BLUE GRASS HITS - 16 Greatest Original

Sometimes in this world of techno beats and zig zag computer aided vocals a person can forget what music with real heart and soul sounds like. Wow this fantastic CD will certainly remind you. This is bluegrass at it's best. 

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG+

Vinyl Disc:VG+
Insert:Plastic sleeve
Label & Pressing:1977 Gusto Records/USA
Price:SOLD

AMERICA - Holiday

This is the perfect blending of America with george Martin and the result is a very fine album that has aged well. The lush string orchestration will remind many folks form my era (the 1960's) of the Beatles. But George Martin had to have something to work with didn't he, and I don't think he would have taken on this new band in the 1970's unless he felt there was something there that was worth his efforts. Sure, everyone loved Tin Man and Lonely People, but this album has so much more. Another Try is one of the very best songs the group ever perfomed, and Glad to See You features George Martin's fine orchestration. Mad Dog, Old Man Took and Hollywood are fine songs. I'd personally rate this as a tie with their second album right behind their first. I also like Hearts and Hideaway, but this one is a little better, in my opinion.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG

Vinyl Disc:VG+
Insert:Picture/Lyrics sleeve
Label & Pressing:Warner/USA
Price: SOLD

NICK DRAKE -Complete Studio Albums

A VERY RARE & HARD TO FIND MASTERPIECE

"Of all the albums I ever made, the two I produced by Nick are the ones I'm most proud of. I listen to them often because he was extraordinarily good - nothing he ever did was less than striking, and he had the gift of writing melodies of incredible beauty".

    Joe Boyd, producer of Nick's first two albums

Five Leaves Left

"The first strong memory I have of Nick was at the second or third session for 'Five Leaves Left'". Richard Hewson, a well known arranger, and a fifteen piece orchestra had been brought in to arrange Nick's songs. "Nick started getting hotter and hotter under the collar. He was very young and he had struck me as a person you could push about. Some people in a recording session will do whatever you tell them. But he was getting quietly more and more aggravated, and in the end he dug his heels in and dismissed the arrangements. He said he'd get this friend at Cambridge, Robert Kirby, he thought would be much more sympathetic to what he was doing. Robert had never before done anything in his life in a recording studio. But two weeks later we booked him together with a bunch of musicians- a smaller bunch than the fist time, I remember... We were flabbergasted. He was so good"

    John Wood, sound engineer for Five Leaves Left

Bryter Layter

"It's very rare that you wouldn't want to change an album, but it's the only one I wouldn't change, or feel I could have done better"

    John Wood, sound engineer for Bryter Layter

Pink Moon

 "He arrived at midnight and we started. It was done very quickly. After we had finished I asked him what I should keep, and he said all of it, which was a complete contrast to his former stance. He came in for another evening and that was it. It took hardly any time to mix, since it was only his voice and guitar, with one overdub only. Nick was adamant about what he wanted. He wanted it to be spare and stark, and he wanted it to be spontaneously recorded."

    John Wood, sound engineer for Pink Moon

"He didn't want any more songs. He had no more material, and he thought that was part of the deal. And he was right. I wouldn't want to hear anymore before turning it over. If something is that intense, it can't really be measured in minutes".

    John Wood, on the album that clocked in at just under half an hour

For more info about Nick Drake, log on to;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Drake
http://www.nickdrakefilm.com/

Condition:Used/Original/180g
Cover:NM (Gatefold)
Vinyl Disc:EX
Insert:Paper sleeve
Label & Pressing: UK SV
Price:SOLD

JOY DIVISION - STILL (1st Press UK)

"Still collects outtakes and rarities along with a live set recorded on May 2, 1980, just over two weeks prior to Ian Curtis' death. In addition to the atmospheric "Glass" and the haunting funeral march "Dead Souls," the studio sides include four leftover tracks from the sessions for Unknown Pleasures, while the concert set includes performances of seminal tracks such as "Transmission," "Isolation" and "A Means to an End." Although neither as cogent nor as indispensible as the band's two studio records or the Substance compilation, Still is nonetheless a valuable chronicle of Joy Division's remarkable evolution, a growth charted by the inclusion of an early live cover of the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray" to the only recorded version of the hypnotic "Ceremony," the ultimate Ian Curtis composition which later resurfaced as the first single from New Order. "

Double lp gatefold original -  factory records, fact 40, uk, 1981, double lp, thick grey cloth boards with white embossed lettering, thick grey inners, excellent shape, light normal edgewear, gatefold, grafica industria, printed by garrod and lofthouse with

"THE CHICKEN WON'T STOP" matrix etch!

