records. I bought Chain when it came out and the 1988 Hits compilation on DB Recs. Other than the few tracks on Hits, the tracks from Chomp have not seen re-release. I hope that DFA is planning to reissue Chomp as well.

Listening to these songs again for the first time since the Nineties, I can tell that my remedial bass-playing skills are very influenced by Pylon– especially the track “Volume” on Gyrate. Pylon got back together last year and played a handful of shows to promote this re-issue and there are a couple of them available via BitTorrent.

R.E.M. are fans of Pylon and covered “Crazy” on their Dead Letter Office album of B-Sides.

Click Here to visit Southern Shelter’s page of live mp3’s from Pylon.

Iron and Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog (CD, SubPop SPCD 710, 2007) ($7.99) I got this one from CD’s Plus. I was happy to have stumbled into this one. I was really impressed with Sam Beam’s collaboration with Calexico for the In the Reins EP. Shepherd’s Dog picks up nicely from there. Full instrumentals provided with help again from Joey Burns and Paul Niehaus. Very nice percussion one this record makes it kind of a toe-tapper for me. Sam’s voice is one of my favorites in indie rock today. Brilliant record, I can’t recommend it enough.

Upcoming Show: Nellie McKay at The Dakota Jazz Club, Minneapolis April 6, 7, 8, 2008

Photo Credit: Amy T. Zielinski

Thanks to the fine folks over at More Cowbell, I found out about Nellie McKay’s three-night stop in Minneapolis at the ultra-swank Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, April 6th, 7th, and 8th

As it turns out, my wife Sherry wanted to be in town that weekend anyway to celebrate her birthday with her sister so it couldn’t happen at a better time. Plus, my daughter RaeEllen is a die-hard fan of Nellie ever since the first album. We called her at her dorm room tonight where she’s feeling a bit under-the-weather at the moment. But, she’s excited to see her at last. Nellie was in the Twin Cities late last year as part of the touring Christmas Show that Aimee Mann was doing. Unfortunately, that show didn’t work out for us, which is too bad because we’re fans of Aimee here at the Roeder house as well.

The show starts at 7PM and tickets for non-A Train members is $25.

Nellie has some tour dates running through the beginning of May:

Feb. 23
Los Angeles, CA
Bang Theatre, Benefit for Object

Feb. 25
Los Angeles, CA
Steve Allen Theatre Ben Karlin’s “Things I’ve Learned from Women Who’ve Dumped Me”

Feb. 27-Mar. 1
Monterey, CA
TED Conference

Mar. 6
Cleveland, OH
Nighttown

Mar. 7
Detroit, MI
Detroit Institute of Arts

Mar. 9
Morgantown, WV
Creative Arts Center, WVU Campus NPR/Mountain Stage

Mar. 10
Albany, NY
Family Planning Advocates Conference

Mar. 31
New York, NY
Symphony Space NYCLU “Voices for Change”

Apr. 1
New York, NY
Joe’s Pub

Apr. 6, 7, 8
Minneapolis, MN
Dakota Jazz Club

Apr. 11
New York, NY
Town Hall, A Prairie Home Companion

Apr. 12
New York, NY
Town Hall
A Prairie Home Companion (live broadcast)

Apr. 18
Easton, MD
Talbot County Auditorium

May 2
New York, NY
Rubin Museum of Art “Music Without Borders”

The Curious Case of the 1993 Cure Live Releases

The Cure ShowI don’t know if the Cure does this on purpose, but it can be very difficult to be a Cure collector. It seems that they give their fans lots of releases to collect, but the overlap that sometimes occurs is grating.

I was reading my regular diet of music blogs this morning where I found this post from Don at Timedoor about a recent used CD find of the OOP Cure live album of their July 1989 show at Wembley titled Entreat. Entreat was another odd Cure release in that it was a collection and expansion of some live b-sides that they released on the Disintegration single “Pictures of You.” I vaguely remembered this release as it kind of annoyed me at the time since I was a collector of Cure releases and this forced me to purchase a release just to get four more songs. (I picked up all four of the singles “Fascination Street,” “Pictures of You,” “Lovesong,” and “Lullabye” in a box set with a poster called Integration.) Don includes three tracks as mp3’s. There seems to be used copies of this release available.

