B-Sides in the Bins #36 – Cedar Rapids, Half-Price Books 11/7/08

I needed to hit GNC for the last night of Gold Card Days for Sherry, so I stopped in at Half-Price Books. A fairly productive stop– found some essentials.

Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town (LP, Columbia JC 35318, 1978) ($2.98) Cool! Decent copies of the Springsteen catalog are tough to find. Next to The River, this is my favorite Springsteen record. slight cover wear, sleeve in tact as well as the lyric sheet. Vinyl impressively minty. I got into Springsteen pretty heavily after Born in the USA. I bought everything on cassette. Never bought any Springsteen on CD. So, it’s a bit strange to be picking this up on vinyl. I suppose Sony/BMG has already started pressing Bruce’s catalog in 180g vinyl. (apparently not?)

Bruce Springsteen – The River (2 LP, Columbia PC2 36854, 1980) ($3.98) My other big favorite from The Boss. I think The River is the blueprint for what would be the most-identifiable Springsteen sound with the hard-working E Street Band on board.  The River shows all the different sides to Springsteen from the out-and-out rocker of “Cadillac Ranch”  to the FM-ready “Hungry Heart” and the melancholy of “The River.” (I always wondered if the couple in the song “The River” actually drowned themselves?) Dad bought this on cassette back when it was new and I remember that we went through a couple of copies of it. It’s a little-known fact that 60-minute cassette and 90-minute cassettes use the same amount of tape. The 90’s are just stretched thinner than the 60’s. This needed to be done because otherwise the tape wouldn’t fit in the shell and be too heavy for most cassette decks. Unfortunately, this caused the double-length cassette to be prone to breaking. The River was a double-length album on cassette since it was 2 LP’s. The cover of this copy has some edge wear and sleeve wear which is very typical of copies of this album. Unfortunately, this wasn’t pressed as a gatefold, so both records are sandwiched precariously into one sleeve. The inside record sleeves which serve as the inside art are in tact as well as a slightly tear-stained lyric sheet. The vinyl is in great shape. I’ve seen some sealed copies of this show up on eBay, so this will be one I’ll want to upgrade.

Mickey Jupp – “Old Rock ‘N’ Roller” b/w “S.P.Y.” (7″ Stiff Records BUY-36, 1978)($0.98) I didn’t know who Mickey Jupp was before I picked this up. This single was notable in that it is on Stiff Records– one time home of British notables as Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe among others. Also it has the paper sleeve intact (“If it means Everything to Everyone… It Must be a Stiff” “Today’s Sound Today”). In addition to that, the A side was produced by Nick Lowe. I’m considering putting this out on eBay, but it is a pretty cool piece, so I may just keep it. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it, but it would appear to be from his Wiki article that his signing to Stiff Records was as a result of a resurgence of interest in “Pub Rock” in the 70’s.

Pieta Brown – Remember the Sun (CD, One Little Indian OLI782, 2007) ($5.98) I had this in mp3 but I wanted to own this on CD. This is a fantastic album, and certainly Pieta’s best so far in my opinion. Produced by Bo Ramsey and has that signature sound. I listen to this album quite a bit and is a good companion to Bo’s new album Fragile.

Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger (CD, Lost Highway B0009130-02, 2007) ($6.98) I have this on vinyl and mp3, but I couldn’t pass this up. Apparently Half-Price got in a bunch of sealed, new copies of Easy Tiger and are selling them for– wait for it– HALF PRICE! 😉 This is my favorite Ryan Adams album, but Cardinology is catching up quickly.

New Pieta Brown Self-Released EP Flight Time

For about two minutes today there was a blog post on Pieta Brown’s MySpace page about a new self-released 7-song EP called Flight Time and is reported to be available starting 10/10 via Pieta’s website as a download or eventually by iTunes. The album was produced and played on by Bo Ramsey and includes Sliders luminaries Marty Christensen and Steve Hayes.

The physical media– which will be available at her shows– is in bio-degradable packaging and is designed by Pieta’s sister Zoe Brown.

Tracklist:
Sunrise, Highway 44 (Click Here to visit Pieta’s MySpace Page which has this track streaming)
Still Runnin’
Just
The Lion’s Dream
Bad News
I Thought I Heard You Call My Name
Even When

Free Downloads: Pieta Brown with Bo Ramsey at Daytrotter!

A cool and unexpected offering from Daytrotter– Pieta Brown with hubby Bo Ramsey performing tracks from her fantastic 2007 release on One Little Indian Remember The Sun plus a couple of unreleased tracks.

I think it is really admirable that Daytrotter, which calls its home The Quad Cities (specifically Rock Island) and chooses to occasionally feature regional acts to the watching planet.

I hope that they had the opportunity to record Bo as well. If not, they should try to get him on the schedule.

Click Here to read the article on Pieta Brown at Daytrotter and download yourself some mp3’s.

While I was putting this article together I noticed that Pieta will be playing in Marion, IA at the very cool Campbell-Steele Gallery on October 10th. Campbell-Steele is the home of the funny and musical Liar’s Holographic Theatre. Tickets are 25 smackers, but the art gallery is a very intimate place to see performances and Pieta would be a wonderful artist to see there.

Damp and Cool, Crisp and Warm — The Country Canvas: Pieta Brown