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:NM (Gatefold)
Vinyl Disc:NM
Insert:Thick grey cloth jacket sleeve
Label & Pressing:1981 Factory Records/ FACT 40/UK
Price:MYR320

DAVE GRUSIN - Mountain Dance

This LP is a stroke of genius! Grusin puts together an assembly of musicians that are arguably the in the world at his particular instrument and the outcome is phenomenal! "Rag Bag" and "City Ligths" are my favorites, but there's not a disappointing track on this piece. There's nothing far fetched with musicains trying to "find themselves" which sometimes happens with jazz musicians. It's just good old fashioned, talented musicians putting together a masterpiece of melodic sounds. 

It's a must have for jazz enthusiasts! 

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG+ (Gatefold)
Vinyl Disc:VG+
Insert:Plastic sleeve
Label & Pressing:1979 JVC/Japan
Price:SOLD

THE DOORS - Morrison Hotel

The next-to-last Doors album, recorded prior to Jim Morrison's still mystery-shrouded death in a Parisian bathtub, eschewed much of the band's previous penchant for baroque musical, poetic, and philosophical pretensions (this was, after all, the back-to-roots era of the Beatles' Let It Be, the Stones' Let It Bleed, and Dylan's Nashville Skyline). Instead, the Doors circa 1970 wisely seeped themselves in a bluesy, no-frills approach that might have hinted at creative exhaustion in a lesser band. Instead, the Doors of "Roadhouse Blues" and "Peace Frog" reinvented themselves into arguably one of the greatest bar bands ever, with Morrison's well-documented demons frolicking in a welcome new ambience. "Waiting for the Sun" and "Ship of Fools" may hearken back to the band's cabalistic and Kurt Weill leanings, respectively, but framed in an edgier, more effective way.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:NM (Gatefold)
Vinyl Disc:NM
Insert:Plastic sleeve
Label & Pressing:Elektra
Price:SOLD

THE FLAMING LIPS - The Soft Bulletin -OOP

With every truly good rock band, they hit their peak in a stunning, magnificent album that leaves people breathless.

For the Flaming Lips, that album is "The Soft Bulletin," their 1999 opus -- a trippy, epic, ingeniously strange collection compiled of only good songs, with a mind-bending epic quality that never lets up. It's enchanting, soft, bittersweet and undeniably sunny in its beauty -- a real experience.

It opens with a glorious Mellotron wave, which is deliberately just a little off, at the start of "Race For The Prize (Sacrifice Of The New Scientists)." "Two scientists were racing/For the good of all mankind/Both of them side by side/So determined," Wayne Coyne croons. With, of course, offbeat echoes and electronic wavers and whispers layered over the indierock melody. It's hard to find a given album that is entirely made out of excellent, listenable songs. There's usually at least one bad (or mediocre) apple -- including on most other Lips albums. "Soft Bulletin" has none. It has a unique kaleidoscope effect, with shimmering psychedelic music and hopeful, philosophical songwriting.  

"Soft Bulletin" is probably the best album the Flaming Lips have ever made -- musically rich, lyrically uplifting, and thoroughly enjoyable to listen to. A modern classic. 