This reminded me of the fact that the Cure pulled something similar to this in 1993 around their “Show” concert film. This film and the corresponding album was based on the Cure’s two-day stop at The Palace in Auburn, MI during the behemoth Wish Tour on July 18th and 19th. I saw the Cure at the World Music Theater in Tinley Park that same tour on July 15, 1992. I still have vague recollections of sitting on the grassy hill watching the band on the big Jumbotrons with my friend Jenny.

The US release of Show on CD was a 1-CD affair, while the UK release was 2-CD. To make up for this the liner notes of Show helpfully point out that you could purchase the Sideshow maxi-single to pick up the missing five tracks. So, to recreate the entire Show 2 CD version it would look like this with the source in parenthesis:

Disc: 1
1. Tape (Sideshow)
2. Open (Show)
3. High (Show)
4. Pictures Of You (Show)
5. Lullaby (Show)
6. Just Like Heaven (Sideshow)
7. Fascination Street (Sideshow)
8. A Night Like This (Show)
9. Trust (Show)

Disc: 2
1. Doing The Unstuck (Show)
2. The Walk (Sideshow)
3. Lets Go To Bed (Sideshow)
4. Friday I’m In Love (Show)
5. Inbetween Days (Show)
6. From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea (Show)
7. Never Enough (Show)
8. Cut (Show)
9. End (Show)

So, with the help of Amazon, you can recreate this show for $6.99 for Sideshow used, and $11.99 for Show new. Note: For some reason sellers think that Sideshow is worth over $50 new! The problem with assembling this for yourself would be splicing those tracks back in. I don’t own Sideshow, so I don’t know how those edits work. The recording is made up of songs from both nights, so if all of the excerpted songs were from where edits had to happen it might work. Of course, Amazon has copies of the 2-CD import available as well for less than the cost to build it if you don’t already have Show or Sideshow.

Which brings us to the third live release from the Cure based on the Wish tour (well, fifth if you include the film for Show and the import 2-CD version) titled simply Paris. As the title implies this is a live record based on their three-night stint at Le Zenith in Paris in October, 1992. Looking at the setlists for October 19, 20, and 21 it appears that the songs are from all three nights. I remember picking this release up at a truckstop sometime after I moved to Minnesota in 1995 in a bin full of “discount” CD’s. In fact, my copy of Show seems to be a cutout as well, so I think I bought it about the same time thinking this was part of the same show. According to the official Cure discography the video for Show and Paris were released on the same day (10/26/93), and– in the US– the CD catalog numbers are sequential [Show is Elektra 61551, Paris is Elektra 61552]. The CD for Show was released before the video on the previous Tuesday 10/19/93. The packaging for Paris is a lot simpler than Show as it is only a once-folded insert and no clear disc tray. It’s pretty clear that they considered this an extra release. Apparently 50% of the royalties payable to the Cure went to the Red Cross.

The tracklist for Paris (with which dates the song was performed):

1. The Figurehead (10/20/92)
2. One Hundred Years (10/19/92, 10/21/92)
3. At Night (10/19/92)
4. Play For Today (10/19/92)
5. Apart (10/21/92)
6. In Your House (10/20/92)
7. Lovesong (10/20/92)
8. Catch (10/19/92, 10/21/92)
9. A Letter to Elise (10/21/92)
10. Dressing Up (10/19/92)
11. Charlotte Sometimes (10/20/92)
12. Close to Me (10/20/92, 10/21,92)

Paris is a pretty interesting release from the perspective that it doesn’t duplicate any of the songs from the Show/Sideshow releases. The French crowd seems very excited to be at the show– at one point even singing along with the main synthesizer part in “One Hundred Days!” I guess this is why the Cure filmed the “In Orange” concert film in France. The song selection is interesting in that while Show focuses on Wish and more popular Cure songs, Paris includes some rarer songs like “Dressing Up” from 1984’s The Top and “In Your House” from their 1980 release Seventeen Seconds.

