Well its the new year already, can you believe we're already in the year of humanity? Well if the Mayans were correct in predicting the end of the world this year, at least I'll have collected as many records as I could. That said, this post is just to show off my last finds of 2011. I was given some records for Christmas, which was awesome. Good ones too, I'd have been very disappointed if I got some Lady Gaga picture disc or something.
I was given two classic albums by the legendary folk/rock band; Crosby, Stills, and Nash(&Young). The 1969 self titled debut from before Neil Young joined the band is their best work in my opinion. I have nothing against Young, in fact I'm a big fan of his, but CSN wrote some perfect music without him. I love that iconic gatefold cover of the three guys just hanging out, the music really sounds exactly like that. The inside of the gatefold is a bit weirder though, I'm not sure why they're wearing fur coats and staring at the camera.
"Deja Vu" shows the band a year older and plus one member, well one permanent member at least. Neil Young joined the band shortly after the first album was released, and he even played with them at Woodstock. 1970 when the band recorded this album they had a lot to live up to, and while I don't think it is quite as good as the first one its pretty great. You can't go wrong with classics like "Helpless", "Woodstock, and "Carry On".
The other two records I was given are also classics, but in a quite different genre. Heavy fucking Metal that is.
Black Sabbath's 1981 masterpiece "Mob Rules, and the Scorpions 1979 breakthrough "Lovedrive". Most Sabbath fans disagree with me, but the Dio era is far superior than the Ozzy era. "Mob Rules" is my second favorite album in the band's discography, behind "Heaven and Hell; and "Sign of the Southern Cross" is one of their best songs. If you know the Scorpions, you'll know that the record above is not the original pressing. This is a later reissue with a much less offensive cover. The original had an exposed breast, which I guess was too much for 1979. Regardless of cover, this is one of the more important metal albums of the 1970s. This is right up their with the hugely influential albums that Judas Priest or Black Sabbath did during the decade, so many bands in the 80s copied this sound.
Finally, I got these pretty cool record frames that allow you to display album art as real art. I like them, but the fact that they don't hold gatefold or double lps is a shame.
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