Condition:Brand New/Opened seal wrap
Cover:M (Gatefold, Double 180g LP)
Vinyl Disc:M

Insert:Original paper sleeve
Label & Pressing:Warner Bros/USA
Price:MYR285

DIRE STRAITS

By the mid-'80s Dire Straits were a platinum band dismissed in their native England as safe, yuppie rockers, yet the original quartet's lean, guitar-driven music struggled to find a label home when first recorded in 1978. Mark Knopfler offers craggy vocals, literate blues-based songs, and sinuous, virtuosic guitar work. He melds keening solo lines and rapidly picked fills and dodges the synth washes and postpunk power chords of then-competing new wavers; he relies on atmosphere, character, and pure musicianship intead of heavy irony or pop fashion. "Sultans of Swing," codifies this stance, a galloping paean to aging jazz musicians playing for the sheer love of the music. This became a major hit and has endured as a radio classic. The album itself has proven equally sturdy thanks to cinematic imagery and the tightly wound arrangements of "Down to the Waterline," "Six Blade Knife," and "Water of Love."

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG

Vinyl Disc:VG
Insert:Picture/Lyrics jacket sleeve
Label & Pressing:1978 Warner Bros/USA
Price: SOLD

LED ZEPPELIN III

Led Zeppelin III is the third album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded between January and July 1970 and was released on 5 October 1970 by Atlantic Records. Composed largely at a remote cottage in Wales known as Bron-Yr-Aur, this work represented a maturing of the band's music towards a greater emphasis on folk and acoustic sounds. This surprised many fans and critics, and upon its release the album received rather indifferent reviews. Although it is not one of the highest sellers in Led Zeppelin's catalogue, Led Zeppelin III is now generally praised, and acknowledged as representing an important milestone in the band's history.

As noted above, Led Zeppelin III marked a change in focus for the band from late 1960s hard rock to a more folk rock or electric folk and acoustic inspired sound. These styles had been present to a lesser degree in the band's first two releases, but here it was the main emphasis—and one that would remain prominent in some of the group's later albums. This development endeared the band to many progressive rock fans who would never have listened to Led Zeppelin's established blues and rock repertoire. With Led Zeppelin III the group's songwriting dynamic also changed, from Page's domination of the first two albums towards a more democratic affair in which all four group members contributed their own compositions and ideas. 

It's a remarkable piece to have.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:NM (Gatefold)
Vinyl Disc:NM
Insert:
Label & Pressing:1977 Atlantic/USA
Price:SOLD

*There's a 0.5cm crack on the vinyl rim, losing some seconds on the first track of each side.

  The rest plays really good.

PINK FLOYD - The WALL 1979 UK Harvest

Pink Floyd's the Wall is arguably one of the most intriguing and imaginative albums in the history of rock music. Since its release in 1979, and the subsequent movie of 1982, the Wall has become synonymous with, if not the very definition of, the term "concept album." Aureally explosive on record and visually explosive on the screen, the Wall traces the life of the fictional protagoinst, Pink Floyd, from his boyhood days in war-torn England to his self-imposed isolation as a world-renownedrock star, leading to a climax that is as questionably cathartic as it is destructive. 

From the outset, Pink's life revolves around an abyss of loss and isolation. Born to a war-ravaged nation that takes his father's life in the name of "duty," and an overprotective mother who lavishes equal measures of her love and phobias onto her son, Pink chooses to build a mental wall between himself and the rest of the world so that he can live in a constant, alienated equilibrium free from life's physical and emotional troubles. Every incident that causes Pink pain is yet another brick in his ever-growing wall: a fatherless childhood, a domineering mother, a country whose king signs his father's death certificate with a rubber stamp, the superficiality of stardom, an estranged marriage, even the very drugs he turns to in order to find release. As his wall nears completion, each brick further closing him off from the rest of the world, Pink spirals into a void of insanity, cementing in place the final brick in the wall. Yet the minute it is complete, Pink begins to realize the adverse effects of total mental isolation, helplessly watching as his fragmented psyche coalesces into the very dictatorial persona that antagonized the world during World War II, scarred his nation, killed his father, and thereby defiled his own life from birth. Culminating in a mental trial as theatrically rich as the greatest stage shows, the story ends with a message that is as enigmatic and circular as the rest of Pink's life. Whether it is ultimately viewed as a cynical story about the futility of life, or a hopeful journey of metaphorical death and rebirth, the Wall is certainly a musical milestone worthy of the title "art."

*It's hard to find a very nice condition of this album around. This is one flawless piece.