All of the live releases from 1993 capture the Cure at the top of their game and a product of the Cure as a touring machines. The live albums stand up well against the rest of the Cure catalog. As I was writing this piece, I was listening to Wish and Paris and I really enjoyed them. It’s probably time for me to revisit the Cure catalog in my daily commute.

In retrospect, as a fan of the Cure, it was astounding to watch the meteoric ascent of the Cure from Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (“Just Like Heaven”) to Disintegration (“Lovesong,” “Lullabye”) to Wish (“Friday I’m In Love”). In 1993 the band in some form or another had been around for over twelve years. In 2009– provided Robert Smith doesn’t retire again– the Cure has been around for 30 years. This puts the Cure as contemporaries of U2, who formed in 1978, and R.E.M. who formed in 1980.

Upcoming Shows and NEW ALBUM from Bo Ramsey

Bo Ramsey at Springville Fun Days

It seems that Bo is going to sneak another album out to the unsuspecting masses. Titled Fragile, the follow-up to the fantastic 2006 country blues cover album Stranger Blues will be released on April 8th on Bo Ramsey Records. I suspect that we’ll be able to get Fragile through CDBaby where his other releases are currently available.

In support of the new release Bo will be performing some shows in the area. He’s still carrying out the constant touring in support of Pieta and Greg for their shows, but he’s getting a few shows of his own in. I’ve excerpted the “Bo only” shows from his MySpace Page. The March 28th Java Blend show is a radio show on KSUI that is also carried by KUNI. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cedar Cultural Center show has the Pines helping out, since Benson Ramsey lives in the Twin Cities.

Mar 21 2008 9:00P
The Redstone Room Davenport, Iowa
Mar 22 2008 8:00P
Electric Park Ballroom Waterloo, Iowa
Mar 28 2008 12:00P
java house/java blend Iowa City, Iowa
Apr 5 2008 8:00P
Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, Minnesota
Apr 26 2008 8:00P
The Englert Theatre Iowa City, Iowa

B-Sides in the Bins #21 – Mark Olson Interview

Mark Olson

Mark Olson as one of the founding members of the Jayhawks provided an early prototype of the revival of country-folk that would shape today what gets generally labelled “Americana” although he doesn’t necessarily believe in limiting his music by giving it that name. With his touring accomplices multi-instrumentalist Ingunn Ringvold and violinist Michele Gazich, Mark is back on the road supporting his brilliant 2007 release The Salvation Blues following a short break after last year’s run through the US and Europe. It was during his break in the middle of catching up on errands that Mark graciously accepted the invitation to talk to me from his current home in Joshua Tree, CA about collecting records.

Me: Thanks for talking to me today, Mark. Can you share with us some details about your record collection?

Mark: I’m a bit of a record collector from way back. I don’t do it so much now but. There is this Italian in the group who is, like, totally insane about going to bookstores and record stores and he buys way too much stuff for us to be on the road with it!

But, I did it at a certain point in my life and I guess it influenced my music all the way along and that’s collect records and stuff. I have a bunch of ’em. And books and things like that. I love to go into those kinds of stores. I’m one of those guys that wishes there were still more record stores around– and book stores. I get tired of the Borders and that kind of stuff.

There used to be a really, really cool record store– I forget the name, I’m sorry– it could have been part of Cheapo’s but I don’t think so– it was on Lake Street in Minneapolis down by the river and it was just in a grungy storefront. But, what they had that was SO different– they had all these BRAND NEW gospel records from like the Sixties and the early Seventies still in– and this is in the Nineties– still in the wrappers! They were on the Nashville Label and the Nashboro label and Folkways. I got a bunch of them for like a buck-fifty of people I’ve NEVER EVER heard of– you know? All this really neat stuff. So I bought a bunch of those back then. There used to be a lot of like little hole in the wall used record stores around there. I got a lot of neat records, there. I think that people made off with them, too. I think Karen [Grotberg– keyboardist of the Jayhawks– Ed.] and the Jayhawks they made off with one of my favorite ones.

Me: Of these gospel records?

Mark: Yeah. It had this piano and organ going at the same time and it blew her away. So, I dunno. I haven’t seen that one in a long time. (chuckles).

I’ve just got a lot of really wierd, rare records. Like the Glaser Brothers (Tompall & the Glaser Brothers- Ed.) they were really GOOD when they first started out. They had these three-part harmonies and they were singing kinda folk-country stuff. [Tompall Glaser] actually wrote “Streets of Baltimore” that ended up on the Gram [Parsons] record (his 1972 release G.P.– Ed.). So, I’ve just got a lot of wierd Sixties, country, folk gospel records. That’s the first place I would go to look– in those sections.

Me: Is this the segment you collect in, then?

Mark: Well, I do anything now, but back then I was totally obsessed with Sixties Country, Folk, and these wierd gospel labels. They were on small labels that weren’t in regular record stores and no one is going to see these records again! But, this one store had bought out this collection of records on really THICK VINYL.

My favorite albums– as far as albums go, the ones that had the biggest influence on me were the Doug Sahm Mendocino album and, then of course The Flying Burrito Brothers Sin City album. I like Jesse Winchester he’s kind of a folk guy. And, I like Fairport Convention. That’s the stuff I put on to just enjoy so to speak.

Me: You know, I never really got into Doug Sahm…

Mark: Oh MAN!

Me: But… I’m familiar with him through Calexico and their participation in that Border Radio tribute “Los Super 7.” (note: while songs from Doug Sahm are on both records, he only sang on the first one that was hosted by Los Lobos).

Mark: What’s cool about him is he could sing like nobody else– he had one of the most soulful voices. He came out of Texas doing all the different styles of Texas music– he could do R&B, blues, country… But then what he did was move to San Francisco for a while and that totally opened up his music into all kinds of different directions and he made this album called Mendocino that isn’t the most- ah– he made another one that’s even crazier– but this one is just the beginning of that. It’s not like albums that are made today– that are VERY LOOSE in the performance level, okay? There’s mistakes being made, there’s tempo changes, there’s all that stuff going on. But, his voice is so COMMANDING that it doesn’t really– and the recording quality is not that good, really, compared to modern records where everything’s CLEAN at the perfect levels and all that stuff.

Me: So, what label was he on?

Mark: He was on Smash and they put out a bunch of good albums! They put out all of the Jerry Lee Lewis records that were country– that are INCREDIBLE! But, no one played and sang like Doug– very loose– just incredible stuff.

Me: When you say “loose” like that, it makes me think of Howe Gelb from Giant Sand.

Mark: Yeah, sure! I really liked that “Sno” album (Howe Gelb’s 2006 release ‘Sno Angel Like You)! That is SHOCKINGLY GOOD! I can’t believe that that isn’t like a HUGE album! It’s just so fricking GOOD. Lyrically, musically, there is so much going on there, it’s just intense.

Me: Do you collect mostly vinyl, then?

Mark: Today, I’m about 50-50 vinyl and CD’s. But, leaving Minnesota– moving a lot is really rough on a record collection. We had a flood at one point. It’s unbelievable but there was a flood in the desert– if it rains too much it can flood. And, I lost about a quarter of my record collection. It was impossible to save them because there was too much silt.

Me: So you just wrapped up a tour of Europe?

Mark: Yep, three months– well we did two months in America and we did three months in Europe pretty much back-to-back. I’m home for a couple of weeks and then it’s back out.

Me: Yeah, you’re coming to Cedar Rapids, IA! I’m planning to be at that show. I had intended to go to the show at the Mill last Fall…

Mark: That was a CRAZY night. There was lightning everywhere It was seriously dangerous to be outside.

Me: I talked to a guy who went to the show and he said there was only like 20 people there.