Condition:Used/Original/2 LPs
Cover:NM (Gatefold)
Vinyl Disc:NM
Insert:Card board jacket sleeve
Label & Pressing:1979 Harvest/UK
Price:SOLD

BELLE & SEBASTIAN - Tigermilk (OOP)

Tigermilk is simply gorgeous, an unaffected debut equal to the Smiths' finest work, and seemed to arrive fully formed out of nowhere in May 1996. In songs like the pastoral, shimmering "The State I Am In" and the wonderfully naive "We Rule the School," bandleader Stuart Murdoch had already laid the seeds that would later come to such full, poignant fruition on If You're Feeling Sinister and The Boy with the Arab Strap. The 10 songs here have such a natural pop sensibility, such a grace and resonance, it's hard now to believe that Tigermilk was only originally intended as a small-time project between seven Glaswegian friends (the original vinyl release was limited to 1,000 copies). Whimsical, surreal, and beautiful, this reissue is well worth the wait.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:NM

Vinyl Disc:NM
Insert:White paper sleeve
Label & Pressing:Electric Honey Records/UK
Price:SOLD

SIGUR ROS - Agaetis Byrjun (1st Press OOP)

Reykjavík-based noise quartet Sigur Rós are the biggest band in their native Iceland, which should say much, much more about the collective insanity of that earthquake-ridden, blizzard-beaten crag of an island than anything to do with Sigur Rós's sound. But in their music, Sigur Rós reflect all the breathtaking glory of the Icelandic wastes--a fairy-tale explosion of unhinged elemental majesty that's finally crystallized here, their debut European release. Frontman Jon Por Birgisson sings in a language that Sigur Rós dub "Hopelandic"--an otherworldly mutation of Icelandic, sung in the falsetto cadence of angels; similarly, he plays his guitar with a violin bow, opening the floodgates for brilliant waves of feedback. And while it's the opening "Svefn-G-Englar" that's Sigur Rós' moment to date, there's far more that they have to offer; listen to the pomp and flourish of a full orchestra on "Flugufrelsarinn," or the awe-inspiring near-religious mantra of "Ny Batteri."

Condition:Used/Original/2 LPs

Cover:M (Paper Texture)

Vinyl Disc:M

Insert:Original Black paper sleeve
Label & Pressing:1999 FatCat/UK
Price:SOLD

LORD SUTCH & HEAVY FRIENDS (Rare)

If you ignore the poor voice and puerile lyrics this piece turns into an unexpected pleasure. Fans of the greats should give this a listen, then like me you won't stop playing it, worse still,you won't stop bragging to all your friends about how you've got half of Led Zep., a ton of Beck and Redding,plus the late great Nicky Hopkins. All on an album that NONE of your friends would ever have heard of. 

The soon to be superstars all seem to be having good clean fun, honing their skills for the future. Other members of the band --although unheard of (to any great extent)-- nonetheless do more than adequate work, All together a very nice surprise. Top notch. Fully recomended. 

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG

Vinyl Disc:VG
Insert:Original paper sleeve
Label & Pressing:Cotillion/USA
Price:MYR90

THE BAND - Rock Of Ages (In Concert)

This 1972 live album is a watershed recording for the Band. Recorded the previous New Year's Eve, the two-disc concert recording presents the core quintet fortified by a five-man horn section overseen by New Orleans ace Allen Toussaint, and it is capped by a guest appearance by Bob Dylan. The brass and reed players incite the group to gut it out with more unrestrained fire than these road-hardened vets were accustomed to. The lion's share of the set selections are culled from the quintet's first four studio albums; only an ebullient cover of the Marvin Gaye hit "Don't Do It," the unremarkable original "Get Up Jake," Garth Hudson's mind-boggling organ improvisation "The Genetic Method," and an absolutely piercing version of Chuck Willis's "Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes" spice up the reliable album selections on disc one. But Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Richard Manuel sound like they're having so much fun singing the likes of "King Harvest," "Stage Fright," "Caledonia Mission," and "Chest Fever" that it matters not that Robbie Robertson's writing muse had already pretty much dried up. The 2001 digitally remastered reissue includes an entire second disc of previously unreleased tracks, including four with Dylan at the mic. More than four years would pass before the Robertson version of the Band would call it a day following its star-studded Last Waltz, but, as a live entity, here is where they crested.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:NM (Gatefold Double LP)
Vinyl Disc:NM
Insert:Original paper sleeve
Label & Pressing:EMI/Target Capitol/USA
Price:MYR80

KING CRIMSON - Larks' Tongues In Aspic

To worship at the sonic temple of King Crimson always meant dispensing with preconceived notions, and Fripp and company proved more than ready to lay waste to their more staid contemporaries on this 1973 masterwork. 