Mark: I think that people decided to keep their life in good order and not step out into the lightning. Meanwhile we’re out in the middle of it playing!

Me: What are you doing in this little break?

Mark: Well, you go out on tour, come home and pretty much things have fallen apart– your vehicle, your house. I’m trying to put everything back together, clean up. I have a list of musical equipment I need to get. Then go back out again. I’m more used to touring, now, than being at home.

Me: It seems like you’ve been on tour a long time!

Mark: The album came out in June and the tour started in August. I feel like we just got through the first phase of it now and now we’ll go back out and see how it’s going. It used to be that you would go out for a promo thing and the record company would support that and then you’d go out on tour. Now, the tour is kind of like “promo.” That’s a business thing that has changed. I feel like we’ve done the touring, the promoing and now we’ll go out and see what’s going on– if people have heard this album and if they’re into it– in America at least.

Me: Thanks for talking to me, today, Mark. I’ll see you at the show!

Mark: No problem! See you.

Mark will be playing Wednesday night, February 13 at 8PM at CSPS in Cedar Rapids, IA. Tickets are $13 in advance, $16 the day of the show. Click Here for Details

Visit Mark’s MySpace page for other tour dates.

The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season 3 Released– $1.99 Download!!

In between his non-stop touring and working on his own albums, Lyrics Born seems to work in guesting on other artists’ albums (Tommy Guerro, Galactic, RL Burnside) as well as contributing a track to other projects (NBA2K6). Frankly, I’m not sure how he fits it all in!

If you’re a completist, you went out and bought all of the releases, however, since 2005 LB has been releasing the audio equivalent of a Holiday Newsletter your Aunt sends out recapping the great things your cousin did that year. The Lyrics Born Variety Show releases are a non-stop mix of rare mixes, collaborations, contributions and songs that are exclusive to the release.

The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season 3 will be released on CD soon, but in the excitement surrounding the impending release of Everywhere at Once on April 22nd LB pushed the digital download of Season 3 early to help build the excitement– there are four songs on this mix from the new album!

Not only are we blessed with the early release– for a limited time you can download the release for $1.99!! Once the physical release drops, the download price will become $9.99, so take advantage of this price!

By the way— Track 9 is my favorite Mash Up of all time by Party Ben called “Callin Out on Sunday.”

Tracklisting:

01. Intro
02. Do It Up, Do It Big – Lyrics Born ft. Joyo Velarde & Jake One (Exclusive)
03. Stax On The Table (LB What It Look Like?)* – Macka Dang Dang ft. Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) (Exclusive)
04. Let Me In, Let Me Out (Count Remix) – Tommy Guerrero ft. Lyrics Born (Everywhere At Once Bonus Track)
05. What U Need – Galactic ft. Lyrics Born
06. Meow Mix – (Exclusive)
07. I Like It, I Love It (Everywhere At Once Track)
08. Cake Walk (Remix) – Lyrics Born ft. The Gift of Gab (Blackalicious) & Mike Meezy (Exclusive) (Everywhere At Once Track)
09. ?????? (Mash Up) – U2 vs. Lyrics Born
10. Badder Than Bad – Lateef ft. Lyrics Born (Exclusive)
11. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah – Lyrics Born ft. Lateef & Big Cee (Exclusive)
12. Have Mercy (Remix) – RJD2 ft. Lyrics Born & Pigeon John
13. Hott 2 Deff – Lyrics Born ft. Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) & Joyo Velarde (Everywhere At Once Track)
14. Rewards And Consequences – (Exclusive)
15. It Go – (Exclusive)
16. This Is What We Fought For?* – (Exclusive)
17. I’m Just Raw (Re-Opened And Remixed) – Lyrics Born ft. Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Pigeon John and Herb Alexander (Primus)
18. Shake It Off (HypoKriticaL Remix)

*Exclusive Lyrics Born Variety Show In-Studio Recording / Previously Unreleased

Click Here to Listen to Track Samples and to order The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season 3 Download.