Like any King Crimson outing, "Larks Tongues in Aspic" is not everyone's cup of tea, but everyone needs to sample this one as a reminder of the power of imagination fueled by technique.  

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG-

Vinyl Disc:VG+
Insert:Standard paper sleeve
Label & Pressing:1973 Atlantic Records/USA
Price:MYR65

LED ZEPPELIN - In Through The Out Door

Though the band likely didn't know it at the time, this would prove to be the last studio record by one of the most famous rock & roll bands in the world. Drummer John Bonham died shortly after its release. Although nothing compares to early Led Zeppelin--and they lost many longtime fans in the late 1970s--this LP is nothing to be embarrassed by. They were quick to embrace and experiment with synthesizers, and while it wears a little thin by record's end (the synth-bloated "Carouselambra" and the slick AOR hit "All My Love"), it adds a certain majestic tone to the heavy-hitting opener, "In the Evening," and gives a rollicking good-time feel to "South Bound Suarez." Plant's howl and Page's bluesy guitars are in fine form on "I'm Gonna Crawl" and the lilting "Fool in the Rain" recalls the pretty numbers from their early career.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG-

Vinyl Disc:VG+
Insert:Picture jacket sleeve
Label & Pressing:1979 Swan Song/USA
Price:MYR45

PINK FLOYD - Wish You Were Here

Wish You Were Here is a song cycle dedicated to Pink Floyd's original frontman, Syd Barrett, who'd flamed out years before: two grimly funny songs about the evils of the music business ("By the way, which one's Pink?"), and two long, touching ones about the band's vanished friend. The real star of the show, though, is the production: sparkling, convoluted, designed to sound deeply oh-wow under the influence--and pretty great sober too--with David Gilmour getting lots of space for his most lyrical guitar playing ever. And, though the album is big and ambitious, even bombastic, it somehow dodges being pretentious--the Barrett tributes are honest and heartfelt, beneath all the grand gestures and stereophonic trickery.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG+

Vinyl Disc:VG
Insert:Picture/Lyrics jacket
Label & Pressing:Harvest/Holland
Price:SOLD

LED ZEPPELIN - IV

Known as the "rune" album or Zoso because of the medieval symbols adorning the inner sleeve, Led Zeppelin's fourth album, released in 1971, turned them from mere superstars into giant behemoths of the rock world. On tracks like "Black Dog," "Misty Mountain Hop," and "Rock and Roll," the combination of Robert Plant's banshee wails and Jimmy Page's frenetic guitar playing forever altered the stylistic bent of hard rock music. And the foreboding "When the Levee Breaks" demonstrated that Zeppelin could indeed play the blues fairly straight if they so desired. Still, everything here ultimately took a back seat to the album's (and, ultimately, the band's) magnum opus--the expertly constructed and deftly executed classic, "Stairway to Heaven."

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG (Gatefold)

Vinyl Disc:VG+
Insert:Original Brown Sleeve/Lyrics
Label & Pressing:1971 Atlantic/US
Price:SOLD

Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans

Seven Swans is a folk rock music album by Sufjan Stevens. It includes songs about Abraham and Christ's Transfiguration, among many others. The album is softer and sparser than other albums by Stevens, relying more heavily on his trademark banjo and "hushed vocals." Seven Swans was received well by critics. The Guardian called it "a record of remarkable delicacy" and Spin magazine said it sounded "like Elliott Smith after ten years of Sunday school".

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:M
Vinyl Disc:12" + 7" M
Insert:Picture/Lyrics jacket
Label & Pressing:2004 Sounds Familyre/US
Price:MYR85